Sunday 1:7- Proper Shopping Etiquette (Ken Omi Aya-chan)

[plotbunnytiff.livejournal.com]

 

Murakawa’s was slightly busier than expected, bustling with a odd mixture of middle-aged housewives doing their normal weekly shopping and loud chatty high-school kids raiding the junk food aisles and reveling in a whole day to themselves. It wasn’t uncommon to see one or two of the younger set here running family errands (like Aya was) but there seemed to be quite a few more than usual.

 

Ken grabbed a cart, testing the turn radius and the feel of the grip before rolling it aside to try another one. Carts were a serious business; and having a crappy one made shopping from a necessary chore into a never ending disaster. When he finally found one to his liking, he turned it towards Omi and Aya, standing at attention with a satisfied expression fixed in place.

Comments

[7bladed.livejournal.com]

Aya-Chan glanced backwards, almost on instinct, before reaching for the car door as Ran had told her to. She froze, however, her hand only inches from the handle, Farfarello's voice ringing in the back of her mind.

Ask questions. Don't let them keep ye in the dark.

She opened her mouth, but found that words had completely escaped her mind. Taking a deep breath instead, she got into the car, unable to look anyone in the eye. There'd be time for questions after they got home. Or maybe, she thought hopefully, she wouldn't have to ask anything to get some answers...

[pichi.livejournal.com]

Omi wasn’t wholly willing to turn his back on known enemies, regardless of any claims to no longer be at odds. As far as he was concerned, Ouka had had nothing to do with being at odds either. It was pure and simple sadism. He made a face as Ken tried to direct him, wanting to protest, but it was best to get Aya away from them if he could. Omi, for his part, ducked out of Ken’s guiding hand to cover their tails out instead of walking beside them.

He couldn’t have been gladder to see Ran’s car waiting outside, and Aya getting inside it. Schwarz was up to something, Omi was sure of it... He just couldn’t figure out what. And that worried him.

“Still inside, probably,” he answered Ran. “Ken-kun and I will take care of the groceries.” His eyes shifted to Aya-chan. “Can I have my phone back?”

[7bladed.livejournal.com]

"Uhn..." It took Aya-Chan a moment to understand what Omi was talking about. She released the death-grip she had had on the phone and mechanically dropped it into his hands. "M'sorry... I forgot I had it."

[genuinelie.livejournal.com]

Ran observed the phone being passed over - the phone that was obviously unconnected to Yohji.

His fingers tightened on the wheel. He had thought - Yohji, of all people - his sister could have been kidnapped by the enemy before he had reached her. He had trusted him.

He had trusted him.

A mistake. Aya, he reminded himself, would have known better. He had slipped too much into careless habits. Ran was not someone he could afford to be.

"Groceries might not be needed." he observed to his teammates. "We can't afford to take on Schwartz unprepared."

He started to drive away, his jaw tight. They were not far enough away yet. Schwartz could still find them. How had this happened?

He glanced at his sister. "Aya. Are you all right?"

[skyrat13.livejournal.com]

Yohji stopped to listen as the phone switched to that annoying disconnected noise. Aya had probably hung up because Ran had intervened.

Probably.

Maybe.

If schwartz had decided to be truly confrontational, Ran's presence might not make a difference.

Well, it's not like Aya Chan had really been listening to him on the phone anyway. It was stupid that Ran had insisted on Yohji staying tethered to it, instead of taking him with him. It seemed obvious to Yohji that the real matter was that Ran didn't trust him to actually help. At least not with matters concerning Aya Chan.

Now Yohji wasn't sure what to do. Showing up uselessly after the fact, having contributed nothing to the scenerio would be rather embarrassing. Not that having rushed to the store in a blind panic only to turn around and go home, wouldn't.

Feeling far too uneasy to go home without at least scouting the perimeters first, Yohji managed to convince himself that he needed to buy more cigarettes, and resumed his trek towards Murakawa’s.

[7bladed.livejournal.com]

Aya-Chan looked up at the sound of Ran's voice. "I'm fine..." she stared at him for a moment before turning her head to look out the window again. "... why?" The question popped out before she could stop it, and then, the rest just tumbled out before she even knew what she was saying. "Who were they?" How did they know me?

[genuinelie.livejournal.com]

"Enemies." Ran's grip tightened on the steering wheel as Aya asked the question he had expected to hear.

If it had been a teammate, he might have left it at that, but she was too curious to leave it alone. "They are bad people, Aya. If you ever see them again, get away and call me..." He gritted his teeth, then added, "or one of the others."

[7bladed.livejournal.com]

There were so many questions left unanswered, but from the tone in Ran's voice, Aya-Chan felt as though there were questions that would never be answered. Still... curiousity killed the cat, didn't it? And she almost felt as if she deserved some sort of answer.

"But..." should she ask? And what would she ask...?

[Heh... "curiousity killed the cat"... *cough*]

[genuinelie.livejournal.com]

Ran flicked his eyes to her, then back to the road.

He knew she deserved answers. But she was still innocent in his mind, still untainted by the blood on his hands that had brought her back to life. He was supposed to take all of the grime of this existence for her, so she could live as she deserved.

He softened his voice, and stressed again, "They're bad men, Aya-chan."

[7bladed.livejournal.com]

Aya-Chan took a deep breath; the answer wasn't exactly what she had expected... she glanced briefly at Ran, and decided to drop the topic. He'd tell her when he felt comfortable... right? And she hoped it'd come sometime soon. Meanwhile, it wouldn't hurt to prod the others for a bit of information? Nothing big, of course... just small pieces of information that might give her a bigger picture of what was going on.

"I... see..." she said finally, breaking the awkward silence between them.

[genuinelie.livejournal.com]

They pulled up to the Koneko, an awkward silence in the car. Ran nodded at his sister, his way of acknowledging the conversation had ended, however unresolutely.

He waited for her to go inside, unwilling to let her out of his sight until she was within the building.