Paradise Lost Part 7: Paradise Edge

The flower shop had been quiet all day and the Weiß boys were starting to have trouble finding useful things to do. Aya was silent as always, darker than usual, and buried himself in his work, looking deep in thought. Yohji and Ken were playing cards, gambling with peanut M&M's as poker chips. Ken stared out the front windows distractedly and Yohji was beaming over his cards, chuckling to himself. When Ken didn't make his move, Yohji frowned. "Oi! Are we playing or what?"

Ken snapped out of it and pushed two green M&M's into the middle of the counter. "All right. I'll see your bet and call. What you got?"

"Two pair, aces high!" Yohji exclaimed triumphantly, showing his hand, "Beat that!"

"Full house," Ken muttered uncaringly and set his cards down on the table, still staring out the window.

"Kuso!" Yohji sulked, waiting for Ken to scoop up his winnings, but the former goalie didn't even seem to notice that he'd won. "Hey, Hidaka... What's eating you?" Yohji asked at last.

"Omi's been gone a long time. Do you think it was wise to send him off on his own like that?" Ken sighed.

"You worry about him too much," Yohji yawned and put his hands behind his head, leaning back in his chair. "The guy just found out his brother was a real bastard; that his whole *family* is, and they're all mission targets to boot. Give the guy a chance to get over that. He's gotta be depressed. Hell, Aya's tragic past dates a long way back and he's _still_ sulking about it..." Yohji raised his voice from a low tone to loud enough so that Aya could hear. "Isn't that right, Aya? Don't you think Omi has the right to be upset about now?"

Yohji turned his calm green eyes to where the redhead stood stiffly, seeming angry and intentionally ignoring the question. He had apparently been watering the same pot of blue flowers for a long time because water flowed over the top of the pot and onto the floor. "Whoah, there!" Yohji exclaimed, "Should we start calling you 'Noah' now? You're totally flooding that hydrangea plant."

Aya started to look up to make an angry reply, but something outside caught his eye. Omi could be seen down the street, staring at the ground as he walked, his bangs hiding his eyes, a heavy plastic bag clenched in his hand as he approached the store. Aya turned away. "Omi's here," he said flatly.

Ken and Yohji jumped to their feet, quickly sweeping up the cards, putting the chairs back to where they were and pretended to be buried in their work. "Remember," Ken whispered quickly, "He's obviously depressed, so let's all be really nice to him today!" Yohji nodded and Aya's silence was taken for an affirmative answer.

The silent figure of Omi slid opened the door to the tinkle of the welcome bells and stepped inside, head held low. He then held up the bag with a radiant smile and said cheerily, "Hi, everybody!! I brought Chinese food!"

Everyone sweat-dropped and Omi strolled into the room, thumping the food down on the counter. "Let's see..." Omi started, fishing out the thin white cartons of food. "Chow-fun for everybody, a side of oysters for Yohji... I know you don't like chow-fun, Aya-kun, so I brought you fried rice..." Omi grabbed a small carton of his own and started bounding to the door which lead downstairs.

"Aren't you eating with us, Omi?" Ken asked, still baffled by the boy's suddenly sunny mood.

"I'm gonna eat it in my room, if you all don't mind. It doesn't look too busy here... I wanted to get on-line really quick..." Omi excused himself and started heading downstairs to his room.

"Oi!" Yohji called after him, "You're shouldn't do that so much, Omi, you'll chafe yourself!" Omi ignored the teasing remark for once and disappeared from sight through the door at the back of the store.

"Omi--" Aya called out to the fast-departing back, but Omi didn't hear.

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Nagi still had stars in his eyes and his head in the clouds when he got back to the hidden entrance to Schwatz's headquarters. He couldn't get that Omi boy out of his head and was trying to decide what he could do next to get the boy to like him. Schuldip often pestered Nagi to get a lover for himself, mostly to see Nagi's blush as he became uncomfortable at the subject. Nagi always just replied that no one was interested in him and Schuldip would just shake his head and laugh at him. "You're in Schwartz, pretty boy... You don't *ask* you *demand*! Powers like yours could get you what you want, or I could help you out with my own powers."

"Out of the goodness of your own heart?" Nagi had asked, disbelievingly

"For its pure entertainment value!" Schuldip had replied, "Think it over, anyway. Hentai pics on the web is just no substitute for the real thing." Schuldip shot a meaningful look in Clofford's direction, but he didn't seem to notice.

Nagi wondered now if that was what he should do with Omi. But the boy had been so nice and so beautiful... Now confronted with someone worth pursuing, Nagi couldn't bring himself to do anything that would force the boy to love him in return... He wanted Tsukiyono Omi to come to him of his own free will. Maybe Omi liked him already... Hadn't he said something about how love was more important than sexuality and that he would be willing to love another man? Maybe he was hinting at something... Naoe Nagi thought to himself dreamily,

Nagi was just reaching for the doorknob when the door opened from the inside and Clofford stood before him. "I knew you'd be home now," he said blandly, letting the boy in. Sometimes Clofford's powers of precognition worked for the most mundane events. Nagi didn't pay him much notice, but started heading for the kitchen. He stirred himself a highly-caloric bodybuilder shake and started heading for his room, his head still swimming with the sight of blue, blue eyes and graceful body.

His computer was already on, Sailor Pluto regarding him sadly from his desktop, and Nagi got on-line quickly. There was one message in his mailbox and he opened it eagerly.

>> Subj: I hope you get this today... From: CyberDestiny37@aol.com To: TekeMastr@fcmail.com

Hello again! I just wanted to drop you a quick note before I go back to work... It was nice meeting you today; and I hope I can see you again some time. I know I won't see you at school, but there's a pretty nice sushi place down the street where you can get some killer unagi if you wanted to go some time. I could loan you some cool anime tapes if you wanted, too.

Uh... I attached a little drawing I did; sorry it's kinda lame. I don't practice very much. (Also the quality sux 'cause my scanner's messed up!) Well, I hope you like it anyway!

Oh, and if I got the E-mail address wrong and this _isn't_ Nagi, just ignore me! ^^*

-Omi

>>

Nagi read the message twice and hastily downloaded the picture that was attached. When he opened it, he couldn't help but smile. It wasn't a bad drawing at all as Omi had made it out to be. It was a picture of a bunch of chibi-style pigeons with napkins tied around their necks and forks and knives in hand (or wing), sitting around a table with a huge chocolate cake in the middle of the table. There was a recognizable drawing of Omi himself sitting at the end of the table, smiling and a word bubble which came from everyone's mouths which read, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!" in English across the top in huge letters.

Nagi saved the picture and instantly set to writing a long E-mail which accepted Omi's offer of going out for sushi, talked about his hobbies, and asked Omi about himself. Even hinted at liking him a little bit, but nothing that couldn't be taken as something that just a friend would have written. Nagi reread his own message over and over, trying to think of how Omi would read it and if the way he worded things sounded all right. Nagi suddenly deemed it unworthy of sending after its fourth reading and deleted the whole message and turned off his computer without replying. It would be so much easier to just pretend that he had the wrong address and never reply. It wasn't likely that the two would run into each other by chance like that again. Nagi wondered if he should just pretend like nothing had ever happened. He couldn't screw things up that way...

The youngest Schwartz member clenched his fist in frustration, wondering what he should do next with the least amount of risk. The sound of cruel laughter erupted from behind him and Nagi whirled around. Schuldip had been standing in his doorway for who knows how long, a smug smile on his face; now he was just laughing out loud. "Awwww.... Poor Nagi-wagi's in *love*?" Schuldip slunk forward and tousled Nagi's dark hair playfully. "You know I try not to make a habit of randomly reading people's emotions like this, but I could feel your thoughts without trying, they're so strong. Who is the lucky girl?" He roughly elbowed Nagi in the side and Nagi quickly put up a mental barrier as he had been trained to. It was supposed to be able to protect his mind from mental attacks and from Schuldip's psychic probes, but Nagi couldn't form them nearly as well as Clofford could. He was able to hide his love's identity for a moment, but let slip the fact that it was a boy before his barrier was up.

"Ooo! Starting a deviant lifestyle of your own, Naoe? A man after my own heart! Who is it? I gotta know..." Schuldip poked Nagi hard in the shoulder, but the boy just shot him a dirty look and shook his head. He didn't trust himself to even speak in case it broke his concentration. He started wishing he'd spent more time on his psychic defense training, but had found it useless at the time.

Schuldip shrugged and turned away to leave. "Eh. Have it your way. You can't hold that barrier up forever. I'll just have to wait to see who it--" Breaking off his own sentence unexpectedly, Schuldip whirled around and slapped Nagi hard across the face, his movements faster than a striking cobra. Nagi gasped at the sudden sharp pain and his concentration was utterly broken. Schuldip used the opportunity to seize all the information he could about Nagi's new love interest. "But, I was never one for waiting," Schuldip finished, "I want to know now."

Nagi clasped a hand to his stinging cheek which was now a deep red color in a hand shape. Schuldip finished gathering his information and looked bewildered for a moment before his harsh laughter began again. "Oh, my God, Nagi!" he gasped between laughs, "You sure know how to pick 'em, don't you? You *do* realize who that is, don't you?"

Nagi stopped nursing his burning cheek and looked up worriedly. Was there something wrong with Omi? "No. Should I? He seemed kinda familiar, I suppose, but he's just another high school student..."

Schuldip slapped his forehead mockingly. "Gee, let's think now... Tsukiyono Omi... Where have we heard this name before? Could it be... That he's a member of that stupid assassin's group Weiß?!"

"Uso!" Nagi gasped in disbelief. It wasn't possible...

"I could go dig up his file from our 'enemies' list right now if you wanted," Schuldip grinned.

Suddenly it all clicked into place. Nagi had experienced a sort of deja-vu at the sight of Omi, but had attributed it to a sort of love at first sight feeling. It was inconceivable that an assassin meant to bring about Schwartz's downfall could also be "just another high school student". The thought had never entered Nagi's mind that the sweet boy who had come to his aid, who Nagi had fallen in love, could be his enemy. A line from Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" suddenly came to his mind...

["My only love sprung from my only hate..."] Nagi clenched his teeth angrily. Couldn't things ever just work out normally for him? Was fate so cruel that the only person he could finally love was the only one he couldn't possibly have? ["A rose by any other name would smell as sweet..."] Even now, when hearing that Schwartz had a file on Omi, his first thought was how great it would be if there was a photo of Omi that he could take and look at all afternoon. Nagi chastised himself,

"Did he realize who you are?" Schuldip asked.

Nagi shook his head. "I really don't think so. He was helping me..."

Schuldip shook his head, bemused. "Stupid kids. Just the same, I wouldn't put anything past that one, Teke. He might just be pretending that he doesn't know who you are and being so nice so he can lure you into their clutches. Be careful."

"He wouldn't--!" Nagi protested.

Schuldip shook his head. "I wouldn't be so sure. Besides, even if he doesn't know it now, when *does* realize it's you, he'll drop you faster than you can blink. Then Weiß will all over us like white on rice for messing with their precious little projectiles expert. That's not a chance we're willing to take." Nagi looked serious, but listened carefully, understanding the importance of what he said. "Do you really want this boy?"

"More than life itself," Nagi answered without hesitation.

"Well, to make him turn away from Weiß and be with you without a problem, you're going to have to take a few... extra measures. Are you willing to do that?" Schuldip asked.

Nagi knew that Schuldip's words were true. Omi seemed like such a nice person, he would never stay with someone his friends had deemed a villain once he found out. The implication of using some sort of mind control was evident, but Nagi didn't care. His love outweighed his conscience and Nagi knew he would do whatever it would take to make Omi his. Anything. He had finally found that one person who was perfect for him, and he'd be damned if he was going to let him go so easily.

"Yes," Nagi said, resolved, "I'll do whatever it takes."

Schuldip smiled fiendishly. "Good."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That evening, Omi lay back on his bed, his hand behind his head, staring up at the ceiling, trying unsuccessfully not to think about Aya. Every song on the CD he was blaring reminded him of his past, of Aya, of what had happened the night before.

[I need to know if you were real 'Cause I've been known to get it wrong When the memory comes I'll say I'm always in the dark You got me now]

Was it his past, his recovering memories that turned Aya away? Was it too sudden? His memories of the night before were fading and seemed like some unreal fantasy he'd come up with a long time ago; that Aya had never held him in his arms so close and spoken so kindly to him. By the end of the night, Aya couldn't even face the boy and only told him to leave. Why? Was it something Omi said, did Aya just change his mind? Not knowing the reason was just as torturous as the actual rejection.

[I can't remember how it went You looked like everything I wanted And as you came along Slowly everything began to change I got you now.]

Omi had made a friend in just a few minutes in the park just now. It couldn't be that Omi was so undesirable or unkind. Maybe he should have told Nagi about his relationship problems. The boy seemed pretty smart; he probably would have had some advice about the situation to offer. Maybe Nagi would know how love could turn to coldness in one night.

[I need to know if you were real I'd hate to think that I'd been fooled again And as the vision fades I'll say I was blinded by your eyes I felt them burn...]

Omi sat up suddenly, he knew what he had to do. Maybe it would only hurt him more, but he had to confront Aya one more time and ask what it was that had gone wrong. It was killing him not to know. At the very least, maybe Aya's response would let Omi finally give up on the man and move on with his life. He even dared to hope that if all went well, they could talk it out and Aya would change his mind. Either way, Omi wasn't accomplishing anything by just lying back. He was going to take action!

Omi got to his feet and strode resolutely to the door, ready to tell Aya everything about how he truly felt. He psyched himself up as he walked down the hall, then tapped on the redhead's door. "Aya-kun...?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That same evening, Nagi, too, lay back on his bed, his hand behind his head, staring up at the ceiling and dreaming about Omi. It was the strangest feeling to be in love, he realized. It brought him so high up with just the thought of Omi's face and he delighted in the very idea of just being with him, hearing that sweet voice, learning more about him, daring to hope that Omi loved him, too. At the same time, it dropped him to the pits of despair. He was afraid of rejection, of messing things up, about what to do next. It was the sweetest torture he'd ever known.

To his memory, Nagi had always been so busy with just surviving and holding the tatters of his rendered life together, he'd never allowed himself to think about love. But when left alone with his own thoughts, Nagi let his mind roam to fantasies of walking hand in hand with this boy in the park, maybe holding his arm and cuddling close on the cold days... He found himself laden with strongest physical desire for the first time in his life, as well. He wondered how that soft, sandy blonde hair would look spread out across his pristine white pillow, how those rosy lips would taste, what his lithe body would feel like under exploring hands... Nagi felt shameful for thinking about such things, but as soon as the sharpest of his guilt subsided, his passionate mind would always return to the same dreams. He wanted to show his love to this boy, wanted him to return the love, wanted them to share themselves in mind and body and make everything all better... Nagi only was revived from his daydreams when he heard Clofford's deep voice from downstairs, talking to Schuldip. Nagi felt the inexplicable urge to listen, as if he somehow knew this was important. He tiptoed from his room and waited in silence at the top of the stairs, eavesdropping.

The American was chuckling darkly. "I've had a premonition. It's excellent news indeed and I'm sure Mister Takatori will be pleased to hear it as well..."

Schuldip was impatient and his curiosity was piqued, "Well, out with it! What is it?"

Clofford was still smiling at the thought of his vision, smiling to himself. "You remember that little snot-nosed brat in Weiß? The youngest one?"

Nagi's heart stopped and his eyes widened.

"I just saw his end. I always thought we'd have to kill all those troublesome assassins on our own, but this will save us the trouble." Clofford wondered briefly why Schuldip seemed more deep in thought than delighted, but continued anyway. "Not exactly sure when or where, but the kid's going to be hit by a car and killed sometime tonight."

Nagi screamed.

Somewhere, Aya was walking past his car keys, which lay on his dresser like mute witnesses, to answer the knock on his door.

[Part 8]

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