Something New

Manx coughed loudly, trying to cover the fact that she was 
laughing. The  comic look of horror plastered on the faces of the 
four Weiß assassins was  too much for her. She promptly burst 
into another 'coughing' fit.


"Oh shut up!" Ken snapped annoyed. "This isn't funny you know!" 


Yohji was adamant in his resolve. "No way," he proclaimed, his 
arms folded  across his chest. "There is no way in -hell- that 
I'm going to do this  assignment." He glared at the giggling 
Manx.


"Well I can't do it," Omi announced gleefully, bursting with a 
smile. "I'm  still a minor. I guess it's have to be Ken kun and 
Aya kun."


"Me?!" Ken howled. "Why me? I'm not gonna do it and that's 
final!" He stared in the direction of the sofa Aya and Yohji 
were sitting on. "You guys can do it."


Even Aya, who was always ready to take on the missions that no 
one else wanted to do, wanted no part in this assignment. "No." 
His voice was cold and suggested that no one argue with him...or 
else.


"I already told you that I'm not going," Yohji announced. "You go 
Ken." 


"Why don't you go yourself?" 


"You're more the type." 


"What the hell are you saying?" 


"I've seen how you look at Aya!" 


"You're the one with long hair and crop tops!" 


Manx finally was able to control her laughing. "Listen guys, 
someone has  too..." she trailed off realizing that her voice 
couldn't be heard over the  commotion of Omi laughing and Yohji 
and Ken bickering. She cleared her throat. No effect. She tried 
again, more loudly. Nothing. Well so much for subtly.


"WOULD YOU GUYS SHUT UP??!!!!!" she screeched. 


It was silent instantly. She graced the room with a beatific 
smile. No one  looked impressed. "That's better. Now as I was 
saying, there's no point in  fighting since you all *know* that 
two of you *must* to do this mission. Omi of course, is out of 
the picture since he's too young. So that leaves the three of 
you." She held her hand up as bubbles of protest began to erupt 
from Ken and Yohji. Aya, for all intents and purposes simply 
continued to scowl. "I know that none of you guys want to do it 
so we'll settle this fair and square. You'll draw straws. Whoever 
gets the longest one doesn't have to go. Simple?"


The three boys nodded. Tension was in the air. The heat was on. 
It was every man for himself.


~*~ 


Aya sat on the edge of the huge king-sized bed watching Ken pace, 
his footsteps making soft thumping sounds against the thick, plush, vanilla carpet.


"This isn't fair!" he wailed for the hundredth time. "How could 
Persia-sama do this to us? And why do I have to be here? I just 
*know* that Yohji rigged the straws!" A pause to furiously rake 
the hair from his eyes and then he started again. "I hate this! 
Killing the bad guys, fine I can handle that. But *this*?! It 
isn't fair! I can't do this! If my mom could see me now...what 
would she think? Oh man!" He flopped unceremoniously onto the 
dark blue brocade sofa across from the huge bed. "I'm so doomed!"


His lips quirked slightly at Ken's theatrical dramatics but he 
managed to keep from smiling. "You don't really look like the 
epitome of wedded bliss," he stated dryly, barely concealing his 
amusement.


Ken's eyes widened as he sat straight up. "Are you making...fun 
of me?" he demanded, indignantly. "I'll have you know that 
there's nothing funny about this! I mean, are you *happy* to be 
here or something?"


Aya sighed. "Look Ken, there's nothing we can do about it. 
Complain all you want but that isn't going to change anything. We 
still have to find our target and that isn't going to happen 
unless we're convincing. And the sooner we do that, the sooner we 
can head back home."


"But is it necessary for us to pose as a married couple?" Ken 
whined. 


"Hmm you're right. Why are we posing as a married couple on this 
gay honeymoon cruise?" he asked sarcastically. "Stupid us. Of 
course it won't look suspicious that two straight guys are poking 
around, trying to..."


"Does nothing faze you?" 


"Would you rather I spend our entire honeymoon whining and 
wailing like you?"


Ken glared at him. "Why the hell did I ever marry you?!" 


~*~ 


"You guys make *such* a cute couple! Don't they make such a cute 
couple snookums?"


"They sure do sugar pie. The very cutest!" 


"But not as cute as us right darling?" 


"Oh no one's as cute as us, pumpkin!" 


Ken looked away as the two men kissed, feeling mortified and 
nervous and  scandalized and annoyed all at once. The openly 
affectionate, chatty couple had joined them at their table, 
uninvited of course, where they had proceeded to annoy the hell 
outta him. They were just so...touchy-feely, which wasn't a bad 
thing, just rather nauseating. Not to mention the fact that they 
hadn't stopped gushing over how 'cute' he and Aya were together. 
If this kept up, he would have *no* qualms about shredding them 
into pieces with his claw.


He could feel his face bloom into a blush once again as he felt 
Aya lightly stroke his hand. The redhead had taken his hand the 
minute the other couple had joined them. He was still holding it 
and Ken was surprised at how warm his hand was. Not to mention 
soft...


A nervous giggle escaped his lips as he imagined Aya rubbing 
magnolia lotion on his hands, bewailing the fact that his katana 
had chafed his hands.


Aya's hand tightened around his own and he leaned closer to Ken, 
his lips softly touching his ear. "Don't laugh at them," he 
hissed. "Do you want to blow our cover?"


"I wasn't laughing at them!" he hissed, annoyed at Aya's 
certainty that he was going to blow their cover but mostly at 
himself for reacting so strongly to Aya's closeness. Little 
shivers were racing down his spine and his hand was trembling 
beneath Aya's. His face felt hot.


"Look sweetie. Ken's blushing again!" 


"Aw...you guys really are the cutest!" 


He felt suffocated. He was having trouble breathing. Mission be 
damned, he wasn't going to stay here another minute. He jerked 
his hand from Aya's and stood up hastily. "I gotta go," he cried 
and fled, his face reddening into a  deeper blush as behind him 
came Aya's dry voice.


"He just came out of the closet. He's still a little shy." 


"That is *so* cute!!!!" 


Ken ran faster. 


~*~ 


"That was smooth," Aya said, coming into the room and quietly 
closing the door behind him.


He looked, Ken noted wryly, as impassive as ever. Breaking into a 
government office or posing on a gay cruise, it was all the same 
to him. An assignment was an assignment to Aya, even if it meant 
being *married* to a fellow assassin. He tried not to scream.


"We're never going to find our target if we stay in this cabin 
all day," Aya pointed out. "The restaurant was the perfect place 
to look for her. But after you ran-"


"I can't do this!" he burst out. "I mean, I just can't think when 
you're...when you're...um..."


"When I'm what?" 


He pulled his sleeves over his hands and twisted them agitatedly. 
He could feel himself blushing but he stubbornly continued. "When 
you're touching me and stuff. Don't you find it a little 
*unnerving*? It isn't right you know!"


Aya rolled his eyes. "Can't you be a little bit more mature about 
this? I don't like this anymore than you do but think about it 
would you? It's a  *gay honeymoon cruise*. We're supposed to be 
intimate and affectionate. We just got married, remember? Cruise 
for newlyweds? Newlyweds that are gay?  Does any of this ring a 
bell?"


"You don't have to remind me," he groaned, burying his head into 
the big,  fluffy heart-shaped pillow.


Aya's voice was amused. "Are you planning to suffocate yourself?" 


Ken sat up and glared at him. "What the hell is wrong with you? 
Since when do you find things funny? Why are you so amused 
lately?"


He shrugged and sat down on the bed next to him. "I guess 
marrying you really brought out my soft, sensative side."


"ARGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!" 


~*~ 


The sky was streaked with hues of pink and blue and purple. Dying 
rays of  sunlight danced on the greenish water as a light breeze 
rustled through their hair. It was a perfect dusk, romantic and 
beautiful. And it would have been even more romantic if Aya was a 
girl. He wasn't though...but the twilight was still stunning.


Ken could feel himself blush. He couldn't help it...even though 
he knew that Aya got a big kick out of his discomfort. The idea 
of being married to Aya and touching him made him nervous and 
embarrassed and apprehensive all at once. Although it didn't seem 
to bother Aya in the least. He had no reserves about acting 
affectionate in public. If one didn't know better then they'd 
think... but Ken knew better. It still wasn't fair though. Why 
didn't Aya feel embarrassed?


He resisted the urge to sigh. They had discussed it and he knew 
that Aya was  right. No matter how self-conscious he was, he was 
going to have to get over it and handle this maturely. They 
couldn't afford to botch this mission up. They had to find their 
target. And the faster they found her, the faster they'd be back 
home, with this nightmare far behind them.


Well here went nothing. If Aya could do it, then why couldn't he? 
Let it not be said that the mission failed because he couldn't 
act gay. His resolve was firm. He could be in love with a man as 
well as the next guy! His fingers were shaking but there was 
nothing that he could do about that. Slowly he brought his hand 
down upon the elegant hand resting on the rail. His skin was so 
much darker than the white hand beneath his. Funny, but he'd 
never noticed before how pale Aya was.


Aya raised an eyebrow, an amused look marking his striking face. 


"Oh shut up!" Ken hissed before the redhead could say anything. 
The last thing he wanted was to hear anymore of Aya's dry, amused 
comments.


"Damn him!" he thought furiously. "I can pretend just as well as 
he can!" And with a healthy dose of determination, he tightened 
his trembling hand around Aya's, blushing all the while.


He said nothing but Ken didn't miss the faint half smile on his 
face. It  surprised him when the older boy suddenly turned his 
hand over and secured  Ken's hand in his own. The sky continued 
to darken and they remained like that for a few minutes until Aya 
suddenly pulled his hand free and...


Ken breathed a sigh of relief, although some part of him was 
rather disappointed. It had been rather calming, feeling his hand 
clasped in his own.


...and put his arm around Ken, pulling him close. 


"I love you more than anything," he murmured huskily, his breath 
soft against his face.


Ken froze, his eyes wide with shock. Was he hearing correctly? 
Did Aya just say what he thought Aya just said? His heart began 
to pound rapidly, nearly bursting from his chest.


OhGodOhGodOhGod What did he just say? He couldn't have said 
*that* I must be imagining this. Either that or he's gone mad. 
Yes, that's a reasonable explanation. I've lost it or he's lost 
it and oh God...he's couldn't have meant it. Breathe Ken...oh 
God...mommy! Where are you? Help!!!


"I see our target," Aya whispered quietly. 


"What?" he burst out, Aya's words making no sense to his 
panicking mind. 


"Our target," he repeated, pulling him closer to him. "She's 
right over there."


Target. That much registered in Ken's muddled mind. The target. 
Yes, of course. It all made sense now. The target was over there 
and Aya was acting.  It was obvious. His heartbeat slowed down 
and he let out a tiny sigh of relief. Or was it disappointment?


Ken didn't stop to ponder over where that last thought had come 
from. He was  already dancing on treacherous territory as it was. 
He peered past Aya, towards the target. It was her alright. Tall, 
stately figure, mass of black curls, lavish clothing and jewelry. 
Her arm was around a small blond haired girl. They appeared to be 
chatting intimately. But suddenly, as though she could feel him 
looking at her, she turned her head and stared straight at him. 
Ken froze as her eyes narrowed.


"She's looking this way!" he babbled loudly as he jerked his gaze 
from hers.  "Aya, she's-"


"Don't look!" Aya hissed, pulling him into his arms. He looked 
down at him, his eyes blazing like a violet fire. He looked 
pissed as he bent his head...and kissed Ken.


The kiss was angry, it was rough, it was hard...and it was the 
most wonderful thing that Ken had ever felt. Aya's arms were 
tight around his waist and before he knew it, his own were 
wrapped around the older boy's neck, clinging to him, trying not 
to drown in this new and unexpected storm of emotions.


And then, Aya softened the kiss. It dissolved from the angry 
necessity to keep up their married façade into something 
exploratory and pleasurable. And Ken knew, even as somehow their 
tongues seemed to find each other, that this had to be natural. 
Something that felt so right couldn't be wrong...could it? And 
then there was nothing left to think as the sun dipped into the 
edge of the ocean, painting it vivid hues of red and orange and 
they were only aware of each other.


TBC 

Part 2?
Reading Room?