Chapter 4

Omi caught himself humming blissfully for the fourth time that hour, and bit his lip to make himself stop. Damn it, could he be any MORE obvious? Ken had already given him a few strange looks today, and Youji had been teasing him more than usual, trying to find out why Omi was so pleased with himself.

Omi could have answered that question with two simple words: two months. Two months of having someone to hold and comfort him whenever he needed it; two months of being able to go out and forget about his double life for hours at a time; two months of some of the best days of his life.

Oh, it hadn't all been wine and roses; Hiro was an intelligent person and knew that Omi was hiding something from him. He'd had to break two of their dates because of missions, and the excuses he'd given weren't particularly believable. After that first meeting, Shuuichi had been oddly hostile to Omi, and that caused problems between them as well. And most of all, Hiro was suspicious of the injuries he kept getting. In the two months since they'd agreed to be boyfriends, Omi had been shot once, knifed twice, and broken his ankle - an unusually high number of injuries for that period of time, but then they'd had more missions than usual. 'I'm clumsy' wasn't holding up well, especially for the bullet wound. Their first real argument had been over Omi's refusal to explain the injuries, and they hadn't spoken to each other for nearly four days after that.

All in all, though, it was going pretty well. They'd gotten through their first major fight with hardly a bobble, and discovered that they still loved each other just as much when they were angry at each other. As for their physical relationship - Omi fought down a blush just thinking about it. Their experimentation had progressed further and further, until they were comfortable being completely naked together, touching and kissing and caressing.

They still hadn't gone all the way - but that was going to change tonight. It was their second month anniversary, and they had been scraping cash together for the last week to celebrate it. They were going to a fancy restaurant for dinner, then out to a movie, and finally they would end up in a hotel room they'd rented for the night. Omi had already told the others not to expect him back that night. He'd been a little embarrassed at the idea of going to a hotel with Hiro, but they'd both agreed that their first time should be in special surroundings. Hiro's apartment was too small and his bed wasn't very comfortable, and they certainly couldn't do it in Omi's room above the Koneko.

That was one thing Omi felt kind of bad about - he still hadn't told the rest of Weiss that his relationship with Hiroshi went a little beyond just friendship. He was afraid of their reactions to finding out that he was 'like that', afraid of the stress it might put on their teamwork. He was reasonably certain that Ken wouldn't care, and Youji was a fairly easy-going kind of person; but you never knew how people would react, and he couldn't predict Aya's reaction at all. He figured it was best just to keep it quiet as long as possible.

He realized he was humming under his breath again, and stopped in annoyance. Ken glanced over at him with a raised eyebrow. "What's with you today, Omittchi? You've been acting weird all day."

"If I didn't know better, I'd think you'd gotten laid," Youji threw in from across the shop. Omi fought very hard not to blush and give himself away, and for once he succeeded. Thankfully there was no one in the shop to overhear this little conversation but the three of them.

"Youji-kun no baka! I've just got this song stuck in my head and it's annoying me, that's all." He thought he managed to be casual as he fluffed up the leaves of the arrangement he was working on.

Youji wasn't going to leave it alone, though. "Oh? Don't I recall you saying something about staying out for the night tonight? Something you're not telling us, bishounen?"

Omi rolled his eyes. "Hiro-kun invited me to a concert that NG is producing, and then afterwards he's promised to take me backstage and see if he can introduce me to Seguchi Touma." In fact Hiroshi had promised that very thing, but the concert wasn't until next week. "It won't be over until two am at least, and since I don't have work tomorrow, I figured it would be easiest just to crash at his place."

"Man, our little Omi's getting to hang out with rock stars," Ken teased him, grinning.

"Well, J-League stars are starting to get boring," Omi teased back. Ken chuckled.

The bell over the door rang, and Omi looked up to greet the customer. The words died unspoken on his lips as he realized who it was.

"Yo, Birman!" Youji greeted her instead. He sidled up to her and put an arm around her shoulder. "When are you going to give in and give me a date, hmmm? I promise you won't regret it."

Ken rolled his eyes. "When are YOU going to give in and give up, Youji? Honestly."

"I'll get Aya-kun," was all Omi said, and he ran up the stairs to the apartment. His stomach was churning, and his mind was going in little circles babbling 'not tonight, not tonight, not tonight!' He tried to calm himself down, telling himself that the actual mission might not be for days, and that even if it was for tonight he had the right to turn it down. All the others turned down missions on a regular basis - even Aya, now that he didn't have his sister's hospital bills to pay anymore. Omi almost never did, and he hadn't backed out on either of the last two missions that conflicted with his dates with Hiro. But this was special! Hiro would never forgive him if he cancelled at the last minute - the dinner reservations were already made, and the hotel room had already been paid for. Surely they'd understand if he refused just this once...

He still hadn't convinced himself by the time the mission tape started. The simulated Persia no longer jolted him, but it did always send a stab of nostalgia through him. He'd never really had a chance to get to know the man who was his uncle, and he thought he could have learned a lot from him. If only he hadn't died so soon after Omi discovered who he really was - he had been the last family Omi had. Now everyone he was related to was dead, which was just as well in most cases, but sad in others.

The mission was infiltration and information gathering, and if they managed to confirm the identity of the target they were to make the hit as well. The location was a club that had opened a few months before in the downtown Tokyo area. People had been going missing from it on a semi-regular basis, and the bodies were now starting to turn up, horribly mangled and tortured.

"I don't get it," Ken said when the video was finished. "More than a dozen people have gone missing from the same place in the last two months - even before they found the bodies, why wasn't a big deal made out of it?"

Birman nodded. "A good question. The answer is: because of the nature of the club. It caters to the - 'alternative' crowd, and though it gets a lot of publicity because of that, it's mostly negative publicity."

Omi blinked, confused. "Alternative crowd?" he repeated.

"It's a gay bar," Youji clarified, rolling his eyes at Birman's evasiveness. "I've been by it a couple of times, it's pretty swanky - on the outside, at least." That last bit had been added just a little bit too hastily, and Omi gave him a sideways look.

"It's an unfortunate fact that there are a large number of people in law enforcement and administration who are of the secret opinion that 'a few less of THAT kind is a good thing', so the investigation hasn't been as thorough as it could have been. We'd like two of you to go undercover as a couple, with at least one person outside for backup," Birman continued, and Omi sighed with relief. This wasn't a mission that required much hacking, and he wasn't in the running for one of the infiltrators anyway - with three people who had perfectly legal ID, it would be silly for him to go in with a fake ID that could potentially be spotted. He could just give the others a disk in case they needed to get into a security system, and they wouldn't need him at all.

"Don't look at me," Aya said flatly. "This is not my style. I'll do the backup."

"Balinese and Siberian, then..." Birman started, but Youji broke in.

"Ah... that's not necessarily a good idea," he hedged nervously. "I think it should be Bombay and Siberian."

Omi looked at him in dismay. "Youji-kun, I've got that concert to go to tonight! Hiro-kun went to a lot of trouble to get tickets and backstage passes for us!"

"Why shouldn't it be you, Youji? Afraid your reputation would be compromised?" Ken teased him mercilessly.

Youji muttered something under his breath, flushing. "What was that?" Birman demanded.

"I said, 'someone will recognize me'," he finally admitted with a sigh, as the rest of the team looked at him in shock. "If we do end up going for the target tonight, it wouldn't be a good idea to have one of us identified at the scene of the crime."

"Youji, you..." Ken trailed off and shook his head. "Who would have thought? The great ladies' man is a regular at a gay nightclub..."

Youji glared at him. "I'm bi, all right? I just don't advertise it." Omi was flushed, but pleased. Maybe he'd be able to talk to someone about Hiroshi after all.

Birman sighed. "Abyssinian, will you reconsider?" Aya shook his head stubbornly, and Omi's stomach sank. "Then it will have to be Bombay and Siberian."

"Can't we do it another night?" Omi pleaded desperately. "Or even just send Ken-kun in as a single?"

Birman gave him a Look. "First of all, you know better than to send any one operative in alone if it can be avoided. Second of all, only couples are being taken. As for doing it another night, so far the kidnappings have been on a very regular schedule. The next one should be tonight - it will be about a week before we can try again, and two people will have died in the meantime."

Omi felt sick. He couldn't, he just couldn't let two people die because of a choice he'd made. That would violate everything he believed in, everything that had made him a part of Weiss in the first place. But he KNEW that Hiro would never forgive him for this; even if they managed to get through it with their relationship intact, it would always hang between them, and Hiroshi would never quite trust him again. "I'm in," he confirmed miserably.

Ken gave him a sympathetic look. "There'll be other concerts, Omi. I'm sure you'll get a chance to meet this Touma guy some day."

Omi just shook his head and stood. "I have to call Hiro-kun and let him know I'm not coming," he said listlessly.

He felt like he had a heavy weight crushing down on his chest by the time he reached his room, and he was fighting hard not to cry. He reminded himself that he'd always known the possibility existed that his relationship with Hiroshi might interfere with Weiss, and he'd made the decision from the start that Weiss was more important. But now that it had come to the test, he found himself sick at heart by the decision. Why was it that every time his life started to look like it might get a little better, that he might actually have someone to love him, it inevitably took a turn for the worse?

"At least Hiro-kun's not in danger of dying," he muttered to himself as he punched in the phone number from memory. Somehow the thought didn't cheer him up much.

"Moshi moshi?" Hiro's voice came over the phone. Omi drew a deep breath, and plunged in.

"Hiro-kun, it's Omi. I... I'm really sorry... I can't come tonight."

There was silence on the other end of the line for a long moment, then Hiro asked, "Why not?"

He hadn't even had time to come up with an excuse - but what excuse could possibly cover this? "I... it's... I can't... I just can't, that's all." This had to be one of the lowest points in his life, surpassed only by discovering who he really was, and losing Ouka.

"Omi... if you're nervous, if you're not ready, just say so. We'll just go to dinner and the movie and not..."

"No, it's not that!" Omi exclaimed. "It's not... I really do want to, Hiro. It's just... something's come up, and I have to be somewhere else tonight. I can't really explain it, I know this sounds really awful, but please believe me I really do want to be there with you..." He was babbling, and he was startled to realize that he was also crying. It must have shown in his voice because Hiro sighed.

"I don't understand you sometimes, Omi. Why can't you tell me where you're going?"

"It's complicated," Omi replied miserably. That had to be the understatement of the century. "I'm really sorry..."

"It's okay," Hiro interrupted him gently. "Look, I know I've been badgering you a lot lately, about not telling me things. But I already made a decision earlier this week, and I guess now it's being put to the test - I trust you. If you say you have a reason, then I believe you. I just hope that someday you'll trust me enough to tell me what's going on with you."

Omi wanted to protest that it wasn't really a matter of trust, but he knew he couldn't explain it without giving himself away. "Thank you," was all he could say, his voice so choked with tears that it came out as a whisper.

"I love you, bishounen," Hiro replied softly. "We'll do it another night, okay? Will I talk to you tomorrow?"

"Probably," Omi replied, grateful beyond words for his boyfriend's forgiving and understanding nature. "I love you too, Hiro-kun. I have to go now - thank you so much!" He hung up, and scrambled to get into clothes that would both be appropriate for the mission, and allow him to conceal some of his darts. If the sleeves of his shirt were a little salty where he'd wiped away his tears, no one would notice.

Omi and Ken circulated both singly and together, making contacts and subtly digging out information from the people they talked to. Many people had heard about the abductions, but the common consensus seemed to be that it was a horror story started by anti-gays to keep the club from prospering. No one seemed to know anyone who had actually been kidnapped, though everyone knew someone who knew someone who knew someone who'd been taken, and so on. If it hadn't been for the awful pictures of the recovered bodies, Omi would have started to agree with them.

After three hours of fruitless searching, they were no closer to discovering their target than when they'd started. Youji and Aya were both on the rooftop, watching to see if any other couples were being approached in a suspicious manner through a hacked security system link that Omi had set up. Ken and Omi were both fitted with tiny microphones, allowing the other two to hear everything that was said around them.

Omi was hanging out at the end of the bar, idly sipping a non-alcoholic drink while Ken scouted the dance floor. They'd been separated for half an hour at this point, and it was about time for them to regroup and try again as a couple. He found himself wishing that he could have been here with Hiroshi - the music was good and the dance floor was large, and the acoustics were good enough that the individual benches on the other side of the club were actually relatively quiet.

"Omi?" came a startled voice from behind him. "Is that you?"

Omi's eyes widened. The voice was familiar, though he could quite place it through the interference of the music. Who could possibly be here that would recognize him? He had to get away before they confirmed that it was him, or hitting the target would have to wait for another day even if they did manage to find him. Kritiker had a strict rule about that; if any operative was recognized and could be placed at the scene around the time of the assassination, then the hit didn't go off. If that happened, the target would get away, he'd take two more victims - and Omi would have missed his date for nothing.

He tried to slide away into the crowd before whoever it was could get a good look at him, but a hand reached out and grabbed his arm. "It is you!" Shuuichi exclaimed, coming around to where they could see each other. Omi felt his stomach bottom out - of all the people it could have been...

Shuuichi's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "What are you doing here? I thought you and Hiro had a special date tonight... is he here?"

"Eh?" Omi tried to hedge. "No, I'm here alone. Are you sure you weren't thinking of some other night?"

"How could I?" Shuuichi retorted. "He's been talking about nothing else all week. He was so worked up today that he actually missed a verse in one of our songs!"

"Oh. Well, uh... it's kind of a long story..."

Shuuichi's eyes widened. "You stood him up again, didn't you?" he demanded, angry. "He told me about the last two times... you stood him up on your anniversary? To come HERE? And he thinks Yuki is a jerk! I can't believe you'd have the nerve to do something like that, you bastard!" His voice was getting louder and louder as he spoke, until it was an all-out rant at full volume.

Desperately, Omi tried to defuse the other boy's temper. "Shuuichi, it's really not what you think..."

"Do you have a problem with my boyfriend?" Ken's voice came from behind him, low and dangerous. Omi buried his face in his hands, losing all hope of salvaging the situation. Ken must have seen Shuuichi arguing with him, and thought that Omi was in trouble.

"Boyfriend?" Shuuichi repeated incredulously, looking back and forth between them. "He's your boyfriend?"

"Yeah, he's taken, so get lost!" Ken replied, having apparently completely misread the situation.

"Ken-kun, you are NOT helping!" Omi hissed at him, and Ken gave him a puzzled look. Too late - Shuuichi was absolutely furious now.

"I don't believe this! You stand up Hiro on your anniversary to go on a date with someone else?" Shuuichi actually spat in his face. "You two-timing bastard! I'm going tell him about this, you can bet on that." He turned to Ken, and with deliberate maliciousness said, "Are you aware that your 'boyfriend' has been seeing my best friend for the last two months?"

"Oh, gods," Omi cried in despair, covering his face again. Of all the ways he could have chosen to out himself to Weiss, this was NOT on the list. He wondered vaguely what Youji and Aya were thinking, listening to all this.

Ken turned to him in shock. "Omi? You... and Hiro?" Omi nodded, figuring there really wasn't any reason to hide it any more. "Christ, first Youji, now you?"

Shuuichi was looking supremely smug. "I wouldn't suggest trying to see Hiro again," he informed Omi in a superior tone. "He's pretty easy-going, but when you really piss him off - well, he's got his black belt, and he's not afraid to use it." Having said his piece, he spun on his heel and stalked off. Omi sagged against the bar, tears slipping through his fingers as he realized the truth of what Shuuichi had said. Hiro was slow to anger, but once he did get mad at someone their days were numbered. He would have no reason to disbelieve Shuuichi, and every reason to believe him - it would explain most of Omi's odd and secretive behaviour.

He felt a hand come to rest awkwardly on his shoulder. "Omi... I'm sorry," Ken told him sincerely. "I didn't know... I wouldn't have..."

Omi turned away, not wanting the sympathy at the moment. "I know," he said shortly, trying hard not to be mad at his friend. It really wasn't Ken's fault. "Just... just leave me alone, please? The mission's botched anyway, Shuuichi knows who I am. Obviously. Oh, shit!" Omi jerked upright, eyes wide. "If we don't get the target, he'll take another set of victims, and Shuuichi and Yuki are here... I have to find Yuki and warn him!"

Ken caught his arm as he was all set to go running off. "Omi! You can't warn anyone, it would look suspicious. Use your head!"

Their watches beeped simultaneously - engineered to sound like a watch alarm, it was actually an indication that Aya or Youji wanted them to get somewhere private and put their receivers on, so they could talk. Immediately they both headed for the door, Omi still fighting back tears as they grabbed their jackets and exited the building. The moment they were out of sight, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his earpiece, sliding it into place as Ken did the same.

"We've got our man," Youji's voice murmured over the line. "He's taken his victims - and it's not your, uh, friend, Bombay, so don't worry."

"Whether or not it's someone I know, two people are still going to die tonight because of me," he returned miserably.

"Not if we kill him first," said Aya.

Ken's eyes widened. "The hit is off, Abyssinian! Bombay was made."

"So we can't get him here," Youji replied. "We're following him right now - he drugged them with something and is leading them off down the alleys. We're already almost far enough away that it won't be connected with the club - another block and we'll drop down and take him out, and get the two of them someplace where they'll be picked up and given medical attention."

A chunk of the weight that had settled on Omi's chest lifted, as he realized that he wasn't going to be responsible for the death of two innocent people. But the majority of it stayed, knowing he'd lost the best chance at real happiness that he'd had in a long, long time.

Hiro, forgive me, he prayed silently, hopelessly. I never meant to hurt you. I hope you find someone who deserves you, who can make you happy. Obviously, it's not me.

|Chapter 1| |Chapter 2| |Chapter 3| |Chapter 4| |Chapter 5| |Chapter 6| |Chapter 7|

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