Like a Moth To a Flame

[balinesian]

This was how it always went.  A week of recon work and finally the big mission to bring everyone down.  Youji hardly cared about the specifics at this point.  They had their target.  The backstory did not matter to him.  Following Aya around back as Ken took point to draw fire, Omi's voice crackled in his ear.

"Youji-kun, remember it's right, then right again and left."

Omi never bothered with their codenames.  Youji liked them.  "Mm, I remember," he said, turning down the volume before it deafened him.

He glanced at Aya as they waited for their signal, having the audacity to pull out his smokes and light one up.

Comments

[epitaphassassin.livejournal.com]

"Balinese, what are you doing?" Aya hissed, fingers twitching at the hilt of his sword. He was ready to go in and get this over with. He had missed his sitting with Aya, and now he was irritable.

He didn't like it when Kudou smoked on a mission. It smelled, and Aya thought it was unprofessional.

"Youji-kun, are you upsetting Aya-kun again?" Omi asked, soft voice in their ears as they stood there. "You know he likes to be serious on a mission."

[killerbalinese.livejournal.com]

Youji ignored the sweetness of Omi's voice and sucked in hard on the cigarette, making the end glow a right orange. "So you like to be serious on a mission, do you?" It was a taught.

"Youji--" He pulled the plug out of his ear so that Omi couldn't yell at him or tell him to focus. He differed to the kid on everything except this.

"You're being a fucking jerk, Abyssinian. So buck up. Let me smoke and--"

Ken's voice roared, with or without the device in his ear. "GET THE FUCK IN HERE!"

[epitaphassassin.livejournal.com]

Aya rolled his eyes, but then at the urgency in Ken's voice he charged inside, unsheathing his katana. He glanced over his shoulder and saw Kudou closely following him.

Ken was surrounded, but not by the guards, but by the prostitutes. Their faces were tearstained and they moved jerkily, but they were all armed with guns and blunt instruments.

Ken seemed at a loss, because this was not in the plan. Aya skidded to a stop, fingers tightening around the hilt of his sword. This was not good... not at all.

[killerbalinese.livejournal.com]

It was, very nearly, Youji's worst nightmare. He had no idea what was going on, but he did know what he had to do. It wasn't often that he used a gun, but he kept one on him for 'old time's sake.' Bullets bothered him beyond measure, probably from the six scars he still had on his chest from it -- or he imagined he did. The grafts were flawless, but just like Asuka popped up constantly, so did those wounds.

Stigmata-like.

Shooting into the air to draw attention, Youji held his ground and shoved the gun back into his waistband to leave both hands free for the wire if need be. "What the hell are you doing!?"

[epitaphassassin.livejournal.com]

Aya was in agreement with Youji. He didn't know what the hell they were doing. The women were obviously about to violently maim Ken, but none of them seemed enthusiastic about it, if their tears were any indication.

"We need to protect Ken," he replied, making the hard decision. "Try to disarm them without killing until we know what they're up to." Aya was prepared to kill, but he wanted answers more than death this time.

[killerbalinese.livejournal.com]

Youji snorted and Ken hardly looked like the sort needed to be protected. Why the hell would he kill--

"FUCK!" That's what happened when he was a cock, arrogant bastard. He got himself shot at. The woman in question recocked the shotgun and the blond growled at Aya. "Right then. I've got this. Go take care of our mark."

[epitaphassassin.livejournal.com]

Aya nodded, and ducked around the women, a bullet sliding past his ear. At least with Youji and Ken distracting all the whores, he could get to the mark and take care of it.

He didn't really want to leave them, but once the mark was taken care of, he could assist.

He thought he heard a soft chuckle in his ear as a women ran at Youji, her butcher's knife aimed to stab him. He needed to focus, and not on his team.