"Where is she?", Ken murmered, voice hoarse in
worry. "She's 30 minutes late! The tuna casserole I
cooked'll get cold!"

"Relax Ken.", Ran's voice floated in from the kitchen,
"She probably got caught up in traffic. And besides, I
bought her mace remember."

Youji grinned from where he was sprawled on the couch,
"Twenty cans infact. Geez Ran, I don't think she's be
able to finish that in her lifetime. Especially since
she learned how to use her fists from Ken."

"Tell me about it. I'm glad I'm done with training
her...", the ex-soccer player finally stop pacing and
settled down on the carpet. "She hits as hard as a
man."

Ran chuckled as he set the table."And she'll hit you
again if she hears you saying that."

Youji played with the unlit cigarrete in his mouth,
"Glad you invited me to your little birthday
celebration. I don't get much vacations with my job
now, kinda makes me miss lazing around at the flower
shop.You're what? 25? Old geezer..."

"Fuck you! I'm not the one whose 30!"

"Hey! I'm physically younger!"

"And mentally too.", Ran added.

"Hey! No fair! I don't have a wife to back me up!"

Ken blinked as he turned to Ran, "Which one of us is
the wife?"

"You."

"Oh. Ok!"

"You're lives are so simple.", Youji sighed, "Mine is
dominated by trying to pin -one- little crime on the
Takatori corporation. They're all slippery as snakes."

"Any luck with contacting Omi?", Before this shown of
concern would have shocked the rest of Weiß, but Ran
had long since gave up on his cold manner. A peaceful
and happy life with his lover and sister had changed
him.

"Ah! The elusive Takatori head... he doesn't answer my
calls or any calls for that matter. It seems his
secretary screens people he doesn't want to talk to.
It's like he doesn't even exist. Five years of trying
and I'm about to give up..."

Ken's expression was sad. Omi had been like a little
brother to him, deep feelings died hard no matter how
long the separation, "Something must be wrong. Omi
would never cut himself off from us for so long
without saying anything! He's our friend!"

"You'll find out what's been happening someday Youji,
and you better drag Omi out of that place as soon as
you prove something.", Ran replied, "We'll never let
him out of our sights again. Friends from the past are
few and precious."

"Tadaima!", a bright cheery female voice floated in
from the hall.

"Aya-chan!", Ken leaped up and dusted his pants off.
Ran moved to the hallway, arms ready.

Aya ran, eyes bright and she threw herself into her
brother's arms, "I'm sorry! I'm really sorry! I didn't
mean to-"

Ran picked her up and threw her into Ken's arms,
causing her to cut her sentence as she burst into
laughter. Ken set her down, thankful that she was
light boned and thin at that.

Suddenly a young man walked into the room, eyes wide
in curiousity as he took in the strange gathering. All
three men fell silent at his entrance, heart skipping
a beat as the man gazed at them, feature's so
painfully familiar.

Youji's green eyes were filled with some unknown
emotion, "Speak of the devil..."

Aya noticed them staring and ran over to grab the
man's arm, "Oh! I forgot! I have a guest! Guys, I'd
like you meet Omi-chan! I bumped into him and invited
him for dinner cause he was lost and all. You -will-
find his family, won't you Youji?"

Ken stumbled clumsily forward, taking the smaller
man's shoulder's in his hands before pulling him into
a hug, "O-omi? Is it really you?"

Omi returned the hug, voice confused as he asked,
"Ano... Dare ka?"

~*~*~*

"Fuck. I'm so hungry I could eat a damn grocery.",
Karin ran a hand through her shaggy brown hair as she
gazed out the window of Nagi's black sportscar,
"Where'll we start?"

Nagi glanced down at the list, "I say we tackle the
worst one first."

"Ohhh shit. I can practically taste the reluctance
floating from your pretty little head.", Karin's
emerald eyes narrowed, "What could be so bad?"

"Well. We'll start with Youji Kudou. Then afterwards-"

"Wait. Kudou the cheif of police?!"

"-we'll have to visit the Fujimiya household."

"... Fujimiya the red-headed Takatori hunter?! Why
bother to even look there! Omi would be dead if the
man got his hands on him!"

Nagi glanced at her as he stopped at a spotlight, "You
forget Fujimiya is Omi's friend, before and after he
found out about his leniage."

Karin sighed and leaned back, "My head hurts..."

~*~*~*
Ran paced briskly back and forth, his gaze moving from
Omi, who was happilly spooning up large gollops of
strawberry ice cream, to Aya who sat beside him on the
couch, her arm around Omi's waist, "How did you find
him?"

Aya was more than a little confused by what had been
happening but she volunteered the information quickly
enough, "I bumped into him. He seemed lost and when I
realized there was something wrong with him mentally I
decided to bring him here so Youji could help him. He
said something about a person called Nagi and
something called a Shu."

"Schwarz!", Ken hissed.

"That explains everything. Schwarz must have done
something to his mind! They've probably been keeping
him probably because of his fortune. I should have
known!" Youji took up the empty space on Omi's left
and ran a hand though the man's hair, "Now that he's
back here with us there's no way we can let him go
back."

Omi glanced down at his now empty bowl to Ken who sat
near his feet. He held it out, a warm smile on his
lips, "More please Ken-kun!"

Ken didn't mind that behind the seemingly familiar
greeting Omi had only learned his name a few minutes
before. He was just glad to have him back. The soccer
coach took the bowl and shook his head, "Not until
after dinner Omi-chan. You probably already spoiled
your appetite."

Aya leaped up, "I'll place the food on the table!",
she held out a hand to Omi, "You wanna help?"

"Hai!", Omi nodded. He liked Aya-chan very much. Once
the both of them had dissapeared Ran got straight to
the point, "Since there's no way we're returning Omi
to Schwarz the only choice is to let him stay here.
Aya loves him and he's like family already to the rest
of us. And I earn more than enough for an extra family
member."

Ken smiled up at him lovingly, "He can use the extra
room we were saving for the child we'd adopt
someday.", he glanced towards the kitchen where Aya
and Omi's laughter rang out, "Now that he's with us we
can give him the kind of family he never had! He out
of all of us deserves it most."

"Hey!", Youji protested, "What if I want him at my
place?"

Ran's expression was a shadow of his old self in it's
coldness, "Impossible."

"What?!"

Ken looked taken aback that Youji had even asked,
"Stay in your place? Your a single man who works full
time with half of Tokyo's underworld as your enemy!"

Ran nodded, "It's better -here-. Ken is usually at
home unless he's teaching soccer. And you can't expect
for him to follow you around while you work. Besides,
Omi needs a sense of family and us more than ever in
his current state."

"You can visit often and be his Uncle Youji.", Ken
snickered.

"Sure daddykins. Better lock your bedrooms or you
might teach Omi more about the birds and the bee's
than he already needs to know.", Youji snapped back.

"Which I'm sure you want to teach him yourself!"

"That's it Ken! I'm -so- going to kick your ass!"

Omi appeared by the kitchen entrance, "Time to eat!"

As the trio piled in, Ran smiling as he took the hand
Omi offered, the blue eyed youth asked, "Ran-kun?
What's an 'ass'?"

"Great Youji! You're a bad influence on your -first-
hour of being uncle!"

"... Ken. If you don't keep quite I won't let you have
some of the cake I brought."

Ran ignored the now pleading Ken and gloating Youji
and led Omi to his seat. He knew how hard it was to
lose family. Omi was the last of the Takatori clan and
had been cut off from his Weiß family for five years,
probably due to Schwarz. The red-head was more than
willing to set it right.

He had though before his family couldn't be more
complete. But seeing Omi at the table, a beautiful
smile on his youthful face, Ran realized he had been
wrong.