“You’ll be here when I get back, right?” Ryo leaned in for yet another kiss, but this time Aya was prepared. He turned his head at the last minute and gave Ryo’s shoulder a push.
“Yes, I will. As I already told you several times in the shower, out of the shower, and while we both dressed. If you don’t leave now, Ryo, you’re going to be late.” Aya gave him a shove through the open door.
Ryo grinned impishly and Aya’s breath caught. When the man smiled like that he looked so much like his former self despite the suit and tie he was currently wearing. Once again, Aya was shown proof that Ryo was only another facet of Yohji’s personality. Or was it the other way around? Not that it mattered, not anymore. Aya loved and wanted the man he was currently trying to get out the door with his whole being. The name he used was unimportant.
“I can take the hint,” Ryo said, his grin widening when Aya sighed back at him. “Okay, make that several hints.” He glanced down at his watch and confirmed exactly what Aya had been trying to tell him for the last five minutes – he was going to be late. “Shit! I need to go. I should be back by three, four at the latest.”
With a wave, Ryo headed down the hall. Aya closed the door behind him and leaned against it, a smile twitching at his lips. Punctuality or the lack thereof, he decided, was obviously a trait inherent to Ryo’s personality and had little or nothing to do with whether or not he remembered being Yohji. Some things simply did not change, regardless of the man having amnesia. Aya found that somehow comforting.
Then again, Ryo’s mind did appear to be fighting back against the memory loss. His sketchbook was a definite indication of that. He was also divorced, a fact that Aya had not been told, but for which he was rather grateful. Still, he should have been informed that Ryo and Asuka had divorced, and that Ryo was starting to remember. Yet he hadn’t, and now that Ryo had left for his appointment, Aya was going to find out exactly why from the one person who, he suspected, did know everything.
Picking up his cell phone from the top of the nightstand, Aya dialed the number from memory and sat down on the edge of the bed, waiting for the connection to be made. After only two rings, he heard the call being picked up.
“Aya-kun,” a young male voice said by way of greeting.
“I hope I’m not interrupting any important business, Omi?” Aya asked in return, content for the moment to go through the ritual exchange of politeness.
“No, not at all Aya-kun. It’s always a pleasure to speak to you. Are you well?”
“Yes, I am, thank you for asking. I was, however, hoping you could…”
Omi interrupted him. “Is Ken-kun well?”
Aya frowned, suppressing a sigh. “Yes, Ken is well. Look, Omi….”
“Is Yohji-kun well?”
Aya’s gaze narrowed, his frown deepening. “I should have known you would be aware that he was here. Are you having him followed?”
“Followed? Not at all, Aya-kun. I telephoned Krypton-san when Yohji left Japan for England. If Yohji-kun is being followed, it’s by his orders and not mine,” Omi answered, his tone light and friendly. As always.
Aya was fairly certain that Ryo already had a tail courtesy of his current employer. He made a mental note to call KR right after this conversation was finished.
“You knew he was coming. Why didn’t you tell me, Omi? You should have warned me that there was a definite possibility that he would be showing up at the shop.” Aya gritted his teeth, forcing himself to remain calm.
“Why would I have done that, Aya-kun? I wanted you to be surprised. You were surprised, weren’t you? But yes, as you have surmised, I did know he was going to England. In fact, I’m the one that asked for Yohji-kun to be sent there in the first place. I have an interest in the client for whom Yohji-kun is working.”
“You mean you have an interest in the financial institution, don’t you? I’m hardly surprised. However, his name is not Yohji anymore Omi, it’s Ryo.”
“As mine is no longer Omi, but Mamoru. Takatori Mamoru, Aya-kun.” Aya heard Mamoru sigh over the phone. “Aya-kun, I meant no harm, I assure you. In fact, the current situation is due in part to coincidence. I had asked for Ryo-kun to be assigned to that particular client and for his presence on site in London. Those arrangements had been made prior to your decision to send him flowers.”
“But you had hoped we would run into each other once he was here, didn’t you?” Aya rubbed a hand across his forehead, easing the tension in the muscles.
“Yes, that had been my hope,” Mamoru admitted.
“Then why not call me and tell me the truth? You knew he was starting to remember, no doubt. You knew he and Asuka had divorced. You could have called and informed me of all of this, letting me decide for myself whether or not I wanted to see him.”
“I felt there was sufficient risk that you would avoid him and I didn’t want that. You have this habit of making so-called noble sacrifices, Aya-kun.”
Aya snorted in response, unable to come up with an adequate retort to what he knew was the truth. “Very well, Mamoru, but that doesn’t explain why you didn’t tell me he was getting his memories back. For that matter, why is his doctor prescribing him migraine medication? I have serious doubts that those headaches have anything to do with migraines.”
Mamoru took a deep breath and Aya grimaced, immediately suspecting that he wasn’t going to like what the man was about to say to him. Closing his eyes, Aya waited.
“The medicine Ryo-kun is taking is not for migraines as he thinks, Aya-kun. It’s an experimental medication created, in a large part, due to Ryo-kun’s condition. We were never able to find out for sure if that woman did anything to his mind prior to the trauma he received after being caught in the collapse of Koua Academy. Based on what we do know, it’s highly likely that he’d been influenced with some sort of chemical that contributed to his subsequent amnesia. He was started on the medication after the severe headaches began to accompany his flashes of memory.”
Aya griped the phone tighter, his eyes opening wide as he listened to what Mamoru told him and digested the implications. “Am I to believe then, that the medication is helping him to remember?”
“That is the doctor’s hope, yes. It is also supposed to alleviate the severity of the headaches. As I said, it is still in the experimental stages. So far, Ryo-kun has not shown any lasting side effects such as prolonged disorientation or hallucinations.”
Aya grunted at the mention of the side effects. When he spoke, his displeasure was evident, “Why not tell him the truth then? If you’re so keen for him to remember, why all this secrecy? He’s not a lab rat for your company’s pharmaceutical inventions.”
Mamoru sighed again. “Because my grandfather does not know I have approved the administration of the drug to Ryo-kun. He would not be pleased, Aya-kun. You already know that I had to convince him to let Yohji – Ryo-kun – live in the first place. Grandfather considers the man a security risk for the organization and rightly so, which is why he has been, and will continue to be, monitored. I have, however, allowed use of the drug, despite knowing Grandfather would disapprove, because I feel that both you and Ryo-kun deserve this chance.”
Other than the information about the drug, nothing Mamoru had said was new to Aya. While he was and always would be grateful to Mamoru for ensuring Yohji’s safety when it became clear he had amnesia, he was still more than a little angry at Takatori Saijou for suggesting the need for Yohji’s death in the first place. The man was utterly heartless.
“Aya-kun? Aya-kun, are you still there?” Mamoru’s voice filtered through the wave of anger that thoughts of the senior Takatori evoked.
“Yes, I’m still here. I was… distracted for a moment,” Aya replied.
“Have you been enjoying your time with Ryo-kun?” Takatori or not, he was still as curious as ever.
“Yes, I have. We talked about who and what he’s remembered.”
“And talking is all you and he have done? You were there all night.” The latter was not a question.
“I thought you said you weren’t having him followed? Mamoru, you haven’t bugged his hotel room, have you? To do so is inexcusable and completely unnecessary.” Anger seethed into Aya’s voice.
Mamoru’s denial was quick and emphatic, “No! Aya-kun, I would never invade his or your privacy in such a manner. I spoke to Krypton-san again this morning and he updated me on the situation.”
“We are not a situation, as you so impersonally phrased it, Mamoru.”
“No, of course not. You are right, Aya-kun, forgive me. But Aya-kun…” Mamoru let his words trail off into silence.
Aya frowned, sighing in growing exasperation. “But what, Mamoru? If you have something to say about Ryo-kun and myself, then please express it. I’m not in the mood to play guessing games with you.”
“It’s not about you and Ryo-kun. I was being sincere when I said you two deserved this chance. I never wanted you to leave, Aya-kun. I understood why you chose to go, but that doesn’t mean I had hoped things would change in the future. I only wish for your and Ryo-kun’s happiness, preferably together.”
“Then what is it you wished to say to me? If not about the current circumstances pertaining to Ryo-kun and myself, then what? You can’t expect me to read…” Aya paused and then shook his head, the answer dawning in his mind. “It’s Ken, isn’t it?”
“Yes,” Mamoru softly answered.
“If you want to know how Ken is, Mamoru, then you should call him directly and ask him. I know he would be pleased to hear from you.”
“I don’t think he wants to hear from me, Aya-kun, not after the way we parted. He’s refused to reply to any of my letters. I suspect he throws them away without reading them.”
“He reads them, Mamoru, and he doesn’t throw them away. As for the way you parted, you only have yourself to blame. You rejected him. You are also a fool if you haven’t yet figured out that Ken still loves you. How do you think he felt when he heard those rumors concerning you and Nagi? They are rumors, aren’t they?”
“Nagi-kun and I are only friends, Aya-kun. There has never been anything more. I assured Ken-kun of that fact as well. I tried to explain why I broke things off with him before he left. He deserved a fresh start and I was no longer the person he had loved. I thought he would come to understand that and we would be able…”
It was Aya’s turn to interrupt. “Ken still loves you. He doesn’t give a damn about what name you choose to call yourself. The question is do you still love him? If you do, you’ll come here and tell him. You made sure that Ryo and I would be reunited. Now it’s time for you to stopping butting into everyone else’s private life and deal with your own.”
“Aya-kun…” Mamoru sighed. “Perhaps you are right.”
“Ryo will be here for the next couple of weeks and he’s asked me to stay with him while he’s here. I said I would. He wants to work on remembering as much as he can and I told him I would help if I could. I think you should come for a visit, Mamoru. I think it would be beneficial to both Ryo and Ken if you were here.”
They sat in silence for nearly a minute before Mamoru spoke at last, “I do have some business I could attend to while I was there. I admit it would be nice to see all of you again.”
“He remembers you too, you know. He has a sketch of you done from memory, but he couldn’t yet recall your name. I told him you were Takatori Mamoru. That named seemed the best to use, considering you are something of a celebrity in Japan these days.”
“Very well Aya-kun, I will make the travel arrangements today. It will likely be a day or two before I arrive. I have to be sure everything here will be taken care of during my absence. I will telephone you when I’ve finalized plans. Aya-kun, do you think you could refrain from telling Ken-kun so that I may surprise him?”
“I can do that easily enough,” he replied.
“Ah, good. Thank you, Aya-kun. Good luck with Ryo-kun. I will talk to you again soon.”
“Good-bye, Mamoru.”
“Good-bye, Aya-kun.”