Mirage Of Blaze Fan Fiction / Weiss Kreuz Fan Fiction ❯ Chasing Twilight ❯ Chapter Fourteen: I Can't Promise You That ( Chapter 14 )

A/N: Well, I have to admit, as much as I generally loathe typing things up, it's a real relief to be typing up new chapters again instead of trying to fix the formatting of old ones.

 

Standard Disclaimers Apply and are pretty much inserted at random chapters for me. I mean, it's fanfic, we all KNOW I don't own MoB or Weiss, right? Let's be serious…

 

Chasing Twilight

By: Banshee Puppet

Chapter Fourteen: I can't promise you that

 

~ “If you'd like me to say that I'll be with you always, that I'll stay beside you, that I'll never disappear again…you'll be disappointed. I can't promise you that.” -Yuuiko~

 

If you drowned yourself in work, didn't think about the past or the future, Sakura thought, you could almost pretend that nothing had changed.

 

“If you aren't going to buy anything then get the hell out!”

 

It wasn't until you took a step back to examine the small details that you suddenly realized your life is no longer the way you remember it.

 

“Brad, be nice. Even fangirls should be allowed to pursue their twisted little hobbies.”

 

“I'd be happier if they were pursuing getting a life,” Crawford muttered under his breath. “How the hell am I supposed to know what a chrysanthemum is anyway? And why am I even here?”

 

“Because Ran is out today and we needed someone abrasive and antisocial to fill in for him and make our otherwise meaningless lives feel complete,” Yohji quipped.

 

Crawford was about to retort with some scathing comment or other when Omi placed a pile of flowers in front of the bespectacled assassin. “Chrysanthemums,” he explained, “and you're here because you lost a bet. Although I'll admit that your Ran impression is flawless.”

 

“Koneko no Sumu,” Haruie chirped happily into the phone. Unlike Crawford and Nagi, she wasn't working here so much as playing around while waiting for news from Naoe, who was due to arrive any minute now.

 

No, on the surface, nothing had really changed—they all still behaved in the manner most expected of them, spoke the same as they always had, adhered to the same fashion sense; they still had the same strengths and weaknesses and mannerisms. Brad still adjusted his glasses when irritated, Ran still had a bad temper and a sister complex, Yohji was still a pervert… All the fundamental realities were exactly as expected. It was the nature of their lives that had changed—who was a friend and who an enemy, who was in love with who and why, and somehow it still managed to feel as if it had always been this way.

 

Sakura sat off to one side sifting through a shipment of ribbons wondering `am I the only one who finds it strange? …the way that life invariably moves on, keeps us guessing, taunts us with possibilities which often fade away, no more static than wisps of smoke from a dying flame, and suddenly puts new hopes in their place, new loves, new choices to be made…' She sighed slightly. Her thoughts only became deep, she figured, because she was avoiding thinking about what was really bothering her. Yuuiko had disappeared. No one else seemed to find it even remotely strange that one moment she was always there and the next she just…

 

“Chartreuse,” Nagi stated as he appeared to the right of her, staring down the ribbons.

 

“Huh?” Sakura blinked out of her thoughts.

 

…the next she just…wasn't.

 

Nagi was staring rather cluelessly down at the rolls of ribbon she was sorting. His presence, Crawford's presence—both had become so commonplace that she'd forgiven them without ever noticing she'd done so. It was an oddly hollow realization.

 

“What color is chartreuse?” he clarified, picking up a roll of crushed pink velvet ribbon and inspecting it as if it held within it the secrets to the universe.

 

“Oh!” Sakura answered. “It's a sort of warm yellow-green. Someone asked for chartreuse?”

 

Nagi nodded blandly. “This one?” he asked, holding up a bit of satin.

 

“No,” Sakura replied. “That's lime, chartreuse is more yellow than that. It's sort of…”

 

“Vomit green,” Ken said as he picked up a piece of crimson lace to tie about the neck of a blue glass vase. “It's the color of vomit.”

 

Before Nagi could ask if he was serious or not, the teen was distracted by the door chime and the man who entered with it—Nobotsuna Naoe. He'd never explained anything about the past or their relationship in general; he hadn't explained even the tiniest little thing, and he never appeared to pay Nagi even the slightest mind, but that didn't' mean Nagi didn't want to know him, to be a part of his life—this was his real, biological family after all…at least in a complicated and ass backwards kind of way it was. `Why does he hate me so much?' Nagi wondered. `Is it so wrong to want to be part of his life? To have a real family?' He bowed politely at the possessor. “Good afternoon,” he said.

 

Naoe stared at the teenager for a long moment. “Good afternoon,” he replied, mostly because it was the polite response before brushing right past him towards Haruie.

 

Unlike the monk, Takaya seemed to like Nagi well-enough though, and as he strolled in behind his lover offered the younger teen a victory sign. “Yo, why so down?” he asked.

 

Haruie chuckled a bit. “Kagetora is so cheerful lately,” she told Naoe suggestively. Naoe cleared his throat and adjusted his tie, unable to bring himself to respond to that particular comment.

 

Nagi lifted a vomit green ribbon and frowned at it. He didn't want to start trouble between two guys that seemed so meant for one another so his only reply was, “I don't think I'm cut out for this.”

 

~*~

 

“Sorry we're late,” Chiaki said, hands stuffed into his pockets. “Someone didn't trust me to drive.”

 

Yuzuru frowned at him. “The doctor said you're not supposed to exert yourself!” he huffed.

 

“Yes, sitting in a car and occasionally moving my foot an inch and a half is downright exhausting,” Chiaki returned sarcastically.

 

They'd been bickering a lot lately. Yuzuru couldn't help but worry and Chiaki was used to taking care of himself. The end result of this was Yuzuru thinking Chiaki was stubborn and pig-headed, and Chiaki feeling like Yuzuru was a bit of a mother-hen and always under foot. It wasn't that they didn't love each other anymore (though neither had yet managed to admit that little fact to the other)but quite the opposite—the fact that they were willing to deal with one another's most annoying personality traits and still went out of their way to spend time together was proof of feelings which everyone around them couldn't help but see.

 

Yuzuru rather childishly stuck his tongue out at the possessor, who took a seat on the couch before he could get scolded for standing—it just saved time and effort. Bickering with Yuzuru drained more of Chiaki's energy than just about anything else.

 

“So what's happened this time?” he asked. “Things have been quiet lately, which usually mean there's a storm brewing on the horizon.”

 

“It's Yuuiko,” Takaya answered. “Someone saw her with Kosaka.”

 

Haruie sighed and let her head fall against the back of the couch. “You've got to be kidding me,” she sighed in exasperation. “She's been possessed again? Shouldn't there be a charm to prevent this kind of thing?”

 

“People who have been possessed once are more vulnerable than others to repeat occurrences,” Naoe replied. “It can't be helped, but we obviously can't leave her with the Takeda. There's no telling what Kosaka is plotting this time.”

 

“He's working with Estet,” Crawford finally decided to speak up on what he knew of the matter. It might have been an uneasy alliance between them, but even he knew they'd get nowhere without sharing everything they could. Nothing would be achieved by keeping secrets this time. He exhaled softly. Estet working with the possessors was a problem, but not the main cause of his recent stress. He moistened his lips and adjusted his glasses before saying more. “And…I have reason to believe Shuldich and Farfarello are with them.”

 

With them, not kidnapped like he had been, but with. Omi twitched. He'd been doing so well not thinking about the arrogant German. Okay, at night, he sometimes had dreams, but when he was conscious there was enough to keep busy with to force Schuldich completely from his thoughts. And now the man's former ally was calling him the enemy. Right when Omi had been thinking maybe, just MAYBE, somewhere deep down, Schuldich might be a decent human being…it was like the man just up and slapped him in the face. He didn't know why he was taking it personally. It probably had nothing to do with him. He was just angry because for a moment he'd thought someone cared…and then that someone just…

 

Argh! It made him so mad! `That bastard! I hate him. I hate him I hate him I hate him!!' he mentally seethed. `He can just go die!'

 

Digressing on his mental tirade he forced himself to pay attention to the conversation, which had moved on without him.

 

“…Lady Sanjoh again?” Haruie was asking.

 

“No, it couldn't be. She was fully exorcised. It's someone else this time or they would be targeting Yuzuru again,” Chiaki replied. “It would be troublesome for Shingen to go through the trouble of preparing another body when there's one ready for him.”

 

Yuzuru fidgeted. That had always been an uncomfortable topic and he didn't care for it.

 

“Whoever it is, I think we can say rather certainly that they have a vendetta against the two of you.” Crawford directed his words toward Takaya and Naoe. It was rather obvious what Estet's goal in this was—the same as always, eternal life. But why other possessors would be involved with them at risk of their own immortal souls could only mean that they had something equal to gain…nothing more motivating than revenge, really. “You must be able to compile a list of people who might hate you enough to involve people who you've never even met before now in order to get rid of you.”

 

“It's a long list,” Takaya complained. There were tons of people who hated Kagetora. Some were allies, most were enemies. He wouldn't even know where to start and could imagine anyone he'd think of would just be a dead end anyway.

 

`To involve my supposed family…' Naoe thought. `The list is not that long.' “I may have a few ideas,” he said. “Let me look into them and we'll meet up again a week from Saturday. That should be enough time to narrow it down. As it stands, whether Yuuiko is possessed or not, if our only link is Kosaka then it will be almost impossible to find her without knowing more. He hesitated only for a moment, but that was enough for those around him to take notice of it. “Yuzuru,” he said finally. “I'd like you to come with me, if you don't mind.”

 

Yuzuru's eyes widened in surprise. He'd always been told to stay behind before now, always had someone, usually Chiaki `babysitting'. He'd always been in the way. Why had that suddenly changed? “Ah…sure,” he answered. “If you think that I can be of use.”

 

Both Takaya and Chiaki looked at Naoe as if he'd lost his mind. What was he up to? It wasn't safe! Of course both young men tended to be extremely over-protective of Yuzuru, which was no great secret, so their opinions tended to be biased.

 

“Good then,” Naoe said. “I'll pick you up tomorrow morning. Have enough packed for a week and be prepared for a long drive.”

 

~*~

 

A/N: Rather than ending on a cliff-hangar like usual, this chapter feels like it just stopped dead in the water. I thought `I should do another scene', but every scene I thought of seemed better placed in a different chapter further down the line. I seem to have written myself into another previously undiscovered alleyway that has forced me to step back and remind myself that both plot AND pairings are necessary. I've ignored a lot of characters in the last few chapters and found myself stumbling. If I can get myself over this next plot hurdle though, things should go smoothly again…I hope.

 

Anyway, I do have a few more chapters just waiting to be typed, so the next update should come soon.