Weiss Kreuz Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Cold Love Twisted Love ❯ Chapter Four ( Chapter 5 )

Chapter Four

Ken sighed. He was ready to sink into despair. Of all the things that Aya-chan could need. He vehemently wished that her brother would be forced to go on one of these excursions. It was funny, but he could almost swear that he had gone through this only a few weeks before. How time flied, though he could swear that last time she had bought enough stuff to hold back the Hoover dam. He was tempted to ask if she had used up her stock, but knew that was similar to asking for death. "Aya-chan..."

The girl glanced up at the whine and she couldn't help but giggle. She felt bad for Ken; it was the nightmare of every guy to be forced to help shop for 'certain' things, and for 'personal reasons' she had made him take her to the mall. Since he hadn't actually been to every store in the place, how could he know that 'those' things weren't really sold there? But it was necessary; she was on a mission and this was the only place it could take place in. "Do you want to help me carry everything, Ken-kun?" She really had to fight not to break into laughter as the soccer player paled several shades and blended in with the ghastly white wall behind him. She was really having too much fun at his expense.

"Do you need help?" He was seriously considering taking his chances with the male Aya and making a run for it. How could he possibly stay in a store like this? Wait. He eyed his surroundings closer and frowned thoughtfully. The last time he had been dragged down the dreaded aisle, hadn't it been in a store? This was the mall; did they have any 'specialty' stores like that? "Aya-chan? Are you sure this place has what you need?"

Aya-chan was caught for a moment. Was Ken actually paying attention before? Well he had certainly fooled her; she hadn't even known he had actually looked at anything but the tops of his shoes. Her eyes shifted to the side and she smiled lightly as she noticed another shop. It would work perfectly, "Actually I kind of lied to you, Ken-kun," she admitted with a soft smile. "I bought enough of that with you last time."

Ken had never wanted to tempt death so much as he imagined himself strangling the girl for torturing him so. "So if you don't need anything, then why are we here? Can we go now?" He was past the point of worrying if he sounded like a kid. He didn't want to spend a minute in here longer than necessary, and why? The answer was simple: where at work his admirers had to keep a respectable distance away. Here they could swamp him on sight, and this seemed to be where they all originated. A giant crowd of them was just waiting to pounce on him once he turned his back. He shuddered at the thought and attempted a stern look at Aya-chan. Why was she wishing for his early death?

She pretended to blush in shame and embarrassment and timidly pointed to a store just down the hall from where they were. "Actually, Ken-kun I need something else. Yohji-kun somehow ruined some things of mine the last time he was assigned to laundry duty, but I didn't think it was enough to cause him death by Oniichan, so I didn't mention it." She watched as his eyes slowly followed the path of her finger and she could almost see the years slipping from his life span. There was no way he was going to follow her in there; her brother would kill him. "Do you want to help me pick out some good ones, Ken-kun?" she innocently requested.

Ken stared stupidly at the sign. He stared so long that he was late to realize that there was a crowd quickly gathering around him and he was suddenly the center of attention. "Go in there?" he repeated, sounding a bit like a broken robot as he continued staring at the window display.

"PERVERT!" screamed a crowd. In a matter of seconds, and with a great flash as one of Ken's 'admirers' managed to get a priceless shot, he was pelted with a variety of merchandise until he was forced to shield himself and realize that Aya-chan had already scampered off towards the store. There was no way he was following after her into that kind of shop! Aya would skin him alive with his katana, and have fun doing it. Ken shuddered and took a step backward as the crowd circled in on him.

Aya-chan watched as Ken was chased away and chuckled. She would make it up to him later, but she had plans for today. Though her story about Yohji ruining a few of her personal items was true, it wasn't the reason she had insisted on the visit to the mall. No, she had a much more important reason for being here. She felt pity for Ken but he would have to suffer as she did some research. If what she had thought was true. She had to find out where her best friend lived, and had to find out fast.

She skipped the store that Ken thought she was going into, and ducked into a computer café. You couldn't imagine how relieved she was that they lived in such a technologically advanced age. She quickly paid off the curvy looking hostess. Obvious what sort of clientele they were going after, she thought with a snort. She settled herself at one of the more hidden computers in the back and sent a silent prayer of thanks towards Omi for all of his teaching as she opened a browser and started her search.

Meanwhile poor Ken had been forced to duck into the first available store he could find to escape from the infuriated crowd. Did he really look the part of some pervert? They didn't have to attack him in droves like that; it wasn't like he was going to actually follow Aya-chan in there. He realized belatedly that he had caught the attention of a swarm of extremely feminine hair stylists, as they descended on him with combs and scissors, and he could swear he could smell the scent of something else that seemed it belonged on the road as road kill. What were these people doing to him?

Aya-chan smirked as a school record popped up and she finished paying for the information with a grin. She loved her Oniichan, though she wondered how she was going to explain the bill on her credit card to him... Maybe she could convince Ken-kun to take the blame for its use. She was only supposed to use it in dire emergencies, but considering what she had seen, wasn't this an emergency?

She quickly pressed the print button and glanced around as she waited for the info to finish. Why had her best friend been moved all the way to Juuban? It caused a problem in her investigation. Juuban wasn't close. It would take her awhile to get there and her disappearance would easily be noticed. She could call over there, but she wanted to be there in person. She owed it to Usagi to do that. And if Usagi wasn't safe and sound? If it was Usagi's voice she heard from that room?

A tear slipped down her cheek and landed on the keyboard. The thought that her childhood friend could be in danger scared her. It scared her more than anything else. Well, almost more than anything else did. The thought of anything happening to her brother would be the only thing that could be scarier, but her brother could take care of himself. Usagi couldn't. At least she couldn't from Aya's memories. The blonde had been such a bundle of sun and happiness. She had never been cross with anyone and had helped Aya-chan in her early schemes. A small smile crept to her lips as another tear followed the first; the origin of this was from a much happier thought than the first. No matter where Usagi was, if she was alive, Aya-chan was going to find her. She was going to make sure that no one took that shining beam of light from the
world.

Realizing that the printer was done she snatched up the paper and quickly folded it up and stashed it in her purse. How could she convince Ken to take her to Juuban? She doubted her earlier 'problems' would work this time now that she had came partially clean. She found herself dimly hoping that he had been cornered somewhere so that she could escape and find a bus. The idea didn't appeal to her for a bus took time and she didn't have time to waste. Every second that passed could be a second of hell for her best friend. No, if she wanted to get to Juuban she'd either have to come clean with Ken and plead with him, an action she wasn't sure would work once he realized she had tortured him today for nothing. Or she could find a reason to get him to go there.

* *

Ken scowled as he reluctantly took out his wallet. He wasn't sure what had happened to his hair, only that he smelled like a skunk had decided to descend on him and it had cost him a small fortune. Of course anything had to have been better than being chased by the mob that had labeled him as a pervert and hentai. As soon as he exited the shop he noticed a familiar group of his fans that were known to follow him around. They were perilously close to stalking him actually, and he watched as they noticed him and started to burst into a round of giggles. He was blinded as they pulled their cameras out and each tried to get their own picture of the momentous event.

Ken staggered away from the blinding lights and ended up nearly running into a mirror. As his eyes adjusted and he realized just what they were taking pictures of, he stared stupidly. "A perm?" he nearly swayed on his feet as he stared at the tightly coiled hair. No, there was no way he was going to just accept this. He would rather be shaved bald than to be seen like this. He was going to get it taken out, find Aya-chan, and get out of here as fast as possible, even if it meant he had to go into 'that' store.

Aya-chan almost walked by Ken. The only thing that had caused her to pause in her quest was the fact that Ken was sporting a tight curly perm. The corners of her lips twitched faintly and a giggle escaped her. As she got his full attention she couldn't help it. She burst into laughter as he scowled at her. "Ken-kun," she gasped in-between her bursts of laughter. "What...happened..." She could even finish her question as she gasped for breath and held her aching sides.

Finally she was able to get some semblance of order over herself and dabbed at her eyes where tears had formed while she had been laughing away. "Gomen, Ken-kun," she apologized with a final chuckle before grabbing his arm and seeing his eyes widen at the movement. "But I'll make it up to you; in exchange you can help me out. I need to go somewhere and can't tell Oniichan about it."

Ken closed his eyes in weariness. The patience that had been built up by being a children's soccer coach had helped him through this ordeal without snapping. Now she wanted to go somewhere else? He almost groaned and collapsed to the ground in a faint. "Let me guess. This store doesn't have what you need either, right?" He asked with a mild grin as he picked at his super curly, and still smelly, hair.

Aya-chan had the decency to blush in shame and glanced away. She had overused this card and had managed to accidentally hurt Ken in the process. "I guess I should tell the truth, huh?" She asked as she glanced away and her smile seemed to fade away. "But first we should take care of your hair. I can get that out for you and explain my side of all of this as we do so."

Ken allowed himself to be led back through the mall and past the accursed shop. He could almost feel the stares as he was dragged along by Aya-chan. She certainly wasn't one to be worried about appearances it seemed. "Where are we going?"

Aya-chan smiled reassuringly at him over her shoulder. He hadn't said no to her request. That was a good sign. "I can get your hair back to normal, don't worry about it," she glanced around before her eyes settled on an appropriate location. "Okay, let's go over here," she urged as she pulled him to a door and pushed at it.

"Aya-chan." Ken felt himself turning crimson and pulled out of her reach as she barged into a women's restroom. "I think I've been called a pervert enough times today," he commented dryly as he took a step backwards.

Aya-chan fairly pouted but nodded thoughtfully. If she couldn't drag him there, she'd have to duck into the alternative. It normally would bother her, it wasn't exactly a place she wanted to visit, but if it brought her closer to the truth of what exactly had happened to her friend, she'd do it in a heartbeat. "Well how about here?" She queried as she grabbed his wrist and tugged on it. "Unless you want Yohji-kun to see your new style?" She fought another giggle as he scowled and ignored the sign of the door they entered as she merrily pulled him along.

A stream of men fairly flooded out of the door and into the main plaza of the mall. A few seconds later amid the sounds of groans and yelps another two groups of slightly younger men emerged. Unlike the first group that had gotten away with only red cheeks, this group was sporting various bruises and the second was hunched over and barely putting one foot in front of the other. Their crime: suggesting certain actions to a certain girl who wasn't in the best of moods. They had to pay for those actions with a few well-placed kicks; they wouldn't be bothering Aya-chan any longer.

Aya-chan smirked in triumph, deliberately ignoring the wincing Ken, and turned back to the matter at hand. True, she could visit the shop where this atrocity had been done to Ken, but she recalled the shop having quite a line when she had passed, and she was positive she could do a faster job anyway. "Hold still," she cheerfully intoned as she practically slammed Ken's head under the sink and turned on the water. She didn't even notice him slam his head into the spout as he tried to back away from an ice-cold stream of water as she worked.

* * *

So does anyone know from which fanfiction the mall scene came from? Or who wrote that scene? ^^ Anyway, this is a sort of silent tribute to her wherever she is ^^. Next chapter we'll return to Usagi and the results of her transformation.