Weiss Kreuz Fan Fiction ❯ Azumi's Tears ❯ Entdeckung ( Chapter 2 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: Tora-uma 
Anime/Manga: Weiss Kreuz Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Angst / Romance / Drama | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 03.15.2004 | Updated On: 03.17.2004 | Pages: 3 | Words: 4.9K | Visits: 599 | Status: Work In Progress
Anime/Manga: Weiss Kreuz Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Angst / Romance / Drama | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 03.15.2004 | Updated On: 03.17.2004 | Pages: 3 | Words: 4.9K | Visits: 599 | Status: Work In Progress
Weiß Kreuz : Azumi's Tears
Chapter One : Entdeckung
By Tora-uma
Opening Notes:
"..." - speaking
^...^ - thoughts
//...// - telepathy
All translations and explanations appear at the bottom of the chapter.
"Weiß, your target is this man: Masoto Nobunata. Over the past five years he has organized the kidnaping of hundreds of children around the world. The children are then sold for scientific experiments or to the white slave trade. Many children have perished as a result of Masoto's deeds. White hunters, hunt the future of this dark beast!" The tape flickered and went to static as the computer generated Persia faded from view.
"Are there any questions?" Manx asked from the back of the room.
"Why weren't we given this mission before? Five years seems to be an awfully long time." Sapphire eyes waited for Manx to answer.
"Excellent question, Omi. Masoto is a slippery man; Kritiker has been working for four years to find him. He covers his tracks carefully, we didn't even know he was involved with the kidnapings until it had gone on for nearly a year." She paused. "I assume you're all participating?" Four short nods answered her. "Good." She handed Omi the folder of information she had been holding and climbed up the spiral staircase to leave.
"What's in the file, Omi?"
"Have some patience Ken-kun, I'm looking." Omi glanced at the information. "Hmm...not much. Possible hideouts, a list of people believed kidnaped by the target and...an MO?" He held up the disk. "I'll look at this quickly." He hurried to the computer on the back wall while the other three went through the folder. The quiet redhead picked up the list of kidnaped victims. His amethyst eyes glanced down the pages of names. He paused and read one name again. "Tsudoka Azumi," he whispered...
~flashback~
A paper airplane flew across Aya's vision.
"Gomen," Botan said.
"What is that, anyway?"
"Azumi really likes it."
"Azumi?"
"My daughter."
"Azumi," Aya whispered again. He pulled a picture out of his pocket. A small, dark-haired girl was running towards the camera, arm clasping a paper airplane, eyes closed, face grinning in laughter. Botan had left it behind, on the seat of Aya's car. It had lain there while Botan went off to die. Aya could still see Botan, dying in his place, taking the bullets that had been meant for the flame-haired assassin. Botan had died whispering the name Azumi through his dead lips. Aya still remembered the day he'd badgered Birman and Manx into giving him Botan's real name. Not even his full name, even Kritiker wouldn't let that out of its circle. But his family name, Tsudoka, had been enough for Aya. He'd gotten Botan a grave marker and he'd refused to put the man's codename on it. Aya glanced again at the name on the paper. His amethyst eyes narrowed in anger. "Tsudoka Azumi. I will set your father's soul to rest. I will find you," he whispered.
"Hey, Aya, what did you say?" Yohji's emerald eyes peered sleepily at the redhead.
"Nothing. Omi, have you found anything on the MO?"
"Hai! It's a list of places the target has been known to visit." Omi paused. "It might be a better idea to stake these areas out until we get some leads rather than searching all the buildings on the hideout and office list."
"Why don't we split our efforts?" asked Ken from the couch. "Omi, if you can narrow down the office list to the more plausible areas, you and I can do stake-out while Yohji and Aya check the buildings."
"Hey..." Yohji whined, "Why don't I get stake-out? I might be able to meet a nice lady to spend the night with in one of these places." He motioned to the list on the computer. "But I don't have a chance if I'm going through empty buildings all night!"
"Good. Maybe you'll keep your focus for once. Omi, start narrowing down the hideouts." Aya started up the stairs.
"Aya-kun, where are you going?" Omi watched him disappear upstairs.
"I have...things I need to do..."
Omi thought he heard a touch of emotion in the cold voice of the Weiß leader but decided he must have imagined it.
~ * ~
The sweet, gentle smell of incense filled Aya's nose. He wondered, suddenly, why he was here. He could hear the soft lapping of the ocean waves over the edge of the cliff. A sudden burst of wind blew a single leaf off the tree above him. It wafted in front of his eyes and reeled back to nestle itself in his fiery hair. Aya picked it out and set it on the grave in front of him.
"Botan, nothing has changed since the day of your death. You helped me, I will help you. I will find Azumi and avenge your spirit." There was no emotion in his face, in his voice, in his eyes. But the strength of the sudden wind carried Aya's resolve.
~ * ~
"It isn't fair! Why do I have to do all the work?" Omi pouted.
"Because you know the most about computers and you know what to do to narrow down the list for Aya and Yohji," Ken yawned as he climbed upstairs and vanished.
"Besides," Yohji grinned, "I need my beauty sleep." Then he, too, was gone, leaving Omi in the pale glowing light of the computer.
"Demo..." Omi half-heartedly began another protest but turned back to his work when he realized they couldn't hear him upstairs.
~ * ~
Omi yawned as he pushed through the back door of the Koneko No Sumu Ie.
"Hey, sloppy-face, finally awake?" Yohji grinned at him. Omi was immediately surrounded by a group of chattering, giggling girls as soon as they caught sight of him.
"Omi-kun, where have you been?"
"Omi-kun, are you free Saturday night?"
"Omi...
"Omi-kun...!"
"Hai, hai, let him breath," Ken told them as he shoved his way through the throng of females to rescue Omi.
"If you're not going to buy anything, go home!" Aya growled at the clusters of girls throughout the shop.
Ken steered Omi away from his admirers and toward a quieter corner of the shop. "Hey, did you get the list narrowed down?"
"Hai! We can start our mission tonight."
"I've told you, don't discuss the mission here," Aya murmured while carrying a flower pot past them.
"We know, we know." Ken turned back to watering the flowers.
"Hey, Chibi, here," Yohji called as he tossed Omi a rag and a bottle of window cleaner. Omi sighed as he squirted the clear fluid onto a window. It was going to be a long day.
~ * ~
The last few customers finally filed out and Yohji locked the shop door behind them.
"I guess we may as well get ready for our mission. Everything set up, Omi?" asked Ken.
"Aah, we shouldn't run into any problems and everything's been narrowed down."
"Oi, Chibi, I still can't believe you're condemning me to wander around empty buildings all night with sunshine over there," Yohji leaned an elbow on Omi's head as he lit a cigarette.
"Yohji-kun, don't smoke hin the shop."
"Well, Yoji," Ken finished cleaning the last stray leaves and stem pieces off the counter, "like Aya said, maybe you'll keep your focus if it's just the two of you."
"Stop talking and get ready. We need to start this mission." Aya turned and headed upstairs to the bedrooms.
"Aya-kun is right, we'd better change and head out."
~ * ~
Alone in his room Aya finished tightening the last few buckles on his trench coat. He bent and lifted his katana off the small bed. He'd taken countless lives with it in the past, now maybe he had a chance to save one with it.
"Azumi-chan..."
~flashback~
"Why do you keep hanging around me, anyway? Why don't you just go home to your daughter?"
"There is no home to go back to. My Azumi was kidnaped and her mother killed.
It was three years ago..."
"Aya-kun?" Omi softly rapped on Aya's bedroom door. "Are you ready to go?"
"Aah," Aya replied, "I'll be right out." Aya tightened his grip on the katana's sheath, hoping that this time he could do more than complete another of Persia's missions.
~ * ~
Ken grabbed Omi's arm to hold him up a few blocks from the first place on their list.
"Omi, I should probably go in first. Wait for ten or fifteen minutes before coming in and don't show any recognition if we see each other."
"Of course, Ken-kun, this isn't my first mission, I know we can't be seen together. But why do you need to go in first?"
"Because I'm impatient and I don't want to wait outside."
"Ken-kun!"
Ken laughed and ruffled Omi's hair. "Keep your communicator in case you need to contact me," Ken winked and hurried towards the club.
~ * ~
With a quick snipping of cables, Aya quickly bypassed the security system. He nodded to Yohji to pick the lock and get them inside the building. Yohji produced two lockpicks from his thick leather gloves and inserted them into the heavy deadbolt. After a bit of fiddling, both assassins heard the reassuring click of the lock opening.
^Nice to know I haven't lost everything since my detective days,^ Yohji thought. The two quickly stepped through the open door and closed it quietly behind them.
"Keep your eyes open for anything, Yohji."
"Well, so far all I see is extra medical supplies, some testing equipment, medication...ooh, rubber gloves, those come in handy," Yohji said as he started shoving pairs of gloves into every pocket he had. Aya ignored him and opened the door of the storeroom into a small hallway.
"Yohji..."
"Hai, hai, I'm coming," Yohji finished stealing gloves and followed Aya. The two quickly stepped into a small hallway. There were doors all up and down the corridor.
"Check the doors on the right, I'll check the ones on the left," Aya instructed as he opened the door directly across from the storeroom that was labeled "Lab Technicians Only". It led to a narrow hallway and stairwell.
"Going up or staying down?" Yohji asked.
"We'll check this floor first." Aya closed the door and moved to the next one. The other three doors along the side of the hallway opened into examination rooms. Aya turned to face Yohji. "Anything?"
"Two examination rooms and..." Yohji peered into his last door, "a lab."
"The bottom floor must serve as a doctor's office."
"Aya, there's a records office that links to this room," Yohji called from inside the lab. "Nothing special though. Ooo, another door..." Yohji's voice grew faint as he walked through the office to the second door. Aya opened the door at the head of the hallway and saw Yohji open a door to his right. Both doors emptied into a reception area.
"Yep, definitely a doctor's office," Yohji noted as he picked up a three year old copy of Sports Illustrated. "Hey, swimsuit edition. Oh, I have this one."
"Let's go upstairs."
"Alright," Yohji tossed the magazine back onto the side table and followed Aya to the back of the main hallway to the stairwell they'd found earlier.
"What exactly are we expecting to find?" Yohji asked.
"Anything. Omi wasn't sure exactly what they do here," Aya opened the door at the top of the stairs into another hallway.
"Oh, good, that's helpful. I get the left side of the hallway this time," Yohji said as he opened the one and only door on his side of the corridor. Aya ignored him again and headed to the first door on the right side of the hall.
^Medical Research Room,^ Aya read off the door plaque, ^I do have to wonder what constitutes as medical research to these people.^ He slowly opened the door. The room was fairly empty, there was expensive testing equipment pushed up against the walls. Most of the room was dominated by a large surgical table. Aya ran a gloved finger over the surface. Completely clean. ^Interesting.^ He noted the arm and leg restraints attached to the table. ^Not a good sign.^ Aya took a cursory glance at the equipment in the room but, when he couldn't find anything worthwhile, he left to go on to the next room. The second room down the hall was a duplicate of the first and Aya moved to the third door. It was labeled "Donor Storage Facility". Aya narrowed his eyes, not sure what to expect inside. He opened the door and started. Whatever he had expected might be inside was nothing compared to what was actually there.
~ * ~
Ken looked across the room of people and sighed. This was the third place he and Omi had been tonight and they still weren't getting anywhere. He turned to look for Omi to signal him to go when a streak of orange caught his eye.
"Well, gaki, having a good time?"
Ken felt his muscles freeze when he heard the voice behind him. Only one person he knew sounded that smug.
"What are you doing here?" Ken spun to face the voice.
"Isn't that my line?" Schuldig chuckled. "Well, no matter. You seem bored. Looking for something more interesting than a dingy night club and your dart-wielding chibi, koneko?" Schuldig laughed again as he reached up and tangled his fingers in Ken's hair.
"Don't touch me!" Ken pulled away and smacked Schuldig's hand from his head. "And don't call me that! What do you want?"
"Just some fun, gaki, that's all. I think the better question is, what do you and Weiß want?"
"Nothing. We just got bored and went out for the night."
Schuldig smirked, "I can tell when you're lying to me..."
//And it hurts my feelings//
Ken jerked and stepped further away, surprised at hearing the German's voice in his head. "Stop that, stay out of my head!"
//But it's so much fun...//
"I said stop it!"
"Alright. I'll play with your rules tonight. But now I know who Weiß's next target is, so don't think I'm finished playing just yet..." Schuldig drifted off and disappeared back into the crowd. Ken tried telling himself to relax and breath. It was a shame he never listened to himself. ^I have to find Omi,^ he finally formed a coherent thought. Ken hurried around, keeping one eye out for his teammate and the other for the redheaded German. Ken finally spotted Omi talking to people in a back corner. He shifted his weight from foot to foot, hoping Omi would hurry and look up. He finally made eye contact, gave the signal to leave and walked quickly to the exit. Omi wasn't far behind, spilling out of the building with a group of drunk businessmen and their companions for the night. Omi caught up with Ken a few blocks from the club.
"Did you find anything out?" Ken asked when the younger assassin caught up.
"Not much. The target hasn't shown up in nearly a month, that's all anybody seemed to know. Did you learn anything?"
"Aah. Schwarz is back."
~ * ~
Yohji opened the one and only door on the left side of the hallway. ^DNA Research Lab...sounds promising,^ he thought. The majority of the room was filled with lab tables and testing equipment. ^I feel like I'm back in high school biology class.^ The equipment was clean and in its proper place. ^Either they haven't done anything in awhile or they're absurdly tidy...^ Yohji noticed stainless steel refrigerators along the left wall. ^Wonder if anybody left their lunch, I'm hungry...^
Yohji opened the first door to find nothing but beakers and test tubes filled with various colored liquids. ^Donor 178, bloodtype O negative...Donor 329, bloodtype A positive...well this isn't helping.^ Yohji checked each refrigerator to find the same thing. ^Is there anything in this building worth the time I'm wasting?^ Yohji sighed and lit a cigarette. He looked around the room again, finally noticing the row of filing cabinets along the very back wall. He sidled over to them and opened each drawer until he found several files labeled "Research Notes".
"Yoush..." he grinned and pulled out all the files.
~ * ~
Aya let the door close softly behind him. He wasn't quite sure what to do. The large room was filled with metal racking. The lighting was on, but dimmed enough that the contents of the shelving wouldn't be immediately apparent to a casual viewer. Aya walked up and down the aisles of shelving, carefully glancing at every jar and tank the shelves held. Each was filled with at least one body part or organ. A few held brains or hearts, some held eyes. One tank had four different right hands in it. Aya walked the entire room, looking for anything that might link this work to the target. When he found nothing he quietly left the room, hoping Azumi hadn't been separated into storage jars. Back in the hallway, Aya took a moment to put his face back to its composed, hardened expression before moving on to the last door.
Aya's last room was labeled "Central Computer Room". Hoping he might finally find some information he slipped inside. The room consisted of five desks, each with a computer. Every desk had a name plate with the person's position listed on it. Aya quickly found the plate reading "Oto Masahiko: Head Researcher" and booted up the computer. He quickly scanned through the saved files, finding one titled "Donor Information" and another titled "Suppliers". He tried opening each to find they were encrypted. Not wanting to bother fighting with the files, Aya saved them to a disk for Omi to deal with. He shut down the computer and went in search of Yohji.
~ * ~
"Yohji, are you finished?"
Yohji looked up from the spread out files and saw Aya in the doorway. "Aah, just a few more pictures," Yohji turned back and hurriedly snapped pictures of the last few pages of a file. "Yoush, now we've got the information without the researchers wondering where their files disappeared to," Yohji winked at Aya, collected the files and deposited them back in the filing cabinet. Stashing the small camera in his trench coat, Yohji joined Aya to leave.
"It's late, Ken and Omi should be back..."
"So are we done for the night, sunshine?"
Aya gave a short nod as the two stepped back outside the building.
~ * ~
"Did you swat any flies?"
"We have to attract them all before we can swat them. Are you so quick to kill them that you'll sacrifice all of the fun, Farfarello?"
"I don't care about the games. Everyone must pay for the sins they've committed."
"Che, you have a one track mind.
"Schuldig," Nagi's soft voice drifted from the other side of the room, "did you find all four?"
"Just the two kids, the elders must have been playing somewhere else."
"Hmm..." Nagi made a non-commental sound and went back to the book he was reading. Schuldig sidestepped slightly as one of Farfarellos' knives implanted itself in the wall near his head. "Shimatta, go throw those things somewhere else. Where's Brad?"
"He said he had business," Nagi spoke up again.
"So I'm babysitting tonight? Fun." Schuldig left his teammates to their respective activities and closed himself in his room. It had been awhile since Schwarz had gone against Weiß. This would be fun.
~ * ~
"Oh, Yohji-kun, you're back!"
"Hai, Chibi. So tell me what I missed at the clubs."
"Yohji-kun..." Omi shook his head. "What did you find?"
Yohji pulled the camera out of his trench coat. "We can send this to Manx to develop," Yohji separated the film from the back of the camera and set it on the desk.
"Arigatoh, Yohji-kun. Where's Aya-kun?"
"I'm here," Aya silently came down the spiral staircase that led from the back room of the Koneko down to the basement. He handed Omi the disk of files he'd downloaded. "They're encrypted, but they might help."
"Arigatoh."
"So, what did you two find?" Yohji slumped onto the couch next to Ken who was rolling a soccer ball around under his foot.
"Not much," Omi popped the disk into the computer and started working on the files. "Masoto hasn't been seen at any of the places so far in nearly a month. And..." Omi turned around in his chair and locked eyes with Ken, "...we may have a problem."
"What is it?" Aya narrowed his eyes.
Ken looked up at his flame-haired teammate and sighed. "Schwarz is back, I ran into Schuldig tonight."
"Those guys again? I thought we took care of them when Esset's sacrificial museum chamber sank," Yohji took a long drag from his cigarette.
"We survived. I'd expected they would as well," Aya looked at each member of Weiß in turn. "Alright, we'll keep an eye out for them, but stay focused on the mission. Don't engage them in a fight unless they attack first..."
"Which they probably will," Yohji cut in.
"Probably, but Aya's right. The mission has to remain our first priority," Ken picked up his soccer ball and went to check Omi's progress with the files. "Get through yet?"
"Hai! Some of this information should be useful. I'll ask Manx if she has any more information on some of these names when she comes to pick up that film."
"Good. You should get to bed, Omi, you have school tomorrow," Aya told him.
"Huh? Oh...Okay, Aya-kun," Omi said, puzzled. It wasn't like Aya to be particularly concerned about the amount of sleep Omi got. ^Maybe he's just tired,^ Omi suggested to himself. He went to shut the computer down when Aya stopped him.
"I'm going to look over the information."
"Alright, Aya-kun," Omi stood up to get out of the way. "Oyasumi." Omi and Ken headed upstairs together.
"Did you get all your homework done?"
"Hai, Ken-kun, stop worrying about me. Oyasumi, Yohji-kun," Omi called back down the steps.
"Oyasumi, Chibi, Ken." Yohji heard a muffled yawn and a " 'Yasumi, Yohji" from Ken as the two headed to the third floor and their respective bedrooms.
"Alright then, I'm going to head out for a few hours, don't have too much fun," Yohji headed upstairs and Aya sat down at the computer, ignoring him. Aya scanned down the lists of donor information, looking for Azumi's name. When he didn't find it, the tiny knot in his stomach relaxed. At least she wasn't cut into pieces, stored in jars in that storeroom. He quickly scrolled through the supplier lists, not looking for anything specific. When nothing caught his attention. he shut down the computer and climbed upstairs to his room. He paused outside his door with his hand on the knob.
There were four bedrooms on the top floor, the front two were occupied by him and Yohji, the back two by Ken and Omi. Aya saw that the light in the room next to his, Ken's room, was still on. Normally he fell asleep as soon as he went to bed. Aya had never seen his light on so late. He walked to Ken's door and raised his hand to knock but paused. ^I doubt he wants to be disturbed. Maybe he fell asleep with the light on.^ Aya went back to his room, putting Ken out of his mind. He set his alarm and stretched out on his bed, still fully clothed, wondering what the chances were of him ever finding Botan's daughter.
~ * ~
Ken sat on his bed, balancing his soccer ball on his fingertips. He'd seen Aya's shadow come to his door and leave without a sound. Part of him had wished Aya would come in while another part wanted him to stay as far away as possible. Ken sighed and leaned against the wall, placing the ball in his lap and kicking idly at a few of the many pieces of clothing strewn around his floor. He was worried, about Schwarz, about Aya, about the mission. Something just felt wrong about all of it. ^I just need to relax and stop thinking about it so much.^ Ken noticed he still wasn't listening to himself. He heard Aya lay down in the next room and started thinking about how different he'd been acting lately. ^Ever since we got this mission...he's changed somehow.^ Ken was fairly sure it didn't have anything to do with Aya's sister. Ever since Aya-chan had gone to university she'd been in constant contact with her older brother and didn't seem to be in any danger. ^But if it isn't Aya-chan, what is it?^
~ * ~
Translation notes :
Any English translation that is given in '...' are loose translations as not everything translates directly or even well for that matter. Oh, and if anybody can't see the ß on their computer (ie: if you only see white space like this : Wei ) then let me know and I'll change all chapters from Weiß to Weiss. Any other questions, please feel free to contact me!
Entdeckung - Discovery. This is a German word as all my chapter titles for this fic will be in German.
Gomen - Sorry
Hai - 'Yes' (It's actually more of a all purpose, affirmative word.)
Koneko No Sumu Ie - Kitten in the House (The name of the Weiß boys' flower shop for those who didn't know.)
Chibi - This is a fun one. Literally it translates to super deformed, it's generally used to refer to something small and usually cute.
Aah - 'yeah'
Katana - Blade
Gaki - 'Kid' or 'Brat'. Pretty derogatory, it's not the nicest term that Schuldig could use, but it's Schuldig after all.
Koneko - Kitten
Yoush - 'Alright' or 'Good'. A general, victorious term.
Che - Basic sound of exasperation.
Shimatta - 'Damn it'
Arigatoh - Thank you
Esset - Technically speaking should be ß or SS, but I like it better spelled out.
Oyasumi - Goodnight. Ken later says 'Yasumi, I don't know why I wrote that but I can imagine Ken just not putting the "O" out in front.
Chapter One : Entdeckung
By Tora-uma
Opening Notes:
"..." - speaking
^...^ - thoughts
//...// - telepathy
All translations and explanations appear at the bottom of the chapter.
"Weiß, your target is this man: Masoto Nobunata. Over the past five years he has organized the kidnaping of hundreds of children around the world. The children are then sold for scientific experiments or to the white slave trade. Many children have perished as a result of Masoto's deeds. White hunters, hunt the future of this dark beast!" The tape flickered and went to static as the computer generated Persia faded from view.
"Are there any questions?" Manx asked from the back of the room.
"Why weren't we given this mission before? Five years seems to be an awfully long time." Sapphire eyes waited for Manx to answer.
"Excellent question, Omi. Masoto is a slippery man; Kritiker has been working for four years to find him. He covers his tracks carefully, we didn't even know he was involved with the kidnapings until it had gone on for nearly a year." She paused. "I assume you're all participating?" Four short nods answered her. "Good." She handed Omi the folder of information she had been holding and climbed up the spiral staircase to leave.
"What's in the file, Omi?"
"Have some patience Ken-kun, I'm looking." Omi glanced at the information. "Hmm...not much. Possible hideouts, a list of people believed kidnaped by the target and...an MO?" He held up the disk. "I'll look at this quickly." He hurried to the computer on the back wall while the other three went through the folder. The quiet redhead picked up the list of kidnaped victims. His amethyst eyes glanced down the pages of names. He paused and read one name again. "Tsudoka Azumi," he whispered...
~flashback~
A paper airplane flew across Aya's vision.
"Gomen," Botan said.
"What is that, anyway?"
"Azumi really likes it."
"Azumi?"
"My daughter."
"Azumi," Aya whispered again. He pulled a picture out of his pocket. A small, dark-haired girl was running towards the camera, arm clasping a paper airplane, eyes closed, face grinning in laughter. Botan had left it behind, on the seat of Aya's car. It had lain there while Botan went off to die. Aya could still see Botan, dying in his place, taking the bullets that had been meant for the flame-haired assassin. Botan had died whispering the name Azumi through his dead lips. Aya still remembered the day he'd badgered Birman and Manx into giving him Botan's real name. Not even his full name, even Kritiker wouldn't let that out of its circle. But his family name, Tsudoka, had been enough for Aya. He'd gotten Botan a grave marker and he'd refused to put the man's codename on it. Aya glanced again at the name on the paper. His amethyst eyes narrowed in anger. "Tsudoka Azumi. I will set your father's soul to rest. I will find you," he whispered.
"Hey, Aya, what did you say?" Yohji's emerald eyes peered sleepily at the redhead.
"Nothing. Omi, have you found anything on the MO?"
"Hai! It's a list of places the target has been known to visit." Omi paused. "It might be a better idea to stake these areas out until we get some leads rather than searching all the buildings on the hideout and office list."
"Why don't we split our efforts?" asked Ken from the couch. "Omi, if you can narrow down the office list to the more plausible areas, you and I can do stake-out while Yohji and Aya check the buildings."
"Hey..." Yohji whined, "Why don't I get stake-out? I might be able to meet a nice lady to spend the night with in one of these places." He motioned to the list on the computer. "But I don't have a chance if I'm going through empty buildings all night!"
"Good. Maybe you'll keep your focus for once. Omi, start narrowing down the hideouts." Aya started up the stairs.
"Aya-kun, where are you going?" Omi watched him disappear upstairs.
"I have...things I need to do..."
Omi thought he heard a touch of emotion in the cold voice of the Weiß leader but decided he must have imagined it.
~ * ~
The sweet, gentle smell of incense filled Aya's nose. He wondered, suddenly, why he was here. He could hear the soft lapping of the ocean waves over the edge of the cliff. A sudden burst of wind blew a single leaf off the tree above him. It wafted in front of his eyes and reeled back to nestle itself in his fiery hair. Aya picked it out and set it on the grave in front of him.
"Botan, nothing has changed since the day of your death. You helped me, I will help you. I will find Azumi and avenge your spirit." There was no emotion in his face, in his voice, in his eyes. But the strength of the sudden wind carried Aya's resolve.
~ * ~
"It isn't fair! Why do I have to do all the work?" Omi pouted.
"Because you know the most about computers and you know what to do to narrow down the list for Aya and Yohji," Ken yawned as he climbed upstairs and vanished.
"Besides," Yohji grinned, "I need my beauty sleep." Then he, too, was gone, leaving Omi in the pale glowing light of the computer.
"Demo..." Omi half-heartedly began another protest but turned back to his work when he realized they couldn't hear him upstairs.
~ * ~
Omi yawned as he pushed through the back door of the Koneko No Sumu Ie.
"Hey, sloppy-face, finally awake?" Yohji grinned at him. Omi was immediately surrounded by a group of chattering, giggling girls as soon as they caught sight of him.
"Omi-kun, where have you been?"
"Omi-kun, are you free Saturday night?"
"Omi...
"Omi-kun...!"
"Hai, hai, let him breath," Ken told them as he shoved his way through the throng of females to rescue Omi.
"If you're not going to buy anything, go home!" Aya growled at the clusters of girls throughout the shop.
Ken steered Omi away from his admirers and toward a quieter corner of the shop. "Hey, did you get the list narrowed down?"
"Hai! We can start our mission tonight."
"I've told you, don't discuss the mission here," Aya murmured while carrying a flower pot past them.
"We know, we know." Ken turned back to watering the flowers.
"Hey, Chibi, here," Yohji called as he tossed Omi a rag and a bottle of window cleaner. Omi sighed as he squirted the clear fluid onto a window. It was going to be a long day.
~ * ~
The last few customers finally filed out and Yohji locked the shop door behind them.
"I guess we may as well get ready for our mission. Everything set up, Omi?" asked Ken.
"Aah, we shouldn't run into any problems and everything's been narrowed down."
"Oi, Chibi, I still can't believe you're condemning me to wander around empty buildings all night with sunshine over there," Yohji leaned an elbow on Omi's head as he lit a cigarette.
"Yohji-kun, don't smoke hin the shop."
"Well, Yoji," Ken finished cleaning the last stray leaves and stem pieces off the counter, "like Aya said, maybe you'll keep your focus if it's just the two of you."
"Stop talking and get ready. We need to start this mission." Aya turned and headed upstairs to the bedrooms.
"Aya-kun is right, we'd better change and head out."
~ * ~
Alone in his room Aya finished tightening the last few buckles on his trench coat. He bent and lifted his katana off the small bed. He'd taken countless lives with it in the past, now maybe he had a chance to save one with it.
"Azumi-chan..."
~flashback~
"Why do you keep hanging around me, anyway? Why don't you just go home to your daughter?"
"There is no home to go back to. My Azumi was kidnaped and her mother killed.
It was three years ago..."
"Aya-kun?" Omi softly rapped on Aya's bedroom door. "Are you ready to go?"
"Aah," Aya replied, "I'll be right out." Aya tightened his grip on the katana's sheath, hoping that this time he could do more than complete another of Persia's missions.
~ * ~
Ken grabbed Omi's arm to hold him up a few blocks from the first place on their list.
"Omi, I should probably go in first. Wait for ten or fifteen minutes before coming in and don't show any recognition if we see each other."
"Of course, Ken-kun, this isn't my first mission, I know we can't be seen together. But why do you need to go in first?"
"Because I'm impatient and I don't want to wait outside."
"Ken-kun!"
Ken laughed and ruffled Omi's hair. "Keep your communicator in case you need to contact me," Ken winked and hurried towards the club.
~ * ~
With a quick snipping of cables, Aya quickly bypassed the security system. He nodded to Yohji to pick the lock and get them inside the building. Yohji produced two lockpicks from his thick leather gloves and inserted them into the heavy deadbolt. After a bit of fiddling, both assassins heard the reassuring click of the lock opening.
^Nice to know I haven't lost everything since my detective days,^ Yohji thought. The two quickly stepped through the open door and closed it quietly behind them.
"Keep your eyes open for anything, Yohji."
"Well, so far all I see is extra medical supplies, some testing equipment, medication...ooh, rubber gloves, those come in handy," Yohji said as he started shoving pairs of gloves into every pocket he had. Aya ignored him and opened the door of the storeroom into a small hallway.
"Yohji..."
"Hai, hai, I'm coming," Yohji finished stealing gloves and followed Aya. The two quickly stepped into a small hallway. There were doors all up and down the corridor.
"Check the doors on the right, I'll check the ones on the left," Aya instructed as he opened the door directly across from the storeroom that was labeled "Lab Technicians Only". It led to a narrow hallway and stairwell.
"Going up or staying down?" Yohji asked.
"We'll check this floor first." Aya closed the door and moved to the next one. The other three doors along the side of the hallway opened into examination rooms. Aya turned to face Yohji. "Anything?"
"Two examination rooms and..." Yohji peered into his last door, "a lab."
"The bottom floor must serve as a doctor's office."
"Aya, there's a records office that links to this room," Yohji called from inside the lab. "Nothing special though. Ooo, another door..." Yohji's voice grew faint as he walked through the office to the second door. Aya opened the door at the head of the hallway and saw Yohji open a door to his right. Both doors emptied into a reception area.
"Yep, definitely a doctor's office," Yohji noted as he picked up a three year old copy of Sports Illustrated. "Hey, swimsuit edition. Oh, I have this one."
"Let's go upstairs."
"Alright," Yohji tossed the magazine back onto the side table and followed Aya to the back of the main hallway to the stairwell they'd found earlier.
"What exactly are we expecting to find?" Yohji asked.
"Anything. Omi wasn't sure exactly what they do here," Aya opened the door at the top of the stairs into another hallway.
"Oh, good, that's helpful. I get the left side of the hallway this time," Yohji said as he opened the one and only door on his side of the corridor. Aya ignored him again and headed to the first door on the right side of the hall.
^Medical Research Room,^ Aya read off the door plaque, ^I do have to wonder what constitutes as medical research to these people.^ He slowly opened the door. The room was fairly empty, there was expensive testing equipment pushed up against the walls. Most of the room was dominated by a large surgical table. Aya ran a gloved finger over the surface. Completely clean. ^Interesting.^ He noted the arm and leg restraints attached to the table. ^Not a good sign.^ Aya took a cursory glance at the equipment in the room but, when he couldn't find anything worthwhile, he left to go on to the next room. The second room down the hall was a duplicate of the first and Aya moved to the third door. It was labeled "Donor Storage Facility". Aya narrowed his eyes, not sure what to expect inside. He opened the door and started. Whatever he had expected might be inside was nothing compared to what was actually there.
~ * ~
Ken looked across the room of people and sighed. This was the third place he and Omi had been tonight and they still weren't getting anywhere. He turned to look for Omi to signal him to go when a streak of orange caught his eye.
"Well, gaki, having a good time?"
Ken felt his muscles freeze when he heard the voice behind him. Only one person he knew sounded that smug.
"What are you doing here?" Ken spun to face the voice.
"Isn't that my line?" Schuldig chuckled. "Well, no matter. You seem bored. Looking for something more interesting than a dingy night club and your dart-wielding chibi, koneko?" Schuldig laughed again as he reached up and tangled his fingers in Ken's hair.
"Don't touch me!" Ken pulled away and smacked Schuldig's hand from his head. "And don't call me that! What do you want?"
"Just some fun, gaki, that's all. I think the better question is, what do you and Weiß want?"
"Nothing. We just got bored and went out for the night."
Schuldig smirked, "I can tell when you're lying to me..."
//And it hurts my feelings//
Ken jerked and stepped further away, surprised at hearing the German's voice in his head. "Stop that, stay out of my head!"
//But it's so much fun...//
"I said stop it!"
"Alright. I'll play with your rules tonight. But now I know who Weiß's next target is, so don't think I'm finished playing just yet..." Schuldig drifted off and disappeared back into the crowd. Ken tried telling himself to relax and breath. It was a shame he never listened to himself. ^I have to find Omi,^ he finally formed a coherent thought. Ken hurried around, keeping one eye out for his teammate and the other for the redheaded German. Ken finally spotted Omi talking to people in a back corner. He shifted his weight from foot to foot, hoping Omi would hurry and look up. He finally made eye contact, gave the signal to leave and walked quickly to the exit. Omi wasn't far behind, spilling out of the building with a group of drunk businessmen and their companions for the night. Omi caught up with Ken a few blocks from the club.
"Did you find anything out?" Ken asked when the younger assassin caught up.
"Not much. The target hasn't shown up in nearly a month, that's all anybody seemed to know. Did you learn anything?"
"Aah. Schwarz is back."
~ * ~
Yohji opened the one and only door on the left side of the hallway. ^DNA Research Lab...sounds promising,^ he thought. The majority of the room was filled with lab tables and testing equipment. ^I feel like I'm back in high school biology class.^ The equipment was clean and in its proper place. ^Either they haven't done anything in awhile or they're absurdly tidy...^ Yohji noticed stainless steel refrigerators along the left wall. ^Wonder if anybody left their lunch, I'm hungry...^
Yohji opened the first door to find nothing but beakers and test tubes filled with various colored liquids. ^Donor 178, bloodtype O negative...Donor 329, bloodtype A positive...well this isn't helping.^ Yohji checked each refrigerator to find the same thing. ^Is there anything in this building worth the time I'm wasting?^ Yohji sighed and lit a cigarette. He looked around the room again, finally noticing the row of filing cabinets along the very back wall. He sidled over to them and opened each drawer until he found several files labeled "Research Notes".
"Yoush..." he grinned and pulled out all the files.
~ * ~
Aya let the door close softly behind him. He wasn't quite sure what to do. The large room was filled with metal racking. The lighting was on, but dimmed enough that the contents of the shelving wouldn't be immediately apparent to a casual viewer. Aya walked up and down the aisles of shelving, carefully glancing at every jar and tank the shelves held. Each was filled with at least one body part or organ. A few held brains or hearts, some held eyes. One tank had four different right hands in it. Aya walked the entire room, looking for anything that might link this work to the target. When he found nothing he quietly left the room, hoping Azumi hadn't been separated into storage jars. Back in the hallway, Aya took a moment to put his face back to its composed, hardened expression before moving on to the last door.
Aya's last room was labeled "Central Computer Room". Hoping he might finally find some information he slipped inside. The room consisted of five desks, each with a computer. Every desk had a name plate with the person's position listed on it. Aya quickly found the plate reading "Oto Masahiko: Head Researcher" and booted up the computer. He quickly scanned through the saved files, finding one titled "Donor Information" and another titled "Suppliers". He tried opening each to find they were encrypted. Not wanting to bother fighting with the files, Aya saved them to a disk for Omi to deal with. He shut down the computer and went in search of Yohji.
~ * ~
"Yohji, are you finished?"
Yohji looked up from the spread out files and saw Aya in the doorway. "Aah, just a few more pictures," Yohji turned back and hurriedly snapped pictures of the last few pages of a file. "Yoush, now we've got the information without the researchers wondering where their files disappeared to," Yohji winked at Aya, collected the files and deposited them back in the filing cabinet. Stashing the small camera in his trench coat, Yohji joined Aya to leave.
"It's late, Ken and Omi should be back..."
"So are we done for the night, sunshine?"
Aya gave a short nod as the two stepped back outside the building.
~ * ~
"Did you swat any flies?"
"We have to attract them all before we can swat them. Are you so quick to kill them that you'll sacrifice all of the fun, Farfarello?"
"I don't care about the games. Everyone must pay for the sins they've committed."
"Che, you have a one track mind.
"Schuldig," Nagi's soft voice drifted from the other side of the room, "did you find all four?"
"Just the two kids, the elders must have been playing somewhere else."
"Hmm..." Nagi made a non-commental sound and went back to the book he was reading. Schuldig sidestepped slightly as one of Farfarellos' knives implanted itself in the wall near his head. "Shimatta, go throw those things somewhere else. Where's Brad?"
"He said he had business," Nagi spoke up again.
"So I'm babysitting tonight? Fun." Schuldig left his teammates to their respective activities and closed himself in his room. It had been awhile since Schwarz had gone against Weiß. This would be fun.
~ * ~
"Oh, Yohji-kun, you're back!"
"Hai, Chibi. So tell me what I missed at the clubs."
"Yohji-kun..." Omi shook his head. "What did you find?"
Yohji pulled the camera out of his trench coat. "We can send this to Manx to develop," Yohji separated the film from the back of the camera and set it on the desk.
"Arigatoh, Yohji-kun. Where's Aya-kun?"
"I'm here," Aya silently came down the spiral staircase that led from the back room of the Koneko down to the basement. He handed Omi the disk of files he'd downloaded. "They're encrypted, but they might help."
"Arigatoh."
"So, what did you two find?" Yohji slumped onto the couch next to Ken who was rolling a soccer ball around under his foot.
"Not much," Omi popped the disk into the computer and started working on the files. "Masoto hasn't been seen at any of the places so far in nearly a month. And..." Omi turned around in his chair and locked eyes with Ken, "...we may have a problem."
"What is it?" Aya narrowed his eyes.
Ken looked up at his flame-haired teammate and sighed. "Schwarz is back, I ran into Schuldig tonight."
"Those guys again? I thought we took care of them when Esset's sacrificial museum chamber sank," Yohji took a long drag from his cigarette.
"We survived. I'd expected they would as well," Aya looked at each member of Weiß in turn. "Alright, we'll keep an eye out for them, but stay focused on the mission. Don't engage them in a fight unless they attack first..."
"Which they probably will," Yohji cut in.
"Probably, but Aya's right. The mission has to remain our first priority," Ken picked up his soccer ball and went to check Omi's progress with the files. "Get through yet?"
"Hai! Some of this information should be useful. I'll ask Manx if she has any more information on some of these names when she comes to pick up that film."
"Good. You should get to bed, Omi, you have school tomorrow," Aya told him.
"Huh? Oh...Okay, Aya-kun," Omi said, puzzled. It wasn't like Aya to be particularly concerned about the amount of sleep Omi got. ^Maybe he's just tired,^ Omi suggested to himself. He went to shut the computer down when Aya stopped him.
"I'm going to look over the information."
"Alright, Aya-kun," Omi stood up to get out of the way. "Oyasumi." Omi and Ken headed upstairs together.
"Did you get all your homework done?"
"Hai, Ken-kun, stop worrying about me. Oyasumi, Yohji-kun," Omi called back down the steps.
"Oyasumi, Chibi, Ken." Yohji heard a muffled yawn and a " 'Yasumi, Yohji" from Ken as the two headed to the third floor and their respective bedrooms.
"Alright then, I'm going to head out for a few hours, don't have too much fun," Yohji headed upstairs and Aya sat down at the computer, ignoring him. Aya scanned down the lists of donor information, looking for Azumi's name. When he didn't find it, the tiny knot in his stomach relaxed. At least she wasn't cut into pieces, stored in jars in that storeroom. He quickly scrolled through the supplier lists, not looking for anything specific. When nothing caught his attention. he shut down the computer and climbed upstairs to his room. He paused outside his door with his hand on the knob.
There were four bedrooms on the top floor, the front two were occupied by him and Yohji, the back two by Ken and Omi. Aya saw that the light in the room next to his, Ken's room, was still on. Normally he fell asleep as soon as he went to bed. Aya had never seen his light on so late. He walked to Ken's door and raised his hand to knock but paused. ^I doubt he wants to be disturbed. Maybe he fell asleep with the light on.^ Aya went back to his room, putting Ken out of his mind. He set his alarm and stretched out on his bed, still fully clothed, wondering what the chances were of him ever finding Botan's daughter.
~ * ~
Ken sat on his bed, balancing his soccer ball on his fingertips. He'd seen Aya's shadow come to his door and leave without a sound. Part of him had wished Aya would come in while another part wanted him to stay as far away as possible. Ken sighed and leaned against the wall, placing the ball in his lap and kicking idly at a few of the many pieces of clothing strewn around his floor. He was worried, about Schwarz, about Aya, about the mission. Something just felt wrong about all of it. ^I just need to relax and stop thinking about it so much.^ Ken noticed he still wasn't listening to himself. He heard Aya lay down in the next room and started thinking about how different he'd been acting lately. ^Ever since we got this mission...he's changed somehow.^ Ken was fairly sure it didn't have anything to do with Aya's sister. Ever since Aya-chan had gone to university she'd been in constant contact with her older brother and didn't seem to be in any danger. ^But if it isn't Aya-chan, what is it?^
~ * ~
Translation notes :
Any English translation that is given in '...' are loose translations as not everything translates directly or even well for that matter. Oh, and if anybody can't see the ß on their computer (ie: if you only see white space like this : Wei ) then let me know and I'll change all chapters from Weiß to Weiss. Any other questions, please feel free to contact me!
Entdeckung - Discovery. This is a German word as all my chapter titles for this fic will be in German.
Gomen - Sorry
Hai - 'Yes' (It's actually more of a all purpose, affirmative word.)
Koneko No Sumu Ie - Kitten in the House (The name of the Weiß boys' flower shop for those who didn't know.)
Chibi - This is a fun one. Literally it translates to super deformed, it's generally used to refer to something small and usually cute.
Aah - 'yeah'
Katana - Blade
Gaki - 'Kid' or 'Brat'. Pretty derogatory, it's not the nicest term that Schuldig could use, but it's Schuldig after all.
Koneko - Kitten
Yoush - 'Alright' or 'Good'. A general, victorious term.
Che - Basic sound of exasperation.
Shimatta - 'Damn it'
Arigatoh - Thank you
Esset - Technically speaking should be ß or SS, but I like it better spelled out.
Oyasumi - Goodnight. Ken later says 'Yasumi, I don't know why I wrote that but I can imagine Ken just not putting the "O" out in front.