Weiss Kreuz Fan Fiction ❯ Coded ❯ Chapter One ( Chapter 1 )

Coded

Disclaimer: Weiß Kreuz and all it's characters do not belong to me. I am just borrowing them for a little while. ^_^

A/N: Sometimes we hide our real feelings, even from ourselves. But love is transcendent; it's beyond thought, beyond memory, beyond even death. I like to think that it's the essence of the person that we love, the heart…the soul. ^_^

Pairings: Ran (Ran) x Yohji

Premise: While on a mission, Yohji meets an accident and dies…but did he really?

Prologue:

[Kritiker Laboratory]

"The transfer has been completed. Life signs detected from Test Subject Mokei-3310."

"Brainwave Activity?"

"Only 30% but stable."

"That's good. Vital signs?"

"Low. Probability of independent function is still minimal, 3310 still needs outside support."

"That's fine. We just finished the operation…some recovery time is expected."

ooOoo

Omi knocked gently on the door before opening it.

The room was dark and it took some time for his eyes to adjust to the dim lighting. "Ran-kun?"

There was no reply.

Ran's bed was pushed up against one side of the room, beneath the windows covered with half-opened blinds.

It was dawn outside, the sun just barely out of the horizon and the sky just starting to explode in a fiery mixture of red and orange. Light filtered through the blinds just enough to spill into the bed in thin strips.

Ran sat at the corner of the bed with his back against the wall, one leg in bed and the other on the floor. He looked boneless, like a limp rag doll someone had just propped there and left.

"Ran-kun…it's going to be okay…he still had a pulse when the medics arrived…he's going to be okay…"

Ran didn't bother to answer. He didn't move, he barely even breathed.

Omi bit his lip and stood motionless in the doorway for a few heartbeats before giving up and closing the door.

He was the young one…he was supposed to be the one they were supporting emotionally.

Why was it that Ken was off somewhere trying to exercise his way through the stress of worrying over Yohji's condition, Ran was brooding in his room and he, Omi, was the one left to pick up the pieces?

"He's going to be alright…" Omi said to himself cheerfully, pushing away the worries that were plaguing him. "He's going to be fine…"

And maybe if he said it often enough…it would come true.

Inside the darkened room, Ran tilted his head up to gaze at the dawn. After everything that's happened to him, Ran had long ago stopped believing in god…and yet he found his eyes closing and the words being whispered just in case someone out there was indeed listening.

"Please…don't let him die…don't let Yohji die…"

ooOoo

"Yohji-No!" Ran's sharp cry pierced through the night.

Yohji's eyes snapped open.

He'd been dreaming.

And in his dream…

He had died.

It had felt so real.

Yohji closed his eyes with a groan, his head pounding. This must be the mother of all the hangovers that he'd ever had in his entire life. "What did I do last night?" he mumbled to himself, thinking.

Oh yeah…

Last night was mission night.

He remembered he and the rest of Weiß had received a mission briefing the day before…

[FLASHBACK]

"Why isn't there any briefing? Any details? Don't tell me we have to gather preliminary information ourselves!" Yohji complained as he scanned the files inside his folder marked `Mission Briefing'. It only contained the location of the building, blue print and the shift changes…trivial and superficial stuff and Yohji was surprised because he was used to the usually in depth preliminary investigations Kritiker conducted before allowing Weiss to take over.

Omi frowned, "Manx-san just dropped this off a while ago, she only told me to have all of you read the mission briefing…you're right Yohji-kun, this is a little too little information. Yanagiba Shojiro is one of the most powerful men in Japan right now. It won't be very easy to try and get close to him let alone be able to pull a successful assassination."

"Why does Kritiker want to off him anyway?" Yohji asked, the private investigator in him gearing up. Weiss only took down Dark Beasts who were a scourge of society and all he really knew about this Shojiro was that he recently got himself a lot of money and power via the inheritance from a recently deceased distant relative…something connected in Yohji's brain. "Yanagiba Shojiro came into his position via an inheritance right?" he mused aloud, "from his distant cousin Yanagiba Mito…who died under suspicious circumstances…"

"Do you think this has something to do with it? Kritiker wants to take him down because he killed his cousin?" Ken stated. He was entering his `justice' mode where he saw a crime against humanity and did all his berserker best to deliver justice to the wronged party.

"There were some speculations." Yohji said shrugging and stretching in one fluid movement of his torso. His cropped top rode even higher over his taut abdomen, showcasing the perfect ripple of muscle under golden skin. Ken and Omi looked at each other and rolled their eyes, too used to Yohji whose every movement seem calculated to attract and enthrall. Said man stood up and grinned down at the two younger assassins, "In any case, I'm off. I have a date."

"In the middle of the day?" Ken asked rolling his eyes once again at Yohji.

Yohji smirked, "Sure, all time is a time for loving." He said winking.

"I cannot believe you said that Yohji-kun!" Omi said laughing, "Can you get any cheesier?"

"Sure Chibi." Yohji said grinning, "but I'll save those lines for another time neh? Besides it's a Sunday and we close at noon right? It's ten to 12:00…let's go close off the shop okay?"

Ken rose to his feet. "Yeah, I gotta head over to the field in a few minutes anyway."

"Teaching those kids of yours neh, Hidaka? Pedophile." Yohji teased.

"Shut up Kudou!" Ken yelled turning red in the face from either embarrassment or anger or both, most likely the last option since he was sputtering and swinging his fists. "Perverted asshole…"

Omi laughed as the three of them headed out of the mission room to relieve Momoe-san of her duties and close off the shop.

[END FLASHBACK]]

"Okay…we were given a mission briefing and then I went out with Jessica…" Yohji mumbled, trying to piece together everything in his mind. "Oh yeah…and then Manx came at 1:00 in the fucking morning just after I got home…"

[FLASHBACK]

"This information is lacking. It's not as thorough as what I have expected of Kritiker." Ran said straightforwardly when all of Weiss and Manx had gathered in the `Mission Room'.

Manx opened her mouth to answer but was cut off by Kudou's drunken, "Don't expect us to do the in depth investigation, that's your job or the job of whoever did the investigation for us in the past," he said, not slurring his words but the glazed look in his eyes a clear indication that he was inebriated.

"You do whatever we order you to do Balinese." Manx snapped with frosty eyes.

"Not when you send us off to our possible deaths. A death that could have been avoided by a more thorough investigation and more information on the `briefing' sheets." Yohji said.

Manx's eyes narrowed and her demeanor became frostier than before. "It's a pretty straightforward mission. All you have to do is take down the target, you've done it a lot of times in the past."

"I'm not taking the mission." Yohji said shaking his head.

"Neither am I. There is no way I'm offing someone who might not deserve it." Ken interjected.

"We need all of Weiss to complete a mission of this caliber." Manx said, glaring at Yohji and Ken.

Yohji just stared blankly at her.

Ken squirmed.

"Manx-san, I agree with Ken and Yohji" Omi said. "We can't act on the small amount of information given to us. Why do we need to kill Shojiro Yanagiba? What's he done that merits his punishment? Also he's come into a great deal of power and people are looking after him to ensure his safety…it won't be a…"

"No one is innocent until proven innocent." Yohji reminded Omi, "Mito Yanagiba just up and died one day for no apparent reason and Shojiro Yanagiba had the most to gain at his demise. Some suggested poisoning but there was no trace of any foreign chemical in Mito's body."

"How do you know so much about this case Yohji?" Ken asked frowning a bit in his surprise.

Yohji lifted an eyebrow. "Hey, why are you so surprised? I watch the news, I know how to read…" He studied Manx out of the corner of his eyes.

She looked as if she was trying to gather her thoughts. He noticed the dark circles under her eyes, the line of strain and the very slightly smudged mascara. Manx looked a bit out of it and he opened his mouth to ask what was wrong.

Manx looked startled by the questions. "I'm fine," she answered. "Look, Mito Yanagiba wasn't exactly a Kritiker operative but he was a contact and occasionally, he did us favors. He was a good man and his death is a great loss to the organization."

"What does this have to do with Shojiro Yanagiba? The doctors found no trace of foreign chemicals in Mito Yanagiba's body. There is no way Shojiro caused Mito Yanagiba's death." Yohji said. His head was still slightly fuzzy from the alcohol but he was still able to piece his thoughts together properly.

"Kritiker owns Weiss, and Kritiker wants Shojiro Yanagiba dead. Kritiker wants all of Weiss to handle this case. Failure to abide by this order will result in immediate and permanent termination." The steel in Manx voice clearly stated that `termination' meant something more that `let go or fire'.

Yohji stiffened but he smiled. "Well then I'd hate to piss off the big boys, I'm in."

"Me too." Ken said angrily.

Manx nodded wearily.

"So when is it due?" Ran asked from the corner of the room.

Manx looked startled, "Wasn't it included in your mission briefs? It's today." She looked down at her watch. It was 1:15 am. "Shojiro will be having a late business meeting at the Iwamura Towers that will finish up at exactly 2:00 am. That's why I'm here…to tell you that the best time to take care of him is when he goes inside his car at the private parking lot in the building."

Omi glanced at Yohji with concern. "Yohji-kun is still a little drunk," he said before looking at Manx.

"He might get in trouble, going into a mission in that condition," Ken added.

"I'm sorry but Kritiker wants all of Weiß to work on this…" Manx said with a shake of her head.

Yohji glanced at Ran when Manx had gone, Ken and Omi trying to persuade her.

"What about you Ran, don't you care if I die?"

There was silence as Ran passed Yohji on the way up the stairs.

"Guess not…"

[END FLASHBACK]

"So that's why my head is pounding so hard…I was hung-over and I didn't even get that many hours of sleep before the mission…" Yohji said to him self, still keeping his eyes closed.

It felt like someone was trying to crack his skull open with a blunt knife.

He raised a hand and massaged the bridge of his nose, trying to alleviate some of the pain. "So then what happened?"

[FLASHBACK]

: Abyssinian, Siberian here, in position. :

: Copy that. :

: Bombay here, in position…I'm logging into the security system now. :

: Copy that: Abyssinian in position. Are you ready Balinese? :

: You know I'm always ready for you. :

: Cut the crap. What's your position? :

: Any way you want. :

The silence was enough to let Yohji know exactly how pissed off Ran was.

: Well excuse me for trying to insert a little levity in a shitty situation. :

: It's not funny. :

Yohji rolled his eyes. : Positioned at 3:00 from the exit at 12:00, four cars from the left. :

: Bombay here. I've accessed the security cameras and commencing a feedback of a blank floor taken a while ago. You can move around freely, they won't be able to spot you. :

Yohji rested his back against the tire of the van he crouched behind. Weiß had been trained to work as a unit of exceptional individuals. They could work in pairs or alone. The usual arrangement was long-range weapon partnered with long-range ones. Ken's bugnucks and Ran's katana were short range and Omi's crossbow and darts as well as Yohji's harigane (wire) were long-range weapons.

In theory, Ken and Ran could be partnered together but it had been the group consensus to keep those two as far away from each other as possible. Ran's frosty attitude and Ken's quick temper was not something that gelled together very well.

More often than not, it was Ken who watched Omi's back while the blonde was busy infiltrating the computer systems of their targets and Ran and Yohji who disposed of the targets themselves.

Now wasn't any different.

: Balinese, Abyssinian here, I have a visual. :

: I can see them too: four bodyguards two on front and back and two on the sides. :

: By the look of the fit of their suits, they're packing, but no heavy artillery. :

: Okay, let's get this done so we can all go home. :

Yohji released the wire and with a twist of his hand, slashed bodyguard # 1 on the throat.

That was what Yohji loved about his weapon. It was virtually undetectable.

The chaos started, the bodyguards compressing, using their body to shield Yanagiba, their weapons in hand pointing outward, not knowing what had struck and where it was coming from next.

Ran and Yohji both came out of their respective hiding places, wielding their weapons with the grace and expertise of long practice. It didn't take long to finish off the remaining three.

It would have been an easy job…if only they knew about the back-up bodyguards that came barreling from the elevators, machine guns in hand.

Yohji did a back flip and twisted his body mid-air to avoid the hail of bullets assaulting him. He landed on the floor and staggered a little, feeling the effects of the leftover alcohol in his system.

Ran slammed against Yohji from the side, taking him down and rolling with him to avoid the assault of bullets raining on their heads. Ran didn't stop until they reached the safety of a car.

Yohji rested his back against the car's side, feeling slightly dizzy.

Ran's fist connected with the blonde's unsuspecting jaw.

"Ouch!" Yohji hissed in surprise, turning to glare at Ran or at least trying to since it was hard to narrow your eyes when your head was pounding. "What the fuck was that for?"

"Get yourself together. I don't want to save you every time you mess up."

"Well no one told you to!"

Ran's eyes narrowed, his heart still pounding from the horror he'd felt when he saw the gun trained at Yohji. He almost thought he wouldn't make it in time.

"If you hate doing it so much you should have just let me die," Yohji muttered irritably as he touched his jaw, wincing.

The glass windows of the car exploded above them.

"Damn it…they found us," Ran said crouching low. He glared at Yohji, "Don't screw up again."

"Hai, Ran-sama," Yohji said with a mock salute.

Ran's eye twitched in annoyance before he moved on to pick off the targets one by one.

Yohji got ready to do the same.

It wasn't easy, but they got it done.

Yohji tightened the wire around the last man's neck, not stopping until he was sure the man was dead. The asshole had gotten him on the leg and it was hurting pretty badly. The whole area was a mess with blood, gore and dead and mutilated bodies all around. Yohji smirked; Kritiker was going to have to send up a cleaning crew to cover this mission up. With the new advances in forensic technology it was getting harder and harder to stay anonymous.

He stood up and watched as Ran advanced on the target, Shojiro Yanagiba.

The man was cowering, his fearful eyes trained on Ran's bloody katana. "Please…please don't kill me. I have money, more money than you can ever dream of…"

A motion at the corner of his eye caught Yohji's attention. His eyes widened when he saw one of the bodyguards stagger up. He only had one arm left, Ran's katana having sliced the other one off, but in that one arm he had a gun pointed directly at Ran's back.

Shit how could they have missed spotting him?

"Ran, behind you!" Yohji shouted, running forward and knowing he wouldn't be able to make it in time.

Ran automatically crouched low and twisted his body, hurling his sword behind him with enough force to catch the man in the abdomen and send him crashing backwards, the gun dropping from his hands.

Shojiro Yanagiba took the opportunity to pick up the gun lying near his dead bodyguard. He checked the safety and aimed it right at Ran. He started to laugh, "Stupid fool, did you really think you could kill me?"

Two shots rang out.

Click…Click…Click

"Yohji-No!"

[END FLASHBACK]

Yohji's eyes snapped open and he sat up in bed, ignoring his headache. He looked down at his slightly trembling hands. "That was a dream…it couldn't have been what happened…"

"Actually…it is."

"What in the-?" Yohji exclaimed his head shooting up in surprise. He stared at the girl sitting at the edge of his bed.

"I prefer `Who in the-`. I'm not a thing you know. I'm Bethany."

"O-okay…" Yohji said as he took in the girl's appearance. She looked to be between fifteen to seventeen, but no older. Her hair was long and golden and she was wearing a white tunic that looked more like lingerie than a dress.

Suddenly, a disturbing thought occurred to him.

I have a teenager on my bed…

A teenage girl wearing white lingerie…

Yohji collapsed back down in bed, throwing an arm over his eyes with a groan.

Oh my god, did I just have sex with a minor last night?

"I'm actually older than you, you know. Eons older…" Bethany said.

Oh my god, did just have sex with a crazy minor last night?

He felt the bed shift as she moved closer to him and grabbed his arm. "I'm not crazy. Come on, get up Yohji…open your eyes…"

"Not until you change your clothes first," he mumbled feeling like a pervert. So he'd been drunk…that wasn't an excuse!

"I thought you liked my clothes. You're the one who wanted me to wear them."

Oh god…

She sighed, "If they bother you so much, then you shouldn't think such perverted thoughts. Really if you weren't so adorable I'd hate you."

He couldn't take the uncertainty anymore. Yohji sat up and looked at her again and to his amazement, she was wearing something like a plain white sleeveless dress that fell to her knees. It looked sweet and innocent and pure and very appropriate. He looked around his room, wondering how she could have changed her clothes so fast. "Where's that thing you were wearing a while ago? The white lacy thing?"

"You took them off."

Yohji ran a hand over his face. He couldn't quite follow the girls conversation but it didn't matter right now, what mattered was confirming whatever he had done the unspeakable or not. "Look, Bethany…that's your name, right?"

She smiled looking pleased with him. "Yes."

"So…did we sleep together?"

"Sleep together?"

"You know…make like rabbits, do the dirty…"

Bethany frowned, "Sex is not dirty. It's a beautiful thing, almost like touching creation itself. It's you people who make it into something only of physical pleasure."

"Yes well, whatever. The point is, did we do it?"

"Of course not."

Blessed relief. "Are you sure?" he hedged.

"Yes." Bethany said nodding, her sapphire eyes sparkling at him, "That would be quite impossible you see."

"So what are you doing here then?" he asked. A lot of what happened last night seemed a blur to him and for the life of him, he couldn't even remember meeting Bethany or taking her home with him.

"I am here because of you. I'm your angel."

"That's nice," Yohji said smiling at her and feeling like he was stuck in a rerun of a bad Twilight Zone episode. "But we've got to get you home. I'm sure your parents are worried about you…"

"I'm an angel Yohji, I don't have parents. I was created as a full being."

Great, it was just what Yohji needed today. Bringing a stranger into the apartment was something severely frowned upon: especially by Ran but bringing an insane, underage stranger into the apartment was going to get him killed..

"You really care what they think, don't you?" Bethany said studying the blonde man.

Yohji looked at her, her face tilted up at him and her eyes solemn and deep as if holding infinity in their depths. "Your parents? Of course."

"No. I meant your friends."

Yohji stared at her wondering how she was managing to follow his line of thought.

"It's okay Yohji. I know you and everything there is to know about you. Even those things that you aren't willing to admit even to yourself."

Yohji nodded and climbed out of bed ignoring the pain in his head. He was feeling decidedly uncomfortable, as if his entire being was laid bare and she knew every secret he had. "Okay then…we've got to get you back home…to heaven…" he added just to appease her.

"My home is with you…and with everyone I care for." Bethany explained. "Don't be afraid. No one will come."

Yohji stared at her. Was she a psycho? Did she do something to Ken, Omi…Ran? If he ever got out of this situation, Yohji was sure that Ran was going to flay him alive.

"It matters to you, doesn't it?"

"What?"

"Ran. You care what he thinks."

"It's not exactly so much as caring what he thinks but protesting the method he uses of getting his point across."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning that he always walks around as if he think he's better than everyone else and whatever you do, you'll never be good enough."

"That must be very frustrating for you."

"Aggravating more likely." Yohji said.

"Intelligence is seeing what is in front of you and acknowledging it for what it is and what it was. Genius comes in asking for the reason why it is and why it was."

"I never said I was a genius," Yohji muttered.

"Yes...well…that would be lying, wouldn't it?"

Yohji blinked. "Didn't you say you were an angel?"

"Yes."

"Aren't you supposed to be benevolent? Isn't it against the law for angels to make fun of people, or something like that?"

"Last time I checked, you humans were supposed to try and `love thy neighbor', aren't you? The only thing you people seem to be doing well is the `go forth and multiply' part."

Yohji stifled a smile. Psycho or not, he found her kind of funny, but he didn't want to encourage her so instead he asked. "Okay, so what are you doing in my room?"

Bethany looked into his eyes quietly for a moment. "We're not in your room Yohji."

"What are you talking about now?" Yohji asked, wondering if this too was part of his dream, it seemed too bizarre to be true. Had his sub-conscious devised a new way to torture him?

"We're in the `in-between' place," Bethany explained patiently, her eyes looking a bit sad. "I thought it would help you accept the reality better."

"What reality?" Yohji asked. Was this girl insane? Great, not only had he unwittingly brought an underage girl into the apartment, but he'd brought an underage girl who seemed to be insane. "Look Bethany," he started gently, "This is my bed, those posters on the wall are mine, this is my carpet and that smoke stain on the ceiling was made by my smoking indoors with the windows closed."

"That's another thing, you really shouldn't smoke. It's bad for your health. Death comes soon enough, why would you want to hurry it?"

"I'll keep that in mind. Thanks for your concern."

"Not that it matters anyway. It's too late."

Yohji's head was really throbbing now. Close to exploding. He clutched it and groaned. "It feels like my skull has been cracked open…"

"I just bet it does."

Yohji glanced at her questioningly.

"And I bet you're probably having a hard time breathing too…"

Now that she mentioned it. "Yeah," Yohji said gasping as he tried to catch his breath.

He felt something weird at the back of his skull; something wet and sticky.

He looked down at his hands.

They were covered in blood.

"Check your chest," Bethany suggested.

Yohji looked down and saw the blood seeping out of his mission uniform.

"I'm bleeding…" Yohji said in an almost disbelieving whisper as he stared down at himself. He looked up and met Bethany's clear blue eyes, his chest rising and falling as he struggled to breathe, "I'm dying…"

"Yohji, calm down."

"I'm dying…"

"Yohji, you're not dying." Bethany said, touching his arm.

"There's a fucking HOLE ON MY HEAD and my CHEST is LEAKING BLOOD LIKE a FAUCET! How can you say I'm not dying?" Yohji exploded.

"Well you can't be dying because…technically…you're already dead…"

ooOoo

A/N: Hi! So did you like this one? I've been thinking about this fic a lot so I just had to make it. I hope you enjoyed it. Please tell me what you think. Reviews please. ^_^

Constructive criticisms are always welcome.