Weiss Kreuz Fan Fiction ❯ Coming Home ❯ 10 ( Chapter 10 )

10

what have i become?

my sweetest friend

everyone i know

goes away in the end

I looked up. We were parked in front of a traditional Japanese home, rather large and immaculate on the outside, with a vast garden stretching away toward the treeline. We had come fairly high up into the mountains; this place wasn't on any legal map, I was certain of it. Of course, Brad had told us we'd be guests of the brother of a yakuza lord, so I had no reason to be surprised. That was simply how Brad Crawford operated, after all.

A young man and two women greeted us at the car. The man spoke with Crawford, while the women helped with our bags. Farfarello again carried Nagi as we followed the younger woman into the house.

She led us to the western wing of the home, which proved to be even larger than it looked from the outside. There, she showed us a suite of rooms that would be our home for as long as Crawford had arranged for. He hadn't told us that detail. Maybe it wasn't settled yet. In any case, we had two sizeable rooms and a bathroom all to ourselves. I set the bags down in one corner and stretched, starting to feel almost happy. I was going to get a bath! Since the day of the ritual, I had gotten only one brief shower, and it had been chilly and cramped. Brad and I had squeezed into the tiny shower stall at the tiny little apartment we'd just left, and the tiny water heater had given out after about ten tiny minutes. It had barely been enough to rinse off the pain sweat that reeked from our underarms.

And now we were staying in a real house, with womenfolk who wanted nothing more than to cook for us and run us as many hot baths as we wanted. I was in heaven!

"See to Nagi first, Schu," Brad said as he joined us in the room. "I've got them preparing a bath for him, and some food for the rest of us."

Farfarello had opened the door to the garden and stood at the threshold gazing out. "Crawford," he called back, "mind if I take a walk for a while?"

"Not at all, Farf. Just watch out for the vegetable garden, don't step on anything edible."

Farf grinned. "Define edible. We're gaijin, remember?" With that he was off, enjoying the fresh air and wan sunshine before nightfall.

I stripped off my shirt and grimaced. "I don't suppose they have laundry facilities?"

"Better. The lord of the house is away on business for two weeks. We have full run of the place while he's gone. That includes the grace of his family. We don't have to worry about anything except tending our wounds." Brad dropped his own shirt on the growing pile of laundry, though he kept his t-shirt on. He came over to me and touched my arm, an unexpected moment of tenderness. "We have a little respite from things here, Schu. Use it."

He stood so close, his face so near to mine; I leaned in for a kiss, and he didn't pull away. My hands rose to his shoulders and my weary body responded in spite of itself. He pulled me to him, embraced me and deepened the kiss.

Too soon he moved back, gazing at me with soul-dark eyes. "Nagi first, Schu. We'll have time later."

I nodded, breathless still from the kiss. I had wanted this man for so many years, and to have him agreeable now was dizzying. He was absolutely right, though; we had to take care of Nagi first.

It had been, what, eight days since the tower? I was having trouble keeping numbers straight in my head lately. It had to have been eight, and he still had shown no sign of waking. He was still cool to the touch, still breathing like a little clockwork, and still asleep. I couldn't shake the feeling of irony: first the Fujimiya girl, and now our own Nagi. Somewhere I wondered if the girl's brother was gloating that now we knew his pain.

Brad unhooked the bag, careful to disinfect and then bandage the IV hookup still in Nagi's arm. We got the chibi undressed and I carried him to the bath. The youngest of the three women, the daughter of the lord, I presumed, bowed deeply and told us the water was ready. She left as we entered, and I heard her picking up clothes from our room.

Together we eased him into the tub. The water was perfect, soothing and warm. So different from the cold saltwater that had been his most recent bath. I took the bar of soap and washed one limp hand, then the other. I didn't feel confident enough to wash his hair, or much else of a challenging nature, with him unconscious like that. I soaped what I could, and then just swirled the water around a little, wondering if it would help get him warm.

Before it started to cool too much, Brad let some of the water run out of the tub. "Help me, Schu. I don't want him getting bedsores on top of everything." Brad lifted Nagi with surprising care and skill. "I'll hold him, you use the soap."

I hurried to finish the bathing before the boy got chilled again. To fill the silence, I asked Brad if he'd ever worked as a nurse. "You're damn good at this, you know."

He snorted. "I was a farm kid. You get good at lifting and washing uncooperative creatures. At least he isn't fighting it."

"Farm kid? Brad! I'm stunned," I teased, grinning.

"Bite me, Schuldig. Are you done yet?"

I ran a little fresh water and finished rinsing. "Done."

"Get the towel." Brad lifted Nagi out of the tub and cradled him against his chest.

We dried him off, and I noticed that he seemed a little warmer. Brad carried him back to our rooms and set him carefully on a futon. We didn't bother dressing him; he didn't really have anything wearable anyway, and the room was warm. I wrapped a blanket around him and knelt at his bedside. Brad handed me the business end of the IV line and set about hanging the bag from the window fittings. I hooked up the line with shaking hands, doubly grateful that I didn't have to deal with needles.

"He will wake up, Schu. I promise." Brad's hand squeezed my shoulder gently.

I stood and turned. In my head, I could hear the soft murmur from Brad's shields, reassuring and constant. But in spite of his closeness to me, other thoughts leaked in from the rest of the household, meaningless chatter in rapid Japanese. I was right, then: my shields were truly gone. I tried to keep everyone out, everyone but Brad, and it hurt. Then the events of the past week hit me all at once; worry, fear, pain, loss, and exhaustion overwhelmed me and I broke down and cried.