Weiss Kreuz Fan Fiction ❯ Distance ~faraway memories~ ❯ Eiki ( Chapter 2 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Chapter 2: Eiki



"Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of death but once."

Well, I know for sure that I'm no coward. Even though I've stared death in the face many times, I'm not a coward. Ask anyone that I've met, and they'll tell you that I'm not.

And there's one person who can tell you better than anyone else: Fujimiya Ran.




I guess it was about two years ago that I first met him. He was part of a group of party crashers, uncreatively named the Crashers. His partner in the group was Knight, and they were meant for bringing criminals down. I guess the cops in that city must be pretty pathetic, or Knight and Ran must be pretty damn good if they're the ones who take out the bad guys.

Anyway, I was pretty well-known throughout the city. I was infamous for stealing random things from shops and markets and the like. Hey, how else am I supposed to make it? I had nowhere to live, so I just had to fend for myself.

So, this was the reason that I was their weekly target. I guess I had a pretty large bounty on my head, because Ran fought with a *vengeance*. That's just like him, I guess...

At the time, I had taken up lodgings in an abandoned warehouse. The Crashers knew this too, so naturally that's where they'd be looking for me. And I wasn't about to have them search the whole place.

I hid up in the rafters, watching the two of them walk in. They were tall, Knight had a head of messy blonde hair, while Ran's was long and bright red. My long lavender braid was quite extravagant in comparison.

I hid until the two of them looked like they were about to give up; they obviously couldn't find me anywhere. I heard Knight say "Let's go," and saw him turn around. This was my chance to strike.

I grabbed a handful of knives from the straps around my waist, and leapt down from the rafters, throwing them at the two men as I landed. Ran must have sensed this, because before the knives hit, he drew a katana and blocked them.

That's when it hit me.

This guy was GOOD.

It was time to show the Crashers how to REALLY fight.

Both of them charged me at once, but I quickly pulled out my largest knife, and my personal favourite. It was long, and the hilt of it was ivory, with an elaborate gold design carved into the end of it. I leapt back into the air.

The two men looked perplexed as they watched me seem to hover in the air. I landed behind them, then whirled around and gave Knight a sharp kick in the back. He fell over, groaning in pain. "She's so fast..." I heard him say.

Fast. That was me!

I started to attack Ran, but he gave me a cold glare. For some odd reason, I couldn't bring myself to attack him. His violet eyes were like ice.

I mentally slapped myself. Even though I knew that there was no way I could bring him down (that glare just wouldn't leave me alone), I had to at least try. And maybe I could get my hands on that katana too...

He charged at me, the sword at eye-level. I quickly brought up my knife in defense, and the two of us began a long, tiresome battle. Our little war moved from the warehouse to the nearby forest.

It was becoming a little hard for me to evade attacks, because of the trees. I got cut a few times, as did Ran. Several trees gained long slashes or deep gouges in them due to our weapons.

I quickly dove behind a large boulder, wiping some sweat from my forehead. I was tired, but I wasn't about to give up. Ran came around the corner, and our weapons clashed again. I suddenly became backed up against another boulder, and I quickly moved my head away as Ran's katana plunged into the rock behind me.

Both of us froze. I suddenly realized how close we were, and I scrambled to... another boulder. Damn, those things were all over the place! It was then that I realized that our fight had gone into a cave.

I leaned against the cold stone wall as Ran yanked his sword out from the rock. The next thing that happened wasn't surprising... the sword must have jarred some rocks loose, because they all came tumbling down, blocking the entrance to the cave. I groaned. I was SO tired of fighting.

Ran looked at me again with those violet eyes, and I could tell that he was also tired of fighting. I slumped over, sitting down on the ground. Ran threw his katana down and sat across from me. I glared at him with my dark magenta eyes, hugging my knees. I was tired, sweaty, and fairly cross.

Neither of us said anything for a while. We just kept staring at each other.

Finally, Ran broke the ice. "Why are you so bent on stealing from people?" he asked.

This came as a total surprise to me. Nobody had ever asked me that before.

To be honest, I didn't have any real reasons for stealing, other than trying to live. I took a deep breath. "Well... I was born into a poor family in China, under the name of Yueh Liang. When I moved here, I changed it to what it is now... Nusutto Eiki."

Ran remained silent, as if he wanted her to continue.

"I never really knew my parents, as I was abandoned by them when I was about... four years old?... Jeez, I can't even remember. Anyway... I steal simply to survive. I've managed to do it for the last twelve-or-so years, and I'll do it for the rest of my life if I have to.

"It's challenging. I've got to steal food, money, clothes, anything and everything that I need. I'm wanted for this in several Chinese and Japanese cities... when I was a child, I didn't exactly like to steal, because if I got caught I would be beaten. I actually did get caught a couple times when I was little, and the beatings hurt. I became scared of the people in the city, so I stopped stealing for a while. I often went to bed hungry.

"Sometimes, I even resorted to catching small animals like squirrels or birds when I needed food. It hurt me so much to do that to those poor animals, but I really had no other options. It soon became a daily happening for me, because by that time I had few emotions. But sometimes I wanted something more than the burnt squirrel meat, so at night I would sneak over to the nearest grainery and steal some rice.

"People in the city soon began to notice the shortage of rice, and the thefts were traced to me. After several more beatings (jeez, some of the people in Beijing were VIOLENT), I ran away from the city. I pretty much hopped from city to city, in hopes of clearing my name and finding someone to stay with, but nobody wanted the small lilac-haired girl who stole things.

"That's all I've ever been to anyone. A thief. A bandit. A criminal. I'm sick of it. I don't know how much longer I can keep this up, Fujimiya-san." I looked up at him, forming a sad smile on my face. "Sometimes I just want to end it all; I want to kill myself. Nobody would have cared if I died anyway, I'm just a lonely bandit." I looked down at the ground, resting my head on my knees.

There was another silence between us. I wondered if Ran cared about what I was telling him...

He finally spoke. "Don't say that, Nusutto-san. There's bound to be some people in this world who know you and care for you. Don't end your life just because you can't take care of yourself..."

I didn't say anything else. I knew that Ran was right. I knew that my parents, wherever the hell they were, still loved me. They probably missed me a lot, too. But if the truly cared, then why did they just abandon me like that?

"You know, I bet if someone really got to know you, they could see you for who you are on the inside, instead of just a lonely bandit."

I looked up at him again. "Really...?" He nodded. I suddenly felt a little... lighter on the inside. It was a strange feeling. "Well, I've told you my story... now you tell me yours. Why are you part of the Crashers?"

Ran went into this long story of his younger sister, Aya. She had been hit by a car on her sixteenth birthday, the same day that their parents had been killed. She was now in the hospital, in a coma, and had been that way for two years now. I couldn't help but feel sorry for Ran, because I knew what it felt like to lose someone you cared for. I had lost my parents, or rather, they had lost me.

He seemed to be very sensitive about this subject, because he clenched his fist and pounded the wall behind him after he finished. He had vowed to get revenge on Takatori Reiji, the man who put Aya into the coma. He had said that he needed the money (from the missions that he and Knight would get as the Crashers) to pay for Aya's hospital bills.

So, I guess that both of us were pretty tired, because the yawns started. There was some dried wood deeper into the cave, so Ran and I built a small fire in the middle of the area that we had been in. We talked for a while longer, about completely random things, before we were actually able to fall asleep. We would try to get out of the cave the next morning.




I awoke to a bright light pouring in through a small hole that had been dug out in the area where the rocks had fallen and trapped us in. I guessed that someone had heard us talking, and started digging away at them, so I shook Ran's shoulder, waking him up.

"Ran? Are you in there?" I heard a voice say.

Ran rubbed his eyes, stifling a yawn. I guess the voice must have been familiar to him, because he just seemed to snap awake, and he stood up and ran to the entrance. "Knight? That you?"

The next thing I knew, the cave was flooded with light, and a tired and panting Knight was revealed. I guessed that he had been digging at the rocks for a long time, because he looked pretty worn out.

Even though he was tired, he glared at me and started to attack.

I squeezed my eyes shut (I was still pretty tired, and really didn't give a damn whether I died or not), waiting for the oncoming blow.

But it never came. I opened my eyes to see Ran standing in front of me. "Don't hurt her, Knight. She's... she's not so bad."

Knight looked at his partner, obviously confused. Then he looked at me. My expression was equal to his. "I... I'm not?" I stammered.

"We had a long talk last night," Ran said to Knight, "and she really does seem good at heart."

Knight ran his hand through his blonde hair, then looked at me again. "Well, I guess..." He elbowed past Ran and extended his hand to me. "If Ran can trust you, then so can I."

I blinked, realizing that he was offering to help me up. I smirked to myself, then stood up on my own. Knight blinked a couple of times, then crossed his arms.




For some weird reason, I guessed that it was out of pity, Knight and Ran let me stay with them as a Crasher. For a while, my bad reputation was disregarded.

Ran and I went on several missions together over the half-year after that, often being successful. Sometimes I would give him my share of the pay, so he could pay his sister's bills. Ran greatly appreciated this, and as a result, the two of us became close, like best friends.

But, then came the time when Ran left the Crashers. Instead, he was to join a group of assassins called Weiß. The two of us grew distant, and I too left the Crashers and returned to my old life of being a pilferer. I hated it. I didn't have anybody to talk with, or to hang out with.

However, I continued with my life. I became more and more skilled at stealing the things that I needed, and for a while, I forgot about Ran and the Crashers.

My memory of him was restored about five months later, when I broke into a dark building and found a manila folder containing files of four men. There were Kudou Youji, Tsukiyono Omi, Hidaka Ken, and to my surprise, Fujimiya Ran. But he seemed to be going by 'Aya' instead of 'Ran', and I found that confusing.

That night, I happened to see the four guys in a rumble with five other people. I watched as Ran and another red-haired man's swords collided in midair. I began chanting to myself, "Go Ran-kun! Kick his ass!" But then a woman wrapped a pair of nunchucks around his throat, and I felt a lump in my own throat.

I started to go down there to help him, but before I could make it, another young man seemed to appear out of nowhere, knocking Ran and the woman to the ground as the other redhead was about to bring his sword down on Ran. I breathed a sigh of relief.

The battle then ended, with the two assassin groups asking the young man to join. I couldn't help but feel a little bit jealous when the boy accepted Ran's offer to join Weiß. I wanted to be a part of the group (as well as Ran's life; I was sure that he had forgotten about me).

A couple of nights later, I happened to stumble upon that young man (who was known as Kanzaki Shiro, or "Calico") and the second-youngest of the group, Bombay. It was a bit too late at night for two young bishounen to be out, I thought. So, being the bitch that I am, teehee, I attacked them.

I would have had them beaten too, had my favourite knife not gotten lodged in the brick wall. Damn. Just as I finally got the wretched thing out, I felt a sharp pain pierce my shoulder. That little... I felt myself slowing down. Damn, a tranquilizer dart. I felt myself hit the cement, as the two youngsters ran away.

When I woke up, it was bright outside. I didn't know if I had slept three hours or three *days*. I picked the dart out of my shoulder, silently cursing that Tsukiyono brat. But then, I saw an odd sight.

A skinny, blue-haired girl dragging a wriggling Calico down the alley.

What the hell?

For a few minutes I debated with myself. To go and tell his little friends, or not. To not go and tell them would mean that I'd get my revenge on Bombay, but if I did go... then I'd get a chance to see Ran. I finally decided to go and notify Weiß. Calico DID look like he was freaking out...

So, I went. And I helped the four other guys get Shiro back.

Only... the kid wasn't Shiro. He was actually a she. Kanzaki Shiro was actually a girl named Nagareboshi Akari, and she had been raped. I guess that's why she disguised herself as a boy, so it wouldn't happen again. Hell, if something like that happened to me, I'd probably crossdress too.

After that night, I felt some kind of... attachment to Weiß. Not just because of Ran, but... that Nagareboshi girl had some kind of positive effect on me. I guess she was the kind of person to have a positive effect on everyone she meets.

So, I continued on with my life, keeping in touch with Ran and the others, until one night when the leader of Schabön, a man named Akai Arashi, presented himself to me. He said that he had a business proposition for me... Business proposition my ass! The next thing I knew, something hit my head and I blacked out.




When I came to, I wasn't exactly sure where I was. I was sitting at a table with Akai-san, and my hands were bound together. He explained that he was going to force me to lure Ran and the rest of Weiß to the nearby convention center, and that Schabön was going to do away with them. What the f... There was no way in hell that I would let that happen! But, however, I was forced to write a note telling them to be there. It was one of the first times in a long time that I had cried.

The next day was very rough. It was a long and hard battle; Weiß and me, versus Schabön. It was hard, but in the end, we were the ones who were triumphant.

It was also one of the hardest times for me, because Ran came SO close to being killed. He had been blown over the edge of the building, and had caught hold of a windowsill. I threw my braid down to him, and pulled him back up...

But that... that little... God, I could have killed that... Starfish. She... she cut my braid. And Ran... he wasn't completely back on the building yet. I felt my heart shatter into several million pieces. I wanted death to come. I couldn't live with myself if Ran was dead...

But he wasn't. He took a hint from me, and managed to climb back up by way of a drainpipe. And he SHI-NE'd the hell out of the little brat who had begun to attack me. And so, the battle raged on.

When we were finally successful, I... I had to get out of there, for some reason. Something just told me that it was for the best. I began to have second thoughts when Ran gave me a hug and thanked me for everything I'd done for them... but, I had a reputation to keep up. I left Weiß...




...Only for a week, though! I went back to them, a new person. I had gotten my hair trimmed, and now it was short and sophisticated. Also, I had "borrowed" some money from our "friend" Arashi... and gotten some new clothes. Once again, I not only became a part of the same assassin group as Ran, but I became a part of his life again.

And I've never been happier.

I am Mau.