Weiss Kreuz Fan Fiction ❯ Kindred Spirits ❯ Strange Bedfellows ( Chapter 2 )

Chapter Two

Strange Bedfellows

"What the f . . .," Yohji was silenced by a jab from the barrel of a gun in his back.

The four members of Weiss watched as the flame continued to dance in the palm of the girl's hand. After several long moments, she closed her fist and dropped her hand to her side. Amon gave her a strange look but said nothing.

Turning back to the four young men before him, he glanced at each one before focusing his attention on Aya. "Now . . . I think it's time we had some answers. Why don't we start with Danny Tajiri?" Aya met the man gaze for gaze, but said nothing.

"We know that you were watching one of his other apartments last night . . . "

Rubbing the back of her neck, Miho Karasuma saw the sword lying on the ground in front of the man that Amon was questioning and she bent to pick it up. As her fingers made contact with the cool metal, she let out a small sound.

Amon glanced down at her, "Karasuma . . . what is it?"

The tips of her fingers burned as she pressed them down harder on the blade. "Cold . . . and hurt - yes the hurt. Loneliness and sadness . . . hatred - lots and lots of hatred . . ." Shaking her head, she withdrew her hand from the blade. She seemed to shiver as she rose and looked at the man who had wielded that sword.

"What the hell are you people?" Aya growled out.

Amon reached out and grabbed him by the lapels of his leather duster, "I'm the man that's going to kick your ass from here to Hong Kong if you don't start telling me what you know about Danny Tajiri." Aya met his glare and growled in his throat.

Miho reached out and touched the dark-haired man's arm, "Amon . . . they aren't working for Tajiri."

"How can you be so sure?" He asked, his eyes never leaving the swordsman's face.

"I - I felt it . . . I don't know who he's working for, but I can assure you that it isn't Tajiri." She gave the red-haired man a curious look, "The feeling . . . it was all wrong. This guy is a killer, but - but it's different." She shook her head, "I can't explain it any better than that."

Amon eased his grip on the other man a little. "Well if you're not working for him . . . then that must mean you're here to kill him."

Unable to stop himself, Omi gasped. Amon's eyes went immediately to the boy. "So . . . that's your story." Before he could continue, headlights flashed farther down the block as a car turned onto the street. "Damn - let's move it!" The members of Weiss were quickly hustled across the street and into an alleyway, while Haruto stayed at the alley entrance for a few minutes before joining the rest of his team. At a silent look from Amon, the young man shook his head no.

"Amon, maybe we should take them back with us - if they've been sent here to kill Tajiri, then they're only going to get in the way; especially if Tajiri uses his power against them." Miho offered. The dark-haired man seemed to consider her words as he once again sized up the young men before him.

"What do you mean, 'if Tajiri uses his power' against us?" Ken Hidaka spoke up for the first time since his capture. Aya shot him a dark look, but the former athlete's attention was focused on Miho.

The young woman looked at her team leader before answering, and Amon gave her the barest hint of a nod. "What Robin said was true - although I know you don't believe it. Witches really do exist - not that you or anyone else would ever be able to tell. A lot of them are unaware of what they are or what they could do; but there are those that have had training to learn and control their Craft. Most of these people just want to live as normal a life as they can - using their power quietly to help and heal. But just like mundane humans, there are those that go bad, so to speak; and they use their powers for selfish, petty and sometimes criminal means."

"You've got to be kidding me," Aya's voice was thick with skepticism.

Nonplussed by the man's outburst, Miho continued on. "Danny Tajiri is one of those."

Standing on the other side of Aya, Yohji Kudou snorted his disbelief. "Yeah, and I suppose he flies around on a broomstick too. That must be why we haven't been able to locate him - or maybe he beamed himself up." This earned the blonde several cold looks from their captors.

"This isn't some kind of joke, Buddy." Haruto replied angrily as he took a step closer to the blonde assassin. Karasuma put a hand on her partner's arm and he stopped his advance, a sullen look on his young face.

The young woman sighed, "I know that this sounds like a bad science fiction movie, but what I'm telling you is the truth. Just think about it - every person that ever got in his way, every enemy, every potential rival that Danny Tajiri ever had - all of them dead, alleged suicides. Now either the guy has a penchant for drawing psychotics with suicidal tendencies, or somehow Tajiri has managed to kill them all and make it look like a suicide."

Miho returned her attention to Aya, knowing that he was the leader of the group, and therefore the one that had to be convinced the most. She could sense that the other three men deferred to him and would follow his lead. "Danny Tajiri is a witch - a very powerful one - with a family history that goes back six generations. He can control the will and minds of other people - that is his power. With that power, he can implant any thought or action into a person's mind - even driving them to commit suicide -- that is how he killed all those people."

Aya Fujimiya's eyes slowly traveled over the five strangers that faced him, while he rolled the woman's story around in his mind. His gaze lingered Robin for a few moments before he finally spoke. "So how do you fit into all this?"

It was Amon who replied. "We take care of people like Tajiri - those that abuse their power."

"You're assassins?"

"No - we don't kill . . . STN-J doesn't believe in killing. Instead we neutralize them." Haruto said.

"What does that mean?" Omi asked softly.

"We capture them, and then their power is neutralized so that they are no longer a threat to anyone."

"Are - are you a witch too?" The young blonde's eyes were wide as he looked at the girl Robin, remembering how his jacket had suddenly burst into flame as his darts quickly burned into ash.

The girl nodded her head, "Yes."

"You expect someone to believe this lame story? Look babe, I was born - but not yesterday." Yohji scoffed. "C'mon Aya, you're not buying this . . . even stone drunk I wouldn't believe this . . ."

"Shut it, Yohji." Aya turned on his teammate. "I thought this assignment was a little too weird to begin with - nobody could that be that perfect of a killer. There was just something nagging at me about it." He looked back at Amon, "So what your friend here was trying to tell us is that Tajiri could have us all slitting our throats without even leaving his sofa?"

"A crude, but adapt description -- yes. With his power, he could make you kill your friends without blinking an eye or even remembering that you did it."

Aya heard Ken swear and Omi gasped once again. Glancing at Yohji, he saw the tall blonde shaking his head and rolling his eyes. The crimson-haired assassin let out a frustrated sigh. Witches - I've heard it all now. I thought that psycho Masafumi was bizarre with his cloning and genetic experiments - but fuck if this don't take it all. Witches . . . mind-controlling, fire-starting, psychic witches . . .

"So, you're here to get Tajiri so he can't kill anyone else with this witch-power of his; and we're here to get him for the same reason apparently. Although unlike you, we're here to take care of him permanently." Aya looked directly at Amon, "How do you expect to capture him if he can play with your minds?"

"Because we know what he's capable of, we can prepare and shield ourselves a bit from it. Karasuma's particular power makes her virtually immune to his influence." He gestured at the young woman with the short dark hair. "The rest of us aren't quite up her level, but we can manage it."

Aya looked intently at the five people again, his eyes once again fastening on the young blonde girl. "And you can control fire?" Startled by the question, Robin nodded her head, "Y-Yes."

Fujimiya glanced over at his teammates, while he continued to think on what he had heard. Omi met his eyes and slowly nodded his head, as if silently saying that he believed the story and would go along with whatever Aya decided. Ken's expression was neutral, but he knew that the former soccer star would also follow him. Yohji on the other hand, looked totally disinterested; and he watched as the blonde winked at the girl called Dojima.

"Say babe, how about letting me light up a smoke?"

The girl wrinkled up her nose in disgust, "Those things can kill you." Yohji gave her a flirty smile, "Guy has to have something to look forward to." Dojima rolled her eyes and looked away.

"Kudou . . ." Aya growled in warning, but the other man only shrugged his shoulders.

Amon's earpiece crackled to life and Aya watched the other man as he turned away to converse with whoever was on the other end. Why not let these people have Tajiri? Either way he's gone - besides if what they say is true, then they're definitely more suited to the job than we are. But what about Manx and Persia - I wonder how much of this the two of them knew? They've held out on us before. Secret witch cops - I've heard it all now.

Amon had finished his conversation and was quietly discussing something with most of his group, only Haruto had been left to watch over Weiss. Their guard had let his attention wander towards his companions as they talked, allowing Ken and Omi to inch a little closer around Aya and Yohji.

"What do you think, Aya?" Ken whispered, his eyes on Haruto.

Omi chimed in immediately after, "Do you believe them - do you think it's for real?" The young boy looked down at the scorched sleeves of his jacket. "I don't know what the rest of them can do, but that girl Robin is pretty scary." An involuntary shiver ran down as his spine as he thought about what could have happened to him if the girl hadn't been able to control the flames or if she had meant to hurt him seriously.

Aya shook his head, "I don't know - it's just too strange. But if you think of what they said about Tajiri - and the information that we got from Manx . . . I don't know. But if you were going to lie about something, why use such an unbelievable story? I know it doesn't make any sense, but I think they are telling the truth - not all of it of course - but enough of it."

"Jeez Aya, I never though you could be so gullible." Yohji interrupted. "Witches - I think you've been watching too many episodes of the 'X-Files'."

"C'mon Yohji, that's not fair!" Omi quickly came to his leader's defense. "You saw what that girl did - how she burned that wire right in your hands; and what about when the other one touched Aya's sword?"

Before Kudou could reply, Haruto finally recalled that he was supposed to be watching the four young men and he quickly turned his attention back on them. "Hey! What do you think you're doing?" He moved closer, his gun poised at chest level. The conferring members of STN-J broke off their conversation to see what was going on.

Aya held his hands up, palm out. "We were just talking - that's all."

"What's going on, Haruto?" Amon's asked.

The crimson-haired leader of Weiss answered him instead, "Nothing - we were just talking." Amon stepped towards the four men as Aya continued on. "We were talking about what you said about Tajiri."

"And whether or not you could believe it?" The dark-haired man supplied.

Aya lowered his hands, "Can you blame us? Don't say you wouldn't do the same."

"No, I suppose not. But don't be stupid and try anything, either." Amon warned. The two men glared at one another for a few moments while the rest of the STN-J group joined their leader.

"Amon . . ." Miho prompted the dark-haired man as she handed him Aya's sword.

"Yeah, I know." He didn't look at all happy as he stepped closer towards the swordsman and his companions. "I've been instructed to offer you a deal." He held the sword out to Aya, "We've told you some of who we are and what we do. If you agree to do the same, we'll tell you the rest." The young man took the sword from him. "Then - then if you want in on capturing Tajiri, then you're in. But it's strictly capturing him - whatever contract you have on his life is null and void. Got that? Danny Tajiri is one of ours and it's our job to see that he's properly taken care of."

Aya Fujimiya gripped his sword tighter as he looked into the face of the man across from him, searching for some sign that the man wasn't completely on the level - but Amon's face was neutral. Glancing quickly at his Weiss teammates, he gave the other man a measuring look. "Alright - we accept. But on one condition -- that we have your personal guarantee, and that of whoever you work for, that Tajiri will be dealt with permanently. We aren't going to risk our necks only to have that bastard back out on the street in six months. Even without any of this supposed witch-power - he'd still be some Yokuza scumbag and will continuing killing, even if he has to do it with his own hands. If you can't deal with that - then we go our separate ways right now."

Amon regarded the red-haired man for a few minutes. "I agree - it's a deal." Turning back towards his team, he quickly started barking out orders. The team quickly broke apart and did as he instructed. Haruto and Karasuma went to fetch the van that they had come in, while Dojima left to get her own car and head back to their headquarters. Robin stayed behind with Amon, silently watching the four young men who stood next to him.

He was saying something to the red-haired man, Aya, and the two stepped away followed by the tall blonde and the dark-haired man that had been battling Haruto. While the four men moved towards the mouth of the alleyway, Omi silently walked over to where the girl was standing. Robin regarded him with her deep green eyes and she saw him blush a little and drop his gaze. Taking in the state of his jacket she asked, "You're alright - no burns?" Her voice was soft and tinged with concern.

"N-No - I mean, I'm alright - no burns."

"I'm glad." She simply said.

Before the two could say anymore to one another, Amon's voice cut through the darkness. "Robin . . ." The young girl hurried after the retreating figures of Amon and Aya.

"Where are we going?" Omi asked as he followed her.

"I guess you're coming with us."

"Where?"

"To STN-J," Robin replied.

The two youngsters silently hurried to catch up with the rest of their respective teams.