Weiss Kreuz Fan Fiction ❯ kira.kira ❯ chapter one ( Chapter 1 )

.∙-*| kira kira : a Japanese onomatopoeia used to describe the twinkling of the stars |*-∙.

Thanks to: Pyrochan, Fierysable, and Triste for reviews in last chappie. :3

A/N: at bottom

Warnings/Disclaimer: see prologue

-thoughts-

kira.kira

by Koyuki Aode

Chapter 1

In kabuki, it's all about the eyes.

If you draw them on right, you will have victories both on stage and in the audience. Anyway, that's how it was supposed to be. My eyes are particularly wide - open just more than slits, really - for a homegrown Japanese boy, and my former 'Kaasan considered taping them down at the beginning. She didn't.

The audience never really saw me, and the stage hated me. Only my adopted 'Kaasan and 'Tousan loved me.

I remember feeling very cold and alone the first time he caught my eye.

Everyone gets stage fright, ne?

But I was already on stage. And for goodness' sake, I'd forgotten the only line I'd ever been assigned in my life. Luckily, it wasn't my cue yet. I kept the rhythm of my right hand steady, twirling the fan in a perfect circle as I raised the other in the air. The light hit my skin, my white makeup surprised me and then - whoosh! like an eclipse, it almost blinded my apprehension.

Certainly, I was not born to live on creaking wooden planks beneath the small burning suns, but I'd never been that nervous before.

I gulped as the other boys, also dressed as geisha, stepped into another pattern beside me and each said their own respective line with ease. Each sentence was a tightened notch around my heart and throat.

"I want to fall in love with a noble samurai."

-Why can't I be like them?-

"I want a politician who will build a city in my name."

-Why couldn't I have their Kabuki-trained genes?-

"I want a man like Harutake-sama."

-Why is this kimono so tight and heavy?-

Then silence singed my senses. Even the music had stopped. Expectation was a fog around me as I listened to the sound of my own fan still doing revolutions. Stage lights buzzed like flies, melting my makeup with sweat, and a thousand eyes watched me.

Everything in kabuki - from gestures to projection - must be flawless for the audience, no matter how wrong it seems to the stage.

I thanked kami that we were all wearing our white makeup, lest Natsumare's easily reddened cheeks give us away to the crowd.

"Naoe-chan," my older brother forced my character's name through his smile as convincingly as he could, "What are your dreams? Who do you want as your destiny?"

At this point, I had no idea what I was to say. All of my thoughts involved that flash I'd seen in the audience, what must have been the reflection from a pair of glasses. I could barely see their owner, but I felt like this person's gaze was pulling at my limbs, urging me off the stage and toward him. I thought for a moment he would steal my soul from my body and I would float to him like a white ghost, to be kept in his breast pocket for entertainment.

Our dialogue of silence.

It was not my soul he would end up keeping, but I would offer it to him anyway.

His head of jet-black hair nodded at me and his glasses flashed again, looking like a first star in the darkness of the performance house.

A door opened in my mind, suddenly.

A star. My line was about a star. But I still couldn't remember...

I snapped my fan closed. There was no more time to stall. Poor 'Tousan looked as if he would collapse from shame, his makeup flowing from his face in misted rivers.

I held my fan behind my back and lowered my gaze to the floor. "I... don't know." Natsumare made a strangled noise in his throat, but I ignored it as I let my eyes pass over the glasses again. My heart took over - leaping up from my chest - and I found myself on my knees, staring hard at the ceiling, making out the night sky that existed above it.

I spoke before I knew what words would jump from my lips: "I don't know what I want," I said in the perfect lost voice, "When I look at the stars, I don't cloud my mind with dreams - I watch the brightest twinkle." I snapped my fan open and held it up against imaginary beacons, "That one that catches my eye every night, that is the god who guides my future. If I follow it, I will find my star. I am the one who will shape this reality for myself."

More silence. The boys in girls' clothing stared at me. The play is ruined, I thought, the audience will never come to see us again. Natsumare's face twitched as he tried not to betray the same sentiment.

Haruki pushed the play along with his cue. "How can Naoe-chan live with such uncertainty?" he turned to the other "geisha" and laughed cruelly, which sounded all too familiar, "-Dreams keep the sad, pathetic ones alive."

"No, you are wrong!"

Stand, turn, flap fan, bow head and look sad. That part wasn't too hard. 'Tousan looked a little better now.

I stalked towards the right exit, and had the mind to add as the laughter faded:

"Dreams are what make us cry."

*

My heart was still between my ears as I stumbled backstage to find 'Kaasan.

Behind me, I heard 'Tousan finish an angry line and stomp in my direction. 'Kaasan called to me from one of the rooms and I followed her voice. When I found the doorway that led me to her, I burst in and pulled my wig off, trying not to lose hold of my tears.

I looked up and saw myself in a mirror, a troubling pale resemblance to the bewildered boy I was when I met the Fujihara troupe.

"'Kaasan…"

"Yokatta ne, Nagi-kun." Yuuko Fujihara was kneeling over a bed that held her youngest daughter. Shizuru had been sick with the flu for three days, which was why I had to take her place when we performed the new play.

"…Demo."

"You changed your line. We still look good. Ii da ne, Akachan. [1]"

I sniffed. "Akachan ja nai yo."

"Then don't let those tears fall," she said sternly. 'Kaasan always had a way of treating us like professionals, and still acting maternal. "They will ruin your eyes, which look so beautiful now." And she had a sixth sense concerning the stage. "Now please, get more water from the kitchen and find your father."

When I looked, I realized that 'Tousan had disappeared from backstage. I checked every room to make sure, still clomping about in my costume slippers as actors' voices continued onstage with drunken banter and hearty insults. This lasted until the last door led me outside, and the voices were locked away.

I liked kabuki better that way. In a place I could not touch.

My chest had stopped pounding like a taiko drum, and the cold breeze filled me with release as I walked toward the theater kitchen.

Darkness. This was my element, I believed, rather than the throes of glowing attention. Feeling whimsical, I indulged my terrible performance by looking up at the stars. Haruki's laughter bubbled up in my head when I did not even glimpse my bright god.

Then the sky fell, and I was propelled backwards.

Strong hands caught my sides before I reached the ground and pulled me up again. Startled, I gripped the arms these hands belonged to, and felt equally strong muscles contract as my balance was righted. My slippers clacked against the ground.

"You should watch where you're going," the cream-colored suit admonished in English. It had a nice, smooth voice.

I let my eyes travel up along the green necktie. My fingers tightened over course fabric and my breath caught in my throat.

-I've found him.-

He matched my thought with a surprised look of his own, his navy blue eyes growing wide as he examined my face though his glasses.

You fool! screamed Common Sense (sounding more like Haruki than I cared for), Act Japanese!

Immediately, at this whim, I looked away.

"S-Sumimasen," I stuttered uncomfortably, caught where I was. His hands tightened on my body. As I moved to push away, my hand brushed against a foreign object against his ribs. It registered quickly in my mind. A gun.

I pushed harder, fearing for my life. He finally let me go as two others approached us. Gently his grip faded, making sure I did not stumble as I hurriedly pulled back.

"What's this you've picked up?" a nasal voice shot through the air, a sudden flare of conceit. It belonged to the redhead who approached us with an overconfident stride. "Oh Crawford, you got me a present," he drawled in mock surprise, placing his elbow on what I assumed to be Crawford's shoulder. "Certainly is pretty." He smirked in my direction, looking me up and down. I ran my tongue along the roof of my mouth, remembering not to lick up the makeup on my lips. "But do you have any idea how young he is?"

"Young enough to hurt God," the second man said slowly. I gulped as I ran my eyes over the blade in his hand, then over his many scars on his white skin. His one visible eye seemed to mark target areas along my person. "His skin is begging to be stained."

I pasted Crawford's name to his face as his shoulders relaxed in slight defeat. "Farfarello, don't touch him," said the sweeping voice in muted sternness. He locked his gaze with mine, somehow easing my qualms about him being a god of death. "He's the one."

"Why am I the one?" I spoke up, utilizing my secret study of English. All three of them blinked in surprise. A question crossed Crawford's expression, but his face immediately hardened as he noticed something behind me.

"Nagi-kun?"

"'Tousan?" I turned around in surprise. He approached with another man, a businessman in a dull gray suit. "Where have you been? 'Kaasan wants-"

"I'm busy now," 'Tousan said sharply. "With Takaguchi-san," he gestured to the businessman, "Takaguchi-san, this is Nagi, my adopted son. Tonight was his debut."

I bowed deeply, murmuring the usual formalities. A rough hand slipped beneath my chin and urged me upward, and I found Takaguchi's face dangerously close to mine. "Mm," he grunted, "Nagi is a gentle name." As he pushed forward, I drew back, and in turn he placed his other hand behind my neck. I held my breath as his nose touched mine.

"Takaguchi-san, please, the matter at hand," 'Tousan's voice tightened.

Takaguchi smirked at me before releasing me. He turned fully to face my father. "Half," he said in a sort of victorious way, as if he'd just found gold.

'Tousan suddenly became enraged. "What?!"

Takaguchi nodded. "I will relieve half of your debt."

"No."

"You're refusing this kindness?" Takaguchi's eyebrow twitched, "After all the kindness I've shown you."

'Tousan shook his head, saying slowly: "This is not a decision to make, Takaguchi. My wife would never forgive me. Not after…"

My eyes traveled back and forth between them. I had no idea what was going on. I didn't even know 'Tousan had a debt to pay. If 'Kaasan knew she'd have been distraught but she would have figured out a way to pay it off. What could be worth selling to make up for such a debt?

A soft chuckle tickled the air. I turned to see the redhead with his lips barely touching Crawford's ear. "The boy doesn't know it's about him," he whispered.

I was sure I heard my heart make contact with the ground.

-He wouldn't… 'Tousan wouldn't…-

Before I knew it, the redhead's arms were around me, holding me in place. He clamped a hand over my mouth as I begged for my freedom. "Don't worry little one," he said softly, pressing his face into my neck. His words were urgent and sincere. "Your father wouldn't willingly let you go."

Suddenly his other hand was behind my thigh, sliding upward. I jumped and whimpered as he grabbed me.

"Schuldich," Crawford growled, stepping closer. "What are you doing?"

Schuldich cleared his throat. "Nothing. I was just testing him out for--"

Crawford pushed Schuldich away from me, keeping hold of my arm. "If Takaguchi had seen that-"

"Yeah, this pervert and his fresh virgins," Schuldich muttered. "If you ask me, I'd rather be shooting them. But you said we'd be done with him by now."

"We will be," assured Crawford, thinning his eyes as he watched 'Tousan and Takaguchi bicker. "Soon."

"It's always 'soon' with you. How soon?"

"I'll give you three days," Takaguchi's steel voice cut through the air.

'Tousan looked sick again. "I can't come up with that much money in-"

Takaguchi put his hand up for silence. "Three days." His eyes slipped to me. "Then it depends on who my bodyguards find first." Waving to the gaijin, Takaguchi stalked away without saying goodbye.

Farfarello and Schuldich sauntered after Takaguchi, but not before looking back to memorize my face. Crawford took a heavy breath and also turned slowly to leave. He let his hand glide down my sleeve, barely brushing his fingers against my palm as he stepped away from me.

'Tousan rushed forward, gripping my shoulders and asking me if I was all right. At least, that's what I think he did. At the moment, I did not have much attention to pay him.

"…Crawford?" I sounded the name out softly.

He half-turned, facing me with his profile. Why had I called him? No reason. Now I had to think of something so I wouldn't look nearly as stupid as I felt.

"Aa… Be careful."

That had to be the ultimate lame, worse than my ad-libbed monologue.

He had a gun and everything, too. He could have shot me for my idiocy. But that isn't what he did.

He only blinked and nodded, then continued into the veil of night.

[tbc]

[1] Akachan = pet name for babies; "aka" means red and babies are red-faced? Or something to that effect.

A/N: … Changed like.. a few words. Wow, I'm so anal now… X-x Please R & R? Pretty please? With cherry flavored pocky on top? I'd like to know if my effort was worth the time…