Weiss Kreuz Fan Fiction ❯ kira.kira ❯ chapter six ( Chapter 6 )

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

Thanks to: Nagibook, Seshira, Dragonfire, Mizu ni Johin, Exileian, and Yukie for reviewing the last chapter. =3 And EVERYONE who has reviewed any chapter of this fic. Prolly wouldn't have gotten this far without y'all! And Sess for helpin' me out. And Ami-chan for being THE evil fiend. >3

A/N: at bottom

Warnings/Disclaimer: see prologue

-thoughts-

kira.kira

by Koyuki Aode

Chapter 6

The flow of the sky's tears rivaled my own.

The morning was so dreary that I feared my emotions had become linked with the clouds. My fingers would grow numb before even touching the window, my heart thirsting to be senseless.

Takaguchi's bed had warmth enough to keep me comfortably chained to my place beneath his covers. Between my spasms of tragedy and dread, I wished to drown in the white, cloud-like material, all of it too big and welcoming to be true.

Aromas wafted from the kitchen, the breakfast meant for me. Inside, I hungered, but I had no interest in eating. I had forgotten how to live without a family to guide me. And there was no will.

I would never again inhale the steam 'Tousan's good luck soup.

Then it happened again, the clenching of my chest - as empty as the void of space, with the weight of the planets combined.

When the tightness passed, I buried my face into the pillow again, not at all comforted by Takaguchi's scent. Weather's hum mixed with the sounds of Takaguchi's shower to sing a subtle lullaby to my woes.

I hated my experiences with the Fujiharas….

But it seemed that I had fallen in love with them while I wasn't looking.

Just as sleep settled before me to promise me escape, a terrible pounding rattled through the walls.

"Takaguchi!!"

I sat up quickly, thinking Tousan had come to rescue me.

"Takaguchi!!"

My feet hit the floor just as I realized it was not Tousan. It was-

"Taka- …Oh--"

"--Crawford?"

He still wore the same suit and tie.

My hopes dissipated in the face of Crawford's bewildered eyes. He blinked and squinted through his glasses before employing his light gasp to speak; "… Nagi?"

"Un…" I was just as confused as he, until I realized - from his stunned gaze - that he had never seen me outside of my costume. "This is my real face," I apologized, looking down at my clothes. The shorts and shirt I wore were large, but I could not deny that the outfit was more comfortable than a kimono.

Crawford did not care. The door smashed against the wall as he pushed through and seized my wrists. "Are you all right?!" he asked demandingly, nearly violent.

I shook with surprise, wondering: "Wh-What do you mean?!"

His grip relaxed, and his tone shifted to silk. "What did he do to you?" he asked, gently urging me forward. Carefully, he stroked his fingers through my hair, lowering his head as if to count to know that each strand had survived the night. "Did he do anything?" His whisper tickled my ear.

"No…" I replied. A warmth had splashed onto my cheeks, spreading over my face. "He brought me here, and helped me clean up, then we slept."

Crawford pulled back, several strands of hair falling over his eyes as he cocked his head. "…You slept?"

"In his bed-" I shrugged "-He said that his couch is uncomfortable."

"And nothing happened…?" He pressed his index finger against his glasses, righting his head's position.

I blinked. "We… slept."

Crawford shook his head, dismissing the topic. "We should leave now."

"Leave?" I repeated. He nodded. "Where would you take me?"

"Yes-" Takaguchi's voice broke in, "-Where would you take him?"

"… Takaguchi," Crawford said stiffly.

"I cannot imagine-" Takaguchi stepped forward, fully clothed and his hair still dripping, "-Where little Nagi would have to go, now that his family does not want him." His cold hand touched my shoulder. "And now that the boy has helped his father pay the debt he incurred in buying the theater, he wouldn't dream of leaving…" Takaguchi's fingers tickled my chin, pulling my face close to his own. "He likes it here."

I whimpered, cursing emotions for making me so attached to every little thing in my world and so utterly vulnerable to the contraction of memories. I could only hope the tears wouldn't fall.

Crawford cleared his throat. His suit made a scratching noise as he put his hands behind his back. "I believe I advised against taking the boy against his will."

"And I believe that I no longer employ you." Takaguchi's hand on my neck made me shiver. I could not look Crawford in the eye, despite how Takaguchi's touch made me yearn for Crawford's fingers on my skin. I would have been miserable with or without him. "But I have to wonder," Takaguchi continued, "What you are doing here now."

"Mister Takaguchi, I think you should note that I'm warning you…"

"As am I. Now, please. Leave."

They stared at each other for what seemed a minute anchored in time. I moved my eyes back and forth between them.

There was a dark clarity in Crawford's gaze. It seemed a world away, the vacuum that sparked my curiosity. It made me want to say something, but when I finally took the effort to open my mouth, my voice had already been pulled away.

Crawford slammed the door after glancing at me one more time.

My heart plunged at the sound, burning through me and leaving a crater beneath me. I choked on the fallout as I fell, and landed - to my surprise - on the softness of Takaguchi's mattress.

"What's wrong?" Takaguchi said softly beside me. I barely felt the chills as the mattress sank beneath his weight. "I'm sorry. Does he bother you?"

I wanted to be home again. I wanted to have a home again. I wanted to be in a place I knew, where I was not the center of attention, but a part of the background.

And I still wanted to see Crawford.

"…Home." I had whimpered it so weakly that Takaguchi asked me to speak louder, putting his face close to mine.

The tears burst from my eyes before I could turn away. Like a shower, they splashed against my skin.

"Shh..." Takaguchi whispered tenderly and stroked my back. It was very comforting for someone to be so gentle with me. But I felt that something was wrong. "Did you know?" he wiped a tear from my cheek, "You are so beautiful when you cry."

-Too close-

My heart jumped. Takaguchi's whispers against my ear had melted away to soft kisses along my neck. His fingers left cool trails along my thighs. "T-Taka..." I panicked as he continued. "Takagu-Mm!--"

Suddenly my head was against the sheets. I winced against Takaguchi's lips, which pressed roughly against mine. The weight of the worlds had become very physical, and when I tried to move, I found that his grip around my wrists grew tighter and more painful.

Finally, he pulled his face away, pausing to gaze at me.

"Takaguchi-san, what are you--"

It was as if an eclipse has suddenly ended as I looked into his eyes. The softness I'd experienced before was gone. His true intentions seemed to drive at my soul.

-No!-

"No, please!" My struggles amounted to nothing in the fight. I whimpered as his lips and tongue moved across my abdomen. Then his hand slipped into the shorts. "NO! CRAWF--"

My hands, now free, pried at the fingers clamped around my throat. "T--" I couldn't even speak. I used one hand to pull at his shirt, to get his attention, to make him stop what he was doing to my body.

It was as fruitless as jumping at the moon.

-Please… Please stop...-

"I was under the impression-" Takaguchi muttered, his fingers burning - like acid - memories into me "-That you be quieter than your brother."

-No.-

"I guess it runs in the family."

-I won't let you...-

I barely felt it as he touched me.

-This is my life.-

I didn't feel like begging anymore.

-GET OFF!-

It came as a surprise to both of us as Takaguchi was launched from the mattress.

Even the rain on the window slowed in descent. The wind howled a warning as I stared up at the ceiling.

A few minutes passed before I rolled over and crawled over the rumpled set of sheets to peer over the edge of the mattress. Takaguchi's hand jumped onto the mattress, knocking his tie to the floor.

Idiot! Common Sense screamed in my ear, What are you waiting for?!

Without another thought, I broke into a run.

"Come back here!!!"

Takaguchi's fingers grazed my neck as I approached the front door.

Common Sense whispered calm assurances to my fears.

The door ripped violently from the wall and dropped out of my way as I passed through.

-The elevator to the left.-

Our thunder echoed against the walls. My feet carried me across the hall to the elevator, a wary moment ahead of my predator.

I turned around in the car just as he reached out to grab me.

Then it sounded as if space itself had snapped in two.

Takaguchi's chest exploded in blood, and the closing elevator door caught the bullet right before it hit my forehead.

*

"…I just want to go home..."

I did not need to calm my own frightened gasps to know that he was with me in the elevator.

"Don't you understand?" his nasal voice said calmly, "You don't have a home."

"Yes I do. The theater-"

"The theater?" He laughed. "'Good riddance'? That's not what a family member says to another family member. Your so-called father has let you go. Your own parents didn't want you-"

"Stop it," I could feel my voice rising from the depths of fear. "That means nothing. Things happen to people that cannot be helped. That does not mean that a family has to fall apart."

"The family hasn't come apart. It's been complete all this time… You're just the extra."

"It's not true. They were kind to me. 'Tousan, he tried to save me--"

"--Then why was it Crawford who had to check on you this morning?"

My cheeks were wet again. "This isn't fair."

"You have already told yourself that you'll no longer ingratiate yourself towards them. Happy pictures can't be painted with turpentine. You shouldn't lie to yourself, little boy. You shouldn't lie, period." He put his lips to my ear and continued: "And don't forget - you almost lost yourself back there. If we keep you, it will be rough trying to earn Crawford's affection. His loyalty does not come free."

The elevator door opened again, on another floor. I was shoved into someone else's arms - the one called Farfarello - before I could run. His rough hands gripped my arms, and turned me around to face the guide to my future.

His eyes were closed, and his hands still behind his back. There was a subtle curve to his lips, neither happy nor amused.

"Crawford." I choked on the name of the man who held me together, yet was responsible for my undoing.

"I really don't think he's the one," Schuldich said nonchalantly, sauntering slowly to Crawford's side. "He barely managed to get away from Takaguchi."

Crawford opened his eyes as he replied: "He's new to this. He has time to adjust." He looked genuinely concerned, lifting my chin to examine my bruised throat. "Are you all right?"

Deep inside the crater of my heart, feelings teetered between hate and hope. "… Why?" my voice shook against the task. "Why did this happen?"

"Your father-" Crawford stepped back to examine the rest of me, "-and Takaguchi did not know how to handle each other. Or you, for that matter."

"But you knew!" I cried. The windows in the hallways shattered. "Did you also know I could do this?! Do you control the future?"

"Farfarello, let him go."

My body gave in at the opportunity. I put my hands out the catch the floor. "Is it… Is it because of-… What I can do?"

-Was it all a lie?-

"You're a telekinetic," Crawford explained softly, kneeling beside me, "You have the ability to move things with your mind. I am clairvoyant, and I have the ability to see the future. My power over the future … derives from the actions I take."

"Power." I turned my head to stare at Crawford. "… That's why you were willing to let this happen?"

His moment of hesitation was enough of a reply.

"Everyone wants to use me…" I whispered. All that was left of me was a shell of wet, leaking fractures. "What makes you any different? Why did you put in such an effort to control me?"

"Don't you see?" Schuldich interjected, "We have something to give you in return…"

"What could you possibly give me to make up for ruining my life?!"

A smirk slipped across his face before he responded with: "So many tears over your life. How about a new one?"

"A new…?"

"We can give you a new life and teach you control-" Crawford explained, "-If you become one of us. But in order for that to happen, you must reject Japan as your home."

"… That's… That…."

"If you are willing to accept that sacrifice, then you are willing to accept who you are about to become. Do you understand?"

For some reason, I did not have the urge to ask what would happen if I said no. It was then that I realized how cold it had become.

Crawford's jacket settled over my shoulders. "Is Takaguchi dead?"

"And others who shared his idiocy."

I could not picture these killers as my family. But I also could not picture my life without Crawford. I suddenly felt that everything that had been taken away was gone because I had actively departed from these parts of my life.

Crawford's hand drifted to my cheek, wiping the tears away.

-His touch is the same, despite the darkness within him.-

I closed my eyes and said a silent goodbye to my memories. "… I do not have it in me-" I sobbed into his palm, "-To say no."

"Fujihara Nagi," he said, showing me his smile, "Welcome to Schwarz."

"Naoe," I corrected through sniffles.

"… What?"

Fujihara Nagi, from the moment proclaimed a Fujihara, never had a chance of finding something more in life, could never dream of growing the wings necessary to touch to heavens. My character Naoe, however, from that very first gleaming moment on the stage, had heaven at her feet.

I looked Crawford in the eye, seeing still the enchantment of my star.

"I am Naoe Nagi."

All that was left, was to fall.

*owari*

A/N: All right. It's done… Mucho tres tottemo thanks to everyone who reviewed, this was a therapeutic writing project - and an amiable diversion from Painting You Gold - and y'all made it more enjoyable in more ways than I can describe! :D I have a sequel in mind for what happens when Nagi goes to Rosenkreuz and becomes the Nagi we all know and love. Not sure if I'll pursue it though, PYG's getting a little anxious and with another new fic idea on the way, I think it's going to need therapy soon.

Anyhoo…. Yoyotan! Ceci! XDDDD I FINISHED A FIC! IT'S POSSIBLE!!!!!

We should probably check the temperature of hell now…