Weiss Kreuz Fan Fiction ❯ New Rules, New Ruler ❯ Chapter 9

Part Nine

"So, what's your favourite television program?"

"I don't really watch a lot of TV," Nagi said dully.

"Oh." She was making an effort, she really was, and Nagi just wanted to tell her how much it meant to him. But he couldn't. Especially not with Sakura glaring daggers at him the whole time, just waiting to get him alone.

"I watch the Slippery Slidey Game sometimes. I think it's funny, " Nagi made an effort, and was rewarded with a beaming smile. <A/N: This is a real tv show in Japan. It consists of a foam course coated in some kind of oil, which contestants have to get around without falling off. As far as I know, no one's managed! >

"I know, isn't it?!" Aya gushed. "It's sooo funny when there's someone all dignified and they ruin their suit, or when you get some really fat guy who looks about as table as the course!" Nagi chuckled slightly. He let Aya talk, let the soothingly friendly babble wash over him, and tried to ignore the looks Sakura was giving him. Suddenly, Aya's nattering broke off. "Hey, Omi, over here!" Both girls waved energetically as the older boy loped over. The look of horror on Omi's face was barely disguised when he recognised the small boy with them.

"Nagi." Omi stared at Nagi, and Nagi at Omi. Nagi couldn't hold Omi's gaze and stared miserably at his shoes. They were scuffed, he noticed. "Nagi, can I talk to you for a moment?" Omi took his arm.

"You two know each other, that is so great!" Aya gushed behind them as Omi led Nagi around a corner and into a cupboard.

"What happened to our agreement?" Omi hissed furiously. "I should have known you weren't to be trusted, Schwarz."

"It's not my fault," Nagi protested vehemently. "I had to sit next to her and she was told to show me around and she doesn't now anything, does she, but Sakura is glaring daggers at me and I want to keep our agreement…" He broke off to breath.

"Oh yes, and kidnapping her was a harmless prank that brought merriment to all, I suppose?" Nagi flinched away from Omi's stare. Despite having stood up to Crawford's scowl, Nagi felt intimidated by his peer.

"We were forced to do that. Why would we want to hurt her now? One, the people who wanted her kidnapped in the first place are dead, and two, now she's out of the coma what ever it was they were going to try wouldn't work any way!" Nagi held in the trembling and looked back at Omi. If he showed weakness now, next hey the met in confrontation he had no doubt that the older boy would show no mercy. Omi may have felt sorry for him and taken pity on little lost Nagi earlier, but Bombay saw him only as an enemy and any weakness was to be taken ruthless advantage of.

"They're dead? I thought they were your bosses. What are you doing now?" Omi gripped Nagi's shoulders.

"Not much, really," Nagi admitted. "Look, I don't want any trouble. I don't want to cause you any trouble. Aya-chan has been nothing but sweetness and light to me since I arrived. I don't want to hurt her."

"So leave her alone," Omi ground his teeth.

"And that wouldn't hurt her? She's gone out of her way to be nice to me. I'd be hurt if someone brushed an offer of friendship away just like that."

"We can't afford friends, remember? We kill people." Omi wondered is Schwarz held the same ideals as he did for Weiss. Well, he wanted the others to be happy, but if it interfered or proved a threat to Weiss they would have to make the decision. Ken had made the decision, and had decided to stay.

"So why were Sakura and Aya-chan so happy to see you?" Nagi spat. Omi froze. Do I have double standards? He asked himself suddenly. I don't know what Aya-chan and Sakura are if not my friends. But Sakura already knows what's going on. She was a part of it. And so was Aya-chan, though she doesn't know it. So no matter what, I can't avoid them.

"That's different," Omi said automatically, then regretted it. How was it different? But Nagi didn't argue. Omi guessed the younger boy had been thinking much along the same lines as himself. Omi lent forwards threateningly, his body pressing against Nagi's and forcing the younger boy to lean on the wall for support. "Look, let's just drop it for now, okay? Make a point of phasing yourself out of Aya-chan's life. By next week." Omi spun around, leaving Nagi alone in the cupboard.

Nagi remained leaning against the wall. He was confused. So, he had to leave Aya-chan alone. Made sense. But he had the suspicion Aya-chan wasn't going to leave him alone, no matter what Sakura was telling her about Nagi `coming from the wrong sort of crowd'. Nagi didn't particularly want to leave Aya-chan either, but for different reasons, he surmised. At least, the throbbing in his groin from where Omi had been so close to him told him so.

"This has been one of the, no, sorry, the best first day I've had," Nagi said suddenly, looking up over his sandwich at the others.

"You've had a lot of them?" Sakura asked, apparently willing to trust him now Omi was putting up with his presence. Well, not `putting up' exactly, just not leaving Nagi alone.

"Yes," Nagi sighed.

"How is this the best, considering everything that's happened?" Omi asked guardedly. The girls guessed the two had `exchanged words' in the cupboard, but Nagi was doing a good job of hiding the bruises Omi's rough hands had left on his neck.

Nagi twisted around in his seat and discreetly lifted one side of his shirt. "I got this scar when I guy knifed me on my first day at my last school. Two schools before that, a guy gave me internal bleeding on my first day and managed to get me expelled before I'd even attended my first lesson." Nagi dropped his shirt once the girls (and Omi) had gawped their fill. "Of course, those are the two worst case scenarios, but this is still by far the best. No one's ever been nice to me on my first day before. Usually I'm just left to wander around and get lost on my own, or if I'm assigned a `guide' they do it so grudgingly I feel guilty for merely existing."

Aya-chan gave a sympathetic gasp. "I don't know why you should feel like that. I mean, why would any one be mean to someone on their first day?"

"I get sent to schools full of jerks. Excepting present company, of course." Nagi was so matter of fact that Aya and Sakura giggled. Omi looked solemn, and very much out of character.

"You never thought of fighting back?" Omi asked with gravity.

"Look at me!" Nagi snapped. "My opponent would have to be somewhere around the stature of a mouse for me to stand a chance. I'm the same height as Sakura!"

"Is that why you changed schools so much, because you got picked on?" Sakura asked, knowing perfectly well it wasn't, but wanting to see what Nagi said anyway.

"No. I live with my cousin, and we move a lot."

"Just you and your cousin?" Omi asked, picking up on Sakura's lead. What sort of background story would Nagi build for himself.

"No. See, everyone say aww because I have a nice pathetic story lined up," Nagi flashed a tight grin, which looked about as real as `genuine fake leather'. "Okay, my parents died when I was quite young. A German charity took responsibility for me, and found my cousin Crawford. He's twelve years older than I am, and was already in charge of some other orphans-"

"That's lucky, that he was already part of the organisation," Omi said. Nagi decided to ignore him and his catty remark.

"These were a German, who calls himself Schuldig and is about six years older than me, and an Irish man, Farferello, who's about four years my elder. He decided it would be best for me to move to Japan, so I wouldn't feel too isolated. Nice plan, doesn't really work, but who's blaming him. As family, I was put first, I guess. Neither of the others minded. So, I live with my cousin and two completely unrelated strangers, one of which is mentally deranged."

"Let me guess, the German?" Aya said.

"Nope. Farferello. And Schuldig gets really ratty if you say anything that might be even faintly construed as racist. I think he got some stick as a kid for being German. Anyone who mentions the war, either war, in fact, gets his or her head bitten off." Nagi froze suddenly. Damn. He'd just told Omi the name of every single Schwarz member, plus the fact that SS had been based in Germany. Damn.

"Farferello isn't a very Irish name," Sakura prompted.

"No," Nagi answered dazedly, not really thinking about what he was saying, "I think his real name is Jei, which isn't particularly Gaelic either. We have to have a straightjacket for him, that's how bad he can get when he's not lucid. I can't have people over." Nagi stood up, knocking the bench he had been sitting on over without even noticing, and walked away. He returned, picked up his tray, and walked away again, not saying a word to three still sitting at the table.

"That was rude," Aya-chan pouted. "I wonder why he just went off like that?"

"Perhaps something he said reminded him of something he had to do?" Sakura suggested, just as mystified.

"Or an unpleasant memory he didn't want to have to share," Omi said. The girls turned to look at him. When Omi was around the new boy, he acted differently. Sakura recognised this other Omi vaguely, but kept the bad memories to the back of her mind. Aya-chan just grew more suspicious. She was almost certain whatever had happened while she was in her coma, Omi, Sakura, and now Nagi had been involved. And her brother. She just wanted to see her brother again.