Weiss Kreuz Fan Fiction ❯ Painting You Gold ❯ 04 Flip ( Chapter 4 )

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Disclaimer: I don't own Schu and his friends; that's for Tsuchiya-sensei and Koyappi/Project Weiß/TV Tokyo to work out. Or not.

Warning: This fic in its entirety involves explicitly implicit yaoi (shounen ai) in conjunction with character death, feelings, nonconsensual sex, original characters, shota, soap operatic/supernatural-type twists, spoilers, unpardoned French, Weiß, and yakuza. Squick factor is probably obvious here. ;)

Post-it: As always, thanks for your time.

/…/ = communicative thoughts and the like
[…] = memories, stuff remembered, and the like

Painting You Gold

By Koyuki Aode

4 ~ Flip

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The organization of the seventh floor completely dispersed all expectations I'd had concerning Shinzui's tastes. It was safe to say that Nagi and I had managed to lose ourselves in the architectural maze after wandering for a good ten minutes.

"And to the right, ladies and gentlemen, is... another hallway full of doors." After stubbing my second cig out in a conveniently located ashtray at the corner, I stopped walking and threw my hands up. "That's it. We're going to die here...."

"Maybe we should have waited by the elevator," Nagi said, scratching his head. "They might have come to get us."

"Do you happen to remember the way back?" With a raised eyebrow, I gestured to the hallway we'd just emerged from and another two we had to choose from, which bore a resemblance to the other eight hallways we'd explored. If a giant mouse nibbling on a hunk of cheese appeared at the next turn, I would not have been surprised.

Nagi bit his lip and lifted both arms, waving his hands around while trying to draw an invisible map. After a few minutes, he gave up. "… He didn't say which room?" he asked for the tenth time.

"Not that it would matter. There aren't any room numbers." I pounded my fist on the wall again. "And if we don't find them soon, I'm going to pull one hell of a mental Marco Polo."

Nagi's eyes widened as I nodded. He let a breath out and shook his head. "He'll kill you if you do it!"

"Oh yes, he will," I nodded, my own smirk forming. "And it's going to be very embarrassing. Which is why his clairvoyance should be picking it up very-"

"Nagi-kun!"

Nagi froze. I cringed.

That voice...

His eyes widened. Mine shut.

Noooo....

"T-Tot?"

"Oh for fuck's sake," I muttered. Following his gaze, I found, indeed, that it was the aqua terror a few doors away. Her hair was violent with blue curls and her attire consisted of a simple gray number.

/She's supposed to be dead!/ I gave Nagi a mental shove.

/Well, so are we!/ He shoved me back with his power, and I tumbled into the wall with a grunt. He cringed. /Sorry!... Didn't mean that./

Funny, things like that always seemed to happen around Tot.

Having Tot reborn into my world of existence was just enough to make me forget the pain ebbing in my head; but it also provoked a stronger sensation, one of absolute dread. I rubbed my face with my hands and slid down the wall. "I should have checked for her corpse…"

"Well, if you don't want me to help you, meanie, you can just say so!" Tot said with her own pout.

Nagi tugged at me with his mind. /Schu, shut up and listen to her. She's here to help. She's a person too./

I had heard that enough times. /Blah blah blah... Don't try that lecture on me again./ The last thing I wanted was to relive the entire Masafumi ordeal. I stood up and crossed my arms, offering her only: "Fine."

One of Tot's thin blue eyebrows twitched.

I countered with the same expression. "If you're holding your breath for me to apologize, you're going to fall dead before--"

"Schu!" Nagi squeezed out angrily, glaring back at me. I shook my head. Exasperation ground from his throat as he stepped closer to Tot and looked her in the eye. "Tot," he said softly "You came for us?" The girl nodded and he continued slowly. "Do you know where we're going?"

"Mm hm!" Tot held up her arm, pointing through the building. "My boss sent me here to find you! Shinzui-tousan wants to meet you. He's so excited! I didn't know it was going to be you, Nagi-kun! I mean, after that fight we had and we broke up..."

She babbled for a few more minutes, but by then Nagi and I were sharing the same suspicious look. /Is she kidding? We didn't have a fight. We died./

To which I replied: /... Are you sure she can remember the entire way back?/

Nagi ignored the comment and gave me a significant Look. A Look that people get when they want me to do them a Favor. A particular Favor that only I can do. /What does she remember?/

/No!/ I stopped walking and lifted my hands up, washing myself of any moral responsibility. /I am not going to let that thing touch my mind.../

"Nagi-kuuuun! We have to go or Shinzui-tousan's gonna get mad!"

/Bunnies. Everywhere!/

As Tot hauled Nagi away, I made a quick run back to pick at my cig, hoping to find it had a few embers left. I certainly wasn't going to waste an entire stick on her.

/Schu!/

I followed them, smokeless, still grumbling. Tot babbled on something fierce about a new boyfriend, a "genki" boy who liked to smile, a bit older - ("Is he blond?!") - not nearly as cute as dear little Nagi-kun.

Nagi continued to beg me for the telepathic trick. And I continued to refuse. To my relief, Shinzui's office actually wasn't too far away - the only door with a number. With Tot gone inside the room to sign off with Shinzui, Nagi implored me again to search her mind.

"Why should I?!" I hissed at him, holding my palms open and waiting for a reason to fall into them.

/You owe me, for this stupid conscience./ Nagi's eyes frosted as he looked back up at me. /There's no way she could forget what we went through./

"Calm down," I said. I was already feeling the itch for a lighter. /It happened to the Weiß kid, and it certainly could have happened to her - I'm not even bringing up Neu.../

The door opened, and Tot popped back out. Her smile melted into a frown as her mind gave birth to intelligence and she noticed the stains on Nagi's clothes. "Nagi-kun.. Are you…?"

Well, that only took her about five minutes to notice. "It's nothing." Nagi forced a smile. "I'm fine." This seemed to satisfy Tot, though she still had an odd expression on her face as she walked away.

"Go ahead," Nagi whispered to me.

I didn't have much time to observe the vast shelves that lined Shinzui's walls, though I would have liked to; just as I stepped into his office his voice jumped into my system like an electric bolt - all he'd done was greet me. With some suspicion I returned the salutation and Crawford introduced us formally, after finally rising from his seat before Shinzui's desk.

I braced myself as Shinzui attempted to say my name. And almost stuttered in shock when he got it right. Shinzui patted my arm, saying with a chuckle, "I've had some practice. Would you like something to drink?" He indicated the bar in the corner with a nod.

"I'll help myself," I replied, already striding towards the line of bottles on the counter. I didn't usually, but after all that had happened, my body was screaming for the poison. A hand stopped me on the way, and as I turned I found Crawford offering me what should have been his own glass of scotch. I nodded my thanks as I took the glass, but he wasn't looking at me anymore.

/It seems that Nagi and Shinzui have been introduced once before./ He nodded to the doorway.

Shinzui was smiling down at Nagi. "Unagi-"

"It's Nagi," Nagi replied, his face and thoughts unreadable.

"… Nagi," Shinzui nodded. "It's been so long. Too long."

/How do you think they're related?/ I asked Crawford, taking in a mouthful of the scotch.

Crawford didn't answer just then, because Shinzui's actions did. In a second, Shinzui had Nagi pulled in for a hug - which Nagi didn't respond to. But as Shinzui's fingers stroked his cheek, Nagi melted into him.

The contents of my mouth arced toward the carpet in a noiseless spurt.

I stepped in front of Crawford and winced at the muffled splash. /I know nothing about that-/

"I have someone," Nagi's voice stated flatly.

/-Them..../

I turned again to see Nagi pulling Shinzui's hands away from his face. His eyes were trained in our direction, but focused on nothing. "Unagi is my past; but I will work for you," Nagi said warmly, though still distant, "If you'll have me."

Shinzui stepped back, as if giving both himself and Nagi room to think. A glance at Crawford told me he was just as surprised as the CEO seemed to be. "Does he treat you well?" Shinzui asked, without yet moving.

"Yes," was Nagi's simple answer.

/What's going on?/ Farf inquired curiously, moving closer to where Crawford and I were. /How do they know each other?/

A short peek into Shinzui's mind confirmed my guess. I let myself fall into Crawford's chair, looking into navy blue eyes as Crawford took the glass from my hand and polished off the liquid it held.

/Old client./ I answered Farf. That silenced him as well. The general background of Nagi's past was no secret to us. He had sold his body for years before Estet picked him up. Circumstances surrounding his former venue were dim, though, and he had refused to tell us any more about it.

"Ah..." I grunted, rubbing my eyes, attempting to rid from my vision the burn of Shinzui's memory. For a few seconds, all I could see was Nagi, his naked body - too small and young - wrapped in sheets, and his hands, small delicate hands, gripping a wad of currency.

"You're hired." Shinzui's voice broke through Nagi's request to keep the money on the table.

tbc

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A/N: [06.01.03] That's ¼ of the fic uploaded, right on schedule, yeah yeah! There aren't any real plot changes or anything yet, just clean-ups and detail changes. Next update in the next two weeks (hopefully chapters 5-11) and thanks for reading.