Weiss Kreuz Fan Fiction ❯ Roses ❯ Part 1 ( Chapter 1 )

Part 2

She was at lunch-pretending to listen as a cheerleader went on and on about some jock she'd begun dating and how he was only interested in one thing-when the merciful vibrations of her cell phone gave her the excuse to cut off the girl's complaints. Even if it was the verification that her day's agenda had been royally fucked, she was glad to accept the call.

"Ken?"

"Yeah, Aya's not coming. He said something about thanking you for taking his shift, but I'm guessing it was the sleeping meds talking." Only drugs could make the cold man thank a person for any reason. He had probably downed half a dozen, like he usually did after late jobs, and would forget any conversation he'd had in the past hour.

"Alright, I'm on my way. Make sure to remind him to take the night shift when you get back."

"Gotcha, see ya later." A soft click signaled the disconnection, and Lena quickly pressed the off button on her cell and stood up from the uncomfortable bench that took the agility of an acrobat to get on and off of in her current outfit without flashing half the cafeteria.

"Where are you going, Lena. We still have two periods left." She could subtract two from four, impressive.

"I have some family issues that need to be taken care of." The cheerleader and a few others tried to call after her, but she disappeared into the waiting crowd in front of the snack bar in a matter of seconds.

It was remarkably simple to get past the campus guard without a pass. Two words gave her infinite power over the male population and allowed her exceptions that men only dreamed of. With her voice hushed to a level of delicate conspiracy, she raised her eyebrows a bit in the universal signal and whispered, "Feminine problems," with just the right note of embarrassment that would spread to the uniformed guard. As if fearing a contagious illness, the man retreated a few steps and waved her on, not another word spoken.

The bookstore that Weiss had assigned them to as a cover-up was nearly empty. A few customers were scattered about the high shelves, but most appeared to be lounging in the comfortable chairs with magazines or pre-purchased books rather than actually shopping. A lot of people came to do that, because they knew the owners didn't give a damn about profit from sales or loitering. They were there to appear normal, not to sell books.

Ken sat behind the cash register, flipping through a manga and basically ignoring his surroundings. A couple of raps of her long nails on the wooden surface brought his attention away from the comic. "Hey, Lena. Have any trouble getting out of school?" Sometimes it was hard to believe the easy-going, cheerful man was a trained assassin.

"None. You have practice today?" A trained assassin that coached peewee soccer in his spare time.

"Yeah, thanks again for coming. I'm sure Aya would be grateful, too, if he could experience normal human emotions and all."

A small, genuine smile peeked through her set mask. "Give me ten minutes to change; then you can go play with the kiddies."

Ten minutes was more like five. She decided to just leave on her shirt instead of substituting it for the dark short sleeved one she'd left at the store at the beginning of the week with a few others. With it being a Friday, she didn't have to worry about preserving clean clothes. The long sleeves were rolled up almost to her elbows, and the tie and blazer were tossed onto her bag to be gathered up later. She opened the top two buttons to allow for some air circulation. Finally, black jeans replaced the damned skirt as quickly as her limbs allowed her. Other than that, all she bothered to change was her hair. She let the sagging bun unravel to lie between her shoulder blades down to her waist. A few stray hairs had escaped to tickle her cheeks and nose, but she just brushed them aside before returning to the front of the store to release Ken.

The shift passed peacefully. When she'd finished straightening up the shelves and checking out the few customers that had decided to make purchases after all, she took out the novel she'd hidden away under the front desk and settled into the comfortable chair to read. Only a few regulars recognized her and questioned the odd change in her hours. She gave vague excuses and made not-so-subtle hints that she was too busy to engage in polite conversation. They read the signals and left.

At five, the soft chime hooked to the door signaled a new arrival. She didn't look up from her book until the weight of eyes made the hair on the back of her neck rise. In front of the desk stood a tall man with brilliant scarlet hair and glacial violet eyes. Fair skin was accented by his black shirt and pants. Twin locks of his vibrant hair, longer than the rest of the shaggy strands, trailed down in front of his ears to brush over his clothed collar bones.

"Hello, Aya. Have a nice nap?" She knew he was sensitive about his insomnia, and normally she wouldn't have been so low as to tease him about it, but she was sensitive about her routine, and it hadn't exactly been unaffected by his actions.

"We're out of milk. Pick some up on your way home." It wasn't a request.

"You're welcome for lying to a dozen people so that I could come and cover your shift and you could get a few extra hours of sleep. Not to mention the whole truancy thing. Oh, and I missed two midterms that will have to be made up on the same day I have four other midterms in order to maintain a passing average. You're welcome, you fucking ice cube of a bastard!" Ok, so she was a little more upset about the whole thing than even she'd realized. But then, she didn't much like people ordering her about as if she were their lap dog.

Just for affect, she slammed down her book and stalked past him to the back of the store to gather her things. A few customers glanced up at the noise, but quickly turned away at the obvious warning the violet eyes pegged them with. Why the hell did he have to be such a bastard? They'd all had hard lives, and now they all had to deal with pretty much the same problems as each other. The rest of them dealt with it, so he could, too!

She paused with her hand on the door knob, about to reenter the main portion of the store after grabbing her things, finally realizing what she'd been thinking. They did all deal with their difficult and depressing lives, but all in different ways. Ken taught little kiddies how to play soccer, Yohji seduced every woman that came within five feet of him, Omi worked on his computer, she had her routine, and Aya . . . Aya made himself distant and untouchable to keep it from getting to him.

It wasn't fair of her to blame him for being the way he was anymore than it was fair to blame Yohji for flirting with her, platonically of course. She didn't have to like it when he acted like such an arrogant bastard, but she couldn't blame him for why he did it.

Her anger dissipated instantly, just like it had manifested in the space of a dozen or so words. There would be no apologies from either of them, but they would both feel the slight guilt of what they had said. At least, she would. Who knew how such things affected Aya?

She was careful to not look towards the front desk as she passed it on her way to the front door. The chime sounded as she shoved it none-to-gently open, the sound of her name halted her. Chill wind blew in from the heavy darkness held at bay just beyond the lights of the store. She didn't need to turn to let him know that she had heard and was listening. The fact that she had stopped was enough.

"Thanks."

TBC? Up to you.