Weiss Kreuz Fan Fiction ❯ Scarlet Letters ❯ Swings, Sakura trees, and the forgotten returned ( Chapter 10 )

Disclaimer: *Bangs head against the wall* “Not mine, not mine…”

 

Scarlet Letters Chapter 10

 

I wonder what he would say if he could see me now?

The boy, who gave me my first kiss, showed me hope and made me see reason.

The boy whose name I never asked for, or never needed to know.

 

I wish he were here now.

 

I regret never asking for his name that night, so I gave him one. I call him Nanashi.

 

I'm still on the swing, its soft rocking movements have calmed me somewhat. I can still feel damp tracks on my face. I remember when I got home that night, and how I apologised to my father, crying for him to understand and forgive me.

 

And he did.

 

He put his arm around my shoulders and told me, `Men don't cry'.

Mother said I was a boy still, so it was okay. In that instant, I was ashamed of myself, for not understanding that my parents just wanted the best for me.

And it made me even more grateful to Nanashi for nudging me in the right direction.

From then on I promised myself I would not judge anyone on their actions, `till I knew the reasons behind them. More so, if it was something out of their control.

I almost broke that promise, when I found out that Omi was in fact Mamoru Takatori. I let my hate, rage and pain blind me and I was full of guilt and regret later.

I tried to show him that I didn't care who he was because he was a good person, almost attempting to atone for that mistake by being nice to him.

Or trying to be nice to him.

 

What was I thinking? Going after Yohji like that…It's just a stupid crush right? It will go away, I hope.

 

“No, it won't.”

 

The voice jolted me alert, and I spun around, as best is possible on a swing.

 

Mastermind.

 

He stood there, under the Sakura tree, holding two bottles and looking as serious as I'd ever seen him.I should feel angry or something, but I didn't even want to fight him. I felt defeated already.I didn't bother to voice this out loud, because by the looks of it - he had already heard anyway.

 

I didn't even try to stop him as he walked forward and sat carefully down in the swing next to mine. He just looked at me for a moment, then wordlessly handed me one of the bottles.

I took it, resigned, and stared at it in my hand.

 

I heard him sigh a moment before the bottle was snatched out of my hand and then returned, opened. Looking at the bottle, I remembered promising myself not to ever drink again, but as the promise was made whilst violently losing my dinner, I was sure my conscience would be intact if I only had this one bottle. Lifting the drink to my lips, I stole a glance at the Telepath next to me.

 

What is he doing here?

 

I gave a mental shrug at the voice, suddenly very thankful that it was back and looked up in time to catch the odd look that the silent German was sending me. He didn't look as though he came to taunt me about it or something.

 

“I can tell you are feeling wary, but I am not here as your enemy. Schwarz is gone and we are just people now. Albeit, fairly odd people, but we just want to live.” His tone of voice was explanatory, unlike the smug way he used to relay facts to us when we crossed paths.

 

Maybe we should listen to what he has to say…it must be important considering he didn't take long to get here. And the fact that he left Yohji to come and have this little conversation - however one-sided it may be right now.

 

I had a feeling that my other was right, and even though I didn't know the exact identity, the voice seemed familiar. Either that or I'm losing my mind.

 

“I can tell you who it is.”

 

I turned my head sharp enough that one of me eartails whipped me in the face. The German was looking at me strange again. It seemed like an odd mixture of curiosity, smug elation and some other feeling I couldn't put a name to. I raised an eyebrow at him, as if asking him to continue.

 

“You locked him away didn't you?”

 

Now I was feeling confused…who was he talking about?

 

Me.

 

Who are you?

 

“He is you. Or, more appropriately, he was you.” His voice was still harbouring the smug tint, and it made me wonder.

 

“I knew it - or, I have had my suspicions, and you just confirmed them for me. Consequently winning me a drunken bet. Thank you, oh so much.” His little explanation ended in a genuinely amused laugh. I wasn't sure I had ever heard that from any of Schwarz. Evil laughs, yes, rub it in your face laughter and snickers, hell yes, but never just a feel good laugh.

 

It gave me an unexpected feeling - hope.

 

Maybe if Schwarz can laugh like this, carefree and happy, then just maybe there was hope that I could learn to smile. For Yohji, and Nanashi.

 

The similarity of the current situation, and the last time I had been one of two occupants at these swings, suddenly hit me.

Here, though, Mastermind was unintentionally showing me a chance - the possibility that I could, perhaps, be good enough to love - whereas Nanashi had been deliberate in his words.

 

I just hope that this situation isn't going to end in the same way as the last one. I shuddered, and not in a good way, almost envisioning that outcome.

 

Do you want to make us both feel sick?

 

I felt amusement at the voice's mental gagging.

 

I looked over in time to see yet another set of emotions passing over the German's face, in such a fast succession that I couldn't identify them.

He stopped on mildly offended.

 

“I'm not that bad! I have someone who happens to like me very much!” His indignant manner was not fake, or so I assumed, until he stuck his tongue out at me petulantly.

 

His face softened into a much younger look, and he turned to face me again.

 

“Do you know, the fact that you seem to accept Yohji being friends with someone who almost killed him several times, is quite telling.” I raised me eyebrows and he smiled at me.

 

“You trust him enough to not question his choices. That is a very rare thing for humans you know. We are such a suspicious race.” Bitterness had crept into his voice at the last sentence.

 

“I didn't trust Yohji for a long time, but still he came back. He braved Farfarello, and Nagi to come and visit us regularly. Who else would handle crazy, blade licking Irishmen and emotional almost unresponsive teenage telekinetics? Well, Nagi was unresponsive until Yohji showed him proof of a certain young female's existence. They got to cram school together you know?” He looked at me, and I surmised that I was actually supposed to know whom `they' included.

 

He frowned, then related the information, “Nagi, Tot, and Omi”

 

Ah…now I know why Omi was confident enough in his drunken Farfarello on St. Patrick's day comment. I should have felt angry, or something, but oddly enough, I understood. I wouldn't have handled the knowledge that Schwarz were not only alive and kicking but also were friendly with my teammates.

 

“He helped us. Yohji was much more effective than any kind of balding psychiatrist who thought they understood; Yohji understood, because he knew what it felt like.

He took out the chips too. I bet you didn't know he was that educated, huh? Though, frankly, after living my whole life paranoid, only to have Yohji come crashing through all of our insecurities like a fucking bulldozer - well he was and probably still is, the only one I can fully trust with a scalpel near my neck.”

 

I was sure I had the most confused expression on my face, because he laughed at me before continuing, “We had nanotech-chips, implanted by our old…ah…trainers. It affected our neural pathways to continue their work. They were the ones that built Esset. Only to have successors though, so luckily enough for us, they are long gone. But my telepathy, and Crawford's ability kind of messed with ours. The whispers came back in.” He shuddered here, but seemed to collect himself, “ The one good side affect of the chips, foe me that is, was that it controlled the voices of others I heard - helped me to filter it out. When the chip was taken out, I behaved a little oddly. Acting on other people's thoughts rather than my own. Quite confusing and damn near enough to send a person insane. But now I had a friend to help steady me.”

 

I was slowly trying to absorb what I was hearing, while slowly reaching the bottom of my bottle.

 

Yohji trusts him. We trust Yohji - and then some.

 

Suddenly, he stood and again, the parallels with the past struck me.

 

“Yohji is a dear friend to me, and I may not be trying to actively bring about the destruction of all humans, but I can make a special exception for you if you mess up. Hell, I'll do it for half price!” He grinned, but his face belied the expression. He was serious.

 

“You know I have a friend who has quite a sweet story that features a Sakura tree.”

 

I wondered if that was idle chitchat, or if he had been sifting through my mind again. I was getting suspicious again.

 

He started to walk off, in a lovely straight line, that I hoped I could match, when he tossed a parting remark over his shoulder.

 

“Y'know, Ran is right, Yohji trusts me - listen to him more often.”

 

Yes, you should listen to me more often.

 

The bottle dropped from my hands, and I was damn glad I was already sitting down.

 

XXXX

 

Review and you get a half price virtual hug.

 

P.S Nanashi means `no name'