Weiss Kreuz Fan Fiction ❯ Talking To The Dead ❯ Chapter 6 ( Chapter 6 )

Chapter 6

"YOU FUCKING BASTARD!"

Clods of earth sailed through the air, each screamed word punctuated by a kick and a shower of soil from the newly turned grave. Crushed and broken periwinkles dotted the landscape, scattered and trampled in the wake of Ken's fury.

Lost in the blinding haze of his anger, one symbol burned in his vision, a looming pale monument, deriding his rage and cheapening his sorrow. Panting heavily, he advanced on the cold marble with clenched fists and drew his right arm back, slamming his fist forward into the blasphemous cenotaph.

The sharp crack of knuckles striking unyielding stone registered in Ken's mind but a moment before excruciating pain shot straight up to his head and forced him to his knees. Dazedly, he pulled his hand away and stared in stupefied wonderment at the bright red blood welling up from his rapidly purpling knuckles. A streak of blood trailed lazily down the side of the marker, dripping into the etched kanji and rendering the name in sanguine.

TAKATORI MAMORU.

Still panting, Ken hung his head and continued pounding on the marker futilely with his left fist.

"Why? Why did you do it?"

He collapsed in on himself, throwing his arms around the base of the marker in forlorn embrace. The cold marble burned on contact with his cheek; sharp edges of the stone dug into his palms where he gripped it convulsively. His entire body shook with repressed emotion, his breath expelled in ragged gasps.

"Why?"

He swallowed hard, blinking furiously back the hot sting of tears prickling his eyes. He fought the tightness in his throat, each word a struggle to utter aloud.

"Why did you lie to me? Why didn't you tell me? Dammit, why?!"

The obdurate stone offered no answers. Bloody kanji characters, sharp contrast against the stark white limestone, mocked him, belittled the pain and turmoil in his soul...

Almost reverently, Ken reached up with his good hand to trace the characters.

"Takatori Mamoru..." he muttered low, under his breath.

"Yes. That is my name."

"I am Mamoru Takatori."

"Takatori Mamoru," he repeated louder, smearing a trail of blood onto unadulterated white marble, underscoring the name in crimson.

"Takatori Mamoru," he gripped his fist tight, the words a hysterical whisper through the uncontrollable shaking in his voice, "why did you kill Omi Tsukiyono?"

Silence resounded loudly in response; only the sharp whip of the wind could be heard over the staccato pounding of blood in his ears. He squeezed his eyes shut tight, clenching and unclenching his fingers around the edges of the marker.

It can't be... no, it is not true! He smacked the marble with flat of his palm repeatedly. Omi would never lie to me! Omi would never betray me!

His hand stilled less than an inch from the marker.

Right?

Images of Omi flooded his mind - smiling, happy Omi, waving triumphantly in the air an exam paper with a perfect score; Omi frowning, eyebrows constricted together in concentration as he laid out positions for an upcoming mission; a melancholy Omi, hands soaked in blood, regret in his eyes for the lives taken and the ones he could not save; Omi, betrayed by his entire family, the boy who grew up too fast, who always cared for everyone around him more than he did for himself...

Betrayed by his entire family...

No. Omi Tsukiyono would never betray him.

But Mamoru Takatori might."Goddammit!"

Sticky, bloodied fingers protested as he tried to form a fist with his damaged right hand. Bright lights danced in his vision, the fierce pain from earlier revisiting thrice-fold.

Ken stared in bewilderment at his ruined knuckles, flexing them experimentally. Jabbing pain rushed up in response and quickly stole away his breath. Any doubt he had had about their condition previously was erased immediately by the sudden onset of pain; the numbness in his fingertips only served to further confirm his suspicions.

Broken, he scowled, turning his head to regard the grave marker above him.

Just like everything else.

Muddied and trampled periwinkles littered the ground surrounding him. Clumps of uprooted turf lay scattered in the lawn, extending as far as the sidewalk; at least one nearby marker bore muddy splotches attesting to the force by which the broken sod had been flung into it. Sullenly, Ken tilted his head down to examine his broken knuckles, wincing slightly as he flexed his fingers once again.

A mission tonight, and my right hand is completely useless.

Suddenly, the idea of killing targets with only one hand struck him as incredibly funny.

Ken leaned his back against the grave marker and let loose a loud gale of laughter. "Do you hear that, Mamoru?" He placed his left hand against his chest to calm his hysterics. "I've only got half of my hands tonight - maybe I'll only be able to kill half as many people!"

Hysterical laughter continued to bubble up from his throat; breathing was beginning to become a struggle. "You wouldn't like that very much, now would you?"

Then just as suddenly as it had begun, the laughter died abruptly in his throat. Ken leaned forward and rose to his feet, reaching out instinctively with both hands to steady himself again the monument.

"It's all right, Mamoru," he soothed mockingly, stroking the smooth length of the marble with his left hand. "If everything goes through tonight like I'm sure you've planned, there will only be one target left at the end of the mission."

His hand swept off of the edge and tightened into a hard fist. He shivered; suddenly, it seemed the warmth of the afternoon sun was no longer adequate to suppress the chills that racked his body.

Straightening up to his full height, he stood even with the grave marker and regarded it with cold contempt.

"This is far from over, Mamoru Takatori."

He turned his back on the grave and looked heavenward, absently rubbing the broken skin on his knuckles and spreading fresh blood over his fingers. The sun shone brightly down from the cloudless sky in the empty stillness of the mid-afternoon.

"I will get you back, Omi...

"Even if I have to kill Mamoru Takatori to do it."