Weiss Kreuz Fan Fiction ❯ The Hope Diamond ❯ Oligopolis - 8 ( Chapter 8 )

Chapter Eight

For a long while, my mind refuse to function as I numbly take in the lithe man standing before me.

Ruby-red hair gleaming like dark blood, the softly glowing amethyst eyes are equally wide with shock and dismay. He is clutching close the partings of his bathrobe with his free hand. His other hand is still in my tight grasp, still holding on to his katana.

It is common knowledge that the beauty of the Blood Diamond is beyond description, blatantly incomparable even when masked. But the face, now revealed to my eyes, is the same as the face that lingers in my mind.

I refuse to recognize him.

This can't be Aya, not the sad beautiful, lost and lonely Aya I am attracted to. Aya cannot be the cold ruthless Blood Diamond who kills for his creator.

"Y-Yohji?" he murmurs my name again, faintly, shakily. "How -? What -?"

I shake my head, unwilling to acknowledge this reality. But no matter how much I will it, the image before me refuses to change. In my hand, his wrist is the same fragile wrist I held the other night in Southbank Park.

"Doshite…?" I drag him closer, the hurt and anger stirring within me, squeezing his wrist so hard a tiny whimper of pain escapes him. "Doshite?!" I growl at him.

Aya swallows, agitated eyes darting from me and to the door. "Not now. The guards are coming this way. They will search my room."

He steps away, urgently pulling me to follow him. I balk, glaring at him in distrust.

"Yohji, please."

"Why should I believe you?"

"I owe you one. Now come with me! Or do you want them to find you?"

I push down my anger with brutal effort. The mission, I tell myself silently, I mustn't forget the mission.

Reluctantly I follow him through the bewildering maze of curtains into another room shielded from view by a folding paper screen. He drags me behind the screen, towards the big bathtub sunken into the floor, filled with hot water and bubbles.

"Get in."

I catch on at once. Without hesitation, I slide into the bath, holding my breath as I slip beneath the water, lying flat at the bottom. Minutes later, Aya steps into the bath as well. The length of his naked leg brushes against my face, my body, as he swiftly covers the surface of the water with more bubbles. The bathtub may be big but it is not that big as to contain two fully-grown men comfortably.

Through the water, Aya's voice sounds muffled as he says in that cold voice I had come to associate with the Blood Diamond, "What is it?"

Someone answers, too soft for me to hear. Probably from the other side of the paper screen.

"Search my room, if you have to. But be quick about it."

More inaudible talk. My lungs are starting to burn as I fight the urge to surface for air.

"No," Aya replies in a chilly voice. "Reiji-sama has ordered me to stay in my room till daybreak. Without his direct order, I will not leave to help with the search."

I clamp a hand over my mouth and nose, praying feverishly for the guards to leave. My wish is granted sooner than I thought when Aya finally nudges me to surface. I sit up at once, inhaling deep gulps of air. I push my hood back, shaking the suds off my head.

There is an awkward silence in the bathroom, unbroken save for my harsh breathing. I remain seated in the bath, my back to Aya. I don't know what to think, what to say to the man who turn out to be my enemy. I don't even know if I can bear looking at him in the face. I knew he has secrets, but never in my wildest imagination did I know how terrible his secrets are.

"Why did you help me?" I finally ask.

"Because I owe you."

"Owe me?"

"Hai. For that night you kept me from going insane."

I slowly turn around. Aya sits there in the bath, looking at me with a steady but uncertain gaze.

"Were you ever planning on telling me?"

Shamed, he lowers his gaze. "No."

I rub the bridge of my nose, troubled and confused. I can't deal with this, not now, not with the entire security force on the lookout for me.

"I got to go." I rise but he reaches out swiftly to stop me.

"Wait!"

I glare at me. "Let go of me."

He flinches at my hostility but refuses to let go. "Can't you feel it?"

There is something genuinely fearful in his expression that makes me pause. I cast out my mage sense and stiffen when I sense the presence of an approaching wraith-hound. Damned thing must have finally gotten loose from my freeze spell. This time, I do not resist as Aya pulls me down to the water again.

"You have hide until the wraith-hound has passed."

Slim hands gently but urgently grasp my face. My eyes widen as cool soft lips cover mine without warning. I'm too shocked to resist as he forces open my mouth. Next thing I know, a burning sensation fills my throat and lungs, my eyes begin to water with painful tears. As quickly as it happens, Aya breaks the kiss, clamping a hand over my mouth.

"Hold your breath. Don't release it," he whispers hurriedly and pushes me beneath the water again.

I lay limp against his lower torso, uncaring of being discovered, as I struggle to hold my breath. I dimly recall hugging his thighs tightly, digging my fingers into his tender flesh, from the pain wrecking my body. Whatever he has given me is burning my lungs, hurting every part of me, tearing at my mind. How long I remain underwater, trapped within the pain, I do not know.

But at long last, he is pulling me to the surface again.

I release my breath explosively, coughing violently to rid myself of that strange searing pain. Weak and dizzy, I crumple against a cool solid presence, thankful for the support as I try to regain my equilibrium. A glass of water presents itself before my blurry eyes and I gratefully gulp it down to soothe my burning throat.

"What the hell was that?" I manage to croak out after a long while.

"A breath of wild magic. The wraith-hound hunts by tracking its prey by its aura. I had to disguise yours, so I camouflage it with a bit of my power."

I gather the strength to raise my head from my comfortable support and look at him, still somewhat overwhelmed. I don't know how he interprets my expression but he soon leaves my side, returning to the safety of the opposite end of the bathtub.

"I'm sorry if I hurt you," he says softly, looking everywhere but at me.

For once, I do not know what to say.

"I never wanted to hide the truth from you. I-I…" He takes a deep breath. "If you never want to see me again, I understand and I will never bother you again."

I study him silently for a long while. Now that I am calmer, I can see the resignation settling in his features, the defeat in the slump of his shoulders. I should be angry with him, but I'm not. Not anymore.

"This is all a little too much."

His jaws clench unhappily but he says nothing.

"I need time to think."

He nods, accepting my excuse. I avert my gaze as he rises from the bath, unsure if I can bear the sight of his nude beauty without pain. Only when he is safely clad in the bathrobe again do I look at him.

"Come with me," he says in a subdued voice.

Murmuring a quick spell to dry my clothes, I follow him through the curtained maze of his room to the balcony. He stops just before the last partition of curtains softly billowing in the breeze.

"You must be undercover. Whom are you posing as?" he asks in that same dull voice.

"Miki Shinichiro."

He blinks. "It was you this afternoon, wasn't it?"

"Yes."

A bitter smile curls Aya's lips. "Where is your room?"

"Third floor, jade section."

"Go out to the balcony and take the ledge to your left. When you turn the corner of the mansion, enter by the first window you reach. You should be able to find your way back from there."

"…" Slowly, I head for the balcony, slipping into the shadows of the night. I glance back once, racking my brain for something to say to the still forlorn figure in the room.

But in the end, words fail me.

Author's post-script note: So what do you think?