Weiss Kreuz Fan Fiction ❯ The Hope Diamond ❯ Kudoh - 15 ( Chapter 15 )

Chapter Fifteen

When Yohji finally returned to consciousness, he couldn't comprehend his surroundings for a moment. He should be lying facedown in an alleyway, bleeding to death, not lying on something soft in a room that looked a lot like his own. Then memories began to trickle in, filling in the blanks for him.

The disastrous escape, Maki's sacrifice…

A choking sob escaped him as realization and guilt crashed down on him.

No, not again.

Someone died to save his sorry ass. Gunned down again before his helpless eyes. How many times must it happen to him before he finally learnt his lesson?

Oh, Maki. I'm so sorry. I'm so, so sorry. I swear I'll make that bastard pay. For you, it's the least I can do.

Slowly, still fighting against the tears, Yohji sat up. He wanted to lay back down again, hide in his room and wallow in his grief and guilt for the days to come. But he forced himself to get up and move.

There was a mission to complete and a vengeance to carry out. He was Weiss and he would dispense justice for Maki.

In the bathroom, his hands were trembling slightly when he cupped water to splash onto his face. His face, when he looked in the mirror, was pale and haggard, etched with lines of pain. His eyes were red and bloodshot. Yohji experimentally touched the angry red scar marring his abdomen, the latest to his collection. It was still tender and stinging, but it had healed. He recognized Omi's signature on the lingering traces of healing magic surrounding the scar.

A new mystery presented itself.

How long had he been unconscious? And who brought him back?

Yohji's brows furrowed in concentration as he dug through his pain and panic-hazed memories. He didn't remember much of their flight when they left the subway tunnels. Much of it was blurry. After realizing what Maki had done, it all descended into a chaotic mess of feelings and sensations. He dimly remembered someone restraining him from going after Maki. He remembered putting up a fight against that person. A person with -

Yohji's eyes flew open.

Ran.

It was Ran who saved him, brought him to safety despite the flower shop being the enemy's territory. He bowed his head as guilt pressed further down on him.

Again, someone risked his life for him. Again.

"No more," he whispered under his breath. He opened his eyes and looked at his reflection in the mirror. Hard resolute green eyes stared back at him. "No more."

He now knew what he must do.

* * *

"Yohji-kun!"

Omi's startled exclamation brought Ken running to the mission room. He almost crashed into Omi at the doorway; the younger blond rooted to the spot by surprise. Ken looked into the room, blinking when he saw the lanky blond assassin sitting quietly at Omi's computer, studying the data he had stolen from Riot.

"Yohji-kun, you shouldn't be up so soon." Omi said as he walked over to his fellow Weiss.

"I'm fine, Omi."

"What happened?" Ken asked. "We found you lying unconscious against our back door this morning."

"Things didn't go as smoothly as I hoped it would." Yohji changed the subject. "Have you analyzed the data, Omi?"

"Yes." Omi gave him a pleased smile. "We can act tonight. Both me and Ken will go in."

"Iya," Yohji countered. "All three of us."

"You need rest," Omi protested.

"We'll go in, the three of us. I'll take the boss."

Ken didn't like this. He didn't like the expression on Yohji's face, stony with repressed emotions and something dark. Somehow this mission had become personal to their field leader and that was unacceptable.

"Yohji -" he started to say.

"Okay," Omi was swift to cut him off. "Yohji-kun, you can come along. But you should go up and rest now. The mission is tonight, you know."

Uncharacteristically, Yohji went back to his room without a further word. They watched him go with worried eyes.

"Why did you stop me?" Ken asked Omi.

"Now isn't the time to lecture him on mission protocols," Omi replied softly. "He's too sick with pain to be rational."

"More reason why he shouldn't come along tonight. He's distracted."

"But he has to go, Ken-kun." Knowing sky-blue eyes turned to Ken. "You, of all people, should know how loose threads could haunt a person."

"…" There was nothing Ken could say to that. "…Fine, he goes. I hope he doesn't get himself killed."

* * *

It was a starless night, the sky pitch-black and lit only by the lights of the city.

Ran stood on the top of Riot's building, amethyst eyes soft and sad, as the cold breeze caressed his face and ran its chilly fingers through his ruby-red hair. What a night and a day it had been for him. Just yesterday afternoon, he was so happy being together with Yohji. Now, his heart ached with sorrow and pain.

The girls' sacrifice was the single most compassionate and courageous act Ran had ever seen. She might have been a whore but her heart was much purer than most people he had met. He was reluctant to carry out Takatori's orders but for her, he would make sure the culprit of her plight pay.

He wondered how Yohji was doing. His blond lover was unconscious and had been so pale when Ran brought him back to his home. And the pain of having the same terrible thing happened again must have been awful. Ran worried what it would do to Yohji.

With a sigh, Ran brought his musings back under control. It was time to get this over with.

Ran closed his eyes and briefly tapped his power. His human disguise melted away, his black suit shifting into the dark maroon trench coat he wore for 'running errands'. A black metallic mask covered the lower half of his face. When he opened his eyes, the amethyst depths glittered with an icy fierce light.

The Blood Diamond was ready to prowl the night.

He summoned his katana to him, gloved hands enclosing around the metal sheath as it appeared before him. Holding his weapon close, the Blood Diamond turned to enter the building.

He walked through the building, silent and unseen, hidden behind his spell of invisibility. It was unusually quiet in Riot, mostly because the security was still out there searching for Yohji. The lack of security within the building itself was an opportunity the Blood Diamond could not refuse.

Behind his mask, his lips were pressed into a grim hard line.

If there was one thing he learnt from Takatori that made absolute sense was 'to aim for the dragon's head'. Cut off the head and the rest of the body dies with it. He might hate being so ruthless but he couldn't help admitting that it was extremely efficient.

The Blood Diamond ran into the first sign of trouble outside the boss's private suite. He arrived just in time to see the two guards outside the suite under attack from a flurry of ofuda bolts, identical to those that had attacked him up in the mountains some months ago. The attack was quick and killed the guards in an instant. One stray ofuda bolt flew towards him, forcing him to dodge to a side. At the other end of the corridor, the young owner of those deadly ofuda bolts stared in shocked recognition at him. The Blood Diamond simply glared back at him.

The blond kid suddenly galvanized into action, chanting under his breath and pulling out some more of his ofudas. In response, the Blood Diamond unsheathed his katana and was about to attack when someone else, in a long black high-collared trench coat, intercepted.

"Yamero." A gloved hand caught Bombay's wrist, stopping him from casting his ofuda spell.

Bombay gaped at Balinese, unable to believe his ears. "What?"

"He's not the target." Balinese turned to look at the Blood Diamond poised for action.

Bombay turned his confused gaze from Balinese to the Gem and back again to his friend. The more he looked at them, the more certain he was that there was something not right with the picture.

Both men were staring at each other, in a silent communication that somehow spoke volumes. There was no hostility that should be present between enemies, no guarded wariness and the sense of impending violence. They seemed as though they already knew each other, and that was a disturbing thought for Bombay.

Before his incredulous eyes, the Blood Diamond lowered his katana, relaxing in front of his supposed enemy. What the hell is going on?

Balinese released Bombay's wrist and stepped forward. "Keep a lookout. I'll finish the job."

"H-hai." Shaken by what he had just seen, Bombay settled down to keep guard. There was only one thought that kept running through his head - Kritiker was not going to like this.

"You don't have to do this, you know." Yohji said quietly as they entered the suite.

Ran shook his head. He gave the lanky blond assassin a quick look over, relieved that he looked well on his feet. "That girl needs to be avenged. I'll take the secretary."

A cold grim smile, that sent a chill down Ran's spine, curved Yohji's sensual lips. "Arigato. I'm going to make his death as painful as possible."

And he did.

While the Blood Diamond stood over the dead body of the secretary, wiping the blood off his katana, Balinese garroted the sniveling cowering man.

Yohji refused to use magic for this kill.

It was too good for the asshole. Instead he used a plain simple garrote wire, pulling hard on the thin line until the man was hanging from the rafters, turning blue as he jerked spasmodically in midair. It was a fraction of what the man deserved, for the physical abuse he dished out to his helpless victims over the years.

Finally, the deed was done.

Balinese released the line, letting the body dropped unceremoniously to the floor, and turned to face the Blood Diamond. He did not say anything. The Blood Diamond did not say anything either. He simply nodded and took a step to the side, vanishing from the room.

And Balinese turned to leave as well. He felt detached and he hoped to remain that way for a little while longer. There was still the little matter of Omi seeing what he shouldn't have seen.