Weiss Kreuz Fan Fiction ❯ The Prodigal Child ❯ Chapter 2 ( Chapter 2 )

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Nanashi - http://www21.brinkster.com/myladydragon
FanFiction.net - pen: Lady Dragon
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FanDomination.net - pen: Lady Dragon

Betaed by: Falconsong K'Vala

Warning: Technically speaking this fic contains shotakon, yoai, shounen ai, angst, and possibly a lil OOC-ness. If that hasn't scared you off then please do continue reading.

Disclaimer: I have yet to pull out an official document that reads: "Ye now owns the rights to Weiß Kreuz and all characters therin" from inside a Cracker-Jack box.

Author's Notes: I am so NOT a florist! So if my opinion of which flowers look good together dosn't jive with your's I apologize. And I took the flower meanings from FTD so they should be legit.

Special Thanks to: MistyEyes, Rei Eien, Yanagi-sen, Taline, Kei Makimoto, Corrupt Prodigy, himiko, Shinigami-chan, Koril Dragonic, and Aya from FanFiction.net for your wonderful reviews! ^^;

Alrighty ya'all ^^ curtosy of my beta, Falcon, the edited and much cleaner version of chapter two is now up!

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Not exactly the completely sweet and endearing message one would hope to receive, but coming from the man who was so obviously short on words - more so than myself - the message spoke volumes. As I sat there looking over the card a stray thought filtered through my mind. Flipping the card back over confirmed my suspicions. All flower shops have the name of their shop on the card somewhere, at least, and usually an address or phone number as well. There was nothing however, that gave me a clue as to the shop's location or name. Odd. I'm not sure why but this thought bothered me. Maybe it's all those years as an assassin; paranoia, an occupational necessity.

Placing the card back on the little card stand in the arrangement I sat back to study the flowers more. If Schuldig was here the man could tell me what their meanings were off the top of his head. Why the man had ever taken an interest in flowers is beyond me. The straightest answer I ever get on that topic is: "the women love a romantic". Why does knowing the meaning of flowers make him a romantic?

Tulips are a flower of good fortune and mean you wish the person good luck. That much I remembered, I also remember that white anemones are for those who are struggling to find God. Why do I remember this? Because Schuldig takes great pleasure in giving Farfarello a fresh bouquet of them every other day, or so. The man likes playing with fire apparently.

Sighing, I lay back and give up on interpreting the meaning of the bouquet - if there even is one to it. Most people just buy whatever looks good, never stopping to consider the hidden meanings. I'm not even certain if I've recognized the flowers correctly. Things of beauty are not my forte; leave that to Schuldig and Crawford. Except Ran; I will not share him.

"You're awake I see. Have a nice nap? Well, you must have anyway. Why, we almost thought you'd sleep through lunch, though since you didn't seem too enthused about breakfast earlier. I did give you a lil' bit of extra helpings to make up for it. Next time, boy, you really should take your medicine on time; now it's time to take your medicine again, and to eat up little boy. We don't want you to be getting sick anymore now do we?"

The infuriating nurse is back, pushing a cart into the room and chatting the entire time, non-stop I might add. The top shelf of the trolley-cart contained little paper cups of various pills, a plastic pitcher - probably containing water - and a stack of larger disposable paper cups. Stacked on the lower shelf appears to be trays of food, lids placed securely over each one preventing families, no doubt, from seeing the sludge they serve to patients.

Suppressing the urge to heave something heavy at the nurse I obediently take the cup of medicine and water handed to me and swallow it down. I handg the empty cups back to her, and glaring at her in an attempt to make the woman leave; it doesn't even faze her. She just smiles sweetly, disposes of the empty containers and brings a tray of food to the stand by my bed.

It smells bad, and she hasn't even removed the lid yet. Frankly I'd prefer to face Farf in one of his Berserker moments, rather than attempt to digest what lies on the plate. I watch in horror as the stand is pushed closer to me and I'm urged to sit up. This does not bode well.

"Oh, come now, don't be like that cutie. You have to eat up! I'm sure Fujimiya-san won't be pleased to hear his little friend is wasting away here instead of getting better, all because he refuses to eat. Tsk, tsk, tsk."

"He is not my friend." Though I really don't think I'd mind if he were my friend, and maybe a little more. Realizing the direction my thoughts have taken, I pause in my glaring and that gives the woman the confidence to lift the tray's lid and reveal the meal before me.

Meatloaf. I utterly detest meatloaf, and this meatloaf has got to be the worst I've ever seen in my entire, though short, life. It's dried and looks as if perhaps someone else has digested it, prior to me, then regurgitated it for my benefit. Gray, lumpy mashed potatoes topped with sickeningly thick gravy sit beside the grotesque meat, and a pile of dried, cooked vegetables. A little carton of milk sits beside a small plateful of orange jello. Why couldn't I have had lime jello? Why did it have to be orange?

"Now don't be so fussy boy, you have got's to eat up!"

Releasing a long-suffering sigh, I pick up the fork and cautiously dig into the mashed potatoes and gravy. It's worse than it appears. The gravy is so thick they must have just poured the grease from the meatloaf over the potatoes and called it gravy. Despicable.

"Ooh! What beautiful flowers; I see you saw them. Fujimiya-san does such a wonderful job with his bouquets, don't ya think?"

'She's not gone yet!' my mind screams, and I find myself hard-pressed not to toss her into the wall. That voice of hers is grating on my nerves. Although she appears Nihon there is a curve to her chin, a rounding of the eyes that lets me know she is konketsu. The odd accent in her voice makes me wish to place her as American born; yet it's slightly different than Crawford's own. Finally her words click in my mind and I dare to speak to her, besides requesting her immediate departure that is.

"Fujimiya-san made this himself?" I inquire, gesturing towards the flowers in order to make it clear what I am speaking of. The woman is immensely ditzy after all.

"Hai. Fujimiya-san and some of his friends run a hana-ya called the Koneko no Sume Ie. It's very popular, and all the girls from the local schools, as well as some boys I think, gather there to do some bishi-gazing."

Something tells me this nurse is probably one of them.

"Why, there's even this kawaii genki otoko no ko there as well!! He's your age I believe, maybe jus' lil older."

My intuition is correct; sometimes I hate it when I'm right.

"Oh, dear! I must be going now; I've spent far too much time with you, little one. Take care for now. I'll be back around in a few ta pick up the tray so just leave it there."

Sighing in relief at the sight of her departing back, I lean back in bed and push the nauseous food away from me. Damn it, but I wanted out of here, and just where was Farfarello at anyway? Granted it's still early, not even one o'clock in the afternoon yet, but shouldn't he be here watching over me? Answer: he probably just doesn't give a damn about me. Either that or he's trying to come up with some crazy scheme to appease Crawford when he returns. Of course, the most likely scenario is that he's out having the time of his life, butchering and slaughtering as many 'innocents' as he can. What's that saying? Oh, yeah. "While the cat's away the mice will play."

True to her word, half an hour later the bubbly nurse returns, clearing away the breakfast tray while chastising me for not eating it all. Annoying is a word that comes to mind often when she is around. Just as I'm about to inform her of my observation she launches into another of her long tirades.

"You know little one, you remind me quite a bit of Mr. Fujimiya-san. Yup, you sure do. Why in fact when I first moved here from the great US of A to live with my pa, I thought he was the rudest s.o.b I'd ever had the displeasure of meeting! Why, yes it's just not proper for a man to be so curt with a lady. That's what my pa always said anyway."

I'm tempted to shove a pillow down her throat and watch her suffocate to death. A side affect to living the life of an assassin; you find death and murder to be the easiest options more times than not.

"Of course, I learned that Fujimiya-san is just that way, and it's completely understandable. Poor, poor man, he was so young when it happened, too!"

My curiosity is finally intrigued. I had wondered what had cause Ran to become the person he is, and it seemed the over friendly nurse was about to answer that question for me.

"When what happened?"

"Hm? Oh, well I wasn't on shift that night; I was still a newbie to the city and Japan so I really didn't like working night shifts. Apparently there was an accident, and his imouto was badly injured."

"Imouto-san?"

"Hai, Fujimiya-san has an imouto. In fact she's here on this floor just a few doors down from here and - wait. I shouldn't be discussing Mr. Fujimiya-san's personal life!"

"Nani?"

Shimatta! Just when the women begin to talk of something of interest, she suddenly remembers etiquette.

"Tut, tut little one, I'm afraid I've said far too much of Fujimiya-san's personal affairs. Oh, I really shouldn't talk to you about him at all! Why, he's been so nice to me as well. Everyone else made fun of the funny looking lil girl from America, and laughed at my pronunciation; Fujimiya-san never laughed and always helped me!"

The woman continued on for several more minutes, the whole while wringing her hands in distress. It seemed she was a close acquaintance of Ran since he had bothered to tell her of his life, to help her feel at home in a foreign country, and then to aid her with a rueful patient. Yes, Ran's obvious approval of her raised my own opinion of her; just a notch, really.

"Will Fujimiya-san be in later today…" I began, glancing at her nametag before finishing my question, "...Atsuko-san?"

The moment the words left my mouth, I could have kicked myself. Now the nurse would think I was an obsessed groupie, just like her. Either that or she would think I actually cared somewhat about her.

"Um… well let's see, today is Monday so he has the closing shift. Hmm, yes he'll probably be in after the fan girl rush. Oh, how I do pity the man during that time of the day," She said, smiling happily the moment I said her name. Apparently it meant something to her, for some odd reason.

"Aah."

"It must be lonely for you, ne? I'll tell Fujimiya-san that you asked for him when he stops by the nurse's station later today."

"Nani? No wait you-"

"Ja ne little one!"

And with a wave the nurse was rushing out of the room without a backwards glance in my direction. 'Great, just great,' I thought. 'Now Ran will think I'm a pathetic, sad little fan boy.'

Laying back down I rolled onto my side and looked out the window. Farfarello might show up later in the evening, and Ran… Ran might show up if he's not completely disgusted with me. Until then, there was nobody to keep me company. The nurse's words repeated themselves in my mind and I shuddered.

"It must be lonely for you ne?"

She had hit the nail on the head, without even trying. I was lonely, but it's just the story of my life. Waiting for someone to notice me, all alone.

TBC

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