Weiss Kreuz Fan Fiction ❯ The Rain Doesn't Grieve ❯ 7 ( Chapter 7 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

7
 
I can remember a place I used to go. Chrysanthemums of white, they seemed so beautiful.
 
Ken ~ Friend
 
My door opened again, only this time instead of a red-haired babe my visitor was a guy in a wheelchair. He seemed young, younger than me at any rate, and the fact that he couldn't walk seemed very, very wrong. I felt myself frowning as I tried to figure out who he was.
 
“Ken-kun! They told me you were awake,” he blurted, sounding cheery-to-slightly-despairing. He rolled toward me, pushing the wheels with strong arms that made me reconsider his apparent age. Young, but obviously not a kid.
 
I sat up a little more and offered him a crooked smile. It felt like my right eye was squinting, but that happened from time to time. I figured it only made me look more roguish, which might not be a bad thing. “Yeah, though I wish I'd been dreaming about the hospital part of it.”
 
He smiled, his blue eyes crinkling up at the corners. Damn, he looked like he was about to cry in spite of the smile. This wasn't my day! I don't think I like to make people upset like that, and I'd already managed to do it twice.
 
“Hey, what happened to you?” I asked, hoping to get him talking about something other than me. Then I realized that I didn't know if he belonged in a wheelchair or not, though I had this nagging feeling that he didn't.
 
“I hurt my back,” he said softly. “It's not so bad now. I'm in physical therapy. They say I'll be walking again in no time.” Those blue eyes misted over a little more as he added, “In fact, they're letting me out of hospital tomorrow. I had to see you before I left, Ken-kun. I'll be back to visit, I promise.”
 
I reached for his hand, wanting to give him some kind of reassurance. My own hand had no strength in it, and it shook a little, but I took hold of his fingers and squeezed as best I could. “Hey, it's okay,” I told him. “I still need to mend up some. I'll be here when you come back, right?”
 
His voice trembled as he asked, “Ken-kun, do you know who I am?”
 
I looked down, then shook my head. I couldn't bear to look at him when I said, “I'm sorry. I wish I did. You seem so familiar. And I know you don't belong in a wheelchair. You belong…on a scooter, a pink scooter of all the stupid…” I looked up then, in time to see his expression change from sorrow to startled laughter. “What? You really have a pink scooter?”
 
“Yes, it's for deliveries. From the flower shop,” he told me, his tone hopeful now.
 
“Flower shop. Manx-san said something about that.”
 
“Manx-san?” he blurted. “She was here?” His eyes grew dark, his scowl making him seem older than he really was. Or, older than he'd seemed at first, anyway.
 
“Well, yes,” I murmured, feeling very awkward. Oh, man, I had no idea how the two of them knew each other, or what he must be thinking right now! “Hey, look, she just wanted to check on me.” Sudden inspiration hit and I added, “I didn't know who she was, either. She told me her name, and that I'd worked in a flower shop. She…she called me `Siberian'.”
 
My visitor chewed on this for a moment, then said, “Bombay. I was Bombay. My name is Tsukiyono Omi. You called me Omi-kun.”
 
Bombay. A crossbow, the kind a Ninja would use…and a pink scooter.
 
Omi. Pinned to the wall by some unseen force as a madman tried to kill me.
 
Omi-kun. Throwing himself at my attacker with no weapon other than his own momentum.
 
“You saved my life,” I whispered, gripping his hand tighter. “I remember - you saved my life! Oh, god, man! What the hell happened?”
 
Omi sagged a little, as if all his strength had gone into willing me to remember him. “It's a long story, Ken-kun. And your doctor would probably hurt me if I started telling it right now. I promise, whatever you don't remember I'll fill in for you, as soon as your doctor says you're ready.”
 
“And when will that be?” I asked, annoyed that everyone seemed to know more about my condition than I did.
 
“When you're able to do this again, Ken-kun.” He squeezed my hand and smiled. “When you get everything working and they let you walk out of here on your own two big feet, then I promise I'll tell you everything.”
 
Omi ~ Fated
 
That vaguely blank look on Ken's face told me he didn't recognize me way before I asked him. Still, hearing his reply had hurt in a way I hadn't expected. He didn't want to hurt me, and he knew he couldn't lie. Good old Ken. At least that hadn't changed.
 
When he said he'd seen Manx, I knew what that meant. She hadn't told me he was awake because she wasn't visiting me as a concerned friend, but as a procurer for Kritiker. She was distancing herself from me; I was about to be sacrificed to the cause. In exchange for my cooperation, I was allowed this visit with Ken-kun.
 
It was a bittersweet moment when he remembered me. I couldn't tell him that the next time he saw me I wouldn't be Omi anymore.
 
I would be Persia.