Weiss Kreuz Fan Fiction ❯ Two Pearls on A String ❯ Blowing the mirror ( Chapter 2 )

Qin Er sat in silence for the whole of the ride, ignoring the other occupants in the car. Brad shot her a few quick glances, none of which she noticed. He frowned. This girl was so young. After being a `graduate' of Esset, hired out to Takatori, he knew the normal age for this sort of thing was at least 18, as he had been.

"How old is this girl, Mr. Takatori?" he asked softly.

"Fifteen." The old politician looked at him through narrowed eyes. "Why? You do realize, I cannot hand her back to Esset?"

"She seems young, too young," replied Brad coldly. "She might affect the team."

Takatori snorted. "I think you can handle it, Mr. Crawford" - he drawled Brad's name insultingly out, like he was reminding of his incompetence with Schuldich. Like that was even his fault. - "At any rate, if they're younger, they will be easier to train. Like that young man, Nagi, a fine, quiet fellow."

Fine, quiet fellow… Brad remembered fishing Schuldich out from under the shards of a wooden cupboard Nagi had blasted open. Not that Schuldich didn't deserve it. That moron needed to control his mouth. How would this girl fit in? She was silent. Silent, and still. Like a grave. Her eyes were fixed outside, on nothing in particular.

Brad sighed and settled down into his seat. Whatever. She was not his problem. As long as she conducted her missions properly, and didn't fuck them up, then Brad Crawford was not going to bother about her at all.

***

The car came to a stop outside a semidetached house. Schwarz's hiding place. For all intents and purposes it was perfect. It was near the Underground, and if you didn't want the dirty old men groping you, there was a bus stop, and it was also near a school, a relatively good one, that Nagi attended sporadically, and that Qin Er would go to as well. Crawford had already made the application. Beside the basic pleasures, there was a nice garden out back, with high hedges so the neighbors couldn't see in, and watch Farferello decapitate the little cats he found sniffing the garbage cans. And everyone there thought that Brad Crawford was just a good, hardworking businessman who was full of family feeling and so kept all his other brothers in the same house with him. Though the thought that they had accepted Schuldich and Farferello so easily as his brothers made Bradley shudder slightly.

Qin Er got out of the car, clutching her bag. As if she were a programmed machine, she turned and bowed to Takatori. The politician smiled, appreciative of this gesture of respect. He shot Brad and `I told you so' look. Crawford kept his `oh for God's sake' face neatly underneath a smooth shell of detached approval.

The limousine drove off, and Brad, with a hand on the girl's shoulder, guided her to the front door. She was stiff under his hands, and not as cold as he thought she would be. Mrs. Aiko next door smiled at Brad. He was handsome, and she was bored with her husband, and not that old, but so far, Crawford had ignored her advances. She flicked her dyed daffodilly yellow hair, pursed her lips and simpered ("At her age, simpering," thought Brad, but as usual, nothing showed on his face). "Why hello, Brad - Mr. Crawford, I mean, oh, hello, who is that little cutie? Your sister?"

"No. My niece." Welcome to the family, Qin Er.

"Oh, well, hello sweetie." Mrs. Aiko smiled at Qin Er. She did have a nice smile; she ought to have used it more often rather than that simper.

//What's this Brad? Softening to Mrs. Aiko's charms already?//

//Damn it, Schuldich, get out of my head.//

//Whatever you say, class leader.//

Then there was silence; Schuldich's nasal voice was silent. But at least that (irritating, annoying, feckless) telepath had reminded Brad to take the girl in. She was still standing there, eyes fixed to the ground.

"Excuse me, Mrs. Aiko-"

She widened her eyes. "Oh no, I've told you before, call me `Hana'."

"- I think it's about time, my, ahem, brothers met their niece as well."

"Of course, how thoughtless of me to keep you!" Bradley Crawford resumed his steering of Qin Er towards the door. Mrs. Aiko stared after them, even when Bradley closed the front door. So mysterious he was, she sighed. Dark glass in all the windows, so you couldn't see in. It really made a girl (`girl' wasn't exactly the right word, since Mrs. Aiko was at least fifty) curious. She sighed again, and smiled. Well, she wasn't dead yet.

Bradley would have been horrified at her thoughts, since he had been putting off Mrs. Aiko's advances since day one, much to the rest of Schwarz's amusement.

Mrs. Aiko was the last thing on their mind however, as Bradley opened the door to find all three of his teammates assembled in the hall. All eyes, Farferello's one golden eye, Nagi's intense midnight blue and Schuldich's lazy green, were fixed on Qin Er, who still looked at the ground. Bradley looked them all over, a habit he'd formed. "This is Chen Qin Er," he said finally, his voice cool and quiet.

"Chen Qin?" repeated Nagi softly.

"No." Qin Er's spoke suddenly. Where am I? Qin Er thought. It was like waking up from a long sleep, that damn woman who put a damper onto her…she needed her wits about her right now, and it wasn't helped by feeling groggy and drugged - and angry. "My name is Qin Er. Chen is my surname," she said tersely, feeling electricity start to course through her veins as they always did when her emotions were in turmoil. It was making her feel very ill…

Bradley stared at the girl. Was she going to throw up? All over his nice, clean carpet? Her face was starting to glow with an aquamarine sheen.

"Excuse me," Qin Er blurted suddenly, feeling decidedly ill. "I think I'm going to-"

"The bathroom is down that way," said Bradley, pointing.

Qin Er dropped the bag and raced down towards the toilet, leaving them to stare after her. Desperately she flung open the door, and slammed it shut, locking it. Qin Er stood over the toilet bowl, her chest heaving, but nothing came up, and she still felt ill.

"Dammit," she swore, clutching the rim. She waited for Jun Ling to correct her language, then realized that there was no Jun Ling to correct her.

Was it possible to feel worse than she felt now? Her anger was swelling inside her, and it was choking her like a physical force, her sadness was making her eyes sting, and on top of that, her stomach was cramped and painful.

She retched, but nothing came out.

Qin Er could feel her anger growing. Jun Ling had always been the balancer, who managed to keep Qin Er in check, but with her sister gone, and herself hurting, feeling raw and red. It was filling her head, and she couldn't control it, it frightened her, and yet sucked her in further, until -

Her body felt like it was exploding, and bolts of blue electricity shot out of her, from very crevice, from every pore of her being.

There was the sound of a loud crash in the bathroom, and the four Schwarz members jumped. "Oh great," snarled Schuldich. "Takatori landed us with a maniac. Another one!"

"Shouldn't we check to see if she's alright?" said Nagi hesitantly.

"Never mind her," groaned Bradley. "Check if the bathroom is ok! Do you know how much I-"

"Ye Gods," muttered Schuldich, rolling his green eyes.

"Don't say the `G' word!" protested Farferello, the only one of them who didn't seem too disturbed about the noises in the bathroom. Maybe because he made so many of them inside his own room.

Qin Er slumped onto the counter, and opened her eyes slowly. What she saw jolted her wide-awake.

Oh shit.

The wide mirror that covered half of the wall was cracked. One huge long black line from the right edge, to the left end. Right across her face. Qin Er stared at it. Then slowly backed away from the mirror. Some of the white tiles were blackened.

Nagi cracked open the door slightly, without ever having to touch the handle. He stared at the mess. "Oh boy," he said, making Qin Er jump about two feet into the air. "Oh boy, is Crawford ever going to be mad."