Weiss Kreuz Fan Fiction ❯ Watch Me As I Fade Away ❯ Shortcut ( Chapter 8 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

I think it's probably the blinding sunlight that wakes me up. My first thought is: "oh crap! I was going to get up and move before I fell asleep!" Which is quickly followed by: "why was I planning on moving anyway?" Then: "where's my bed?" And most distressing of all: "where am I?" Then yesterday's events slowly start to filter back to me. I'm just starting to comprehend my weird situation, when I notice something else weird.

Something…very weird.

My right arm is asleep.

It is asleep because someone is laying on it.

The person lying on my right arm is, consequently, lying under my left arm.

I'm afraid to look.

I really, really don't want to look.

I have to look.

The sooner I look, the sooner I can get my arm back.

Oh hell, here goes.

I look.

Fuck.

I knew I didn't want to look.

Why in the name of all that's holy was I sleeping with my arms wrapped around Yohji?!

Wait, don't answer that. I'd rather not find out.

Oh god, he's awake too. Why is he grinning like that?!

. . . .

. . . .

There is a very uncomfortable pause before my reflexes catch up with me, and I jump about a foot in the air.

"Oh shit! I'm so sorry! I don't know why I was doing that Yohji, I'm so sorry! I---"

Yohji starts laughing as he waves away my apology, "ha ha. It's okay. I know what happened. You were talking in your sleep again…"

Uh-oh….

"…and thought you were with one of your girlfriends, that's all."

Eh? One…one of my girlfriends?! Plural? I don't even have a girlfriend, I sure as hell don't have them in multiples!

"I was talking in my sleep again?"

"Yeah," Yohji says, still grinning, "most of it was just gibberish, but there were two girls you kept mentioning, no doubt about that. Heh. You never mentioned you were so popular with the ladies, heh-heh."

I really wish he'd stop nudging me with that 'go get 'em tiger' look on his face….

Dare I ask?

"Er…who was I talking about? I…can't remember the dream…."

Yohji arches an eyebrow, but answers my question.

"Well, first you kept mumbling about a Yuriko. That's when you started to hug me…."

Oh. Yuriko. What a relief. Yeah, dreaming about Yuriko's not too strange….

"…But after a while you started calling me "Aya" instead. And let me tell you, you went into death-grip mode then. Ha ha. This Aya must me some girl, eh? So which one's the primary and which one's on the side? Huh?"

I barely hear the end of his question, because the mention of "Aya" causes me to erupt into a coughing fit. Aya? Aya?! I was hugging Yohji for dear life because I thought he was Aya?! No. No way. I heard that wrong.

Wait. The other day when I supposedly met Kase…. Kase told me that Aya was dead. Well, hearing that Aya's dead is upsetting. Of course I'd want to hug Aya if I found him alive after thinking he was dead. It's an obvious reaction. Whew. Glad I got that all figured out. I won't bother Yohji with the details though, I'll just play along….

"Heh-heh. No, I'm not with Yuriko anymore. And Aya….Aya's just someone I know. We're not even together! Heh. Heh-heh…."

"Oh." Yohji looks a bit more serious. "Well, it sounded like you have it pretty bad for this Aya girl. If you ever make it back to your own time, I think you should tell her how you feel."

If I had had anything to choke on, I would have choked. As things stood, I mentally hyperventilated instead. Yohji. Did. Not. Just. Seriously. Advise. Me. To. Ask. Out. Aya.
Nooooo. No. No. No. No. This. Is. Not. Happening….

"I'm serious." Yohji reiterates, "I think you really have it for this girl. You should definitely tell her how you feel…."

I suddenly manage to snap out of my stupor. "No, no, no, no! I'm fine! Aya is just one of my friends! I don't even like her like that. He's….She's just someone I hang out with, s'all! Really!"

Yohji looks skeptical. "Are you sure? She sure sounded like more than that before….I mean, I half thought you were going to start making out with me or something…."

Okay, way more information than I can handle right now….

"Er, Yotan? Why didn't you wake me up?! I hate to think I was making you uncomfortable…."

Yohji shakes his head and looks oddly guilty. "No, actually I should apologize….I didn't want to wake you up…..I mean, I'm always alone, and…kinda lonely, so…ah…." His voice steadily drops as he struggles for the words, "…it was kinda, urm, nice…actually."

Oooh boy. Ken's brain: requesting permission to shut down and not have to deal with this.

Yohji doesn't seem any more sure of how to react than I do. He's rather obviously trying not to look at me.

"Um…well then…I guess we should start trying to figure out how I'm going to get back…."

Yohji's far-off expression immediately drops into one of distress. "You want to leave already? I…I sort of thought you might want to stay a little bit and…and see the sights…or…something."

"Oh."

Damn. I hadn't thought about how leaving would affect Yohji. I just promised to be his friend, and I'm already abandoning him. But…I can't stay. Not with tear-streaked and dead Ayas haunting me. Shoot. It's a no-win situation….

"Oh god, Yotan, I'm really sorry! It's not that I want to leave, it's just that…I think I hurt someone before coming here, and it's worrying me to death. I have to get back to make sure things are okay! I'm so sorry…."

"Nah. I understand. I'd want to hurry back too."

Oh shit, he looks so sad. What can I do?!
Wait. Maybe…
No, bad idea!
But…
Hm.

"Um, Yotan? There isn't really anything here you're particularly attached to, is there?"

"No, not really, why?" Suddenly his expression changes as he catches on to what I'm implying. "No definitely not. I hate it here!"

"So….you wouldn't be adverse to, um, leaving, would you?"

"You mean I could go with you?!" Yohji is practically beaming.

"Well, yeah. We could try."

"Would it work?"

"I have no idea."

A frown is slowly creeping back onto is face. "But there is already a Yohji where you live…."

"That's true but…" Dang, this is so frickin' weird, "…I don't think he'd mind me bringing you. We could always set you up in another city, where no one knows him. No one would ever know the difference, I guess…."

"Oh wow, that would be great!" Yohji throws himself at me, and I almost suffocate he's hugging me so hard. He suddenly seems to catch himself and quickly jumps back, blushing.

"Er…sorry about that."

He looks so awkward I have to laugh. "Heh. It's okay, I understand. But lets get going. We have a flower shop to look for."



"Are you sure we looked everywhere?" I ask, miserably.

"Yeah," mutters Yohji, "we've definitely been everywhere."

We're currently sprawled under a tree next to one of the many small shrines tucked into the city. We're very dirty, very tired, and very very frustrated.

"There are no flower shops here," Yohji says, ticking off our failures on his hand, "all the flowers are sold by vendors with carts-completely un-magical and non-reality altering carts, I might add. There is no shop named the Koneko no Sumu Ie; selling flowers or anything else. Finally, we did not see a single person fitting the description of this 'Momoe San' whom you described to me….Your flower shop does not seem to exist here in any form whatsoever."

"It has to be here!" I'm fighting back a wave of panic now, "things changed every time I went in or out of the shop! It's got to be the shop, because things didn't change after I met you! Damnit, if we don't find the shop, I'm stuck here!"

"It's really not so bad here, you know." Yohji says, frowning slightly, "not for normal people, anyhow."

"My problem isn't being here" I explain with exasperation, "it's the people I'm missing back there! Argh!"

"Oh, that's right." Yohji says with a slight smirk.

"Shut up! This has nothing to do with girls!"

Yohji just arches an eyebrow, which is fortunate. Had he actually said anything then I would probably have lost my temper and decked him.

Wait! Hey, wait a minute!

"Yohji! we didn't go back to the place where you found me, did we?"

"No," Yohji answers, frowning, "there aren't any shops there. It's just an empty alleyway."

"Maybe…." I'm barely daring to hope now, "maybe it wasn't the shop that made things change! It might have been the shortcut I took to get to the shop!"

"Hm." Yohji mutters thoughtfully, "could be."

"Come on, you have to take me back to the alley!"


"So this is it, huh?" I ask nervously.

"Yep." Yohji replies, somewhat distantly.

"This is it." I repeat dumbly.

"Yep….sure you want to go now?" Yohji asks, "maybe you should stay another night, so you'll be rested when we go."

"No," I answer, shaking my head, "I really can't lose anymore time. Too much has happened already"

"You…sure?" Yohji asks, obviously worried.

"Are you okay Yotan?" I ask, "it's okay if you changed your mind about coming with me, I'll understand."

"No, it's not that. Well it is that. sorta. Not changing my mind but….I'm afraid it won't work for me."

"Why wouldn't it work for you? I went through three times already."

"Yeah, but…maybe it only works for one person. Or maybe we'll both go through but end up in different places. I can't help worrying that something will go wrong."

"Hm." I sit down to think, "that hadn't really occurred to me."

"I'll be twice as miserable as before if I end up alone again," Yohji says miserably, "now that I've actually made a friend…."

Crap. This is all so complicated….Hey! Something suddenly occurs to me. I dig out my wallet and extract the picture of us that I showed Yohji yesterday.

"Here, why don't you keep this." I say, handing it to him, "See this guy with the red hair? Well, in the last place I was, you two where…uh…close. If you get separated from me, then look for him. I'm pretty sure he'd be your friend if you can find him."

I'm pretty sure he'd be more than your friend I add mentally, which causes a rather weird sensation in my stomach.

"Wow, thanks!" Yohji says, regarding the photo with awe. "What's his name?"

Oh shit. He had to ask that.

"Aya…." I answer reluctantly, "his name is Aya."

"Oh." Yohji says absently, before his eyes widen in surprise. "Oh."

"It's not what you think," I say, shaking my head, "we're barely even friends."

"Oh." Yohji just stupidly repeats, still looking stunned.

I stand up and offer him my hand. "Here, we should probably hang on to each other. It seems that would up our chances of staying together."

"…yeah." Yohji answers, and slowly takes my hand, "that's a good idea…."

Yohji seems really distant all of the sudden. I wonder what he's so preoccupied with?

He looks at me, turns away for a second and then looks at me again. He suddenly seems to make up his mind about something.

"You ready?" I ask.

"Just…a second." He mumbles.

Before I know what's hit me he turns around, grabs me, and kisses me with far more force than I would have expected, had I been expecting him to kiss me. Which I sure as hell hadn't.

I freeze.

Somewhere in the haze of my shock I note the fact that Yohji's kissing skills are apparently a natural talent, and not the result of all the practice he gets back in my reality.

I then realize that I am analyzing Yohji's said skills, instead of analyzing how to get him off me.

This causes me to freak out. Just a little.

Yohji seems to freak out a little too. He abruptly lets go and turns away from me.

"I'm sorry!" He yelps.

Although my mind is screaming 'what the fuck were you thinking?!' I find myself merely saying, "it's, um, okay."

He's still not looking at me. "Um, well then….Thanks?"

"Er…you're…welcome."

 230;.

"We should get going then." I say, to break the awkward silence.

"Right." Yohji answers, "we should definitely get going."

He rather shakily offers me back his hand, and I grasp it.

Slowly, we start to walk into the alley. At first it seems like nothing's happening. For a second I think that I was wrong, and we'll walk right to the other side with no change. I'm thinking how stupid we'll feel after all the fuss that we made, when I realize that I'm losing my grip on Yohji's hand. I try grabbing him tighter but he melts away in my grasp. I look around in panic. He seems to have dissolved into thin air.

"Yohji?" I ask tentatively. "Yohji?!"

"It's no use," says a voice from behind me, "he can't hear you anymore."






A/N: The rating of this fic has been permanently changed to R. I was not previously aware that it warranted that rating just for language.

Next chapter: Yup, Ken's finally gonna get a real explanation as to just WTF is going on. Heh.