Weiss Kreuz Fan Fiction ❯ Watch Me As I Fade Away ❯ Who's Ran? ( Chapter 2 )

Dead? Right. Ha ha. Very funny.

"Come on guys, 'make Ken feel like an idiot day' was last month, remember? You two knocked me out and I woke up in the middle of the park wearing a dress! It's not fair to mess with me again so soon!"

"What are you talking about?" asks Omi.

"We didn't do that." Yohji adds, "We haven't messed with you since Ran kicked our asses for it."

Ran? Who the heck is Ran?!

"Geeze, if you're going to lie to me, the least you two could do is use someone I actually know in your excuse."

"What do you mean someone you know?" Omi asks with a very convincing look of puzzlement on his face-if I didn't know what good actors these guys are, I'd actually believe him…. "You and Ran are…."

Yohji crosses his arms. "Are you telling me, that you don't even remember the guy you took a bullet for?!" He walks over and taps on my head "What, does being dead cause amnesia or something?"

"I'm NOT dead!" I'm getting a bit exasperated here. "Do I fucking feel like I'm dead?!" With that I punch Yohji in the arm. I admit I did it with a bit more force than needed to prove my point, but I'm getting really tired of these stupid pranks he keeps devising.

Instead of getting angry, Yohji just looks thoughtful. "No, I must admit you're quite a bit more solid then I'd expect a ghost to be. But then, you're the first ghost I ever met, so go figure."

"Would you stop poking me?!!"

Yohji finally backs off. "Geeze. Who would have thought that dying would make you so bitchy." He gives me another weird look. "And wet. Is it standard procedure for ghosts to come back to haunt people soaking wet?"

I close my eyes and grit my teeth. This is getting really old. "I. Am. Not. Dead. You. Imbecilic. Neanderthal." Hm, maybe I should use shorter words when insulting Yohji. Oh well.

"Maybe I should show him the mission report?" Omi asks, turning to Yohji.

"Hm, good idea." He responds, and Omi dashes up the stairs.

A short minute later Omi is already back and hands me an official looking document. It's dated about four months ago.

Report for mission 1583

Mission successful but with casualties. The government conspirators were eliminated, but not before one target managed to deliver a fatal hit. The shot was aimed at Abyssinian, but intercepted by Siberian who intentionally blocked it. A Kritiker helicopter immediately arrived on the scene, and delivered Siberian to medical facilities, where he was pronounced dead upon arrival. Abyssinian has requested that no replacement be sent for Siberian's position, and the request is currently under review. Cover up for the deaths will be carried out by…..

Okay, now I know they're joshing me. They're trying to tell me that not only am I dead but I willingly died for Aya?! AYA?!

Okay, I can almost see myself taking a bullet for Omi. I can picture accidentally getting hit while trying to help Yohji….but intentionally dying for Aya?! The guy who barely even acknowledges I exist?! The one who tried to kill me the first time I ever even saw him?! Mr. I'm-too-good-for-friends-so-back-the-hell-off ?! Right. What is this, the Twilight Zone?!

"Okay, I admit you guys really went all out for this one. I can't believe you even took the trouble to make a fake mission report. And having me die for Aya, that's a good one. Very funny guys, haha."

"What's so funny about you dying for Ran?" Omi asks, still pulling off that oh-so-convincing look of puzzlement. "And why do you keep using his old name? You haven't called him Aya, since…."

Yohji interupts him. "Yeah, man. That's cold."

I open my mouth to once again ask them just what the hell they're talking about when another loud crash distracts me.

The topic of our conversation is standing in the doorway. Thousands of shards of glass around his feet show that he had been holding a vase before the shattering noise alerted us to his presence.

If I thought Omi looked pale, it was nothing compared to the shade Aya's just turned.

"K-Ken?" He asks, uncertainly.

"Uh. Yeah, it's me." I answer. My nervousness is returning. Aya's never joined in on Yohji and Omi's pranks before. Suddenly my stomach isn't feeling so good.

The next minute my neck isn't feeling so good either. Aya's strangling me! Shit, what did I do to piss him off like this?! Uh wait. He isn't strangling me…he's….

hugging me?!!

Jesus! Is it the end of the world?!! Aya Hugging?! And wait now he's….

Holy fucking shit.

My teammate has just shoved his tongue down my throat.

Um. Ew.

Joke or not, it has definitely just crossed the line.

I pause for a minute and wonder how much Yohji must have had to pay him in order to get Aya to participate in such an extreme prank. The fact that I'm incapable of imagining any sum that would persuade Aya to kiss someone-let alone ME-is not making me feel any better.

I suddenly realize that my wandering mind has allowed Aya to continue sucking on my face for a good minute and a half. Which is precisely a minute and a half longer than I'm comfortable with.

I regain my wits and push him off.

"What the fuck are you doing?!"

In one second flat I witness Aya's face drop from an expression of untainted joy to one of pure and utter blind rage.

Uh oh.

"What am I doing?" Aya replies, voice trembling with anger. "What are YOU doing! Did you come back just to hurt me? Did you think I didn't suffer enough when you went and fucking DIED? How dare you! How dare you get yourself killed like that you selfish ASSHOLE!"

Shit. Aya's crying.

"I hate you. You should have let me die!"

::Thwap:: Aya punches me.

"I never asked you to save me!"

::Thwap:: Another hit.

"You fucking leave me to live without you and then you come back just to fucking push me away?!"

::Thwap:: Funny, I don't seem to have it in me to defend myself.

"Did dying turn you into some sort of sadist?!"

::Thwap::

"Fuck you, Hidaka!"

::Thwap::

"I hate you now!"

::Thwap:: But before he….?

"GET OUT!!"

I barely even register him roughly shoving me in the direction of the door. I feel too ill to move though.

I pleadingly look towards Yohji and Omi for support, but they both look really sad…and…dissapointed in me?

Yohji's slowly shaking his head as if to say, 'Sorry man, we'd like to back you up, but we've gotta side with Aya on this one. He sort of outranks you…still being alive and all.'

"But Aya, I don't…."

"Oh, so I'm 'AYA' now, am I?!" He shoves me again, even rougher. "I'm no longer good enough for you to call me by my real name anymore, huh?!"

Real name?

::Shove::

"Thank you Ken, for ruining my life." His voice has become dangerously calm all of the sudden. Calm Aya is even scarier than raging Aya. "Now get the fuck out of my sight. I don't care if you're already dead. If I ever so much as see you again, I'll kill you myself."

Before I know it, the door has been slammed in my face, and I find myself teetering on the Koneko's front stoop.

Well shit.

I do believe…that has just replaced Kase's death as the single most disturbing experience of my life.

What the hell is going on?!!!

For lack of any other ideas of what to do, I end up walking back to the park.
I'm really shaken.

That was scary. I've never seen Aya like that before. He just lost it. I've never seen him so….emotional like that. And because of me?! It just doesn't make sense….Sure we've fought before. But they were physical fights. Omi is the only one I've ever seen illicit any sort of emotional reaction from him, and that was nothing compared to the scene I just witnessed.

To say I'm confused right now would be the understatement of the year.

I'm already starting to question if that really happened.

Maybe I hallucinated it?
Could I have been drugged again?
Perhaps one of the sports drinks I drank this morning had something weird in it…like that stuff Yuriko always liked.
Or maybe I hit my head during soccer practice?
There's got to be some sort of reasonable explanation.

Maybe I've just gone crazy.

That would surprise me less than Aya kissing me.

Good god. What twisted part of my subconscious would have come up with the idea of Aya wanting to kiss me, anyway?! The implications he was giving me….Yeep.

Yeah, I definitely had to have imagined all that. I bet I'm suffering from some sort of mission-induced post traumatic stress, or something.

Yeah, that MUST be it.

Cause I'm sure as all hell that I'm not dead. And I'm pretty dang sure there's nothing fishy going on between me an Aya, either. At least I don't think so. Right?

Damn, that was fucking weird.

No, I definitely imagined that.

And just to prove it myself, I'll go back to the shop.

Everything will be normal there, I just know it.

Omi will be doing his homework. Yohji will be trying to distract him. Aya will be silent and not care one way or the other if I'm home or not. Normal.

Right?

Why then does my stomach feel like I just swallowed a ton of cement?

Maybe I haven't been getting enough sleep these days. There we go. I'll make sure to take a nap when I get back. And I'll be careful to take it easy the next few days. Righto.

Then I'll definitely feel better.

Glad I got all that settled.

Still.

Imagined or not…that image of an enraged and tear-streaked Aya is permanently burned into my memory. It'll be a cold day in hell before I'll forget that. Man.

Before I know it, I'm already back and standing in front of the Koneko.
This time I open the door a little more timidly.

"Uh…guys?"

"Sorry, we're closed."

That voice.

That's not Aya's or Yohji's voice.

It sounds like….

The man before me turns around and folds his arms over his chest while observing my blandly. "Well?"

Oh. My. God.

"Kase?!!"