Weiss Kreuz Fan Fiction ❯ Watch Me As I Fade Away ❯ Sick ( Chapter 3 )

"Do I know you?"

….!

"Well? I haven't got all day, I was just about to get off."

"…I don't know…" I begin, guardedly, "Do you know me?"

"I don't think so. You're the one who knew my name."

"I don't look familiar at all?"

He studies me for a moment, all the while looking thoroughly bored.

"Mmm….Nope."

"My name's Ken."

"Hmm."

Ah ha! A reaction! Er, sorta.

His bored expression briefly turns to one of thoughtfulness.

"Huh. I knew a Ken once."

"Knew?"

"Yes, knew."

"Why 'knew'?"

"Well, you'll have to admit it's rather hard to keep in touch with dead people."

Dead eh?! I got him!

"Died in a fire?!" I can't mask the accusing tone to my voice.

"Uh, no."

"Shot?"

"No. Why are you so interested? Hey, did I know you in school or something?"

"Er…yeah. I went to school with you guys….and I was, uh, friends with Ken."

"Hahaha!"

"What's so funny?!"

Kase laughs a minute more before composing himself. This is too weird.

"That's a good one buddy, Ken didn't have any other friends. Just me. I'm quite sure about that!"

Hey! I did too have other friends!

"So how did he die then?"

Kase suddenly looks extremely serious. "You're really interested aren't you? He drowned. When we were eight."

I drowned?!

"How'd that happen?"

Kase has now gone from looking serious, to a bit green. His arms slide down from over his chest to his stomach. His voice is much quieter than before.

"We were….rough-housing in the water…I pushed him under…and…he didn't…he didn't come up again. I think there was an undertow or something."

"Oh."

So not only am I supposedly dead right now, but I was killed twice? And here I am talking to a man I know I killed, but from what he's telling me I couldn't have killed him because supposedly he had already killed me first--before I could grow up to kill him? A conversation between two dead men…each responsible for the other's deaths. Now I know I'm hallucinating this.

But, I have a really distinct impression that this is not the same Kase I killed. His eyes are different….and I know I'm overly trusting, but…I really feel he's telling the truth.

"So, um…" It's obvious he wants to change the subject, "Were you looking for flowers today? I uh, recommend chrysanthemums. They're my favorite."

"No. I was…uh, looking for Yohji, actually."

Kase's eye's immediately narrow and fill with suspicion.

"Yohji, eh? You're awful interested in dead people, aren't you?"

Dead?! "Yohji's dead?!"

"Yeah, and as I've never seen you come round the shop before, I'm rather curious to find out just how you knew Yohji, too."

"I ah…er…"

"You work for Schwartz, don't you!" I see Kase slowly flexing and unflexing his right hand. Something I immediately recognize as my own nervous habit of when I'm caught without my bugnuks. Eep.

"No!" I feel cornered. "I….I'm with Kritiker!"

"Prove it."

"This shop!" I'm getting a bit frantic… "This shop, it's actually a cover-up for an organization named Weiß! And…you get your missions from a man named Persia, and…." I really hope, my next hunch is right, "You--your code name is Siberian, isn't it?"

Arms re-fold across Kase's chest, and I hear him chuckle quietly.

"Okay, I believe you. You're way too nervous to be one of Schwartz."

"So, um, what happened to Yohji?"

Instead of answering me, Kase mimes stabbing himself in the stomach. I watch in horror as he violently jerks the invisible blade to the side before drawing up and ending well into his chest

"He killed himself?!" I can't believe that! Yohji has never struck me as the suicidal type! He's too…well…easygoing!

"He sure did! And with Aya's katana, too! Man, was that a nasty mess, let me tell you! It took two weeks to get rid of all the blood. We kept finding splatters we missed on the wall paper, for days afterward…."

Why does Kase look amused, like he's just telling a good bar story, or something?! This is sick…

"It must have hurt like a motherfuckin' bitch too!" He continues, stroking his chin, "Traditionally, when you commit seppuku, you're supposed to have a friend stand by to chop off your head afterwards. To make it quick, ya know? But Yohji knew we'd refuse to do that, so he just did it alone. It must have been really slow and horrible, heh"

I'm completely stunned. Yohji dead? By suicide? And by a painful one at that! It just doesn't add up! Somehow, I'd expect Yohji to do himself in with alcohol or drugs or something….not with Aya's Katana.

"I don't know what to say…um, I'm really sorry to hear that."

Kase just shrugs. "Eh, it's what he wanted."

I'm really not liking this version of Kase. Well, the other version of Kase's not exactly any better though.

"I bet Aya was pissed as hell about him doing it with his Katana." I mutter, more to myself than to Kase.

"Oh, he was hardly missing it." Kase replies mysteriously.

"Huh?"

"For a Kitiker agent, you're not very well informed."

I impulsively grab him by the shirt. "Kase, what happened to Aya?!"

I suddenly feel really ill. I still can't shake that image of a crying Aya out of my head. I was hoping to see him again, and make some sort of amends, I….

"Dead."

How can he sound so matter-of-fact about it?!

"No…."

"Oh, he is very thoroughly dead, believe me. That's why Yohji used his katana. Thought it would be symbolic or some romantic crap like that."

"Uh. Romantic?"

"You heard me, bud. I had my suspicions before, but Yohji's reaction to Aya's untimely demise erased any remaining doubt that there was something sketchy going down between those two. Of the 'more than just friends' type, if ya-know-what-I-mean."

Fuck. I want to wipe that all-knowing smirk off the bastard's face. I have to literally restrain myself from smacking him away when he nudges me in the side. I hate him all over again!

"How. Um, how did Aya die?" I choke out.

"Oh, the expected. Botched mission. The target was expecting us, and had a goon hiding in the back file room. While Aya was attending to the target, the goon snuck up from behind and chink…" Here Kase makes a ominous twisting motion with his wrist, "stabbed in the back, so-to-speak."

Oh shit. I remember that mission! But it didn't end that way! It didn't! I was guarding Aya, and saw the attacker at the last minute! I had him skewered before he even touched Aya! But if Kase was the one on watch and not me. Oh god.

"I tell ya," Kase continues, chatting away as if he were discussing the fucking world cup or something, "That guy musta been trained in ninjitsu or somethin'! We never even heard him coming until it was bye-bye Ay-"

I heard him! God, this can't be real, it just can't….

"What about Omi?!" I suddenly think to ask. "Don't tell me he's dead too?!"

"Hm, Omi? Na, he's still alive and kicking. Did you want to see him?"

"Um, yeah. I would." Maybe Omi will give me some less aggravating answers.

"Hey, squirt! There's someone down here that wants to see ya!" I cringe at the nickname Kase uses. Omi hates childish nicknames. Only Yohji ever got away with using them.

I hear some shuffling and the door slowly opens.

Oh my god. Omi.

This is not Omi. It can't be. His eyes…they look…dead. And his arms. He has very suspicious looking scars running down the underside of each arm. Like he…like he tried to…..

No.

This can't be Omi.

"Who are you?"

The emotionless tone of Omi's voice is more than I can bare.

I turn and run out of the shop.

I don't look back.