Weiss Kreuz Fan Fiction ❯ Zweiter Chancen ❯ Melting the Ice ( Chapter 8 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

*****8*****


Beep. Beep.

It is now seven in the morning, and Fujimiya Ran’s alarm clock is signaling him to rise for another long day. Normally, he would have been up at least five minutes before it went off, but today he is satisfied to hit ‘snooze’ and drift back to sleep.

Today is Sunday and the shop doesn’t open until noon; he can afford to sleep in for once, especially when he feels so cozy warm and content right where he is. The reason he is so snuggled in alludes him a moment as he drifts between that void of being half-awake and half-asleep, but the truth soon begins to dawn on him like the rising dawn outside.

Small arms are wrapped tightly around his waist, a soft head of hair tickles his chest, and a lithe body is pressed close to his beneath the covers.

Ran’s violet eyes spring open, smooth muscles tensing as he realizes his arms are loosely entwined around a companion he had forgotten was sharing his bed. Some time during the night, he and Emery had subconsciously clung to each other, but now that he is fully awake, Ran no longer finds the close-quarters a comfort.

Cautiously slow, Ran lifts himself up, slinking his arms away from Emery’s shoulders. He barely disentangles himself, still with the boy clinging tightly to him, when the bedroom door suddenly opens, and an unwelcome and unexpected guest walks thoughtlessly inside.

“Ran, have you seen Emery, ‘cause...he’s...” Youji trails off, the answer to his question appearing right before his eyes. “...here with you...” finishes the phrase, like some timid whisper afraid to be heard.

Instinctively, Ran opens his mouth to speak, but considering he is usually hard-up for the right words, one can imagine his luck on a morning like this.

“Don’t bother.” Youji cuts in, before Ran can voice the words he doesn’t have. Bearing an expression like a cross between betrayal and disgust, the misunderstanding blonde begins backing out of the room far too quickly for any explanation to reach him. “No, I get it. Believe me...I get it.”

SLAM! Yotan is out the door, slamming it shut behind him, and the resonance is enough to wake slumbering Emery out of dreamland.

Bright blue eyes flutter, and sunset strands dig deeper into Ran’s chest. “...uhh...where am I...?” questions his adorably groggy voice.

“Too close for comfort...” Ran groans, staring pointedly down into Emery’s steadily bewildering face.

“Aya-san!” Emery squeaks, flinching away to the far end of the bed. “Gomen...I swear I...I’d never purposely -”

“I know.” Ran solaces, sitting up to run a hand through his mused hair. “Problem is...Youji just stormed out of here under a very wrong impression, and it is highly unlikely he will give us the benefit of the doubt.”

Emery has nothing to say to that; the deep blush washing over his face and down his spine says enough all on its own.

Not seeming to notice, Ran throws back the covers and gets out of bed, trudging sluggishly to the door. “Don’t worry about it. He has a flair for the dramatic, anyway. He would never seriously believe something happened between us. Even Youji isn’t *that* delusional.”

SLAM! Emery isn’t given the chance to voice his opinion on that taunting statement. Every so often life becomes a constant deja vu, and after that second disruption as Ran follows Youji into the hallway, Emery sinks lower under the covers, staring up at the ceiling.

What *did* happen last night? Random movement? Or subconscious intention?

(Everyone moves around when they sleep.) Emery resolves. (I’m just glad he didn’t kill me over it...)


*****


“Youji, matte!” Ran calls, trailing behind as he follows his angered friend into the kitchen, where Ken and Omi are already eating breakfast. Pretending not to hear his pursuer, however, Youji storms on ahead. “I said, matte!” Ran calls again, reaching out to fiercely grasp Youji’s shoulder.

Turning sharply, the flustered blonde jerks away. “I heard you!” he barks. “You don’t have to make up excuses for me, okay? I don’t *want* to know what happened.”

“*Nothing* happened.” Ran counters, eyeing Omi and Ken’s curious faces in frustration. They seem very interested in the conversation all of a sudden. “He came into my room last night babbling about nightmares and asked to stay. So...I let him sleep with me. That’s all. Like a child slipping into his parents’ bed at night, it was purely innocent.”

Ken and Omi exchange bewildered expressions, but Youji isn’t convinced of anything. “Innocent? Hn. You looked pretty cozy to me.”

“We must have shifted during the night.”

“Shifted?”

“Yes, shifted.”

“You expect me to believe -”

“Me? Yes, I *do* expect you to believe me, because you know I would never even think of doing what you are implying I did. Would I?” he adds, turning his attention to the obvious eaves-droppers.

Both Omi and Ken mumble incoherently for a few moments, before Omi finally attempts to make sense. “Uhh...well...no?” draws out his tentative reply.

“Exactly.” Ran states with finality. “Even if I did have feelings for someone, I would never jump into bed with them after one day. You know me better than that, Youji.”

Ken and Omi flick their eyes back and forth between their bickering teammates, back and forth again and again, waiting for one of them to make the next move. Neither is very good at backing down, but even the most stubborn animal can admit defeat when they are wrong.

At long last, Youji’s stern expression softens, and a suffering sigh signals his surrender. “K’so! I sure know how to put my foot in it, huh?” he concedes, his emerald eyes lowering in defeat. “You’re not the type to sleep around. I know that. Especially with some scrawny kid. And...if you ever would end up...whatever...I don’t have the right to say it’s wrong. I’m sorry.”

“No need to apologize.” Ran dismisses. “You saw what you saw and came to a conclusion. I may have reacted the same in your position.”

“I certainly wouldn’t mind *switching* positions if I could have the one you were in a few minutes ago.”

“Kudo...”

“Kidding!”


*****


And so the day moves on, no throats cut, no loyalties broken. For once, the flower shop is without inner turmoil, and the sun boldly peaks inside the window to shed a little light on a few dark lives.

Nearly everyone has passed off Emery and Ran’s sleeping arrangements as nothing important enough to dwell on for very long. Everyone except Emery, that is. And maybe even Ran a little, too.

“Could you hand me that extra bunch of lilacs, Emery?”

“Here you are, Aya-san.”

“Thank you.”

No smile to accompany the kind words, but no glare either, and when Ran is the subject of attention, that’s saying alot.

More and more of the day passes into memory, and as the sun reaches high into the sky, there seems to be a certain routine blossoming. Emery is becoming a comfortable addition to the Koneko crew, and his own harsh past as Schuldrich is dimmed by the development.

“Emery, would you mind taking this box back into the storage room?” Ran asks during the shop’s mid-afternoon lull. “Youji keeps tripping over it.”

Smiling brilliantly, Emery reaches out to take it, but it turns out the box is just a bit too heavy for his smaller frame, and it slips from his fingers, striking the ground with a shocking BOOM.

Both boys bend down to retrieve it, but Emery soon realizes that Ran is far more capable of lifting the box back up, and stands back to give his companion room. Watching perhaps a little too closely, Emery notices a slight glimmer of silver slip out from inside Ran’s shirt.

“What’s that, Aya-san?” he asks innocently.

Placing the box on the counter, Ran turns back and looks down in surprise at the necklace that has come into view. “Oh...this...this is nothing.”

“Is that a cross?”

“I...I guess it is.”

“Is it okay if I...?” Emery reaches out a hand, gesturing to ask if he can take a closer look. Ran appears increasingly uncomfortable putting so much attention on his necklace, but gives a curt nod, allowing Emery to finger the cross in his delicate hands.

It isn’t anything elaborate; a simple, silver chain, a light and smooth cross about the size of a thumb. Elegant and beautiful, just like the man wearing it.

“It’s so pretty. Why do you keep it hidden?”

Ran takes a minute to consider this before answering. “I guess...I always thought it would be too hypocritical of me to wear it out in the open.” he explains. “Considering my occupation, it didn’t seem right. I really shouldn’t wear it at all.”

“Why do you say that?” Emery pushes, allowing the cross to jingle its way back into place. “Don’t you believe in God anymore?”

“I believe in Him...I just...don’t know if I care much anymore...”

Emery hushes into silence; he doesn’t quite know what to say to that. As far as Schuldrich’s divine beliefs go, he has no idea what he used to believe, but he remembers what the child in him used to believe. There is most definitely a God and he must love the world very much. How else could the people of the world be capable of loving each other?

Taking note of the troubled expression his young friend is staring at him with, Ran releases a deep sigh. Never before has he been given so much trouble, and been forced to explain himself so fully.

The rest of Weiss usually leave him alone.

“Don’t look at me that way. How do you think you would feel about God and life after death if you had as many skeletons in your closet as I do?”

Emery raises a sunset-colored eyebrow at this. “But I do. Maybe even more than you.”

“Be glad you don’t remember then. God can’t hate you for deeds you don’t remember doing.”

“You say that as if you think He hates *you*.”

Sigh. Again. This is getting tiresome. “Can we drop this, please. There’s work to be done.” Ran growls in frustration, slipping past Emery to get away from that piercing stare and all that painful optimism.

“I don’t want to drop it.” Emery states sharply, bordering on venom nearly as poisonous as Ran’s, as he grabs onto his companion’s arm before he can get away. “I’m no expert, and I’m certainly no angel, with or without the evil past, but everyone should have at least a little faith in God. How could you get up in the morning without it? I’d be terrified to even move if I didn’t think He loved me and would forgive me for the sins I commit. Maybe that’s too ‘Sunday School’ for you. Fine. But you still wear the cross. Why? Why bother if you don’t care?”

Almost any other time, Ran would have snatched his arm back and screamed out some nasty comment, but not today. “Because the person who gave it to me did.” he breathes, without turning to look back. “It was a gift from my sister. Aya. You know how much she meant to me. Means to me. Even now, I...I still think more of her than of anything else. I wear it for her, not for the...the God that took her away and - ”

“ - gave her back again.” Emery finishes, though it is not the thought Ran had in mind.

“...maybe you’re right.”

“I am.”

Violet eyes narrow at that, though not in anger. More as if they are trying to work out a problem that has become a complete enigma. “You certainly are stubborn, aren’t you?”

Emery smiles, without an ounce of holding back. “When given enough reason, sometimes I have to be.”

Fair enough, and to Ran’s extreme relief, the matter is dropped, at least out loud. The commotion going on inside his mind, however, isn’t dropped one bit. Emery’s words follow him throughout the rest of the day because they make perfect sense and few things do that anymore in the lives of Weiss. In the lives of any of them. It’s almost a comfort, like a breath of air. To Hell with being fresh; he can’t remember the last time he breathed free at all.

On Emery’s end, the boy is rather content with himself. He is well aware that his presence with Weiss is having a positive affect on more than just Fujimiya Ran, and he is loving every minute of it. Loving it so much, he almost misses the out of place figure watching him so intently from across the street.

Almost.

Closing time for the Koneko, and Emery is out front getting ready to pull down the front gate, but something stops him. He suddenly has the urge to look up. He can’t explain why, there is just something that feels familiar. Like home.

Standing small and still beside the newsstand across the street is a young boy, no older than 16, who is quite thin, with dark, brown hair and sad, blue eyes. He is so familiar, but Emery can’t quite put his foot on why.

Watching him far too intensely in return, the mysterious boy stands positively frozen in place, staring back at Emery as if he can’t believe his eyes. As if he knows him. As if he might hold a few answers.

Blink. A bus drives past, and the figure is gone. He simply vanishes, as if he never existed, but Emery knows differently.

“Hurry it up, kid, there’s dinner waiting upstairs, and if I have to hear Omi complain about burnt this or burnt that one more time...”

“I’m coming, Youji-san.” Emery interrupts, slowly pulling down the shade. “I just...thought I saw someone I knew.”


*****


(Tomorrow marks a week since I first came here, and *now* I’m seeing things.) the young red-head scolds himself, pulling back the covers to climb inside for bed. (I don’t know who he was, I’m sure of that, but something...something about him seemed so...)

“...familiar.” he breathes, finishing the thought out loud. “I keep thinking that, everytime I try and remember how he looked...standing there across the street...it feels...*familiar*. But the only thing that has felt even remotely familiar since I woke up...is Weiss. What does that mean...?”

“Are you talking to yourself in here?” booms a sudden voice. Ran enters from the adjoined bathroom, clad in the black pants he wears to bed.

“Just thinking out loud.” Emery smiles, snuggling into the pillow. “Thanks for letting me sleep here again. I still feel kinda...scared to be alone.”

Moving around to the other side of the bed, Ran climbs in as well, reaching up to turn off the lamp before settling down. “I regret allowing it at all. You better not think you can make a habit out of this. You’re a grown boy, you don’t need to be protected all the time.”

“A few days ago you thought I needed to be watched non-stop from morning til midnight.”

“I changed my mind.” echoes Ran’s humorless reply.

Emery, however, sees past the mask of apathy. “I’m glad. I may not remember much about my life, but I can say with certainty that this is the most at home I have ever felt. Here...with you...”

“You mean, with Weiss?”

“Weiss! Right. I meant Weiss...not you...I mean...you’re apart of Weiss so you’re included, but...not you alone...cause that would be -”

“Emery?”

“Yes?”

“Go to sleep.”

“Thanks.”