Yami No Matsuei Fan Fiction / Weiss Kreuz Fan Fiction ❯ Never Goodbye ❯ For You, I Would Gladly End This All ( Chapter 5 )

For You, I Would Gladly End This All

 

A small smile turned smirk could not be helped as dark, serious eyes took in the ridiculous scene before them. It wasn't so much as the act itself or the person performing the simple defensive moves, it was when you mixed the two together that this all became almost funny to the observer. But he was sure if he laughed Omi wouldn't appreciate it. His strikes were becoming stronger, but one could still see that combat was not the kid's specialty.

 

It all happened because of the two idiots, Yohji and Ken. One day while making dinner, the men had commented on the boy's less than alpha male personality and demeanor. Before it happened, Ran foresaw the blush and sputtering this would cause his partner and he wasn't disappointed. Then Yohji mentioned his looks. Such a fair face and figure could get him into trouble the ex-detective said. There were plenty of weirdoes out there that would love to get their hands on such a boy.

 

Understandably, said boy was hurt and a tad disturbed by this taunting, and after a few days of stewing, demanded they teach him more hand-to-hand combat. Ran had scoffed, leaving them all alone to their idiocy, but Yohji and Ken agreed. Of course they had just so they could further make fun of their surrogate little brother. However, they didn't really consider how serious this had become to Omi and were surprised at his small but real progress. Now here he was, alone in the training room, practicing his punches with a determined scowl on his flushed face.

 

“You need to put more force behind your punches.” Ran kept from smiling when Omi yelped and turned to him, face reddening further. “Those little taps won't stop someone from overtaking you.”

 

“I know.” Omi didn't say anymore as he looked at the punching bag and ran his gloved hand across its battered surface.

 

“Why are you going easy on the bag?” He knew his partner was coming along better than what he was seeing. When Omi just shrugged, Ran had an idea. “Let's spar.”

 

-

 

“I'm serious, Aya-kun.” Omi managed to once again dodge the fist aimed right for his head. “If you keep this up, I may really have to hurt you.” The sound of an actual laugh caught him off-guard, nearly earning him a kick to his gut.

 

“Sure thing, Omi-chan.” Omi really was progressing, but not enough to actually get a hit on. Perhaps if it was someone else, like one of the other guys, then maybe, but Omi could not get past Aya's defenses.

 

Finally Omi had an idea, one of his many strokes of genius, and Ran instantly noticed the change in his partner's stance and style. He was still tense and ready for a fight but there was a certain ease to his posture now. The boy was still dodging him like a terrified squirrel, but now he was watching and waiting, for what the older boy didn't know. Ran's eyes widened when two small hands caught what should have been a devastating punch and he was pulled right off his feet. The added momentum behind his attack sent him in the air and flat on his back with the archer sitting atop him, completely pinning him down, and looking almost as surprised as his victim. Ran drew in a deep breath, willing his heart rate to slow and the tremble in his limbs to cease. Neither of them was moving and he wasn't as bothered by that as he normally would have been. Once his vision focused, Ran leveled his gaze straight into Omi and up went one eyebrow as the kid's cheeks erupted in a dark blush.

 

“And what exactly was that?”

 

Omi shifted but didn't rise. “Uh, the Theseus defense?”

 

Because this was Omi and he was allowed to be this close, and Ran had been lightening up around him as the days went by, he didn't try to extinguish the small smile the boy's confused explanation brought to his lips. Ran could feel his partner relax seeing the look of humor and his curiosity began pounding at his judgment.

 

“Why are you really doing this?” The blush creeping back up onto Omi's cheeks made him press further for information. “Is it really because of what the guys said?”

 

“Sort of, but not the only reason.” Omi shrugged, playing with the end of Ran's sleeve.

 

“You don't have to. You're skills are your own and we never make you do any of the close-up fighting anyway.”

 

“They're right though. I need to learn how to defend myself better with hand-to-hand combat.” Omi gasped and almost fell backward when he felt hands on his hips and suddenly the deadly assassin beneath him sat up, holding him in place.

 

“I'd like to see anyone try and take you down with me around.”

 

Omi willed himself to not turn into a puddle of goop at his partner's statement, or the very real threat underneath the words. “Things happen, Ran-kun. There are times when I may not be around you.” His voice was barely a whisper, too late was he to realize his slip-up when he said the swordsman's real name.

 

Ran smiled, feral and amused, and leaned close to press their foreheads together. “Well then I guess it would be in your best interest to stick to me as much as possible.” Before Omi could even fathom what all Ran meant, he slid to the ground after he was nudged off and then was yanked to his feet. Dazed, he barely felt lips graze his pierced ear before they were gone. “Come on, dinner should be ready.”

 

As they climbed the stairs to the commotion above the training room, Omi only had one thought floating about his head: he would have to remember to spar with Ran more often.

 

-

-

-

 

“We don't have time for this.”

 

“Honestly, I don't know.” The woman coward behind her ruined desk. Beakers and flasks lay broken around the small lab after the destruction the two men had caused within seconds. She cringed as the dark being before her narrowed his eyes, annoyance and anger read well within the oddly hued irises.

 

“If you cooperate, I will see to your relocation. Just give me a name.”

 

To her surprise, the voice that came from the man was still sincere and soft, calm even though he was clearly angry. At the last second she held her tongue. “I'm sorry, I can't help you.”

 

Tsuzuki Asato could be a very scary man, but his partner was worse. The scientist's eyes widened as the other man, really just a boy, stepped up from his position behind the older guardian and came forward. He had been quiet throughout Asato's interrogation of this woman, this doctor who had direct ties with the mystery perpetrator responsible for the abduction, murder, and reanimation of the group now killing innocent people in the cities. For what reason they still were not sure. Closer they were coming to the answers plaguing them, closer to finding who was running the show even though they had strong suspicions, and closer he was to bringing his killers down. Tsukiyono Omi was becoming impatient, and this woman was in his way.

 

Stepping toward her, Omi kept the disgust from showing on his face. He knew these types. She was no different from the dark beasts he used to hunt for a living. So many lives she was involved in with taking. This woman would find no comfort from him. Glancing down he spotted the silver of her nametag and tore it from her starched coat. She yelped but dared not move.

 

“You, Nawakaba Chieko, are becoming more troublesome than you are worth.” Omi spoke with the quiet, sweet innocence of youth and it drove icy spikes into Chieko's heart. This one was different than the brunette. Death was close to this boy.

 

“Please, I— ”

 

Omi cut her off, kneeling before her crumpled form on the floor. “To be honest, Nawakaba-san, I do not care to hear your lies anymore. We know you have the answers to our most important questions, you know we need them, and, this may be new to you, but I am not going to negotiate like my more pleasant partner.” Chieko looked at the boy, panic rising in her when she saw only naked truth in his eyes. Glancing up she saw to her dismay that the other man was not arguing, he was busy watching his partner at work.

 

Chieko was ripped from her thoughts as one slender silky hand cupped her cheek to bring her attention back. “Things are going to get very bad, very quickly for you, Nawakaba-san, if you don't give me the information I came all the way here for.” He released her as she started crying but again his dislike and impatience for this mortal smothered any sympathy he had. “You have helped reanimate dead humans, correct?”

 

“Yes.” Chieko looked down at her limp hands on her lap.

 

“And this started?”

 

“A little over two years ago.”

 

“How exactly are you able to do this?”

 

“I'm not sure, there is more to it than what modern science is able to achieve.”

 

“So then there is occult ritual involved?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“You are not the one bringing the dead back to life.”

 

“No.”

 

“You monitor and experiment, yes?”

 

Chieko swallowed back the bile rising in her throat. “Yes.”

 

“These people, they do not act on a will of their own anymore, do they?”

 

Chieko took a deep breath; hating having to bring to light what she was helping do. “No.”

 

“And who's will are they bending to, Nawakaba-san?”

 

“Please, I can't say.” Chieko began crying once again and only became more hysterical when cool fingers slid under her chin to tilt her head up. Immediately her sobs ceased when she saw the fiery steel of the boy's gaze.

 

“I am nearing the end of my tolerance for you, Nawakaba-san.” Omi fought hard to keep his anger down. Never had he felt like this before. This was too important to suffer such trouble. Before he could act on his frustration, a calming hand was placed on his shoulder, pulling him back from the scientist.

 

“Muraki.” One softly spoken word and Chieko snapped her head up to look in horror at the older man standing beside her boyish tormentor.

 

“He will kill me, destroy everything I have worked so hard for!” Chieko began her hysterics once again, scuttling back against the wall.

 

Asato felt bad for the woman, felt bad for whoever was seduced into Muraki's painful world. Looking back at his partner he saw no sympathy in Omi's eyes. The cold blue was something he had never seen before but he couldn't blame him. This case was becoming more difficult to solve and it was obviously close to the boy's heart. Pulling Omi away, they left the blubbering mortal to search for more files in the upstairs offices.

 

“Are you all right, `Mi-chan?” Asato couldn't help but ask as his partner typed with furious abandon bringing up records of all medical research this small lab had been a part of.

 

“Fine, Asato. I'm almost done.” It hurt the man to see the first fake smile grace those soft lips since they had met.

 

Without another word he continued his work in the dark of the office and Asato kept his ears open for any signs of life other than their own. Omi had just put a small disk inside his coat when the whole foundation they were standing in shook, noises of explosions echoing in the large corridors.

 

“Come on!” Asato grabbed Omi's arm, pulling him toward the stairs. “We have to see if anyone needs help out of here.”

 

Not wanting to waste any time, Omi nodded and ran behind his partner, wondering what was going on. His thoughts were destroyed as he slammed into the back of Asato, nearly falling to the ground outside the doorway in which they had stopped. Coming to the man's side Omi's jaw dropped at the sight. Inside the small lab they had been moments ago, Nawakaba Chieko lay sprawled on her back in a growing pool of blood. Her slit throat glittering in the moonlight streaming in from the windows. Another explosion rocked the two away from the morbid sight, and when he saw Asato turn invisible Omi did the same.

 

“Let's go.” Asato was upset by the loss of life but kept to the plan, wanting to get out of their before anything else happened.

 

They were running down the first floor corridors when voices made the see-through pair stop. Asato skidded to a halt when the boy in front of him stopped running, freezing completely before turning around.

 

“What the hell was with those explosions?!” A small figure at the end of the stairwell asked a taller one. “That showed up nowhere on the plans!”

 

“I have no fucking idea.” There was a sound of static over a radio before the shadowy man growled again. “Fall back, the rest of the mission is botched.” More static. “I am thrilled that targets one and two are taken care of, but I am serious.”

 

Asato took a step toward his partner, concern quickly filling his body. Omi stood wide-eyed, on the verge of hysteria as he continued to watch the two men.

 

“Abyssinian, fall back now, damn it!” Another explosion, this time flames erupting the windows nearby. “Shit! Abyssinian, fall back! We will meet later once we reach safe zones.”

 

Omi couldn't hold back a sob as Ken and Yohji stepped away from the shadows protecting them to run straight through a window leading to the lawns beyond. This couldn't be happening. Any minute now he would wake up like all the other times. But it was not to be. Within minutes of their departure, a lone, menacing figure rounded the corner heading straight for them. Bloody sword still drawn, the man swept down the hall, his mind on the exit waiting for him. Suddenly he stopped, something pulling at his very soul, almost making tears come to his eyes at the feeling. Omi.

 

Asato could only watch, completely transfixed by the scene before him. This man had been on his way by when he just stopped. Body going stiff, weapon nearly falling out of his grip, he had actually turned their way. For a minute Asato panicked thinking perhaps their shields had weakened. But the man was not looking at them, not really. When he turned to them he couldn't help the shock. Piercing violet eyes scanned the emptiness before them, looking through clear air but feeling something off.

 

Tears rolled down Omi's cheeks and his body shook with harsh tremors as the love of his life stepped ever closer to him. Ran looked different. Paler and angrier than he remembered, no light at all was found within those precious eyes. His features were sharper, almost complete loss of appetite causing his cheekbones to jut out sharper than before, his black attire hanging off his tall body. The leader of Weiss looked exhausted, his twilight hours lost to wide-awake moments of thinking about how everything had gone so wrong so quickly in his once again happier life. The young man was a haunted creature. Chiming laughter, innocent love, and an unrecognizable corpse was always on his mind and would be until this joke of an existence was over.

 

Taking another step forward, Ran became overwhelmed by feelings of a presence he had not felt in half a year's time. Omi had to quickly clamp his hand over his mouth as a strangled sob wracked his body. He was standing toe to toe with the one person he would give anything to be with again and yet could not allow them to see him. He couldn't put Ran through that. Seeming to have sensed the disturbance, Ran tensed and gazed hard at the space before him. A shaky hand rose to touch when a larger, more potent explosion rocked the research center, jarring Abyssinian from his insane thoughts, and just as he came in he was gone in a flurry of black anger.

 

“Omi?” Asato had materialized once they were alone again. His questions died when the boy beside him fell to his knees.

 

“Oh Ran.” With the utterance of the name, Omi's remaining control broke and all he could do was let his agony wash over him, destroying him to his center.

 

So that was the man, Ran, that Omi had left behind. Asato's heart broke at the sight of his little partner rocking back and forth, the painful tears choking him up even further. Omi let him take him by the elbows, lifting him from the floor and pulling him close. He whispered soft words, kissed his head, held him all the more tighter when steady streams of tears dampened his shirt. They needed to get back soon. The information they had succeeded in gathering would prove beyond helpful to their case, but the price for it might prove too much. He would have to keep a close watch on the boy.

 

The shinigami began to disappear, fading into a misty, shimmering cloud that would take them to Meifu. In all the commotion no one noticed the intensely interested gaze that had took in the entire gut wrenching moment.