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Hey everyone!! I hope you all like the story, etc... ^^;;
I do not own Weiss Kreuz.
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E.C.H.O
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"Abyssinian!!" Omi's crackling voice sounded over the radio as the red head ran through the trees of the park. "Location?!"
"The edge of the park. East side." His reply was flat yet cool; typical mission-mode.
"Ryoukai! On my way!! I'm contacting Balinese and Siberian." The communicator went dead as he drew nearer to the deserted road that led out of the vast and lush city park. He dropped down behind some bushes, awaiting Bombay. The mission had been more of a success than any of them could've asked for, but they still had to play it safe and lay low until they made it back to the flower shop.
Aya had made it out without a scratch, in fact none of the members of Weiss had been injured. The target was dead and only the stupidest of guards had been protecting him.... He tucked his katana inside his coat, sliding it into it's hidden sheath which was secured inside of the leather. He looked up and scanned the surrounding area. He could hear someone coming....
His ears were pricked as a figure could be seen running through the thick trees on the other side of the road, almost straight for him. His hand instinctively went for his sword, but he could tell whoever it was definitely couldn't see him...His eyes widened in surprise. 'Sakura...?'
Sure enough, across the road, Tomoe Sakura was running towards him in the dark of night. What could she be doing there?! The Weiss-leader forced himself to stay hidden from her, knowing her presence around him could only be dangerous.
She was panting; it seemed like she had been running for a while...Headlights were visible down the road just as Sakura had reached the edge of the street. She hadn't even looked as she began to run across the wide road for the other side, where Aya was currently hidden. A car motor was heard revving up; the vehicle down the road was obviously going way too fast.... at least 55 or 60.
Aya felt his heart lurch into his throat. The car would definitely hit her if she didn't move. He watched in shock as the car kept up speed. Sakura froze in the middle of the street; a look of indescribable terror crossed her face as she stood petrified in front of the nearing headlights. Aya had not even thought. As soon as Sakura had froze, he took off.
The car was coming closer and closer; he wasn't going to make it. He pushed himself with every ounce of energy he could muster, aided by a huge burst of adrenaline, and he sprinted like he had never done before. 'It won't happen twice.' he thought to himself, heart thumping in his ears. He no longer saw Sakura in the road...it was Aya-chan, wearing her best kimono...she was calling out for him....
He dove out, arms shoving Sakura out of the way. She landed with a thud on the ground a few feet away. 'Safe.' he thought. He stumbled, yet he was on his feet as the car approached him, still at high speed. Sakura watched in horror from the sidelines.
Pain exploded inside of him as the car slammed into his tall frame. His fragile body was sent rolling over the hood of the still moving car. He rolled over the top of it from the force of the blow, and was sent careening headfirst towards the pavement. His head smashed into the ground with a sickeningly loud crack. He lay there on his side as the car drove off; it hadn't even slowed down. Not once. Not even as Aya had rolled over the top of it.
Sakura was beyond horrified as she jumped up. "Aya-san!!!" Another cry rang out on the road at almost the exact same time as her's had:
"AYA-KUN!!!!!"
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Omi had just made it to the edge of the park, still running. Where could Abyssinian be? He looked around, slowing his pace. He could hear the roar of a car on the road up ahead. Natural reflexes caused him to glance up at it, but as soon as his mind registered what was going on he broke out into a sprint.
He stopped dead, one step onto the pavement as he stared disbelievingly at his leader, lying on the road in a puddle of blood. He felt himself breaking down as he let out a pained cry of:
"AYA-KUN!!!!!!"
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Sakura sat on the road quietly as tears poured down her cheeks. She had laid Aya's head in her lap as she gently stroked his red hair. His eyes were barely open, as they had been since she had reached him. Blood was pouring down his face and over his right eye from a large and deep cut on the right side of his forehead.
"Aya-san..." she whispered, still stroking his hair, "...please don't die..." Tears continued to fall down her face, dripping down onto the red head's bloody cheek. There was a cut there, too, below his left eye, and blood trickled from the corner of his slightly parted lips. The tears mixed with his blood, sending a smear down his pallor skin. His eyes shifted slightly underneath his eyelids as he gazed up at Sakura with his clouded purple orbs. His eyelids then fell over his tired eyes as he passed out.
"Aya-kun!!" She didn't look up as Omi ran towards her.
"Please don't die, Aya-san..." she whispered to his unconscious form once more. She continued stroking his red locks as the boy dropped to his knees before them.
"Aya-kun...." she didn't need to look up to see the tears in his large blue eyes. It was apparent in his voice. He gathered himself, reaching over to the neck of his bloody teammate.
"Please, Aya-san...you can't die..." she kept whispering. 'It was all my fault...'
"He's alive..." Omi whispered, voice filled with relief. "We need to take him to a hospital, quickly..."
"Omi...will Aya-san be alright?" her eyes never left the red head as she asked this, tears still falling steadily.
"I hope so..."
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The hospital waiting room was variably deserted as Yohji, Omi, Ken, and Sakura sat in silence, waiting for a doctor or someone, anyone...just as long as Aya would be alright. Sakura's tears had long dried, but she still felt like crying as she sat quietly. It had been all her fault. Why had she chosen to follow Aya-san? 'Gomen nasai, Aya-san...It was all my fault...'
Yohji felt the pack of cigarettes in his pocket as he leaned against the wall next to Sakura's chair, wishing he could smoke one. If he went outside, he risked the chance of missing the doctor who would bring news of Aya, and there was no smoking in the building...Instead, he just played with the half-empty box in the pocket of his long coat. He could hardly even feel the lump from Aya's katana any more...they had been in the waiting room so long, he hardly noticed it underneath his coat. The blonde wished that the red head would be alright...'If only we had made it a little sooner...' he kept telling himself.
Ken sighed frustratedly, shifting in his chair. He didn't want to know if Aya was okay later, he needed to know now. He looked across from him at Sakura. When he and Yohji had arrived, the first thing they saw was Sakura, sitting in the middle of the street with a bloodied and unconscious Aya on her lap. Both he and the blonde had been shocked and speechless. Ken had felt almost traumatized as he watched Yohji bend down over the red head and touch his bloodstained cheek, almost in a daze. It had been too much to bear...too unexpected.
Omi curled himself tighter into a ball, knees pulled up to his chest and head resting on top of them. He wrapped his arms around his bare legs. Although he was in a good position, he did not lean his back against the side of Sakura's chair....it made him feel too insecure... Earlier, he had run straight off to find help, or a phone...He managed to locate a pay phone not too far from the road. He promptly called an ambulance; he had been calm and collected the whole time, accurately giving out information and being nothing but helpful to the friendly and concerned technician on the other end of the conversation. As soon as he had hung up the phone, tears began pouring down his cheeks again as he ran back to Sakura and Aya, as fast as he could. Yohji and Ken were there...both looked saddened and puzzled at the same time. Sakura had been in too much of a daze to help them out and Omi had been shaken, too.
Every head snapped up as a doctor came through the swinging doors of the emergency room towards them. Yohji stepped forwards to acknowledge the doctor: a fairly young man, clean-shaven with dark hair and delicately rimmed glasses. He carried a clipboard in one arm, while he had his other hand tucked into the pocket of his long, white coat.
"You are friends of Fujimiya-san?" Yohji nodded in response. "Well," he began, looking through the papers clipped on his clipboard, "...the good news is that he's expected to make a full recovery." Yohji's sunglasses tipped down his nose a bit.
"And the bad news...?" The blonde inquired, without hesitation. The doctor frowned a bit.
"...Multiple broken and fractured bones, internal bleeding, and a particularly severe concussion..." He tucked his clipboard under his arm. He studied Yohji's reaction carefully; the blonde's eyes were calm and composed. "About the concussion..." he began once more, "...because of the nature of it, Fujimiya-san may experience partial or even complete memory loss, but if that is the case, we expect it to be only temporary..."
"Is that all?" Yohji asked, hopefully.
"Basically..." the doctor murmured, taking another glance at his clipboard. "If you like, you can come and visit, though it isn't likely that he will be awake soon. He suffered severe head trauma, as I mentioned...his room is down the opposite hallway, 124."
"Thanks." Yohji told him, gratefully. He turned back to Omi, Ken, and Sakura behind him. They had all been listening intently, though the doctor had been speaking at Yohji, specifically. He raised a questioning eyebrow at the group. Sakura stood up slowly, along with Omi and Ken.
Yohji wordlessly led the way down the hall, suddenly feeling an obligation as the oldest Weiss member. Aya had always been the "leader." Now that he was out of commission, it seemed the blonde had accepted the job as his duty to his red haired friend. He watched the numbers on the rooms carefully, eager to see how Aya was.
122....123....124.
He stopped in front of the closed door, turning to look at the others. "Go ahead Yohji-kun...we're too big a group all together." Yohji was a bit surprised at first, cautiously looking to Sakura who smiled and nodded in agreement with Omi. Both her and Omi had always sensed the friendship the blonde had with Aya, though it was not readily apparent. It was something mutually understood between the two of them, though neither had been exactly certain of it's origin or purpose. They were friends.
"Thanks, chibi." He smiled and ruffled Omi's hair before turning back to the door labeled 124. He grasped the doorknob tightly, before turning it and entering the room. He closed the door behind him, just in case he happened to get emotional....
The room was dim, as there was only one light on; it was late in the night, now. There was a bed in front of him, towards the center of the room. It's back was against the right wall. He approached slowly, seeing Aya laying there, unconscious. His red hair stood out well against the stark white of the hospital room. His tall frame appeared small and fragile as he lay in between the sheets of the bed. Bandages had been wrapped around the man's head, over his forehead wound, and another bandage covered the cut on his cheek. His skin was pale and his breathing shallow, despite the oxygen mask that rested over his nose and mouth.
Yohji approached slowly, intimidated by the hospital atmosphere. The flame haired Weiss leader simply looked so...prone...it was a frightening concept to Yohji. He stood at the man's bedside and looked down on his unconscious form.
"Jackass..." he muttered angrily. "You just had to play hero, didn't you? You could've gotten yourself killed...what would Aya-chan do then?" His anger flared at the man's stupidity. Of course, Sakura would be in this position right now if it weren't for him.... Would that have been better?
"Selfish bastard..." Yohji muttered once more. "Had to go and screw our perfect mission...If you weren't unconscious, I swear..." He lost his momentum shortly after. The blonde felt like a piece of crap. Here he was insulting Sakura's goddamn hero!
He collapsed into the chair beside the man's bed, putting his head into his hands...Everything had suddenly become so confusing. And now what if Aya had no memories when he woke up? Where would that leave him? He sighed heavily.
"Aya, you bastard...wake the hell up...."
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"Yohji-kun...." The blonde's mind didn't register the call of his name as he continued staring out into space, deep in thought. "Yohji-kun....!!" He looked up suddenly, trying to act nonchalant.
"Eh? You don't have to scream..." he grinned at Omi. The hacker frowned.
"Yohji-kun, I think you're drowning that plant...." He pointed to the pot, currently overflowing with the water from the hose in the man's hand.
"Ahhh!!" quickly he cut the water, ashamed at himself. The pot of violet roses looked waterlogged....he sighed. "Damnit.... Aya really like those...."
"Yohji-kun, are you all right?" Omi's eyes were concerned as he watched the taller man fiddle around, dumping water out of the pot.
"Hmmm...? Just fine, Omittchi...." he mumbled, still tending to the plant.
"Yohji-kun, that's the fifth plant you've drowned today. If you're so worried about Aya-kun, go and visit again. It's already been a few days, I'm sure he'll be awake by now..."
The blonde's hands stopped what they were doing as his head tilted down a little, hair blocking out his face. "We visited yesterday...I'll live..."
"Yohji!!" Ken chimed in, "...if you keep ruining the plants like that, my reputation will be ruined, too!! Just go, already!!" The blonde laughed quietly, lifting his head again.
"Thanks..."
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"Back again?" the nurse asked Yohji as he reached for the doorknob of Aya's room. He turned to her.
"Yeah...how are things looking?" he asked, a smile gracing his features. She grinned also.
"They're looking up...his ribs are mending nicely and the cuts, too..." she told him.
"So...he hasn't been awake....?" he asked curiously. She shook her head.
"I'm sorry...just be glad his skull wasn't cracked. That's what I say." She smiled and nodded, preparing to stroll away. "So...I'll see you tomorrow?"
"Of course..." He gave a grin and a wave as the brunette continued off down the hall.
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So quiet...so calm and peaceful...nothing mattered as long as it was like this...but, no, it couldn't stay this way forever...His eyelids parted slowly, purple orbs scanning his surroundings carefully.
'Where...?' his mind whispered. Everything was so white looking...as his eyes began to focus, he recognized that he currently lay in a hospital bed...There was no one in the room with him as morning sunlight danced in through the window next to his bed. His head rolled over to the side, away from the bright light. His body was strangely light or maybe numb....
Stiffly, he leaned forwards. 'How did I get here...?' He sat up, pain grabbing his chest and forehead. He lifted his right hand up to look at; there was a clean white bandage wrapped around the palm. He put this hand to his head as his headache intensified. He buried his forehead in his palm, leaning forwards more. His other hand tightened around a wad of the bed sheets as dizziness followed the headache. His eyes were squeezed shut against the pain.
The door to the room opened slowly, yet the red head did not notice it. Yohji entered the room, gasping in surprise. The man in bed was not only awake, but sitting up...his head was in his hand...he was obviously in pain, but Yohji failed to notice. "Aya...?" he breathed.
The flame haired man lifted his face from his palm slowly, gazing out at the blonde confusedly. His purple orbs were clouded with pain as his tall frame suddenly wavered and he tipped forwards a bit, catching himself with a hand.
The blonde snapped out of his daze and quickly closed the distance between him and the red head. "Aya...!!!" He looked down on the man nervously. "You okay?" The red head put his right hand to the side of his head again, before turning to his left, to look up at Yohji.
"...Who...is Aya....?"
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Yohji stepped inside the flower shop, closing the door behind himself. He sighed heavily as he leaned back against the door. He put his head down as he reached up a hand to his forehead. He seemed frustrated.
"Yohji-kun...?" Omi inquired cautiously. He stepped around the counter and approached the man. "What's wrong...?" The man dropped his hand to his side as he tilted his head back against the door. He laughed quietly, closing his eyes.
"...Notta fucking thing. Not one single thing." He murmured the words in frustration, back sliding down the door.
"What're you talking about?" Ken asked, almost stupidly.
"Aya..." he answered quietly, tilting his head even farther back. "He didn't remember me...or you two...or Weiss...or even himself...." Yohji ran out of door to slide down as his rear end hit the floor. He merely sat there, looking at the ground.
"Don't worry, Yohji-kun...." Omi told him, forcing a smile. "Remember? The doctor said any memory loss would probably only be temporary...."
"...Probably?" Yohji laughed harshly. "...There's always that one exception, isn't there? And you know what...?" he continued. "...That oh-so-rare exception could be Aya."
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Sakura proceeded down the street quietly. Her mind was occupied with thoughts of the red head that had probably saved her life. 'If I hadn't been out that night...' she told herself. It had been so embarrassing to explain to Yohji, Omi, and Ken how she had been out jogging, when she saw Aya-san running into the park...How stupid she was, not only chasing him through the park but losing him. She had run through almost the entire park, looking...about the only place she hadn't checked was by the road....
She sighed heavily, noticing the Koneko No Sumu Ie come into her line of vision. She hurried forwards towards the shop. Omi was outside replacing the displays as she jogged up. "Omi-kun!!" she called. Her turned to her and smiled.
"Ohayou, Sakura-chan."
"Ano..." she began, a little embarrassed. "...I was going to go see Aya-san again, today, and I was wondering if you, Ken-kun, and Yohji-kun wanted to go with me..." She could see Omi's expression grow serious at the mention of Aya....
"Sakura-chan...." He turned to set down the pot of roses he was holding before continuing, "...Yohji-kun just returned from visiting Aya-kun a minute ago and..." Sakura grew red.
"Oh, I'm sorry..." she apologized quickly, feeling like a total fool. "I'll just go on my own, after I buy some flowers..." Hastily she turned and went for the open door of the flower shop.
"Sakura-chan, I wasn't...! That's not what I mean...!!" Omi called after her. Either she didn't notice or was too embarrassed to face him. He sighed, turning back to the displays.
As she entered the store, she noticed Ken watering flowers in one corner of the room. "Ohayou, Ken-kun." He turned and grinned.
"Ohayou!" he responded. Sakura almost hadn't noticed Yohji, his short-sleeved black shirt and dark apron melding together as he slouched over the counter, staring off into space. He was difficult to notice because he didn't even move when she entered.
"Ohayou, Yohji-kun..." she greeted. He continued staring a moment longer before speaking up:
"...Going to visit that jerk, again?" he mumbled, keeping his language fairly clean in front of Sakura. "Don't bother...." She was taken aback, a bit, by what he said.
"W-what...?" she stammered, confused. "Isn't Aya-san awake by now...?" Yohji gave a harsh and frustrated laugh as Sakura began to tremble.
"Sure, he's awake...but it's pretty damn pointless if the asshole can't remember who you are...." The curse had slipped out, but he didn't care. Things really sucked. Sakura froze, her mind reeling.
"About the concussion...because of the nature of it, Fujimiya-san may experience partial or even complete memory loss, but if that is the case, we expect it to be only temporary..."
She gasped as she realized what was going on. "Aya-san..." she whispered. She looked up to Yohji slowly, eyes beginning to sparkle with unshed tears. "...H-he..doesn't remember...anything?" Yohji shook his head.
"Guy's a total blank...." Sakura covered her mouth with her hands, the tears welling up.
"I-it's only...temporary...r-right?" Yohji shrugged.
"You never know with that guy..." he muttered angrily. 'He had better get his memory back...' Yohji thought to himself.
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"Remember anything yet?" Yohji grinned wryly at the man as the Koneko No Sumu Ie came into view. The red head crossed his arms, studying his surroundings carefully.
"...What should I be remembering?" he inquired, still looking around. Yohji sighed heavily.
"I guess that's a no....remember how I told you we work at a flower shop? That's it." He pointed out at the shop in the distance. The other man directed his attention that way.
"Oh...I can hardly see it from here." He stated bluntly. "Maybe I would remember it if I was close enough to see that it was a flower shop..." Yohji tugged at the neck of his shirt, almost in a nervous way. He had already had a discussion with Ken and Omi about what the Aya fan club would do to the poor guy without his death glare to hide behind. Sighing again, Yohji ran a hand through his hair.
"Look, right now isn't a very good time to get closer...." he began wearily. The blonde had been having mental pictures of the fan-girls literally "swallowing him whole" all the way home from the hospital. It wasn't that the Aya that stood before him was weak, scared, or jittery...he merely had a air of confusion about him. He was quite a bit like the old Aya, in fact: cool, calm, under control. The most noticeable difference between the two was definitely their eyes. Before Aya had lost his memory, he had a certain hardness in his eyes...pain, loss, and anger had been frozen into chunks of purple ice and stuck in the eye-sockets of an ever-scowling mask. This Aya showed a certain 'nonchalance' that the old one never had. He was clearly critical of what he saw and was told, though, just as alert and suspicious as before. It made the blonde wonder if Aya had suppressed his emotions so much that this was all that was left...
He turned back to the red head, who still studied the area with a scrutinizing eye, almost like he suspected that Yohji had been misleading him all along. He looked down to his watch. "Well, I guess it'd be safe to head that way...." he mumbled. Aya turned to him.
"Wait a minute..." he began hesitantly. The man reached up a hand to his ear. "When I woke up, I was wearing this..." he continued, showing Yohji Aya-chan's long, gold earring. "I decided that if I had been wearing it, there must be a reason why, so I didn't take it off..." the red head trailed off. Yohji smiled sadly, trying to decide what he should say to that...
"....." he hesitated, "....A girl gave that to you...." he informed the man quietly. Aya took the hint and didn't mention the earring anymore, though he still wondered what else was behind it...
They started walking towards the shop casually, silent except for Yohji's incessant inquiries about Aya remembering anything. The red head was still a bit confused all the while. He kept looking all around...it felt like he had been here before, but he couldn't remember it, if he had...He stopped walking abruptly as Yohji stuck an arm out in front of him.
"We have to sneak around back...." the blonde said, looking straight ahead at the flower shop. There was a mob of schoolgirls, clustered around Omi and Ken as they worked on the displays outside. There were so many, they occupied almost the whole block. It would be hard to get around without being seen.
"Hmmm...? Why?" he asked casually. "I thought you said we worked there...."
"We do." With that, he grabbed the red head's arm and dragged him down the street. He led Aya in a large loop, ending on the other side of the street, but far enough from the flower shop to not be noticed. The blonde held up a finger to his mouth, signaling to the red head to be quiet. Aya looked horribly confused as Yohji led him closer to the alley where the back shop door was. The girls were close by there, too....
Yohji pressed himself against the wall as the flame haired man walked behind him, looking amused. As they approached the mouth of the alley, the schoolgirls, who were but a few feet away still hadn't noticed them. "Is that really necessary?" he asked Yohji, raising an eyebrow. Yohji turned to him, waving his arms and looking panicked.
"No!! No!!" he whispered harshly.
"AYA-KUN!!!!!!" a schoolgirl cried, noticing the two of them. That set off a chain reaction. The girls screamed and shouted, charging their prey.
Yohji smacked himself in the forehead. "What the hell did I just tell him?!" Aya glanced nervously at Yohji as the girls drew nearer at an amazing rate. The red head was backing away, surprised and terribly confused but was not fast enough to escape as the girls surrounded him.
"Aya-kun!!!"
"Aya-kun, I missed you!!"
"Aya-kun, where have you been all this time?!"
"Marry me, Aya-kun!!"
"I waited for you every day Aya-kun!!" The girls were not only hyper, but excited too. They grabbed him by the arms and pawed at him, all trying to get a piece of the red head, or at least a date. He grimaced, feeling pain in his half-healed ribs from a few of the girls that had jumped on him.
"YOHJI-KUN, is it TRUE that you're FREE ON FRIDAY NIGHT?!" Omi called into the crowd as loud as he could, fearing for the red head's physical as well as mental well being. To his surprise, his trick worked as all of the girls turned to Yohji and went for him instead. After the crowd had cleared, Aya was revealed to Omi and Ken. They rushed over to him; the red head had fallen backwards at the rush of girls and looked up at them from his spot on the sidewalk, seemingly shaken.
"W-what...was...that?" he asked weakly, arm wrapped around his throbbing ribcage. Ken reached down to help him up.
"That was the Aya fan club." Ken nodded at him sternly, totally serious.
"I have a fan club...?" he mumbled disbelievingly.
"Technically, it's a fan club for all four of us, but their focus shifts periodically. You haven't been at work, so all of the schoolgirls worried. They come every day..." Omi smiled at him.
"You never said anything about them before...."
"I guess we weren't really thinking of it..." Ken sweat dropped. The brunette glanced over to Aya; he still looked rather freaked out or maybe sore... "Ummm.....maybe we should head inside before they realize it was a trick...."
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Omi eyed the red head carefully as they walked inside the Koneko No Sumu Ie. Aya looked completely indifferent as he glanced around. The boy crossed his fingers, hoping that Aya would remember something, anything...He had been without his memory for two weeks, not counting before he woke up. To think, so long and he hadn't remembered anything...It was his first day back to the flower shop since that fateful mission....
Silently, Omi recalled the scene that took place in the hospital a few weeks ago...It was the evening of the day Aya's loss of memory had been discovered. Omi, Ken, and Sakura had gone to see Aya with Yohji. The red head seemed a bit dazed, to say the least. At first, it seemed that he was having trouble retaining ANY information...Slowly this situation improved as the red head re-learned each of their names and faces...After that, he was told stories of where he worked, places that would usually be familiar to him, and the slightly modified tale of how he had lost his memory. The flame haired man had minimal information stored in his memory, mostly general knowledge. He could remember nothing of himself or his personal life.
Yohji, Ken, and himself had decided to speak nothing to him about Weiss, or what little they knew about his life before then...it would spare him not only grief, but greater confusion. If he were told about his comatose little sister, or how how he became an assassin to pay her hospital bills, or that before he lost his memory he was a stoic bastard, something might snap in his bruised forehead. Omi shivered at the thought of Aya becoming even more messed up than he had been originally.
Omi, Ken, and Yohji had contacted Manx as soon as they were sure their leader had totally forgotten Kritiker. The red haired woman had advised them to play normal people around the man, carrying on with missions behind his back. If he regained his memory, he would automatically return to his former place as the leader of Weiss. If he did not show any signs of regaining his memory, he would be excused from Kritiker since he was no threat to the organization without a memory. Omi sighed. He wished more than anything that the red head would just remember....
"Ohayou, minna-san." The four men in the flower shop turned at the greeting to find Sakura in the doorway of the shop, fresh from school. "Ohayou, Aya-san." She smiled.
The red head drew back suddenly with a surprised expression, an image flashing in front of his eyes. It was Sakura...hanging over him...only she was crying. The crying Sakura looked like she was saying something...her lips moved but no sound emerged. The two faces in his vision overlapped.
"Aya...?" Yohji asked, watching the red head's eyes widen. Suddenly, the man blinked, confused violet eyes returning to normal once more. "You okay?" he inquired.
"Aa." Aya blinked in surprise, wondering what caused him to respond that way. Monosyllables weren't especially interesting, but this one just...popped out. The image of Sakura's crying face over him still remained fresh in his mind. This didn't happen when he saw Sakura before...
"Aya?" The call of his name snapped him out of his thoughts.
"Hmm?" he asked Yohji, turning back to the blonde. Yohji looked a bit worried, but then smirked.
"I thought we lost you to the abyss for a second there..."
"Aya-san, did you remember something?" Sakura asked excitedly. He considered for a moment.
"I think so..."
"What did you see, Aya-kun?" Omi asked him. The red head hesitated.
"...An image of Sakura hanging over me..." he turned to her. "...And you were crying. It looked like you were saying something, but I couldn't hear you..." The girl covered her mouth with a hand.
'After he saved me....Aya-san did see me crying before he blacked out...'
Please don't die, Aya-san....
Across from her, Omi also recognized the scene he described, as he had been there too. 'I can't believe Aya-kun actually remembers that...' he thought to himself, '...it happened after he smashed his head into the pavement...' He put a hand to his chin at the curiosity of it. 'I wonder why he didn't remember it before now...'
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Yohji watched quietly as the red head fussed with a flower arrangement. Aya had remembered something yesterday, but today did not look promising. The red head hadn't worked yesterday; Omi insisted that he shouldn't since he had only just returned from the hospital. The man held up quite well, though he still wasn't fully healed. The Chibi had taken the memory-less Aya upstairs to rest, or something. Today, though it took a little argument with Omi, Aya helped in the flower store, though he only had one shift: the morning shift. No schoolgirls.
The blonde leaned on the counter, staring out at the red head. The man was so damn good with Ikebana, no one would've ever noticed his memory was gone...Funny how he could forget almost everything he knew except flower arranging...Perhaps it was his hands that knew the flower arranging, though, and not his mind. Yohji sighed as the flame haired man put the last touches on the arrangement before going to put it on the shelf, next to the three he had done earlier...
It had been so shocking this morning...the flame haired man came down the stairs at the same time he had always, looking incredibly...Aya-like. The black pants and tight black shirt with the white v-neck...before the swordsman had lost his memory, he had worn the very same, descending the stairs in his black boots so gracefully that he made no sound. It was all the same, like nothing was different. As soon as the red head had asked to be reminded of the flower shop's name, Yohji's comforting illusion had been shattered into tiny splintered pieces.
The red head quietly made his way around the shop; it felt so familiar, though he could hardly retain what it looked like. His memory hadn't been very reliable lately...he had been forgetting things, things he had just learned or had learned shortly after he woke up...He couldn't remember what the flower shop was named, at times...once he had almost called Sakura 'Aya' but he had caught himself quickly...he still wondered about that one as he went for the watering can. The roses needed watering...badly.
He tilted the bucket over each pot, giving each plant an adequate amount of water before moving on. He stopped quite suddenly as he reached a pot of purple roses...They didn't have enough soil in them, as the roots stuck up a bit; it looked like someone had tried to drown them. He felt a pang of anger; he wasn't sure why....
He grabbed the plant by the side of the pot. The red head lifted it up and turned to Yohji. He opened his mouth to say something but froze as an image flashed in front of his eyes.
"Ken...Aya-kun really liked those..."
"I'm sorry, Aya!! If Yohji hadn't tripped me...!!!"
It was Ken, apologizing for something, and Omi saying something else to him. The sequence continued as his line of vision shifted. He had turned his back on the brunette to face a broken pot and spilled dirt on the floor of the flower shop. The pot of purple roses lay smashed. The image faded as Yohji's voice broke though.
"Aya!" The red head's eyes snapped up to see the concerned face of the blonde. The man had come around the counter and now stood in front of him, examining his glazed purple orbs carefully. "Are you alright? You remember something?" The flame haired man nodded slowly, turning to set down the pot of roses. Secretly, the blonde hoped it wasn't some overly bloody mission that the red head had just seen.
"Ken was apologizing...it looked like he knocked over this pot of roses..." he motioned to the plant he had just set down. "Omi said I really like them...and Ken said that you tripped him." The flame haired man frowned at the blonde.
The gears in Yohji's head began to turn as he recalled what Aya had described. A smirk spread across his face. "I did trip him, but he was the one who knocked over the plant."
The phone rang suddenly, calling Yohji's attention from the red head. "Ch...hope it isn't another wedding..." the blonde mumbled as he went off to get the phone. The red head set down the watering can, watching Yohji leave the room. Aya went back to sit behind the counter as a man entered the flower store.
"Irasshaimase..." he greeted in somewhat of a numb tone; the memories he had just seen sticking to him like glue. He looked up; the man was headed right towards the counter. Aya backed away in surprise as the man leaned over on the counter top, looking him in the eye with a smirk.
Feeling pressured but staying cool, he walked out from behind the counter to put some distance between him and the man. "Can I help you...?" he asked the orange haired stranger as he went for his previously abandoned watering can.
"Certainly, Weiss...." his light German accent fell heavily on the last word. Aya froze, hand hovering over the watering can.
"Weiss...?" he murmured quietly. It sounded so familiar. He turned back around to face the man in the white suit, who still leaned on the counter. Aya took a few steps forward into the center of the room. "Where have you heard that before...?" he asked the man. The man smirked, jade eyes gleaming suspiciously.
"Just around...." he answered smoothly.
"Where?" His smirk expanded.
"Want to know...?" Aya nodded hesitantly. The orange haired man stepped forwards, flipping a bit of his long hair over his shoulders. "I'll tell you..." His arms slithered around the red head's shoulders. Aya was frozen with shock as on of the man's hands dropped low down his back and the other went up to grab the side of his pale face. The red head couldn't move. "You said you wanted to know...." He reached into the man's mind, stirring up all of the dormant memories inside of him, making them into a varitable tornado. Small flashes of past events flew through his mind, embedding themselves into his thoughts like splintered bits of glass...He squeezed his eyes closed miserably against them...
Images of dead bodies, of a girl being hit by a car, a gray old man with glasses through a veil of flames...His head throbbed incredibly as he felt himself falling limp in the arms of the man.
"Schuldich!!" Yohji cried, surprised as hell. Quickly he ran for the German, just in time to catch Aya in his arms. Before he could look up, the man was gone. The blonde directed his attention back to Aya; he had been reduced to the shivering bundle that currently rested in Yohji's arms. He growled. "Bastard..." The red head had his eyes shut tightly, shaking like a leaf. The blonde gathered the man in his arms and carried him upstairs.
***************************
"Crap, crap, and crap."
Yohji frowned as he hung over the back of the chair he sat in. "I leave for a minute and a Schwarz shows up..." he muttered, pissed that he couldn't run after the bastard with Aya unconscious, not that he could've caught him anyhow....
Currently, the red head lay in bed before him. The blonde had been sitting there watching his teammate for signs of life since Schuldich had vanished. He looked so pale, lying there unconscious. His features were relaxed yet it was obvious that he wasn't at peace. It seemed he had still been shaking so Yohji pulled up the covers of the bed around him.
The man glanced to his watch; it had been three hours since the German's little visit, already...He stood up. Ken and Omi would be home by now, and would grill him for closing the flower shop early. The blonde looked down on Aya once more before turning to leave.
A rustle of sheets caught his attention, snapping back around to the man in bed. Sure enough, Aya was waking up.... His violet orbs peeked out from behind his eyelids, clouded in confusion. He blinked slowly as Yohji held his breath in anticipation.
"Aya...?" he asked uncertainly. The red head put a hand to his forehead, looking as though he had a headache. "You alright? What did he do to you...?" he inquired once more, growing concerned.
"I'm...not sure...." he answered truthfully, feeling his head pound in an unfriendly manner. "Whatever it was...it hurt..." he mumbled slowly. The blonde blinked in surprise. Had the man actually made a joke?
"Why don't you just rest for a while...our shift's over anyway." He grinned, showing his teeth. "I'm going to go downstairs." He turned to leave, smile fading quickly. His hand hung on the doorknob as he listened to the other man's breathing slow. He had clearly fallen asleep again. The assassin sighed, leaving the room and closing the door behind himself.
*********************************
"Is this a dream...?" the red head asked confusedly, looking around himself. He was standing inside of the Koneko No Sumu Ie, but no one was there...He jumped in surprise as a person suddenly appeared beside him.
'Do you think it's a dream...?'
He shivered; it was the man who had attacked him earlier."What do you want?" the swordsman asked coldly. He took a step away from the German.
'I just wanted to ask you....'
"...What?" he inquired, surprised. "Ask me...?"
'...Ask you if you remembered....'
"Remembered what...?"
'How you lost your memory, of course....'
"I can't remember...it happened before I lost my memory...." he whispered, gazing downwards. The red head looked up into the man's eyes, suddenly, determination shining in his violet orbs. "I can't remember, but I know."
'That's silly...'
he told the man in a wispy voice. 'It's a contradiction...you don't know that it's true....'"Yes I do," he fired right back, "...Omi, Yohji, and Ken...they told me about the car...and saving Sakura..." he trailed off. The Schwarz member smirked.
'You think a car hit you...you think that's how you lost your memory...?'
The red head nodded."I do."
'What if I said it wasn't...?'
"What are you talking about...?" He balled his fists, becoming frustrated.
'Well,'
he began, '...let me put it this way: if your mind held nothing but happy memories...people you cared about and fun times...would you want to remember?' Aya made a face."Of course..." he answered.
'...Ah,'
he continued, '...but what if your mind held happy memories as well as bad ones...would you still want to remember?' He nodded."I'd take the bad ones with the good ones..." The man smirked, flinging some orange hair over his shoulder.
'But what if...'
he kept on, '...what if you had so many sad, painful memories that you just couldn't bear them...' Aya twitched visibly at the thought, '...would you want to remember?'"...No..." he responded hesitantly. The German smiled mischievously.
'Of course you wouldn't...that's why you'd try to forget....'
he told the red head. 'You'd try so hard to forget your pain and your loss and your suffering that one day you actually would forget...do you think that's a bad thing?'"...Not if I wanted to forget..." he told the other, slowly.
'...So, then...'
he started once more. '...Why is it that you want your memory back?'*******************************
"Yohji-kun, what's going on?!" Omi cried, seeing the lanky playboy coming down the stairs. "Why did you close the flower shop?"
"And where the heck is Aya...?" Ken mumbled, glancing around. The hacker gasped.
"Is Aya-kun alright? What happened?" Yohji sighed, putting a hand to his forehead. He slowly explained about Schuldich's attack on Aya, the red head falling unconscious, and closing the shop...it took a bit longer than he had anticipated, or maybe it only seemed that way for Ken and Omi's mouths hung open for the length of the tale. Ken blinked his brown eyes in surprise as Omi gained a menacing expression.
"Yohji-kun!! You shouldn't have left Aya-kun alone...you know he has amnesia!!" the boy scolded.
"I only went to get the phone, not conquer China...!!" he exclaimed.
"Yohji-kun, we all have to be more careful with Aya-kun like this...he isn't the Aya we're used to..." the boy whispered sadly.
"You think I don't know that?" he asked, annoyed. The blonde sighed, running a hand through his hair. He turned away from the other two. "I wouldn't let anything happen to him, purposely..."
*******************************
He stared up at the ceiling tiredly, not able to fall asleep after tearing himself from the dream he had earlier. The red head had managed to wake himself up, somehow, sitting straight up in bed and panting. Now, he lay still, eyes wide open. He couldn't sleep anymore...
That dream...it had been frightening... Was the German right? Did he actually choose to forget...? But then, what about the car accident...? His mind kept coming up with new questions, even before the old ones had been answered...
Another thought that constantly tugged at his mind related to the German's visit to the flower shop earlier...what had he seen...? That girl in his thoughts...the man in the flames...and the bloody corpses. God, there had been so many corpses...he felt a wave of nausea wash over him as the images floated through his consciousness.
He put a hand over his forehead, wishing he had more answers and less questions...who was he before his memory had been lost? What was he like? Was he any different from the way he was now? If so, what made him different? Just what had he been that was so terrible he wanted to forget everything...?
And the one thing that bothered him, more than anything else: Just what was Weiss?
The door to his room opened slowly, dragging him from his thoughts. The red head quickly closed his eyes in a feeble attempt to feign sleep. To his surprise, whoever had entered did not seem to notice...he heard their light footfalls cross the floor of the room, obviously approaching the side of his bed.
"Aya-kun...?" The whisper drifted through the warm air to his ears, alerting him to Omi's presence. He peeled his violet eyes open slowly, maybe to give the impression that he was being woken up..."Aya-kun...." the boy whispered once more. "Are you alright...? Yohji-kun said you were asleep and I..." The red head furrowed his brow; the boy seemed so worried...had that man from earlier been more dangerous than he thought...?
"Aa..." There went the monosyllables, again...they seemed to be coming out on their own.
"...Are you sure...? He didn't hurt you...?" The boy was chewing on his lip. He was definitely hiding something large about the orange haired German...The red head slowly sat up in bed, stiff body having trouble.
"What is Weiss...?" he asked hesitantly, hoping to get some answers.
"Wh-what?" Omi managed, taking a step back. The boy had paled visibly. "Where did you hear that...?" he asked the red head. Aya's hand tightened around a wad of the bed sheets.
"That man...it's what he called me..."
"...I've never...heard that before..." Omi lied, turning to leave.
"You don't have to lie..." Aya told the hacker, swinging his legs around and slowly getting to his feet. Omi's shoulders slumped, hand dropping away from the doorknob. "What?" the flame haired man questioned, seeing the boy's reaction.
"It's just...nothing...." He reached for the knob again.
"I would've known, if I had my memories back...wouldn't I?" he questioned, feeling guilty for putting the boy through this inquisition. "He was dangerous...some sort of enemy of mine, right? And Weiss...it must be something important, too..." Omi swallowed, wishing the red head would just stop...
"Aya-kun...please stop asking questions..." he whispered. "I don't want to answer these...." The red head was silent, giving the boy a window to leave the room. He sat down on his bed once more, watching the door close.
*********************************
"What's wrong, kid?" Yohji inquired. Omi looked visibly shaken as he walked slowly down the last few stairs. He wrapped his arms around himself, walking towards the blonde.
"He's Aya, but he isn't..." The hacker shivered. Yohji raised an eyebrow.
"Hm?"
"Every day Aya keeps acting more and more like he used to...but he hardly remembers anything..."
"What do you mean?" The blonde inquired, totally blind to the boy's point. "Same guy, less angst?" he joked, sipping on the mug of coffee in his hand.
"Yohji-kun...haven't you noticed? He keeps asking what the name of the flower store is and sometimes even other things, things we've told him before..."
"So?" he took another sip. "Maybe he just forgot..." Omi shook his head.
"It's like his mind is rejecting the information..." he mumbled.
"Don't be silly, Omi..." Ken laughed, coming out of the kitchen. "Minds don't do that kinda thing...right?" He laughed again as Yohji gulped more of his coffee.
A knock sounded on the back door, drawing the attention of the three men. Omi reluctantly went to answer it. He opened the door to find someone he had hoped would not show up...not while Aya was memory-impaired, anyhow...
"Manx-san..." he greeted numbly, letting her into the shop. "Aya is upstairs..." he reassured her. The red head nodded, leading the way down to the basement.
**********************************
The flame haired man crouched at the top of the staircase in utter silence, listening to every tidbit of conversation Yohji, Omi, and Ken exchanged. He had liked to think he was above eavesdropping, but it wasn't true...he had to figure out what was going on. They were hiding something from him...something, the man suspected, that he had known about before loosing his memory.
Aya could barely hear the knock on the door, but could recognize it. He pressed himself against the wall, leaning his head farther down the stairs. He cursed; they were too far away to hear and gaining distance steadily....
He rose from his crouch, silently making his way down the steps. He used utter caution, almost afraid to be caught...it didn't matter, though, for he made absolutely no sound. It seemed he had a knack for sneaking around. Maybe all four of them had been a group of florists by day and bank robbers by night?
As he reached the bottom of the stairs, he saw no one around. Carefully, he went further through the house. Aya struggled to remember where everything was and only stumbled on the spiral staircase the led down into the basement...
The voices drifted up the stairs as he inched closer, eager to hear what they were talking about. The red head was startled to recognize a woman's voice. With utmost stealth, he peered down into the basement. How odd, he thought...he had never even known there was a basement. No one ever told him...very suspicious, indeed.
A red haired woman was among his co-workers, telling them about something...something about a mission...He watched closely as she pulled an un-labeled VHS from her purse and slipped it into the VCR, the screen of the large television coming to life. His violet eyes narrowed as he watched the tape play. A man was sitting at a desk, face completely blocked out by shadows. So interested in the man, he was, Aya did not pay a bit of attention to what he was saying...
"Weiss...your last mission...kill Takatori Reiji..."
The image and sounds flashed in his head, startling him to say the least. It was a man in a white suit, laying on the ground. His glasses reflecting the fluorescent lights of what seemed to be an office, the red carpet masking the liquid spilling from a fatal wound in his chest.
The tape ended suddenly, shocking Aya out of his daze. He shook his head to clear it and quickly turned to leave, the memory that had played in his head disturbing him. The red head could hear the footsteps of those in the basement coming up the staircase, hurrying him even more. He still moved with amazing silence, though and was up the stairs and in his room before he could be seen.
The swordsman quietly closed the door of his room, going towards the bed. He sat down, reaching an arm to grab the book he had been reading. Aya opened to the page he had marked with a sigh; he had only found this book on his own bookshelf, making him wonder if he had read it already...He leaned his back on the wall, sitting directly across from his closed door.
He quickly began to read, almost wishing he hadn't eavesdropped. The man had followed the other three florists, searching for closure and instead building an even larger mystery...most of the new puzzle concerned the image that had flashed before his eyes as that odd video played: the man in his memory had said something about "Weiss," too...not only that, he had been ordering someone's death...
His door opened suddenly, startling him. He looked up from the pages of his book to see Ken in the doorway. "Hey Aya, dinner's in a half hour!" The door slammed shut as Ken left hurriedly, making Aya wonder what the point of his little visit had really been. To tell him about dinner or to make sure he hadn't been spying? It really didn't matter either way; Aya had been spying, but it was doubtful anyone noticed.
'I must have been a robber...' Aya told himself as he looked back down to his book.
*********************************
"Morning!!" Omi chirped as Ken entered the kitchen.
"Morning," the brunette responded, sitting down at the table. He glanced around. "Where's Aya?" he questioned, not even bothering to ask about Yohji. The blonde would be in bed till noon, as usual.
"I don't know..." the hacker told him. "He usually comes down before you, but I haven't seen him today."
"He probably stayed in bed...."
"Huh?"
"He probably figured you wouldn't let him work today, anyhow..." The goalie smirked as Omi frowned.
"Not funny, Ken-kun." He bit into a piece of toast.
"Well, were you going to let him work?" he asked.
"Of course not!!"
*********************************
"Hmm..." Aya mumbled, sorting through his closet. He figured he must have worn all of these clothes at some point, but none of them looked familiar...he scratched his head. Today, he had found yet another pair of black pants to wear, along with a tight black shirt. This one had black lacing at the front, instead of the white v-neck from yesterday, and the traditional black boots. He vaguely wondered why he had so many articles of black clothing as he spotted a big white box at the bottom of the closet, neatly tucked out of sight in the back.
Curious, he thought, pulling it out. He sat down on the floor in front of the closet, setting the box before him. The red head lifted the lid slowly, wondering what he would hide so carefully...he placed the lid to the side, seeing a shimmering leather coat in the box. He raised his eyebrows, running his pale fingers over the multitude of buckles and belts on the front of the coat.
Aya lifted the coat out of the box slowly; the shining leather caught the morning sunlight in his window, making the coat gleam with a red tinge. He stood up, holding the coat at it's full length...he owned a leather trench coat. He had to hold in his utterance of awe as he looked the amazing coat over. Something about the coat bothered him, though...
The trench had him mesmerized, however...he didn't even think before undoing the buckles and slipping it over his shoulders. Aya looked in his mirror, completely speechless, not even bothering to close the complicated clasps on the front. It fit him perfectly...it must have been custom-made. He turned, looking at the back of the coat. He furrowed his eyebrows, seeing the heavy damage to the back of the garment. It was scuffed and scratched, like it had been run over by a car...
His eyes widened in surprise. This was what he had been wearing when the car hit him. The red head shivered, moving to take it off and put it back...something else caught his eye, though...inside of the coat, there was some sort of a holster, or something...but it didn't look like it was for a gun and it was at his hip. Several buckles, almost the right size for a long weapon...maybe a sword, or something...He shivered again, hastily removing the coat, putting it in the box and back into the closet.
His eyes traveled to what was in front of the box: shoes...or rather, boots...the man did not seem to own anything but boots. He frowned, not that he didn't like boots, or that they didn't look good on him...He reached out and grabbed one, turning it over in his hands. This one at least had a little bit of character: there was a thick black belt over the top with a silver buckle. Not only that, it was much taller than the other pairs and the only other pair of black boots, besides the ones he was wearing. Shrugging, he put the boot back in its spot, next to the other.
His eyes traveled over the remaining pairs, eyes stopping on another. He reached for it, the last pair in the row. He had to lean forwards, reaching deep inside the closet. He flinched as his hand knocked something over, a resounding 'thump' causing him to pull his hand back.
Aya frowned, reaching for whatever had fallen over...it was too far inside the closet to see what the object was. His hand found something long and rather thin. Instinctively, he closed his hand around it and pulled it into the sunlight.
"Hmmm...?" he murmured, seeing the lacquered sheath of a katana emerging from between the clothes. He was too surprised to even make a noise as he looked it over...definitely a sword. His mind flashed as he held it in his hands.
"SHIIII NEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!"
He heard his own voice making the cry as the memory played. He could see images of an old man with glasses rushing towards him. The image left suddenly, as fast as it had come. He snapped out of his daze, blinking a few times. He had been leaping at the old man, maybe trying to kill him, he guessed, from the exclamation he made...
Wait a second, kill?!
His mouth dropped open. It all fit. He hadn't been a robber...he had been an assassin. They were all assassins...He sat there in realization, slowly pulling the sword from its sheath. The metal glimmered in the sunlight, flooding in his window.
Cold steel, his mind whispered and he ran a pale finger along the contour of the blade. He had killed people with this sword. Lives had ended at his hands...he swallowed hard as his hands began to shake.
Aya flinched as the blade sank into his finger. He pulled his hand away, dropping the weapon on the ground. He cursed silently, hurriedly putting the sword away and closing the closet door. He quickly left his room and went for the bathroom, practically slamming the door shut behind him.
The red head exhaled heavily, leaning on the sink. The cut on his finger was fairly deep, making him regret touching the blade of the sword. The slice ran the length of his right index finger, from the tip almost down to the base of the digit.
The pain did not bother him...it was the blood. He tried to keep his eyes off it as he wiped the liquid away. He opened the medicine cabinet, searching for something to bandage his finger with...he became frustrated quickly for a Band-Aid was too small to cover the wound. His eyes spied a roll of medical tape on the top shelf, though....
He wrapped the white strips around and around, mind replaying the memory he had seen a minute ago. He was an assassin, he kept telling himself...he shook his head, trying to clear it. The red head replaced the medical tape and flexed his finger a few times, though a bit hard to bend with all of the tape around it...
It took him a minute to gather his wits enough to turn towards the door of the bathroom. His stomach was growling, for he hadn't gone down to breakfast yet...His hand hung on the doorknob as he furrowed his eyebrows. Aya would keep his discoveries to himself.
********************************
"Morning!!" Ken called as Aya came down the stairs. The red head nodded in response, going towards the table. He was silent as he reached for the mug left at his place by Omi, before going to school. He poured a mug of tea, listening as Ken got up and went to open the flower shop.
"By the way...." Ken began, hanging half way out of the kitchen, already. "Omi told me to beat you over the head and lock you in a closet if you tried to come to work today..." The smirk was evident in the tone of his voice. The red head smiled amusedly, keeping his back turned to hide it as Ken left him.
"Hey, it's not noon yet..." Yohji whined, tromping down the stairs sleepily. To Aya's great surprise, he was dressed and had his hair styled neatly. The man was even wearing his sunglasses, already...The blonde stretched his arms behind his head, making his dark red shirt and black pants move away from each other, exposing his midriff.
He smirked, flopping down at the table. "Aren't we up early....?" he asked with a tired smirk.
"I should be asking you that," Aya told him lightly, sipping his tea. The blonde sighed.
"I was asking for that..." he mumbled, downing a jug of coffee.
"Yohji!!" Ken called, coming into the kitchen. "Let's go, early shift today!!" he ordered. He leaned into the kitchen, looking Aya in the eyes. "Don't forget, Aya," he warned as the man looked up to him.
"Hn..." he responded easily, reaching for the newspaper. His thoughts were still plagued by memories of the dead bodies, the bloody corpses the German had showed him...now, he could see himself among the corpses, crimson-stained katana in hand...wearing the leather trench coat, no less. It was becoming clearer, yet slowly...his memories were trickling back steadily, and now he was not sure he wanted to remember. Aya understood why he had wanted to forget....
"Hey..." Yohji began, running a hand through his hair. "I have to take his shift, don't I?" Ken nodded, smirking.
"Of course!!" He grabbed Yohji by the shirt and began to drag him from the room. "See you later, Aya!!" the goalie called back as Yohji struggled against his grip.
Aya sat there in the kitchen for a while, basking in the fact that he was finally alone. He pushed the paper aside and stood up, moving to put his empty mug in the sink. He frowned as he reached the entrance to the kitchen, not wanting to go back into his room. He wasn't ready to go back in there with the leather trench coat and the katana and God knows what else....
The red head instead went for the "living room,", as the four men liked to call it. The room contained a sofa and one chair, a coffee table and a television, which was across from the couch. He collapsed onto the sofa, wanting to get back to the book he had been reading...
He got to his feet hesitantly, wishing he hadn't left it inside his room...he climbed the staircase anyhow, eager to get the novel and get back out. As he made his way up the stairs, his mind couldn't stay away from the few things he had remembered. Some, like the incident with the violet roses, seemed whimsical and unimportant...others, like the image of the old man in the flames, seemed dramatic and significant...Yet, there was still one memory he couldn't place in any category: an image of a girl being hit by a car.
Each time he replayed it through his mind, it looked like the girl was Sakura...but he kept telling himself it couldn't be. First of all, he was supposed to have saved Sakura from being hit by a car and secondly...well, there really wasn't a second reason. It just didn't seem...right. He knew it wasn't Sakura, but he didn't know why...the braids. That was it. The girl in his memory had braids...dressed in what seemed to be her best kimono, only to be run down...
The red head ducked into his room, hurriedly grabbing his book from the shelf where it had been left. He quickly went for the door, but not fast enough...his eye caught something and his body seemed to act on it's own as he approached what he hadn't noticed before...a small spot on the side of the bookshelf, almost totally hidden by the amazing number of books he seemed to have collected.
Then he saw it: a small pewter picture frame, face down on the wooden shelf. Curiously, his hand reached for it, lifting the frame so he could look at it...He gasped. In his hands was a photograph of the girl from his memory...in the picture she looked so happy...not only that, what seemed to be a younger version of himself was next to her...Aya's hand began to shake suddenly, dropping the frame on the shelf abruptly. His other hand loosed its hold on the book and that also dropped to the floor with a potent "thump." He backed away from the shelf; he had to get out, had to get away...
His thoughts were fogged over by panic as he whipped around and practically ran out of the room. He slammed the door shut behind himself, falling to the floor of the hallway. He leaned against the white wall, breathing heavily. The red head tilted his head back and squeezed his eyes closed tightly.
'What was that...?' his mind whispered, wondering why he had reacted that way. He had felt such a rush of emotion, looking at that photograph...he couldn't stand it...the swordsman had felt as if he were suffocating in that room.
The red head got to his feet and went down the stairs, needing to get out...as far away from there as possible...he quickened his pace; it was happening again, just like in his room...the air seemed thicker and thicker to his lungs. He couldn't stand to be in there any longer. He had to get out of the flower shop, yes, he had to get away...
The red head reached the back door after what seemed like an eternity. It would've been faster to go through the front of the flower store...what was it called, again? But he would've had to walk by those two...what were their names? He put a hand to his forehead, leaning on the doorframe heavily; the air was getting thicker, more humid...he couldn't breathe...Information was flooding away from him...he could no longer remember his own name....
The red head growled in frustration, shifting his weight off the door and quickly going out the back door. He hadn't even bothered to put on a coat...luckily, it was warm and sunny outside. As soon as he had stepped outside, the air thinned out quickly and became clear and refreshing. The red head took a deep breath, quickly realized how much better it was out here...He turned and walked in the opposite direction of...whatever that store was called...eager to put distance between it and himself.
The red head walked briskly for a few blocks before slowing to a normal pace. He put a hand to his forehead...it was better to be outside...chances were he'd never find his way back to the flower store, though, lacking the knowledge of streets he previously had. It didn't matter. It didn't matter if he ever went back...he couldn't stand it in there...he had truly believed he was suffocating in the confines of that building, with those three men and those flowers, the leather coat, the katana, that picture...he shivered, hoping he never saw the place again.
The flame haired man kept walking and walking...it seemed he had been walking forever when fatigue finally caught up with him. He slowed his pace, coming to a halt on a pedestrian bridge over a wide street. He turned towards the street, looking down at the traffic numbly. 'Where am I going...?' he wondered silently, eyeing a man getting into a cab below him. 'Where did I come from...?' he thought again. It seemed as though he should know...just a while ago he had been running from something...now that he had escaped it, he no longer had the memory of what it was....
He leaned over onto the cement railing, staring down at the paved street. Everything he could remember was fuzzy and clouded...it was like he was the only one in the world. It was so comforting to know that he had no one and nothing to worry about but himself, yet it made him feel so isolated...time was no longer relevant. He couldn't remember his past and the future hadn't happened yet...there was only now. There truly was no time but the present, and he was the only one to enjoy it...
The red head straightened up, turning to walk forwards again...he had no where to go; maybe he was just walking to fill up time...? Maybe he was still running away...? It didn't matter to him anymore as he proceeded down the street.
A loud chiming prompted him to turn his head, eyes zeroing in on a large clock, sounding the time: twelve noon. He wondered silently if he should be eating...it was lunchtime, but the man doubted he could ingest anything at this point...He just kept going forwards, contented in what he had: himself and the present. The red head just kept telling himself that was all he needed...life and time to live it out. Nothing else was necessary, right...?
Shadows fell over him as he walked underneath a tree, passing by the front of a large building. He laughed quietly: the man had no clue what the building was...he didn't need to know, nor did he care...a call reached his ears as he strolled by the building. He smiled faintly: whoever it was couldn't be calling to him...he was the only one in his own world...he needed nothing else, right?
"Aya-san!!" He continued forwards, ignoring whoever was shouting. Faintly, he wondered who that girl was calling to...he smiled again: he didn't need to know. And he didn't care, either...The man's world caved in around him as he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Aya-san, I was calling you..." He turned to face a brown haired girl in a school uniform. "It's my lunch break...I was wondering if you wanted to go out with me to eat..." she continued shyly. He eyed the shape of her face, drawing in a sharp breath...it was barely familiar...
But why would she be talking to him...? Who was she...? Did she know him? He didn't know her, did he...? No...he was the only one, wasn't he...? His brows drew up in confusion as he took a step back. It was happening, again, he supposed for the feeling was familiar...the thickening of the air, his lungs struggling to get oxygen inside of them...He took another step back from the girl, a bit panicked.
"Aya-san, are you alright...?" the girl questioned, taking a step towards him in return. Panic took over his mind as his head became lighter. He had to get away from her...this girl was doing something to him...he had to get away, quickly...
The girl looked slightly hurt as he backed away from her again, fear glinting in his eyes as he spun and broke into a run in the opposite direction. He faintly heard her shouting after him as he continued running down the sidewalk.
He had to get away...had to get away from her...had to get away from everything, his mind screamed as ran further down the street. He passed people, cars, trees, buildings...everything flew by him in blur as he ran. He gasped for breath, stopping once he was far enough away. What he had experienced was nothing more than a fading dream as he stood there, barely aware of what was happening to him...
He couldn't remember anything.
He staggered into the park, completely oblivious to the world...he really was the only one, the park being deserted this afternoon...An empty bench drew him in, quite tired of wandering around. He sat down on the inviting seat, the sun shining down on his through the trees. The red head turned his head up towards the small opening in the canopy of trees, gazing at the clear blue sky.
The man leaned back into the bench, wondering how long he had been sitting there...it could've been hours, for all he knew, before someone walked by him...it was a woman with a dog. The animal bounded ahead of her, stretching the leash the woman held to its limits. She gripped the rope for dear life as the little brown dog dragged her down the path, rushing by the red head.
Almost as soon as the woman had gone by him and the dog's high pitched barking had faded away, he had already forgotten they had passed...everything was running together, as if all of time was an instant. He looked back up to the small piece of sky he could see through the trees, head lolling backwards onto the back of the bench. The sky was a lovely purple color, bits of pink and blue visible from the corner of his eye.
The sky was steadily fading to a dark blue as the man stared up at it. He had absolutely no direction, nothing to do, no one to go home to...even if he did have someone to return home to, he didn't remember....
The red head did not respond as someone sat down next to him on the bench; he kept looking up at the sky...it took a moment but his mind finally registered that there was a person next to him. He turned and looked to his right, confusion readily apparent in his violet gaze. His eyes met with a man in a white suit...his orange hair looked almost blue in the dark night. The only light sources in the area were a few small globes placed along the park path, more than enough light to see the man's expression.
Dazed, the red head continued to stare at the man, unsure what to say if anything...."That's some trick..." he told the red head, turning to look him in the eye. "If I could wipe a memory like that, they'd pay me a lot more..." the German smirked, his nationality evident in his small accent. Aya's mouth dropped partway open as he stared at the man.
"What...are you..talking about...?" he managed quietly, genuinely disoriented. The man snorted, tossing a bit of hair over his shoulder.
As soon as he had read the man's thoughts in the flower store that day, it had been obvious to Schuldich that the red head didn't have amnesia...his memories had been shoved in the back of his mind, like he had meant to forget everything he knew. He had definitely wanted to end up like this...well, maybe not directly... The car accident had been just the right burst of trauma for the red head. For a while, there, it had actually seemed he would retain his memory on his own, but now the German could see what had really been happening.
The red head had consciously wanted his memories back while his mind fought to keep them from him, at the same time...a war never to be won by either. The battle was now over, leaving the man a mere shell of what he had been previously, his mind now rejecting any and all information that he might attempt to remember. A pitiful sight, really, yet it was strangely amusing to the German...
He turned back to the red head, seeing the man's mouth halfway open as he continued staring at the man. "Who...are...you...?" Schuldich frowned; it was like talking to a wall...
"Forget it..." he stopped abruptly. "No pun intended..." he smirked quietly. He got to his feet, content to leave the man where he was when a ringing noise startled him. He sighed in annoyance, reaching into his pocket for his cell phone. "What?" he asked impatiently. He was silent as the one on the other side of the conversation spoke to him. "Hmm..." he mumbled, still listening. He turned away from the bench. "Ja, whatever, Brad..." he smirked, hanging up the phone and tucking it away again.
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"Damnit..." Yohji cursed, hurrying down the street. He furrowed his eyebrows angrily, recalling the way Sakura bounded into the Koneko that afternoon, totally frantic.
"Yohji-kun!! Ken-kun!! I saw Aya-san and and...!!"
He clenched his fist, mad at the red head for leaving and not telling them...mostly, though, he was using the anger for a cover so his fear for the red head wouldn't be quite so obvious...It made him sick with worry to think that something else could be wrong with Aya. The original car accident had been enough of a shock to his system, let alone finding out about Aya's loss of memory...The blonde had really began to believe things were getting back to normal, for a while there...
He headed for the high school upon Sakura's advice...that had been where she saw him last. The thought of the almighty Aya running away from a high school girl normally would've sent the playboy into hysterics, but today it did nothing but add to his worry...
"Yohji-kun!!" He stopped walking abruptly, turning his head in response to the cry. Omi pulled up on his motorcycle, looking as though he had changed from his school clothes in a rush, wearing some long shorts and a tight black shirt..."Ken-kun said you went to look for Aya-kun..." he sounded breathless as he stood there, hands clenched on the handlebars of the bike.
"So you came running?" Yohji smirked. "Omittchi to the rescue, eh? Come on...Sakura said she saw him by her school, last..." The boy nodded, handing his spare bike helmet to the blonde. The man raised an eyebrow, reluctantly taking it. He sighed heavily, getting on behind the younger boy.
"Yohji-kun, it's faster. Don't whine." He sighed again as the two of them pulled away. Everything rushed by them as they sped down the empty road. The blonde looked side to side, eyes scanning both sides of the street for any signs of the missing red head. They flew by the deserted school building, seeing no sign of anyone in the light of the street lamp. They continued on, going down the way Sakura said he had run...Omi made an utterance of surprise as he slowed to a stop.
"Yohji-kun!! The park!! You don't think Aya-kun..." he trailed off, looking forwards to the grove of lush trees. The blonde laughed quietly behind him, getting off of the small motorcycle. He removed the helmet and walked forwards, entering the park with confidence.
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"What do you think...?" the German asked, eyeing the red head's expression with a smirk.
"I..." he began slowly. "I...don't..know...." he mumbled, still staring up at the sky dazedly. Now the stars and moon were out, holding his attention quite well. The assassin reminded Schuldich of a little child, the way he sat there staring...
The red head swallowed; his throat was becoming dry and the air around him thick. He swallowed once more, feeling like oxygen wasn't making it through his lungs. He put a hand to his forehead...the sir was growing thick around him...suddenly, he felt as though he had to get away. Maybe from the German, maybe from the park...maybe from himself. He shook his head, trying to clear it.
"What are you going to do?" the man asked again, looking down at the red head on the bench.
"I...don't know..." He smirked.
"That's too bad, Weiss...don't you even want to remember your dear little sister?"
"I don't know..." he said again, turning his gaze to the ground. He leaned forwards, putting his elbows on his knees. The red head breathed deeply, lungs fighting against the thick, humid air.
"Aya-kun!!!" The red head did not respond to the call, still staring at the ground. "Aya-kun!! Get away from him!!" Omi cried again, running towards the two men with Yohji behind him. The youth bounded right up to the red head, hesitant to reach out to him. The man looked up slowly, like he wasn't sure if he was being addressed. Schuldich laughed in the background, highly amused by the whole episode.
"Don't bother...he's totally gone, Weiss..." he smirked, crossing his arms. Yohji finally made it to the small group of people, totally out of breath.
"Aya!" he exclaimed.
"What are you talking about?" Omi asked, taking a step in front of the red head.
"Just look at him...he didn't want to remember. This is what's leftover from his struggle to forget." The hacker gasped.
"So it's true..." he managed. The boy had a feeling something like this was going on, between Aya forgetting everything he was told to the red head running off on his own...the first thing that had clued Omi in was what Aya had remembered when he had returned from the hospital...The memory of Sakura crying...the original event had happened after he hit his head....
"Aya-kun..." his hand froze in midair before he could touch the red head's shoulder. Fear gleamed in the older man's eyes as he stared up at the three men above him.
"Well, its been fun, kids..." the German drawled, turning to leave. "I'll let you take it from here..." He waved his hand, strolling away. Crawford would be miffed that he didn't come right after his call...the thought of annoying the American made him smirk.
"Schuldich--!!" Yohji was halted by Omi's hand on his shoulder.
"Forget it Yohji-kun...Aya-kun is more important right now, and Schuldich was only here for some entertainment..." The blonde sighed, turning to the red head.
"Aya..." he began slowly, not sure what he should be saying to the listless red head. The swordsman looked totally and completely drained of emotion, turning his blank stare back to the ground. Omi finally gathered his courage, reaching out and putting his hands on the older man's shoulders.
"Aya-kun..." he started, quite seriously. The man looked up slowly, barely retaining what the boy was saying. "Aya-kun, you have to remember...I know you don't want to but...but you have to..." the hacker had to force the last part, knowing it was true. "You have to be strong and face your problems, not run away...the Aya I know wouldn't do that."
"Yeah...he'd get out his katana and scream "shi ne" at everything that got in his way..." Yohji added, sarcastically.
"Aya-kun, you can't go on like this. We're your friends and we can help..." Omi continued, choosing to ignore the blonde's comment. "You have to remember...for us and for Sakura...but most of all for Aya-chan."
"...Aya...chan...?" the red head repeated slowly. His violet eyes shifted out of focus, as if he were thinking about something...Both assassins gasped in surprise as they watched Aya's fingers find their way to the golden earring in his left ear.
"That's right..." Yohji agreed, watching the man's slender fingers play with the delicate golden teardrop. "When she wakes up, she'll need her older brother around to keep her company..." He smiled, watching recognition flash in the red head's eyes. Aya shook his head suddenly, looking confused.
"No..." he said quietly. "I have to forget...I have to get away..." He pulled away from Omi's hands on his shoulders, moving to get off the bench. The hacker panicked, grabbing the man instead by the forearm.
"Aya-kun, stop..." he told the man firmly, blue eyes boring into the other's violet, "...stop running." The red head looked away from the boy, bangs falling in front of his face.
"I'm...not...running..." he whispered. "Why should I run...?" he continued. "Everything will follow me wherever I go...I'll never get away...." The archer's eyes widened, the change in the red head evident. "No one can get away...everything just keeps chasing you, coming back...just like an echo."
Everything had rushed back to the swordsman in a cascade of memories. Names, faces, events, places...he knew it all once more. It had all been so pointless...only now did he realize what he hadn't before: he couldn't escape, no matter how hard he tried. He could forget everything over and over, but it would always come back...
He merely sat there, staring at the ground. Omi's grip on his arm loosed, the limb falling to his side limply. The boy's eyebrows furrowed, guessing that the red head must have regained his memory by now...Yohji felt similarly, wondering what was next.
"Oi, Aya..." he ventured, taking a step towards the man. "Don't think about it that way..." he grinned sadly. "Things can only get better from here..." Aya looked up to him slowly, eyes showing a thousand emotions at once.
"Yohji-kun is right..." Omi agreed, with another smile. " And if they don't get better, we can all get out our katanas and scream "shi ne" at what we don't like...that's what Aya-kun would do. He would take charge and make things better." A small silence followed as Aya got to his feet.
"...Aa," he responded quietly, his back to Yohji and Omi, obviously trying to hide the small grin on his face, which both men saw anyhow...Omi smiled broadly as Yohji ran a hand through his hair.
"...Let's go home, ne?"
*O.WA.RI.*
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YAAAATTAAAA!!!!!!!! I've triumphed, finally!! This fic took forever and a day to finish...wow!! Just think, this fic started out as a scrappy and discarded fic-bit until Angel Anne, my cool sidekick, read it and re-discovered it's potential!! Thanks, M-chan!! This fic wouldn't be here without you!! *hugs sidekick* Anyhow, I'd like to thank everyone who read this and I hope everyone reviews, too!! I love comments, and I also love this fic...I'd find great joy in some feedback... :D Once again, thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed the story!! (Twenty-six solid pages!! *still dizzy*)