Disclaimer: We don't own Weiss and we don't own a flower shop.
But we do own this story.
Ok Folks here's the truth.
We don't own this story. Our mother does.
Yes a thirty something mother of two, came up with most of this story and
dialogue.
Mothers are beautiful people. Go tell your Mom you love her.
Now!
Kudos to Mother Superior
And here something that Weiss was meant to do.
Run a flower shop, good luck boys.
See Sleepy Yoji, Daring Ken, Happy Aya, Flower girl Sakura, Glaring Ran
Coffee Omi, Demented Momo and a very annoyed Manx.
Plus everything else you usually see in Weiss and some stuff you don't in this silly V-day special.
Lots of love.The Roses are in bloom. By Muzai and Yuuzai & Mother Superior.
Dawn broke. Thankfully, no one was injured. But it was still early.
Omi bounced down the stairs as usual. He had always liked mornings. But today, something was odd, something just wasn't quite right. The peppy teen thought for a moment. It was strangely quiet. There were no birds chirping. Omi listened again. Oh there was some sound. It sounded like a freight train in the far distance coming closer. A soft but steady dull roar. Sort of like a tsunami far in the distance, but coming closer.
Unexpectedly the phone rang. "Koneko no sumi e " 'Hi, is it true that you are having a flower sale today?" "Yep, we're having a Valentine's Day sale." "Thank you, I'll be right over " "No problem." Omi said, and he hung up the phone. "That was an odd phone call." he thought. Omi paused for a moment to remember what he was thinking about before the call interrupted him. But he couldn't remember, so Omi then continued about his business. He had work to do. After all it was just another business day.
Omi moved toward the kitchen to start a fresh pot of coffee. With the sale, it would get much busier before the day was through.
*** Yoji yawned and stretched lazily. For him it was too early to work, but he didn't have much of a choice. Today was Valentine's Day. He pushed himself up and sat on the edge of the bed. ~Omi had better have coffee ready~ he thought bitterly as he got up and headed down the stairs.
***
*Five minutes and half a cup later*
A slightly more awake Yoji leaned back in his chair. He casually sipped the black liquid in his cup. Ran sat at the table focused solely on the roses in his hands. He silently wrapped the delicate flowers as a steadily growing pile of bouquets grew beside him.
Aya waved a cheery good morning to Omi as she danced down the stairs. "Good morning Ran-niichan, Yoji-niichan"
Her older brother rose as she stepped into the kitchen. He smiled as she kissed his cheek. Yoji replied with a soft grunt. He still wasn't fully awake.
*Ten more minutes and another cup and a half later. *
At 8:45 Yoji decided to go ahead and open the shop, in spite of his bed-ragged appearance. He slid through the door, flaunting his usual grace.
~I'll open up and go an take a shower~, he thought. Bending down, he grabbed the security grating and lifted. The unfortunate blonde was nearly deafened by the sudden wall of sound he was assaulted by. Surprised by the mass of bodies that stood before him, he released the grating. A single figure darted from the crowd and ducked under the gate, and rolled to a stop beside him.
"Sakura?" Yoji was quite surprised to see her. He was much more surprised to see the street in front of the shop filled with people. Looking down at his lack of clothing, he quickly pulled the security gate back down. A unison moan came from the crowd as the gate clanged shut.
"Good Morning Yoji-kun; Ran-kun, Aya-chan"
"Sakura-chan!" Greeted Aya.
The young girl bounced to her feet, dusting herself off, she turned to her friend. "Aya, why didn't you tell me?"
"Tell you what? " Inquired Yoji.
"About the sale." replied Sakura
"Oh, the sale." agreed Aya "$5 off a dozen roses?"
"What really? Don't you mean $5 for a dozen roses?." clarified Sakura.
The assembled members of the Koneko looked at each other. "No, $5 off." repeated Aya
"Really? Then what about the ad?"
"What about it?" Yoji's voice carried the irritation that his face failed to show.
Sakura stared at them, shocked. Wasting no time, she unfolded the morning paper and held it out to them. As she had said, the brightly colored ad read.
Koneko no sumi e Valentine's Day Special One dozen roses $ 5.00.
Yoji stared, Aya blinked, Ran frowned. They each reread the ad, twice.
"A mistake? " Sakura looked worried.
"A very big one" Aya mumbled quietly.
The two older men looked to each other and yelled the first thing that came to mind. "Hidaka!"
A few moments later, the drowsy goalkeeper stumbled down the stairs. Clad in baby blue pajamas and armed with a toothbrush, he turned to Aya and Yoji. It was easy to see that his ignorance of the situation wouldn't save him. The confused expression on his face confirmed to all the fact that Ken Hidaka was not a morning person.
"What's going on? He asked. Ran said nothing he only glared.
"Ken -kun" Yoji inquired sweetly.
Ken was totally ignorant to the sarcasm that Yoji was displaying. "Yes?"
"Have you seen the paper?"
" No, Why is anything wrong?"
Yoji held the neatly folded paper out to Ken." Take a look "
Relaxing slightly, Ken took the paper, and scanned it intently. He briefly noted that the local soccer team had won their season finals and would be heading to the championship. He had a pretty good guess that's not what Yoji meant. " Oh, the Dragon's won .so what am I looking for?"
Sakura helpfully pointed out the source of the others discomfort. Ken noticed the ad, but unfortunately was oblivious to the point. . "Yeah? It's our ad."
" Try reading it " Yoji growled, his anger slowly building.
Ken looked over it again. During the third reading, his mind registered something pivotal, profound and very important. "The off's off," he observed.
" Exactly" Yoji's voice was very soft.
"This is going to be a problem," Ken mumbled.
Sakura rolled her eyes, Ran glared and the insanity outside continued.
* About 30 minutes later. *
Omi shook his head sadly hanging up the phone. He sighed and then spoke quietly and calmly. "It's been printed and circulated, we have to honor it."
Everyone turned to Ran. He spoke quietly and calmly. " This is coming out of your paycheck "
. Ken sighed and leaned against the table. "This sucks."
The crowd outside had begun a chant. " Open, Open, Open."
"It's 9:30" Sakura called. "What do we do?"
Omi shrugged, "We'll open".
Aya winced slightly. "I had a feeling you were going to say that."
Omi stepped forward." Momo will direct the crowd, Aya will take the register and we'll handled the roses."
"I'm helping too" Sakura chimed in,
"But Sakura."
"It's Okay, I want to, what kind of friend would I be if I didn't?'
Omi nodded briefly." Thank you Sakura." Aya leaned over hugging her.
With their tasks clear and the danger understood, the doors were opened. Nothing could have prepared them for what came.
***
Momo smiled brightly; the boys would get through this, they always did. Today would be no different. She turned and began her task of directing the crowd.
Many things can be said of little old ladies; but the most important, is stay out of their way. No one was really surprised when the little old woman all of two feet tall, began directing the customers; except the customers themselves.
Fortunately for them, they quickly got over it.
***
Ken struggled to wrap the roses in his hands and not fall over. The shop was packed and then some.
"This isn't working!" shouted Omi.
"What? "Yoji yelled back.
"This isn't working!"
"What?"
"This isn't working," screamed the crowd.
"Right. thanks."
"What should we do?"
After a few moments of confusion and deciding that it really wasn't working, Omi' grabbed his cell phone. After making the call, he returned to his work.
On the other side of the room Yoji's pager went off. Checking it he grinned. Weaving through the crowd as only he could, Yoji reached the phone. Leaning against the small table, he called Omi back.
"This isn't working" Yoji stated the obvious.
"Tell me about it." Omi sighed, "We need to do something about this crowd."
"Like what, release the hounds, get the hoses?"
"No, ask Momo if she can work on it, the rest of us can barely handle the jobs we were given much less anther one."
"Right, negative on the dogs and water, just my luck." Yoji sighed
Omi laughed quietly and turned his attention back to the flowers.
*10 minutes later. *
At the door to the Koneko, Momo was standing on a chair. The little old lady managed to slow the crowd down faster than anyone expected. Unfortunately, the crowd inside didn't move as fast as the one outside. Weiss just might have a problem.
***
Sakura smiled brightly at the women and young ladies to move through the shop. A few gentlemen and young men passed by her as well. The crowd was quite large. Such a lovely day Valentine's Day, so many people were so wrapped up in the spirit of the holiday.
She continued to squeeze through the crowd, if you stayed in one place you tended to get caught; she already learned that lesson well enough. At times she swore she saw Ran or Yoji, but they quickly vanished back in to the crowd.
Koneko was packed.
***
Ran picked up the phone, ignoring the squealing fangirls. "Oi Ran.we have a problem. "
Ken paused, knowing full well Ran wasn't quite pleased with him " We're running out of roses."
"Did you call the distributors?" Ran stopped wrapping the roses that he held in his hand.
Ken shrugged. "No good, they wouldn't have anything for us until next week."
Ran's eyes narrowed, the mass of fangirls stepped back a few feet. " Fix it "
Ken shrugged again. "But. What am I supposed to do?"
"Fix it" With that, Ran hung up, leaving Ken to figure it out.
Unsurprisingly the pack of fangirls had doubled. Ran grabbed a few more roses and began wrapping.
***
"What in the world is going on?" Manx whispered.
A huge throng of people crowded the front of the shop. A few police officers stood around directing traffic, watching the ensuing chaos. Looking both ways, she quickly crossed the street. She slipped silently the through the crowd, with all the inborn grace of her namesake. Looking at the commotion around her, she was struck by a thought: ~ It's gotta be a sale. ~ Moving through the people, she made her was to the doors.
" Excuse me "
Manx turned to see Momo balanced on a small chair.
" Where do you think you are going?"
"I need to get in to talk with the boys, it's important" Manx turned to crowd into the shop
"No, you need to go to the end of the line."
"I'm sorry Momo-san, but I need to"
"Nonsense, You need to wait in line like everyone else"
"But."
"No buts, "chided the elderly woman" Now go"
Manx had no choice but to abide by the old lady's order.
She sighed, momentarily defeated and walked to the end of the line.
***
Ken stared at the growing crowd. 'This is going to be tough"
Quickly pushing his way through the room, he made his way to the back door. He was going upstairs; it was the only empty space besides the basement. Reaching the landing, he looked out the window. They were definitely going to need more roses and he was the one who had to get them. But, only if he could get out of the building.
Ken suddenly decided he wasn't going back downstairs, not for any thing. The fire escape was an idea, but he'd never get out of the alley. The window was another option, but jumping was totally out of the question.
Wasn't it?
***
Manx was fuming. She been waiting over 20 minutes and the line had just moved. Flipping her hair over her shoulder she sighed. A scream caught her attention. Looking up she stared.
"Ken?"
The assassin in question, stood, bouncing slightly on the awning. The insane young man transfixed the crowd. Ken Hidaka grinned. With that, he jumped.
Manx frowned disapprovingly. "Show off"
***
Sakura struggled for balance, in the crowded shop. She leaned against the table and passed the roses to waiting customers. "Have a nice day "she chirruped.
Breathing a sigh she climbed up and sat on the table. This day was getting more and more hectic. She began to worry if she could handle it. Everyone else seemed so calm and relaxed.
Yoji flirted outrageously, yet he managed to keep the crowd moving. Omi greeted everyone; a smile always graced his lips. Across the room, Ran and Aya were actually quite calm, well Aya was; Ran just seemed impassive.
Sakura giggled aloud and with a renewed spirit, she returned to her task.
***
Ken almost laughed.
His little stunt had attracted immediate attention. Just as he'd guessed, the crowd was large enough to qualify as a mosh pit. They were all too willing to live up to the expectation.
As he was passed over the top of the crowd, Ken could not help but blush. He was spun around, tossed in the air and flipped over. Members of the crowd, caught in the excitement of the moment, were having fun. Others were having more fun than they should, and at Ken's expense. Ken was suddenly glad everyone else was in the shop.
"Ken!"
They were in the shop, weren't they?
Struggling away from some of the more fun loving hands that held him up, Ken found himself looking at an upside down Manx.
"Oh Hi." Ken hoped that his blushing wasn't too obvious.
"There's a job," she stated firmly.
"Now? We're just a bit busy."
"I can see that" she replied. The host shifted again pushing them apart.
"Ken!"
"Just tell the others!" With that, he disappeared into the crowd.
The secretary glared. This was beginning to become annoying.
***
Hidaka Ken pulled his goggles down over his face. Now wasn't the time to be worrying about "Dark Beasts" and hunting their tomorrows. If he didn't get some roses soon, Ran would be hunting his tomorrows.
Ken sighed as he checked the side view mirror. ~`Now why was the delivery scooter pink? `Oh yeah it's Omi's~. With that disturbing thought in mind, Ken set off on his mission.
***
Pushing her way past hyper schoolgirls, Manx forced her way into the shop. Unfortunately not a single member of Weiss could be seen. Manx frowned angrily, and began moving through crowd. It was only few moments before she saw a familiar face.
***
"Sakura!"
The peppy athlete turned at the sound of her name. Slowly she gave the irritated secretary a small wave.
~That's weird Manx only comes by if something's up. I wonder.. ~
"Where are they?"
Sakura blinked and replied.
"Omi's that way, Ran and Yoji are across the room. And Ken is.."
"Gone, I know." Manx interrupted.
Oh.
"Thanks."
Manx turned and ducked into the collection of people.
Sakura shrugged and reached for some more roses. ~Things are going to be interesting. ~
***
" Yes, roses. No, just roses, yes No, the colors aren't important. Yes just roses. Alot, as many as you can spare, yes, It's a long story; I have to. makeup with someone close to me. Really likes roses. You can?? Thank you yes, Thank you. I'll be there shortly Bye".
Ken sighed and hung up. Turning to the scooter he frowned. ~Why pink? Why? ~ Realizing that such contemplation was futile, he took off towards the flower shop. Quite soon he found himself at the Bara ya or Rose shop. It was a nice little shop, nothing like the Koneko. Standing there, Ken found himself staring..
***
Staring in to the dark endless depths. Falling in to the darkness his silent screams continued unnoticed. "Its empty," Omi whimpered. Setting the coffee cup down, he turned to ever- present crowd. Staring into the sea of people he came to a conclusion. ~If they wanted flowers, there were getting flowers. ~ The teen grabbed a bouquet of roses and raised them into the air; a determined smile spread across his face. ~ All right lets get down to business. ~
A hand shot out catching his wrist.
"Huh?" Omi turned suddenly.
"Manx-san!"
"Omi" she replied calmly
"This is a bad time" he sighed hanging his head
The aggravated secretary caught his arm and pulled him towards the back of the shop. She turned to Sakura. "Stay here"
Just as suddenly, they were gone.
Sakura glanced around her; she was stuck again.
***
Yoji ran a hand through his hair and grimaced. He hadn't even had time to brush it properly. He sighed, it wasn't right to show his fans this rough appearance. Ken had better hurry up with those roses. ***
"Closed?" The panic in Ken's voice was almost audible.. Almost.
"Yes I'm afraid so.'
"But what about.?"
'I'm truly sorry, we're closed for the day."
"Why?"
"Another shop, Kitty something, they're having a huge sale. Have you seen that ad?"
" Yeah" Ken grimaced." I have" The florist nodded and continued. "They must have a lot of flowers or little sense" The young blonde turned back to Ken "Then again they could have both." The smile faded from his face. "I'm sorry, but you'll have to come back later, no one's really going to be able to sell anything and make much of a profit at least not today.
Ken crouched and stared at the roses. Reaching out he touched a small blossom. ~`There had to be something.~
"How much are your roses?"
"What?" The florist looked dumbfounded.
Ken stood quickly. "How much for all of your roses?"
***
See Sleepy Yoji, Daring Ken, Happy Aya, Flower girl Sakura, Glaring Ran
Coffee Omi, Demented Momo and a very annoyed Manx.
Plus everything else you usually see in Weiss and some stuff you don't in this silly V-day special.
Lots of love.The Roses are in bloom. By Muzai and Yuuzai & Mother Superior.
Dawn broke. Thankfully, no one was injured. But it was still early.
Omi bounced down the stairs as usual. He had always liked mornings. But today, something was odd, something just wasn't quite right. The peppy teen thought for a moment. It was strangely quiet. There were no birds chirping. Omi listened again. Oh there was some sound. It sounded like a freight train in the far distance coming closer. A soft but steady dull roar. Sort of like a tsunami far in the distance, but coming closer.
Unexpectedly the phone rang. "Koneko no sumi e " 'Hi, is it true that you are having a flower sale today?" "Yep, we're having a Valentine's Day sale." "Thank you, I'll be right over " "No problem." Omi said, and he hung up the phone. "That was an odd phone call." he thought. Omi paused for a moment to remember what he was thinking about before the call interrupted him. But he couldn't remember, so Omi then continued about his business. He had work to do. After all it was just another business day.
Omi moved toward the kitchen to start a fresh pot of coffee. With the sale, it would get much busier before the day was through.
*** Yoji yawned and stretched lazily. For him it was too early to work, but he didn't have much of a choice. Today was Valentine's Day. He pushed himself up and sat on the edge of the bed. ~Omi had better have coffee ready~ he thought bitterly as he got up and headed down the stairs.
***
*Five minutes and half a cup later*
A slightly more awake Yoji leaned back in his chair. He casually sipped the black liquid in his cup. Ran sat at the table focused solely on the roses in his hands. He silently wrapped the delicate flowers as a steadily growing pile of bouquets grew beside him.
Aya waved a cheery good morning to Omi as she danced down the stairs. "Good morning Ran-niichan, Yoji-niichan"
Her older brother rose as she stepped into the kitchen. He smiled as she kissed his cheek. Yoji replied with a soft grunt. He still wasn't fully awake.
*Ten more minutes and another cup and a half later. *
At 8:45 Yoji decided to go ahead and open the shop, in spite of his bed-ragged appearance. He slid through the door, flaunting his usual grace.
~I'll open up and go an take a shower~, he thought. Bending down, he grabbed the security grating and lifted. The unfortunate blonde was nearly deafened by the sudden wall of sound he was assaulted by. Surprised by the mass of bodies that stood before him, he released the grating. A single figure darted from the crowd and ducked under the gate, and rolled to a stop beside him.
"Sakura?" Yoji was quite surprised to see her. He was much more surprised to see the street in front of the shop filled with people. Looking down at his lack of clothing, he quickly pulled the security gate back down. A unison moan came from the crowd as the gate clanged shut.
"Good Morning Yoji-kun; Ran-kun, Aya-chan"
"Sakura-chan!" Greeted Aya.
The young girl bounced to her feet, dusting herself off, she turned to her friend. "Aya, why didn't you tell me?"
"Tell you what? " Inquired Yoji.
"About the sale." replied Sakura
"Oh, the sale." agreed Aya "$5 off a dozen roses?"
"What really? Don't you mean $5 for a dozen roses?." clarified Sakura.
The assembled members of the Koneko looked at each other. "No, $5 off." repeated Aya
"Really? Then what about the ad?"
"What about it?" Yoji's voice carried the irritation that his face failed to show.
Sakura stared at them, shocked. Wasting no time, she unfolded the morning paper and held it out to them. As she had said, the brightly colored ad read.
Koneko no sumi e Valentine's Day Special One dozen roses $ 5.00.
Yoji stared, Aya blinked, Ran frowned. They each reread the ad, twice.
"A mistake? " Sakura looked worried.
"A very big one" Aya mumbled quietly.
The two older men looked to each other and yelled the first thing that came to mind. "Hidaka!"
A few moments later, the drowsy goalkeeper stumbled down the stairs. Clad in baby blue pajamas and armed with a toothbrush, he turned to Aya and Yoji. It was easy to see that his ignorance of the situation wouldn't save him. The confused expression on his face confirmed to all the fact that Ken Hidaka was not a morning person.
"What's going on? He asked. Ran said nothing he only glared.
"Ken -kun" Yoji inquired sweetly.
Ken was totally ignorant to the sarcasm that Yoji was displaying. "Yes?"
"Have you seen the paper?"
" No, Why is anything wrong?"
Yoji held the neatly folded paper out to Ken." Take a look "
Relaxing slightly, Ken took the paper, and scanned it intently. He briefly noted that the local soccer team had won their season finals and would be heading to the championship. He had a pretty good guess that's not what Yoji meant. " Oh, the Dragon's won .so what am I looking for?"
Sakura helpfully pointed out the source of the others discomfort. Ken noticed the ad, but unfortunately was oblivious to the point. . "Yeah? It's our ad."
" Try reading it " Yoji growled, his anger slowly building.
Ken looked over it again. During the third reading, his mind registered something pivotal, profound and very important. "The off's off," he observed.
" Exactly" Yoji's voice was very soft.
"This is going to be a problem," Ken mumbled.
Sakura rolled her eyes, Ran glared and the insanity outside continued.
* About 30 minutes later. *
Omi shook his head sadly hanging up the phone. He sighed and then spoke quietly and calmly. "It's been printed and circulated, we have to honor it."
Everyone turned to Ran. He spoke quietly and calmly. " This is coming out of your paycheck "
. Ken sighed and leaned against the table. "This sucks."
The crowd outside had begun a chant. " Open, Open, Open."
"It's 9:30" Sakura called. "What do we do?"
Omi shrugged, "We'll open".
Aya winced slightly. "I had a feeling you were going to say that."
Omi stepped forward." Momo will direct the crowd, Aya will take the register and we'll handled the roses."
"I'm helping too" Sakura chimed in,
"But Sakura."
"It's Okay, I want to, what kind of friend would I be if I didn't?'
Omi nodded briefly." Thank you Sakura." Aya leaned over hugging her.
With their tasks clear and the danger understood, the doors were opened. Nothing could have prepared them for what came.
***
Momo smiled brightly; the boys would get through this, they always did. Today would be no different. She turned and began her task of directing the crowd.
Many things can be said of little old ladies; but the most important, is stay out of their way. No one was really surprised when the little old woman all of two feet tall, began directing the customers; except the customers themselves.
Fortunately for them, they quickly got over it.
***
Ken struggled to wrap the roses in his hands and not fall over. The shop was packed and then some.
"This isn't working!" shouted Omi.
"What? "Yoji yelled back.
"This isn't working!"
"What?"
"This isn't working," screamed the crowd.
"Right. thanks."
"What should we do?"
After a few moments of confusion and deciding that it really wasn't working, Omi' grabbed his cell phone. After making the call, he returned to his work.
On the other side of the room Yoji's pager went off. Checking it he grinned. Weaving through the crowd as only he could, Yoji reached the phone. Leaning against the small table, he called Omi back.
"This isn't working" Yoji stated the obvious.
"Tell me about it." Omi sighed, "We need to do something about this crowd."
"Like what, release the hounds, get the hoses?"
"No, ask Momo if she can work on it, the rest of us can barely handle the jobs we were given much less anther one."
"Right, negative on the dogs and water, just my luck." Yoji sighed
Omi laughed quietly and turned his attention back to the flowers.
*10 minutes later. *
At the door to the Koneko, Momo was standing on a chair. The little old lady managed to slow the crowd down faster than anyone expected. Unfortunately, the crowd inside didn't move as fast as the one outside. Weiss just might have a problem.
***
Sakura smiled brightly at the women and young ladies to move through the shop. A few gentlemen and young men passed by her as well. The crowd was quite large. Such a lovely day Valentine's Day, so many people were so wrapped up in the spirit of the holiday.
She continued to squeeze through the crowd, if you stayed in one place you tended to get caught; she already learned that lesson well enough. At times she swore she saw Ran or Yoji, but they quickly vanished back in to the crowd.
Koneko was packed.
***
Ran picked up the phone, ignoring the squealing fangirls. "Oi Ran.we have a problem. "
Ken paused, knowing full well Ran wasn't quite pleased with him " We're running out of roses."
"Did you call the distributors?" Ran stopped wrapping the roses that he held in his hand.
Ken shrugged. "No good, they wouldn't have anything for us until next week."
Ran's eyes narrowed, the mass of fangirls stepped back a few feet. " Fix it "
Ken shrugged again. "But. What am I supposed to do?"
"Fix it" With that, Ran hung up, leaving Ken to figure it out.
Unsurprisingly the pack of fangirls had doubled. Ran grabbed a few more roses and began wrapping.
***
"What in the world is going on?" Manx whispered.
A huge throng of people crowded the front of the shop. A few police officers stood around directing traffic, watching the ensuing chaos. Looking both ways, she quickly crossed the street. She slipped silently the through the crowd, with all the inborn grace of her namesake. Looking at the commotion around her, she was struck by a thought: ~ It's gotta be a sale. ~ Moving through the people, she made her was to the doors.
" Excuse me "
Manx turned to see Momo balanced on a small chair.
" Where do you think you are going?"
"I need to get in to talk with the boys, it's important" Manx turned to crowd into the shop
"No, you need to go to the end of the line."
"I'm sorry Momo-san, but I need to"
"Nonsense, You need to wait in line like everyone else"
"But."
"No buts, "chided the elderly woman" Now go"
Manx had no choice but to abide by the old lady's order.
She sighed, momentarily defeated and walked to the end of the line.
***
Ken stared at the growing crowd. 'This is going to be tough"
Quickly pushing his way through the room, he made his way to the back door. He was going upstairs; it was the only empty space besides the basement. Reaching the landing, he looked out the window. They were definitely going to need more roses and he was the one who had to get them. But, only if he could get out of the building.
Ken suddenly decided he wasn't going back downstairs, not for any thing. The fire escape was an idea, but he'd never get out of the alley. The window was another option, but jumping was totally out of the question.
Wasn't it?
***
Manx was fuming. She been waiting over 20 minutes and the line had just moved. Flipping her hair over her shoulder she sighed. A scream caught her attention. Looking up she stared.
"Ken?"
The assassin in question, stood, bouncing slightly on the awning. The insane young man transfixed the crowd. Ken Hidaka grinned. With that, he jumped.
Manx frowned disapprovingly. "Show off"
***
Sakura struggled for balance, in the crowded shop. She leaned against the table and passed the roses to waiting customers. "Have a nice day "she chirruped.
Breathing a sigh she climbed up and sat on the table. This day was getting more and more hectic. She began to worry if she could handle it. Everyone else seemed so calm and relaxed.
Yoji flirted outrageously, yet he managed to keep the crowd moving. Omi greeted everyone; a smile always graced his lips. Across the room, Ran and Aya were actually quite calm, well Aya was; Ran just seemed impassive.
Sakura giggled aloud and with a renewed spirit, she returned to her task.
***
Ken almost laughed.
His little stunt had attracted immediate attention. Just as he'd guessed, the crowd was large enough to qualify as a mosh pit. They were all too willing to live up to the expectation.
As he was passed over the top of the crowd, Ken could not help but blush. He was spun around, tossed in the air and flipped over. Members of the crowd, caught in the excitement of the moment, were having fun. Others were having more fun than they should, and at Ken's expense. Ken was suddenly glad everyone else was in the shop.
"Ken!"
They were in the shop, weren't they?
Struggling away from some of the more fun loving hands that held him up, Ken found himself looking at an upside down Manx.
"Oh Hi." Ken hoped that his blushing wasn't too obvious.
"There's a job," she stated firmly.
"Now? We're just a bit busy."
"I can see that" she replied. The host shifted again pushing them apart.
"Ken!"
"Just tell the others!" With that, he disappeared into the crowd.
The secretary glared. This was beginning to become annoying.
***
Hidaka Ken pulled his goggles down over his face. Now wasn't the time to be worrying about "Dark Beasts" and hunting their tomorrows. If he didn't get some roses soon, Ran would be hunting his tomorrows.
Ken sighed as he checked the side view mirror. ~`Now why was the delivery scooter pink? `Oh yeah it's Omi's~. With that disturbing thought in mind, Ken set off on his mission.
***
Pushing her way past hyper schoolgirls, Manx forced her way into the shop. Unfortunately not a single member of Weiss could be seen. Manx frowned angrily, and began moving through crowd. It was only few moments before she saw a familiar face.
***
"Sakura!"
The peppy athlete turned at the sound of her name. Slowly she gave the irritated secretary a small wave.
~That's weird Manx only comes by if something's up. I wonder.. ~
"Where are they?"
Sakura blinked and replied.
"Omi's that way, Ran and Yoji are across the room. And Ken is.."
"Gone, I know." Manx interrupted.
Oh.
"Thanks."
Manx turned and ducked into the collection of people.
Sakura shrugged and reached for some more roses. ~Things are going to be interesting. ~
***
" Yes, roses. No, just roses, yes No, the colors aren't important. Yes just roses. Alot, as many as you can spare, yes, It's a long story; I have to. makeup with someone close to me. Really likes roses. You can?? Thank you yes, Thank you. I'll be there shortly Bye".
Ken sighed and hung up. Turning to the scooter he frowned. ~Why pink? Why? ~ Realizing that such contemplation was futile, he took off towards the flower shop. Quite soon he found himself at the Bara ya or Rose shop. It was a nice little shop, nothing like the Koneko. Standing there, Ken found himself staring..
***
Staring in to the dark endless depths. Falling in to the darkness his silent screams continued unnoticed. "Its empty," Omi whimpered. Setting the coffee cup down, he turned to ever- present crowd. Staring into the sea of people he came to a conclusion. ~If they wanted flowers, there were getting flowers. ~ The teen grabbed a bouquet of roses and raised them into the air; a determined smile spread across his face. ~ All right lets get down to business. ~
A hand shot out catching his wrist.
"Huh?" Omi turned suddenly.
"Manx-san!"
"Omi" she replied calmly
"This is a bad time" he sighed hanging his head
The aggravated secretary caught his arm and pulled him towards the back of the shop. She turned to Sakura. "Stay here"
Just as suddenly, they were gone.
Sakura glanced around her; she was stuck again.
***
Yoji ran a hand through his hair and grimaced. He hadn't even had time to brush it properly. He sighed, it wasn't right to show his fans this rough appearance. Ken had better hurry up with those roses. ***
"Closed?" The panic in Ken's voice was almost audible.. Almost.
"Yes I'm afraid so.'
"But what about.?"
'I'm truly sorry, we're closed for the day."
"Why?"
"Another shop, Kitty something, they're having a huge sale. Have you seen that ad?"
" Yeah" Ken grimaced." I have" The florist nodded and continued. "They must have a lot of flowers or little sense" The young blonde turned back to Ken "Then again they could have both." The smile faded from his face. "I'm sorry, but you'll have to come back later, no one's really going to be able to sell anything and make much of a profit at least not today.
Ken crouched and stared at the roses. Reaching out he touched a small blossom. ~`There had to be something.~
"How much are your roses?"
"What?" The florist looked dumbfounded.
Ken stood quickly. "How much for all of your roses?"
***