It was one of those rare quiet afternoons where there wasn't a mission to be organized and customers to the flower shop were scarce. The Koneko had been fairly busy in the morning, but as the afternoon dragged on the hoards of schoolgirls were absent and even the older customers had not come by. Now even though there was still an hour to go before they were due to shut, Omi had decided to start the closing procedures already; having shut the till down he only had to tidy up and lock the door, and then he'd be done early.
Having found a broom, he set to clearing the shop floor of all the debris that had collected there during the day. Despite the lack of visitors it had still got pretty untidy; Omi frowned as he noticed broken crockery at the base of a plant stand. That would have to be paid for. It was harder to keep control of the shop now that there were only three of them.
The days after he had resurfaced from the waters in the final battle with Schwarz had been peculiar. Omi didn't remember much between the shock of plunging into the raging waves, and the moment when he awoke once more, safe in a pristine white-sheeted bed in the Kritiker headquarters. He gave a bitter sigh at the memory - once more, Kritiker were able to say that he owed his life to them. And that was more true than they might realise, because Kritiker was his life. Everything about himself, every skill that he had, even the stationery he used for school, was provided by them. He had given up resenting it long ago, because it was just how things were.
Omi had returned to the flower shop a couple of days later, whereupon he had discovered Yohji passed out on the sofa in the mission room. When, after several hours, the older man had finally woken, he seemed much more withdrawn than the Yohji who had once flirted outrageously with every girl in sight. Although he appeared to be back to his old self now, he still refused to talk about what had happened to him during those days. Omi didn't blame him, because he wasn't going to tell anyone about his experiences, either.
Ken had surfaced not long after Omi's return, looking his cheerful self as always. After a few attempts at trying to find out what had happened to his other teammates he had, much to everyone's relief, given up. Omi didn't know exactly what had happened to Ken, but he figured the brunette had somehow managed to swim to safety on his own, and then had come back to the flower shop once he'd found his bearings. At any rate he didn't seem particularly fazed by the whole experience; not like Yohji, or Omi.
Nearly a month later Omi, who was the first up as usual, discovered a letter that had been slipped through their door some time during the night. It was short and emotionless, and simply stated that Ran would not be returning as an assassin of Weiss, but requested that his possessions be sent on to another address. There could be no doubt that it was from the redhead, they all knew his unmistakeable small, neat handwriting. Ken had wanted to find the man and make him stay on with them, but Omi dissuaded him. He wanted Aya to have his chance of happiness as peacefully as possible, if it had come for him at last. And he thought it was highly unlikely that the redhead could be made to change his mind. He had signed the letter Ran, after all.
It was understandable, really, that Aya would want to quit his job as a florist - and as an assassin. He had put up with it for the best part of three years, and although he was an expert at the art of killing - they all were, Omi thought wryly - it had only ever been temporary for him, whereas it had become a livelihood for the rest of Weiss. And now their redheaded teammate had a brighter future ahead of him. They'd have thought he was crazy if he didn't take it.
It would still have been decent of him to keep in touch though.
But you couldn't really expect that from Aya. One of the things Omi remembered best about him was his strong distaste for anything he considered a "complication" - and Weiss must be nothing more to Aya than that now. He had to try to rebuild a life for his sister - a life where she could be safe and secure - and so the obvious thing to do was to cut all ties with the person he had been while Aya-chan was unconscious. And so Aya hadn't returned to the flower shop as they had all assumed he would do; he'd simply requested that his few belongings be sent to a temporary address, and that was the last Omi had seen of him.
The remaining assassins weren't unaccustomed to working as a trio instead of a quartet; after all, they had been a team of both florists and killers long before they ever heard of Fujimiya Aya. But it was strange, working without a fourth member after so long. Almost… lonely. Omi considered that a little odd, as the sullen redhead had never tried to get involved with the rest of them on any sort of personal level - they'd had their moments, of course, but it was never long before Aya seemed to remember his vengeance and his aims and went back to avoiding any sort of amusement. But Omi had been so accustomed to him being there, even if it was just his silent presence, glaring at the world from a corner. And now there was an emptiness that he had never noticed before Aya arrived.
He wondered if Yohji and Ken felt it too.
The amount of missions they received hadn't changed, but Omi knew Kritiker were sending them easier tasks now. He wasn't sure how he felt about that. Part of him was indignant that Kritiker doubted Weiss could do as well without Aya as they had with him; part of him knew they couldn't, and was relieved that he didn't have to try. And so Omi's life had fallen back into a pattern again - where school, the flower shop and the shadowed role of an assassin were all balanced with just enough time for him to catch a couple of hours' sleep in between.
Omi replaced the broom in its cupboard and looked around the Koneko with a satisfied smile. He'd cleared the mess away and now he could close early - and maybe even have the evening to himself for once, or spend it with Yohji and Ken, if they came back any time soon. Now that Momoe-san had retired and gone to live with her daughter in the country, and Aya had left them as well, they had to take it in turns to work single shifts every now and then. It worked - when the shop wasn't busy, Omi thought wryly.
As he reached up to wind the metal grill down he noticed a figure standing on the opposite side of the road from the Koneko, watching the shop intently. Omi frowned. No one investigating Weiss would do it so openly – and besides, this looked like a young woman, or even a girl. Although she was too far away for him to clearly see her face, he thought she was quite nervous from the way she stood, clutching a satchel to her chest and swaying slightly as if determining whether or not to step forward and cross the road. She was slim, Omi observed, and neither tall nor short… and her black hair was tied in two loose plaits either side of her face…
Omi was too far away to be absolutely sure, but if his memory was anything to go by he was pretty sure he was looking straight at Fujimiya Aya.
She must have noticed him watching her, for she took a step backwards and started walking quickly away. He was out of the door and after her without a thought for anything else, just wondering why, why would Aya-chan come to the flower shop? How did she even know about it?
"Aya-san!" he called after her, breaking into a run. "Please wait!"
She halted, her uncertainty evident in her large dark eyes. Omi caught up to her without being out of breath; Kritiker training ensured he was always able to do normal physical activities without difficulty.
He stared at her for a moment, wondering what he was going to say to her now, after he'd run out of the shop in pursuit of her.
"Tsukiyono... -san?" Aya-chan asked hesitantly.
"Yes," Omi replied. "And you're Fujimiya Aya."
She nodded, although it hadn't been a question, and with a nervous flick of her head she glanced uneasily back down the road towards the flower shop.
"The others are all out," Omi told her. "Would you like to come back with me?"
Aya-chan paused a moment, and then nodded her head again.
As they walked back towards the Koneko, Omi found he couldn't take his eyes off her. She was still very pale-skinned, but then her brother had been so as well. Her hair looked longer as well; Omi wondered if it had kept growing while she was unconscious. He assumed it must have done. Maybe Aya - no, Ran, he corrected himself confusedly - maybe Ran had trimmed it for her.
Aya-chan was dressed in a simple loose turquoise t-shirt and a white skirt that made a soft swishing noise as she walked. She also carried a denim satchel with a cartoon character stitched onto the front. She didn't look very different, Omi thought, from how she had looked last time he saw her; except that now she was awake and breathing and walking alongside him.
As they approached the flower-shop Omi asked her, "Why did you come here?" It seemed easier than to ask why she had run away when he saw her.
"I… I just wanted to see…" Aya-chan's voice faltered, but Omi understood.
"It's okay," he said reassuringly, letting her know that she didn't have to continue if she couldn't explain. She had just wanted to see the place that had been her brother's life when he had lived with her name. Not for the first time Omi felt compassion run through him for the nervous dark-haired girl that walked alongside him. She must have woken to find herself in an unimaginable situation. To find both her parents murdered, and her brother living as a professional killer - Omi assumed Aya-chan knew about that, if she was visiting the flower shop - and to find that the world had gone though two whole years while she hadn't changed at all.
He wondered briefly what she had been like before. Ran had rarely mentioned her, and then he'd never really talked about her; about what she was like. But he had doted on her, everyone knew that.
Would Omi's brothers have cared for him like that, if he had grown up knowing them?
He didn't bother trying to answer that question.
"Here we are," he announced brightly, reaching out to turn the door handle.
And he cursed very uncharacteristically in his head when the handle refused to budge.
Aya-chan was looking at him inquisitively. Omi felt his cheeks redden. "Uh, I think the door's locked," he muttered, "and I don't have a key." He felt like kicking the door, but managed to restrain himself. That would not be a good impression to make on Aya-chan.
He turned to look at her and noticed with surprise that her eyes were crinkled with mirth. At least his embarrassment had got rid of some of her inhibitions. "Would you like to sit down?" Omi offered, waving one hand dramatically towards the step in front of the offending door.
"Thank you, Tsukiyono-san." She perched lightly on the end of the step, and Omi sat down beside her.
"It's Omi," he said. "My name," he explained as he noticed Aya-chan's blank look. "No one calls me Tsukiyono-san."
"Okay!"
They sat in shy silence for a while, and then the girl asked, "Is… anyone likely to be getting back soon?"
Omi felt a sudden stab of guilt; he was making Aya-chan wait out here in the cold without even apologizing! "I don't think so," he said. "I'm really sorry I can't let you in. I don't usually forget my key-"
"No, it's okay," Aya-chan cut in hurriedly, "I'd rather…" she paused, "well, actually, I'd rather no one had seen me. But as you have… you won't tell anyone, will you?"
Her voice sounded worried; almost panicky. Omi frowned. Why didn't she want anyone to know she had visited the Koneko? Ken and Yohji wouldn't mind - in fact, they'd probably be delighted to see her! But if she was so anxious about it…
"If that's what you'd prefer," he said slowly.
Aya-chan must have noticed the expression on his face, because she said, "Oh, please don't be offended! It's not you - I just don't want my brother to know I've been here."
Omi smiled at her. "I'm not offended, really. But no one would mind you coming here, we'd love it if you came by more often, actually. We were all very worried about you at one point." Aya-chan was the one to look embarrassed now, and Omi felt a little bad - he hadn't wanted to remind her of her experiences, or to hint that she owed them any debt. "Anyway," he continued, "we wouldn't be able to tell Aya-kun - sorry, I mean Ran-kun - we don't have any contact with him since - hey, what's wrong?"
Aya-chan had turned quite pale, her eyes wide open in surprise. "You don't… keep in contact with Ran?"
"No," Omi told her, "not since you woke and he left Weiss to look after you – hey, what's the matter, Aya-chan?"
"I haven't seen my brother since before… before the accident," she whispered hollowly.
"What?" Omi gasped.
"That's why I came here today - to see if I could see him - not to talk to him, just to see him again… but he's not here?" One of Aya-chan's hands gripped the edge of the step, the other was pressed tightly to her mouth. To Omi's dismay her coal-black eyes began to water.
The assassin reached out a nervous hand, laying the lightest touch on her shoulder. "Aya-chan… it's okay…" It was a pointless thing to say and he knew it, because he couldn't possibly describe what emotions she was going through right in front of him, but he couldn't bear to see girls - anyone - in distress.
She didn't respond, too deeply absorbed in her shock and pain. Omi felt helpless and frustrated. There had to be something he could do - something to help. Why was it that he could kill people as easily as he could spell his name, and yet not be able to offer another person comfort?
Maybe it was just because he was a guy. Girls were better at this emotional stuff. He was sure Ouka would have known what to say. She always seemed bossy and self-centred to those who didn't really know her, but she'd give me a hug whenever she thought I looked upset… and a lot of the time when she didn't think I looked upset, as well.
Gingerly Omi shifted a little closer to his companion, until his arm was cradled around her shoulders. She leaned into him a little, pressing her head against his chest as she continued to cry. Omi didn't say anything, just held her close. Once again he thought how small and vulnerable she looked.
After a few minutes Aya-chan, having calmed down a bit, stiffened and pulled away from him. Omi looked at her warily, worried for a moment that he'd been too forward with her, but she smiled through her tears at him. "Thank you."
"It's okay," he said, shifting a little as he found a new position on the step. Sitting still for so long had turned his legs numb. As he settled down he accidentally sat on something hard in the back pocket of his shorts, which he found, when he retrieved it, was some loose change he'd collected during the day, from working in the flower shop.
Omi looked sideways at Aya-chan, who was wiping her eyes with the back of one delicate hand. Although the flow of tears had stopped she still looked despondent and he suddenly realised how much he wanted to see her smiling again. There wasn't anything he could do to console her about Ran; Omi himself was still finding his former teammate's disappearance hard to take in; but maybe he could take Aya-chan's mind off her brother, even if it was just for a little while.
"There's a small café a couple of streets from here. It'll be much warmer than sitting on this cold step," he added coaxingly.
"I couldn't-" Aya-chan began.
"Come on!" Omi said, doing his best to sound reassuring. "It'll be my treat. Besides, I'd like to talk to you some more, Aya-chan!"
She opened her mouth to protest again and then reconsidered, giving a slight nod of her head in consent.
Omi had sometimes stopped by the café to grab a coffee on his way home from school, but he'd never really sat inside it with anyone before. He knew several of his classmates would sometimes hang out there; more than once he'd been invited to join them, but that was the kind of relaxed social gathering he felt he had to avoid in case he were to get too careless in the midst of friendly company and let slip something out about Weiss. He'd walk past every day and look though the windows to the brightly lit interior, where small groups of people would be clustered jovially around steaming coffee. There was a time when he'd meant to take Ouka there, but he'd always felt just a little too shy to ask, and then the chance had gone.
He'd found it incredibly easy to ask Aya-chan. But he didn't have the same feelings towards her as he had for Ouka; he simply wanted to cheer up the quiet girl that walked beside him.
As Omi pushed the door open and held it out for Aya-chan to enter first he was met by the overwhelming sweet odour of freshly made cakes. But there was more to it than just sweetness, Omi thought as he followed the dark-haired girl into the shop; there was a spiciness to that scent as well; evasive, but definitely there. He was trying hard to place it when Aya-chan gave a small cry of delight.
"They have cinnamon cake! Oh, I haven't had this in years!"
Cinnamon! That was what he could smell. A woman with a faded blue apron tied around her generous waist was behind the counter cutting the cake into slices, apparently having just taken it out of the oven. She looked up at the two teenagers as they approached the till and smiled at them. "This will be ready in just a minute!"
"Then I'd like two pieces, please," Omi said. "What would you like to drink, Aya-chan?"
"Drink?" Aya-chan repeated, her eyes wide. "That's very kind of you Omi-kun… could I possibly have a latte, please?"
"Certainly!" Omi ordered the drinks, handing the money over with a smile to the waitress. "Take a seat, Aya-chan, and I'll bring them over."
Aya-chan sipped at her drink, her long lashes casting shadows over her eyes. Her mood was more settled now, if not yet happy.
Omi watched her thoughtfully. He had dozens of questions he wanted to ask her, things he was dying to know, but he didn't want to say the wrong thing; and he wasn't sure what he wanted to know most, anyway.
Well, okay, maybe he did have one burning question that stood out from all the others. But he didn't think the girl sitting across the table from him would be able to explain what had happened to her brother.
"You haven't touched your cake, Omi-kun!" Aya-chan pointed out.
He blinked, startled. "Oh. Sorry." He let honey-coloured bangs of hair fall across his face, hoping they would hide his blush, as he broke a small piece off his cake. However just as he was about to place it in his mouth, he was distracted by a soft little laugh.
Aya-chan was looking at him, her dark eyes crinkled with mirth. "There's no need to be sorry," she told him, "or even to be embarrassed!"
That, of course, only had the effect of making Omi's face redden even more.
"I'm the one who should be sorry, I shouldn't have teased you," Aya-chan laughed, and he felt a little better just from seeing her smile. But then her face sobered and she added, her voice serious this time, "I expect there's a lot you want to know, right?"
Omi nodded. "You probably have lots of questions as well."
"Yes," she told him. "Sakura-chan explained everything she knew to me, but there's so much she left out. From the sound of things, Ra… my brother kept her at quite a distance."
An unbidden wistful expression rose to Omi's face as he recalled his former teammate's discomfort around the lovestruck highschooler. "You could say that," he murmured.
Aya-chan said quietly, "I have this image of him in my head. He's always cheerful, and friendly, and well-mannered… even if he can be a little awkward at times. But the person who Sakura told me about… that isn't him. He's got older, and changed, and I'm still just sixteen. So I knew before I came here today that I'd already lost the brother I once had. But I thought there'd be something left; even if he behaved differently, he'd still look like my niisan, and there would be a part of him that I would recognise. I didn't think -" her voice trembled slightly, and she took a breath before carrying on. "I didn't expect him to not be there at all."
"The Ran I knew - no, the Aya I knew; because that was what we called him; he would have given his life for you!" Omi said fervently. "He risked it enough times. You were everything to him. He never said as much, but I'm pretty sure the only thing that kept him going each day was the hope that there might come a time when you'd wake up and come back to him. So I'm sure he wouldn't have given you up of his own accord!"
Aya-chan stared at him, her eyes round and hopeful, and Omi faltered. He wanted to believe that Ran wouldn't choose to abandon both his beloved sister and Weiss, but he couldn't think of a plausible reason why the redhead would leave them both. Schwarz were gone - even if the other assassins had survived like Weiss had, they'd have been in no state to prevent Ran from returning. And Esset were finished, there was no doubt about that. So either there was yet another malicious organization out there who for some reason wanted to separate the two remaining Fujimiyas, or Weiss; or Ran really had walked out.
There was only one path of action to be followed when it came to problems like these.
"Aya-chan, I promise I'll look into it, okay?" Omi reassured the girl. "I'll research… I'll see if I can find any mention of him over these last few months… I'll find him for you!" And for Weiss, he added silently, thinking of the empty apartment back at the flower shop.
Aya-chan's face had lost the flicker of hope. Now she just looked defeated as she asked, "Do you think you've got much chance of finding anything?"
"Don't worry!" Omi said, with much more confidence than he felt. "There aren't many people better at hunting down information than me. And Ran is the kind of person who tends to make an impression on others." Scarlet hair, imposing glare… who could forget that in a hurry? "I have a feeling he'll be remembered."
"Okay," Aya-chan said softly. "And - thank you."
"No problem!" the assassin remarked brightly. "Now why don't you share this cake with me, and tell me what you've been doing these last few months?"
end of part one