Vanishing Act
Rokesmith
Disclaimer: Weiss Kreuz, its characters, indices etcetera belong to Takehito Koyasu, Kyoko Tsuchiya and Project Weiss. This fanfic was written for fun rather than profit and any resemblances to persons living or dead are purely coincidental.
Author's Note: This fanfic was written with the idea of focussing on Weiss as assassins and, more specifically, just how dangerous these young men are. Various aspects of the story was inspired by the stylised but very violent action movies of Hong Kong and Korea and the prologue was borrowed from a similar sequence in the American remake of the film Bangkok Dangerous. I should also note that the information on Ken's backstory and capabilities are extrapolated from some of what he does in the anime but also the Four Leaf Clover Drama CD. There are also more general references to information picked from the anime and manga canons which, despite their contradictions, I've done my best to combine in a way that makes most sense to me. As usual, I'm eternally grateful to Laila for her encouragement, as well as helping me figure out the fine details of the plot and for proof-reading the results.
Prologue: Chitose Pool
At twenty to eleven on a Friday evening, Ushio Ogawa swims lengths in Chitose Heated Pool in Setagawa. He swims a slow, precise crawl up and down the twenty-five metre pool; a few hours of exercise in an otherwise sedentary week. The only other swimmer left ten minutes earlier. For the next twenty minutes until the pool closes, he has it to himself.
But he is not alone.
While he is at the opposite end of the pool, a figure steps from the locker room wearing a black wetsuit, swimming cap and plastic gloves. Only the face is exposed: the expression is empty, the eyes never move from Ogawa.
The figure slips into the pool, the sound masked by Ogawa's splashes. Two long, slow breaths and then the head disappears below the surface. Ogawa continues to swim, reaching the deepest part of the pool, unable to see the shadow moving towards him under the surface. The head surfaces in his wake, breathes deeply through the nose and is gone again.
Ogawa feels something brush his leg. He stops and turns to look, then something smooth and slippery grips his left leg just below the knee. He opens his mouth to shout but only manages a syllable as the grip on his leg pulls him below the surface. His ears clang, his eyes burn, his mouth and nose fill with water. He kicks out as hard as he can, but connects with nothing. The grip on his left leg tightens, and whatever is holding him fastens onto his right foot, dragging him deeper.
His lungs catch fire. Blood pounds in his skull. He sees the shadow below him and recognises it. He thrashes against the grip but only fills the water around him with bubbles. The lights above him burn his eyes, but he cannot reach them. Every second, the surface is further away.
His body betrays him. His mouth opens and water fills his lungs. His last breath bubbles upwards and bursts on the surface. The body of Ushio Ogawa is still.
Thirty seconds pass, and then the surface is breached. The black figure breathes deeply and the sound fills the empty hall. It holds Ogawa's head face down in the water for two more minutes. There is no more movement, so the figure releases the body to float and swims to the side. The figure walks to the locker room without looking back.
Stripped of the wetsuit and cap, a well-muscled young man stuffs them into a plain Nike sports bag and retrieves his clothes from a locker. His expression is still empty. His eyes are shot red by chlorine. As he pulls on his grey polo shirt, faint white surgery scars show against the dark skin of his back.
He puts on a pair of denim jeans and a black leather jacket and walks slowly out through the front door with his head down. Outside, he pulls a Hiroshima Carp baseball cap over his unruly hair. He walks for five minutes to a side street where a pale blue Nissan Cefiro is parked.
A man in a dark suit gets out of the driver's side. "Did you do it?" he asks.
"He's dead."
"Well done, Hidaka. Get in."
Ken Hidaka gets into the car and it drives away.
