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Lily der Senke des Todes
Lily of the Valley of Death
A Weiss Kreuz/Ronin Warriors Crossover
By: Yuuki Miyaka and Foobard
Prologue
They stood before him at his command, two adorable puppets with no will of their own. He'd seen to that. The man, Yohji, had annoyed him for far too long, and now the Weiss assassin was going down in a blaze of glory. Going down, that was, just after he killed the bitch he'd been with when Schuldich found him. His hand tightened briefly into a fist, and he smiled a tiny, mocking smile. He'd been able to do nearly anything with his powers before this, and now that he had one of Weiss, he knew that he would be able to destroy them all. It was just a matter of time, and Schuldich could be very patient when he wanted to.
At a mental command, Yohji stepped forward, brandishing the monofilament wire he used in his assassinations. A snap of the wrist, and he would have the wire tight around the woman's throat. After that, it was only a matter of using his incredible strength to cut through her throat and kill her. Schuldich glanced around the room, smiling at the animals watching him. His eyes landed on the spider riding on his shoulder, and he grinned evilly. This was going to be a pleasant evening indeed.
He directed Yohji to set the wire in place, then frowned when the honey-haired assassin didn't move. Another mental command met with no movement, and Schuldich searched within himself for the answer to the puzzle. It was quickly forthcoming. He couldn't hear them, couldn't hear the voices that had existed in his mind for longer than he could remember, the voices that represented the thoughts of everyone around him. He could not use his power.
Mouth dry in sudden fear, he fought to hear the voices, forgetting that without his power, he'd lost control of the Weiss assassin. Yohji stepped forward, grabbing for his wire. With a growl, he flicked the thin weapon at Schuldich, catching the Scwartz fighter around the neck. Schuldich looked up too late, eyes wide in fear, then glanced wildly around him. He had a sudden impression of mirth from the animals around him, the wolf and snake, the coyote and spider. He made a grab for the spider, but it leapt away from him before he could catch it, and the last thing he felt was pain, exploding pain in his throat.
Schuldich sat upright, breathing heavily. It had been nothing more than a sick dream. Even as his mind told him this, his hand clutched at his neck, feeling the flesh covering it and sighing in relief when he felt only solid skin. He shook his head to clear it, then rose from his bed, padding out of the room and down to the kitchen he shared with the other three members of Schwartz. Nagi was there, making himself some hot milk.
"Bad dream, Schuldich?" he asked softly. Schuldich pasted an arrogant smile on his face and laughed.
"Just wanted a drink, Nagi. Go to bed."
Nagi looked at him strangely for a long moment, then nodded and left, taking the milk with him. But that was all right. Schuldich hated warm milk.
Sage just HAD to go with Kento, if only because Kento had no taste in interior decorating and couldn't pick a flower from his nose. It was almost all he could do to get Kento to part with the silk flowers he was about to buy. If Kento wanted to please the Sai of the green thumb, a rock garden just wouldn't do. Just as they stepped into the Koneko no Sumu Ii, Kento turned to Sage, asking, "What's an amaryllis?" He turned to Kento, raised a golden, sardonic eyebrow, and just before he graced the man with an answer, he saw them. A hundred, screaming fangirls packed into the small flowershop they'd just entered. Sage blanched, and turned to get out of this hellhole. These kinds of crowds were hardly his idea of a quiet afternoon. But just as he wrenched open the door, he realized two things. One, the fangirls seemed to be focussing on the two male attendants of the flower shop. Two, Kento was casually shouldering his way through the crowd toward said male attendants. Sage gathered together the remnants of his tattered composure and strode purposefully through the generous wake created by Kento.
"Konnichiwa!" a young voice called out, surprising the two ronins. They looked up and were greeted by a innocent face framing a sweet smile and wide, blue eyes. "May I help you find something?" The speaker seemed genuinely interested in aiding them, and Sage was surprised to hear his large friend start . . . blathering.
Remarkable, the blond man thought. He seems to get louder when he's nervous. The wry thought was followed by a brief period sizing up the boy before them. He was definitely far more muscular than Sage would expect from a florist, but there were any number of reasons for such muscles, and very few reasons to assume anything about this boy. He listened, silently, as Kento spoke of Sai's birthday and the flowers they'd planned to get him, and how everything absolutely must be perfect. The florist absorbed Kento's monologue in silent agreement, then flashed a sunny grin and asked them to wait.
As he disappeared into the back of the shop, a cry rose up from the hundred fangirls. Sage turned and caught a glimpse of red hair and narrowed eyes. "Aya!" screamed the girls around Sage. "Aya's here!" He watched as the man named Aya growled at his fans.
"Either buy something or leave," he said flatly, tying an apron around his waist and walking towards a well-lighted terrarium. Sage's gaze followed Aya, watching as he clipped a section of dead plant from a . . . WATERLILY!
Sage extended a single index finger and spoke calmly. "Kento. Look." He pointed to the terrarium and plants contained therein, then looked over at Kento. Kento stared at the plants, perplexed, and Sage finally decided to have pity his poor companion. "Waterlilies," he said lowly. He could tell the moment that realization hit. Kento's entire face lit up with excitement, and he nodded slowly.
"Aa . . . Sou . . ." Kento said slowly, then turned to Sage. "So. How many dozen of them do we buy?"
Sage sighed. "That's roses, Kento. Roses are sold in dozens. Lilies are not."
"You like the lilies?" came the gentle voice of their florist behind them, and they jumped. Even with the screaming girls surrounding them, this fresh-faced youth should not have been able to sneak up on them like that. Sage tried to look cool, collected as he turned to face the boy.
"Aa." He said in agreement, and the brunette grinned. "How many would you like?"
"Er, one dozen?" Kento asked. "Two dozen? A couple nice bouquets."
"They don't come in bouquets, Kento," Sage sighed, exasperatedly. "They're waterlilies."
The florist chuckled softly, then turned as yet another man entered the shop, drawing yet another set of screams. "Konnichiwa, Yohji-kun!"
"Konnichiwa, Omi," the honey-haired man called back, waving as he disappeared into the back of the shop, followed by several dozen sighs. Sage smirked.
"Gomen," Omi apologized for taking his attention away from them, then blushed slightly at the expression on Sage's face. "Let me ask instead how large your pond is."
Kento stared blankly for a moment before blurting out, "Oh yeah, we could put them in the fish tanks!"
"Actually," Sage cut in before his companion could say any more. "The pond in the yard is approximately twenty square feet." Omi smiled.
"The pond in the yard?" Kento asked.
"Hai. Miya had it put in last year while you were watching that . . . what is it? Superbowl."
"Oohh," Kento nodded. That would explain why he hadn't noticed it. Kento had a tendency to be oblivious to his surroundings when confronted by that game on the television.
"Twenty should work," Omi cut in, confusing both of them for a brief instant. But while Kento remained confused, Sage figured out fairly quickly what the young florist was referring to. "I would recommend," Omi continued when they did not immediately speak. "One for each square foot of water."
Sage nodded, and Omi trotted over to the terrarium, checking something on one of the flowers before disappearing into the back of the shop. Aya turned, watching them through narrow eyes as they waited for Omi's return.