Yes, this is Koneko with yet another fic. Go me. This is actually longer than what I usually write, especially with HTML. Yay for me! Please be advised that I have NOT seen Weiss Kreuz, so some people may be a bit OOC. Note that since their thoughts are hidden during the series (at least I think they are -- well, not from Schuldig, anyways), thoughts are not considered OOC by me.
Disclaimer: There's a lot this time. *BIG breath* Weiss Kreuz belongs to Takehito Koyasu the Great. The characters from Cowboy BeBop that are mentioned and/or have cameos are owned by Yadate Hajime. The (inexact) quote from Romeo and Juliet is owned by William Shakespeare. The random songs are not owned by me. The first two are obvious (even tho the second isn't exactly a song...). The third is in the American version of Sailor Moon and is sung by Raye (Rei). The fourth is from the anime X, eX Dream. It means "You are star light." Who knows who wrote the last one?
There is a scene in here that was inspired by another fic, but I cannot remember which fic or who wrote it. It's the reference to Schuldig and his ethnicity (German vs. people calling him Austrian). In the other story, I think it was Polish though. I think it's funny that an assassin would care so much about what people think about where you're from. ^^ If the author reads this, please tell me; I will either give you credit or take down that portion if you so wish.
I am well aware that the only senshi mentioned in this chapter other than Usagi are Haruka and Luna (even tho she's not technically a senshi...). They WILL arrive later; don't worry.
************************
To Catch a Falling Star
Chapter 1: To Find a Bright Star
************************
Some say that a person's life is ruled by the stars. When a star falls, a person is leaving the green Earth of men. When a star shines brightly, a good soul is happy or has made a great accomplishment.
Stars are ethereal, eternal, omniscient. Solid, crystalized forms of souls are called "starseeds." Senshi and their planets are referred to as stars. Stars guided humans before compasses were invented; they lead us even now toward the future. Star-crossed lovers... Well, we know what those are. "Oh Romeo, Romeo, wherefore wert thou Romeo?"
Twinkle, twinkle, little star...
Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight...
Oh, starry night... Is he my one true love?
Kimi wa star light!
Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket;
Save it for a rainy day.
Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket;
Never let it fade away.
~Your star-crossed lover is your falling star.
Never let it fade away...
************
"Wake up!" a loud voice bellowed from the hall. "Schuldig! I'm not joking! Get UP!"
The source of Loud Voice's irritation was completely wrapped up in his sheets on an enormous king-sized bed. A large, calloused hand peeked to the surface out of the mess. "Ngghh..." murmured the owner of said hand. Braddie-kins, why are you waking me up at such an ungodly hour? he questioned telepathically.
It's almost noon, the man answered, obviously irritated. And don't call me that. We have a mission from Mr. Takatori, so hurry up. With that, he turned to leave.
Schuldig groaned at the sunlight streaming through his window before smirking cruelly. And Braddie-kins, it's Takatori-san; this is Japan, not the United States of freakin' America. (AN: This is from Schuldig's point of view, not mine. I happen to be a very proud American. Of course, I happen to like -san more than mister... -_-*)
Crawford wanted to stomp down the hall like a snot-nosed bratty child, but he managed to restrain himself. Instead, he replied, At least I'm not from Austria.
I'm GERMAN!
Crawford waited to chuckle evilly to himself until walking down the stairs (no one would notice his OOC-ness there).
************
Usagi yawned as she pulled herself out of bed. 'Another day to work all day for almost nothing,' she mentally groaned. She casually ran a hand through her rather messy short silver hair. "Luna!" she called. "Hey Luna, I'm up! Can you start my shower water?"
"It's already done, Usagi," the black feline replied as she bounded into Usagi's bedroom. "You need to hurry if you want to get to work on time. You are now--"
"--nineteen years old and need to act like it," Usagi finished for her while rolling her eyes. "Am I ever late anymore, Luna?"
The lunar cat sighed in defeat. "No, you're not."
"And is it truly that important?"
"Not compared to some... things."
"It's too bad we didn't realize that earlier, ne?"
"Yes, it is.
************
"Greetings and salutations to all," Schuldig declared as he walked into the meeting room of one of Takatori Reiji's many mansions. "How is everyone on this fine spring morning?"
Nagi fought the urge to roll his eyes at the red-headed German. "It's the middle of autumn," he deadpanned, "and one o'clock in the afternoon."
"Ah," Schuldig replied, "but the horrible birds are singing as if it was spring, and it's not the afternoon until I've had both breakfast, which is to be eaten in the morning, and lunch, which is to be eaten at noon. Seeing as I have had neither, and 'afternoon' is exactly as it sounds -- after twelve noon -- then it is not yet afternoon. It is now officially one o'clock in the morning."
Everyone (except Crawford with his block and Farfarello, who does not care) mentally groaned. I heard that, Schuldig told them with his mind, and I don't appreciate it very much. He plopped down in a chair. "So what's with this meeting?"
Takatori cleared his throat. "Crawford has made a recent... discovery with his insight." He inclined his head to indicate that Crawford was to continue.
"There is a certain person," he began, "that is the difference between victory and defeat. If we get to this person first and convince him to join us, then we win. However, if Weiss were to get to him first..." he trailed off. "It would be unpleasant, especially with Abyssinian's sword in your lungs."
Katana, Schuldig corrected the American, who waved him aside.
"So what is his name?" Nagi inquired.
Farfarello licked his knives with glee. "Will using him as a weapon make God cry?" No one answered him.
"We know his name and where he works," Crawford broke the silence. "Ren Tsukino works at BeBop Auto Repair. It's just a few blocks down from Koneko no Sume Ie. I could not, however, find a picture of him."
"Something that the magnificent Oracle couldn't find?" Schuldig drawled. "Alert the media." Crawford's glare would have succeeded in shutting him up if the telepath had not seen it so many times.
"So why do we need to find him in such a hurry?" Schuldig inquired. "Weiss won't know his worth even if they saw him once an hour, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week." He turned to Takatori. "Your brother Takatori Shuichi, also known as Persia, is also a bit slow in the news. After all, he did have horrible taste when choosing members for Weiss."
Crawford desperately wanted to sigh. "The problem is that according to our data, Tsukino is mentally unstable. Not quite like Farfarello," he glanced at the Irishman, "but his soul is a bit shaky. Judging from my visions, he's about two steps away from suicide. We have to get to him before he goes over the edge."
"So it's not really a race against Weiss," Nagi noted. "It's a race against Tsukino's mind."
************
"My bike is refusing to run," Ken complained as he was fixing a flower arrangement. "And with my 'job,' I don't have the time to find out what wrong, much less fix it." Ken had been complaining about this for weeks, but Aya would not let him take a couple days off to work on his precious motorcycle.
"You could take it to that repair shop down the street," Omi called. "I heard that there's a genius there that even Tenou Haruka trusts with his bike."
"Why didn't you mention this earlier, Omi?" Ken demanded. "My bike's only been under a cover for three weeks!"
Omi blinked. "You must've talked about it when I was in school or something because this is the first I've heard of it." Ken groaned.
"I heard there's a hot girl that does paperwork there," Yohji noted. "Maybe I can escort you to that shop. We wouldn't want you to get lost, would we? By the way, what's its name, Omi?"
"BeBop Auto Repair, I think."
************
Usagi hummed to herself as she began work on the bike Haruka had gotten for her. It was a "piece of junk" to most others, but she would have it running in about a week, and it would be at optimum performance in another week. Usagi liked mechanical work; it kept the hands busy and the mind away from more depressing issues. 3 Doors Down's "Here Without You" blared from a nearby radio.
She smiled softly as she heard someone come in. 'More business has been in here since Haruka brought her bike here for me to fix before that big race... She knew that we needed the revenue. Good ole Kaze.'
************
The four Schwarz members walked into BeBop Auto Repair right before the shift change, five o'clock. Nagi kept a tight hold a Farfarello; there was no need to unnecessarily frighten Tsukino away.
A balding man was behind the desk, doing the crossword puzzle. He seemed to have a mechanical arm. A child (whose gender was undeterminable) was hacking on a computer while wearing strange-looking goggles. A dog began to bark at the intruders.
"Ein!" the man snapped. "They're not enemies! Go bark at something threatening for a change." He turned to Schwarz. "Sorry about that. My name's Jet Black. How can I--"
"Hey, Jet!" a voice called from the second floor of the building. A rather shamelessly dressed young woman looked out at the group. "Have you seen Spike?"
"Spike?"
"The guy with the fuzzy hair," she answered sarcastically. Jet rubbed a hand over his smooth head subconciously and glared at her. "Vicious just called looking for him. I think he and Grem (AN: I think that's spelled right...) needed some help."
"I think he's on a date with Julia," Jet answered. "Why don't you try his cell phone?"
"Because he has it turned off."
"Then I guess he doesn't wanna be interrupted," Jet commented dryly. "Now if you don't mind, Faye, these people have been waiting." Faye rolled her eyes (AN: I seem to have peepz doing that a lot in this fic, ne?) and walked away.
Jet turned to the group once again. "Now how may I help you?"
"Actually," Crawford stated, "we're looking for someone with the name Tsukino."
"Ah," Jet said. Then he turned around and called, "Oi, Ren! You've got company!"
A head popped up from underneath the hood of a Honda Accord, which was promptly shut. Piercing black eyes stared ahead at Schwarz as if sizing them up. It was a young woman, perhaps nineteen or twenty, wearing blue jean overalls with a loose black sleeveless shirt underneath, exposing lean-muscled arms. Short silver hair poked from under a backwards black baseball cap. "Yes?" she asked, raising one delicate eyebrow. "I'm Serenity Tsukino. You wanted to speak with me?"
************************
How was that? It's a bit longer than what I usually write. Please R/R for me to continue!
~Koneko
Disclaimer: There's a lot this time. *BIG breath* Weiss Kreuz belongs to Takehito Koyasu the Great. The characters from Cowboy BeBop that are mentioned and/or have cameos are owned by Yadate Hajime. The (inexact) quote from Romeo and Juliet is owned by William Shakespeare. The random songs are not owned by me. The first two are obvious (even tho the second isn't exactly a song...). The third is in the American version of Sailor Moon and is sung by Raye (Rei). The fourth is from the anime X, eX Dream. It means "You are star light." Who knows who wrote the last one?
There is a scene in here that was inspired by another fic, but I cannot remember which fic or who wrote it. It's the reference to Schuldig and his ethnicity (German vs. people calling him Austrian). In the other story, I think it was Polish though. I think it's funny that an assassin would care so much about what people think about where you're from. ^^ If the author reads this, please tell me; I will either give you credit or take down that portion if you so wish.
I am well aware that the only senshi mentioned in this chapter other than Usagi are Haruka and Luna (even tho she's not technically a senshi...). They WILL arrive later; don't worry.
************************
To Catch a Falling Star
Chapter 1: To Find a Bright Star
************************
Some say that a person's life is ruled by the stars. When a star falls, a person is leaving the green Earth of men. When a star shines brightly, a good soul is happy or has made a great accomplishment.
Stars are ethereal, eternal, omniscient. Solid, crystalized forms of souls are called "starseeds." Senshi and their planets are referred to as stars. Stars guided humans before compasses were invented; they lead us even now toward the future. Star-crossed lovers... Well, we know what those are. "Oh Romeo, Romeo, wherefore wert thou Romeo?"
Twinkle, twinkle, little star...
Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight...
Oh, starry night... Is he my one true love?
Kimi wa star light!
Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket;
Save it for a rainy day.
Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket;
Never let it fade away.
~Your star-crossed lover is your falling star.
Never let it fade away...
************
"Wake up!" a loud voice bellowed from the hall. "Schuldig! I'm not joking! Get UP!"
The source of Loud Voice's irritation was completely wrapped up in his sheets on an enormous king-sized bed. A large, calloused hand peeked to the surface out of the mess. "Ngghh..." murmured the owner of said hand. Braddie-kins, why are you waking me up at such an ungodly hour? he questioned telepathically.
It's almost noon, the man answered, obviously irritated. And don't call me that. We have a mission from Mr. Takatori, so hurry up. With that, he turned to leave.
Schuldig groaned at the sunlight streaming through his window before smirking cruelly. And Braddie-kins, it's Takatori-san; this is Japan, not the United States of freakin' America. (AN: This is from Schuldig's point of view, not mine. I happen to be a very proud American. Of course, I happen to like -san more than mister... -_-*)
Crawford wanted to stomp down the hall like a snot-nosed bratty child, but he managed to restrain himself. Instead, he replied, At least I'm not from Austria.
I'm GERMAN!
Crawford waited to chuckle evilly to himself until walking down the stairs (no one would notice his OOC-ness there).
************
Usagi yawned as she pulled herself out of bed. 'Another day to work all day for almost nothing,' she mentally groaned. She casually ran a hand through her rather messy short silver hair. "Luna!" she called. "Hey Luna, I'm up! Can you start my shower water?"
"It's already done, Usagi," the black feline replied as she bounded into Usagi's bedroom. "You need to hurry if you want to get to work on time. You are now--"
"--nineteen years old and need to act like it," Usagi finished for her while rolling her eyes. "Am I ever late anymore, Luna?"
The lunar cat sighed in defeat. "No, you're not."
"And is it truly that important?"
"Not compared to some... things."
"It's too bad we didn't realize that earlier, ne?"
"Yes, it is.
************
"Greetings and salutations to all," Schuldig declared as he walked into the meeting room of one of Takatori Reiji's many mansions. "How is everyone on this fine spring morning?"
Nagi fought the urge to roll his eyes at the red-headed German. "It's the middle of autumn," he deadpanned, "and one o'clock in the afternoon."
"Ah," Schuldig replied, "but the horrible birds are singing as if it was spring, and it's not the afternoon until I've had both breakfast, which is to be eaten in the morning, and lunch, which is to be eaten at noon. Seeing as I have had neither, and 'afternoon' is exactly as it sounds -- after twelve noon -- then it is not yet afternoon. It is now officially one o'clock in the morning."
Everyone (except Crawford with his block and Farfarello, who does not care) mentally groaned. I heard that, Schuldig told them with his mind, and I don't appreciate it very much. He plopped down in a chair. "So what's with this meeting?"
Takatori cleared his throat. "Crawford has made a recent... discovery with his insight." He inclined his head to indicate that Crawford was to continue.
"There is a certain person," he began, "that is the difference between victory and defeat. If we get to this person first and convince him to join us, then we win. However, if Weiss were to get to him first..." he trailed off. "It would be unpleasant, especially with Abyssinian's sword in your lungs."
Katana, Schuldig corrected the American, who waved him aside.
"So what is his name?" Nagi inquired.
Farfarello licked his knives with glee. "Will using him as a weapon make God cry?" No one answered him.
"We know his name and where he works," Crawford broke the silence. "Ren Tsukino works at BeBop Auto Repair. It's just a few blocks down from Koneko no Sume Ie. I could not, however, find a picture of him."
"Something that the magnificent Oracle couldn't find?" Schuldig drawled. "Alert the media." Crawford's glare would have succeeded in shutting him up if the telepath had not seen it so many times.
"So why do we need to find him in such a hurry?" Schuldig inquired. "Weiss won't know his worth even if they saw him once an hour, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week." He turned to Takatori. "Your brother Takatori Shuichi, also known as Persia, is also a bit slow in the news. After all, he did have horrible taste when choosing members for Weiss."
Crawford desperately wanted to sigh. "The problem is that according to our data, Tsukino is mentally unstable. Not quite like Farfarello," he glanced at the Irishman, "but his soul is a bit shaky. Judging from my visions, he's about two steps away from suicide. We have to get to him before he goes over the edge."
"So it's not really a race against Weiss," Nagi noted. "It's a race against Tsukino's mind."
************
"My bike is refusing to run," Ken complained as he was fixing a flower arrangement. "And with my 'job,' I don't have the time to find out what wrong, much less fix it." Ken had been complaining about this for weeks, but Aya would not let him take a couple days off to work on his precious motorcycle.
"You could take it to that repair shop down the street," Omi called. "I heard that there's a genius there that even Tenou Haruka trusts with his bike."
"Why didn't you mention this earlier, Omi?" Ken demanded. "My bike's only been under a cover for three weeks!"
Omi blinked. "You must've talked about it when I was in school or something because this is the first I've heard of it." Ken groaned.
"I heard there's a hot girl that does paperwork there," Yohji noted. "Maybe I can escort you to that shop. We wouldn't want you to get lost, would we? By the way, what's its name, Omi?"
"BeBop Auto Repair, I think."
************
Usagi hummed to herself as she began work on the bike Haruka had gotten for her. It was a "piece of junk" to most others, but she would have it running in about a week, and it would be at optimum performance in another week. Usagi liked mechanical work; it kept the hands busy and the mind away from more depressing issues. 3 Doors Down's "Here Without You" blared from a nearby radio.
She smiled softly as she heard someone come in. 'More business has been in here since Haruka brought her bike here for me to fix before that big race... She knew that we needed the revenue. Good ole Kaze.'
************
The four Schwarz members walked into BeBop Auto Repair right before the shift change, five o'clock. Nagi kept a tight hold a Farfarello; there was no need to unnecessarily frighten Tsukino away.
A balding man was behind the desk, doing the crossword puzzle. He seemed to have a mechanical arm. A child (whose gender was undeterminable) was hacking on a computer while wearing strange-looking goggles. A dog began to bark at the intruders.
"Ein!" the man snapped. "They're not enemies! Go bark at something threatening for a change." He turned to Schwarz. "Sorry about that. My name's Jet Black. How can I--"
"Hey, Jet!" a voice called from the second floor of the building. A rather shamelessly dressed young woman looked out at the group. "Have you seen Spike?"
"Spike?"
"The guy with the fuzzy hair," she answered sarcastically. Jet rubbed a hand over his smooth head subconciously and glared at her. "Vicious just called looking for him. I think he and Grem (AN: I think that's spelled right...) needed some help."
"I think he's on a date with Julia," Jet answered. "Why don't you try his cell phone?"
"Because he has it turned off."
"Then I guess he doesn't wanna be interrupted," Jet commented dryly. "Now if you don't mind, Faye, these people have been waiting." Faye rolled her eyes (AN: I seem to have peepz doing that a lot in this fic, ne?) and walked away.
Jet turned to the group once again. "Now how may I help you?"
"Actually," Crawford stated, "we're looking for someone with the name Tsukino."
"Ah," Jet said. Then he turned around and called, "Oi, Ren! You've got company!"
A head popped up from underneath the hood of a Honda Accord, which was promptly shut. Piercing black eyes stared ahead at Schwarz as if sizing them up. It was a young woman, perhaps nineteen or twenty, wearing blue jean overalls with a loose black sleeveless shirt underneath, exposing lean-muscled arms. Short silver hair poked from under a backwards black baseball cap. "Yes?" she asked, raising one delicate eyebrow. "I'm Serenity Tsukino. You wanted to speak with me?"
************************
How was that? It's a bit longer than what I usually write. Please R/R for me to continue!
~Koneko