Part Two is here~! Hope you enjoy, despite my inconsistent writing... =.='


"Suigintou, I'm fairly sure Shinku won't be too happy about it if you poison Jun, and you'll probably go to jail for the rest of your life anyway," Megu said, carefully trying to remain calm. Suigintou stroked her chin.

"You have a point there. Would you mind living a life on the run with me?"

Okay, so police threats have no effect on this maniac.

But then again, this was Suigintou Rozen, a girl who possibly had the potential to dominate the world if she put her mind to it.

"Oh, and by the way, might I ask how exactly you obtained that...cyanide?" Megu was trying her hardest to sound casual.

"From a couple of friends. Originally they were going to give me polonium, but then I figured it's radioactive, so other people might accidentally get contaminated too."

"Who the hell do you make friends with, exactly?"

Suigintou was frowning at Megu again.

"Sorry, I can't tell you. Their identities are classified. But if you dial a secret number and state the codeword – "

"Are you serious?"

"Ssshh!" Suigintou was watching a waiter bring two cups of tea to Shinku and Jun's vacant table. As he left, she stood, slipping the vial of cyanide up her sleeve.

"Suigintou – no, don't, I mean it, please..." Megu's hisses fell on deaf ears as the silver-haired girl adopted an air of nonchalance and glided across the floor. As she passed her sister's table, her arm moved slightly – that, and a faint sizzling, hissing sound were the only signs Megu could discern that indicated she had done anything at all. If you hadn't been looking for it, you would have missed it.

Well, Megu supposed, she shouldn't be surprised. Were Suigintou not currently studying a medical degree in university, she could have been a top-notch assassin, or undercover government spy.

The eldest Rozen had by now reached the opposite side of the room, and as she walked past the bathrooms both Shinku and Jun emerged from them, by some strange coincidence. Their reactions couldn't have been more different. Shinku smiled and greeted her sister with affectionate politeness and mild surprise, whilst Jun's face paled, before turning a faint shade of sickly green. He looked as though he wanted to run back into the restroom and lock himself in a cubicle.

"Why, hello, Suigintou. What a coincidence, meeting you here." Shinku stared for a moment at her older sister's outfit, then decided it was probably more polite to just not ask.

"Oh, Shinku, my adorable little rosebud, I'm sure this must be the threads of fate at work," Suigintou cooed, throwing her arms around her sister. The blonde's smile faltered slightly with confusion.

"P-pardon?"

"Hi Shinku!" Megu came up beside Suigintou. She hesitated as she turned to Jun, wondering if Suigintou would be angry at her for acknowledging his existence. But then, Megu felt quite sorry for the poor boy, and he actually seemed quite nice from what little interaction they'd had. "Hi, Jun!"

The boy nodded, looking quite ill. "H-hello."

"Oh," Suigintou, left with no other choice in front of Shinku, turned and stared at him with a barely disguised glare of disgust. Her voice had taken on the quality of a biting, icy Arctic wind. "So you're here, too." Before Jun could pass out from heart failure, Shinku interjected, her timing impeccable as always.

"Why don't we go back to our table instead of standing around here? Suigintou?" The older girl slipped her arm around her sister's and clung to it enthusiastically, almost knocking the blonde over. As they crossed the room together, Megu wondered briefly if she should inform Jun that his tea would very probably kill him, and if so, how to break it to him calmly and as gently as possible to ensure minimal panic. And if Suigintou found out...

But then they were already at the table. Too late. Megu opened her mouth to blurt it out, considering that it was for the good of all of them that Jun didn't end up on life support in a hospital, but then something happened that neither she nor Suigintou not anyone, for that matter, could have foreseen.

"Oh dear," Shinku said suddenly, picking up the cup of tea on Jun's side of the table – the cup that had been poisoned. "It seems they made a mistake. The Darjeeling is mine and the Earl Grey is yours, isn't it, Jun?" She handed him the cup that had been placed on her side of the table. Suigintou's mouth dropped open in shock, an overpowering sense of cold dread crashing over her in an icy wave.

CRAP!

STUPID!

WAITER!

CRRRAAAAAPPPP!

Beside her, Megu's face had turned the unhealthy colour of porridge. Suigintou watched, her heart in her mouth, as Jun took what she'd thought was Shinku's cup, praying to the gods that she wouldn't drink it. That would hopefully give her time to somehow think of a way to get rid of the tea before Shinku consumed it and the deadly cyanide.

How did this happen? It was supposed to be him!

Suigintou's heart seemed to stop beating altogether as Shinku began to raise the cup to her lips.

SHI - #$*#$*&$! CRAP CRAP CRAP!

This was it. There were no other options left; Suigintou lunged for the cup, just as Jun and Megu cried out simultaneously, wrenching it from her sister's grasp and, without a second thought, drained the entire cup empty.

Silence.

And then a sudden burst of flurried panic silently exploded in her mind.

WHY HELL DID I DO THAT? I could have tipped it out, or pretended to spill it, or chucked it across the room, or – or – anything other than swallow the stupid damn poisoned tea! It took all of Suigintou's willpower to stay exactly where she was, and keep a straight face. Megu looked completely stunned, swaying faintly where she stood. Her face had progressed from a pasty, pale colour to an unhealthy shade of light green.

"S-Suigintou?" Shinku was staring uneasily at her older sister.

"A-ah, sorry about that, Shinku! Please excuse my abruptness, I was just feeling a tad thirsty..."

Jun stared in anxious shock at Suigintou. He had obviously deduced what had happened, with his previous near-death experiences around Shinku's older sister. Suigintou glanced desperately at Megu, who looked back to Jun, her eyes pleading silently. An unspoken agreement seemed to be exchanged.

"Are you alright? You look unwell." The seemingly oblivious Shinku touched Suigintou's arm, gazing up at her with a look of such concern that had Suigintou not currently been in danger of dropping dead any moment, she would have had blood gushing out of her nose at high pressure.

"N-no, she's fine, we'll just be going now, I just remembered we have somewhere we need to be," Megu interrupted hastily, her voice shaking. She grabbed Suigintou's arm and headed towards the door.

"Hold on, Suigintou, I really think I should take you to the doctor's – "

"Ah, Shinku, come on, she'll be fine, we shouldn't just leave the café like this..." Jun tried to pull his girlfriend back to their table. She tugged her hand back with irritation, making after Suigintou and Megu.

"Nonsense, Jun. Tell them to just charge it to my account later. How can I just abandon my own sister?"

"No, Shinku, she's fine! Really! She just needs to get home and get some sleep!" Megu insisted. Suigintou nodded as vigorously as she could, her cheeks rapidly turning a bright shade of scarlet. "See? She's blushing! Healthy as a – a horse!" Without waiting for Shinku to protest, Megu practically sprinted out the door, Suigintou in tow. The two girls hurried down the road, and it wasn't until they reached the end of the street a few minutes later that Megu finally stopped and turned to Suigintou, furious and panicked all at once.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?"

Suigintou had collapsed to her knees, gasping.

"Megu...call...ambulance."

"WELL OF COURSE!" The black-haired girl was fumbling for her phone. Suigintou's complexion was uncharacteristically ruddy by now, and she seemed to be shaking unsteadily.

"Listen carefully..." she managed to rasp with carefully controlled composure just as Megu finished her call. "I'm about to start convulsing – "

"DON'T SPEAK, YOU SUICIDAL IDIOT!" Megu took deep breaths, struggling to restrain herself from strangling her friend.

"Suigintou," she continued, making an effort not to scream. "Why in the name of CHRIST did you drink that cup of tea? You could've thrown it, or pretended to drop it, or – something!"

"It was on the spur of the moment, okay? I was...under pressure..." Suigintou coughed. "Just listen. I'm probably about to start convulsing any minute now. In forty-five minutes, if I'm not treated, I'll die from cardiac arrest – "

Megu stared down at her in disbelief.

"WOULD YOU STOP TALKING? Geez..." Megu was hyperventilating again. "...at least the hospital's close by – I think.

"Megu – "

"SHUT UP! JUST SHUT UP, OKAY?" As Suigintou opened her mouth again, Megu clamped both hands down on her lips. "I swear, Gin, if you die on me right now I will punch your cold, dead face to a pulp. Okay? Got that? Doesn't moving make the poison spread faster? Or is that snake bites? Just don't move, don't speak!"

Suigintou was struggling to say something underneath the cover of Megu's firm hands.

"Huh? What?"

"...-dote...the antidote..."

"The antidote?"

Suigintou reached into her coat with a trembling hand and drew out a small box. Megu stared at her in disbelief.

"YOU HAD THE ANTIDOTE WITH YOU ALL ALONG?"

The silver-haired girl smiled weakly.

"Sorry. I only just remembered."

"Suigintou – if you weren't dying already...I'd strangle you to death..." Megu growled, opening the box and unfolding the instruction. She stopped.

"Crap."

"What?"

"WHY THE HELL IS IT IN ENGLISH?" Megu turned to Suigintou, panic beginning to settle into her eyes again. "I can't read English, goddammit!"

"Are you kidding me? Can't you tell from the diagrams?"

"The drawings are crappy!"

"Meguuuu!"

"Okay, okay so I shouldn't have jigged the English lessons at school. Just what in heaven's name are you going to do now?"

"Give...give it to me..." a new voice, hesitant and stuttering, interrupted their mounting panic. The two girls turned to see Sakurada Jun standing awkwardly behind them, his face a mixture of fear, concern and determination.

"Y-You – " Megu clamped her hand over Suigintou's mouth again.

"Gin, now is so not the time. Sakurada-kun, you can read English, right?"

Jun nodded, his expression growing stronger, set with a persistence and resolve that neither of them had ever seen before.

"Here, you've got to inhale this first." He leaned over Suigintou. She met his solemn, grave gaze with surprise. He suddenly seemed a lot older and mature than the puny, spineless boy she had first taken him for.

"Wh-why?"

"Huh?" Jun stared down at her.

"Why are you doing this? I hate you, remember?"

"Well," Jun looked uneasy. "Even if you want to kill me, it's not like I can just stand by and watch you die like this. You took that... ("Potassium cyanide," said Megu rather unhelpfully)...whatever it was...for Shinku. That's something I can forgive."

"So...you're doing all this for her...stupid kid." She gave a short laugh. Megu stared on in stupefied wonder.

"No. It's not just for Shinku. It's for you, too. I want you to be around and alive to accept me when I prove myself worthy for your sister."

Suigintou honestly had no idea what to say. She would have considered coming up with some snarky, cutting retort, but it was getting hard to think. This was a side of Sakurada Jun that Suigintou never seen before, or at least that he had never exhibited in front of her. Was this what Shinku saw in him, which she herself missed?

Ridiculous.

Roughly dismissing the thought from her mind as Jun drew out a syringe and held up her arm, Suigintou glared at him as best she could, her vision swimming before her.

"Just know that this doesn't change anything between us, punk."

The boy sighed, sticking the needle into her skin, perhaps harder than was necessary.

"Yes, yes."

"But..." Suigintou grudgingly let slip the tiniest of smiles as her sight dimmed. "Thank you."

Maybe...

Just maybe...for once...

I was wrong.


~ Three weeks later ~

Suigintou struggled out of her huge bed, groaning slightly. Her head swam, and she swayed dizzily before making her way to the door.

"What are you doing, stupid big sis?" Suiseiseki was there in the hallway, arms folded.

"I heard the front door – "

"Oh, yes. Shinku's chibi boyfriend just arrived. Now, why don't you – go – back – to – bed – like – a – good – deathly – ill – girl – wah!" she pushed Suigintou back into her room, only to be knocked against the wall as the oldest Rozen knocked her aside with surprising strength.

"She's fine now, though I am really surprised that she could get a stomach bug so suddenly. She's usually so robust and healthy – and it was such a serious illness. I had no idea until she came home from the hospital. I still don't know the details, though, because for some reason not a single one of my sisters cares to tell me..." Shinku's voice floated up the spiral staircase. There seemed to be a murmuring reply. Sakurada Jun.

Suigintou raced down the steps, skipping two at a time, flounced past the enormous living room where Souseiseki and Hinaichigo were having tea with a visiting Megu, and entered the foyer just in time to see Shinku lean forward and kiss an intensely flushed Jun on one bright scarlet cheek.

Kiss...

She actually...just kissed...

Something in her snapped. What tiny little goodwill towards him that seemed to have sprouted since three weeks ago suddenly shrivelled and disappeared.

"S-Saku-rada – you – "

In the living room, Megu sighed. "And I actually thought he had a chance this time round."

Jun, beginning to back away from the door, had on the kind of face you see when one realises that the Apocalypse is approaching and all of humanity is about to be completely obliterated. Of course, 'completely obliterated' was probably an understatement for what potentially lay in store for him. And even so, he had to admire how only Suigintou could achieve such a powerful killing aura even whilst clad in nothing but her chemise nightgown and purple slippers.

Shinku turned to see Suigintou come up slowly from behind.

"Suigintou," she frowned. "It isn't good for you to be walking around. You should be resting. Aren't you still unwell?"

"Oh, I'm perfectly well now, Shinku," Suigintou drawled, her voice soft and perfectly venomous. "And considering what may have been happening in my absence, I actually think it will be much better for me to be walking around."


Okay, so I know when someone gets poisoned by potassium cyanide, the symptoms and how it actually feels are probably all messed up in this story, but then I've never been poisoned by cyanide before, so I couldn't really write from personal experience, and I was just stuck with what info I could find from quick research on the Net.

Hopefully it's not too far-fetched. But then, this is Suigintou we're talking about, and she's such a badass that she could probably survive even a nuclear explosion. Just kidding. ;P

More will come. Soon, hopefully. Thanks so much for reading, everyone~! XD