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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
Chapter One
Cale stretched and brushed warm fingertips along his bedfellow's pale shoulder. "You seem to be having pleasant dreams for a change, Dais… what's that smug grin all about?" Dais moaned softly into a more wakeful state and squirmed beneath the other warrior's arm to capture Cale with a violet eye.
"I've found something interesting," replied Dais, "in my dreams just now." Cale waited semi-patiently for an elaboration on that response. Dais stepped quickly from the bed and swung a robe over his shoulders.
With nothing more forthcoming from his lover, Cale prompted, "Well? Is this another one of your prophesies?" Dais stepped into his slippers. "Should we report this to Kayure?" Cale continued. "Hello? Hello?"
Dais turned slightly. "Not yet. I want to see what develops of this new mind first."
"Oh? Is there someone else in your life now?" Cale asked teasingly. Under the frivolous tone, however, Dais could hear a faint snarl of jealousy.
Dais looked back at Cale and chuckled softly. "I'm going to the bathhouse now."
"Oh. Well," Cale piped up, grinning. "That's a decent enough diversion." With that, he happily followed Dais.
"Ken-kun, look!" Omi said softly, his boyish face alight with cheerful exuberance. "It's those two guys from the flowershop. The ones who wanted the waterlilies? Let's go say hello!" With that, he bounced off in the direction of the other two, who seemed to be sitting at the restaurant with a group of three others. Ken shook his head and followed the younger assassin easily.
"Konnichiwa!" Omi chirped once he arrived, his blue eyes shining brightly.
Rowen looked over at the cheerful voice. He looked the boy up, then down, took a pensive moment to think, then replied, "Ah, konnichiwa. Who may I ask are you, and are you busy Friday night?" The bold question received a sharp kick under the table from Sai, and a gasp of horror.
"Don't be so rude!" blushed Sai.
Omi's eyes went wide as he was propositioned, and he stood open-mouthed for a few seconds before rallying. "Ah . . . A-anou . . ." he stammered, blushing to the roots of his hair. "I'm Tsukiyono Omi," he finally got out, head bowed and face hidden by the hair that fell forward. Beside him, Ken laughed.
Kento lowered his bowl of noodles just long enough to reply, and Sage cut him off, knowing that without the break-in, Kento would have been rude enough to speak with his mouth full. "They're florists, Rowen."
"Ohhh," Rowen drawled. "Florists." He said the word as though it explained everything about them, and Sai kicked him again.
"Hai," Omi agreed, seeming not to notice the implication held within Rowen's voice. "Florists. We were just wondering how the lilies worked out."
"Oh, it was wonderful," Sai gushed. "The koi think they're lovely. And I got frogs. Little frogs sitting atop the lily-pads!" He trailed off for a moment, smiling sunnily at his companions. Then, he gushed again. "And it was such a wonderful surprise. Arigato, Kento!"
Omi beamed at that. "That's marvelous," he agreed. "The frogs sound kawaii."
"Um, how about some introductions," Ryou asked impatiently. "Who are we, who are you, and um. . . and um . . . yeah!"
Ken chuckled at the youth's succinct speech, then smiled handsomely. "I'm Hidaka Ken," he said, then put a hand familiarly on Omi's head. "This is Omi, just like he said. Your friends came into our shop looking for the lilies and Omi, here, helped 'em."
"Hai," Omi agreed. "It was nice to help someone who knew what they were looking for," he smiled. Sage raised an eyebrow at Ken, his look clearly saying, 'at least one of us knew what he was doing.' Ken just chuckled, letting Omi lead the conversation once more. "And who are you?"
"Mouri Sai," Sai replied, then gestured to each of his companions in turn, starting with Kento. "And this is Fung Kento, Date Sage, Sanada Ryou, and Hashiba Rowen. Please, have a seat. Are you hungry? There're extra noodles here," Sai said, sliding the food toward Omi. Kento grabbed the food as it slid past, serving himself more just as Omi heard himself hailed from behind.
"Oi, Omi!" came Yohji's richly melodic voice, and Omi spun around, grinning widely. "Who're ya talkin' to?" Yohji demanded, striding up with Aya following. The honey-blond surveyed the five boys seated at the table, then grinned over at Omi. "Friends'a yours?" he asked.
"Mmm," Omi agreed, gesturing to each of the boys as he repeated the names he'd just been told. When that was over, he gestured to Yohji. "Meet Kudou Yohji and Fujimiya Aya."
Rowen winked at Yohji, "Well helloooo n- ow!" Rowen received another kick and turned on the presumed offender. "Sai!"
"I didn't!" protested Sai. "But you still shouldn't be so rude!"
Naturally Rowen believed him, but "Then who…"
Sage tossed the archer a self-satisfied smirk. "Ro-chan, you know how I feel about sharing." Rowen sighed and grinned bemusedly back at his blond love. "Oh hai, of course I do Sage, that I do."
"Sharing isn't so bad," Yohji smirked, which earned a horrified gasp from Omi.
"Yohji-kun!" Omi sputtered, scandalized. "How could you say something like that!"
"Why not?" Yohji returned. "It's the truth."
Kento threw his arm posessively about Sai's shoulders while the smaller boy tossed Omi a sympathetic glance. Rowen cocked a wicked eyebrow at Yohji, and stage-whispered into Sage's ear, "I liked the lilies, but maybe you should've got Sai a florist for his birthday!"
"Baka hentai!" shouted the tiger-eyed Ryou as he shoved Rowen out of his chair. "Shut up will ya, you're making us look bad!"
"A florist?" quipped Yohji dryly. "Just one?"
"Yohji!!!" In his horror at the older assassin's joke, Omi forgot the honorific he always used.
"What?" Yohji asked, then grinned. "Ne, it was nice to meet you, but we've gotta get the kid here back to our table before they think we're leaving. Ja."
The others chorused their goodbyes, and Omi and Ken went with Yohji back to the table they'd been at originally. Only Aya stayed a moment longer, sizing the five boys up silently before nodding once and leaving.
Schuldich sighed, smiling at his latest handiwork. The two human marionettes were perfect in every detail. One of them was even a member of Weiss. And now, watching the empty gazes of the teenager and husky brunette, Schuldich felt a twinge of pure pleasure. How much closer to perfection could he truly come?
The patron had paid extra for the privilege of watching. He could almost feel the patron's smirk from the shadows. Though it was unusual for Schuldich to allow anyone to witness what he considered a private communion with another mind, this time, he'd made an exception. He jumped as the patron spoke for the first time since they'd discussed the terms of the hire. "You seem to be taking your time. Are you charging by the hour?"
Schuldich laughed harshly, looking back at the figure encased in darkness. "You should stop to savor life's little pleasures."
"That's all right," said the other in a hauntingly soft voice. "I have time." To the comment, Schuldich only nodded, turning back to his toys. But while he'd been distracted, the toys had gained life of their own, and now moved toward the red-head with single-minded intent. As he turned fully, the head of a staff slammed into his stomach, knocking the wind from him. Schuldich gasped for breath, mouth opening and closing like a fish's. But before he could regain the use of his lungs, he felt one warm and heavy with blood. Looking down, he found his chest pierced by a bolt from a crossbow, the damage clearly going far enough to puncture a lung.
He coughed, and tasted the salty-sweet tang of blood. He felt the dribble of the liquid down his chin, the sensation background noise to the sharp pain of his chest and stomach. He dropped to his knees on the cold stone of the ground, and felt that jarring sensation all up his back. He was on fire, all pain and no comfort.
Barely heard, the patron laughed mockingly. "So," he asked coolly. "Would you say this is a decent enough diversion?"
It was the last thing that Schuldich heard.
Schuldich sat upright, gasping and thrashing about. In the confusion, his hand slammed against someone, and he turned wildly to see who it had been. He was startled to see Nagi standing there, a pace or two out of his reach now, holding a wet, folded cloth.
"Schuldich?" Nagi asked soflty. "Was it a bad dream?"
"Go away, kid," Schuldich growled, hating the idea that anyone might see him out of control. He smiled grimly when Nagi hesitantly reached out, handing him the cloth before returning to his own room. Schuldich would deal with these dreams alone.