Title: Cold November Rain [part 2/?]

Book 1 of "Redirecting Destiny" and prequel to "Romantic Resolutions"

Author: Enigma

Series: Weiss Kreuz

Written: January, 2002

Rating: R

Pairings: (Yohji + Ken + Aya) (Omi + Nagi) (Brad + Schu)

Category: Dark! Yaoi Angst Action/Adventure Violence Blood Squick Language Romance. AU-OOC.

Archive: fanfiction.net [author: "E-sama the Llama"], Scripta Manent: http://digilander.iol.it/sakaba/Home.html

Spoilers: None, safe for new viewers as well as old.

Warnings: dark! yaoi, heavy angst, action/adventure, graphic violence, large quantities of blood, squick: medical and other, coarse language, agonized and overwrought romance, rare touches of sap, cigarettes, destiny, cruel cliffhangers, original characters. AU-OOC.

Disclaimer: "Weiss Kreuz" is the property of Koyasu Takehito and Project Weiss. This unauthorized work of fanfiction is intended for entertainment only; kindly do not sue me.

Notes: When Ken falls in battle, how can the other members of Weiss cope with the guilt and blame that they all seem to share and will he survive in spite of the odds against him?

++ date and time reference within the storyline beginning with the day of the battle ++

{{telepathic speech}}

*****

++ day: 1. time: 0500-0530 hours ++

*****

Omi was desperately trying to find a way to care for Ken's sucking chest wound and other injuries without a first aid kit when the remaining members of Weiss rushed to the side of their fallen lover.

Yohji fell to his knees heedless of the blood that spattered up to help paint his dark blue trench coat a new, frightening color that was the combination of the lifeblood of the many souls he'd just dispatched to the great beyond as well as that of his first love. Emerald eyes filled with pain and guilt took in the shattered form and he asked urgently, "Is Ken still alive, Omi?! Do we have a chance to save him?"

Tear-washed cerulean eyes turned towards him and Omi spoke words he hated but were the truth, "I don't know if we can save him or not, Yohji-kun! He's lost so much blood already, and I did the best I could, but…" His words trailed off as he began to shake and tremble, the enormity of the events which had just occurred crashing over him like a tsunami rushing to the shore.

The scarlet-haired man, however, wasn't willing to waste time talking and had rapidly removed his burgundy trench coat before moving to wrap it around the broken, blood-covered body on the ground intending to gather Ken into his arms so they could get him to medical assistance. Seeing what Aya had in mind but realizing he was on the wrong side to have seen it, Omi reached out a gore-covered hand in warning and said, "Be careful, Aya-kun! The bone in his left arm is sticking out!"

Nodding understanding but not sparing the energy for words, the swordsman redirected his efforts and quickly had Ken firmly in his arms and he turned and sprinted towards Yohji's car parked 100 meters from the building they didn't have time to destroy. Their assignment would remain incomplete and technically a failure, but in truth, none of them cared.

Yohji pulled Omi to his feet then turned to follow Aya's rapidly retreating form out of the building and into the pouring rain. The smaller boy was forced to scramble to try to keep his footing on the slippery, blood-washed flooring, finding it impossible to push the images of Ken's shattered body from his mind as he swept his laptop into one hand, carrying it away with him without conscious thought.

As he ran after his three teammates, the youngest Weiss assassin choked on his sobs, drenched by the cold chill of the late autumn downpour that had built in intensity as if the heavens themselves were crying with him, mourning the impending loss of a much-loved friend.

*****

Approaching his car, Yohji pulled his keys out and dashed past his two lovers to unlock it and practically rip the back door off of its hinges so as to give Aya and Ken entry as quickly as possible.

No words were spoken as Aya climbed in, cradling Ken close as if the Weiss swordsman's protection alone could ward off the hand of death should it dare to approach to claim the life that hung in the balance. Omi arrived as Yohji was closing the driver's side door and he, too, jumped in without a word. Soon they were speeding down the inner city thoroughfares leaving behind a veritable slaughterhouse that would frighten and confound the homeless man who would enter it later in search of refuge from the cold November rain.

The metallic reek of blood filled their nostrils and the sound of it dripping steadily from the wounded man's body echoed in their ears.

Jade green eyes were narrowed in concentration as the car flew through intersections regardless of the shade of the traffic lights that swung in the wind and rain above them. Yohji's ability to drive at rates of speed that were above and beyond that which most people could without losing control was key in this race against time. Calling for an ambulance would have only slowed them in getting Ken to a hospital, his wounds were far too serious for much assistance from typical emergency medical personnel and all three of them knew it.

Riding in the passenger side of the front seat of Yohji's roadster, Omi let tears fall freely down his face, unaware that he had tried to rub some of them away earlier leaving the fresh salty drops to paint lines of white across a crimson face.

The tears of a blood-soaked angel went unnoticed in the wake of a mission gone terribly wrong until the driver asked gently with remorse for not asking sooner, "Omiitchi? Are you injured, bishounen?"

Even as worried as he was about Ken, the eldest member of Weiss was shocked when he noticed for the first time that the usually genki youth was covered in blood to the extent that he wondered if some of it wasn't his young teammate's after all.

Sniffling back tears as best he could, the seventeen year old answered with a shake of his head, "No, Yohji-kun, I--I--" He wanted desperately to claim to be all right, but in truth he was far from it as he stumbled over his words and the tears resumed full force as he moaned miserably then stated more firmly, "This is all my fault! I should've known we'd run into trouble on this mission! I should've known it seemed too easy before we got there."

Yohji seemed puzzled by this even as his car sailed through yet another red light and past a sign indicating that Tokyo General Hospital was only 2km ahead but before he could say anything to soothe the guilt stricken youth, an angry voice spoke up from the backseat. [1]

"This is not the time to worry about *that*!" Aya insisted flatly, "Ken is dying and we need a plan to get him taken care of when we get to the emergency room. Omi, what's the plan?"

"P-plan?" Omi stuttered, confused by the unexpected demand and the fact that Aya had spoken for the first time since Ken had fallen in battle.

The scarlet-haired man snarled angrily, "The *plan*, Bombay! We need a strategy and we need it now. You've gotten us in and out of a thousand bad situations, do it again now!" His voice softened as he dropped his eyes to gaze on the ghost-white face of the man in his arms whose blood continued to bathe him. "Do it for Ken, Omi, please. He won't make it if I just go in there and make demands."

"Right," the youngest agreed with a firm nod of his rain-soaked blond hair, his quicksilver mind dashing into action without ever realizing that he had an opportunity to make up for his imagined failings as a tactician. Tenor voice clear and strong once more, he commanded, "Here's what we're going to do. Abyssinian, you'll carry Siberian in with Balinese running interference. Don't let *anyone* not even a security guard get in your way and just get to the triage area as quickly as possible. I'll be in charge of getting us as many physicians as we need and we'll see about getting him into an operating room immediately thereafter. The layout of this particular hospital includes two ORs immediately adjacent to the ER and unless there's been a car wreck near here, they shouldn't be in use at the moment."

Yohji nodded and turned the wheel of the car, driving along the security barriers towards the bright red cross that indicated the emergency entrance, he asked, "What else, Bombay? Records and all that shit?"

"Let me handle it, Balinese," Omi asserted strongly. His mind continued to work out parameters and options since they ordinarily avoided the use of public medical facilities for situations like this, yet none of them were willing to add the time necessary to drive halfway across lower Tokyo to the closest Kritiker facility. With a slight frown as a police officer tried to stop the car before Yohji could pull up to the ambulance entry, he added, "You two stay with Siberian until he's on a table and has at least a unit or two of blood going into him, understand?" Not waiting for an answer, he leapt out of the car and back into the rain and yanked the armed man out of the way so that his orders could be followed, unafraid for his own personal safety even though he was interfering with a lawman.

Neither of the other two hesitated for a moment as Yohji cut the engine and practically flew from the driver's seat onto the pavement and yanked the back door open. Aya scrambled out, his gore-covered lover still wrapped in the bloodied burgundy trench coat clutched desperately in his arms as he followed the eldest member of Weiss into the hospital.

Moving like the efficient fighting team that they were, Yohji cut an impressive swath through what had been a bored night staff never wavering in their efforts to follow Omi's commands to the letter. Nurses cried out in alarm as blood mixed with rainwater poured off of the three men's figures, leaving behind a trail of gruesome evidence of their night's work even as Yohji's trench coat flared around his legs as he strode forward purposefully.

"Get out of the way!" Yohji shouted at an orderly who had inadvertently pushed an empty gurney into their path, striding forward to bodily press the offending piece of equipment to one side as Aya swept passed without a second glance.

Approaching the swinging double doors into the triage area that was guarded by two heavyset policemen, Yohji called out, "Open up! We're coming through!"

"No you're not," one man answered with less authority than he wished, narrowed violet eyes piercing him with Aya's glare promising death and he knew it until he added questioningly, "Unless you've got prior authorization?"

Ordinarily the hospital wasn't as heavily guarded as it was now, but a rash of assaults on medical personnel throughout the city had brought the police presence there and Yohji was grateful since it meant he'd have an easier time of it when he simply answered, "We're Kritiker operatives."

No form of identification was required as the second man nodded and spoke up even as he hit the release on the doors, "I thought I recognized you. Go on, do what you've got to do. We'll go lock this place down if we need to. Are you being followed?"

The stoic swordsman strode through the opening without speaking, his entire being focused on the life slipping away in his arms.

Yohji, however, took the time to answer, "No, we're not, but make sure you debrief the patients and staff who aren't cleared to deal with a situation related to Kritiker with some believable bullshit, we don't have time to cover our tracks."

"Understood," the officer agreed and drew his shoulder radio, contacting headquarters for assistance in what was to become a difficult case of disinformation knowing that it was unlikely that the three men he'd just encountered would ever be aware of the efforts put into protecting them. This certainly wasn't the first time that Weiss had used its unique position in the hierarchy of those who fought on the side of the angels to protect its own existence and secrecy, neither would it be its last. However, now that it was someone else's problem, Yohji wouldn't have to be distracted from his greater mission and this was why the apparatus to shield them had been put into place from the very beginning.

Even as the elder three florist/assassins approached the triage area, they were rejoined by the youngest one who seemed to have gathered a small army of medical personnel through whatever method would work, Omi's powers of persuasion were incomparable.

"There they are!" Omi proclaimed and dragged an almost unwilling young woman forward and commanding, "He needs surgery. Get your team scrubbed and ready, Dr. Inoue." The physician forced herself to calm down and as she approached her patient, she motioned for Aya to let her take a look even as a pair of interns ran to prepare the operating room with greater alacrity than usual. [2]

Remaining stonily silent, Aya allowed her to peel back a corner of the bloodied trench coat, the resulting look of horror on her face mute testimony to the fact that they hadn't underestimated the seriousness of the situation. Despite her wanting him to place the injured youth on a gurney, the scarlet-haired man refused to do so until he was escorted towards the operating room, leaving Omi in charge in his wake and Yohji amazed by what he was seeing before following him out of the room.

With continued authority, the tactician of Weiss turned to a middle-aged man and added authoritatively, "He's got type B blood, Dr. Yanagisawa. I'm type O negative. We can do a transfusion immediately."

The physician regarded the boy who seemed far younger than seventeen with his rain soaked blond hair plastered to his head, huge cerulean eyes gazing back without hesitation or tolerance for delay before he nodded, "Very well. I take it that you've done this before?" He immediately motioned for a nurse to step forward to assist them as he helped Omi to quickly strip off his gory outer and inner jackets and then immediately checked both arms for a large enough vein intending to begin at once.

Omi nodded and remarked with an almost tired sigh, "Yes. As a universal donor, I can give blood to any of my teammates in an emergency and I have. So, let's get to it." [3]

"All right," the older man nodded knowing instinctively that the boy was telling the truth, then led the way towards the operating room where people were already scrambling to assemble the equipment and personnel necessary to achieve the objective of preventing a senseless loss of life.

Yohji and Aya stood close by as numerous medical professionals buzzed about readying Ken's inert form for surgery. Both men had expressions that were carefully blanked to the general public as Omi walked in, but the blue-eyed teen could read the worry and fear in both jade and amethyst eyes. Looking at them even as he stretched out on a gurney that had been rolled in for what threatened to be a rather more ambitious transfusion than most, Ken's need was too great to be cautious, Omi said quietly, "You can go now if you want to, Yohji-kun, Aya-kun. I'll be here until they anesthetize him."

"No," Aya finally spoke for the first time since they had left the confines of Yohji's car. Quiet fear was in his voice as he explained, "Ken's hurt because we failed to watch over him. We won't make that mistake again, will we, Yohji?"

"Absolutely not," the taller of the two stated even as the anesthesiologist approached them both with towels in the hopes that they would stop dripping blood-tainted water in what would soon be a predominantly sterile environment. With as firm a voice as he could manage without pleading outright, Yohji asked, "Is it possible for us to stay in here or must we leave?"

The slender black man frowned slightly and shook his head, "I'm sorry, but you can't stay here. This is no place for non-medical personnel. There's a waiting room around the corner and we'll keep you updated as we go."

Both Yohji and Aya frowned, but this wasn't news to them, they'd just been too upset to think it through clearly before making a pointless request.

Finally, the twenty-two year old nodded unhappily then looked at Omi with concern as what seemed to him to be one of the largest needles he'd ever seen for such a purpose being inserted into a suddenly small-looking arm. As the boy grimaced in unexpected pain, he asked as gently as the situation would allow, "Omiitchi? You gonna be okay in here without us?"

Omi looked up at him tiredly, ignoring the fluid leaving his body as his lifeblood rushed out on its journey to Ken carrying hope as it flowed into the other assassin's chalk-white right arm in a desperate attempt to replace what had been lost before it was too late. Other plastic IV bags were being attached to the wounded teen in various places and the cold sterility of it chilled both members of Weiss as the younger one answered, "I'll be fine, Yohji-kun. I'll join you and Aya-kun as soon as they get enough blood into Ken-kun that they don't need me anymore."

"Don't overdo it," Yohji warned softly, wisely fearing that Omi might not listen to the doctors when they said enough was enough, he was clearly so determined to save their friend that he'd try anything to accomplish the goal.

"Don't worry," Dr. Yanagisawa said as he checked both of his patients then smiled sympathetically at the worried young men and added, "I'll keep an eye on everything. Now go on and get cleaned up. Surgery will begin shortly and we need to see to it that our blood donor here is ready as well. I'll need to keep him here until the last possible moment most likely."

"Understood," Aya stated quietly, then turned to lead Yohji from the room, willing to let the experts take control and leaving the life of their lover in their capable hands.

Outside the hospital, a water-logged dawn approached unnoticed and soon the night's tragic events would reach out to bring sorrow and fear to other unsuspecting victims as well.

*****

To be continued.

Author's Notes:

[1] "Tokyo General Hospital" doesn't really exist to the best of my knowledge, but I didn't want to put Ken at the one used in the series for Aya-chan which is shown in Episode 2 and has a sign outside which reads "Magicbus Hospital".

[2] The names for the medical staff were all taken from the credits for the series as listed on the ADV "Dead Ringers" DVD and include: Editor, Kazuo Inoue; Character Design, Tetsuya Yanagisawa; Director, Kiyoshi Egami; Art Director, Waki Takeshi; and possibly others. I make no claims as to matching them by gender, age, or other features, this is, after all, merely an homage to people who will never even read this work of fanfiction yet deserve great thanks for creating the world of WK in the first place.

[3] Giving blood is an admirable thing, but this is in reference to something I noticed in the official info on the team. Basically, Omi (type O neg) can donate to all of the others yet can't receive blood from them. Ken (type B) and Aya (type A) can both donate to Yohji (type AB) and, sadly, Yohji can't donate to his teammates at all. Interesting, ne?

Full Author's Notes to Run at Conclusion.

Please be advised: Parts 1 & 2 will be posted together.

This evening's posting run is dedicated to Peabody and Sherman, the wonderful Dog and His Boy who were the only ones brave enough to leave feedback for the teaser at fanfiction.net! Danke, Weisshund, you made a discouraged fic writing Llama smile! Here's hoping there will be more reviews there when the fic starts to run, ne?

Special PS for fanfiction.net friends only:

In case you'd like to see *your* name listed as a fic dedicatee or something else extra-special and cool, feel free to leave me some shiny new comments that will inspire my muses to get busy! I'm *very* easy to bribe and it doesn't cost you a penny, just a few minutes to say what you thought, okay?

Be well and visit again soon, I *really* want to get this one done as long as there are readers who want it!

~~~E-sama the Llama~~~

(who intends to check his comments on this one regularly and mentions that even though this is an unfinished fic, there are limits to special requests that can be honored for plot shifts before it ends. for example, it's a prequel for a fic wherein Ken is still suffering the ill-effects of being shot, therefore, the llama can't go back and "be nicer to Kenken" later, but, hey, at least the brunette gets to live, ne? on the other hand, it's book 1 of a series! hence, plenty of stuff can be considered for future books like the long-awaited first ever Schwarz-lemon ala' Enigma, ne? {winks at several Schwarz-loving friends and vanishes to get a touch of rest before trying to edit more for tomorrow if at all possible})

Parts 1 & 2 Posted: 24 January 2002.