Title: Cold November Rain [part 51/?]
Book 1 of "Redirecting Destiny" and prequel to "Romantic Resolutions"
Author: Enigma
Series: Weiss Kreuz
Written: January-April, 2002
Rating: R
Pairings: (Yohji + Ken + Aya) (Omi + Nagi) (Brad + Schu)
Category: Dark! Yaoi Angst Action/Adventure Violence Blood Squick Language Romance Original Characters. 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, original characters designed to highlight the true stars, rare touches of sap, cigarettes, destiny, cruel cliffhangers. AU-OOC.
Disclaimer: "Weiss Kreuz" is the property of Takehito Koyasu and Project Weiss. All original characters featured herein (including but not limited to: Calico, Norwegian, Korat, Sokoke, etc.) are © Enigma, 2002, and are not to be used without permission. 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: 5. time: 1130-1600 hours. ++
*****
Farfarello glided towards them in his disconcerting silent manner yet neither of the other two Schwarz members were caught off-guard by his presence and Nagi turned towards him with the warm smile he reserved for the short-haired teen alone and said, "Hi, Farf. I'm glad to see you again. How are you feeling?"
With a small shrug of his shoulders, Farfarello answered casually, "I'm fine, Nagi. I felt pretty icky for awhile, but Schu helped me, didn't you, Schu?" His innocent smile was bright and for a moment it was difficult to believe this was the same man who had destroyed so many lives in his crusade against God.
The German grinned at him, patted the teen on the back lightly and said, "Yeah, I sure did, Farfie." With a soft snort of derision he added, "We'll just be a lot more careful about what Bradley thinks he's doing the next time he wants us to go put on a show for Estet, right?"
"Sure, whatever," the amber-eyed man replied unconcernedly as he glanced at the open door in curiosity since he had no idea what had been happening around him much less that two of his teammates had been sharing an important turning point nonverbally thanks to Schuldich's telepathy.
It wasn't unusual that the Irishman had been excluded from the intimate silent conversation for two reasons and luckily he took no offence at the routine approach to communication within the walls of their home. First and foremost, the German psychic had wanted to take the opportunity to finally set the record straight as to his feelings for his young Japanese friend and what they had shared was too personal to broadcast openly. Second and rather amusing at times, was the fact that while at the peak of his happy phases like he was now, Farfarello's mind could spin and whirl singing television jingles and pop music at dizzying speeds and it was simply easier to shut the noise out when possible.
The bladesman smiled more as he watched some birds flying past the open door, then sucked pineapple juice off his fingers like a child before looking at the smoke that was still dispersing into the open air before asking innocently, "What happened, Schu? Did you burn one of the kitchen towels again?" As he enjoyed licking the sweet juice from the same hands that at other times had masterfully separated an unknown number of human beings from their lives, the nineteen year old seemed even younger than his telekinetic teammate despite being the taller of the two.
There was a distinct undercurrent of pleasure in Nagi's mind that he hadn't returned to confront Farfarello when his emotional balance was off-kilter and he had to be sedated. While he held little or no fear that his friend might harm him, the much smaller teen knew better than to tempt fate at times like that and would have dutifully helped the German keep their teammate restrained if need be. The Irishman's current mental state, however, was Nagi's favorite, the one where they could enjoy cooking projects or watching anime and just relaxing together.
While Nagi was briefly noting how glad he was that Farfarello was in a good mood, Schuldich's emerald eyes went wide and he suddenly exclaimed, "Oh, *fuck*!! The pizza crust!!" Then he rushed back into the still smoky kitchen, slammed the oven door open with another curse and extracted a thoroughly burnt piece of what had recently been an inadequate yet sincere attempt at making a large, thin piece of yeast bread. Tossing the charred circle into the trash with an unexpected laugh, he called back to the two teenagers who had trailed along behind him, "Yeah, Farf, I'm afraid I dropped one of the dishtowels onto a burner, but don't worry about it, though. It was just one of the old ones we needed to replace anyway."
Padding into the room without a second thought to the acrid smoke that stung his lone eye, Farfarello lifted the heavy lid on the cast-iron skillet and then giggled slightly and commented, "Um, Schu? It usually helps if you peel the bacon apart *before* you put it in the pan."
"Oh? What do you mean?" The redhead asked in honest curiosity since the brief time he'd spent recently trying to cook had shown him it could be a lot of fun when you did it for those you cared about and he might want to continue if he didn't get bored with it first. Peering at the lump of burnt pork in the pan, he couldn't help but note the large crater-like hole in the midst of the unseparated slab and he asked sheepishly, "Did it explode in the center or what, Farf?"
"Yup, that's what happened all right," the Irishman nodded sagely and then lectured gently in his soft, kind voice, "Alton always warns that steam needs a place to go, Schu. I guess it needed an escape route that you didn't provide."
"'Alton'?" The German asked even as he prodded the cooled lump of meat with a fork and wondered if it could be saved.
"He's the guy on 'Good Eats'," Nagi offered helpfully then added, "If you cut the worst of the burnt part of that off, I think we could still cook this just fine. Want me to help?"
The redhead smiled and nodded, an action that caused his towel to slip off of his neck and fall towards the ground before being snagged from midair by a speedy, scarred hand.
Even as Farfarello tossed the damp towel at the basket and missing since it wasn't as easily guided as a knife, the amber-eyed man asked without realizing it might cause a new problem, "When did you cut your hair, Schu? It doesn't look as pretty as it usually does." In the way that only the three people closest to the German were allowed to do, the younger assassin reached out and touched the singed ends of what had been a lock of bright red hair which was usually a source of pride.
Emerald eyes peering at the damage unhappily, Schuldich answered, "No, Farf, I burnt it trying to put out the fire in the frying pan before I dropped the towel and, oh, shit, this is just an ugly mess, isn't it?" The telepath looked so unhappy and the situation so almost normal that it was all Nagi could do to remind himself that he'd just returned home after being gone for five days. An absence which had gone undiscussed thanks to the incident with the keys to the Ferrari which resulted in a much more important set of revelations.
Even though he had yet to receive the punishments that he still anticipated getting from Crawford, the telekinetic asked, "Why not let us help clean up the kitchen mess and you can go trim your hair?" Receiving a grateful nod while the telepath went to dig through a drawer filled with various things in search of scissors, Nagi added, "Um, for Hawaiian pizza, shouldn't you use Canadian bacon instead of ham, Schu?"
"How the hell should *I* know?" The redhead asked without anger, then rose brandishing a pair of multi-purpose household sheers as he shrugged and added, "I figured out the part about pork and pineapple, went to the market on the corner and this was the best I could get. Either way, the pineapple chunks are in the fridge and I'll go see if I can save my beautiful hairstyle or not." He frowned unhappily as he gathered a handful of charred hair into one fist and then sniffled melodramatically.
Knowing better than to laugh at a man who felt so strongly about his appearance, Nagi turned to the other teen who simply stood there gazing at the basket of laundry, curious as to why it hadn't been folded yet since he forgot that he promised to do it later. Reaching out to gently touch his friend on the shoulder, the sable-haired boy asked, "Farf? What were you doing with the pineapple in the living room if Schu already had the pieces for the pizza out here?"
Blinking his amber eye to clear the irritating smoke from it as he thought, the Irishman suddenly answered brightly, "Oh, I was making a 'palm tree' centerpiece with it! The new 'Do-It-Yourself' network out of the States had a show on about making garnishes today, Nagi. You would've liked it a lot, but," he pouted slightly as he recalled what had frustrated him right before he turned off the set, "I missed the part about how to cut the core of the pineapple so it looked like a tree trunk without breaking it."
Nagi frowned slightly, when his occasionally delusional friend was in such a happy mood he hated to see anything ruin his fun and he said sincerely, "I'm sorry to hear that, Farf. Maybe they'll do a repeat of the show some time soon?"
The unhappiness then departed the other teen's face as Farfarello exclaimed delightedly, "Hey, I know! They kept saying how if you missed part of the instructions, you could download it from their site on the Internet! [1] It would probably be in English which is easier for me to follow than Japanese, too!" With a bright, childlike smile he asked hopefully, "Could you help me go online later and get it, Nagi? Then we can still have it with our pizza for lunch today!" [2]
Without thinking, Nagi nodded his head and answered, "Sure thing, Farf, we can do that, no problem. Unless of course, Crawford has already locked me out of the computers?" His question was directed at the German who had paused long enough to discover for himself why Farfarello had asked him not to take the leaves off the pineapple before cutting pieces of it off for the pizza in the first place.
"Not to my knowledge, he hasn't," Schuldich assured. Aware that Nagi had what he presupposed was a girlfriend that he chatted online with at night, the redhead was attempting to give the sable-haired boy a chance to let "her" know he had returned before their leader revoked the privilege. So he added encouragingly, "And since I still can't get through to him right at the moment, he can't say differently so you might as well grab the chance that you have now, okay?"
Not believing his good fortune since this meant he could at least leave Omi a brief email to indicate he made it home and that the situation there was nicer than expected yet he hadn't encountered his greatest threat yet and couldn't be positive it would remain pleasant for long. With a hopeful half-smile, Nagi answered them both saying, "All right, we can get some fresh yeast dough started and then go get those instructions you want, Farf." Letting the smile broaden infinitesimally, he added to the other man present, "Thanks for everything, Schu. I'm surprised Crawford isn't letting you through to him, though. Are you worried?"
Ordinarily he wouldn't have expressed his concern for the American precog openly. However, after having been close to Aya, Yohji, and Ken for a number of days, Nagi had become more aware of the delicate inter-relatedness all couples--and the occasional trio--shared and did not wish to assume Schuldich wasn't bothered by the situation.
"Not in the least," the German responded with a jaunty grin and a saucy wink that would've made Yohji jealous. "It turns out that I *can* think of something he owes me an apology gift for after all, and if Brad thinks of it, too, I might be getting something *really* cool like a new DVD burner!"
Trying not to imagine what could possibly cause the usually tight-fisted American to become willing to part with a sizable number of yen simply to soothe his lover's ruffled feathers, Nagi blushed a little, nodded absently, then stammered, "Um, yeah, right. Well, let's get going on the dough and we'll probably try again on the bacon soon." Turning back to the teen whose attention had wandered slightly, he asked, "Farf? Do you want to cut the burnt edges off that while I get the flour out or do you want to dissolve the yeast in warm water?"
The slightly glazed look that entered Farfarello's eye as he indicated that he'd like to slice the meat warned both of the other Schwarz members present that they needed to be on the lookout for a possible change in the Irishman's temperament. While it had been quite nice for Nagi to have returned before his friend sank into one of his dark and often violent moods, he understood this cycle was normal for Farfarello even though no one understood what caused it. The telekinetic hoped that if he kept their time spent cooking together as pleasant and upbeat as possible, it might last a little longer.
With a shrug since no one could avoid the inevitable, Schuldich wandered off to discover that there was precious little he could do for his hair that his stylist couldn't do better and he sighed before calling to set up an emergency appointment for that afternoon.
As life in the Schwarz penthouse returned to what passed for normal for them for a few hours, Nagi very happily went to work making pizza dough while Farfarello trimmed the burnt slab of bacon then peeled it into layers the way it should have been in the first place. Later they would indeed retrieve instructions for making a rather detailed pineapple "palm tree" garnish as well as allowing Nagi to surreptitiously leave a message for a certain cerulean-eyed youth.
Crawford would reappear later without any gifts since that really wasn't in his nature, he'd merely been blocking Schuldich while looking at new computer accessories since he didn't want any of the redhead's usual kibitzing about the matter. The American's precognitive abilities had failed entirely to predict the return of the youngest member of Schwarz and in all honesty, Crawford was as surprised to see the boy as the others were. Of course, the raven-haired man was indeed more than ready to see to it that Nagi understood that vanishing wasn't acceptable, yet his punishments would prove to be tolerable thanks to his redheaded lover's telepathic insistence.
Nagi wasn't overly annoyed to be put to work on both household and business-related chores almost immediately that would take his every waking hour that wasn't already needed for school and his now past due class assignments. Since he wouldn't be able to see Omi while the beloved blond had his own school work to catch up on as well as their chocolate-eyed friend to visit, staying close to home didn't sound too bad to the sable-haired youth.
No, all in all, the return of Schwarz's prodigal son, so to speak, had gone remarkably well and despite needing to coordinate having almost everything dry-cleaned to get the burnt flesh and singed hair scent out of it Nagi was happy. Now he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that Schuldich cared more for him than for his car and the diminutive telekinetic began to wonder if there wasn't hope for the same level of closeness with his own teammates that he now shared with his boyfriend's.
Sometimes absence *does* make the heart grow fonder and if that's what had happened, it was all the better that Nagi had been gone the way that he had. The next time he would be similarly separated from his teammates wasn't destined to be resolved nearly as easily or guiltlessly as this one had been and it was appropriate that the four men of Schwarz enjoyed being reunited as much as they did.
*****
To be continued.
Author's Notes:
[1] This is for real. A cable TV channel filled with step-by-step instructions on how to do almost anything from arts-n-crafts to food to auto repair and more which posts written versions of those same instructions on the web to be downloaded for free. Weird, ne?
[2] Yet another twist on Farfarello's personality that I can see within this continuity would be varying levels of ability as his moods shift. When he is in his ultra-lucid state, he is probably a better hacker than Omi is but when he's in the happy, relaxed mood the way he is here, it would probably be best to have Schwarz's resident computer expert give him a hand. As for what would be best when he's in a dark, homicidal mood, well, I'd assume that keeping him away from electronics in general would be a good idea unless you wanted them destroyed.
Full Author's Notes to Run at Conclusion.
Please be advised: Parts 50 & 51 will be posted together.
This evening's posting run is dedicated to a special friend for more reasons than I can begin to remember to list, yet let me do something before telling you who it is!
{gets out the Horn of Friendship, ties on a banner that reads "Happy Belated Birthday!!!" and plays the tacky Birthday song with a smirk}
So, whose birthday are we celebrating and how far after the fact *are* we doing it?! Well, the lovely Lady of the Moment is the ever adorable Ami-chan--please note that she is *not* a Blockhead and never will be!--who had a birthday way back on Groundhog's Day, February 2nd! Since a gentleman never speaks of a lady's age--unless, of course, she's particularly excited to brag about it the way Amanda was when she turned 13 and "finally" became a card-carrying teenager!--let's just say that the lovely and enchanting Ami is old enough to be given belated birthday glomps and young enough to giggle if Omi and Nagi tickle her when they do!
{the llama smirks and watches two blue-eyed teens glomp adorable friend and then chuckles as she does indeed giggle in that light musical voice all young women are entitled to have}
Now, before I forget, there're some other spectacular things to mention about her as well! Way back when I was feeling down and bummed out, Ami-chan drew me the most fabulous image and she said I could share it with the world, too! Before you copy and paste the URL into your browser, though, there's a warning on this image: it can and *will* make you go, "Awww!! Kawaii!!" loudly enough that other people will want to see it, too! Since it's delightfully G-rated feel free to let even the little tykes see this one, my own chibis simply adore it!
Omi and Nagi and a Friend: http://www.geocities.com/ami_chan616/Llama.jpg
Another kawaii image that she shared with me was one that features one of my favorite shonen ai fic inclusions: a bishounen carrying a sleepy friend in his arms! Nothing explicit here either, safe for all viewers as long as they aren't rampantly hentai and assume too many things about why one boy is so tired and just where exactly his "friend" is carrying him off to!
Nagi and Omi: http://www.geocities.com/ami_chan616/NagiOmi.jpg
Ami-chan has other adorable images that she has shared with the members of NagiML and if you're a member I hope you take advantage of your chance to see more kawaii things by a very cute young lady!
Other than artwork, this wonderful person is also one of the four people who still routinely send me private emails regarding CNR despite my inability to send thank you notes for them and for that, I thank her heartily! She's always got an interesting point of view on my stories that sometimes gives me a new approach or helps me realize something wasn't clear earlier.
I also get a kick out of the fact that she, Yanagi-sen, and several other wonderful women have formed a Sisterhood of which I am the lone Brother! Even though I haven't had a chance to do much for my sisters yet, I hope to in the future and if they're all enjoying CNR I hope they take this opportunity to give Ami-chan a few belated birthday glomps, too!
{smiles tiredly, yawns a little and realizes he should've written this *before* becoming completely enamored of Chihaya, Kagetsuya, and all the others from "Earthian" even though he now has the most marvelous images in his head for an alternate ending that includes a three-way romance for the three angelic bishounen from the "Final Battle" episode! ah, two seme-types fighting over a positively adorable uke only to have the "little one" find a better answer than arguing! not that I assume Chihaya wouldn't be perfectly happy with Kagetsuya alone and not need Messiah, this is just a random hentai thought! fluffy lemon dreams, anyone?}
Well, that's it for me tonight!
I hope that all my Schwarz fans out there enjoyed this two Part reunion scene despite a lack of fun with good old Bradley! I'd hoped to include him, but in all fairness, I wanted this to be a predominantly happy scene and having him show up and angst throughout his "I'm acting like a badass but I really just want to hug Nagi and tell him I'm glad he's back!" punishment lecture would've ruined it. Who knows, maybe someone will convince me to do a sidefic or epilogue about it later, right now I need to wrap CNR up and move on.
After I return from the Coast I'll drop a note at fanfiction.net to let you know what's in store, all right? Hopefully there will be more than the three reviews I received so far for the gigantic Parts 48 & 49 since there was a lot of stuff in there I was wondering about reader reaction to when I get back.
{waves gratefully at Cat and Shadow Catcher who took the time to leave the llama notes there since they both made him smile a lot tonight!}
Time to post and sleep before the longish drive south, something I don't dread as much as usual since I need the time to contemplate the many wonderful ideas for the "Schwarz Finds Out" tale that may even have a title when I get back! {genki smile} I hope everyone has a great first week of April and with some luck we'll get this story finished and something new begun before the month's half-gone!
Catch Ya on the Flip Side!
~~~E-sama the Llama~~~
(who passed on all the kind words of cheer to darling Amanda and she tiredly smiled and thanked all the folks who encouraged her, something that the llama is also proud of from such a polite daughter. {slight frown} now if only he could think of a way to get her to act that politely towards her sister a little more often, there might be fewer arguments that include "But, Dad~dy! *She* started it!" in the Casa de Llama!)
[[Special note to fanfiction.net friends:
Please take my invitation to request epilogues seriously since I truly wish to use them to focus on the characters and situations that are of greatest interest to my readers here after CNR completes its posting runs soon. After that happens, I will ask another favor, which is that you check back on the fic from time to time after it "ends" to see what has been added in case your request was honored by Melpomene and I got it written up for you to enjoy.
Since these additions are still part of the original "Cold November Rain" concept, I'm sorry but there will *not* be any citrusy epilogues, no, not even a lime. However this is indeed what side-fics can be used for as Priscilla can attest since her three-way lemon for Yohji, Aya, and Ken based on Siberian's sweet little dream about them being at the Weiss chalet is currently brewing in Erato's delightfully dirty little mind!
Thanks ahead of time and {tries to sound like Arnold Schwarzenegger for a moment as he promises} I'll be back!
~E-sama~]]
Posted 1 April 2002, ~4:00am