Real Flower
By: Painful Innocence
A/N- A dedication/birthday fic for my cousin Corrine. Happy birthday, Corri! I can make you a dedication fic, as well! Go to the following URL for more details: http://www.geocities.com/silvermask_eyes/dedicatefic ^_^
WARNING: this is an Aya or Yohji or Ken or Omi / ORIGINAL CHARACTER *non-yaoi* (for the WB/OC pairing, anyway) fic! So yeah.. ^_^; NO FLAMES ON ACCOUNT OF THAT. And another warning: I've never seen a SINGLE episode of Weiss Kreuz. This is built on…what I know, or lack of what I know, thereof. I GAVE YOU FAIR WARNING!! PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK! ^_~
Summary: A woman that calls herself 'Ace' is on every mission Weiss is; and when Aya finds out her identity, she's forced to work with them. But she doesn't want to... Could Weiss be taking a risk letting her work with them?
Disclaimer: I don't own Weiss Kreuz, duh. It belongs to…some other…guy… And the songs that come out of this are either made by ME and are owned/created by ME, or were created by the band 'Plus Three'. So no suing, ne? And no using my original character (Rachiru Tachikawa) or song-lyrics without my permission, ne? I'M SERIOUS ABOUT THAT! MAKING UP SONG LYRICS ISN'T EASY YA KNOW! Well. I'm glad we understand each other (ne).
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chapter one : her opening |
The woman sat at the bar, alone. She was nursing what seemed to be ice water, and appeared to be waiting for someone. She tensed when she heard the door open, then close – letting in a gust of cold, icy wind.
"Shuki-san," she requested of the bartender, "a Chevas & Regal on the rocks." She stood from her barstool, and began walking away. She looked back at the bartender with piercing green eyes. "Give it to the man that just entered. Tell him it was sent by…" She paused to give a sweep around the room, then resumed speaking. "Tell him it was sent to him by an Hopeful Client dressed in All-Black." The bartender nodded and handed the tumbler to the man that had just entered and had sat at the bar.
The woman, the 'Hopeful Client', seated herself at a table in the farthest corner of the bar – almost hidden in shadows – after paying the shuki for the drinks. Her sleek black trench-coat swayed slightly as she walked precariously on softly-clicking, high-heeled boots. Her underclothes were unable to be seen – she had the coat tied to the last and first button. Her face was pale, given a ghostly appearance from all her black clothing, but her hair was even more noticeable. The locks were a halo of golden strands, as if the sun's rays were caught in them. It began growing out from her scalp as straight as hair could be, but ended in waves at her shoulder blades. Jade eyes stared aimlessly around the tavern, catching no one's expectant eye.
"Excuse me, Sir," said the bartender, handing the man his drink. "This drink was sent by a Hopeful Client in All-Black. All prices paid for. Enjoy." Then he walked away. Public affairs, especially in code names, were not his business. They tended to be dangerous. He had lived through quite a few in this very bar –Mikey's Bar– to know that. He went back to polishing glasses with his piece of white cloth.
The man took the drink from the bartender, glancing about when his eyes landed on the woman. His Hopeful Client. He smiled grimly, and walked past her table casually while murmuring, "What strikes without a sound?"
"The black cat," the woman answered. She looked up from her glass of water, stood, and bowed slightly. "Hayakawa Akio-san," she said. "My name is Rachiru Tachikawa. Please, have a seat." They sat at the same time.
Rachiru took the free moment while he nursed his drink to look him over. He was a rich man, obviously, from the suit he wore. But he was putting his money to bad use, and it made Tachikawa Rachiru's blood boil over. She would be sure to get the job done as quickly as possible. She had other 'affairs' to attend to after all, like opening up the antique shop in Tokyo that would serve as her hideout for a few months, and this man couldn't waste all her time.
"So, Tachikawa-san," said Hayakawa, shifting in his seat. "You called me here for a private meeting to discuss the business I'm in. But…what exactly did you want to discuss. Just the business is very vast. What were you and your partners planning on focusing on in our company? Out selling and distributing our products or more inside in the…more 'enclosed' working places? Or you can be even farther out that the distributing unit. You could be getting clients like me, or…getting rid of clients."
"We were focusing mainly on the 'enclosed' working places, Hayakawa-san," Rachiru said quietly. She leant closer to him a bit. She ran a finger around the rim of his glass – though his eyes weren't on her hands, but on her eyes. "But truth be told, Hayakawa-san Takanu Corporation is planning on sending you all the information on my work there – all lies of course – and that would ruin my chances of getting into Haya Enterprises. But Haya is a much better company. So, if you could do me the favor of giving me the ISP number of the main-brain computer of Haya Enterprises – so I could get my information off of their screens, I'd be obliged to you forever. It would ruin both companies, and we both know Tokyo couldn't afford that. It'd make one-third of Japan's population go in debt or homeless from lack of money coming in." She smiled at him wistfully, jade eyes glinting – daring him to protest against her implying suggestion.
"I…uh…well you see… I can't really do that… Suppose I uh…got caught…?"
Rachiru smiled inwardly. 'Already fell into the trap…' "Then we'll run away together, Hayakawa-san!" she whispered fiercely, taking his wrists and laying them on the table. "We can run away, start new lives, and maybe…our relationship would go deeper than just business, since there will be no business to stop us!" She could feel his pulse skip a beat, and he hiccupped. She could feel his pulse speed up, then lower as he contemplated.
"Eh…all right… but no funny business, Tachikawa-san."
"Call me Rachiru," she said. She stood, and waited patiently as he gave her the small sheet of paper he had folded in his coat pocket – Rachiru needn't spend her time wondering why he had the number there – and passing it to her. A card fell out of her sleeve when she took the piece of paper, and she smiled when he picked it up and examined it. "Oh!" she said in fake fluster, "that's a card for my sister's shop: 'Blue Heaven'. Grand opening in three days, she's moving in her merchandise today. Maybe, if you tell her I sent you, she can give you something for free. She loves giving out free prizes to her first customers. Now, excuse me; I need to take a visit to the lady's room." Then she walked off – hips swaying an intoxicating, involuntary sashay. Her heels clicked, making it seem as if there were two of the gorgeous woman with bottle-green eyes and wheat-hair. But Hayakawa Akio could only wish there were.
Ten minutes later, after finishing his drink and ordering another Chevas & Regal, Tachikawa Rachiru had still not exited from the bathroom. Akio was getting nervous. Suppose she had left without him noticing? No. He would've noticed – they were within yards of the restrooms. He decided to wait her out for ten more minutes. Fifteen, then twenty more minutes passed, and she had not appeared. He had finished half of his second tumbler of Chevas & Regal.
Hayakawa stood, and walked over the lady's room – hoping no one noticed. He knocked once. Twice. Three times. No answer. He pulled open the door, and stepped in. But Rachiru Tachikawa was no where to be found. He looked under and over the stalls hesitantly, before deciding she – or any other woman for that matter – was there. No living creature was there except a dying plant, and a small fly crawling on the glass outside of the cracked window. He pulled at the window. It didn't open. He took one glance back at the bathroom, and wiped his brow. Had it been this hot when he entered the bar?
He stumbled out of the bathroom, and out the door of Mikey's Bar – purple hazing his vision. He could feel drool seep down the side of his mouth, mingling with descending sweat. He licked his chapped lips, and made a small groan as his body plummeted heavily to the comforting snow outside the bar. Then, the purple enclosed his vision, and all went black.
+
Omi's fingers searched for a pulse on the man's body. He didn't find one. "He's dead, if we weren't sure of it already," Omi said. His fingers probed for any broken bones along his neck – or bruises.
Aya didn't reply to Omi. His head jerked to the door when he heard it open, then close. "Well?" he prompted of Ken and Yohji who had went in to question the bartender, and the customers that had been present when the man – identified to be Akio Hayakawa – had been there, drinking.
"He had been with a lady. She didn't give a name, just 'a Hopeful Client dressed in All-Black'," informed Ken.
"And according to the men there, she was a sight fore sore-eyes," said Yohji. "Black trench-coat, black heels, unknown-colored eyes, blond or brown hair that reached…ah, about here-" he put his hand to his shoulders "-and a model's figure." A small smile crept on his face. "A looker, for sure, but not a woman that wanted to be identified. Not even the surveillance cameras could tell us anything."
"Why not?" Aya asked. "As long as we could get a picture of her, it would be enough."
"That's just it, Aya," interrupted Ken. He noticed the small glare the crimson-haired man shot him. "Hey, hear me out, alright? What I'm saying is that we could see everything perfectly from the surveillance camera's footage, even when we moved up close, but…" He broke off.
"But what?" asked Omi. He was examining a knot at the back of Hayakawa's neck.
"But we couldn't see her face at any angle. Everything else was crystal, but her face was blurred at every single solitary angle we could manage on that camera. We can't figure out why." His hands were at his sides – palm facing Aya – in a confused and slightly vulnerable state. None of the Weiss members liked it when they couldn't figure something out…especially when this something dealt with the target they were supposed to kill the next day…
Aya contemplated, but didn't answer Ken. He just looked closely at the knot that was bubbling around Hayakawa's neck. Yohji followed his eyes. "Whoa. What is that?"
Omi shrugged. "I think she…hit him or something. But how wo—"
"No," said Aya, peering closer. His almost-violet eyes scrutinized the rounding flesh. "Poison. Lethal in a matter of minutes."
Omi jerked his hand from the body, and stepped away from the lifeless man. He was sure he couldn't get poisoned by touching his skin, but he'd rather not risk it anymore than he already had…
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A/N: that's it. Did you like it? I hope Corrine did! ^_^; They may be OOC. If they were, tell me WHO was OOC, and WHERE they were… I need TIPS people!!