Oi...I spelled a name wrong already...I'm so stupid. Kohanna from
last chapter should be Kohana. Just thought I'd let you know...I might go
back and upload it again, fixed...or I might just leave it...I dunno.
Anyway, I got a few more reviews. ^_^ That makes me feel a little better.
I think I should let you know that I've only introduced four of my new characters...there's going to be at least twenty that play a role in the plot at some point. So, I was thinking that maybe after a few more chapters, I could make a character guide so that you could check back to see who's who until you get the idea. I know it's a lot of characters, but I'm really working on making believable characters here, so...the more the better. ^_^ Let me know which characters you like more than others, from a writers perspective. Tell me which ones seem more real than others, and definitely warn me if I'm heading toward Mary-Sue-dom. I want to avoid that.
Okay, time to get on with the story.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Things seemed to be picking up for the assassins of Weiß. This was their third mission that week, and so far, they'd only completed one of them. True, they had gotten rid of Riot, but they still had very little information about these new assassins. Now, Ken was freaking out because he apparently knew one of the targets, and was convinced that there was no way he could be evil.
Things at the Koneko no Sumu Ie were just as bad as they always were. During the day, it was pretty decent because most girls were at school. There were only a few stragglers wandering the streets looking for flowers. But, by the time Omi got there after he was done with school, the shop was packed with girls, none of whom really wanted to buy anything. They all wanted to stare at their respective idols.
All that on top of the fact that his teachers were cramming the end- of-the-year work in before it got to being finals time was really starting to stress Omi out. It was true that he was a good student, but he was quickly loosing free time, and he had three research papers due the same week. Added to that was all the homework in his other classes, as well as studying for tests and the fact that soon he would have finals to worry about.
He finally pushed away his schoolwork; sick of the ridiculous topics he had to choose for his research papers. The few decent topics were taken before he got a chance to even look at the list, so he got stuck with the crap of the crap. Now, he would concentrate on the name Yohji had given him. Takahashi Aiko, the niece of the benefactor of a group of assassins. It didn't take him long to dredge up her high school records.
Apparently, she'd graduated the year before. She wasn't greatly involved in high school activities, her only one being the girl's Varsity soccer team, but she kept her grades up, graduating in the top ten in her class. However, it seemed she did quite a bit outside of school. Her major time-consumer appeared to be the fact that she was the stage manager of small-time local theater that her uncle had bought for her to use. She seemed to have keen money-sense and an underlying artistic side.
The thing that interested Omi the most, however, was the common appearance of a handful of names...one in particular. Ikeda Michiko...she was the goalie on the Varsity soccer team, though she would only be graduating this year. She held important roles in many of the stage productions put on by the theater, though she was obviously not the prima donna. Also, Aiko often referred to her as her 'evil twin.' Omi jotted the name down, and decided to check her out later and then went on searching for more clues.
In the end, he ended up with quite a few names jotted down. Among those listed was the prima donna of the theater, a girl by the name of Yoko. He couldn't find a family name. His main reason for checking her out was the fact that the assassin who left the note Ken found was signed 'Siren.' Sirens used their singing to lure sailors to their doom. Yoko could apparently sing like nobody's business.
It took hours for him to look up all the names and type up a file on each of them, but the lead was driving him to work. Luckily, it was Saturday. He wouldn't have to worry about school in the morning. He'd just have to work and deal with Ouka. But at least the guys would thank him for his hard work...er, never mind that. They wouldn't say anything in the way of thanks.
* * *
Ken let out a small, frustrated sigh, eyes fixed on the front doors of the building in front of him, a look of determination in his eyes. He was going to find out what was up with Kase no matter what the cost. He should be coming out of those doors any minute now...there, that must be him. He hadn't changed a bit, though he apparently had a new girlfriend.
"Kase!" Ken called, waving at his old friend. Kase looked up from the girl hanging on his arm and gaped at Ken. After a second, he got over his shock and grinned.
"Ken!" He bounded down the steps and wrapped an arm around Ken's neck, sufficiently strangling Ken to near-death. Neither of them really minded, though. "I thought you were dead."
The girl descended the steps elegantly, never taking her eyes away from the scene in front of her. She had a slight smirk on her face. Ken tried to ignore her, since, after working in the flower shop for so long, girls her age started to get annoying. Kase seemed to have momentarily forgotten her. They both turned when they heard her speak, though.
"He certainly doesn't look like a corpse or a ghost. I'm rather glad of that. I'll assume, Kase, that you were simply misinformed when you told me he was dead, because I hope you wouldn't lie to me." Ken did not envy Kase the look he received from her. "As much as I like happy reunions, I'm afraid we have to go Kase. My game starts in an hour and I have to warm up."
"Oh, yeah...uh, Ken, this is my girlfriend, Michiko. She's got a soccer game, so we've gotta go, but you're welcome to come if you aren't busy. We can catch up...though, you'll have to provide your own transportation, since the Firebird only holds two people..." Kase said. Ken grinned.
"Sure...I'll just follow you two on my bike."
Ken motioned to his motorcycle a few meters away. Kase nodded and told him the address of the soccer-park in which the game was being held incase traffic did not allow for Ken to follow the car. Then, Kase and his girlfriend went to get their car, and Ken camped out straddling his motorcycle until he saw them leave.
* * *
"Ah...Kase, isn't it a bit late in the season for high school games?" Ken asked. He was sitting on a set of rather uncomfortable metal bleachers. The sun had been shining on them the whole day, and they were very warm. Kase was seated next to him, apparently unconcerned with the heat.
"This is the prefecture championship, and it isn't their school team. If they win, they get to go to the national tournament. I think they've got a good chance...they've got some real talent. Like that midfielder, number six. Her name's Kyoko and she's a varsity freshman."* Kase said.
"Impressive." Ken admitted. "So, what position does Michiko play?"
"Keeper." Kase smirked. "She's better than you."
"Yeah, sure." Ken rolled his eyes. "I believe you."
"Just you watch. Anyway, what have you been up to these past few years?"
Ken gave a brief account of his life from after the little 'accident' when he got kicked out of the J-league. He told about the flower shop, and about Aya, Yohji and Omi, but he conveniently left out the part about him being an assassin. He was used to giving this shortened version of his life. It was all he ever told people, since he didn't like talking about his soccer years.
Afterward, he heard Kase's life story. Apparently, Kase had quite the J-league after the 'accident' and then left Japan. When he came back, he got his current job at Asia Construction. He never mentioned anything about the Creeper gang. He spoke highly of Kouga Kenji, however, which rubbed Ken the wrong way. He finally burst, his anger getting him in trouble yet again.
"Stay away from Kouga Kenji." Ken said, a threatening tone in his voice. Kase stared at him.
"Kouga-san is a good man, Ken." He said. Something in the game caught his eye and he looked up, Ken forgotten. There was a huddle of people in front of the goal, and he couldn't see Michiko. "Michi..." He sprang to his feet, instantly full of worry.
"You know better, Kase." Ken reprimanded, grabbing his old friend's wrist. "You aren't related, they won't like you going on the field. She's probably fine." From the field they heard a loud howl, and the crowd of people backed up in unison as someone yelled something. Then a grinning Michiko came through the mass of people, her arm secured at her side by a sock. A redhead walked next to her, smiling as well and snapping at anyone who tried to impede their progress toward the sidelines.
"Oh no." Kase murmured. "If her arm is broken she won't be able to play." They watched as the redhead helped Michiko sit on the bench, then said something that made the darker-haired girl laugh. Then the game resumed, with the injured goalie screaming from the sidelines until she was unable to speak.
After the game Michiko went to the hospital to get her arm checked, and Ken got Kase to agree to have a drink while he waited for his girlfriend to call. So they sat at the bar, each with a glass in his hand. They talked about the old days, about the J-league and about life before the 'accident'. Then Kase began to tell Ken about Kouga, and the assassin decided it was time to try to convince his friend that the guy was bad news.
But Kase would have none of it. He was completely convinced that his boss was a good man. After about ten minutes, the two got into such heated conversation about it that they decided to part ways. Kase went back to the hospital to find Michiko, and Ken went back to the flower shop. As was to be expected, he was in a very bad mood, and stormed up to his room without speaking to any of the other guys.
* * *
Omi's bad day had only been a forewarning of the God-awful day to follow. Everything had been the same involving school and work, but now, his target, whose schedule he'd had memorized, had disappeared off the face of the earth. He settled into his computer chair around ten thirty that night, doped up on pain medication for the rather large headache he'd developed earlier that day. He had a list of people to look up still from his work the day before involving Aiko, and hadn't had any time earlier to work on it. But soon, relief came!
He'd been involved in a number of Internet RPGs over the past few years, and had met a number of rather interesting people. One of them went by BoTaNtHeRpGtHiNgY, and he was a pretty decent hacker. He'd actually helped Omi on a few missions, though he never knew exactly what was going on, and had often shown Omi some of his own private work. Sure, he was really weird, but Omi had to admit that he was good at what he did.
BoTaNtHeRpGtHiNgY: hey
Omi: hey, I need your help
BtRt: hacking, I suppose
Omi: yeah, could you look up everything you could find on these names? Koyanagi Mai, Tanaka Nori and Seishin Kohana
BtRt: hell no
Omi: why not?
BtRt: cause I know all 3 of them and they'd beat me up...Mai's pretty scary
Omi almost fell out of his chair. This circle of friends was huge, and the fact that it was so interconnected in his life was starting to scare him. Two of the girls and two of the boys who seemed to be very good friends with Takahashi Aiko went to his school.
Omi: can you tell me anything about them?
BtRt: they'll beat me up...are you the ones who hacked into their mansion's security system and broke into their house? Nori's pretty pissed
Omi: oi
BtRt: lol, you're in big trouble. I'm surprised she didn't report you to the police. Oh well...you might as well just give this up, you aren't going to get anywhere.
Then, BoTaNtHeRpGtHiNgY logged off. Omi resisted the urge to beat his head into a hard, immovable object. Now the assassins would know that he was still looking into their activities. And he'd lost a possible ally. Things were just not going his way.
* * *
Kohana walked into the gym early in the morning, fists clenched and muscles coiled with tension. Maki was dead. The realization had hit her hard, that someone she had thought of as a friend was no longer living, and that she had died brutally at the hands of those...she shut her eyes and shook her head. There was no point in thinking about it, she should just vent her anger on something and stop rolling the memory around in her head. She headed for the punching bags.
When she arrived she pulled on some guards and let her fists fly, feeling the tension ease slightly as the bags swung in perfect rhythm with her fists. Still, it wasn't what she needed and she looked around for someone to spar with. Her eyes settled on a practice ring near the wall where someone was holding a mass duel. A smile touched her lips for the first time in two days and she made her way over, ready to hit something that made a much more satisfying sound that a punching bag.
"Uh, I think you should be over there." The current champion pointed across the room to where a few small children and teenagers were sparring with each other in slow, weak moves. Kohana raised an eyebrow but said nothing, climbing into the ring and readying her fists. "All right, but I warned you."
"Stop talking and fight." She replied shortly, and in only a few seconds her opponent was lying flat on his back, wondering what had happened to put him there.
After that the others who had lined up for a fight dropped like flies, each one lying dazed on the mat for several minutes before they regained enough composure to leave the ring. Then another would step up, and in the blink of an eye they too were on the ground. This continued for quite some time until a tall man with dark hair came over, and climbed into the ring.
"I hope you don't expect to win this time." He said with a smile, and she merely growled and lunged. Surprisingly he dodged the attack easily, darting to one side and throwing her off balance just enough to annoy her. Then she turned back and renewed her efforts, feinting to one side and punching with her left fist instead of her right, hoping to throw him off. Instead the man dodged again, nudged her under the shoulder and rolled her easily over his back onto the mat. She lay for a moment with the wind knocked out of her before she stood back up, and lifted her fists.
"I'm not here to win." She informed him softly as he prepared to lunge this time. "I'm just here to blow off some steam." And he came at her with a rapid series of moves that she could neither see, nor predict. The end result left her on the mat once again, staring at the ceiling with the same dazed look her previous opponents had after she was done with them.
"Nice moves." The dark-haired man informed her coolly, and glanced over his shoulder to where a redheaded man was waving to him.
"Crawford, come on we have to go." The dark-haired man grunted, nodded at Kohana, and left the gym.
"Weird." Kohana muttered, and turned her attention back in the direction of the punching bags.
* * *
The betrayal hurt more than the bruises. His best friend had ruined his life, and had tried to have him killed. Lucky for him he'd been wearing a bulletproof vest, or he'd be dead. Kase was a moron. That stupidity would be his downfall. Assuming Ken got to him before a certain someone else, which he didn't.
Standing outside the same building as before, he stared in confusion at the ambulance. The body covered by a white sheet, the blood, the girl with tears in her eyes...what could have happened? How had this happened? He turned and left, unable to handle the scene. It was all too surreal. It shouldn't have happened like that.
He met up with the others about a block away. He had let a few tears fall, but had found himself unable to waste time crying over the loss of his best friend. There were too many emotions to deal with. His friends looked at him for an explanation, but he could offer none. He himself didn't know what had happened. Kase was dead, and he hadn't been the one to kill him. Somehow it just didn't seem right.
A few days later he received a letter from Michiko, Kase's girlfriend who had been with him at his death. It was a simple request for Ken to come to the mansion where she was living so they could talk about Kase. Confused but curious, Ken was getting ready to go when Omi called a brief meeting to discuss the names he had come up with.
"I've got a good list so far of the people associated with Takahashi, Aiko, friends of hers or people living in the mansion." Omi handed them each a list with several names on it. Ken's eyes went immediately one near the top of the page. Ikeda, Michiko.
"Hey Omi, what did you find on Ikeda, Michiko?" he inquired after a moment, and the younger boy looked up, surprised.
"She's Aiko's best friend. They are on the same soccer team; they're both involved in the theater house, and they both live in the mansion. Why?" Ken frowned, then shook his head.
"It's nothing, look I gotta go meet someone. Call me if you find anything else or if you need me to check anything out while I'm gone." Ken left the room, and the remaining members glanced at each other.
"I wonder what's up with him now." Yohji muttered.
"I don't know." Aya said coolly. "But we should keep an eye on him." The other two nodded in agreement, and while Aya went out to follow their fourth member, Yohji and Omi turned to the computer to see what else they could find.
* * *
If you don't understand some of the things going on in the story, I'm sorry. I am assuming that those of you who are reading this story have seen at least some of Weiß Kreuz. If you haven't, I know it's been released in the US, so you can probably rent it or buy it somewhere. I mean, I live in Kansas, and I've seen it, so you can't complain about living in too small of a town. If you don't live in the US, then I don't know if you'll have access to WK or not.
I'm not all together satisfied with this chapter. I think some parts are rather vague, but I'm going to go ahead and post this anyway. It's been awhile since I've posted. Also, chapter four is nearing completion as I'm typing this, so look for it in a week or so. I don't have much free time anymore, now that school has started, so I can't type as much. Gomen.
I think I should let you know that I've only introduced four of my new characters...there's going to be at least twenty that play a role in the plot at some point. So, I was thinking that maybe after a few more chapters, I could make a character guide so that you could check back to see who's who until you get the idea. I know it's a lot of characters, but I'm really working on making believable characters here, so...the more the better. ^_^ Let me know which characters you like more than others, from a writers perspective. Tell me which ones seem more real than others, and definitely warn me if I'm heading toward Mary-Sue-dom. I want to avoid that.
Okay, time to get on with the story.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Things seemed to be picking up for the assassins of Weiß. This was their third mission that week, and so far, they'd only completed one of them. True, they had gotten rid of Riot, but they still had very little information about these new assassins. Now, Ken was freaking out because he apparently knew one of the targets, and was convinced that there was no way he could be evil.
Things at the Koneko no Sumu Ie were just as bad as they always were. During the day, it was pretty decent because most girls were at school. There were only a few stragglers wandering the streets looking for flowers. But, by the time Omi got there after he was done with school, the shop was packed with girls, none of whom really wanted to buy anything. They all wanted to stare at their respective idols.
All that on top of the fact that his teachers were cramming the end- of-the-year work in before it got to being finals time was really starting to stress Omi out. It was true that he was a good student, but he was quickly loosing free time, and he had three research papers due the same week. Added to that was all the homework in his other classes, as well as studying for tests and the fact that soon he would have finals to worry about.
He finally pushed away his schoolwork; sick of the ridiculous topics he had to choose for his research papers. The few decent topics were taken before he got a chance to even look at the list, so he got stuck with the crap of the crap. Now, he would concentrate on the name Yohji had given him. Takahashi Aiko, the niece of the benefactor of a group of assassins. It didn't take him long to dredge up her high school records.
Apparently, she'd graduated the year before. She wasn't greatly involved in high school activities, her only one being the girl's Varsity soccer team, but she kept her grades up, graduating in the top ten in her class. However, it seemed she did quite a bit outside of school. Her major time-consumer appeared to be the fact that she was the stage manager of small-time local theater that her uncle had bought for her to use. She seemed to have keen money-sense and an underlying artistic side.
The thing that interested Omi the most, however, was the common appearance of a handful of names...one in particular. Ikeda Michiko...she was the goalie on the Varsity soccer team, though she would only be graduating this year. She held important roles in many of the stage productions put on by the theater, though she was obviously not the prima donna. Also, Aiko often referred to her as her 'evil twin.' Omi jotted the name down, and decided to check her out later and then went on searching for more clues.
In the end, he ended up with quite a few names jotted down. Among those listed was the prima donna of the theater, a girl by the name of Yoko. He couldn't find a family name. His main reason for checking her out was the fact that the assassin who left the note Ken found was signed 'Siren.' Sirens used their singing to lure sailors to their doom. Yoko could apparently sing like nobody's business.
It took hours for him to look up all the names and type up a file on each of them, but the lead was driving him to work. Luckily, it was Saturday. He wouldn't have to worry about school in the morning. He'd just have to work and deal with Ouka. But at least the guys would thank him for his hard work...er, never mind that. They wouldn't say anything in the way of thanks.
* * *
Ken let out a small, frustrated sigh, eyes fixed on the front doors of the building in front of him, a look of determination in his eyes. He was going to find out what was up with Kase no matter what the cost. He should be coming out of those doors any minute now...there, that must be him. He hadn't changed a bit, though he apparently had a new girlfriend.
"Kase!" Ken called, waving at his old friend. Kase looked up from the girl hanging on his arm and gaped at Ken. After a second, he got over his shock and grinned.
"Ken!" He bounded down the steps and wrapped an arm around Ken's neck, sufficiently strangling Ken to near-death. Neither of them really minded, though. "I thought you were dead."
The girl descended the steps elegantly, never taking her eyes away from the scene in front of her. She had a slight smirk on her face. Ken tried to ignore her, since, after working in the flower shop for so long, girls her age started to get annoying. Kase seemed to have momentarily forgotten her. They both turned when they heard her speak, though.
"He certainly doesn't look like a corpse or a ghost. I'm rather glad of that. I'll assume, Kase, that you were simply misinformed when you told me he was dead, because I hope you wouldn't lie to me." Ken did not envy Kase the look he received from her. "As much as I like happy reunions, I'm afraid we have to go Kase. My game starts in an hour and I have to warm up."
"Oh, yeah...uh, Ken, this is my girlfriend, Michiko. She's got a soccer game, so we've gotta go, but you're welcome to come if you aren't busy. We can catch up...though, you'll have to provide your own transportation, since the Firebird only holds two people..." Kase said. Ken grinned.
"Sure...I'll just follow you two on my bike."
Ken motioned to his motorcycle a few meters away. Kase nodded and told him the address of the soccer-park in which the game was being held incase traffic did not allow for Ken to follow the car. Then, Kase and his girlfriend went to get their car, and Ken camped out straddling his motorcycle until he saw them leave.
* * *
"Ah...Kase, isn't it a bit late in the season for high school games?" Ken asked. He was sitting on a set of rather uncomfortable metal bleachers. The sun had been shining on them the whole day, and they were very warm. Kase was seated next to him, apparently unconcerned with the heat.
"This is the prefecture championship, and it isn't their school team. If they win, they get to go to the national tournament. I think they've got a good chance...they've got some real talent. Like that midfielder, number six. Her name's Kyoko and she's a varsity freshman."* Kase said.
"Impressive." Ken admitted. "So, what position does Michiko play?"
"Keeper." Kase smirked. "She's better than you."
"Yeah, sure." Ken rolled his eyes. "I believe you."
"Just you watch. Anyway, what have you been up to these past few years?"
Ken gave a brief account of his life from after the little 'accident' when he got kicked out of the J-league. He told about the flower shop, and about Aya, Yohji and Omi, but he conveniently left out the part about him being an assassin. He was used to giving this shortened version of his life. It was all he ever told people, since he didn't like talking about his soccer years.
Afterward, he heard Kase's life story. Apparently, Kase had quite the J-league after the 'accident' and then left Japan. When he came back, he got his current job at Asia Construction. He never mentioned anything about the Creeper gang. He spoke highly of Kouga Kenji, however, which rubbed Ken the wrong way. He finally burst, his anger getting him in trouble yet again.
"Stay away from Kouga Kenji." Ken said, a threatening tone in his voice. Kase stared at him.
"Kouga-san is a good man, Ken." He said. Something in the game caught his eye and he looked up, Ken forgotten. There was a huddle of people in front of the goal, and he couldn't see Michiko. "Michi..." He sprang to his feet, instantly full of worry.
"You know better, Kase." Ken reprimanded, grabbing his old friend's wrist. "You aren't related, they won't like you going on the field. She's probably fine." From the field they heard a loud howl, and the crowd of people backed up in unison as someone yelled something. Then a grinning Michiko came through the mass of people, her arm secured at her side by a sock. A redhead walked next to her, smiling as well and snapping at anyone who tried to impede their progress toward the sidelines.
"Oh no." Kase murmured. "If her arm is broken she won't be able to play." They watched as the redhead helped Michiko sit on the bench, then said something that made the darker-haired girl laugh. Then the game resumed, with the injured goalie screaming from the sidelines until she was unable to speak.
After the game Michiko went to the hospital to get her arm checked, and Ken got Kase to agree to have a drink while he waited for his girlfriend to call. So they sat at the bar, each with a glass in his hand. They talked about the old days, about the J-league and about life before the 'accident'. Then Kase began to tell Ken about Kouga, and the assassin decided it was time to try to convince his friend that the guy was bad news.
But Kase would have none of it. He was completely convinced that his boss was a good man. After about ten minutes, the two got into such heated conversation about it that they decided to part ways. Kase went back to the hospital to find Michiko, and Ken went back to the flower shop. As was to be expected, he was in a very bad mood, and stormed up to his room without speaking to any of the other guys.
* * *
Omi's bad day had only been a forewarning of the God-awful day to follow. Everything had been the same involving school and work, but now, his target, whose schedule he'd had memorized, had disappeared off the face of the earth. He settled into his computer chair around ten thirty that night, doped up on pain medication for the rather large headache he'd developed earlier that day. He had a list of people to look up still from his work the day before involving Aiko, and hadn't had any time earlier to work on it. But soon, relief came!
He'd been involved in a number of Internet RPGs over the past few years, and had met a number of rather interesting people. One of them went by BoTaNtHeRpGtHiNgY, and he was a pretty decent hacker. He'd actually helped Omi on a few missions, though he never knew exactly what was going on, and had often shown Omi some of his own private work. Sure, he was really weird, but Omi had to admit that he was good at what he did.
BoTaNtHeRpGtHiNgY: hey
Omi: hey, I need your help
BtRt: hacking, I suppose
Omi: yeah, could you look up everything you could find on these names? Koyanagi Mai, Tanaka Nori and Seishin Kohana
BtRt: hell no
Omi: why not?
BtRt: cause I know all 3 of them and they'd beat me up...Mai's pretty scary
Omi almost fell out of his chair. This circle of friends was huge, and the fact that it was so interconnected in his life was starting to scare him. Two of the girls and two of the boys who seemed to be very good friends with Takahashi Aiko went to his school.
Omi: can you tell me anything about them?
BtRt: they'll beat me up...are you the ones who hacked into their mansion's security system and broke into their house? Nori's pretty pissed
Omi: oi
BtRt: lol, you're in big trouble. I'm surprised she didn't report you to the police. Oh well...you might as well just give this up, you aren't going to get anywhere.
Then, BoTaNtHeRpGtHiNgY logged off. Omi resisted the urge to beat his head into a hard, immovable object. Now the assassins would know that he was still looking into their activities. And he'd lost a possible ally. Things were just not going his way.
* * *
Kohana walked into the gym early in the morning, fists clenched and muscles coiled with tension. Maki was dead. The realization had hit her hard, that someone she had thought of as a friend was no longer living, and that she had died brutally at the hands of those...she shut her eyes and shook her head. There was no point in thinking about it, she should just vent her anger on something and stop rolling the memory around in her head. She headed for the punching bags.
When she arrived she pulled on some guards and let her fists fly, feeling the tension ease slightly as the bags swung in perfect rhythm with her fists. Still, it wasn't what she needed and she looked around for someone to spar with. Her eyes settled on a practice ring near the wall where someone was holding a mass duel. A smile touched her lips for the first time in two days and she made her way over, ready to hit something that made a much more satisfying sound that a punching bag.
"Uh, I think you should be over there." The current champion pointed across the room to where a few small children and teenagers were sparring with each other in slow, weak moves. Kohana raised an eyebrow but said nothing, climbing into the ring and readying her fists. "All right, but I warned you."
"Stop talking and fight." She replied shortly, and in only a few seconds her opponent was lying flat on his back, wondering what had happened to put him there.
After that the others who had lined up for a fight dropped like flies, each one lying dazed on the mat for several minutes before they regained enough composure to leave the ring. Then another would step up, and in the blink of an eye they too were on the ground. This continued for quite some time until a tall man with dark hair came over, and climbed into the ring.
"I hope you don't expect to win this time." He said with a smile, and she merely growled and lunged. Surprisingly he dodged the attack easily, darting to one side and throwing her off balance just enough to annoy her. Then she turned back and renewed her efforts, feinting to one side and punching with her left fist instead of her right, hoping to throw him off. Instead the man dodged again, nudged her under the shoulder and rolled her easily over his back onto the mat. She lay for a moment with the wind knocked out of her before she stood back up, and lifted her fists.
"I'm not here to win." She informed him softly as he prepared to lunge this time. "I'm just here to blow off some steam." And he came at her with a rapid series of moves that she could neither see, nor predict. The end result left her on the mat once again, staring at the ceiling with the same dazed look her previous opponents had after she was done with them.
"Nice moves." The dark-haired man informed her coolly, and glanced over his shoulder to where a redheaded man was waving to him.
"Crawford, come on we have to go." The dark-haired man grunted, nodded at Kohana, and left the gym.
"Weird." Kohana muttered, and turned her attention back in the direction of the punching bags.
* * *
The betrayal hurt more than the bruises. His best friend had ruined his life, and had tried to have him killed. Lucky for him he'd been wearing a bulletproof vest, or he'd be dead. Kase was a moron. That stupidity would be his downfall. Assuming Ken got to him before a certain someone else, which he didn't.
Standing outside the same building as before, he stared in confusion at the ambulance. The body covered by a white sheet, the blood, the girl with tears in her eyes...what could have happened? How had this happened? He turned and left, unable to handle the scene. It was all too surreal. It shouldn't have happened like that.
He met up with the others about a block away. He had let a few tears fall, but had found himself unable to waste time crying over the loss of his best friend. There were too many emotions to deal with. His friends looked at him for an explanation, but he could offer none. He himself didn't know what had happened. Kase was dead, and he hadn't been the one to kill him. Somehow it just didn't seem right.
A few days later he received a letter from Michiko, Kase's girlfriend who had been with him at his death. It was a simple request for Ken to come to the mansion where she was living so they could talk about Kase. Confused but curious, Ken was getting ready to go when Omi called a brief meeting to discuss the names he had come up with.
"I've got a good list so far of the people associated with Takahashi, Aiko, friends of hers or people living in the mansion." Omi handed them each a list with several names on it. Ken's eyes went immediately one near the top of the page. Ikeda, Michiko.
"Hey Omi, what did you find on Ikeda, Michiko?" he inquired after a moment, and the younger boy looked up, surprised.
"She's Aiko's best friend. They are on the same soccer team; they're both involved in the theater house, and they both live in the mansion. Why?" Ken frowned, then shook his head.
"It's nothing, look I gotta go meet someone. Call me if you find anything else or if you need me to check anything out while I'm gone." Ken left the room, and the remaining members glanced at each other.
"I wonder what's up with him now." Yohji muttered.
"I don't know." Aya said coolly. "But we should keep an eye on him." The other two nodded in agreement, and while Aya went out to follow their fourth member, Yohji and Omi turned to the computer to see what else they could find.
* * *
If you don't understand some of the things going on in the story, I'm sorry. I am assuming that those of you who are reading this story have seen at least some of Weiß Kreuz. If you haven't, I know it's been released in the US, so you can probably rent it or buy it somewhere. I mean, I live in Kansas, and I've seen it, so you can't complain about living in too small of a town. If you don't live in the US, then I don't know if you'll have access to WK or not.
I'm not all together satisfied with this chapter. I think some parts are rather vague, but I'm going to go ahead and post this anyway. It's been awhile since I've posted. Also, chapter four is nearing completion as I'm typing this, so look for it in a week or so. I don't have much free time anymore, now that school has started, so I can't type as much. Gomen.