Disclaimer: up until now Weiß Kreuz, Weiß Kreuz Glühen still don't belong to me.... ;__; ... but I can still live with my fics..... ^__^()
Jacques, here's the Mamoru piece..... I hope you like it..... Big thanks to everyone who has reviewed these pieces..... and off course, very BIG THANKS to annonymouse who did the beta.....
Now on to the fic.....
He walked into his apartment and shut the door behind. The was empty and there
was no sign that anyone was home. It was a spacious suite on the top storey of
the building, too spacious for one person, and to add the wide feeling of the
room, it was barren from furniture – save a working desk with huge computer
system, two bookshelves and one king-sized bed. Only those four items, aside
from kitchen and bathroom fixtures. He even kept his clothes inside his
suitcase.
"Tadaima," he said slowly. Inside his mind a soft answer came, //Okaerinasai// and he gave himself a bitter smile to the ghost before him. It was only void. There was nobody there.
Slowly he unbuttoned his shirt and loosened his tie, letting them fall to the wooden floor as he strolled towards the computer. The computer was always left on; it let him easier have easier access to his personal database using his notebook when he was away. It was personal property; he didn't want to share its contents with Kritiker. Surely he didn't have to worry much about its security. It was protected by anti-hacking programs he wrote. And should they fail, the system would contact him via hand phone so he could defend the security. Bless the technology, and technology would grant you many things. And so far nobody ever broke into his system, but one particular person.
"Already lurking around the cyber world?" said a whispered voice behind him.
He turned around to face a pair of golden brown eyes, much alike his in
colors, only the shape was narrower. "Naoe-san," he gave the opponent a faint
smile. "Thank you for saving my life earlier this evening," he said.
Seeing the brown haired man suddenly appear inside the closed apartment was no
longer a surprise for him. He knew what the other's capability and he also know
his nature. The ex-Schwarz member could come and go as he pleased, whether
invited or not. No rules bound him. Not Weiß. Not Schwarz. Not Takatori. The
young man was all free. And if he submitted to serving Persia lately, it was his
own decision.
"It doesn't matter, Bombay," the young man sniggered. He still used Mamoru – no, Omi's codename to refer to the leader of Kritiker and Weiß. "It is my duty," he continued. The man looked down at him silently. The eyes looked at him closely, though it felt as if they were out of reach.
"Is there anything you'd like to say, Naoe-san?" Mamoru asked. He kept his formal language to speak; he still wanted to keep the conversation as boss and employee, not between friends or enemies. Each member of Schwarz was twisted in the mind to some certain negative degree, and even if Mamoru trusted his life in Nagi's hand, he would not trust him with the whole world.
"Knight didn't seem to be pleased by you. I'm pretty sure that he would start to search where Abyssinian was. He's suspicious about something. And I think he would find something if we don't act."
"I am pretty aware about it, Naoe-san," Mamoru answered. "But you must know that I was not the mastermind of the MIA status."
"You are gaining enemies inside your bed," Nagi leaned closer, "Get rid of the Crasher team."
Mamoru turned his head and looked sideways. "Crasher belongs to my grand father, Takatori Saijou. So do Weiß and Kritiker." He sighed as he tried to ebb away the memory of him asking and begging his grandfather to let him announce the mission. Instead of giving his only grandson what he wanted, the old man sent a destructing mission to Crasher, a stop and blow team in which Aya once belonged to.
But he realized that without the Crasher's bombs, he would have to arrange perhaps another "failed" mission, because a Weiß member who betrayed the team would have to be eliminated right away. He had succeeded in letting the other three go. Aya, Youji, and Ken needed some air to breath other than countless killing missions from one man's judgment. The man was not him, Takatori Mamoru. It was his grandfather's.
"I'd say Persia is only a toy then," Nagi mused. "Too bad. I thought you were made of something stronger." The brown haired boy nodded to Mamoru, "If Saijou got killed, you would be the head of Takatori, not merely a puppet in your grandpa's hands."
Mamoru jerked up from his seat and cornered Nagi to the wall. "Don't you ever think about touching my grand father! If you hurt him, I'm gonna kill you."
"After all, he's your only relative left alive, isn't he?" Nagi continued as if he read the ash blond's mind. After all these years knowing the man in front of him, Nagi knew that there were some things that wouldn't change just by switching names. He shoved Mamoru away and tidied his shirt. "If you give me the mission, I would gladly do it." He gave the man a dry smile, "Now I leave you to work as you please."
"Thank you," came the bitter reply. Mamoru watched Nagi walk to the window. The young man never used the front door, except on special occasions. He was more or less a ghost Weiß member. Nobody knew that the telekinetic worked for him.
"By the way, Bombay," Nagi stopped as he reached the window, "What are you going to do with the Epitaph data?"
"Epitaph data? I don't remember having them." Those hazel eyes rolled sideways, an obvious sign that he wasn't telling the truth.
"The data you stole when you infected the mother computer at Koua-gakuen. Don't pretend like you know nothing."
"I… still don't know yet." Mamoru lowered his head.
Nagi turned around and stared at the man closely. "Persia-sama," he said, "If you intend to make use of the data, I will make sure that I'm the one to kill you." And with it he bowed a little. "Oyasuminasai," he said and left without even opening the window.
Mamoru relaxed his body and leaned into his office chair after the other man
went away. His shirt crumpled against the dark brown leather upholsters. Being
face to face with Prodigy still made him nervous, though it had been a couple of
years now since their first encounter, Naoe Nagi had not changed a bit. The only
thing that changed was that now he worked as his personal wrench man.
He was sure that Nagi was threatening him about the Epitaph data. The data was one of the many reasons why Nagi joined forces with him. He wanted to destroy any Rosenkreuz and Eszet related things. These were to make sure that nobody would make use of his special ability. And by holding Epitaph's data in his hands, Mamoru might be a potential enemy to Nagi. He would surely keep an eye on him.
The ash blond pushed the mouse a bit. The blank screen flickered and gave out a dialog box for password entry. He placed one hand on the keyboard but he hesitated and turned the system off and went to bed. He slipped himself underneath the blanket even though he knew that he would have to count countless dots on his acoustic tile ceiling before he fell asleep.
Another night, another gala-dinner to attend, another speech to give. Mamoru
Takatori had become one of the top-ranked politicians. It seemed like it was in
the blood, his career seemed to have rocketed ever since he became a member of
the party, like any Takatori family members. He was also a promising heir to the
Takatori throne, with only several second cousins to compete. He was a strict
person, always calm and collected. His decisions were always logical and based
on deep analysis, though there seemed to be a faint trace of humanity there. And
sure as anything, people shudder at his surname.
A pair of brown eyes were watching him closely as the young Takatori made his way to the podium to deliver his speech. He leaned silently on a giant metal-clad column. His skin was dark and his posture was quite tall. His brown hair fell carelessly around the oval face.
"Knight," said a light voice behind him. A boy with blond hair and big concerned eyes looked at him. "Are you still angry about Ran?" the boy asked slowly as if he was bringing up a forbidden affair.
Knight rolled his eyes to the shorter person, "Pawn, I thought you wouldn't come. You're not on duty, right?" The man didn't answer the question.
The boy nodded, "Yes. No bombs to set or to deactivate. Queen asked me if I wanted to accompany her here. She found me at the base just before I went home."
It was a surprising answer for Knight. Queen usually asked for his company, or Rook's. She hardly took Bishop or Pawn unless it was for business.
"Please don't be jealous," said a sexy alto voice, "I was only thinking that Pawn might be feeling lonely not being taken to this party by his older brothers." Queen was standing a few meters away from the other Crasher members. She was wearing a backless black velvet dress and her gestures would make any men drool over her. "How's the situation?" She took a sip from her champagne.
"All clear," answered Knight, "Bishop takes guard at eleven hour, Rook at three."
Queen looked at the direction the man gave him and a smile curled on her strawberry lips. "I'm glad that you keep your objectives despite of how you feel towards Mamoru-sama. Ran died in a mission. That was something we cannot evade. He knew that it was the risk of being a Weiß member."
Knight looked sideways, "I just couldn't accept that Mamoru let Ran to search for Balinese and then die there."
"Knight," Queen pointed, "Don't accuse Mamoru-sama for something he didn't intend to happen. If Ran was not sent as soon as possible, the case would have been exposed and our existence would be known. Don't say unnecessary things."
"Fine." Knight walked through the two other Crasher team.
"Knight, where are you going?" Pawn asked.
"Getting a drink." He took big steps, unwilling to continue the conversation. He knew it wasn't his right to complain. Ran would go anyway even if he did ask him to stay and fly with the chopper instead. But what Mamoru said the night before did make him angry. Everything for the sake of Takatori. What kind of answer was that? Knight knew very well that Ran despised Takatori after the incident with his family.
Knight was still deep in thought when he bumped his shoulder against another man. He turned and bowed a little to show his apology, "I'm sorry."
"It doesn't matter," said the man.
Knight looked up and saw him. He was young, probably around his early twenties, if not at his late teens. His eyes were beautiful golden brown but they were distant. His moves were efficient and quiet. This aura, it seemed predatory. This guy must be a killer, or at least he had seen many people die in unnatural ways.
The man bowed a bit and left.
Knight felt like he had seen the man somewhere. He decided to watch the man. He was suspicious. Beside he didn't remember that face on the guest list, and he was definitely not a waiter or the hotel employee. He wasn't wearing uniform.
The man was standing at the left side of the podium, leaning to the wall as Knight decided to walk closer to him. He stopped by him and smiled. "I've never seen you before," he said. //Could he be someone's wrench man?//
"Have you not?" came a polite answer.
"Honjou Yuushi," Knight pulled out hand.
"Naoe Nagi. How do you do?"
"How do you do." Knight leaned beside the other man. "Are you from Jigen or…?"
"Me? I'm just a hired person," Nagi answered without making eye contact.
"I see." Knight was a bit pissed to see that attitude. That man might be polite, but he seemed to distance himself. Just then Knight noticed that the other was fixing his sight on someone. He traced the direction just as he realized something. There was a red dot flickering on someone in the front row. And then he heard Mamoru yelled towards the target, "Get down!" and flung sideways as he pulled his Browning Baby and shot at someone in the balcony. The unknown sniper changed target and shot at Mamoru. The ash blond hurried to crawl behind the podium, but he was hit.
"Shit!" Knight pulled out his gun as he ran towards the man he supposed to protect.
There was lots of screaming and people started to scatter around. He saw from the corner of his eyes that Rook was running towards the unknown man and pursue him. "Are you alright, Mamoru-sama?" he asked. And to his surprise, the stranger called Naoe Nagi was already kneeling beside his superior.
"I'm alright," Mamoru winced as he answered. His hand was holding his side. It was bleeding severely. He faced sideways towards Nagi, "I didn't know you're coming. I thought you despised being around so many people." He smiled as he closed his eyes, "I feel so tired…."
"Mamoru-sama!" Knight called. He hated it when a mission fails, even if it was to protect someone he despised.
"He's just fainted," Nagi said. "Stay by his side."
"Hey wait!" But the man was already gone.
//Who is that man?//
Knight sat silently at the hospital waiting room. Queen, Pawn, and Bishop were
also there. Mamoru was still in the surgery room to get the bullet out of his
body. It happened to be the kind of bullet that would blow as it hit the target,
and each piece of it had to be taken out carefully.
They were still waiting in the same position when Rook came to report. "I found the man already dead," he said, "His body was somewhat twisted. I don't know who did it. It couldn't be human."
"It must be him…" Knight murmured.
"Who is it, Knight?" Rook asked.
"That person. Naoe Nagi. He was around Mamoru-sama's age. Brown haired, brown hazel distant eyes. He was with me when Mamoru-sama was shot."
"Naoe… Nagi?" Queen asked.
"That's how he introduced to me. Do you know him?"
Queen shook her head, "Naoe Nagi is… Naoe Nagi was Takatori Reiji's bodyguard. He was from Eszet, Schwarz."
"Schwarz?" Knight, Pawn, Rook, and Bishop looked at Queen in surprise.
Nagi entered the room silently. The light was off. The only source of light was
the faint glow from the hospital corridor. He noticed a figure sleeping on the
couch. It was the man he had happened to meet just before the incident occurred.
He ignored the sleeping figure and headed to the hospital bed. Mamoru was there
with his eyes closed.
"The person has been taken care off," he whispered silently to the silent figure before him. "I'm sorry I let you get shot. But I think it could make you to learn a lesson not to fool around with me."
Mamoru stirred. He slowly opened his eyes, "…. Nagi?"
Nagi nodded. "Yes."
"What are you doing here?"
"Making report? I know you're about to wake. Shall I call on the nurse?"
"Ah, no…." the ash blond smiled weakly and asked, "Are you OK?"
Nagi smiled and for a couple of moments there were flickers in his eyes and it seemed to be closer. "You haven't changed a bit, even if you have changed your name," Nagi said. He calmly took a bottle of water from the side bed and opened it. He took out one drinking straw and offered the water to Mamoru.
"Thank you." Mamoru took a sip and let Nagi took the bottle away. He knew that water was only meant to dampen his throat a bit. "You haven't changed either." He grinned weakly, "You only changed the bullet's aim…. Are you threatening me…? Prodigy?"
"Yes, in order to make sure that you erase the Epitaph data."
//But if I hadn't changed the aim, you would have died by now.//
Mamoru closed his eyes. "Do as you please."
"Get your hands of him!"
Nagi turned around. Knight was pointing his gun to him.
"Don't worry… Knight…. He's with me," Mamoru murmured, "You could just leave us alone…. He will do no harm to me."
"Aa?" Knight startled. He lowered his gun. "But…" he was about to protest but he then decided to withdraw.
"Hold there, Honjou-san," Nagi called, "You don't have to leave. I'm about to go anyway." He nodded to Mamoru. "Oyasumi, Omi-kun," he said and gained a faint smile as a reply. He then walked to the front door, but he stopped by Knight. "Honjou-san, please take care of Mamoru." And then Nagi walked out the door.
Author's blabbers: this piece was supposed to be one piece only... but unfortunately I failed to write a nice short fic.... By the way, I need to ask you guys ... which pairings would you like to see most ... Omi x Nagi, Mamoru x Nagi, Knight x Mamoru, or Knight x Omi ... I can't decide on my own ^___^
Now on to the cute little button down here..... pretty please.....?