Wahl
Acht
Mamoru sighed as he sunk into the hot spring. He's family had decided that it would be nice to go on a midwinter vacation to the Hot Springs.
This is nice, he thought, we haven't been on a vacation since I was eleven.
Schuldig joined Mamoru a couple minutes later. Mamoru smiled at him as the German slipped into the hot water with a sigh. "Good mourning Schuldig- san."
"Guten Morgen Engel," the German said. "How are you today?"
"I'm good. You?"
"Gut, danke," the German smiled at the boy, before leaning back and grabbing the sake he brought with him, "Want a drink?"
Mamoru thought for a moment, then shrugged, "Why not?" Schuldig handed him a cup, taking a sip then making a face, "This stuff's nasty"
"You just have to get used to it."
They were joined by the rest of Schwarz soon after. Farfarello and Schuldig got into a drinking contest that they somehow drug Mamoru into as well. Crawford just sat there, watching Farfarello drink Schuldig under the table and Schuldig refilling Mamoru's cup.
Thirty minuets later Nagi and Crawford had to drag a very drunk Mamoru back to his room before he passed out, leaving Schuldig and Farf to drink themselves silly.
**************
After making sure Mamoru was in his room asleep Crawford was summoned to Reiji's room.
"Ah Crawford-san," Takatori greeted him as he entered the room, "Thank you for coming."
"What is it you needed me for?"
"Those assassins that killed Hirofumi, I want them taken care of."
"Understood."
********* At the Koneko no Suma three very bored florists sat behind the counter.
"Damn it, why'd today have to be a slow day?" Yoji asked slouching back into his chair and covering his face with a magazine.
"I'm starting to miss all the girls chatting away endlessly," Juri added.
"Ah but once they come back you'll be wishing that you had these quite times again." Momoe said from her rocking chair, "Either that or a mission will come up."
"Momoe's right." Ken said, "Let's make the most of it, like Aya does."
"I don't feel like reading a book Ken."
"Who said anything about a book? I'm thinking we could play a game or something."
"Truth or Dare! Truth or Dare!" Juri said excitedly.
Yoji grinned evilly, "That sounds like a good game to play, I'll go first."
Momoe retreated to the back of the shop, not really wanting to deal with the dirty dares Yoji and Juri could come up with and use on Ken.
"Ken, truth or dare?" Yoji asked.
". . . Truth?"
"You're no fun . . . Have you ever kissed a guy?"
Ken blushed and muttered something.
"What's that Kenken? I didn't hear you."
"He said yes." Juri said happily.
Yoji raised an eyebrow, "Really?" Ken blushed even deeper and glared at Yoji as if daring him to push the topic. "It's you're turn Ken."
"I'm not good at things like this," Ken said, "Juri you take my turn."
"But that's not in the rules."
"OK," Juri said turning to Yoji, "Truth or Dare?"
"Dare."
" I dare you to kiss the next person that walks through the door. And use the tongue."
" Easy," Yoji said with a wave of his hand, " That's disappointing I thought you would come with good dares."
Juri shrugged, "I'm warming up. Can't get too dirty too fast, we'll scare Ken off."
"Good point. While we're waiting for someone to walk in the shop it's my turn again. Ken," he turned back to Ken. "Truth or dare?"
"Truth-"
"You have to do a dare sometime." Yoji said.
"With you two coming up with them? Hell no!"
"Ahem!" Manx's voice stopped the pending argument.
Three heads turned to face the redhead. "We have a mission."
In the basement the four White Hunters sat before the wide screen TV as the shadowed of Persia appeared on screen.
"Hello Weiß. Based on your encounter with the body guards that Reiji Takatori hired we at Kritiker believe it is necessary to take them out. They are called Schwarz; they are a group of assassins that work for whoever pays the most. Currently they work for Takatori and he uses them to take care of underground deals." Persia's form was replaced by the pictures of Schwarz. "You have encountered Prodigy, Berserk, and Mastermind. Their leader is Oracle, an American and a Precog. We don't know any more other then that anyone who went up against them died." Persia came back on screen. "Hunters of the night, I leave it to you to hunt the tomorrows of these dark beasts!" Static filled the screen.
"Anyone who went against them died?" Juri repeated.
"Yes, but Persia has faith that you can do some serious harm to them." Manx said handing each of them folders, "But Schwarz isn't the only thing you should be worried about. Takatori has begun to move."
"What do you mean?" asked Ken, "That he's begun to move."
"Takatori's bound to win the elections to become the new Prime Minister. As we all know Takatori has a lot of under the table deals with the black market and the underworld, he also has the defense force and a good portion of the military in his pocket.
"We're pretty sure that Takatori wants to become Prime Minister so he can make Japan into a military dictatorship." Manx explained, " The Defense Force and his connections with the military have began to get ready for something."
"Then why don't we go after Takatori then?" asked Aya.
"He's too well guarded with Schwarz." Manx said. She looked around at the four of them. "Are you all in?"
All four nodded.
*********************
"Schuldig?" Crawford's voice rang through the darkened room, "Are you up yet?"
"Nein," said a large lump of blankets.
Crawford sighed, "Schuldig get up. It's only eight in the evening."
"Nein."
"Get up. That's an order."
"Nein."
"Do you want me to get Nagi to wake you up? Or should I forbid you from drinking so early in the mourning?"
". . . Nein," Schuldig said and began to untangle himself from his covers.
"Good, now hurry up. Takatori wants us to do an errand for him."
"What sort of errand?" Schuldig asked pulling a shirt over his head.
" Go threaten a couple of business partners that want to break their contract with Takatori."
" OK."
" He also wants us to destroy Weiß."
"Can we?"
" Not yet Schuldig, not yet. We need to look like we are though."
" Let me handle Weiß, you and Farfie take care of the other thing."
Crawford crossed his arms, " Why should I do that?"
" 'Cause I already have something in mind." Schuldig smirked.
" Mamoru and Fujimiya?"
Schuldig's smirk broadened, " Why do you think I set them up in the first place. If I hadn't done anything Mamoru would still be gathering up his courage to tell Fujimiya how he feels, and I wouldn't be able to do my job."
Crawford turned to walk out of the room, " Do whatever you want, just don't kill them."
" I won't"
****************
Ken sighed as he sat down on the living room couch. " Oh boy, we're in a mess."
" What makes you say that?" asked Yoji.
" Schwarz, I can't believe Persia's sending us against a bunch of psychics." Ken answered.
" If Persia thinks we can do some harm to them, we can," Aya said.
"But they . . ." Ken trailed off.
" We just have to be more careful that's all," Juri placed a hand on Ken's shoulder. " We didn't know what we we're going up against at the time. Now we do, we have a chance now."
" I guess you're right. But were do we start, they mostly show up on missions."
" We should threaten some of Takatori's other children," Yoji said, " I remember reading somewhere that he has four of 'em. We make moves on them, but we don't kill." He looked at Aya. Who had an expression that clearly said ' who cares?' " They may be Takatoris, but just because daddy's bad doesn't mean they are."
" I'll find out who the other two are." Juri said going to her room. " Maybe you guys can go out and make yourselves look suspicious."
" All right" Ken said as he begun to get ready.
************
Upstairs Juri had got on the web and accessed the IP web page. Bringing up Takatori's public profile she began to read. As she came to the part about his family her eyes widened, " No way, no way in hell." She scrolled down some more and found that there were pictures to verify that the information was true. How the hell was she going to explain this?
*******************
An hour later Aya stood on a tree branch outside of the IP headquarters watching for movement.
' Guten Tag Ran,' came the telepathic voice of Schuldig, ' I was wondering when you would show up.'
" Get out of my head asshole," Aya hissed.
" OK, have it your way."
Aya turned around; the voice had come from behind him. At least it did.
" I'm over here now."
Aya turned ninety degrees only to find that the German had moved again.
" Stop screwing around."
" OK, ruin my fun. Your just like Bradley." Schuldig appeared in front of him, looking bored. "Hallo Abyssinian, how are we today?" The German smiled as Aya grip tightened on his sword. "You know it must be nice to be able to kill people and still date, even make love to an innocent. I wish I could do that or I wouldn't have to go to the brothels as much." He turned his head so that he was watching the violet-eyed man through the corner of his eye. " Don't you ever think about you are?"
" I'm a killer," Aya said, " I take the lives of those, who take the lives of innocents for fun, who think themselves above the law, that they can get away with anything."
" Yes, you do, do that. But you're a killer nonetheless. Are you not?"
Aya didn't answer.
" Tell me, do you think your self above the law?"
" No, one day I will pay for the crimes I've done."
Schuldig thought for a moment. " So I take it you don't care whether or not you get killed. But tell me what if the people you care about find out about your nightlife?"
Aya snapped to attention, the bastard he wouldn't . . .
" What would sweet little Mamoru think of you? Granted you're not the only person keeping secrets from the little angel. His daddy's got his fair amount of sin on him, possibly more then you. He doesn't have any guilt about it though." Schuldig glanced towards Aya. "You probably don't know this but you've met Mamoru's daddy before you met Mamoru."
Aya thought on what the German just said, but he all he drew was a blank.
" Still don't get it? You know his brothers too, after all you killed one and the other got away." He glanced at his watch, " Well I best be off, Ciao."
Aya didn't move as the German jumped from the branch. Could Mamoru be a Takatori? No, he thought, no way in hell could Mamoru or Ouka be Takatoris, they were both innocent. But it made sense, and yet it didn't. Confused Aya left.
*********************
The moon shone through Mamoru's inn window as the boy stirred. His head hurt like no other. " I am never going to drink again!" he proclaimed as he turned onto his stomach. He looked at the digital clock next to his futon it read 21: 47. " Great, got drunk in the mourning and spent the rest of the day in bed out cold." He had a feeling that his mother was going to lecture him about it later, and Ouka would scolded him as well.
" This is going to be a fun day."
Mamoru got up and tried to get himself presentable. Schuldig walked in the room at that moment. " How are you Mamoru, getting over your first hangover?"
Mamoru fell as he tried to put some pants.
" I'll take that as a no." He helped the blonde up. " You wouldn't want Aya to see you like this."
" He's not here though," Mamoru protested.
" Still, he might show up."
" Yeah right." Mamoru said sleepily as Schuldig helped into a shirt. For some reason he felt very sleepy.
"Come on," Schuldig said gently. " We have a lot of work to do."
Mamoru found himself being pushed gently into a car. Farfarello was in the front of the car already, " Where are we going?" he asked as Schuldig got into the drivers seat.
" You'll see."
****************
"Ken, Yoji, can I see you for a moment?" Juri asked as the two walked in the room. The two looked at her, " Come with me."
They went up to her room. Juri sat at the computer chair and started up the internet.
" What's this about Juri?" Ken asked.
" Takatori's other children." Juri said not looking at them.
" Shouldn't we wait for Aya?" Yoji asked.
" No, it'll be better that he doesn't know about this."
She brought up the page that had Takatori's bio and scrolled down to show the picture of his children, gazing at the picture from right to left Ken recognized Hirofumi and, Masafumi . . . Then Ken let out a gasp. Mamoru and Ouka were standing next to the two men that they had killed and tried to kill.
" Holy shit," Yoji breathed.
" That's what I thought," Juri said as she turned to face them. " The question is what do we do? Aya's dating Mamoru and Ouka's not necessarily a friend, but we can't threaten her."
" That leaves us between a rock and a hard place." Yoji said stroking his chin thoughtfully. " It's probably better if Aya never finds out about this."
" You've got mail," the computer said happily. Juri clicked on the mailbox sign and a the new message popped on screen it read:
Hallo Weiß
This is your friendly neighborhood Schwarz. We would like to meet at the park near you're little flower shop. Be there by midnight, or we will come to you.
~Mastermind.
" At least he's not threatening anyone but us." Ken said somewhat relived. " I'll get Aya." He walked downstairs to use the phone, only to find Aya walking in the room. He told him about the message that Schwarz had given them and about ten minutes later they headed towards the park.
**************
Mamoru looked around the park that he Schuldig and Farfarello were at, "Why are we here?"
Schuldig turned to the boy, " To stop a group of a assassins from killing your daddy."
" Why am * I* here?"
" It's suspected that your boyfriend is a member of the group. Not only a member but the leader."
Mamoru's eyes widened, " Uso! USO! Schuldig-san, please tell me that you have the wrong information, or that your lying. Please, tell me that Aya- kun's not an assassin."
Schuldig watched as the boy begged him. " I'm sorry but we're hundred percent sure about this, for a long time."
" Then why didn't you tell me?"
" At first we thought Fujimiya actually had a romantic interest in you, but as it turns out he didn't. He was just using you Mamoru, to get closer to Herr Takatori. We also found out that he's the one who killed Hirofumi."
" Hirofumi's not dead, Otousan said he went on a business trip."
" That was a lie your father told so you wouldn't worry," Schuldig said, " He, along with the rest of his group also tried to kill Masafumi, who got away and is now in hiding." Mamoru's eyes begged him to say otherwise, " Now that you know this things aren't there somethings that are starting to make sense?"
Mamoru nodded sadly, his eyes filling with tears.
" They're here." Farfarello said as he jumped out of view.
" We've come just as you asked Schwarz," Aya's voice called out, " Come out and show yourselves!"
Schuldig smiled. " Stay here until I say," he told Mamoru and jumped towards Weiß.
Mamoru watched as Weiß fought with his father's bodyguards, trying to convince himself that this was just a nightmare induced by the alcohol he consumed. Aya and the rest of the Koneko staff weren't fighting Schuldig- san and Farfarello-san. But he knew it was real. Aya swiped his katana at Schuldig, hurting him badly. And Mamoru began to believe what Schuldig told him. Anger and pain rushed through him. He felt betrayed and heartbroken, he felt like he wanted to die right there.
' Mamoru,' Schuldig's voice said to his mind, ' Farfarello and I have to retreat, you stay put until we can come get you.'
Mamoru nodded. And waited.
" Damn they got away." Yoji said as he collected his used wire.
" I'm going to go after them, you help Juri with Ken's wounds," Aya said and followed the path he thought the two Black Assassins went. A couple moments passed and on the crest of the hill, haloed by the moon he saw Mamoru.
" Aya-san, what a surprise to see you here." The boy didn't look surprised though. Aya noticed that he spoke with an unfamiliar coldness.
" Mamoru," Aya said softly, not sure what to say, not knowing what the boy saw or what he knew.
" I saw you fighting, and I know that you're the one who killed Takatori Hirofumi, and you tried to kill Masafumi." He was silent for a moment. " Why? Why did you kill him?"
" The Takatoris are the scum of the earth, everything they do breaks the law, the entire family views themselves as being better then the rest of the world. My job is to get rid of them. I was chosen because I've seen what they can do." Aya said evenly, " If you seen what I have you-"
" How can you think like that!?" Mamoru exploded, " Just because one person's evil doesn't mean his entire family is!"
" Mamoru, I know that. But the Takatoris are nothing but evil."
" No we're not." Mamoru said so softly Aya barely heard him.
" What?" The statement took Aya aback.
" I said 'No we're not.' I'm not evil, am I Aya?" Mamoru's eyes filled with tears again, this time they started to overflow. " I'm a Takatori. Takatori Mamoru, son of Takatori Reiji. "
Aya's mind was instantly spilt into two, one half wanting to take the boy in his arms and get away from everything, the other wanting to kill him on the spot. The later won. Forgetting about his sword Aya lunged at the blonde, taking them both to the ground. His hands wrapping around the boy's slender throat and started to close off his windpipe. " You bastard!" He screamed.
" Aya please stop," Mamoru chocked out
"I'm going to kill you. I'll get my revenge on Takatori through you!"
"Aya please . . ." Mamoru tried to breath but it hurt.
" Do you know what your father did to me? He used my family to get power, killing my parents when he decided to blow up our house. He then had someone run over my sister, putting her in a coma. Remember the day I took you to see her. YOUR FATHER DID THAT TO HER!" Rage filled Aya. He never felt this angry before, never felt such rage. His grip tightened. " I can't believe all this time I was in love with a Takatori. That I slept with one."
"Oh yeah?" Mamoru managed to choke out, his own anger coming through, " I slept with a killer, the same killer that killed my brother." He kicked out and got Aya in the stomach. Seizing the opportunity he managed to get on top of Aya and punched him in the face. "You have no idea how I feel do you, Aya? I may be a member of the Takatoris, but you no better then you make us out to be. You claim that all Takatoris are evil, my uncle isn't evil. He's the police commissioner; he does his best to stop evil. Ouka and I aren't, we're not adults." Tears were still streaming down his cheeks. " Aya do you really believe that we're all evil? How can you be so narrow minded, so hateful that you let your hatred for one man spread to the rest of his family. That you want to kill his family because he took yours? Didn't you stop to think that if you did you would be taking innocent lives? That you would become no better then the man you wanted to kill?" At that Mamoru started to sob violently. " You're so pathetic."
" Get off," Aya shoved Mamoru of him. He didn't want to think about what the boy had said. He didn't want to look at him. "Never come near me or the Koneko, if you do . . . I won't hesitate to kill you."
Whether or not Mamoru heard he didn't care. He picked up his katana and left.
*********************
And that was chapter eight. I like how this chapter went. Mamoru and Aya did get a little OOC, but anger will do that to you. Sorry 'bout not updating for awhile. Life keeps ya busy. Anyways please review, thank you!
Preview.
Ken: Something's not right. It's become too quiet.
Yoji: The final mission is approaching and no ones seen hide nor hair of Mamoru. Did he run away?
Juri: Something's up with Aya too. He doesn't talk to anyone.
Manx: Keep your guard up Takatori's planning something.
Ken: As our last mission approaches those who we thought we show their true colors. Please look forward to the next chapter of Wahl.
Mamoru sighed as he sunk into the hot spring. He's family had decided that it would be nice to go on a midwinter vacation to the Hot Springs.
This is nice, he thought, we haven't been on a vacation since I was eleven.
Schuldig joined Mamoru a couple minutes later. Mamoru smiled at him as the German slipped into the hot water with a sigh. "Good mourning Schuldig- san."
"Guten Morgen Engel," the German said. "How are you today?"
"I'm good. You?"
"Gut, danke," the German smiled at the boy, before leaning back and grabbing the sake he brought with him, "Want a drink?"
Mamoru thought for a moment, then shrugged, "Why not?" Schuldig handed him a cup, taking a sip then making a face, "This stuff's nasty"
"You just have to get used to it."
They were joined by the rest of Schwarz soon after. Farfarello and Schuldig got into a drinking contest that they somehow drug Mamoru into as well. Crawford just sat there, watching Farfarello drink Schuldig under the table and Schuldig refilling Mamoru's cup.
Thirty minuets later Nagi and Crawford had to drag a very drunk Mamoru back to his room before he passed out, leaving Schuldig and Farf to drink themselves silly.
**************
After making sure Mamoru was in his room asleep Crawford was summoned to Reiji's room.
"Ah Crawford-san," Takatori greeted him as he entered the room, "Thank you for coming."
"What is it you needed me for?"
"Those assassins that killed Hirofumi, I want them taken care of."
"Understood."
********* At the Koneko no Suma three very bored florists sat behind the counter.
"Damn it, why'd today have to be a slow day?" Yoji asked slouching back into his chair and covering his face with a magazine.
"I'm starting to miss all the girls chatting away endlessly," Juri added.
"Ah but once they come back you'll be wishing that you had these quite times again." Momoe said from her rocking chair, "Either that or a mission will come up."
"Momoe's right." Ken said, "Let's make the most of it, like Aya does."
"I don't feel like reading a book Ken."
"Who said anything about a book? I'm thinking we could play a game or something."
"Truth or Dare! Truth or Dare!" Juri said excitedly.
Yoji grinned evilly, "That sounds like a good game to play, I'll go first."
Momoe retreated to the back of the shop, not really wanting to deal with the dirty dares Yoji and Juri could come up with and use on Ken.
"Ken, truth or dare?" Yoji asked.
". . . Truth?"
"You're no fun . . . Have you ever kissed a guy?"
Ken blushed and muttered something.
"What's that Kenken? I didn't hear you."
"He said yes." Juri said happily.
Yoji raised an eyebrow, "Really?" Ken blushed even deeper and glared at Yoji as if daring him to push the topic. "It's you're turn Ken."
"I'm not good at things like this," Ken said, "Juri you take my turn."
"But that's not in the rules."
"OK," Juri said turning to Yoji, "Truth or Dare?"
"Dare."
" I dare you to kiss the next person that walks through the door. And use the tongue."
" Easy," Yoji said with a wave of his hand, " That's disappointing I thought you would come with good dares."
Juri shrugged, "I'm warming up. Can't get too dirty too fast, we'll scare Ken off."
"Good point. While we're waiting for someone to walk in the shop it's my turn again. Ken," he turned back to Ken. "Truth or dare?"
"Truth-"
"You have to do a dare sometime." Yoji said.
"With you two coming up with them? Hell no!"
"Ahem!" Manx's voice stopped the pending argument.
Three heads turned to face the redhead. "We have a mission."
In the basement the four White Hunters sat before the wide screen TV as the shadowed of Persia appeared on screen.
"Hello Weiß. Based on your encounter with the body guards that Reiji Takatori hired we at Kritiker believe it is necessary to take them out. They are called Schwarz; they are a group of assassins that work for whoever pays the most. Currently they work for Takatori and he uses them to take care of underground deals." Persia's form was replaced by the pictures of Schwarz. "You have encountered Prodigy, Berserk, and Mastermind. Their leader is Oracle, an American and a Precog. We don't know any more other then that anyone who went up against them died." Persia came back on screen. "Hunters of the night, I leave it to you to hunt the tomorrows of these dark beasts!" Static filled the screen.
"Anyone who went against them died?" Juri repeated.
"Yes, but Persia has faith that you can do some serious harm to them." Manx said handing each of them folders, "But Schwarz isn't the only thing you should be worried about. Takatori has begun to move."
"What do you mean?" asked Ken, "That he's begun to move."
"Takatori's bound to win the elections to become the new Prime Minister. As we all know Takatori has a lot of under the table deals with the black market and the underworld, he also has the defense force and a good portion of the military in his pocket.
"We're pretty sure that Takatori wants to become Prime Minister so he can make Japan into a military dictatorship." Manx explained, " The Defense Force and his connections with the military have began to get ready for something."
"Then why don't we go after Takatori then?" asked Aya.
"He's too well guarded with Schwarz." Manx said. She looked around at the four of them. "Are you all in?"
All four nodded.
*********************
"Schuldig?" Crawford's voice rang through the darkened room, "Are you up yet?"
"Nein," said a large lump of blankets.
Crawford sighed, "Schuldig get up. It's only eight in the evening."
"Nein."
"Get up. That's an order."
"Nein."
"Do you want me to get Nagi to wake you up? Or should I forbid you from drinking so early in the mourning?"
". . . Nein," Schuldig said and began to untangle himself from his covers.
"Good, now hurry up. Takatori wants us to do an errand for him."
"What sort of errand?" Schuldig asked pulling a shirt over his head.
" Go threaten a couple of business partners that want to break their contract with Takatori."
" OK."
" He also wants us to destroy Weiß."
"Can we?"
" Not yet Schuldig, not yet. We need to look like we are though."
" Let me handle Weiß, you and Farfie take care of the other thing."
Crawford crossed his arms, " Why should I do that?"
" 'Cause I already have something in mind." Schuldig smirked.
" Mamoru and Fujimiya?"
Schuldig's smirk broadened, " Why do you think I set them up in the first place. If I hadn't done anything Mamoru would still be gathering up his courage to tell Fujimiya how he feels, and I wouldn't be able to do my job."
Crawford turned to walk out of the room, " Do whatever you want, just don't kill them."
" I won't"
****************
Ken sighed as he sat down on the living room couch. " Oh boy, we're in a mess."
" What makes you say that?" asked Yoji.
" Schwarz, I can't believe Persia's sending us against a bunch of psychics." Ken answered.
" If Persia thinks we can do some harm to them, we can," Aya said.
"But they . . ." Ken trailed off.
" We just have to be more careful that's all," Juri placed a hand on Ken's shoulder. " We didn't know what we we're going up against at the time. Now we do, we have a chance now."
" I guess you're right. But were do we start, they mostly show up on missions."
" We should threaten some of Takatori's other children," Yoji said, " I remember reading somewhere that he has four of 'em. We make moves on them, but we don't kill." He looked at Aya. Who had an expression that clearly said ' who cares?' " They may be Takatoris, but just because daddy's bad doesn't mean they are."
" I'll find out who the other two are." Juri said going to her room. " Maybe you guys can go out and make yourselves look suspicious."
" All right" Ken said as he begun to get ready.
************
Upstairs Juri had got on the web and accessed the IP web page. Bringing up Takatori's public profile she began to read. As she came to the part about his family her eyes widened, " No way, no way in hell." She scrolled down some more and found that there were pictures to verify that the information was true. How the hell was she going to explain this?
*******************
An hour later Aya stood on a tree branch outside of the IP headquarters watching for movement.
' Guten Tag Ran,' came the telepathic voice of Schuldig, ' I was wondering when you would show up.'
" Get out of my head asshole," Aya hissed.
" OK, have it your way."
Aya turned around; the voice had come from behind him. At least it did.
" I'm over here now."
Aya turned ninety degrees only to find that the German had moved again.
" Stop screwing around."
" OK, ruin my fun. Your just like Bradley." Schuldig appeared in front of him, looking bored. "Hallo Abyssinian, how are we today?" The German smiled as Aya grip tightened on his sword. "You know it must be nice to be able to kill people and still date, even make love to an innocent. I wish I could do that or I wouldn't have to go to the brothels as much." He turned his head so that he was watching the violet-eyed man through the corner of his eye. " Don't you ever think about you are?"
" I'm a killer," Aya said, " I take the lives of those, who take the lives of innocents for fun, who think themselves above the law, that they can get away with anything."
" Yes, you do, do that. But you're a killer nonetheless. Are you not?"
Aya didn't answer.
" Tell me, do you think your self above the law?"
" No, one day I will pay for the crimes I've done."
Schuldig thought for a moment. " So I take it you don't care whether or not you get killed. But tell me what if the people you care about find out about your nightlife?"
Aya snapped to attention, the bastard he wouldn't . . .
" What would sweet little Mamoru think of you? Granted you're not the only person keeping secrets from the little angel. His daddy's got his fair amount of sin on him, possibly more then you. He doesn't have any guilt about it though." Schuldig glanced towards Aya. "You probably don't know this but you've met Mamoru's daddy before you met Mamoru."
Aya thought on what the German just said, but he all he drew was a blank.
" Still don't get it? You know his brothers too, after all you killed one and the other got away." He glanced at his watch, " Well I best be off, Ciao."
Aya didn't move as the German jumped from the branch. Could Mamoru be a Takatori? No, he thought, no way in hell could Mamoru or Ouka be Takatoris, they were both innocent. But it made sense, and yet it didn't. Confused Aya left.
*********************
The moon shone through Mamoru's inn window as the boy stirred. His head hurt like no other. " I am never going to drink again!" he proclaimed as he turned onto his stomach. He looked at the digital clock next to his futon it read 21: 47. " Great, got drunk in the mourning and spent the rest of the day in bed out cold." He had a feeling that his mother was going to lecture him about it later, and Ouka would scolded him as well.
" This is going to be a fun day."
Mamoru got up and tried to get himself presentable. Schuldig walked in the room at that moment. " How are you Mamoru, getting over your first hangover?"
Mamoru fell as he tried to put some pants.
" I'll take that as a no." He helped the blonde up. " You wouldn't want Aya to see you like this."
" He's not here though," Mamoru protested.
" Still, he might show up."
" Yeah right." Mamoru said sleepily as Schuldig helped into a shirt. For some reason he felt very sleepy.
"Come on," Schuldig said gently. " We have a lot of work to do."
Mamoru found himself being pushed gently into a car. Farfarello was in the front of the car already, " Where are we going?" he asked as Schuldig got into the drivers seat.
" You'll see."
****************
"Ken, Yoji, can I see you for a moment?" Juri asked as the two walked in the room. The two looked at her, " Come with me."
They went up to her room. Juri sat at the computer chair and started up the internet.
" What's this about Juri?" Ken asked.
" Takatori's other children." Juri said not looking at them.
" Shouldn't we wait for Aya?" Yoji asked.
" No, it'll be better that he doesn't know about this."
She brought up the page that had Takatori's bio and scrolled down to show the picture of his children, gazing at the picture from right to left Ken recognized Hirofumi and, Masafumi . . . Then Ken let out a gasp. Mamoru and Ouka were standing next to the two men that they had killed and tried to kill.
" Holy shit," Yoji breathed.
" That's what I thought," Juri said as she turned to face them. " The question is what do we do? Aya's dating Mamoru and Ouka's not necessarily a friend, but we can't threaten her."
" That leaves us between a rock and a hard place." Yoji said stroking his chin thoughtfully. " It's probably better if Aya never finds out about this."
" You've got mail," the computer said happily. Juri clicked on the mailbox sign and a the new message popped on screen it read:
Hallo Weiß
This is your friendly neighborhood Schwarz. We would like to meet at the park near you're little flower shop. Be there by midnight, or we will come to you.
~Mastermind.
" At least he's not threatening anyone but us." Ken said somewhat relived. " I'll get Aya." He walked downstairs to use the phone, only to find Aya walking in the room. He told him about the message that Schwarz had given them and about ten minutes later they headed towards the park.
**************
Mamoru looked around the park that he Schuldig and Farfarello were at, "Why are we here?"
Schuldig turned to the boy, " To stop a group of a assassins from killing your daddy."
" Why am * I* here?"
" It's suspected that your boyfriend is a member of the group. Not only a member but the leader."
Mamoru's eyes widened, " Uso! USO! Schuldig-san, please tell me that you have the wrong information, or that your lying. Please, tell me that Aya- kun's not an assassin."
Schuldig watched as the boy begged him. " I'm sorry but we're hundred percent sure about this, for a long time."
" Then why didn't you tell me?"
" At first we thought Fujimiya actually had a romantic interest in you, but as it turns out he didn't. He was just using you Mamoru, to get closer to Herr Takatori. We also found out that he's the one who killed Hirofumi."
" Hirofumi's not dead, Otousan said he went on a business trip."
" That was a lie your father told so you wouldn't worry," Schuldig said, " He, along with the rest of his group also tried to kill Masafumi, who got away and is now in hiding." Mamoru's eyes begged him to say otherwise, " Now that you know this things aren't there somethings that are starting to make sense?"
Mamoru nodded sadly, his eyes filling with tears.
" They're here." Farfarello said as he jumped out of view.
" We've come just as you asked Schwarz," Aya's voice called out, " Come out and show yourselves!"
Schuldig smiled. " Stay here until I say," he told Mamoru and jumped towards Weiß.
Mamoru watched as Weiß fought with his father's bodyguards, trying to convince himself that this was just a nightmare induced by the alcohol he consumed. Aya and the rest of the Koneko staff weren't fighting Schuldig- san and Farfarello-san. But he knew it was real. Aya swiped his katana at Schuldig, hurting him badly. And Mamoru began to believe what Schuldig told him. Anger and pain rushed through him. He felt betrayed and heartbroken, he felt like he wanted to die right there.
' Mamoru,' Schuldig's voice said to his mind, ' Farfarello and I have to retreat, you stay put until we can come get you.'
Mamoru nodded. And waited.
" Damn they got away." Yoji said as he collected his used wire.
" I'm going to go after them, you help Juri with Ken's wounds," Aya said and followed the path he thought the two Black Assassins went. A couple moments passed and on the crest of the hill, haloed by the moon he saw Mamoru.
" Aya-san, what a surprise to see you here." The boy didn't look surprised though. Aya noticed that he spoke with an unfamiliar coldness.
" Mamoru," Aya said softly, not sure what to say, not knowing what the boy saw or what he knew.
" I saw you fighting, and I know that you're the one who killed Takatori Hirofumi, and you tried to kill Masafumi." He was silent for a moment. " Why? Why did you kill him?"
" The Takatoris are the scum of the earth, everything they do breaks the law, the entire family views themselves as being better then the rest of the world. My job is to get rid of them. I was chosen because I've seen what they can do." Aya said evenly, " If you seen what I have you-"
" How can you think like that!?" Mamoru exploded, " Just because one person's evil doesn't mean his entire family is!"
" Mamoru, I know that. But the Takatoris are nothing but evil."
" No we're not." Mamoru said so softly Aya barely heard him.
" What?" The statement took Aya aback.
" I said 'No we're not.' I'm not evil, am I Aya?" Mamoru's eyes filled with tears again, this time they started to overflow. " I'm a Takatori. Takatori Mamoru, son of Takatori Reiji. "
Aya's mind was instantly spilt into two, one half wanting to take the boy in his arms and get away from everything, the other wanting to kill him on the spot. The later won. Forgetting about his sword Aya lunged at the blonde, taking them both to the ground. His hands wrapping around the boy's slender throat and started to close off his windpipe. " You bastard!" He screamed.
" Aya please stop," Mamoru chocked out
"I'm going to kill you. I'll get my revenge on Takatori through you!"
"Aya please . . ." Mamoru tried to breath but it hurt.
" Do you know what your father did to me? He used my family to get power, killing my parents when he decided to blow up our house. He then had someone run over my sister, putting her in a coma. Remember the day I took you to see her. YOUR FATHER DID THAT TO HER!" Rage filled Aya. He never felt this angry before, never felt such rage. His grip tightened. " I can't believe all this time I was in love with a Takatori. That I slept with one."
"Oh yeah?" Mamoru managed to choke out, his own anger coming through, " I slept with a killer, the same killer that killed my brother." He kicked out and got Aya in the stomach. Seizing the opportunity he managed to get on top of Aya and punched him in the face. "You have no idea how I feel do you, Aya? I may be a member of the Takatoris, but you no better then you make us out to be. You claim that all Takatoris are evil, my uncle isn't evil. He's the police commissioner; he does his best to stop evil. Ouka and I aren't, we're not adults." Tears were still streaming down his cheeks. " Aya do you really believe that we're all evil? How can you be so narrow minded, so hateful that you let your hatred for one man spread to the rest of his family. That you want to kill his family because he took yours? Didn't you stop to think that if you did you would be taking innocent lives? That you would become no better then the man you wanted to kill?" At that Mamoru started to sob violently. " You're so pathetic."
" Get off," Aya shoved Mamoru of him. He didn't want to think about what the boy had said. He didn't want to look at him. "Never come near me or the Koneko, if you do . . . I won't hesitate to kill you."
Whether or not Mamoru heard he didn't care. He picked up his katana and left.
*********************
And that was chapter eight. I like how this chapter went. Mamoru and Aya did get a little OOC, but anger will do that to you. Sorry 'bout not updating for awhile. Life keeps ya busy. Anyways please review, thank you!
Preview.
Ken: Something's not right. It's become too quiet.
Yoji: The final mission is approaching and no ones seen hide nor hair of Mamoru. Did he run away?
Juri: Something's up with Aya too. He doesn't talk to anyone.
Manx: Keep your guard up Takatori's planning something.
Ken: As our last mission approaches those who we thought we show their true colors. Please look forward to the next chapter of Wahl.