By Hotaru Hope Maxwell
I do not own SM or WK! I do or did however own Miss Ayame Nekoni and her position in this story is critical even though she is deceased. J Adios Amigos y Amigas! (Bye Friends)
Chapter 2: forget-me-nots are made for Rain
**3 weeks after Ayame's death**
It had been so long, such a long and terrible road. A single week had passed, just one since Ayame's companions, friends and even a few distant admirer's come. Come to bid a final and last farewell to a young woman just starting to truly bloom into life. The case of Ayame Nekoni was put on the back burner over others of piling work, and despite Hotaru's persistence, justice went served on a cold dish. She stood there now, rain poring upon her cold collected features, ruining the new black dress she had gotten, running down the legs, arms, face. Everything would forever be etched inside of her memory as she stood there. A cold former shadow of what had been. Ayame's murderer went unfound, just as unfound Minako and Makoto were still. Hotaru's violet eyes roamed over the gravestone's careful inscription. It was one she came up with, "There is only one perfect flower in every life time and this was one of the few. Ayame Nekoni, loyal companion, honest friend and dearest of the heart. Rest in peace." Hotaru had paid the extra money needed for the larger inscription, taking whatever money she could from her father's savings to do so. A final gift for a not so final farewell. "Hi again, Ayame…" Hotaru's ice voice creaked over the edge of her throat. "How have you been?" She whispered, kneeling down in the poring muck to place a single violet upon the grave. Tears began to wield up into her eyes. She wanted life to return to normal, to be with her friends again, to have her big sister figure back, but that was a mere dream now. A dream that would go unfulfilled and would begin again as a nightmare as soon as the sun set.
"I promise Ayame…I'll get them…I will…" She whispered, bowing before the grave, not caring if her knee bandages which were still placed their from the process after moving the glass from her fragile skin were dirtied by the horrible mud. Nothing could bring her more pain at the moment. She had always admired her dear companion, her dear friend. Always looked up to her for guidance after she moved from her family's house and always found a listener to her. Hotaru didn't know why this death had affected her so greatly. Her own parents passing wasn't even this moving. She guessed it was because she saw it with her own eyes. She was the last person Ayame had spoken to on the living plane. Getting up, the girl whipped away a stray tear with a dirty-gloved hand as she motioned herself towards the small road that would lead her home. She didn't seem to care any more and neither did the others. From Mars to Neptune, the senshi were more worried over the princess being hurt than anyone else, with the exception of Saturn. They still had yet to inform Ami of the predicament and only told the girl in Germany to be aware of any threat, which she always was anyways. Something's just never changed.
As she walked, her eyes were dull and plain, ignoring all around her with the exception of the sidewalk. She heard a few men ahead. "I heard they say that the witness of the "Juno" Murder comes this way." She stole herself into the ally, listening. "Yeah. And this time I'm gonna get a major scoops from her! All the details…" Hotaru retched at the thought, a single image of Ayame being covered by a white blanket. She flinched slightly and turned down the other way around. So what if she took the long way, it wasn't as if anyone was expecting to see her when she got home. "Reporters…" She muttered and pulled out a rain jacket from her subspace pocket, pulling it on swiftly. She began walking the other road, just as slowly, just as ignoring and just the same way as the other. Knowing full well what she'd pass on the way, the "Juno."
Omi's eyes scanned over the street. No one was on it because of the rainy day. "Ugh! What a mess! There is no way we're gonna get any customers!" Yohji began his normal routine complaints. He sighed and made a move to start bringing in the roses that were about to become far to wet for his or anyone else's liking. Omi was bumped into and fell to the ground with a loud thump. The other men glanced up protectively over the 'baby' member to insure his safety. They were relieved when the noticed he had just gotten his bottom a little soaked. The wide-eyed member of Wiess glanced at who had knocked him over. "Miss Hotaru!" He smiled happily, catching the other's interest again. The pale girl didn't even look up at him. "Little Missy?" Yohji came to the door, Ken not far behind. "Gomen ne, Omi-san…" Her voice sent chills down his spine as he took in deep looks of her. Her hair was flat, glazed down by the poring rain he guess and her head pointed lower, not willing to look him in the eye. Her attire was pure black, and from what he could see, was a simple outfit with a pitch-black flower on her left shoulder. That's when white and brown caught his eyes. There were 2 long streamers of mucky colored bandages that covered her knees to her ankles. His eyes went sharp as he noticed just how low they went and how mud covered them. 'What's going on?' All four men seemed to question. When Omi noticed patches of red make it through from the white and brown colored bandages, his heart leapt a couple millimeters. "You're hurt!" He cried, basically stumbling over to her. The others ran out side and helped Omi lift the young woman off of the wet ground. "Not to mention soaked to the bone. Come inside dear child…" Mamoy took the girl's hands, leading her off. But not before Omi got a look into the purple gaze that he had recently met. Her eyes were dull, the once gorgeous light gone from them. She seemed more like a doll then he'd ever seen. His heart made another double lurch as he promised to discover what had exactly happened to the beautiful teen he had known for under a month.
Hotaru hadn't even recognized the other boys as Mamoy, a kind elderly lady with a cat redressed her bandages. She just kept a serious, thin lipped face, starring straight ahead and dull eyed. "There. All done." Mamoy wrapped a blanket around the small teen. The four were serious faced as they all watched her carefully as Mamoy disappeared in the back room to wash Hotaru's clothes. Hotaru herself was wearing one of Ken's old shirts and Omi's overly baggy pants. The shirt was a light gray while the pants were sweats of blue. The three older men stationed themselves around her, staring at her as she just glanced at the floor. Omi gave her a small cup of coffee and then joined them. In a tiny voice she whispered, "Arigato." Omi smiled softly and nodded his head. "What's the matter, Miss Hotaru?" Ken questioned his voice soft. Aya grunted, as if to remind everyone they were already on a mission. Recently there had been numerous killings of previous employees to one Reiji Takatori and spies who worked for Persia. It was their mission to discover whom and stop them. "It's…" Hotaru stopped before biting her lip. She couldn't lie. Saying it was nothing would be saying Ayame was nothing was nobody. Omi moved from his seat into the sofa next to hers. "You can tell us, Miss Hotaru…We'll listen." He put a hand on her shoulder, to comfort her.
Neither Hotaru nor Omi were expecting what happened next. Hotaru broke. She turned swiftly and gripped Omi around the chest, hugging onto him tightly. Tears poured from her eyes like a river dam breaking. The emotions of the previous weeks were spilling out constantly as she buried herself into him. Omi was speechless as he looked up to his friends for help. They were just as surprised. Hotaru was well reserved and wouldn't likely go hugging boys, even if she'd known them. He gently patted the crying and obviously hurt raven-haired teen in his arms back. Rubbing here and there to sooth her. Then in the same soft voice as before, but still etched with pain, Hotaru whispered, "Ayame…They…They killed her…" Before the teen pushed herself further into Omi's embrace, crying her eyes out until the wave of emotions caused her to faint.
TBC…