Disclaimers:
I don't even own a copy of the show, so what would make you think I own the copyright?
Rated R for language, violence, and future yaoi-goodness.
"Japanese Speech"
'Gaelic Speech'
English Speech
/Telekinesis, Thoughts/
For Japanese names, they'll be the "proper way" (last name first, etc), and same with the English names (first name first). Not being Japanese, when Ailín uses Japanese honorifics, they are more of an afterthought, 'cause they seem unnatural to him, and there will also be jokes about them later on. ;) Also, I will only drop the random German word into Schu's speech (because, the characters are already technically talking in Japanese, so dropping Japanese words seems redundant. The only Japanese words will be the honorifics, 'cause they don't have an equivalent translation.
This chapter is dedicated to halfling-rogue, the jerk-face who left for a month in Toronto and didn't properly inform me (all I got was a group email... sniff, sniff, so unloved...)
APOTHEOSIS:
Chapter One: Inchoate Machinations
Tokyo, Japan at the Koneko no Sumu-Ie
With a tired sigh, Kudou Yohji herded the last of the "fan girls" out of the flower shop. Looking around to make sure none of the girls weren't hiding in a darkened corner to come out later and molester them all in their sleep, he reached up and pulled down the metal grate. Leaving it unlocked because he still needed to bring in the flower displays, he turned to Omi.
"Hey, Omittchi!"
Omi looked up from tallying up the day's sales, "Yes, Yohji-kun?"
"How many more days are left of this... this nightmare?"
"My, God! This is cetainly a momentous occasion! "
Yohji narrowed his eyes slightly at Ken, "Oh? And why is that?"
"Because the flirt of Weiss has lost interest in women."
"Hey! I AM interested in women, but these... girls are freakin' abnormal!"
Stopping the fight before it could escalate any further, Omi answered Yohji's earlier question. "There's about 29 more days left. Sorry, Yohji- kun."
Yohji left out a whiny groan, and slumped on the floor, his back causing the gate to shake. Ken, spared from the day in the shop looked from the weary, and melodramatic Yohji to the droopy Omi. Curious, he asked, "29 more days of what?"
From his position on the floor, Yohji sighed out, "Summer vacation."
Looking down at Yohji, Ken said, "It couldn't have been that bad. Stop over reacting."
Yohj tilted his head up at Ken and replied, "You had to have been here to understand how bad it got. If Aya was here, I'm positive he would have chased out all the girls with his katana." Seeing Ken's unbelieving look, Yohji took a different appproach.
"Think of it this way, Kenken. You know how bad it gets when those high school girls come in here in their free time before class?" Ken nodded.
"And you know the only way we survive those periods is because we know the girls will eventually have to leave for class, giving us a much needed break?" Ken nodded again.
"Well, they don't have class to go to because it's summer vacation so they don't have to leave the shop. That allows the girls to hang aroung the shop from open to close. And they will be doing the exact same thing for the next twenty-nine days. That is why it's a nightmare."
Ken's eyes practically bugged out of his head, and he slumped down onto the floor. "Oh God, that's like cruel and unusual punishment..."
"It's not that bad," Omi offered from the counter where he was working, "besides, it's good for business. Speaking of which, Yohji-kun, can you please bring those displays in?"
Yohji whined out, "But Omittchi, I'm exhausted! I can barely stand!"
Rolling his eyes, Ken got up to do it. Seeing that Ken was going to finish his work for him, Yohji bounced up and announced he was going out for a smoke. Opening the gate, Ken paused, his hand still on it. "I thought you were too exhausted to even stand."
Yohji grinned, "Smoking revitalizes me!"
As Yohji walked out of the room and into the back, Ken shook his head. /There are sooo many things wrong with that statement./
/I thought Yohji said that it was going to be super busy today, but it's totally dead. I'm sooo bored... it feels like this day is never going to end. (1) ...Yohji and Omi were the smart ones, taking off when they realized how slow today was going to be. At least Omi was nice about it, and he did have his reasons... His summer break shouldn't have to involve schoolwork (2), what's the point in a vacation if you have to do work? But, Yhoji! Simply announcing that he was leaving 'cause he wasn't needed here, and then taking off! I'm suprised Aya-kun didn't say anything about that.../
Feeling slightly uncomfortable, Ken paused in his musings and looked up to find Aya gah-laring at him. Frowning slightly, "What?"
Aya glared harder. "Would you please stop drumming your feet against the counter."
Ken shrugged sheepishly, "Sorry, Aya-kun." Aya turned back around and continued working on his flower arrangment. Looking up at the wall clock, Ken silently cheered at how they were going to be closing in twenty minutes, but then cursed. /Dammit, I'm positive that the second hand is now moving backwards!/
Ken looked back towards Aya, and then slowly moved his way to the doorway of the shop. Looking up and down the street and seeing nobody in sight, he turned back to Aya. "Hey, Aya-kun."
Aya turned and gave Ken an annoyed look for bothering him.
Bolstering his courage in face of an annoyed and possibly cranky Aya, Ken continued. "Aya, the shop has been basically empty ALL day, and there doesn't seem to be any possible customers walking around outside. Seeing how there is only twenty minutes left 'till closing, couldn't we close early? And even if there are telephone orders, we will be offically closed before they can be delivered." Ken paused, hoping for Aya's approval.
Aya simply Hn-ed and turned back to finish his arrangement. Interpreting Aya's grunt as "Of course we'll close early Ken, my you're smart" Ken began bringing inside all their displays. That done, he closed the metal grate and began sweeping the floor, and generally cleaning up.
Crouching down to lock the gate, he heard the rhythmic clicking of high heels on the pavement. Peeking out through the bottom of the gate, he was greeted with the sigh of high heels worn with socks. Only knowing one person stupi... ah, different enough to do so, he lifted the gate. "Manx."The members of Weiss were all gathered and sitting in the basement/mission room waiting for Manx to describe the next mission. Still pouting at how Manx's appearance caused the abrupt cancellation of his day off, Yohji forgoed his habitual flirtation.
Ignoring Balinese, Manx passed over a folder of information to Bombay and began speaking.
"This mission is more of an information gathering one..."
Interupting her (3), Yohji remarked, "Why do you need to gather us all for Bombay to research? You never had to before..."
Refraining from rolling her eyes at Yohji's flippant attitude, Manx continued, "The reason is because you will need to do field research. What Kritiker needs to find out will not be found out via computer data, but can only be found by catching the perpetrator in the act."
At this, Yohji perked up. It looks like his PI skills will be coming in handy. "Who do you want us to research, and why?"
Manx noded at Omi to open up the folder, and the pictures were passed around from Weiss to Weiss. Picking up one glossy page, Yohji idly remarked, "This looks like it was taken from a magazine."
Manx smiled slightly, "It was."
"Hey! I know this person!" Yohji blinked as the page was snached from his hand. "Kenken?"
"This is that male model/idol, Ailín!"
"Oh-hoh? And Ken, how exactly do you know this? You're not the type to read that kind of magazine, are you?"
Ken started to blush slightly at Yohji's teasing. If Yohji found out he simply bought those frivolous fashion/star watching magazines simply to collect pictures of Ailín (4), he would never hear the end of it.
Manx frowned, "Balinese, this is serious."
Yohji waved his hand indicating the other photos and several documents. "What's the point in Kritiker having us watch a model/idol? If someone in Kritiker wants to meet this Ay-LEEN guy sooo badly, why don't they just talk to the guy who runs his agency? Pull some strings, if you will."
Omi replied softly, "Because his agency was bought out two years ago by the suspected leader of a possible assassination guild."
Ken blinked, Yohji looked at Manx. "What, exactly, does Kritiker supect this guy of?"
Manx handed Yohji a paper with two pictures printed next to each other on it. One was obviously copy and pasted from some advertisement, but the other, looked as if it were taken from a video surveillance cam. A hat was covering the hair and sunglasses were covering the eyes, but just by loking at it, Yohji had to agree that there was a definate resemblance.
"That picture was taken in the building where the police found the dead body of an influential American businessman, 10 minutes after the estimated time of death."
Yohji looked up at Manx. "You can not be serious."
"It says here, that assassinations frequently occur in the same areas, cities, neighbouring cities, where ever Ailín does modeling work."
"And guess when this occurence started? Two years ago when his agency changed owners." Manx further supplied.
"A model where death follows in his wake." Aya mused to no one in particular.
"A model who is an assassin?" Yohji asked sarcastically.
"Is it any more disbelievable as an assassin who is a florist?"
Yohji frowned, Manx had him there.
"Siberian, you have been exceedingly quiet. What are your thoughts on this?"
Ken looked up, wide eyed and startled. "Uhmm... It... it seems to be too big of a coincidence to simply ignore..." However, Ken was adamantly denying it in his mind. Ailín was a pillar of goodness and light, in an otherwise dark and dreary world. The man is an idol! And idols simply don't kill people.
"And those circumstances are why Kritiker is interested in researching Ailín Aodhan. Basically, we want you to find out whatever you can on Ailín. His past, likes, dislikes, what's important to him, any kind of information that can be used as leverage. But we especially want confirmation on whether or not he is a assassin and who he works for."
"And if we do find out he is an assassin? Do you want us to target him?"
Ken felt the air catch in his throat at Yohji's casual question about them killing Ailín. He bit his lip at the turmoil those seven words caused him.
"No." Ken sighed in relief at Manx's denial. "Kritiker wants to recruit him..." Ken's gasp was covered by Yohji's protestations. Ignoring Yohji, Manx continued, "Ailín may just be what Kritiker, and Weiss need in order to finally eliminate Schwarz."
Omi flinched slightly at that declaration, but went unnoticed by the other occupants in the room.
"What can be so important about a simple assassin when compared to the powers of Schwarz?"(5)
Manx looked at Abysinian, "The fact that he has alluded capture and positive detection connotes that he is far from simple. It is almost as if it is unnatural.(6)"
"Are you implying that Ailín is a physic model-assassin?" Yohji asked incredulously.
"Anything is possible." And with that illuminating statement, Manx began to describe, indepth, the known schedule for Ailín. " He will be spending the next six months in Japan, and will be spending that time in a combination of working and vacationing. There are several known photoshoots he will be participating in, along with numerous others that Bombay should easily find out. He will also be doing some work in Mulan, modelling for shows, and also because of his popularity, there will be autograph sessions scheduled. And during his vacation time, that is when Kritiker believes he will take on his assassin role."
Looking up from his notes, Omi asked, "When is he arriving in Japan?"
"He already arrived today at 12:30 pm, at the Tokyo International Airport. We have received several reports on how bad it got because of his popularity. The airport security was overwhelmed and the receiving area was so crowded by fans, there was hardly any room to move."
Yohji laughed, "Well, I guess that explains why the Koneko was so empty. Our fangirls abandoned us for him."
Ken laughed with Yohji and Omi, but inwardly thought, /I could have been in the same airport as Ailín!?!?! Someone up there really doesn't like me!/Across town in an infinitely nicer and more expensive apartmet building, a weary man with wild orange hair was leaning against the wall of the elevator. Getting off at the top floor, he slowly shuffled towards his apartment door, a small grimace marring his face. Inserting his key into the lock, he carefully opened the door and quietly closed it behind him.
Wincing noticably at the grating sound of a blender crushing ice, he yelled out to be heard over the noise. "Farf! Will you turn that thing off!?!"
At the albino's compliance, the man slowly shuffled forward, rubbing at his temples to help alleviate the pain in his head.
Hearing Schuldig nicely yellling to Farf, Nagi left his room to investigate and found a sight that unnerved him slightly. Schuldig was sitting in the armchair, leaning forwards onto the coffee table resting his head in his arms; orange hair spilling rather aesthetically all around him.
"Schu?" Nagi asked tentively.
The albino, derived of his blender stalked out of the kitchen and into the main sitting area, and sat cross legged on he floor across from Schu. He folded his arms on the table, and resting his chin on them, stared unblinking at Schu with one golden eye.
Ignoring the strange actions of the Albino, a muffled response emanated from Schu. "Tylenol."
Sitting down on the couch, Nagi levitated a bottle of painkillers and a glass of water towards Schu. Groaning softly at the increased pain of his headache caused by the change in elevation, Schu grabbed the bottle of pills out of the air. Snapping off the lid, he poured out a handful and popped them into his mouth. Taking a swig of the water, he tilted his head back and swallowed the pills.
Feeling Nagi glare at him, Schuldig shrugged. "It's takes more than two of these pills for them to be effective."
"Schuldig! Those are extra strength pills! You can overdose and die on that amount you took!"
Amused that he got such an emotional response from the telekinetic, Schuldig smirked. "Aww, Naggles. You do care." Deciding not to press his luck with the kid, esepcially when his head hurt too much to get into any sort of fight, verbal or otherwise, Schuldig shrugged. "It's really not that big a deal. I've become resistant to lower doses of painkillers; frequent headaches when I was younger."
Realising that Schuldig's pain was caused by his Talent, Nagi was a mix of sympathy and suspicion.
His headache lessening, Schu smirked even more. "Don't be suspicious chibi, I only did what Braddy-kins told me to do. Why, you should be pleased that I followed his orders."
Nagi gave him a Look. "Did you follow them exactly?" At Schuldig's grin, Nagi instantly knew that wasn't the case. The three assassins sat there in silence, waiting for Schu to continue with his story.
Grinning mentally at Nagi's increasing impatience, Schu feigned an innocent look. "O-h-h-h. You want me to tell you now! You really should of said something sooner!"
Not fooled, Nagi continued to Look at Schuldig. Schuldig waved his hand in a gesture of defeat, and leaning back comfortably in his chair, propped his still shod feet up on the coffee table.
Looking with htinly veiled disgust at Schuldig's feet on the coffee table, he was about to comment on it when Schuldig spoke first. "Y'know, if you interupt me, I would probably feel as if you didn't want to hear my story. And then, feeling totally unloved, unappreciated, et cetera, I probably wouldn't tell you."
Biting back his annoyance, Nagi waited for Schuldig to continue. Besides, he could always scold the telepath later.
Ignoring that last thought, Schuldig began to explain. "This morning, Braddy-boy had a vision that wsa not quite a vision. All he saw was some American foreigner who was arriving in Japan today at the Tokyo International Airport. But he didn't see anything "surrounding" the guy, no reason as to why he had the vision, nothing. Just a vision of the guy getting off the plane. Intrigued, ol' Crawfish sent me, after the necessary teasing about the only reason he's interested is that he missed his countrymen." At this point in the story, Nagi rolled his eyes at Schuldig's childish antics.
Ignoring the movement of Nagi's eyes, Schuldig continued. "So, I eventually get to the airport and to the terminal where Crawly saw the American walking out, and guess what I found? A horde of screaming fangirls. If that wasn't bad enough, what with being unalbe to totally sheild out their thoughts, and having to listen to their fantasies, a lot of them sexual, surrounding this guy; what was worse was the fact that the place was packed, totally crowded. It gave a new definition to exceeding the safe number of people allowed by the fire marshall. So, in order to get close enough, I actually had to touch those fangirls..." at this point Schuldig paused to shudder, "... because there was no way I would have been heard in their minds because their licentious thoughts. I mean, some of those things are not physically possible. Anyways, I eventually make it to the front of the crowd to see the guy, and the weirdest thing happened. A sense of calm came over me; that, and the guy had shields, but not the normal kind. Our sheilds are like a wall surrounding our private thoughts. But for this guy, his mind was simply closed off. Kind of like a windowless room with a door that can only be opened from the inside, with this room at the bottom of a crystal clear lake. When I tired to pry into his mind, the lake began to ripple, distorting the image of the room, making it harder to see and then find. And the guy felt the ripples, causing him to freeze his "mind-lake", further preventing access to the room at the bottom of the lake."
"Wow... that is definatly not the type of sheild taught by Rosenkreuz... Where did he learn to shield like that, but the better question is why does he need to sheild like that?"
Schuldig shrugged, "That's probalby why Brad-lee had the vison. There's more to this guy than what he presents to the world."
Nagi pondered slowly, then looked up at Schuldig. "Is it possible that his guy may be a Talent?"
Schuldig scoffed. "All Talents are detected and taken by Rosenkreuz. If he was a Talent, he would have been taken like everyone else."
Nagi "hmmm-ed". "Is it possible for a Talent to evade detection, and if not, at least evade capture?"
Schuldig shrugged, "The few cases of that I've heard about resulted in the deaths of the Talent and the "recruiters". Either way, it's Crawford's problem now."
Looking at te hsilent Irishman, Schuldig asked, "Hey, Farfie. What do you think about this?"
The Irishman loked up at the German who interupted him from his thoughts. Slowly blinking his sole golden eye, Farf smiled errily and said, "The noble fire will burn a path of death and destruction across Japan (7). Not even the tears of God will be able to stop it."
Schuldig slowly raised his eyebrows at the mad Irishman. Smiling and nodding, he sent to Nagi, /I guess his moment of lucidity has passed.../
Rolling his eyes, Nagi replied, /Whatever gave you that idea?/
Schu smirked and said out loud, "When the Crawfish gets back from his office, I'll take th physco out. Won't that be fun, Farf?"
Farf's smile widened and a dangerous gleam lit his eye, "I want to see them burn."Author's Notes... or anecdotes:
1) This is how I feel when working, as long as I'm busy the day passes very quickly, but when I have nothing to do it simply drags on.
2) Yeah, in Japan, schools only have ONE month of summer vacation, and are given work to do as well (unlike Canada and the States, their schol year does not start after sumer but in the Spring)... and I learnt about this from CCS.
3) Because I havn't actually watched the show (all my Weiss info is gleaned from other fics), and Manx appears minimally in fanfics, I don't know her character and don't if theWeiss boys would interupt her during a mission briefing.
4) Yes! Ken is a fanboy of Ailín's model-y goodness! Hmm, I wonder why? Anyways, I actually have a friend who does this, buy magazines just for articles and pictures of his fav star: Sarah Michelle Gellar.
5) Yes, yes, I know Aya is the king of one word answers. But let's just pretend that he talks more in mission-mode, because he's all serious and needs to voice his opinions to improve on the success of the missions.
6) Ohh, can we say dramatic irony? And yay for Kritiker in suspecting Ailín of his téodóir, or Talent... cause it's not as if they can question Ailín's parents or Uncle about it... Them being dead and all.
7) A recurring way of describing Farf is that he's clever, but that he just can't decide whether he wants to be sane or crazy. This is a line of foreshadowing brought on by Farfie's cleverness, and it's importance/meaning will be further understood in the later chapters... probably the next one...
I just need to write about my new revelation. Schuldig is exactly like Xelloss from Slayers (but I'd prefer a sadistic telepathic human to an immortal who stems from a race of evil). If you've seen Slayers hopefully you'll know what I'm talking about...
Thank you for reading chapter one of Apotheosis, and hopefully you liked it enough to continue on reading all of the future chapters. And as you noticed (hopefully) in this chapter, although the story is about Ailín, the emphasis is placed more on the happeings of Weiss and Schwarz, and their encounters with Ailín; instead of just "following" Ailín around, reading about him killing people and his frequent/infrequent meethings with Weiss and Schwarz. But this will be changing in the later chapters, when Ailín gets "woven" closer and more tightly to the two groups.
If you have any comments, questions, whatever, leave them and I'll be happy to read and reply to them. And flames, I'll simply laugh at them and email the "better ones" to all my friends.