Hey there! Are you still with me?? Excellent! Thanks so much, I'm really thrilled. If you've hung out for this long, know that Yohji will be up in the next chapter!! Finally! Are you excited?? I know I am...Ok, so let's move right along here. No notes really. Thanks for all your reviews and comments. They make my day!! :) If updates start lagging, I apologize. I do have to work. School visits and all. Maybe someday I'll be a famous author who lives like a hermit in a remote cabin in Maine...err...anyway, on with the show...
BTW, If I haven't replied to your reviews, I'm terribly sorry, but I'm very new at this whole thing. I promise to do it as soon a I manage. If your email has an undersore in it though, I'm sorry, but I can't type those on my Japanese computer. I don't know how...::looks embarassed::
Disclaimer : Weiss isn't mine. If I had half that brilliance and creativity, I'd make my own series with better animation and plot. I mean....::cough:: Not that I don't love the boys. I just wish the show was half as good as the comic. ::sigh::
Oh yeah....lots of....not good stuff in this chapter. Not for the faint of heart, or those who may cry easily. I'm so mean mean mean.....you have been warned and I will not be blamed (if your wild strawberry cannot be tamed ! .)
A Breif Cultural Note: Traditional Japanese houses used to have a main room, in the center of which was a fire, or charcoal pit(perhaps called a hibachi--and NO it is not the same as the Japanese restaruants. TheJapanese don't even really like that style of restaurant really, and it certainly isn't traditional...although I love it....)used for cooking and whatever warmth and light it gave off. Which trust me, wasn't much...
:::wanders off singing 'Found a Peanut Last Night':::
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Chapter 2B
"In seasonal rain
Along a nameless river
Fear too has no name."
-Buson
Edo
Ken had been wandering around in the silence and the dark for what felt like hours. Reasonably, and judging by the position of the moon, it had been a half hour at most. He still hadn't seen any sign of Ryuuta. At all.
It didn't help that his feet had led him to be standing outside of his own house now, staring at gaping black holes where windows had once been. He should be looking for Ryuuta. Ryuuta wasn't in his house. But his family might be. Ken didn't want to go in. But that didn't stop his feet from sliding him forward, into the doorway. He swallowed the greeting that rushed into his throat back down into his stomach. It was pointless now. He refused to look at the black walls, or the soot-stained floors. He didn't take off his shoes. He tried to pretend it was someone else's house. It wasn't much better, but it helped some. He couldn't see much anyway; there wasn't enough light. The smell was horrible though. Somehow even worse than the smells he had been working in before.
He hadn't far to go before he tripped over the first body. And the nightmare just kept getting worse and worse. He stumbled down the hall into the main room and just stopped. A thin wisp of smoke from the small charcoal pit in the center of the room was climbing towards a large hole in the ceiling slowly. It was all he could see at first. The only natural smoke in the room. Everything seemed to focus in slowly, as if he were underwater...
And then Ken screamed. It rattled the walls and shook the floors. It echoed throughout the dead, smoldering village and sent a small flock of night-birds scattering from the castle hillside. It seemed to fill everywhere. And it didn't stop. Ken screamed, and screamed, and screamed.
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Six figures paused from their struggles and looked up at the night-sky as a tortured scream filled the air.
"Ken-sama." Ryuuta murmured weakly. He turned sharply on the men surrounding him. "What the fuck did you do to him you bastards!?" he yelled, his knees feeling as if they had turned to water. The sound of Ken's scream had somehow taken hold of his muscles and turned them into a jelly. The intimidation factor of the demand was slightly marred by the blood he coughed up afterwards.
"Us? Nothing." That same, damn nasal voice that Ryuuta had learned very quickly to hate with a passion.
"I bet he found his house. He must have liked the present we left him. God is crying right now." another voice giggled maniacally in strangely accented Japanese.
"I see you did a thorough job." This voice was laced with disgusted sarcasm. Ryuuta hated that voice most of all. The voice of betrayal. Ryuuta wouldn't even dare think his name anymore. That would be acknowledging him as human. And he obviously wasn't. He glared bloody murder from his crouch in the center of all of them.
"Hey, don't say something like 'have fun' and expect us not to take you up on it." The nasal one again.
A snort from somewhere behind him.
"Well, let's finish up here so we can take care of Hidaka."
"Ahh, you have no vision. Why do you want to kill these guys in such a boring way? Jeez. Be creative."
"You have another brilliant idea?"
"As a matter of fact, I do. Heir leader, if I may?"
Another snort.
"So gracious. Thank you." Sarcasm laced with cynicism. "Why kill the little one here? Leave him. He's going to die anyway. We'll let Hidaka find him. He's going to be coming around for him sooner or later, trust me. When he finds the chibi here dead, or dying, he'll realize he has nothing to live for and kill himself. Besides saving us trouble it'll be a really good show."
Ryuuta's eyes widened in horror. He had to get away, had to warn Ken, make him promise not to die. He had to—
"You people are sick, you know that?"
"Didn't say we weren't. We got the job done, didn't we?"
There was the sound of general muttering and cursing. "Whatever." The nasal voice laughed at the remark.
"And what if he doesn't kill himself?"
"He will. Unless you can think of another reason a failure would want to stay alive."
Silence. Then finally. "You know what? Do what you want. I don't give a fuck." The final betrayal. Ryuuta felt the pain throbbing in his heart worse than any of the wounds in his body. Another laugh.
"Glad we have your permission. Funny thing is, I didn't intend on getting it anyway." Ryuuta watched, wide-eyed, as one of the figures—presumably the one who spoke, moved forward with lightning speed and punched the other in the guts. The traitor slumped to the ground.
"B-bastard! The fuck do you think you're doing…?!"
"You said you didn't care. And you've been a real pain in the ass thus far. Since we don't need your help anymore, I figured you might like to take a nap. Don't worry, we'll take real good care of you." a definite mocking in that nasal voice now. Ryuuta hoped they tortured him painfully until he begged for death. Another laugh.
"Awfully dark thoughts for a chibi you know? Maybe you've got some potential after all kid. But no, as much as I'm sure we'd enjoy doing so, we won't be torturing him just now. We still need him alive, unfortunately... For reasons I've yet to fathom." Ryuuta gasped in shock. Had the man read his very thoughts?! No. No that was impossible. In his pain, Ryuuta's wishes must have been written clearly on his face, that was all.
"He will be needed later on as a very essential solution to some rather troublesome enemies. I've already explained this to you." a tired, aggravated voice.
"Yes, of course. How silly of me to forget. Ahh, well. We'll be going now. Have fun with Ken-sama!" And the laughter faded into the night.
Slowly, Ryuuta staggered to his feet. The screaming had stopped, but Ryuuta couldn't be sure of how long ago. What had they done to Ken? Ryuuta hoped he wasn't already dead. It would break him if he knew Ken had died. There would be no one to avenge this horrible wrong. And he had to tell Ken who betrayed them. Above all else, Ken must know at least the name of the man responsible. The very thought nearly made him ill.
Ryuuta wandered forever, stopping frequently to catch his breath and rest against anything that looked stable enough to hold his weight. He finally could not stop himself from collapsing in the center of the main road; he had lost too much blood. He wondered despairingly if he would ever find Ken. He was so afraid he wouldn't. He had tried so very hard to hold on.
Just as he was despairing that he would never reach Ken in time, he became hazily aware of rapid footfalls echoing in the silence. Suddenly warm hands were on his shoulders, turning him over slowly. They fluttered up and down his body frantically, gently prodding at his wounds and making noises of despair and concern.
"Gods, Ryuuta-kun! I'm so very, very sorry. I failed you too…Gods I failed…Shit kid, what happened to you?! Who did this!?" Ken's voice sobbed from somewhere above him. Ryuuta made a small noise of despair and reached up weakly, relieved when his hand managed to find Ken's cheek. It was wet with tears.
"Ken…sa…ma…" Ryuuta had to tell him, make him promise, even if it took his last breath to do it.
"Shh. Don't try to talk ok? I'm gonna fix you up, you'll be ok. Ryuuta-kun, you'll be ok." Ryuuta was frightened of the desperateness in Ken's voice. It sounded like Ken had already broken. He sounded nearly hysterical to Ryuuta's ears. He realized belatedly that Ken had somehow drawn him into his lap partially, and was rocking them both slowly, sobbing. "You're gonna be alright kid, alright….just fine…." They sat in silence for a moment, Ryuuta's heart breaking in his chest. Gods, he didn't want to leave Ken. He was afraid to. Afraid of what would happen to him. Ken was so vulnerable. Not in the ways of battle; in the ways of the heart. He was so easy to hurt. Ryuuta didn't want to think about what his death was going to do to Ken. He determined to wrangle the promise of revenge from Ken no matter what.
"Ken-sama..." Ken's whole body jerked as if he'd been struck. Ryuuta could just make out Ken's head turning to look towards his face in the moonlight. The breath rushed out of his body as Ken's features came slowly into the light. Ken looked beyond devastated. Ryuuta was afraid for him. He swallowed determinedly.
"I want you... to promise me something..." Ken shook his head wildly and placed warm fingers gently against Ryuuta's lips.
"No Ryuuta. No promises. Save your strength. I'll promise you anything you want later. Anything. Save your strength now." It was Ryuuta's turn to shake his head.
"No Ken-sama. There won't...be a later...not for me..." Ken choked and made a strangled sound and Ryuuta wished he could take it back. He had stopped rocking them and tightened his hold around Ryuuta as if that would somehow keep him from death. Ryuuta ignored the discomfort it brought.
"Please......Ryuuta......please...." Ken didn't know what he was asking Ryuuta while at the same time knowing exactly what he was asking . They both knew the youth was dying. Ken just wanted a little longer. Just a little longer. He didn't want to be alone yet... Alone with himself and the dead and the night. Not yet. Please.
Ryuuta shook his head again. "Promise me Ken...promise me...promise...you won't die...you won't..." he broke off, coughing.
"No, no Ryuuta! Please! Don't make me promise that. You don't know what you're asking me to do..." Ken was desperate.
"It's....the only thing....I want...Ken...sa...ma...I want...you...to....live...revenge...." he coughed again, the blood filling his mouth and lungs, making it hard for him to breathe. For a moment, he thought he would black out, but suddenly Ken was sitting him up, leaning him forward, and he could breath again, albeit scarcely. Ken's hands were trembling as they stroked his back soothingly. His body was shuddering violently.
"Ryuuta-kun..." Ken's voice broke over his name, and for a moment, Ryuuta despaired of being denied. "I...I'll live to get revenge....I-I can't promise you anything after that...Please don't make me promise you anything more..." he sounded so defeated, so miserable that the words seemed to tear into Ryuuta's soul.
"So...sorry...Ken-s-s-a-n.....I'm....s-so....sorry to...leave...you...here....a-l-one...."
"No. I'm sorry. I failed you. I failed everyone. I should be apologizing. I'm sorry I couldn't save you Ryuuta-kun....so damn fucking sorry....Gods, you're too young for this ; too fucking young. I should have--" Ken was startled by Ryuuta's sudden strong grip on his shoulder. Shuddering and gasping in pain, the youth dragged himself close to Ken's face.
"K-en-san…no…don't you…dare…" Ken found himself looking into eyes so intense if he hadn't known better he would have said Ryuuta was more than alive. Ryuuta held his gaze and somehow Ken could not look away.
"Don't you…let…me…die while you…sit here…feeling…sorry…for yourself…you could never have…known…You did the best…you could…the best…" Ryuuta choked on his own blood and fell forward into Ken's chest. Ken's arms around him were a warm and welcomed comfort. He lay there in the dark, just breathing. Ken was rocking them both gently again, still sobbing, quietly. He could feel each jerk and shudder as if it were his own. Just as he could feel himself slipping away…warmed and contented…Ken would live…he would seek revenge…and somehow…Ryuuta knew he'd be happy eventually…somehow…Ken was so full of life…
"Ken-sama…" words suddenly came easy, the pain was numb now. Ken jerked again, but didn't stop rocking this time.
"A-Aa?"
"Thank-you…" he hoped Ken knew what he meant; thank you for living, thank you for comforting me, thank you for giving me a lifetime of wonderful memories to take with me…
Ken laughed; a choked, hollow sound. "I wish I could do more."
Ryuuta didn't even have the energy to shake his head, let alone speak. Until he suddenly remembered something; something very important. Something he had forgotten to tell Ken. He struggled in panic, trying to push off of Ken's chest.
"Ryuuta-kun—what?"
"Ken-san—" and he was choking on blood again, so much this time. He couldn't breathe anymore. But he had to. He had to tell Ken the name of the traitor; he had to. But all he could do was choke. His body began to shudder violently, and the world seemed to drop out of focus. He could hear Ken calling his name desperately, but it sounded as if he were at the end of a long tunnel. Gods, he was going to die, he was going to leave this plain, and he hadn't told Ken who was responsible. …Hadn't told Ken…
And the world fell away.
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Ken screamed again, the sound hoarse and dry this time. He sobbed violently, hugging Ryuuta's still warm body to his chest as he rocked them both forward and back desperately. He was alone, so utterly alone, and he tried to comfort himself from the warmth still within the youth's body. It didn't work.
He had thought Ryuuta would go peacefully, that he had at least been able to give the youth a comforting ending, and he had drawn his own comfort from that. But the final death throes were anything but peaceful, and Ken was so disturbed by the horror of watching it and being unable to do anything to help; those wide, horror-filled eyes were going to haunt his nightmares forever.
He didn't know how long he'd sat there, rocking and weeping. He didn't come-to until he realized that the body he was holding had begun to cool considerably. He looked down reluctantly. Ryuuta's face was spattered with blood, his mouth slightly open. His eyes stared emptily at something just over Ken's shoulder. Ken pulled his hand over the lids, closing them gently. He wanted to stay. He wanted to bury Ryuuta. But he wasn't going to. Not when there was still a chance that he could catch his enemies' trail. The night had gone from chill to cold, but Ken wasn't going to take the time to search for his gi now. Reverently, he pulled Ryuuta's hand claws, his favorite weapon, from the youth's hands and slid them onto his own. He was going to spill someone's blood tonight. A lot of it. May the gods have mercy upon their soul.
He ran, at first not knowing where he was going, but after awhile he realized he was heading for the direction Ryuuta had come from. He did not go far before he found several other pairs of footprints. He paused enough to study them at turning point. They had turned behind the huts when Ryuuta had gone onto the main road. Ken could see four sets. One belonged to a taller man, well muscled. He might give Ken more trouble if Ken couldn't get the immediate jump on him. Another set belonged to a youth younger than Ryuuta, and the thought made Ken's heart squeeze a bit. He didn't want to even look at any adolescent boys, let alone kill them at the moment. The next set also belonged to a tall man, although this one was perhaps far slighter than the first. The final set, which seemed well ahead, was that belonging to another man, perhaps less tall, but also slight, who was carrying something rather heavy. This was indicated by the depth of the prints, as well as the slight blurring of the outline.
So. He could expect four men then. He hadn't seen any familiar foot-prints, but it was dark, and footprints could easily be disguised if you knew what you were doing. Without wasting another moment, Ken took off at a brisk jog, the heat of his anger and activity warding away the cold and making him sweat instead. He ran onto the small footpath that led out of the village and into the woods, body singing with the anticipation of revenge.
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They had been walking idly almost fifteen minutes before Crawford suddenly stopped, rubbing the bridge of his nose in irritation. "Farferello, look out." he intoned blandly. Farferello blinked at him and then looked around curiously. Before he could figure out what Crawford had been warning him about, a set of razor sharp claws gouged their way from between his shoulder blades to the small of his back.He fell forward with the force of the blow and then whirled around, more curious than angry, and narrowly avoided loosing his nose to a man that resembled a cross between a bear and a wolf, wearing hakamas and no shirt. He was covered in blood, grime, and soot. Muscles moved sinously in the combined moonlight and torchlight, glistening with the sweat of exertion. Whoever this man was, he'd run after them quite a ways. A brown, unruly mane matted with blood and sweat crowned his head, a fringe falling into deep brown eyes that beamed an almost insane rage. Coral lips curved into a snarl, and Farferello noted with some dissappointment that there were no fangs beneath them; only regular teeth that gleamed white against the surrounding shadows. He certianly moved fast, however. Farferello was hard pressed to keep out of his reach. Beside him somewhere, he heard Shulditch laugh.
"Saa, saa. What have we here!? Looks like an angry little kitty we must have missed." He mocked, smirking. Farferello didn't think he looked like a kitten at all. Schuditch was strange like that sometimes. " Better be careful Farferello, he might just take your ears off if you let him! Mind taking this Crawford? I'm gonna have some fun." Crawford sighed in eternal irritation and shouldered the weight of Kase Kouichirou against his shoulder. He turned towards Nagi and the youth nodded. The two of them continued on down the path as if nothing had happened.
Ken, however, whose attention had been drawn by the action, lost it when he saw Kase; Tomo-sama's only son.
"KASE!!! YOU FUCKERS!! WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO KASE!? GIVE HIM BACK!!!!!!" he roared menacingly. Farferello jumped back to avoid going deaf, impressed and reconsidering wether or not this man was completely human. Schulditch looked annoyed.
"Loud little thing, isn't he?" he grumbled.
Then Ken did something that surprised even Crawford. As Shulditch and Farferello stepped into his path before he could run after Crawford, Ken managed a lightning move that allowed his right heel to connect with Shulditch's temple at the same time that his left hand landed a fatal blow with the hand claws across Farferello's chest. Both strikes were powerful. Added to that, they had been fast and unpredicted. As a result, Ken's nearly hysterical anger and desperation at the sight of his Tomo-sama's son knocked both Shulditch and Farferello aside. Farferello did not get up. The pain meant nothing. The tearing of muscles and damage to bones combined with blood-loss, however, did. Shulditch was still staggering. And Ken was almost on top of Crawford and Nagi.
Crawford gave Nagi a bland look and levered Kase onto him. "Get him out of here." was the simple command. Nagi simply nodded and continued on, hakama dragging slightly through the dirt beneath the extra burden as he had not yet reached a decent height.
Crawford frowned at the sight in slight disapproval before turning and meeting Ken head on. Before Ken could even lift a hand to strike, he found Crawford's fist buried in his mid-section. He doubled over and coughed, tasting blood. Gods, this man was strong. But it didn't matter. Nothing mattered but Kase. Ken leapt forward again, dodging another punch to the gut, only to receive one in the shoulder. He felt it pop out of the socket with a sickening crack. He cursed loudly and grabbed it, snapping it back into place roughly with a pained grunt. The tall foreigner in front of him seemed amused.
"You're turning out to be a lot less trouble than you look." there was a mild, cruel amusement in his voice that made Ken lunge forward again. He feinted a strike to the head, then a kick to the side, before coming in with a true knee to the gut that effectively wiped the smirk from Crawford's face. Ken didn't waste time but dragged his fist down towards Crawford's face, claws out and ready for business. Crawford didn't even flinch as he grabbed Ken's wrist, the strike mere centimeters from his cheek. Without blinking, he broke it. Ken cried out in pain and fell back into a defensive crouch. "Then again, perhaps you are more trouble than you are worth." The foreigner growled menacingly.
"I wouldn't be any fucking trouble if you hadn't fucked up my clan." Ken spat back venomously, rage in his eyes. He wanted to scream and curse, but he needed to save his energy; all of it, for the fight ahead.
"We didn't fuck-up your clan my dear boy. We eradicated it. There is no more clan. That's quite a big difference, don't you think?" A voice from behind him said suddenly. Before Ken had time to react, he felt a hot, searing pain in the left side of his chest and back. He looked down in shock at the wakezashi point protruding from his bicep. He realized dimly that he tasted blood again. "You should have been a good kitty and died in the village too, with your little friend." Someone hissed in his ear, and the blade twisted viciously. Ken cried out in pain, andwithout thinking, his elbow rammed back and met someone's ribs. The pained grunt was small, but satisfying, despite the pain of the wakezashi wrenched suddenly from his chest. Ken whirled, sending shuriken flying before he was even fully turned around. He was disappointed to see they landed only in soil.
"Looking for me?" Ken had just enough time to turn a fatal strike into a less fatal glance off of his side. That didn't mean it hurt any less. Or bled any less either. He roared angrily, and lunged forward. Somehow, for the second time that evening, he managed to catch Schulditch off-guard. A few, shallow gashes in the man's upper arm was his only reward however. Schulditch was fast.
"Tsk. That wasn't very nice. You don't play very well." the man growled. Ken was suddenly aware of hisred hair in the distant light of Nagi's torch and the torch Farferello had dropped earlier. All the more fitting for a demon, he thought darkly. Schulditch came at him again, and no matter how ready Ken had been, it would not have mattered. Ken managed to catch the sword blade in the same shoulder Crawford had dislocated, but he was not able to do anything about the bruising blow delivered to his first stab wound. He cried out in pain and felt himself falling back, hitting packed earth. Somewhere above him, Schulditch laughed as Ken struggled to rise. A sharp blow to his head with something blunt sent him sprawling face-down back to the dirt, and this time, Ken couldn't make himself get up, no matter how hard he tried.
"Schulditch! Let's go! Get Farferello. We're already late." Ken could hear the voice of the tall man with dark hair barking orders. No…Ken struggled. They couldn't leave, not with Kase. Not Kase.
"Alright alright already. Aww how cute. He's worried about Kouichirou. Don't worry, Ken –sama. We'll take really good care of him, I promise." Schulditch taunted close to Ken's ear. Ken tried to strike out but found himself somehow pinned.
"I don't want to go yet. I want to make him scream. God is laughing because of my wounds. I want him to suffer." There was a searing pain suddenly across his back and down into his thigh. Ken struggled harder, but was disgusted to find himself too weak to dislodge whoever was pinning him down. He refused to give them the pleasure of hearing him scream, however.
"Trust me Farf. He's already suffering a good amount. Bradley says we're late already. Just leave him. He's already finished."
" The last time you said that, you were wrong."
"Well I'm right this time, ok? He's as good as dead, let's go." Schulditch tossed an errant lock of fiery-red hair over his shoulder in agitation. Ken studied both faces, memorizing them. Hair, eyes, skin, clothing. They wouldn't be hard to find again; they were foreigners. Not only did foreigners stick out, but they were also unwelcome almost anywhere. Schulditch laughed.
'We're a little harder to find than you think, kitty. Ja, then again, it's not like you'll be around to find us...' a voice echoed in his mind. Ken was too exhausted and pain-numbed to be shocked by it. He could only watch as they walked away casually, the red head helping the pale man with white hair that Ken remembered wounding early-on. He drew a small amount of satisfaction from the depth and range of the wounds. At least he'd gotten one of them good. He struggled again suddenly, as their torch light began to fade, remembering Kase. He couldn't even save Kase. Four men; only four, and they had not only stopped him, but probably killed him. His best hope was that Kase would live on instead to avenge the clan. Yes, that was the only chance now.
"I'm sorry, Ryuuta-kun." He croaked, reaching a hand towards the far-off orange-glow. It faded slowly into darkness, and Ken let his hand fall. He lay sprawled motionless on his stomach, tired beyond words as he felt his blood soaking into the dirt around him. Death came as easy as closing his eyes.
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WAAAHHHHH!!!!!! I'm so mean, I know it. Sorry, but it had to happen. Life wasn't exactly a picture book back then. (Hey wait....it still isn't....crap...) But don't worry!!! Yohji's in the next chapter!!!
::dodges flying projectiles and runs off into the darkness before she gets hurt...::
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