This is my late Christmas/Kwanza/Hanukah/Winter Break/I-can't-believe-I-haven't-update-in-so-long present to you. It's longer then I usually write.
Happy new year!
Crawford sat at his desk, phone held up to his ear, and frowned at what the man on the other end of the line was saying. The once steaming mug of coffee sat abandoned on his desk. His normal pristine white cup had been shattered in one of Farfarello's not quite laughable attempts at cooking, along with almost every other cup in the house. In its place Crawford was now stuck with Schuldich's gag gift. A bright pink mug with the etchings of a rabbit on one side and a decorate purple egg on the opposite.
Crawford had come to dread this side of the telepath's humor. He could deal with him when he was being sarcastic or trying his vulgar hand at teasing, but sometimes he had the humor of a small child. A small female child that was a little to obsessed with the neon colors, cute things and giving them to other people. The last time he had gone on a shopping spree had been particularly bad. Farfarello had gotten a neon yellow stuffed animal snake, Nagi a neon green parrot and he himself had gotten a pink panther. He always gave pink to Crawford.
But this particular gift had been given with a piece of something definitely not of a child—though it was childish. To complement the gift the Neanderthal had stuffed a hastily scribed note that stated simply, 'You need to get laid' inside. Crawford supposed he should be thankful that the lazy fool had written it in sloppy, cursive German—a language that only he and Schuldich spoke with fluency—when Nagi had been the one to find it that morning and, thinking it was something odd of Farfarello's, had tried reading the thing in an attempt to find out what it meant.
Shaking himself out of the thoughts, and the memory of Schuldich's panicked face upon finding Nagi flipping patiently through a German-Japanese dictionary, Crawford focused back on the present. Reaching up he elegantly pushed his glasses further up on his nose. Light reflected off the glasses, blinding him from the room for a second. The gravely, serious voice on the other end of the line suddenly became inane babble.
Schuldich listed to the side into Nagi, forcing the obviously worried kid a little more towards the edge of the sidewalk, and a little more. A car was driving up behind them unnoticed. The eyes of the diver were cold and determined.
He came to himself tense in his chair, his grip making the plastic of the phone creek. The lights in the room seemed over bright and the door opposite him was blurry, but other than that there was nothing to indicate the usual effects of a vision. This one had been surprisingly clear, in chronological order and of only one event rather than the usual smattering of moments.
"Thank you for this information," Crawford said quietly into the phone, filling the silence left by the man. He remembered what had been said while he was in his vision with a detached noninvolvement, as if someone had recorded it to be played back to him.
He set the phone down in a 'click'. He sat, waiting for the door to come into focus, knowing that he'd only make it worse if he moved around to soon. This wasn't bad in comparison to his other visions but it could still have negative effects.
When the door stopped wavering in its frame Crawford stood up slowly from his chair and went to find Farfarello.
He found him sitting quietly on the couch, tossing a red bouncy ball from hand to hand. He watched it with eyes that were utterly fascinated and indifferent to everything else.
"Farfarello," said Crawford.
Farfarello looked up from his game and studied Crawford.
"You need to go pick up Nagi and Schuldich. They're in the Akita district. Kill the woman," commanded Crawford.
Farfarello got up, unquestioning, and walked out the door, as intent on his new task as he had been on the bright red ball, that now lay forgotten on the ash-wood floor.
Crawford reached down to pick it up. His fingertips brushed the rubbery surface and he was gone.
Red hair splayed on a leather seat. The car sped along the road. Balinese gripped the wheel with white-knuckled hands. Bombay holding someone still in the back seat. Siberian trying to reach someone with a cell phone. Abyssinian's shallow breathing. Violet eyes opening for a second.
Crawford spent a second, slumped against the couch, trying to relearn how to breath. Pain beat a tattoo in his temples. Blackness ate into his vision until the room and the bright red ball on the floor faded to black.
"I can't reach Manx."
Omi blinked at the almost panicked tone in Ken's voice, and stared at the back of the brunet's head from the back seat. His hands absently shifted to keep Aya secure and safe as he lay very much out of it on the back seat. There wasn't really enough room to lay down so Aya's feet were pressed up against the far door, he knees bent to the side. His head was propped up on Omi's leg.
"Have you tried Birman?" asked Yohji from the driver's seat.
"She's still supposed to be on vacation. It's why we've gotten our missions from Manx for the last month, remember?" The sarcasm in Ken's voice was almost non-existent, but not quite.
"Of course I remember. You don't have to fucking yell at me!" snapped Yohji.
Everyone was on edge. Well, except for Aya, but he wasn't conscious enough for much of anything; which was why everyone was on edge to begin with. Having their leader's head resting weakly in his lap, lolling slightly with the car's movement, unnerved Omi.
"Stop it, both of you, please," pleaded Omi.
"Sorry, sorry," mumbled Yohji, almost before Omi had finished his sentence. "I just haven't had any coffee yet, okay? It's to early in the damn morning."
It was an obvious attempt to shrug the tension off, but no one called him on it.
"Well the sooner we get to Villa Weiss the sooner you get your coffee. And I actually agree with you on the morning thing, but I don't know if we get to count this as early. We've been driving all night and haven't gone to sleep, wouldn't it be late?" said ken, drawing the last few words out with a heartfelt yawn.
"It's four o'clock in the morning. That's too late to be a 'late night', that ends somewhere between two and three, so it's early," said Yohji.
"No wonder you don't get out of bed until noon if you consider three o'clock late. Midnight is late, three is too much sugar and coffee."
"You don't last 'till three on sugar and coffee. You gotta have a night on the town and that great woman sitting by herself practically radiating-"
"The inability to think because it's too early in the morning."
"No, actually," Yohji said dryly. "You're just out to ruin all my fun, aren't you?"
"Ha! As if getting stuck with a hangover every morning is-"
"Quiet."
The raspy yet still commanding voice cut through the slowly relaxing atmosphere like a knife. Ken snapped to attention and the whole car twitched as Yohji jumped. Omi brought his eyes down to see Aya, his eyes open in thin violet slits, conscious though dazed.
"Aya? Are you okay?" asked Omi, even though he knew it was a stupid question. He just couldn't seem to help himself.
Omi watched as the redhead's eyes shifted up to focus on him, completely ignoring the question. Omi tried to catch his gaze but found the he couldn't. It took him a second to realize that he was examining his shoulder before his clearing eyes shifted to Ken. He took his time looking over Ken as critically as he had Omi.
He was worried about them? The man had been insensible over the last twelve hours or so and he was worried about their health?
Realizing that Aya wouldn't be able to see Yohji—as his head was behind Yohji's seat—and not wanting to make too obvious what he was doing Omi said, "We're all okay. Just some scratches and bruises. You've been unconscious for the last twelve hours or so."
Even with the information Omi expected Aya to sit up and see for himself, or at least try to. The way Aya lay with almost limp relief would have driven Omi to panic only a few months before, when Aya still strove to keep his distance from them; but that had been slowly getting better since Aya-chan had left all of Kritiker's influence to go live as a college student in America and Aya had started showing a little dependence/acceptance on small things—but not enough for Aya to be this comfortable. He hadn't even protested being treated as an invalid.
The silence that filled the car after Omi's remark was broken by Yohji. They all knew that even if Aya was injured beyond being able to help them he was still their leader and deserved to know what was going on. So they were answering the unasked questions.
"We found you pretty hurt so we called in a doctor," said Yohji.
"Yeah, but there must have been a leak in Kritiker or something. The doctor turned out to be an assassin in disguise," finished ken.
Omi felt Aya stiffen under his hands. Whether it was from the mention of the ever-hated doctors or the thought of the would be assassin Omi wasn't sure.
"The bitch died before we could question her. Killed by her own weapon, disgustingly ironic." Yohji was irritated.
"Right now," said Omi, "we're headed towards Villa Weiss. We tried to contact Manx, but couldn't get through to her."
"No," said Aya.
"Um…no, what, Aya?" asked Yohji.
"Don't go to Villa Weiss." Aya lifted his head up off of Omi's leg, held it for a second, before collapsing weakly back, as if he could hold his head up. "If there is a leak in Kritiker then Villa Weiss is compromised."
"Then where the hell are we supposed to go?" responded Yohji. "We only have the supplies we packed and that's not a lot considering we were kinda rushing to get out of the Koneko. Oh, and before you even suggest it, we are not spending the night in my car. And we need to get you somewhere safe anyway."
Omi winced. Remind Aya he's to injured to help, why don't you? Great.
"There's a hotel on the north edge of the city called The Shiro Kaze. Tell the front desk you're checking in to Honda Sora's suit," said Aya.
"The hell. What's up with that Aya? Why are-"
"Yohji, he can't hear you. He's out again," said Omi.
"Well, what are we supposed to do now?" asked Ken. He was worried again, tapping his heal up and down on the car floor.
"Aya's right, we can't go to Villa Weiss. I should have realized it sooner. We could have walked right into a trap," said Omi. He would have gone and gotten them all killed. He should have been thinking, paying attention then maybe the mission wouldn't have gotten screwed up in the first place. Then Aya would be okay and they wouldn't be running for their lives in the dark hours of the morning.
"Stop thinking whatever you're thinking right now Omi," said Ken.
Omi looked up to find him twisted around in his seat watching Omi carefully.
"But-"
"No," interrupted Ken. "None of us thought about the Villa being found out. It's no more your fault then it is mine and Yohji's.
"It's going to be alright, okay? We'll go to the, what was it?…The Shiro Kaze. If Aya's says to go there then it should be okay. We can get a place to sleep and then figure out what to do next."
"Okay," whispered Omi. "I'm sorry," he added.
"Nothing to be sorry for Chibi," said Yohji.
Omi leaned back into the suddenly very comfortable seat and fell into an exhausted sleep.
Nagi watched as Schuldich slammed the door open.
"I cannot believe this! Some bitch has to try to kill us and then another one tries to run us over! All in the same night! Crawford, if you saw this coming and didn't tell us for some stupid reason I am so gonna load all your laundry full of starch! See how you like that!"
It was rather surprising, but it seemed that the second near-death experience of the night had stuffed Schu full of energy. He had speed walked in a furious rampage all the way home, yelling obscenities in numerous languages at the top of his lungs. Nagi had walked behind him, using his power in quick burst whenever Schuldich had started to fall, still not being very steady. He was pretty sure Schu hadn't noticed.
"Crawford! Crawford, where are you? Crawford?"
Farfarello pushed past both of them, still angry over the woman getting away before he could kill her. He turned around the corner towards the living room and disappeared from view. His gruff voice reached them from around the corner.
"He's in here."
"Then why the hell didn't he answer me?" snapped Schuldich as he stormed after Farfie.
"He can't," said Farfarello.
Both Nagi and Schuldich sped up at that. There had already been two attempts on their lives tonight. What if someone had gone after Crawford?
"What do you mean he can't?" said Schuldich.
Nagi walked in to see Farfie kneeling next to the limp form of Crawford.
"Is he hurt?" asked Nagi.
"No," answered Schuldich.
"Bad vision?" suggested Farfie.
"Must have been a really bad one to knock him out like this. Either that or it was something else," said Schuldich.
"What else could it have been?" asked Nagi.
Schuldich opened his mouth as if to answer but stopped when Crawford suddenly came awake. He pushed himself up slowly off the ground, a hand reaching up to fix his glasses and rub at a temple. Schuldich reached forward cautiously to offer Crawford some help in staying upright.
"Crawford? What happened? Was it a vision?" asked Schuldich.
"Yes. Farfarello go gather the usual supplies. We need to leave." Order given Crawford closed his eyes and leaned back using the couch as a prop. A few wayward pain lines deepened around his eyes.
They had been moving a lot since betraying Esset so the 'usual supplies' meant everything they need to leave as well as getting rid of any evidence that they had been here.
"You think Esset has something to do with this?" inquired Nagi.
"No," said Crawford, as if that explained everything.
"I'll go help Farf then," said Nagi. As he walked out of the room towards where he could hear Farfarello rummaging around, he caught some of the conversation going on behind him.
"Where won't they be able to find us? Where are we gonna go?" asked Schuldich.
Crawford answered, "The Shiro Kaze."
Now why would Crawford and Aya be going to the same place? You'll have to read to find out.
Arigato and Ja ne!
01/15/06 10:57