Adult-FanFiction.org : Anime

Thicker Than Blood	By : SylverIce2 Category: Weiß Kreuz > General Views: 1420 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Weiß Kreuz, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 11
- 12
- 13
            On Sunday,
the shop was so crowded that Brianna pitched in.
The grumbles from the fangirls were few and far between, even when Yohji
was caught sneaking a kiss from the pretty artist.

            In the crush,
Ken was amazed to come face to face with a girl who looked very familiar, though
not because she was a regular.

“Excuse me?” The voice was soft, female.

            Ken turned
a slightly forced smile on her. “How
can I help you?”

            “Um…this is
going to sound strange, but do I know you?”
She bit her lip, unable to look away from his face. He stared at her, surprised. Why does this girl look so familiar?

            “I don’t think
we’ve met before. I’m Ken Hidaka.”
He held his hand out to her, and she shook it.

            “Katarina
Celantano. I’m sorry about this, but
you just look so familiar. I can’t shake
the feeling that I know you!” She sighed,
as Ken was lost in thought.

            “Celantano. I know that name.” He shook his head. “I haven’t
heard that in years. Not since my mother
was alive.”

            “Your mother?”
Katarina tilted her head to one side thoughtfully.

            “She spoke
often of her sister…that’s it!” Ken
smacked his fist into his other palm. “She
always talked about her sister, who’d married a man named Celantano.”

            “Sister?” The girl stared at Ken’s face. “You have the same eyes as my mother!”

            “Now that’s
what I call a coincidence!” Brianna,
her voice filled with laughter, intruded, stepping out from behind Ken. She smiled at the young girl.

            “Brianna-chan?”
Ken smiled at her. “What do you mean?”

            “Well, if
you remember a name, and she thinks you look just like her mother, maybe you
two should figure out if any other pieces fit together.” Brianna touched Ken’s shoulder, leaning into
him for the briefest second. “Go, Ken-koi.
I’ll take over for you for a bit.”

            Ken brushed
his hand across her cheek and nodded. He
turned back to the girl. “Come with
me. I don’t think we can talk here in
this crowd.” He led Katarina to a set
of stairs and brought her to the apartment over the shop.
Brianna watched him go, and then quietly slipped through the crowd to
find Omi.

“Have a seat. Would you like anything to drink?”

            “No, thank
you, I’m fine.” She sat on the couch
and watched him as he dropped onto the other end. “My mother’s name is Fiory Celantano. I know she has a sister, but I don’t think we’ve been in touch with
her since I was tiny.”

            “My mom’s
name was Linnet. She and my father met
here in Japan when she was in college. I
remember we used to travel to America to visit her family when I was really
young.”

            They stared
at one another. The girl shook her head.
“I was too little. I just remember a tall woman who looked a lot
like my mom, who always had a camera.”

            Ken smiled.
“If it was my mother, then we’ll have pictures in my albums.”
He disappeared into his bedroom, blowing the dust off of the photo album
before he went back out. He sat down
on the couch again and paged through it. “Here.”
He pointed to a photograph of a little boy, not more than four or five,
with little girl of one or two standing next to him.

            “I have this
photo too.” She pointed to the little
girl. “That’s me, when I was about two
– I never knew who the little boy was.” Their eyes met, and smiles broke over both their faces. “I guess I know now.”

            “It looks
a lot like we’re cousins. My mom died
years ago though, so she wouldn’t be able to tell us definitely.” Ken didn’t let the sadness get to him. I gave up on real family a long time ago.
I have Weiss, and Brianna now.

            Kat smiled
at him. “My mom’s still alive – she’ll
know if we’re right. Why don’t you come
to dinner?” Startled, he shook his head.

            “Are you serious?”
His blue eyes were shocked.

            “Of course.”
She stared at the ceiling. “My
parents are the only family that I have. I’ve
always wanted more – a brother, or cousins, or anyone.”

            “Yeah…I know
what you mean. Brianna and the other
guys have become my family, but it’s not the same as someone who has the same
blood.”

            “So you’ll
come?” Hope filled her eyes.

            “Of course
he’ll go!” Ken and Katarina both turned
to the new voice. Omi advanced on Ken,
a determined set to his delicate features.
Stopping right in front of the other boy, he jabbed a finger into Ken’s
chest. “How could you even think of
not going, Ken-kun? You know how much
we all wish to have real families! You
can’t pass this up!”

            “Omitchi –
I – “ Ken was nearly stammering.

            “Brianna-chan
sent me up here to make sure that you weren’t being self-sacrificing. She was right, as usual. Ken-kun, this helps to wash it all away.
Don’t stop now!” The boy turned to the girl who was probably
Ken’s cousin, his smile bright. “I’m
Omi. I work in the shop with Ken-kun.
Pleased to meet you.” He held his hand out, and she shook it.

            “Pleased to
meet you. Call me Kat.” They smiled sunnily at each other, then Omi
grabbed Ken and dragged him towards the door.

            “You’re going,
Ken-kun, and that’s that.” He yanked
the store apron off of Ken and shoved him out the door. “Have a nice evening, Kat-san.”

            Following
Ken, she laughed. “Thank you, Omi-kun.”

            Ken came home
late that evening, and knocked on Brianna’s door. She was in bed, reading, alone for once as
Omi was asleep and the two older men were out on some type of mission. She put the book down when Ken climbed onto
the foot of her bed.

            “She’s my
cousin.” His smile never wavered. “My mother’s sister and her family, living
here in Tokyo now!”

            “That’s wonderful,
Ken. What’s she like?”

            “Her name’s
Katarina – she goes by Kat. She seems
really cool, though she’s younger than me.
Omi’s age, actually.” He fell
silent for a moment. “The weird thing
is…she told me that she’s a mage. She
does magic, kind of like the powers you and your cousins have, or Schwartz,
had.”

            “Wow. I didn’t realize that, well, that there were
that many people out there, I guess.” Brie
smiled; she could see a look in Ken’s eyes, like a hole had been filled in his
heart. “We’ll have to have her over
to dinner.”

            “That’d be
great. I hope everyone likes her.” Ken stretched out, one arm over his face.
“Can I stay here tonight? I don’t wanna be alone.”

            “Sure.” Brianna picked her book up again as Ken went
to get ready for bed. I don’t want
to be alone either. And with these four,
I won’t have to be. A family. She leaned back against the pillows with a
satisfied smile.

            Her smile
was gone the next morning when she received a call from the apartment manager.
“How much damage was there?”

            “Most of the
walls were damaged, and the countertops and floors are scarred. It goes above and beyond your security deposit.
We’ll have to ask you to pay for repairs.”

            “But –“

            “A detailed
invoice will be sent to you within the next few days.” The manager hung up and Brianna cursed.

            “The apartment
was trashed.” Aya nodded.
“I was afraid that would happen since you moved.
We’ll see to it.”

            “I can’t let
you do that.” She waved a hand to stop
his words. “You’re all doing enough
for me. This won’t break me, so I’ll
take care of it.”

            He muttered
something, possibly, “you’ve never seen Tokyo construction bills before,” but
Brianna ignored him.

            Three days
later, she wished she’d asked him more questions. She stared down at the final bill in disbelief. “FOUR BILLION YEN?”

            The contractor
nodded. “There is substantial damage.
It will be necessary to replace all of the flooring and countertops,
and much of the walls.”

            “But, these
numbers, they’re ludicrous.”

            The contractor
drew himself up to his full height – about 5’2”. “Whatever you think of them, you still have
to pay.” He walked out of her office,
and she sighed heavily. Aya stepped
out of the other office.

            “Now will
you let me handle it?”

            “I can manage,
Aya, thank you.” Her jaw set stubbornly,
Brianna turned to her paperwork. When
he slapped a hand down on her desk, she flinched, throwing her weight back and
toppling her chair over. She lay on
the floor staring at the ceiling.

            Amethyst eyes
and red hair filled her view. “Are you
all right?” She nodded. “Good, Now, you’re either going to let me handle
this, or I’m going to lock you in your room until it’s taken care of.”

            “I don’t need
you to fix every little problem for me!”

            “No one said
that you did.” He pulled her up and
set her chair upright again. “But Omi
did a check, and paying this will wipe you out.”

            “How –“

            “Omi is very
good at his job. We all are.” Aya’s voice was hard, almost cold – a tone
that he had never before taken with her. “We
can afford this easily.”

            “I don’t want
to be any more in your debt.”

            “It’s not
a debt!” He was shouting, and the fear
in her eyes made him turn away, his hands fisted at his sides. He breathed carefully, and tried not to yell.
“You’re ours now. Our responsibility. Ours to protect. To cherish. There is no
debt between family.” The words were
stiff and formal, his whole posture tense.
And Brianna nearly cried at the hidden emotion she could hear him trying
to gloss over.

            Wrapping her
arms around his waist, she buried her face in his back. “Thank you.”

            “For what?”
He relaxed a little, one hand covering hers.

            “For always
having the patience to have these talks with me. For always finding the right words.” She pressed a kiss to the soft cotton covering his spine. “For being you.”

            “Let us do
whatever we can for you. It gives us
a purpose beyond what we are.” He turned
around to take her in his arms. His
face buried in her hair, he whispered, “How is it that I’ve seen you, kissed
you, and am still so afraid to let myself touch you?”

            Her hands
fisted in his t-shirt, drawing the material up so that she could trace fingers
over bare skin. “You called me yours.
I want to be yours. Yours, and Yohji’s, and Ken’s, and Omi’s. I want to belong.”

            “I’ll go this
afternoon to take care of the repair bill. I’ll cancel your lease as well.
You’ll stay with us.” He brushed
soft kisses across her jaw. “I’ll call
Yotan and have him come in to stay with you.”

            “Mm.” Brianna stepped closer, standing on tiptoe
to reach his mouth. As he deepened the
kiss, a discreet cough sounded in the doorway.
Breaking away, the artist as Mereii carefully not looking in the room.
“Mereii-san?”

            “Sarisho-san
has requested an appointment this afternoon.
I gave him two o’clock so that you will have time for lunch.”

            “Thank you.”
The secretary nodded, her eyes flicking to Aya once more, and then she
disappeared back to her desk.

            The red-head
stepped away, pulling his cell phone out and calling Yohji, while Brianna went
back to her work. Her stomach was rolling
as she thought about the coming meeting.



            Yohji breezed
in around one-thirty, dropping a kiss on Aya’s lips as they passed, and nuzzling
Brianna’s ear as she bent over her drawing table. The blonde chatted for a few minutes, trying
to calm the fear he could see in the girl’s eyes, but finally had to retreat
to the smaller office as two o’clock neared.

            Sarisho came
in a few minutes early, sitting down and launching straight in. “Help me, and the bills from your apartment
being destroyed will disappear.”

            Folding her
hands together to hide the trembling, she schooled herself to calm. “Oh, that bill will be taken care of by this
evening.”

            “How? You don’t have the kind of savings to pay in
full.”

            “I don’t seem
to need to.”

            “Worse things
could happen. Fires, deaths –and all
of it on your conscience. You wouldn’t
want anything to happen to that flower shop you enjoy so much? Or your dear cousin?”

            Brianna clenched
her teeth. “How did you find out about
me?”

            “I worked
in America briefly. One of my associates
there came to me about a job, using your secret as leverage.”

            “Who?” Suspicion grew, and she swallowed hard.

            “You know
him quite well. You were married to
him, after all.”

            “Oh god.”
Brianna went pale, and had to bite back hysteric laughter.

            “He is in
prison now, because of you, but it would be a simple matter to bring him here
for a reunion. I know that he’s eager
to see you again.” Sarisho smiled, and
it was not pleasant. “Perhaps he’d also
like to see your cousin. She’ll be in
Tokyo soon for school, won’t she?”

            “Leave her
out of this.” Brianna began shaking,
but she couldn’t tell if it was from fear or rage.

            “Think about
this carefully. I will give you until
Friday to agree. And if you refuse,
your loving husband will be more than happy to deal with you.” The businessman rose and left, his threats
hanging in the air.

            Yohji exploded
out of the other office, his green eyes nearly glowing with rage. He packed her laptop and sketchbooks, muttering
to himself the entire time. “Let’s go,
baby.” He carried her bag, steering
her with one hand on her back.

            When they
reached the flower shop, he took his sunglasses off and glared at the customers.
“Get out. Now!” His
voice was a gravelly snarl, and most people left immediately. A few of the younger girls tried to argue,
but he slashed a hand through the air violently. “Shut up and get out, or don’t come back at all!”

            Ken stared
bemusedly at the blonde as the shop finally cleared. “Geez, Yohji, you’ve been spending waaaaaaay too much time with
Aya.”

            “Call Omi
and have him come home now.” Yohji was
already dialing Aya’s number.

            “He’s at school
still.”

            “Just do it,
Ken! I’m too pissed to argue with you.”
The snarl distorted his handsome face into something predatory and dangerous.
“Aya? Come home.” He hung up as Ken got through to a school administrator.

            “Please have
Tsukiyono Omi sent home as soon as possible. This is Hidaka Ken, one of his guardians. There’s been an emergency in the family.”
He nodded slightly to Yohji, who began to close the shop.
Ken hung up and brought Brianna down to the mission room.

            “What’s going
on, Brie-chan?”

            “I don’t know.
He just dragged me home after my meeting with Sarisho.”
She was still shaking slightly.

            Yohji came
down the stairs and paced. “I want to
do this all at once, so I’ll wait until the others get here.”

            Aya arrived
about fifteen minutes later, with Omi not far behind. Ken had begun pacing as well, and occasionally the two men would
bump into each other. “Okay, now will
you tell us what the hell is going on?”

            “Sarisho is
threatening to bring her ex-husband here.”
The blonde’s voice was flat.

            “Isn’t he
in prison?” Omi dropped his school bag
and sat on the couch near Brianna.

            “How hard
is it to break someone out?”

            “Good point,
but – Americans aren’t as likely to work with Sarisho, right?”

            “He spent
time over there – if he has a few contacts, that will be enough.”

            Aya cut through
the speculation with his customary tact. “He dies tomorrow night.”

            “And then
we go to America and take the ex-husband out.”
Yohji grinned evilly, and there were nods of agreement all around.

            “Ken, Omi,
you’re on surveillance and stake-out tonight.
Find out everything you can about where he’ll be tomorrow night. I’ll talk to Manx and see if she’ll stay with
Brianna while we’re out. Yohji, you
stay here.” Everyone nodded, Omi and
Ken rushing off to their assignments after hugging the terrified girl.

            “It’s going
to be over soon.” Yohji sat next to
her, throwing an arm around her shoulders.

            “I’m just…this
is going to be dangerous, isn’t it?”

            “For Sarisho.”
He grinned, scooting over on the couch to give Aya room to join them.

            “Seriously!” She grabbed their arms. “I saw the scars.”

            “Yes, it’s
possible that this will be dangerous. Most
of the missions we take are.” Aya patted
her hand, trying to free his flesh from her nails.

            “Baby, we’ve
been doing this for years. Considering
that, we’ve had remarkably few injuries.”

            “But there’s
always that chance. And this time, it’ll
be my fault.”

            “No. We would have had this mission whether or not
you were involved in any way at all. If
one of us gets hurt, it’s our own damn fault for not being careful.”

            “Besides,
Yohji and Ken are the only ones who are usually wounded, and they’re both too
stubborn to die.” Aya curled into Yohji’s
lap a little tighter, Brianna wrapped around the blonde’s other side.

            “Talk about
the pot calling the kettle black.” Yohji
snorted. “Hey, remember that time when
I got shot and then walked all over town?”

            “Vividly. You whined for nearly two weeks about the destruction
of that coat.”

            “But I got
my revenge.”

            “Before you
even healed, you idiot.”

            ‘But I won!”
The grin was so satisfied that even Brianna had to give in and giggle.
Aya shook his head and kissed the corner of Yohji’s mouth as he got up.

            “All right,
idiot, I’m going to go and deal with Manx now.” He leaned down and kissed Brianna good-bye.

            “Bring your
sword. I’d like you back in one piece.”

            “I don’t think
she’ll try anything today.”

            You said that
last time. Didn’t you end up with a
burn on your leg where she spilled coffee in an attempt to acquire your pants?”

            “Point taken.”
Aya picked up his heavy leather trenchcoat.
“I’ll be back within the hour. If
I’m not….”

            “We’ll come
and rescue you from the scary redhead girl.”
Yohji laughed as Aya glared at him, but the younger man didn’t object.

            “Why don’t
you have anything to do?”

            Yohji stuck
his tongue out at her. “I rarely have
prep work, unless it’s tailing someone or a little thieving. I do more undercover work, or actual assaults.
Aya specializes in tactics and assault, while Omi is our computer whiz
and sniper. Ken does well with prep work because it keeps
him from brooding. If we don’t keep
him busy, he always ends up rushing something on the mission and getting hurt.”

            “You don’t
brood?”

            “I don’t worry
about it. Either we’ll be better and
everything will work out, or I die. There’s
not a whole lot of middle ground in this business. If you’re as good as we are, though, there’s
both money and job security.” He pulled
her into his lap to cuddle her. “Aya’s
old team, Crashers, is really the only other team that Kritiker has that’s up
to our caliber.”

            “I thought
you were always together. It feels as
though you’ve been together forever.” She
breathed in the mix of cigarette smoke, flowers, and men’s cologne that the
man holding her always smelled of.

            “No, baby,
we’re just lucky enough to have been brought together. It’s only been, hmm, four years. Almost five. Omi will graduate right around the anniversary of Aya joining the
team.”

            “We’ll have
to have a party for him. Invite his
school friends.”

            Yohji was
silent for a long time. “That will be
a small party. He only has a few friends.
It’s hard on him, with all of our secrets.
Ken has some friends in the soccer league, but Aya and I really don’t
hang out with anyone outside of Weiss. And
you.”

            “It sounds
lonely.”

            He kissed
the tip of her nose teasingly. “It leaves
plenty of time for fooling around, cuddling, talking…being with one another.
We know each other as well as people possibly can, and that helps when
the abnormalness begins to be too much.”

            “Omi must
have an even harder time of it, though, being in school.”

            “No one picks
on him. It’s more that most people don’t
talk to him at all.”

            “It’s silly.
Your lives aren’t that screwy. With a little help from someone here at the
shop, he could pretend to have a perfectly normal life.” She tapped a finger to her lips, lost in thought.

            “None of us
can do much, since everyone finds it strange that we’re his guardians and we’re
barely older than him.”

            “I might work.
Most teenage guys will overlook any oddity, provided that it has breasts.”

            “You have
those.” He slid a hand up her side to
tug on her bra strap through her shirt. Brianna
blushed bright red. “I can’t get over
that. Baby, you gave me the best blowjob
ever, and you’re blushing because I said that you have breasts.”

            “I – ahh –“
The flush darkened, and she refused to look him in the eye.

            “You’re priceless.
And I’m going to ravish you.” He
began nipping and kissing her neck, and she giggled.

            “What – ooo
– about Aya? He’ll, ahh…be home – oooh
– soon.”

            “He can join
in when he gets here. No sense in wasting
time.” Yohji scooped her up and carried
her up through the shop to the apartment, and dropped her on the very large
bed that dominated his and Aya’s bedroom.

            Before she
could scramble up, he followed her down, his hands sliding buttons undone while
he kissed her senseless. He broke the
kiss just long enough to pull her shirt over her head.

            As he stared
down at the disheveled girl, his cell phone began to ring. Cursing, he sat up and answered. “What?”

            “Come pick
me up.” Aya’s voice was barely recognizable
through the static.

            “Where are
you?”

            “Out at
the other end of the goddamn national park.
Manx made me meet her here, and she fucking took my car.”

            “Right. Ah…we’ll be there soon.” Yohji hung up on another snarl, and started
laughing. “Brie-chan, we have to go
and pick Ayan up in the woods. Manx
showed some claw.”

            “Is he all
right?”

            “Oh, everything
but his pride, I’m sure.” Yohji was
still laughing as Brianna straightened her clothes out, and they headed down
to the Roadster.
- 11
- 12
- 13
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

Thicker Than Blood