-Part 4-

A Scythe of White Roses In Bloom

[Friday. 3:43am. Weiss Apartment.]

Aya was awoken from a deep sleep. A hand clamped over his mouth, and before he could cry out he was dragged from the bed, so not to disturb Hidaka. He was pulled harshly into Yohji’s room. Aya trembled in fear. Ken had promised him it wouldn’t happen again! He lied! He lied!

Yohji slapped Aya hard, the red mark slowly appearing on his face. “You told him, didn’t you?”

Aya slid to his knees, as Yohji hit him again, pulling him back up by his crimson locks. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”

Yohji yanked his belt from his pants and began beating Aya as he screamed for forgiveness, not only with the belt but with his hand.  He tried to muffle Aya’s screams, but remembered Tsukiyono and Hidaka could sleep through earthquakes, and concentrated on Aya.

Aya’s back bled again as new wounds were opened, and the crimson redhead begged for Yohji to stop. He cried hysterically on the floor. The once strong leader of Weiss was a broken mess. And it was Kudou’s fault.

Yohji roughly picked him up, flinging him onto the bed. He shoved his face deep into the pillows, and hit his back repeatedly. Aya screamed, muffled cries pushed further into the pillows as he tried to sit up, but Kudou pushed his crimson head further down, to make him pass out from lack of air. “Who do you love, Fujimiya?”

Aya finally pulled away from his grasp and screamed loudly. “Hidaka!!!!”

Yohji arched his back angrily and withdrew his hand, slapping the belt right across Aya’s face, cutting his cheek and lip.

Aya cried and touched his face, wiping away the blood, and fell onto the bed, as Yohji hit him again, marring his already bloody back and his small behind. Aya cried in agony as Yohji stood up, and frowned down on him.

Ken knew that something wasn't quite right when he woke up to find himself alone. Sure, he knew that Aya liked to get up early, but not that early. It was only about 3:00 or so. Ken didn't think much of it, and he rolled over and was just about to fall back to sleep, when he heard the redhead start to yell, or something like that... He figured he had to be in some sort of trouble. Either that, or, someone else was. But, either way, he ought to go and see what was happening.

Aya's cries rose into the air as Yohji hit him harder. Tears streamed down Aya's cheeks as Aya swung, hitting Yohji, but was kicked to the floor. “Leave me alone!”

Yohji kicked Aya again, and the crimson haired man's head shot up, as he screamed in agony for forgiveness as Yohji rained blow after blow to his side and back, which were bleeding badly already.

Aya's screams ran out through the small apartment as Yohji kicked him hard. He screamed, spitting up blood, blood droplets all over Yohji's wooden floor because of how badly he'd been beaten.  It's a good thing they had wooden floors, or the carpet cleaning bill would be outrageous.

 Yohji's angry cries for him to shut up were yelled as further blows were applied. Poor Fujimiya.

Aya screamed in agony as Yohji physically beat him, and...suddenly ... Aya stopped moving, and the screams died off.

Blood stained the dark floor as Yohji put his hands on his knees and stared at Aya, trying to catch his breath. Aya opened his eyes and looked out the window, the pain unbearable.

Ken stumbled through the dark into Yohji’s room, since that's where all the noise seemed to be coming from. Hopefully Aya was giving him a good beating. He sure deserved it. “What's going on in here, do you have any idea what time it is?!” It was 3:00 in the morning, and Ken needed his beauty sleep. He waited outside the door to see what they would say. They were most likely having another argument or something. I mean, even Kudou wasn't stupid enough to try anything now.

Yohji opened the door quietly. He was hardly touched, but blood sprayed the floor. Aya was nowhere to be seen, having been thrown against a wall. Silent cries were heard in the dark room. Fujimiya. Oh god. What a mess.

  It was still dark in the room, but Ken was able to see that there was blood in there. “Christ, what happened in here?” He looked around. “And, where's Fujimiya, have you seen him anywhere?”

 Aya heard Ken's voice, and he yelled loudly from behind the halfway closed door, “Hidaka!” he cried, his voice muffled slightly.

Yohji frowned and looked at the blood everywhere. “Hmph.”

“Aya...?” Ken opened the door and walked in. Now, what would he be doing in Yohji’s bedroom at this hour? It couldn't mean anything good, that's for sure. 

 Aya stared at the floor dumbfounded, his eyes were halflidded, and his body was horridly abused with fresh wounds. Yohji's eyes narrowed and he lifted his arms, prepared to hit Hidaka. “O-oi! You just cant walk into someone's room!” Aya stayed silent, but ignored everything, softly whining from his wounds.

“I can if I've got reason to believe that Fujimiya's in here. You'd better hope he's not, because if he is...” Yohji was a dead man. I mean, come on! Hadn't he learned his lesson yet? “Aya...?”Ken looked around the room. He had to be in here somewhere.

Aya sat silently. A movement by the window showed Aya's location. He didn't speak. He didn't cry. He refused to cry anymore. His violet eyes were so full of pain as he silently sat in the moonlight, his wounds shined lightly in the darkness. Aya was a mess. He hoped Ken-kun wouldn't turn on the light, and make the nightmare a reality.

But, unfortunately, that's just what he was about to do. After all, that seemed like the best way to find where Aya was, ne? And so, he flipped the switch, and, “Aya..?”

And Yohji gasped as Aya's bloody appearance was shown. He was beaten to literally nothing, Aya was further than broken. He was a bloody mess. His eyes closed lightly.. he refused to look up.

Ken stood there for a moment, not sure if he should even try and touch him or not... I mean, he hardly even looked like himself anymore!

Aya’s face, pale as usual, shined lightly in the moonlight. Untouched, it was perfect and beautiful. His face did not shed tears, tiny crimson bangs hung in his eyes as he looked outside. Though his body was covered with horrid bruises, he pushed away the pain, and whispered softly, barely audible. “Tokyo is beautiful at night..” His eyes shone lightly as he stared outside, his bloody fingers touched the ground, a serene look in his eyes. Aya laid silently on the floor, looking up. His crimson hair matched his bloody body as he looked outside.

Yohji looked back between Aya and Ken, as Aya rolled over, and began to throw up blood. “It’s sick again..” he said softly.

 

[In Omi’s Room.]

Omi tapped his fingers wildly, holding the phone close to his ear in the darkest corner in his room.  “Manx, Manx, pick up!” he screamed in his head. ring...ring.. ring.. Where was she? Omi had woken up to Aya's wild screams and the sound of Yohji's blows. This had been going on for months, but tonight, for some reason, the blows seemed endless and Aya's screams.. oh god, his screams. He hated Aya so much for what he'd done, but even Aya didn't deserve this.

“Moshi Moshi?” A voice finally responded. A very tired voice, yet still Manx.

Omi quickly told Manx all that had been going on, and how he woke up to Aya's screams. He explained how he thought that Yohji had poisoned Aya, and that Aya had been terribly sick lately.

“Is Aya still alive?”

“Hai, Manx. Ken-kun just ran in and started to yell at Yohji.”

“Why didn't anyone say anything sooner? Aya could die!”

Omi paused. “"It wasn't nearly as bad.”

Manx yelled and finally told Omi to get Aya's car keys and have Ken drive them all to the hospital. If anyone asked, Aya had been mugged, and she and Persia would pay the hospital bills. Moreover, Aya would be out of missions, and it would be Yohji's responsibilities to make sure Aya-chan's hospital bills were paid so Aya wouldn't have to worry.

 Omi thanked Manx repeatedly, and after hanging up, ran into Aya's room, grabbed a few scraps of clothing for him and Ken and after grabbing the keys, skidded into Yohji's room on tiny socked feet. “Come on! We need to take him to the hospital! Manx's orders!”

Yohji's face twisted in shock. “You called MANX??”

Omi nodded. "Your in trouble, Yohji!" he said, smirking. Finally Aya could be safe. He ran to Aya's side and rubbed his back lightly. “Aya-kun, it's Omi.. your gonna be okay, we're taking you to the hospital..”  He pulled Aya into his lap while he waited for Ken to get dressed.

Aya's eyes seemed lighter than usual and he squeezed Omi's hand gently.

Omi's eyes widened. This hate he felt for Aya, how could he? He closed his eyes, and remembered the nice times Aya had with him, on the computer, making him dinner, sang to him when he was sick.. how could he go and screw all that up by taking away Hidaka? Omi took his pulse. “His heartbeat is decreasing rapidly..”

 

[At the Schwarz Apartment.]

Schuldich laid crawled up in Crawford's lap. Farfarello played absently with a blender as Crawford read his newspaper. Schuldich turned over, snuggling against Crawford. “Brad..” he murmured.

Crawford frowned. “Schuschu.. sit still.”  he commanded, tightening his arm around the redhead's waist.

Suddenly Nagi flew into the room panting, and held his hand up, to catch his breath, speaking quickly.

“Fujimiya.. is... dying.. beat.. by.... Kudou...” he panted.

Crawford raised an eyebrow. “How did KUDOU hurt FUJIMIYA? Fujimiya could kill him.”

Farfarello licked the blender blade, licking off the tomato juices and nodding in agreement with Crawford before sticking his fingers back inside.

Nagi smirked, still panting. “That's... just... it... Fujimiya was his lover... and left him.. so Kudou beat him.”

Schuldich woke up and stretched lightly, and nibbled on Crawford's chin. “I wanna go play with Kudou..”

Crawford frowned and looked down. “Did you provoke this? I know how you like to play with Kudou’s mind.”

Schuldich winked. “Maybe.”

Crawford narrowed his eyes. “You’d better not have.”

Whining loudly, Schuldich flung his arms around Crawford. "I wanna play with Kudouuu!!"

Crawford rolled his eyes at Schuldich's actions. “Why? I wouldn't be surprised if he's dead from the others for this.”

Nagi shook his head. “They haven't touched him.”

Farfarello titled his head, and pulled his finger away from the blender blade. “Yet.”

Nagi nodded. “Yah, they haven’t yet.”

Schuldich whined and hugged Crawford. "Brrradddddllleeeyyyy please?"

Crawford sighed and pushed his glasses up slightly. “No. Let Kudou be, it will look suspicious.”

Schuldich kissed Crawford lightly. "Pleaseee?”

Crawford frowned. "Fine. But don’t get in trouble.”

“Sure, Sure..” And with that, the fiery redhead ran out the door.

 

[Back at the Weiss Apartment.]

Aya smiled lightly at him. “A-arigatou.. for.. for helping me..”

 Omi winced at his voice. “Did  hurt Aya? Does it hurt to breathe?”

Aya nodded. Of course it hurt. It had been nearly three weeks since all this had begun. It was high time it ended. High time he could be happy with his lover. But that wouldn’t happen until he was okay and Yohji was far, far away.

Omi gently stroked his cheek, trying to get him not to think of the pain. no one deserved this, to be beaten this badly, to where you could barely breathe. No one. Aya's eyes slid shut and Omi grabbed him lightly and shook him. “Iie! NO! No Aya! Don't close your eyes! You might not wake up!”

Aya's eyes fluttered open and he smiled up lightly at Omi, and his amethyst eyes shifted to Ken. “A-Aishiteru.. Ken..” He whispered, and his eyes slid shut as he fell into unconsciousness in Omi's arms.

“Aya-kun!!!!”  Omi screamed, and quickly took his pulse again. “He's still breathing! HAYAKU!”  he screamed. “He needs a doctor!!”

 

[4:25am. One Hour and Eight Minutes Later.]

Ken was driving just as quickly as he could. Even though none of this was his fault in any way, if Aya were to die now, he couldn't help but feel responsible for it. And who knows, maybe he was partly to blame. I mean, he could have stepped in and done something a long time ago before things ever got this bad, right? Or, maybe he should have paid more attention to him, or stood up for him. Or killed Yohji. That seemed like a pretty good idea right about now. He wondered why Aya had continued to see him, even after all that the guy had done to him. Because he was afraid to leave him, I guess. Aya, afraid? Yeah, I guess no one was perfect.  Ken pulled up in front of the hospital and opened the back door for the two. Hopefully they would still be able to save him.

Omi sat patiently in the hospital, holding Ken's hand. They waited patiently for the doctor to return, to tell them if Aya was going to make it. minutes slowly turned into hours as Omi began to pace the floor anxiously.

Then suddenly a doctor came out. With his head down. He leaned against the wall.  “Hidaka-san?”  He said quietly.

Ken and Omi walked up. “Hai?”

The doctor furrowed his brow and sighed deeply. “Fujimiya has suffered from major  blood losage. Apparently shards of glass have somehow been consumed into his digestive system, slicing up his throat and insides.  If you had brought him in two days later, he would have died. His right hand is completely crumbled, his hand has been broken to literally nothing.”

Omi's eyes widened. “The poison.. we thought it was...” He paused, hearing of Aya’s recovery. “Iie, that can’t be true! Aya loves to draw!”

The doctor cocked an eyebrow at the mention of poison, but remained silent about it.“Fujimiya-san will never be able to draw again, and his writing ability will be limited. Gomen.”

 Ken didn't really know what to say. I mean, they really should have brought him in sooner, shouldn't they? Great, so they really were to blame. Or, Ken was at least. Poor Aya. Ken wondered how he would take it... 

Omi shook his head in disbelief. “Masaka!”

the doctor cleared his throat. “Gomen...Another thing.. the bruises all over his body including his pelvic region are bothering me.. has this been going on for long? There are bruises upon bruises.”

Tsukiyono shook his head. “Iie, we didn't know of anything going on in the dark. Aya has been passing out lately, but we didn’t think it was that serious..”

The doctor slid his hand through his hair. “In any event such as that, Fujimiya should have been brought in immeadiately. Anyway, he has an operation tomorrow morning. I assume you both will be staying with him?”

Omi nodded. “Hai! Hai! Can we.. see him?”

The doctor sighed. “Sure, but don't expect to like what you see. He's drugged up something terrible from the pain he is in.”

Omi walked past the doctor and pushed into the dimly lit room with Ken.

Aya laid silently in the bed, hooked up to several machines. His eyes were glazed over slightly, and his breathing was labored. His eyes shifted as he saw Hidaka, and suddenly his eyes lit up, and he reached out to Ken with his left hand, wincing slightly.

Tsukiyono smiled. “Fujimiya-san, daijoubu desu ka?”

Aya smiled weakly, he had just woken up, and not particularly looking for a nice chat. He wanted to talk to Ken. All he wanted was to go home. But it didn’t seem that was going to happen.

Ken was silent for a moment. There wasn't really much to say, I suppose. Aya was like this now, and it was because of them. All of them, really. Ken should have listened more, Omi should have been more suspicious and less bitter about the whole him and Aya dating thing, and Yohji, well, Ken didn't even get into that. Because, of course this was all thanks to Yohji. It was pointless trying to do anything about it though. Would Aya even let him? Maybe that was Ken's problem. He always had to wait for Aya's permission before he ever did anything. It was upsetting to see Aya like that, it really was. But, the strange thing was, Ken didn't feel even half as bad as he thought he would... Maybe it was because he had just given up on everything. Maybe... who knew. Ken wasn't sure of anything anymore. Not even himself. He didn't smile like he normally did, and he didn't even attempt to open his mouth. He just looked at the redhead, and waited for something to happen. Anything... Maybe Omi would say something. I sure hope so, because Ken wasn't about to tell Aya any of the bad news. He'd done plenty already.

Omi looked down at Aya. “We're gonna get Yohji for you, I promise Aya.”

Aya's eyes flickered with fear suddenly at the mention of the dark-haired man’s name, and then he smiled. A good smile, a proud smile.  Aya looked over at Ken. He wouldn't even come near him. Was he mad at Aya for letting himself get hurt? Aya's eyes filled with tears and he began to cry.

Omi quickly reacted and hugged him. “Iie, iie, Fujimiya, don't cry, don't cry, what's wrong?”

What the hell was Omi talking about? Ken hated Yohji more than anything, but, could he actually touch him? What good would it do? They could throw him out, they could make sure that he never came back and he never ever touched Aya again, but, that was about it. It almost seemed like he was getting away with all of this, which made Ken only more angry. “I'm afraid we have some bad news...” It was better to get it out of the way, right? “The doctor says you'll never be able to use your hand anymore.”  Ken didn't even know that Aya liked to draw. I guess that made it even worse. He knew he’d liked to write, but that was about it.

Aya's eyes widened and he looked down trembling at his hand. His eyes filled with tears once again. Aya looked down at his hands trembling. He tried to speak and nearly ruined his throat in the process. “Enough is enough..I’m.. I’m...” He murmured softly. “I’m leaving.. Weiss..”

Ken was really starting to get irritated now. “What the hell are you talking about?” That was the worst idea that Aya had ever had. “You mean to say that after all this, after all you’ve been through, you're just going to leave? You're just going to give up, just like that?”

 He frowned. “It's ....better.... than... dying.. .. and... leaving... y-you..” he whispered.

“No one is leaving except for Kudou.” Ken shook his head. “Besides, you don't even know what you're talking about, you don't really mean any of that.” And hopefully, Ken was right.

Aya smiled hopefully. “P-promise?”

Omi nodded. “Mm!”  He reached out and touched the redhead. “Now shh, Ken-kun will stay with you, I am going to go get us some food.. Your going to be fine, Fujimiya.” And with that he skipped from the room.

 

 

[Back at the Apartment]

And meanwhile, back at the apartment, a certain redhead was just arriving to come and check on his favorite kitten. “Yo-tan, you still here...?” Of course he was still there.

Yohji looked up to the voice that crooned his name. He smiled weakly, pushing his chestnut hair from his eyes. “Schuldich..” he said, almost with a breath of relief, as he took a long drag from his cigarette. “They took it to the hospital.. Manx said it was hurt badly.”

Schuldich smirked. “I heard from Nagi that you almost killed it.” He raked his fingers through his fiery red hair, and leaned against the wall. “Is that true?”

Yohji took another drag from the cigarette. “Dunno. Tsukiyono wouldn’t tell me anything. Except that it was hurt really bad. And that Ken was going to kill me for it.”

Schuldich smirked. According to Crawford, something would happen. And he wasn’t about to sit around and wait for the fireworks.

 

[Back At The Hospital]

A light knock to the door and the vibrant redheaded Manx slid in through the doorway. “Saa, Abyssinian, can we talk?”

Ken looked over and Aya blinked, nodding lightly.

Manx sat down on the bed, and gently patted Aya's arm. “Everything is okay now. Yohji won't hurt you anymore. We're deciding whether a regular punishment or being thrown from Weiss is in order. We are leaning toward not throwing him out though..... he knows too much.”

Aya's eyes, the only thing truly Japanese about Aya stared at her, the violet flickered slightly, too traumatized to be disbelieving anymore. “He'll kill me.” He said. A simple statement.

Manx shook her head. “No he won't.. I promise he won't..”

Aya suddenly grabbed her arm, his eyes wobbly.  “Please.. Protect Omi...”

Aya watched as Manx bent down next to him. “What Do you mean? Why protect Omi?”

Aya frowned. “Yohji said.. if I.. if I didn't...” his chin crumbled as he continued to try and hide the words.

Manx began to prompt him. “If you didn't let him what..”

Aya shook violently and stuttered. “If I didn't.. didn't let him... he'd hurt Omi..”

Manx stood up shocked. Yes. That would do it.  Threaten Aya and he tends to laugh in your face and try to kill you. You know.  Glare, Shi-ne act. But no. Threaten someone Aya cares about.. and Aya bends over backwards to protect.

And Ken and Manx both knew that. No one, not even the Abyssinian would let smiling Omi be broken down into the crying and broken disaster Fujimiya had become. She shook her head and gently hugged Aya. “Shh.. we’ll work everything out. I’m going to report back to Kritiker..” She kissed Aya’s forehead. “Just stay with Ken, and sleep.” And with a nod to Hidaka, the vibrant redhead walked from the room.

Aya looked down. “There’s no cruelty in the world without a beast.. no cruelty at all...”

Ken walked over and sat on the edge of the bed. “A beast, hmm?” So that is what he thought of Kudou. Ken was still very much in shock. He’d thought Fujimiya hated Tsukiyono.. but in fact, he’d been very wrong. “You really did all that.. for Omi?”

Aya nodded, and lowered his head. “G-gomen..”

Ken’s gray-green eyes softened, and he gently hugged the older man. “Oh Ran..” He reached up and stroked soft crimson hair, gently kissing away his tears, and nuzzled the soft pale skin. Ran. Aya’s real name. Ran Fujimiya, the man who had hid behind a mask for years. A false name, a false life. But Ken would change that. All of that. Now Aya would be happy, no. They would be happy.. together.

Aya’s eyes widened upon hearing his name. Ran, whom he’d changed from, to become Weiss, to protect. He hugged his lover tightly. “Ken..” He gently kissed him, smiling happily, and he rested his head on Ken’s shoulder. “We’ll be together forever.. ne, Ken?”

Ken looked down, his eyes shined slightly and he smiled. “Of course Fujimiya.. we’ll be together forever.” As soon as I get rid of Kudou.... We’ll be together.. forever.

 

 

[To be continued: Chapter 2: Agony and a Tortured Passion (The Further Torment of Fujimiya Aya)]