Rebirth


"The Death of Kudo Yoji

Disclaimer! The guys of Weiss Kreuz doesn't belong to me, no matter how much I wish. ~_~ They belong to their creators. And...ummmm...some other people. ^_^;; Weiss Project, I believe is one of them.

"Yoji! Hold on!"

"Asuka."

This job had turned out bad, real bad. The girl they were looking for, was dead. And as they were getting out of the place, they ran across some of the gunmen. Yoji was holding his abdomen, which was still bleeding. Asuka helped him to stay on his feet as they made their way along the deserted alley. But, after going for more than ten minutes, Yoji's legs buckled from under him.

"Yoji!"

"Asuka, go on without me. I'll only hold you back. Go!"

Asuka knew better than to argue with him. This way, she could get out and get help. "Okay." She gave him a kiss on the cheek and ran off.

Yoji watched her run off, then heard a sound. Looking around, he saw the gunmen. "Asuka," he called, trying to warn her. She must not have heard him, for she kept running and didn't look back. He tried to stand, but couldn't get up. He heard the guns fire and saw Asuka fall. "Asukaaaaaaaaa!!!" He tried to stand again, but collapsed. He closed his eyes, feeling tired. "Asuka," he murmured.

"Well, lookie what he have here, boys." Yoji opened his eyes to see one of the gunmen standing over him. "It's the other one. Lets say we have some fun before we kill him." The other two gunmen appeared next to the first.

"Hey, look," said the second man. "He's got green eyes!"

"A Japanese with green eyes," said the third. "Must be half gaijin."

"Is that true? You a half gaijin?" Yoji closed his eyes, not answering. It's wasn't the first time his heritage had been insulted and though it looked like it might be the last. "Hey, green eyes! I asked you a guestion! You a half-breed? Huh? Well, if you're not going to answer, I guess we'll hafta beat it outta you." The first man laughed, and the other two joined in.

Yoji was grabbed by two of the gunmen and pulled to his feet. There wasn't any need for them to hold him, other than to keep him on his feet. Yoji didn't have the strength to fight them. The two held him, while the first punched him several times in the face and guts. They finally dropped Yoji, who coughed up some blood. The three proceeded to kick him, while Yoji could do nothing more than lay there and take it, but he'd be damned if he was going to cry out from the pain.

"Well," the first gunman said, "play time's over. Time to say goodbye, gaijin." He pulled a handgun out and aimed it at Yoji. Yoji stared back up at him, without the slightest hint of fear in his green eyes. Truth was, he felt no fear, only resignation for the death that was unavoidable. He closed his eyes again and waited for the final blow.

The gun retorted and Yoji felt the bullet hit his skull. "Asuka," he whispered as he let himself slip into the blackness. A moment later, a poisoned dart hit one of the gunmen in the back and second dart hit another gunman in the leg. Both fell, dead. The first gunman turned in the direction that the darts had come from. He didn't have time to fire his gun, before a young man decended on him. The gunman fell, with fourth parallel slashes across his chest.

"Good job, Omi," the young man called into the shadows. He inspected each body, making sure all three were dead. "You hit both men you were aiming for."

"But I was aiming for their necks," the other lamented. He made his way to the man the gunmen had been beating. The man was lying in a pool of blood. The boy put two fingers on the man's wrist and gasped. "Ken-kun! He's still alive!"

Yoji slowly opened his eyes a little. Everything was blurry. 'Am I dead," he wondered. No. Some part of his brain told him he was still in pain. He saw his perscription sunglasses laying just in front of his face. He tried to reach them, but his body refused to move. He became aware of something touching his wrist. He could tell it was a small hand. He moved his eyes and saw someone kneeling next to him. Someone with short, light-colored hair. Asuka.

Omi suddenly found that he was staring into bright green eyes. He smiled. "You're awake! Are you okay?"

By this time, Ken had knelt down beside Omi. The man looked at him for only a moment, before turning his eyes back to Omi. Omi's eyes widened as the man moved his hand and interlaced his fingers with Omi's finger. "Asuka," they heard him, whisper. "Asuka, you're alright. Thank God." His eyes closed.

"He thinks I'm a girl??"

"Well, it's not the first time someone's made that mistake."

Omi glared at Ken.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Manx sat beside the hospital bed that the young man had been in the past couple of days. She looked up when she heard someone walk in. Persia stood in the doorway. "How is he?"

"The doctors say he's in stable condition. Did you find out anything about him?"

"Hai." Persia opened the manilla folder he was holding. "His name is, or perhaps I should say 'was'," he said, giving Manx a meaningful look, "Kudo Yoji. Age: early 20s. He was a free-lance detective along with his partner, Asuka, who's presumed dead. His father was Japanese and his mother was American. Both deceased. He has no other living relatives."

"That will make it easier. You sure he'll be willing to join us?"

"He really has no choice." With that, Persia left.

Yoji slowly opened his eyes and looked around. Everything was blurry and white. 'Am I dead yet?' No. Once again, his brain was telling him that he was in pain. He looked around. He was apparently in a hospital room. Next to his bed, sat a young woman with red hair. She leaned forward when she saw his eyes resting on her.

"Oh, good. You're awake. I am Manx. I brought you here, along with the two young men who rescued you."

"Asuka?" Where's Asuka," he asked, tiredly. He looked around the room, trying to see if he could find Asuka.

"You're partner? She dead." Yoji stared at her a moment, letting the words sink in. Asuka was dead? He put an arm over his eyes and bit his cheek to keep himself from crying. But, he still couldn't stop the tears from flowing. Manx let him be for a few moments before she dropped the other shoe. "Kudo Yoji is also dead."

Yoji moved his arm away and stared at her. "Nani?? I don't feel dead." He felt tired and drained, but not dead.

"To the rest of the world, you are. All will be explained to you later, after you have rested some more."

Yoji stared at her for another moment. He was dead? That was definately going to put a crimp on his social life. He closed his eyes and slipped back into unconsciousness.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Yoji looked around. Why was everything so foggy?

"Asuka? Asuka!!"

"Yoji!"

Yoji turned to see Asuka in the distance. She was running towards him, smiling. As she neared, a shot sounded and blood erupted from a wound on her chest. The impact stopped her in her tracks. A few more shot rang out, her body jerking with each impact. Blood trinkled from her mouth, as she stared at Yoji. "Yoji?"

Slowly, with an odd grace, she fell to the ground. Blood pooled around her. "Asuka!!" For some reason, Yoji looked down at his hand. He was holding a handgun, a slight whift of smoke drifted from the barrel. The blood drained from his face.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Yoji woke screaming. He pushed himself into a sitting position. A pair of arms took a hold of him and held him as he shook from the horror of the dream. As the image of the dream faded, he noticed that it was a woman holding him. A woman who was wearing nice-smelling perfume. He wrapped his arms around her and buried his face in her neck. The arms, gently but firmly, pryed him away and he found himself eye to eye with an intoxicating woman. She had dark hair, with bangs that fell over one eye.

"I am called Birman," she said. "I am the secretary for Persia, your boss."

"Boss? I don't work for anybody."

"You do now. Persia was the one who helped save you. If it hadn't been for him, you would truly be dead now."

"So I owe him my life, ne?"

"You could put it that way. Since you are considered dead, you won't be able to find any other kind of work."

"So I have no choice either. So what is the 'new job'?"

Birman spent the next few minutes explaining Weiss to Yoji. Yoji sat there, listening. Never commenting. Never asking. "I'll give you time to think about it," she said, when she had finished. She stood and walked towards the door.

"And if I refuse?"

She turned back, and the two looked at each other in silence. "As you said yourself, you have no choice." She left the room, as Yoji sat on the bed in silent contemplation.

A few hours later, Birman returned. She entered the room and froze. A quick scan of the room, confirmed it. "Doctor!" A man appeared beside her. "Where is the patient?"

The doctor gave her a surprised look. He peeked into room and saw that it was empty. "The patient did not have permission to leave. Nurse!" He turned to the young nurse that came. "Did anyone take the patient from this room?"

"No, sensei. He wasn't scheduled for anything that would take him from the room."

"When was the last time someone checked on him," Birman asked.

"I checked on him a couple of hours ago. No one has checked on him since."

Birman turned on her heel and walked quickly down the corridor. A couple of hours. How far could an injured man go in a couple of hours. Well, one thing was certain, someone would have noticed him. Only problem was finding someone who had seen him. Leaving the hotel, she saw a police officer. "Excuse me, sir. Did by chance see a tall Japanese man with green eyes around here a couple of hours ago?"

"A man with green eyes? Well, yes. I do recall seeing someone that might fit that description."

"Do you know which direction he went?"

"Well, he went to that tattoo parlor. But where he went after that, I don't know. He didn't look like he was feeling well."

Birman bowed. "Arigato." She headed straight for the tattoo place. Opening the door she was greeted with the most disagreeable odor. The place reeked of beer, body odor, and tobacco smoke. She had to fight the urge to put her hand over her mouth and nose. A guy with tattoos on every visible part of his body looked at her.

"Can I help you, little lady?"

"Hai. I'm looking for a man."

The place erupted into laughter. One man put an arm around her shoulder. "Well, I'm available." He let his hand slip down to her chest.

Birman grabbed his pinkie and jerked it back. The man yelped and pulled away. She glared at him icily and said, "touch me again, and I'll break it." The man backed off. She turned back to what had to be the owner of the place. "I'm looking for a specific man, who came in here about an hour ago. A tall Japanese man with brown hair and green eyes."

"You a cop?"

"Iie. You could say I'm a co-worker."

"Yeah, he was in here. Couldn't forget those eyes. Wanted a tattoo."

"How long ago did he leave?"

"About a half hour ago."

"Yeah," said the other guy, laughing. "He didn't look too good when he left."

"He didn't look too good when he arrived. Thought he was going to pass out on me."

"Which way did he go?"

"He turned left. That's all I know."

"Domo." Birman left. If he had only left the tattoo place a half hour earlier, he couldn't be too far. As she made her way along, she stopped a few times to ask the shop keepers if they had seen the man. So far, they had. Being a tall Japanese man with green eyes had it's advantages. To her ever growing concern, the direction she was heading in, went straight towards a bridge.

'Maybe he simply crossed the bridge', she thought. Still, she couldn't keep from watching the waters below. None of the shopkeepers she talked with on the other side of the bridge had seen Yoji, even though the ones she talked to on the other side told her they had seen him walking towards the bridge. 'Baka,' she thought as she made her way back across the bridge. 'Is he so repulsed by Weiss that he would resort to this?' When she got to the other side, she felt the need to go under the bridge.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Yoji stood on the concrete walkway that went under the bridge, leaning against the railing that was mounted to the edge of the walkway. He wore the same clothes that he was wearing when he got shot, only they were clean now. He sucked on a cigarette as he stared at the water that ran swiftly not too far below. He wasn't quite sure why he was here. He just felt the desire to get out of the hospital. Away from the only future he was now allow to have. Assassin. What kind of life was that? Sure he had killed people in the line of his occupation, but he didn't go out with the intent to kill them. But was that the reason he was here?

Asuka's image appeared on the water. Thoughts of the dream came. In the dream he had killed her. That wasn't what happened, but it was still his fault that she died. If he hadn't been stupid enough to get shot, they would have gotten away and Asuka would still be with him. There would have been no talk of assassins and Weiss. He wouldn't have met any of the people who suddenly appeared in his life. There would only have been him and Asuka, continuing their detective work.

He threw the finished cigarette into the water. He watched the water sweep it away, like his life had been swept away. He climbed over the railing and holding onto the railing, leaned over the water. 'It's so easy,' he thought. 'It's so easy to simply let go. Kudo Yoji is dead to the world anyways. So it won't make any difference if he really does die.'

His thoughts were stopped by a sound. A sound of high heels on cement. He turned his head to see Birman standing a short distance away. For a few moments, they stared at each other. "Well, if you're going to," she said, "go ahead. I won't stop you. The choice is yours. Do you want to really die, or do you want to help us get rid of the scum that infest this city?" Yoji stared back down at the water. "All you have to do is let go. Let go and everything will be over. Ended."

He continued to stare at the water, thinking about what she said. Did he really want to die? A part of him said no. While he lived, there was still hope. There was still a chance that things would turn out better. He pulled himself up to sit on the railing. He lit a cigarette and took a couple of puffs. "You drive a hard bargain, Birman."


Written by Cindy Franklin
Posted July 7, 2000
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