THE FIFTH by flori-dono DISCLAIMERS: Weiß Kreuz is @1997 Koyasu Takehito and Project Weiß. CHAPTER 2 "Ohayou gozaimasu!" Aya greeted Ken, Yoji, Omi who were all sitting on the counter, and each one was holding a mug of steaming coffee in his hand. "What are you doing here Aya-chan?" Omi asked. "Don't you have school or something?" "It's a Sunday," Ran said as he came inside. "Oh yeah," Omi said with a shrug. Aya grimaced at her brother, then beamed at the other three. "I'm here to see the new uh, florist." Yoji put a hand on his forehead. "Please Aya-chan, don't remind us." Aya waved a finger at Yoji. "What's wrong with having a girl here?" Ken jumped off the counter and proceeded to walk back to the kitchen carrying his now empty mug. "The problem is, we've got too many girls here everyday and now one's gonna be here all the time!" "Hmmp," Aya said as she sat down. "Speaking of..." muttered Omi. One by one, the shop was once again starting to fill up with girls, all of them admiring the flowers and the men. While the men themselves began to do stuff just so that they looked busy. Aya just laughed quietly at their attempts to do so. "Uh excuse me, I'm looking for Mr. Ran Fujimiya? " a slghtly husky feminine voice broke all the chatters. All the girls and men inside the shop stared at the owner of that voice. She was not too short, around five feet and four inches and had a well- proportioned body. Her black hair which was bound in a neat pony tail was jet- black and her eyes were of the same color. She wore eyeglasses and very little make-up. She sported a white long-sleeved blouse and a black A-line skirt which fell to her calves. Her feet were encased with black medium-heeled loafers. All in all, her effect was demure and conservative. Yoji looked at the visitor appreciatively. "Of course," he thought. "The glasses must go." Ran looked up from behind the roses. It was her alright. Ken and Omi were gaping. "This was her?" Ken thought. "She doesn't look really tough," Omi said to himself. Aya was quite shocked but recovered quickly. "Yes?" Ran said. "I am Ran Fujimiya." Yuukio got something from her bag, it was a letter. "I'm Takana Yuukio, the new florist." The girls gasped. "A new florist?" "A girl...?" Aya was really enjoying this. She would've laughed hard if not for the fact that Ran and the others would get mad with her. She mentally stuck her tongue out at the girls. She had always been irritated with them anyway. Ran got the letter from Yuukio and pretended to read it. He sighed. "All right," he said in an uninterested voice while folding the paper. "Welcome to Koneko no Sumu Ie. I'd like to introduce you the others." He motioned to the other three. "I'm Ken," said Ken seemingly not interested. "Welcome, Yuukio!" Omi greeted warmly. "I'm Omi." Trust Yoji to be unconventional. He took one lily from behind him and knelt down before Yuukio, gallantly and offered it to her. "A beautiful lily for a beautiful lady... I'm Yoji." Yuukio smiled at them all, though not too warmly. "Thank you, Yoji for the flower although, I'm afraid there was no need for such gallantry." Ken smirked as he saw Yoji's surprised expression. "And I'm Aya Fujimiya!" Aya made her way through the small group. "It's nice to meet you, Yuukio!" Yuukio looked at the younger girl and smiled at her, this time genuinely. All of the men (even Ran) held their breath for a moment when they saw her smile. "I guess, you don't have to start now, right?" Aya said, taking charge of the situation. "Then maybe me and oniisan can show you around your new place?" Ran put a hand on his sister's shoulder. "Have you brought a car?" "Yes, actually and I've brought my things along too." Yuukio said. "Good, then I'll show you the place where you'll be staying," Ran said nonchalantly, taking his apron off. Aya skipped beside Yuukio. "Oniisan," she said. "Can I ride with her?" Ran frowned at the swiftness his sister had taken to the girl. He just shrugged. Aya smiled at her brother. "Hey guys!" she said to the other three. "See you! Uh, Yoji don't forget to talk to my teacher on Monday ne? I'm sure you can convince her to give me a good grade on Physics." "No prob," Yoji said smiling to the young girl. He had always been fond of Ran's younger sister. He found her child-like air so refreshing. "Ken," Aya turned to the bored-looking man. "You promised me that you'll help coach our girl's soccer team. We've got practice on Monday afternoon." "Yeah, yeah," he said. "Just try to keep them away from me okay?" "Thanks! And Omi, thanks a bunch for helping me with that project." "Yeah, you're welcome," Omi said quietly. "Byee!" she waved at them. "They're really nice guys," Aya said to Yuukio who was silently taking in the scene. "Sou desu ka?" Yuukio asked, raising her eyebrow. "Hai!" Aya said with an exaggerated nod. "Aya, if you're finished with your goodbyes then maybe we can leave now?" Ran interjected. "Gomen nasai!" Aya apologized, then turning to Yuukio. "Come on! And on they went. *** "What a snob!" Yoji said. Ken laughed. "He! The first time a girl finds you unattractive you call a snob. I say she has good taste!" "Oh, fuck off Ken!" Yoji said, walking towards the counter. "But she is beautiful." "Whatever you say, dumpee!" Ken murmured. He noticed Omi still looking at the door where the three went out. "Hey kiddo, whatcha doing?" he asked, thumping Omi at the back. "Hey!" he said, finally waking up from his trance. "Nothing..." "He's staring into space," Yoji said. "Or staring after Aya..." "Oh," Ken said. "So kiddo here has the hots for Ran's sister!" Omi blushed. "That's not true!" Yoji rolled his eyes. "Omi you're blushing like a girl," he said. "You're an embarrassment to our sex!" "I am not," Omi insisted, his fist clenched at his side. "Are too," Yoji said. He liked teasing Omi. He thought the kid should lighetn up a little. Ever since that episode with Ouka, he was never the same, specially when it concerned girls. "Excuse me," one of their fans said, interrupting their bickering. "Can you please wrap these for me?" "Sure," Yoji sighed, taking the bunch of flowers from her. "No prob." "Wonder how's Ran gonna take the drastic change," Omi commented. Ken looked up and smiled, "I have no idea, but this I gotta see!" *** Ran glanced at the the rearview mirror, he could see Yuukio's solemn face behind the steering wheel. It looked like Aya was chatterring but the other girl didn't seem to mind. She should be. Once Aya started talking, she never stopped. It looked like she was making up for the lost time that she wasn't able to talk. Ran frowned at the memory. Still thinking about it all could still make his blood boil. Ran gripped hard at the steering wheel. He had never seen his sister so taken-up as fast as she had with Yuukio. Usually, even with her friendly and cheerful disposition, it would still take time before she could trust anyone fully. Looking at how close she seemed with the new member, was really puzzling and very disturbing, for him at least. He had never shared his sister with anyone before, and he had a feeling he was going to, starting right now. *** "So how were you recruited?" Aya asked, but changed her mind. "Oops, I know it's classified, sorry. Er, so... how did you think of the guys?" Silence. "Come on," Aya nudged. "I won't tell. You can even crticize Ran for all I care!" "Well," Yuukio said, smiling a little. I think Yoji is a pompous heel, Ken doesn't care about anything, your brother is as silent as a rock, and Omi is warm and friendly." Aya laughed. "Boy, you got that right," she said. "Yoji is a real skirt-chaser and women do allow themselves to be chased by him. Ken is a some sort of a snob, he's good at soccer. Ran is sooo silent, but he's my brother so I love him even if he's- as you put it- a rock sometimes, and Omi... well, Omi's really sweet." Yuukio noticed the slight blush on the younger girl's cheeks when she mentioned Omi's name, but didn't say anything about it. "Are you really this quiet?" Aya asked. "Oops, sorry again. I didn't mean to be rude." Yuukio waved her apology off. "No, it's okay," she said. "It's the truth anyway. Yes, I am really this quiet but I'm not exactly unfriendly. Only wary." "Yeah," Aya nodded in agreement. "I know what you mean. In your kind of job, you can't just trust anybody, right?" Yuukio nodded, turning in a corner as she followed the car before her. Silence. Yuukio could see that Aya was thinking about something. "So, you say that you aren't exactly unfriendly," Aya started. "Well yeah." Aya looked at her and words just gushed out of her mouth. "Do you think, you can tolerate me? I know I chatter too much and sometimes I'm brutally frank... it's that, well, it's... it's just that I really like you even if we've just met, and I was wondering if you can be like... you know, be like my older sister or something..." Yuukio pulled over as she saw Ran signaled for her to stop. She looked at the other girl's eyes filled with hope and anxiety. She had never felt so welcome in her entire life, and somehow she saw in her Keiko, her own younger sister. Yuukio felt tears threatening to form as she remembered her. Could she be an older sister to Aya Fujimiya? The thought wasn't entirely ridiculous, and Yuukio was really warming up to the child. And perhaps, the sadness which the memory of Keiko brings would lessen a little. "Hai!" Aya-chan's face brightened up and impulsively put her arms around Yuukio. "Oh thank you, Yuukio-neesan!" she said with a big smile on her face. Yuukio smiled ruefully over the girl's shoulder. And she wished that she hadn't gotten too close so soon. On to chapter 3