Shades of Gray

By Cat

Copyright 2002 © Cat

This work is not to be reproduced in any way without the express written permission of the author.

Disclaimer: The Characters of the Anime Weiß Kreuz do not belong to me. I am only borrowing them for a little while and promise to return them exactly the way I found them. Well okay maybe not exactly the way I found them but close!

Summary: Omi plays hero for a smaller classmate and gets a surprise in return.

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Chapter One - Bullies and Bombshells

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Omi hitched his school bag higher on his shoulder as the weight of his homework threatened to pull it off. After making sure he hadn't left anything in his locker that he needed, he joined the crush of students trying to make their way out of the big building. He sighed miserably thinking of all the work he had to do between now and Monday and only half of it had anything to do with his studies.

He loved school and learning. But sometimes, just sometimes, he wished that his teachers didn't see the weekend as the time to pile the work a foot deep onto his shoulders. It wasn't their fault, he supposed, that his life was already so frantic that just five minutes to himself was a gift to be treasured. But that still didn't make it any easier to not feel annoyed when every one of his teachers decided to load the homework on just because the students supposedly had two whole days to do it.

With school all day and homework in the evening. Then, information to ferret out - missions to plan and sometimes pull off - after that. His work time in their new flower shop, Koneko No Senzai - Kitten in the Garden, was usually the first several hours of the afternoon once he got home and on the weekends.

He knew he was feeling sorry for himself. But sometimes it seemed that out of the four members of Weiß he was the one that had no free time what so ever and because of that, very few friends to spend it with if he did. Yohji and Ken were always kidding him about how he had no social life, but when did they expect him to have one? Maybe if they would condescend to help out a little more, maybe he would.

Ken was out of school and only had the missions and the shop to worry about. He had his soccer group, but that had never been work to Siberian. Recently he'd begun to suspect that the dark haired young man also had Aya. Omi didn't mind. He was glad that his somber redheaded friend had found something with the dark haired athlete. Ken was steady and gentle, but with just enough exuberance for life to maybe draw the older boy out.

At least Omi hoped so. Now that he had gotten his revenge and with Aya-chan awake and happily going to school herself and helping Momoe-san out at the other flower shop, it was time for Aya to start putting the past behind him. Omi felt comfortable enough to have that opinion because of all of his own pain that he'd fought to overcome in the last year. Honestly, that all of them had lived through and dealt with to one extent or another in this last hell of a year.

As for Yohji, Omi grinned slightly as he made his way along the corridor towards the double doors leading to his semi-freedom. Ken had proclaimed once that they should just put a revolving door on the oldest Weiß member's bed, the way he changed lady friends. Though the youngest member of the group was beginning to think that something had changed there also. He just wasn't quite sure what though.

He was yanked out of his reverie as he walked out the side doors of the school in preparation to cut across the athletic field towards home. A commotion by the far corner of the building caught his attention and his eyes narrowed angrily. A group of the older students, who tended to bully the smaller ones, had their latest victim surrounded. The same group had tried their scare tactics on Omi his first weeks at the school and discovered that though he looked like a push over, that he was anything but. The youngest Weiß member didn't recognize the person they were harassing but then that wasn't actually unusual it was a large school.

The boy they were tormenting was down on his knees, curled up trying to protect his body. The chestnut blonde felt his outrage growing, as he took in how slight and fragile looking the boy on the ground was. Just one of the older ruffians would have been more than the younger student could have dealt with on his own.

"Hey! Does your family know that you are dishonoring their name so pathetically?" he taunted them as he walked up.

"Stay out of it, Tsukiyono. This is none of your business," Masa Tsubaki, the gang leader snarled. But he stepped back uneasily remembering the humiliating defeat he'd taken at the other boy's hands.

"Five against one, I make it my business," the Weiß assassin said coldly. Aya would have been proud of him, at how well he adopted the older boy's freezing look.

"One day Tsukiyono," Masa hissed between gritted teeth.

"I'll be waiting, patiently," Omi replied undaunted. He continued to stare the older teenager down with his icy glare until he and his minions were several yards away. Then he leaned down and offered a hand to the boy on the ground. "Are you okay?"

"Yes. Thank..." the younger student looked up at him as he started to stand and they both froze in shock.

"Prodigy!" Omi exclaimed staring at the teenager who in many ways was his counterpart amongst the Schwarz assassins, their arch nemesis.

"Bombay?" Nagi Naoe murmured hoarsely, his blue eyes wide in surprise.

The next thing Omi knew he was sitting on the ground watching the other boy run away across the parking lot and out to the street. The running gait was awkward and limping from some injury he had incurred before Omi had arrived, but he was still already too far away for Omi to catch. From the force of the shove that knocked him down the Weiß assassin figured that Prodigy had used some of his telekinetic power as well as his hand.

Picking himself up he reshouldered his school bag, which he'd dropped when he confronted Masa. He started across the field deep in thought. When they had finally taken down Reiji Takatori and then later Essets, they had also thought that they had gotten Schwarz too.

Omi shook his head ruefully as he stepped through the gate at the far end of the field and onto the sidewalk that would lead him the two blocks home.

They should have realized that it wouldn't be that easy. Look how hard they were to get rid of themselves. Not to mention Schreient that had gone down twice against them and still seemed to resurrect them selves. It made him wonder if Essets was still around. Kritiker, who had finally gotten them selves rebuilt, hadn't said anything. But then they had all learned that that never meant a damn thing.

But this was the first encounter with a member of Schwarz since the fight at the citadel and he was pretty sure that if Prodigy had been going to the school long he would have noticed. Maybe Prodigy was the only survivor, with his special abilities it would have been possible. That was something else that bothered Omi. Why had the Schwarz assassin allowed the bullies to beat up on him? Why hadn't he used his telekinesis to protect himself?

To the Weiß assassin it almost made the bullying that much worse and evil. Prodigy could have fought back, could have even killed all five of the older students with only a thought but he hadn't. He hadn't even used it to hold off the blows he'd received, there had been a bruise on his arm and on one cheek that proved that. Could the other boy have lost his mental power in that final confrontation in the museum citadel?

No, he'd used it to knock Omi down as he escaped, but even what he'd used hadn't even been enough to knock the wind out of the chestnut blonde. Maybe it had been weakened beyond true protection, finally over stretched from channeling too much power one too many times.

Omi thought about that as well. Knowing how easy it would have been for the smaller boy to kill him during their battle to save Aya-chan, why hadn't he? He'd been hurt. There was no question of that. He'd worn the bruises on his back for two weeks from hitting that pillar.

But Prodigy could have just as easily strangled him with a thought. Or added just that much more strength and punched him completely through the pillar. He could have even slammed him through one of the walls to fall to his death to the ocean. He had the strength, they knew that from the rubble the Schwarz member had left of Masafumi Takatori's mansion after the death of the little Schreient girl. But he hadn't, instead he'd used just enough force to try and put him out of commission but not kill him.

Omi wondered if he should say something to the others as he let himself in through the back door of the shop. Aya-kun would be pissed if he didn't and they ended up running into Schwarz unexpectedly. But at the same time the younger boy wanted to make sure that they even had something to worry about before bringing it up.

*****

Nagi finally stopped running when he was four blocks from the school. He leaned against the wall of a building clutching at his chest as he tried to breathe through painfully bruised ribs. He was lucky this time, nothing was broken, but he hurt like hell.

Normally he was better at avoiding the thugs and bullies. But they'd caught him as he passed the corner, laying in wait for him there. If it had just been one or two he might have even held his own for a bit with the moves that Schu and Crawford had taught him. But five to one was more than he could handle. Without using his power.

He looked back the way he had come expecting to see the Weiß assassin closing in on him. It wasn't that he was afraid of Bombay, he knew he could take him out if he had too. But if he used his power out in the open, Crawford would kick his ass from here to China and back. Or worse, he would let one of the others do it.

Nagi grit his teeth damning the little chip in his brain that kept him from using his powers to protect himself from the other members of Schwarz. That was the only reason why Farferello was still alive after having killed Toto. The powers behind Essets had felt it prudent to protect themselves, just in case he ever went rogue. So it basically left him defenseless against his teammates or anyone recognized as a member of the barely reformed organization. To their detriment the old group hadn't thought that Crawford, Schu or Farf were a danger to them. Oh well they hadn't lived to regret their mistake.

If he hadn't been so afraid of screwing something up and leaving himself a vegetable, he would have tried to deactivate it with his powers. But not being able to see it and having no idea how many attachments or failsafe devices it had, he didn't dare.

He sighed with relief when he saw that he wasn't being followed and slowly pushed away from the rough brick. He was actually a little surprised. He had expected the other boy to follow. A small jolt went through him as he realized that in a way he had actually been hoping that Bombay would follow. Shocked to his core he pushed the thought as deep into his mind as he could and prayed that Schuldig wouldn't find it if he slipped up and let the Germany past his defenses.

With tired steps he limped back the way he had come. He'd headed away from home, an instinctive reaction. Not wanting to give away their new safe house. He realized belatedly that he would have to stop by the school first. He'd left his book bag lying on the ground in some bushes. He only hoped it was still there.

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