31_days An age-old Eva question answered
Title: "Crushing the Serpent's Head"
Day/Theme: Sept 8) how to be dead
Series: Neon Genesis Evangelion
Character/Pairing: Ryoji Kajii, OFC
Rating: R (Violence and blood, character death)
Author's Note: I had no idea what to write for this prompt that would tie into the ambitious NGE project. But then this idea came in out of nowhere, an attempt to answer the age-old NGE question "Who Killed Ryoji Kajii?" (It was probably a NERV or SEELE agent, but this is my take on the Eve-verse, so my guess is it was one of the Grigori who are pulling the strings that NERV and SEELE aren't aware of...)
The cellphone which Enniel had given her rang. She tried to ignore the insistent churr-churr, but it would not stop ringing. Finally, with an exasperated mutter, she got up from her desk, hunted for it among the light clutter on her dresser and picked it up. "Hello?"
"I suspect even this connection is being monitored by Ikari's associates, so I must be brief," Enniel's voice replied. "I want you to meet me at the Golden Dragon hotel in Tokyo-2 as soon as possible. I have something important to discuss with you."
"I'll see if I can catch a train there, but it's late," she said.
"Shall I send a car around?"
"That won't be necessary," she said. "I'll be there as soon as possible."
She caught an evening train bound for Tokyo-2. The moment she entered the lobby of the hotel, one of Enniel's guards approached her and quickly ushered her into an elevator, whisking her to the fourth floor.
The guard knocked on the door of a room at the end of the hallway; it opened from within and he pushed her inside closing the door behind her.
Enniel sat behind a table-like desk in the front room of the suite, a bottle of brandy with two glasses and a black case laid on the table top. The only light in the room came from a banker's lamp nearby, which cast his pale face in the shadow.
"I hardly expected you'd come, after that tone of voice you took with me," he said. He indicated the chair opposite him, wordlessly bidding her to sit down.
She remained standing instead. "The past few days have worn on me," she replied.
"Mmm, finding out someone kidnapped the man you've formed a connection with would do that to you. Normally I'd have something to say about that, but there isn't time and there's something I need you to do," he said. She started open her mouth to say he'd opened the door on something he should not have, but he looked up at her, catching her gaze with his and raising one long finger for quiet.
He unlatched the box before him and lifted the lid, revealling a handgun, a pair of black leather gloves and a full clip. He pushed it toward her. "There is a bit of housecleaning I need done, a snake that needs to be cast out."
"What? What do you mean?" Something told her that he referred to Ryoji Kajii.
"He knows too much about what you are, what I am, and how much I've invested in all of this," Enniel said, looking her in the eye. His pupils seemed to close to snake-like slits. "Take him out: I'm sure it should be easy for you to do after he's been sniffing around you, drooling like a hungry dog."
"Kajii...?" she asked, seeking a validation for her guess.
A sly smile crossed Enniel's lean face. "You have said it."
She stared at the gun, tempted to turn and leave while she could, but she knew the guard outside the door would not let her through.
Enniel sighed. "Those who hesitate are damned, Sabia. There are others who probably could take care of this for me, but they might not be so clean about it, and they could well comprimise the things that he knows. About me, and about you. I know about that little incident in your apartment, and I would like to keep that information confidential. There are those who could distort the information, if it fell into their hands. And if he were to fall into the hands of the old fools of SEELE, who knows what could become of you?" He started to lower the lid over the case.
"No, wait. Give me the gun. I'll do it," she said.
A smirk crossed Enniel's face and he pushed the case across to her. "I'll have Niall drive you back to Tokyo-3. Your target will be waiting for you near a ventilation shaft at the north end of the city: he's expecting to meet me there."
"He has a name, dammit, he's not just 'the target'," she said.
Enniel smirked and closing the case, handed it to her. "Killing him with kindness, eh? Perhaps this will teach you not to wear your heart on your sleeve so readily."
She all but snatched the case out of his hand as she turned to leave. The guard opened the door for her, leading the way out and back down to the street.
They drove in silence for a while. "You know how to shoot that gun, do you?" Niall asked.
"My father taught me how in case I ever needed to defend myself," she said, a faded memory ticking in her head. "I just don't think he ever expected it would be like this."
The sun had all but set, leaving a dull orange afterglow in the west by the time they reached the ventilation duct. Even on the street level, she could spy Kaji standing on a catwalk below the metal cages covering the massive vent fans. Putting the gloves on, she slotted the clip into the gun and chambered a round.
Niall watched her in silence. "Miss Valiant, if you rather I did this --" he started to say.
She looked up at him. "No, I need to do this. I know you do things like this for Enniel all the time, but I don't want to drag you into this."
Niall nodded in silence and reaching over the seatbaclk, opened the rear door for her. Tucking the gun into her jacket pocket, she got out and mounted the metal staircase. How to do this? she thought. Shooting him in the head would be the quickest way, but I don't want to damage his face. That would be damaging his identity, so to speak. A little voice asked her if she secretly couldn't help finding him too good-looking to mar, but she silenced it. Shooting him in the throat would just be an undignified way to die. She briefly imagined Daeva, Enniel's other ward, coaxing her to shoot him below the belt-buckle, but she quickly dismissed that thought. That leaves shooting him in the heart, she realized. Fitting, perhaps, since he could never give his heart to any one woman, except one whom he hadn't treated as well as he could have.
She found Kajii standing against the metal wall, back to the fan's cage, hands in pockets, his gaze turned away. As she got closer, he turned to look at her.
"Oh, hi," he said, with the usual devil-may-care calm, his words just audible over the wash of the fans. "You're a little late, aren't you?"
She thumbed off the safety, raised the gun, aiming just below and to the right of his breastbone. "I'm doing this to protect you," she said and fired. He jerked back against the metal wall. He stared at her, breathing hard and managing a teasing smirk. "Is this the way Grigori women kiss? I know... they're supposedly killers... but I didn't... think... aaaggh..." He slid sideways, leaving a smear of blood from the exit wound in his back on the wall as he fell to the metal decking under their feet. He stared up at her, the resignation and surprise in his eyes glazing over.
She turned and forced herself to walk back to the car.
Day/Theme: Sept 8) how to be dead
Series: Neon Genesis Evangelion
Character/Pairing: Ryoji Kajii, OFC
Rating: R (Violence and blood, character death)
Author's Note: I had no idea what to write for this prompt that would tie into the ambitious NGE project. But then this idea came in out of nowhere, an attempt to answer the age-old NGE question "Who Killed Ryoji Kajii?" (It was probably a NERV or SEELE agent, but this is my take on the Eve-verse, so my guess is it was one of the Grigori who are pulling the strings that NERV and SEELE aren't aware of...)
The cellphone which Enniel had given her rang. She tried to ignore the insistent churr-churr, but it would not stop ringing. Finally, with an exasperated mutter, she got up from her desk, hunted for it among the light clutter on her dresser and picked it up. "Hello?"
"I suspect even this connection is being monitored by Ikari's associates, so I must be brief," Enniel's voice replied. "I want you to meet me at the Golden Dragon hotel in Tokyo-2 as soon as possible. I have something important to discuss with you."
"I'll see if I can catch a train there, but it's late," she said.
"Shall I send a car around?"
"That won't be necessary," she said. "I'll be there as soon as possible."
She caught an evening train bound for Tokyo-2. The moment she entered the lobby of the hotel, one of Enniel's guards approached her and quickly ushered her into an elevator, whisking her to the fourth floor.
The guard knocked on the door of a room at the end of the hallway; it opened from within and he pushed her inside closing the door behind her.
Enniel sat behind a table-like desk in the front room of the suite, a bottle of brandy with two glasses and a black case laid on the table top. The only light in the room came from a banker's lamp nearby, which cast his pale face in the shadow.
"I hardly expected you'd come, after that tone of voice you took with me," he said. He indicated the chair opposite him, wordlessly bidding her to sit down.
She remained standing instead. "The past few days have worn on me," she replied.
"Mmm, finding out someone kidnapped the man you've formed a connection with would do that to you. Normally I'd have something to say about that, but there isn't time and there's something I need you to do," he said. She started open her mouth to say he'd opened the door on something he should not have, but he looked up at her, catching her gaze with his and raising one long finger for quiet.
He unlatched the box before him and lifted the lid, revealling a handgun, a pair of black leather gloves and a full clip. He pushed it toward her. "There is a bit of housecleaning I need done, a snake that needs to be cast out."
"What? What do you mean?" Something told her that he referred to Ryoji Kajii.
"He knows too much about what you are, what I am, and how much I've invested in all of this," Enniel said, looking her in the eye. His pupils seemed to close to snake-like slits. "Take him out: I'm sure it should be easy for you to do after he's been sniffing around you, drooling like a hungry dog."
"Kajii...?" she asked, seeking a validation for her guess.
A sly smile crossed Enniel's lean face. "You have said it."
She stared at the gun, tempted to turn and leave while she could, but she knew the guard outside the door would not let her through.
Enniel sighed. "Those who hesitate are damned, Sabia. There are others who probably could take care of this for me, but they might not be so clean about it, and they could well comprimise the things that he knows. About me, and about you. I know about that little incident in your apartment, and I would like to keep that information confidential. There are those who could distort the information, if it fell into their hands. And if he were to fall into the hands of the old fools of SEELE, who knows what could become of you?" He started to lower the lid over the case.
"No, wait. Give me the gun. I'll do it," she said.
A smirk crossed Enniel's face and he pushed the case across to her. "I'll have Niall drive you back to Tokyo-3. Your target will be waiting for you near a ventilation shaft at the north end of the city: he's expecting to meet me there."
"He has a name, dammit, he's not just 'the target'," she said.
Enniel smirked and closing the case, handed it to her. "Killing him with kindness, eh? Perhaps this will teach you not to wear your heart on your sleeve so readily."
She all but snatched the case out of his hand as she turned to leave. The guard opened the door for her, leading the way out and back down to the street.
They drove in silence for a while. "You know how to shoot that gun, do you?" Niall asked.
"My father taught me how in case I ever needed to defend myself," she said, a faded memory ticking in her head. "I just don't think he ever expected it would be like this."
The sun had all but set, leaving a dull orange afterglow in the west by the time they reached the ventilation duct. Even on the street level, she could spy Kaji standing on a catwalk below the metal cages covering the massive vent fans. Putting the gloves on, she slotted the clip into the gun and chambered a round.
Niall watched her in silence. "Miss Valiant, if you rather I did this --" he started to say.
She looked up at him. "No, I need to do this. I know you do things like this for Enniel all the time, but I don't want to drag you into this."
Niall nodded in silence and reaching over the seatbaclk, opened the rear door for her. Tucking the gun into her jacket pocket, she got out and mounted the metal staircase. How to do this? she thought. Shooting him in the head would be the quickest way, but I don't want to damage his face. That would be damaging his identity, so to speak. A little voice asked her if she secretly couldn't help finding him too good-looking to mar, but she silenced it. Shooting him in the throat would just be an undignified way to die. She briefly imagined Daeva, Enniel's other ward, coaxing her to shoot him below the belt-buckle, but she quickly dismissed that thought. That leaves shooting him in the heart, she realized. Fitting, perhaps, since he could never give his heart to any one woman, except one whom he hadn't treated as well as he could have.
She found Kajii standing against the metal wall, back to the fan's cage, hands in pockets, his gaze turned away. As she got closer, he turned to look at her.
"Oh, hi," he said, with the usual devil-may-care calm, his words just audible over the wash of the fans. "You're a little late, aren't you?"
She thumbed off the safety, raised the gun, aiming just below and to the right of his breastbone. "I'm doing this to protect you," she said and fired. He jerked back against the metal wall. He stared at her, breathing hard and managing a teasing smirk. "Is this the way Grigori women kiss? I know... they're supposedly killers... but I didn't... think... aaaggh..." He slid sideways, leaving a smear of blood from the exit wound in his back on the wall as he fell to the metal decking under their feet. He stared up at her, the resignation and surprise in his eyes glazing over.
She turned and forced herself to walk back to the car.