The Black Cross

Ran was staring at him, evaluating. Yohji felt like he'd been tossed onto a scale, one he held no shred of hope of measuring up to. It certainly wasn't the first time Ran had looked at him like that. Yohji hated it.

"Which part?" he said, noticing that he was letting his irritation and frustration overwrite his common sense in reacting. Hadn't you just chastised yourself for always antagonizing Ran? He couldn't stop though, he was just watching the trainwreck.... He was never especially good at handling being lead on. And they'd allowed this current situation to get rather absurdly out of hand.

"Which part were you wrong about being able to do?" he snapped. "The sex, or the bit about not caring about me?" He wanted to jab Ran for emphasis, but he was still standing too close to get any effect besides further awkwardness, so he just hardened his gaze. He bit his tongue before he could make it worse, the words you haven't given me the impression that either one will be especially difficult for you, just waiting to escape.

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"Why won't you accept my answer?" Ran asked, frustrated. His eyes had narrowed at Yohji's directness. He just barely managed to stop himself from answering 'Both of those together'. He had talked this through with Yohji every time they'd been alone the entire week, it seemed. Why now? What had happened to make Yohji decide his happiness depended on Ran, of all people?

But wasn't that just like Yohji, always trusting the wrong ones, always choosing the people that would hurt him the most?

Questioning the other man's indiscernible motives only served to give Ran a headache.

He stared at Yohji expectantly.

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Now was the perfect time to say something meaningful and sincere. Yep, the perfect time.

Annnny moment now he'd think of exactly the right thing to say to convince Ran of his earnestness. Yep, any moment.

C'mon Yohji.

"Because I used to be a detective," he drawled, his automatic smirk thoroughly undermining his own good intentions, "I can tell when someone's lying."

He stepped forward, canceling out the distance Ran had carefully placed between them, and roughly dragged his hand down Ran's front, making a point to not stop when he reached the belt.

"It's fucking maddening when someones lying about something that's important to you. I'd think you'd know that." His hand drifted back up and he let his grip sink into Ran's shirt and tighten.

He tilted his head and raised an eyebrow. "The reason I was a good detective is because I never give up. Sometimes it's a fault." He snorted.

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Ran shuddered involuntarily at the touch, then knocked Yohji's hand off. "You seem to bounce back pretty quickly for someone who claims I just kicked you when you were down." Ran's voice was disgusted. "First you try to convince me you're sincere. Then you..." Ran fought for the right words. He couldn't find them. "I meant what I said. I can't do it under my terms. You left me no choice but to make a deal with you, but I can't do that. And I can't do this under your terms. I haven't been lying. This is a mistake, Yohji. You're confused, whether you see it or not." He took a breath. If he was pushing the man away, he might as well say all of it. "I asked you to the club before because I thought you would never go. I thought you were straight. I'm sorry. I should not have been that flippant with a friend." He met Yohji's eyes, and immediately sensed it was a mistake.

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Yohji gritted his teeth so hard it was probably audible.

"It's not bouncing back, it's fucking masochism."

And I don't have a choice, it's the only thing I'm any good at.

He opened his mouth, but lost the words before he could articulate them. Ran seemed to be having that effect on him a lot lately.

"I didn't give you any terms," he finally said, grabbing the hand that had just knocked him away. "You don't have a fucking clue what my terms would have been."

He held Ran's gaze and narrowed his eyes. "Your terms sucked, that's all I have to say. But I didn't exactly have room to make stipulations, so I took them."

Confused. Ha. So Ran thought he was the one who was confused.

"A blind person could have seen that you only asked me out because you didn't think I would go. Christ, give me a little credit," he muttered under his breath. "Some people have no room to criticize sincerity."

A distant part of his brain was registering the atypical nature of Ran addressing him as a friend, let alone apologizing. But friend now fell so far short of the hopes he had been clinging to that he couldn't let himself dwell on it.

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Ran glowered at the hand that was now held in Yohji's before transferring the gaze to his face. "Are you really this desperate?" He immediately regretted it. He didn't want to make Yohji think he needed any more convincing.

"The sex, or the bit about not caring about me?"

Ran's mind, independent of his will, sifted through the pitifully short list of people he had cared about. All dead, or hurt, or endangered because of him. Yes, he cared about his teammates. Whether or not they believed it. But he understood fully the commitments of his position. It was why he'd met with Sato on the bridge, so that he could get away from it all before he endangered Aya any more than he already had...or the others. How many innocent lives, after all, hadn't he been able to save?

And Yohji had almost died, because their team hadn't been vigilant enough. He couldn't solely blame Ken. They should have assessed that he wasn't ready for a mission. And Yohji had already almost died.

The trail Yohji's finger had traveled remained warm. Ran jerked his hand free.

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Are you really this desperate?"

For a second, Asuka's ghost flickered in his head, briefly eclipsing his train of thought for the current situation. His mouth twisted of its own accord, into a habitual smile that was as much self mocking as it was pained.

"I'd like to see you name one of us who isn't for something."

He flexed his fingers, weighing the futility of attempting to snatch Ran back. Pretty damn futile.

Are you really so cold that you can see that and still jerk people around?

"Although you avoided my question, so I shouldn't have to answer that." He scowled back.

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[From Wednesday 1.23]

Schuldig walked down the alleyway on slipper silent feet. He knew the other two were so wrapped up in themselves that they wouldn't hear him. He waited until he was in earshot, far enough to stay at a safe distance, but close enough to worry them.

Then he began a slow clap.

"Bravo, Weiss. I have to say, you have a knack for angst." He smirked, cocking his head to the side. "It's like a fucking Greek tragedy or something. I could record this and make millions."

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That voice!

Ran's hand went for the missing sword at his side and it swiped through air. His weapon was still in his room. Aya was still in the house.

Schwartz! He identified the self-satisfied tones of the redhead within that split-second, and turned, pressing down the wave of panic before it started when the events at the grocery store a few days before surfaced in his mind.

Sure enough, the mind-reader was there. His relief at the interruption fled. First Sato, now Schwartz. What the hell was going on?

He barely kept from throwing himself at the man, weapon or no. Schwartz hadn't attacked yet. "Why are you here?!" Ran demanded tightly.

He couldn't remember them being brazen enough to track them to the Koneko before. What had changed, after so long?

"I'd like to see you name one of us who isn't for something." Yohji's last statement and earlier words ran through his mind unbidden. Ran tried his best not to think about his exchange with Yohji, though it was probably too late.

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His reaction was way too slow. Not that it really mattered, as Yohji had still failed to retrieve his watch in spite of the warning Sato's visit had given him that he couldn't afford to indulge his invalid state.

He recognized the grating accent immediately, but took his time turning around. The usual jolt of panic instigated at any hint of Schwarz was strangely absent. All he seemed to have the energy for was a dull throb of irritation at being interrupted.

Not that he would have gotten anywhere sans interruption.

"Fan-fucking-tastic."

Yohji slumped backwards and let his head dramatically bang against the side of the building.

"I didn't think my day had any room for improvement," he muttered, "it's like winning the fucking lottery."

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Schuldig laughed as Aya sliced him down with his invisible katana. "I think you missed." He smirked before turning his attention to Yohji, who was surprisingly unsurprised.

"I've made your day better?" He asked with a grin. "Good to hear."

Before Yohji had time to move, Schuldig was beside the blonde, an arm wrapped around his shoulders. "Has to be better than what was going on before I got here, yeah?" He chuckled, leaning closer to lick his cheek. "At least I can made being a masochist fun."

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Yohji's ennui was promptly usurped by an involuntary shudder of revulsion.

While a concern for his personal safety probably ought to have been front and center, the only clear thought in his mind was, Ew. As if I didn't already have enough strikes against Aya ever being willing to kiss me. Snowball's chance in Hell now.

He tried to shove Schuldig off, but there was no real strength behind it. The German's hand (accidentally?) dug into the top of his bandage and for a moment Yohji thought he might actually pass out from the pain.

"I thought you of all people would appreciate a little sarcasm," he snarled.

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His injury-!

I'll kill him.

Why...

Ran's eyes followed the telepath's movements as best he could, his distrust distorting to something nearing homicidal at the flick of the other redhead's tongue. His hands had curled into fists at Schuldig's earlier jab at Ran. His nails bit into his palms at his actions.

He scanned Yohji's face. It was pained, but angry.

Fuck. My katana...

"Why are you here?" Ran repeated, the words clipped.

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Schuldig smirked at the anger rolling off of Ran. It was almost a tangible wave. It made him laugh. He tightened his gripped on Yohji, pulling the man closer against him, pinning his free arm between their sides.

"Why are any of us here, Fujimiya?" He retorted, cocking his head a bit, then reaching inside of his coat with his free hand. "Man has been asking that question since the beginning of time." He withdrew his hand, brandishing his gun and placing it snug against the blond's head. "Now, if you mean why am I here at this moment, then that is another question."

He glanced quickly at the door behind him. "Do you leave your security systems on when everyone is home? I need to know because my associate is in the process of breaking in. You have something we need. Something valuable. And we plan to take it. I'm just here to distract you. But now, Fujimiya, you have a choice. If either of you scream, yell out, or do anything to alert your friends inside, I will kill your little blondie bear here. And be careful, because I have an itchy trigger finger."

A wicked grin spread across Schuldig's face as he turned to regard Yohji. "I guess we'll see who is more important." He said, turning back to Ran and waiting.

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It was the second time in 24 hours that Yohji had had the barrel of a gun pressing into him. It was funny the difference it made, between being in mission mode, and not expecting to have to deal with anything more threatening than an embarrassing interruption to his argument with Ran.

Last night he'd been prepared to die; he never left for a mission with any real expectations to make it back. Finding himself alive at the end of the ordeal always left him rather pleasantly (or unpleasantly, given his mood,) surprised.

He really shouldn't be so surprised right now.

Before he'd felt rather detached. The source of his panic stemming more from concern for the rest of his team than for himself. Granted, he hadn't wanted to die. He just hadn't been able to muster a whole lot of self-preservation.

This was surprisingly different.

The thought of dying by Schuldig's hand just pissed him off.

It pissed him off at Schwarz for being such bastards in the first place, and for having such impecably catastrophic timing. It pissed him off at himself for letting his guard down like this. Really, the list of fuck-ups he'd been making was hitting staggering proportions. If he wasn't so pissed off he'd agree that he deserved it.

And, for the first time in almost longer than he could remember, Yohji actually felt scared. He almost didn't recognize the emotion at first, he'd so throughly severed and buried any hold it had had on him so many missions ago.

Must be the surprise factor, he reasoned.

Can't let it show.

There was no doubt at all in his mind that he was going to die. It wasn't even a question. The only thing he had to wonder about was how long Ran was going to pause before making the decision.

No point in dragging it out.

He closed his eyes and tried to smile. He knew from experience how much harder it was to condemn someone when they were looking at you.

He was supposed to have died by a bullet a long time ago. Things were just coming around full circle, he guessed.

Come on Ran, the worst part is waiting for it.

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It was a slow burn, the deceptive feeling of fire that ice left on bare skin. It spread in the pit of Ran's stomach, up his esophagus. Cold fear, hot panic.

Aya!

There was very little thought involved with the cry that nearly rose from his throat, or the movement that was cut off by Schwartz's words.

Aya was inside, Schwartz was inside, Aya...

Ran's eyes, wide with rage, registered the gun held to Yohji's head before he comprehended Schuldig's addendum.

If Schwartz was inside, the telepath could communicate with them. If he cried out, he'd be endangering Aya more. Kill her out of sadism...and...

Ran's breath was quick. He forced himself to focus. His gaze shifted between the redhead and Yohji. Schwartz had the barrel pressed full into Yohji's temple.

Yohji's eyes slide shut.

Like a condemned man.

Ran's anger spiked.

He would kill him.

Focus. Schwartz had said...something valuable. They had something valuable Schwartz wanted.

What could they possibly have that Schwartz needed, after all this time? Why hadn't they come earlier for it, if they...

"If you..." Ran cut himself off. They didn't know for sure that his sister was inside.

His eyes traveled between his teammate Yohji. Do something. I will kill them. and Schwartz before narrowing. He was taut with the effort of not attacking.

"What is it?" He snarled.

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The anger and fear and defeat rolling off of the boys and around his mind was so perfect and delicious. He was going to have to get laid after this. Maybe he could get Farfarello to help him out in the car on the way home. Or maybe he could finally get into fearless leader's pants. Either way, this wasn't really the time to dwell on it.

His finger twitched visibly on the trigger as Ran spoke.

"Well, I already know Aya is inside." He said casually, the smirk still cemented onto his face. "Even if I hadn't, you gave it away." He leaned in closer to Yohji, nuzzling his cheek before turning to look at Ran again.

"But is that really the only thing of importance you have in there?" He asked, sifting through Ran's thoughts. Hopefully the clueless redhead would start thinking about those disks. Where they were, who was guarding them... "Think hard. Besides your pedo-licious little sister, what else might we want from you?"

Edited Date: 2008-08-17 07:42 pm (UTC)

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Ran paled, though his face remained grim. He was nearly as mad at himself as the German sadist in front of him.

Aya's in danger, again, because...

Not now.

His eyes didn't miss the movement on the gun. His lips thinned, throat tightening. Yohji still looked as though he'd foreseen the outcome. Or maybe he'd just fallen asleep. His alarm eclipsed the potential irritation over Yohji's seeming acceptance about being shot.

Real irritation did come when his mind ghosted over thoughts of Yohji before running through possible possessions Schwartz might be after. If it wasn't, in fact, his sister...

The mission.

...the disk!

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Yohji jerked his head away at Schuldig's invasive touch. He didn't really feel that his chances for survival were much increased by staying still, not given his certainty that his fate had already been decisively sealed. In fact, maybe if he provoked the telepath into shooting him prematurely it might give Ran a few seconds distraction to get a head start back to Aya-chan.

Although why Ran hadn't already bolted for his sister left Yohji thoroughly baffled.

He let his eyes blink open, and fixed them on Ran questioningly.

A mistake. Staring at Ran only amplified how very much he did not want to die right now.

If only he wasn't injured. At his usual reflexes he might have actually stood a chance at ducking away from the gun in enough time to disarm Schuldig. Or...something. He could have at least gotten a punch in before getting shot, anyway. As it stood now, he hadn't even been able to throw the other man's arm off his shoulder. He didn't have a hope. Any attempt to fight would be nothing short of suicide.

If he unraveled his bandage he could use it as a makeshift garrote....

...yeah right. Good one Yohji. Apparently you get delusional in the face of death.

"We haven't even been working," Yohji kept his voice low, and as neutral as his scattered nerves would allow. He knew the futility of trying to bluff a guy like Schuldig, but it was the only straw he could think to grasp. "You guys must be pretty hard up if you think we have anything worth bothering over."

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Normally, Schuldig might have made good on his threat to kill. Unfortunately, he knew two severe asskickings would be in his future if he did. First Farfarello, followed quickly by Brad. Fucking spoil sports.

Instead, he focused on the comedy duo in front of him. When Yohji pulled away, Schuldig simply pressed the gun tighter against his head, not minding if he hurt the blond or not. And the image of Yohji trying to strangle Schuldig with his bandages made him smile. "You're imaginative Kudou, but not a very good liar."

He turned his attention back to Ran, grinning wickedly. "You're like a gold mine of information. Now whatever you do, do not think of where that disk is." He chuckled. Reverse psychology was amazing. It was like telling someone not to think of a pink bunny. They would immediately do it. Now he just had to wait for Ran to think about what he wasn't supposed to think about.

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bloodyfarfie.livejournal.com

Farfarello was waiting, impatiently, standing at a nicely placed window waiting to break it. If he broke it now and it was heard, he'd have less time to get to where the disk was.

/Damnit, Schuldig, I'm waiting here. You almost got it?/ He pointedly thought about how annoying some telepaths could be. Truthfully, he was just plain impatient and eager to get this part done. Schuldig was having all the fun with the little kittens while he was loitering. Not very 'evil bad-guy' of him.

Oh, great.. He was starting to think like Schuldig. Maybe he'd ask Crawford to shoot him when he got back for that..

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Yohji’s brain somehow afforded the time to lament the fact that if he survived this, he was going to have a tragically unflattering bruise on the side of his head.

How this could possibly be worse than the impressive (-ly permanent) scar he’d just acquired didn’t really register. His priorities always went kinda funny in the midst of panic.

Not to mention the fact that he still wasn’t banking on actually living to regret the bruise anyway.

“Now whatever you do, do not think of where that disk is."

For once Yohji was actually glad for his injury.

He knew that they had succeeded in retrieving the disk, but everything after Ken’s accident had turned into a hazy pain-filled blur for him. His world had been quickly reduced to angst and pain-medication. He’d barely afforded the disk another thought until his unsavory encounter with Sato in the shop just now.

He had no idea if Omi still had the disk, or if it had been turned over to Kritiker. Actually, even if he hadn’t gotten injured he probably wouldn’t know. After-mission business was thoroughly Omi’s affair. The moment they got back to the Koneko, Yohji immediately immersed himself in anything and everything that could help erase all traces of the mission from his mind. He believed strongly in not taking your work home from the office. Not that he usually succeeded or anything.

It was clear though, Schuldig’s intentions with that statement. In hopes of being as unhelpful as possible, Yohji immediately focused on the first irrelevant disk that came to mind. Which happened to be a particularly unfortunate amateur porno which he had downloaded off the internet a little over a year ago, on a day when he was supposed to be working the shop but had instead decided that extreme boredom qualified as an illness, and decided a little self medication was in order.

It was so very epically bad that the only reason that disk still existed was because Yohji had hoped to use it to inflict some sort of embarrassing revenge upon one of his coworkers, should they ever do anything heinous enough to warrant that grade of mental warfare.

So far such a travesty had not yet occurred.

He rather hoped that Schwarz would take the offending disk off his hands though.

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"If I knew where it was," Ran hissed at Schuldig, "I would tell you. You should know that!" Nevertheless, the Schwartz' childish taunt worked; his mind ghosted over Omi, who had last had the disk, and Sato's pleasant, round face, the only other person he could think of who might know where it was.

He didn't hear any noise from the koneko, and Yohji still had a gun to his head. His fingers itched for his katana. "This is pointless!"

Aya...please, hide. Omi, Ken...protect her...

It was his fault Schwartz was able to get near her again. He was selfish for keeping her with them, selfish for staying with Weiss. He hadn't tried hard enough to convince Kritiker to let him go...

The morning on the bridge came back to him in stark clarity. Maybe if he had left then...

An image of the blond on the grass, outside the facility.

Ran kept his violet eyes trained steadily on Schuldig, and tried to keep his breathing focused, his attention focused away from the gun still pointed at Yohji's head.

"I'd like to see you name one of us who isn't for something."

...for those around me to stop being hurt. To be able to protect those I...

Edited Date: 2008-08-19 02:24 am (UTC)

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Schuldig grinned, keeping the name and image of the man - Sato - in mind. Seemed like he would be an important person to find.

/Check the little one's room. Bombay./ He relayed to Farfarello.

"Kudou... may I call you Yohji? You are just a barrel of monkeys. Maybe I'll just take you home with me." He chuckled, glancing back at Ran. "What would you think of that? Be honest now, because I'll know if you're not, and tell him anyway.

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