The inner eye

Falling Empires ch.8

2008-09-09T15:43:18Z

Title: Falling Empires
Fandom: Weiss Kreuz
Pairing: CrawfordxRan, SchuldigxYohji
Rating: 13, NC17 overall.
Warnings: None for this chapter.

Chapter 8

Omi stood staring ahead of him, his mind completely in a daze. The two men in front of him were both looking on expectantly, but how on earth was he supposed to respond? It was clear that this Crawford was expecting him to be happy for the offer, to be given this opportunity. But was this an opportunity that he wanted? It is true that Omi hates his father, that he had been helping his uncle to try and harm his political ambitions. Their efforts so far had not been auspicious. Can this Crawford and the young man next to him truly help? Omi's head was abuzz with thoughts, weighing down on his mind, but through it all one point remained.
       "Why on earth should i trust you?" How could this man turn up here with the things that he has said and then just expect Omi to go with him. The whole situation was quite ludicrous, but then much of Omi's life was not what most would call ordinary. A small smile crept on to Crawford's face, one that made Omi's stomach turn with revulsion.
       "It does not matter whether you trust me, i very much doubt if your little friend Ken trusts any of us. Even you perhaps. The point is that we can give him what he wants and we can do the same for you."
Omi's ears rang with Crawford's words, struggling to believe the nerve of the man. A sarcastic laugh erupted from the boy, though not without a hint of nervousness.
       "And you know what i want do you Mr Crawford?"
       "Of course he does" Ran interjected "Crawford knows what everybody wants, don't you". He turned to Crawford, eyes full of accusation.
Crawford took a deep breath as he considered Ran, their eye's locking. "Yes, i do."

       Ran sighed in disgust, shook his head and began to turn away. He stopped at the sight of Omi.
       "We will stop your father, i can guarantee you that. He murdered my family and i will kill him. If you want to stop him then you should join us, but" he turned back to Crawford, eyes still ablaze with anger, "it should be only if it is what you want."
Omi was shocked by the boys outburst but appreciative of his honesty. He could see that unlike Crawford, Ran was being deeply honest, no strings. This boy with his startling red hair and sad eyes, conveyed so much heartache which only added to his amazing beauty.
       "I understand. My father has done terrible things to many people. I do want to destroy him, make him regret everything that he has ever done, for every family that he has destroyed."

       Crawford stepped in between the two of them, forcing his presence to be known. He was clearly unimpressed with the private conversation now going on. "If that is the case, then you must join us Mr Tsukiyono."
Omi considered the American, his arrogance obvious and deplorable, but it was clear that he had the power and drive to do exactly what he said. "What about my uncle? What do i say to him?"
       "You say nothing, you must keep up all pretensions of normality as far as your uncle and his secretary are concerned. However when he asks you to work for him, i want you to inform me of what it is and what you have found out. You are a part of our team now, your loyalty must be to us." Crawford was towering over Omi, conveying the importance of what he is saying. It is imperative that Omi be loyal to them, and only them.
       "I don't want him hurt, you must understand."
       "I do. There is no reason why he will be unless he puts himself into danger. Now we need to go, but i will be in touch.

* * * * *

       Ran was angry, Crawford didn't need to be a telepath to know that, what he was angry about remained a mystery. It was beginning to become clear to Crawford that involving himself with a young lover may be good in being able to manipulate said lover, but Ran was incredibly stroppy and proving to be more difficult then Crawford anticipated.
       "What was all that about? I told you not to speak. I told you to let me deal with it".
       "You were manipulating him, trying to force him and trick him". Crawford scrunched his eyes together, so what? he was manipulating the kid, why does Ran care. "Exactly like you did to me!" Ahh now they were getting to the point.

       Crawford pulled the car over and turn to look at the sulking teenager. "Ran, i did what i had to, to save you and help you. You wouldn't have listened to reason and you know it. I did manipulate you, but i never lied to you." He reached out to Ran and took a hold of his chin, lifting his face until their eyes met. "You are happier now aren't you? You are secure and striving for a purpose aren't you? With a family, just like you wanted."
       "Yes, yes i am. It's just... don't play with me, don’t play with my mind."
       "I have not played with your mind, that‘s Schuldig‘s job" Crawford turned from the boy, infuriated with his attitude. "I saved you, i saved you from a terrible life. I have taught you how to use your power, how to fight, how to be a lover. Don't be so ungrateful!"
       "Yes, you saved me, you taught me. You taught me how to be what you wanted." Crawford slammed his hands down on the steering wheel.
       "It's what you want too, it's what you need. I care for you, i cherish you. You are what i want and that's the end of it."

* * * * *

       The door was flung open with such force that the top hinge was separated from its partner. Ken who had been rummaging in the kitchen, was at that moment scoffing down his noodles. Normally quick tempered and fearless, the day spent with schwartz had made him far more wary. He stood still, staring at the now broken door, realization now dawning on who had caused the destruction. Nagi had had the worst day of his life, period. Omi hated him, his family had betrayed him by taking that Ken into his house. Returning to his 'place of sleep', as he would now refer to it, the last person he wanted to see was the object of all his current woe. The two boys locked eyes. Ken's resolve came back to him, he would be damned if he was going to cower. Ken squared his shoulders prepared to face the bad tempered child now glaring at him.

       Nagi gritted his teeth, his frustration rising just seeing the older boy there in front of him. Ken opened his mouth to speak, but Nagi quickly interrupted, not in the mood for another argument.
       "Don't, just don't. I'm not interested". Ken was taken aback by the boy's words, he knew how Nagi felt about him and had actually expected to be thrown across the room again.
       "Wait. What?" Nagi not wanting to fight was strange for him, even in the short time that Ken had known him.
       "I mean it. Don't piss me off, you won't like the consequences". His eyes had narrowed to slits, his brows scrunched, his whole face screaming ‘fuck with me and i'll kill you‘.
       "Hey, i'm not completely helpless you know. You got lucky earlier. Don't forget what i can do". Ken's chest heaved out, his chin raised, one would almost think that he was proud. Nagi stared, it was incredulous, didn't Ken think they were all freaks.
       "Oh so now your proud of you abilities? I thought that we were all weirdoes and freaks".

       Ken knew that what he had said earlier had been wrong and hurtful. But it wasn't his fault, he had been angry, confused and frightened. Plus whether he liked it or not, he was one of them now.
       "I... I didn't mean what i said. Sometimes i can't control what i say. I was just... everything was so..."
       "Don't".
       "What?"
Anything but this. Nagi could deal with horrible shouting Ken, the Ken that had tried to take Omi away and invaded his family. Nice Ken, Ken apologising to him, no. No way.
       "I can't deal with you now, you got what you wanted Omi hates me, ok".
       "What do you mean? You went to see Omi. Did you hurt him? What did you do?"

* * * * *

Yohji's mind slowly awakened, relief flooding him as the pain he had known since yesterday had finally subsided. Cracking one eye open, he found himself smothered by bright orange hair. He lay still for a few seconds as he memory tried to catch up with him. Where was he? Where had the pain gone? Why did the pain appear in the first place? Until one word popped up inside of his brain - Schuldig!

       Yohji was in turmoil over Schuldig. He made him feel good, made him laugh, made him feel safe. The sex was good too. But it was Schuldig that was keeping the pain away, Yohji knew that. Without him he wouldn't be able to cope. But it was more then that, Yohji loved Schuldig!
       "Something on your mind?" Yohji turned his head up to peer at the object of his musings, and his affections, if he was brave enough to admit it.
       "No, just thinking. Happy the pain has gone. But you knew all that already".
       "No." Schuldig gave a mock impression of being insulted. "I don't pry all the time. Especially not with you.
       "I would appreciate it if you didn't. I like my space Schuldig".
       Schuldig pulled his hands up in mock surrender. "Ok ok, i won't pry into your thoughts. I'm not trying to upset you Yohji".
       "I know that", Yohji replied. "It's just hard with what happened yesterday, i know you care for me and want to help but..."
       "You can rely on me".
       "But that's the problem Schuldig". Yohji pulled away and rose to a sitting position, distancing himself from the man who had his heart but not his mind. "I want to rely on me. Your keeping the pain at bay, but i need to control it".

       Whilst Schuldig could understand where Yohji was coming from, he didn't know why he was being so stubborn. Yohji needed time, healing and love, Schuldig could give him that.
       "You will be able to do it, but you need time and practice. I won't let you suffer unnecessarily".
       "Well perhaps you should".
       "What are you talking about". Schuldig rose from lounging on the bed to face Yohji head on, he didn't like where this was going. "Why do you need to suffer"? Yohji looked down at his hands for a few seconds. As he drew a breath to answer, raised voices could be heard from outside in the hall.
       "You'd better deal with that". Yohji said.
Schuldig continued to stare at his lover, but seeing that Yohji was not going to give, he sighed and headed for the door.

* * * * *

       It took Schuldig the best part of an hour to convince Ken that Omi was fine and well. Not quite fine after the conversation he had just had with Crawford, but Ken didn't need to know about that. Now he needed to deal with Nagi. The kid was clearly in a stroppy mood, Schuldig knew he needed to handle this right but after being kept from Yohji for so long due to Nagi's ability to wind Ken up, Schuldig was in no mood for diplomacy.
Storming into Nagi's room, Schuldig quickly took a mental hold of the boys brain, preventing him from using his telekinesis.
       "What are you doing? Let me go!" Nagi was furious, his face had flushed with rage.
       /You and i need to have a little chat Nagi, for the sake of Schwartz/.
At Schuldig's words Nagi forced himself to calm down. Whilst it was true that the German could be a complete prick, he rarely did anything to harm the team. It was clear that Schuldig meant business now.
       "Alright, but stop talking in my head and let go, i won't attack you".
       "Nah, i think i'll keep a hold of you for now. I know what you're like".
       "What's that supposed to mean"?
       "It's always the quiet ones that are the most dangerous".
       "Does that mean that you're not so dangerous, considering you're such a loud mouth, arrogant jerk".
       "Touché". Schuldig nodded to Nagi, a smirk playing across his face. It was rare that Nagi made a joke, especially a snarky one. He was always so quiet and submissive it was a relief to see him react, sometimes. "Look, Ken was trying to apologise to you, why did you have to wind him up about Omi".
       "I didn't".
       "You did. Nagi whether you like it or not Ken is here to stay, it would be better if you could get on with him, considering you're both kinetics".
       "What are you trying to say"? Nagi could not be hearing this, Schuldig was not saying what Nagi thought he was.
Schuldig sighed, he knew this wouldn't go down well. "It makes sense, you know it does. You should be the one to primarily teach him".
       "That will never happen". Nagi desperately wanted to turn and walk away, but he knew that Schuldig would prevent it.
       "Why? Because he cares about Omi like you do, Nagi get over it. Beside i don't think he likes Omi like that".
       "Did he say that?" Nagi's head shot up, eyes raised in hope.
       "No". Brown eyes once again returnd to hateful slits.
       "Then how do you know that, did you read it from his mind".
       "Not really, just got the overall impression that Ken only wants friendship from Omi".
Nagi was silent studying Schuldig for a few moments. Could this be true? Had he completely misread things as far as Ken and Omi were concerned? But more importantly, could he really trust Schuldig?
       "What does Crawford say?"
       "About Ken and Omi? I don't think he really cares".
       "Sculdig!"
       "He agrees". Nagi raised his eyes, clearly disbelieving that Crawford had said anything of a sort. Schuldig laughed, raising his hands "just think about it, ok. Think about the team".

       He released Nagi from his hold and turned to leave, to finally return to his Yohji.
       "How do you do that Schuldig?"
Turning back to face Nagi, he replied "do what?"
       "Most of the time you are the most annoying, inconsiderate, egotistical person i have ever met. And then you act like this, how can you just change?"
       "I don't change. I'm always doing those things that you just said. Don't worry i'll always be prying in your mind and everyone else’s". With that he ruffled Nagi's hair and left.

Falling Empires ch.7

2008-06-26T22:50:49Z

Title: Falling Empires ch.7
Fandom: Weiss Kreuz
Pairings: CrawfordxRan, SchuldigxYohji
Rating: R
Previous chapters: http://angel-oracle.livejournal.com/tag/falling+empires
(they're a bit out of order)

Chapter 7

"Why am I here?" Ken was demanding for the seventh time that morning. He had been pretty out of it the night before, and Crawford had seen fit to lock him in, what from now would be, his room. That fact only infuriated Ken further, how dare they lock him up like that?

"We have brought you here to join us, become one of us." Crawford now repeated for the seventh time, he was getting quite sick of being questioned.

"No, I don’t want to. Let me leave now."

There was absolutely no chance of him being allowed to leave. Even though he understood the boy’s feelings, Ran was getting a bit sick of the yelling. Nagi, he noticed, was flexing his fingers every time Ken spoke, it was clear he wanted very much to fling him across the room.

Nagi had got home last night just after Schuldig. When he arrived he was already furious that he couldn’t have stayed with Omi, just when he was starting to get somewhere and find out some things. Then he found Ken in his home. Ran remembered the first time that he had met Nagi, and that he had been disturbed by the fact that he didn’t seem like a normal teenager, now he knew differently. The boy had hit the roof, literally, it was lucky that no one lived above them; they would have been in for a shaky evening.

"Don’t be silly, after all, you set fire to your ex-boyfriend last night, and burnt down a block of flats. We couldn’t possibly let you go; you are a danger to others and yourself."

"No, that was you, you did that stuff not me. Bunch of freaks!"

The last word had barely left Ken’s mouth before he was thrown backwards, out of his chair, across the floor, and into the kitchen cabinets. He stayed slumped there for a few seconds, almost as stunned as he had been when he arrived the night before.

"Nagi, that’s enough. Ken rejoin the table, but keep comments like that to yourself." Crawford hadn’t even battered an eyelid. He was still reading his newspaper, and if it wasn’t for the fact that he was the one talking, you wouldn’t have thought he was even paying attention.

Ever since last night, Crawford’s demeanour had been complete indifference towards everyone. If Ran didn’t know any better he would have thought that things had not gone to Crawford’s plan, but that was impossible Crawford knew everything that was going to happen, right? He had tried to approach the man last night, asking him if everything was ok. Crawford told him to just go and check on Ken, make sure that he was ok. It had been a dismissal; Ran knew that, he was not wanted.

The four of them then; Ran, Nagi, Ken and Crawford were sitting around the breakfast table. The three teenagers, throughout the morning, each throwing Crawford their best glares to show they were angry. It wasn’t having an effect.

"What about you? The things that you and the other one did. You killed him!"

"He deserved it" Crawford sneered "The man was a foul creature, and are you forgetting what he did to you?"

"No I haven’t forgotten, but his dead now, there’s nothing that I can do."

"Of course there is, he got his orders you know. Someone offered him a lot of money to destroy your career."

Crawford had put his paper down. It had taken all morning, with this stupid boy yelling at him, before this opportunity had arisen. Schuldig thought he was great at deceiving and manipulating people, but Crawford knew that Schuldig had nothing on him. He had finally managed to get the kid past the "let me go" phase, on to the information that he knew would bind Ken to them.

"What? Do you know who? TELL ME."

Crawford leaned back in his seat, a smug smile playing across his face, now he had the boy.

"Hey quit the shouting will you, some of us need peace." Schuldig had walked into the living area, his lover walking/leaning on him. Whatever his power was, whatever had happened to him, it must have been painful, Ran mused.

When Schuldig had returned with Yohji the night before, he had taken him straight to his room, no one had really got a look at him. Schuldig had been annoyed at Crawford for not allowing him to handle the Yohji situation his way, and in his time.

Yohji’s hair was all tussled and greasy, but it had kept its blond shine. His eyes were half closed, the light was hurting them, but then Schuldig’s room had been dark he supposed.

As they approached the breakfast table, Ran looked at the young man that Schuldig was guiding. Oh my God, it’s Yohji!!! Ran must have made a sudden movement, or said something out loud, because everyone in the room looked at him

"You know each other?" Schuldig asked.

"Yes, you didn’t know that?"

"Well, obviously, or I wouldn’t be asking."

Sitting down at the table, Yohji pulled away from Schuldig; he didn’t like being so weak especially not in front of others. He looked around the table for the first time, taking in all the faces. When he reached Ran, he stopped, his brain trying to catch up with his eyes.

"Aya?"

"Yohji."

"I thought you were dead, after all that stuff in the club with Ryuuichi."

"Yeah, so did I for a little while, but I ended up here instead."

"So you can do strange things too. I can’t believe it, Aya!"

"It’s Ran actually" Crawford cut in, he was looking disgruntled by the conversation. Ran smiled to himself, realizing that Crawford hadn’t known before hand that Ran and Yohji knew each other. He was also pleased to see that Crawford had clearly viewed Yohji as some kind of threat, though how he didn’t know, there was no way that Ran would like Yohji.

Ran was also annoyed, though, that he had told Yohji to stop calling him Aya. He had chosen that name when he sister was put in her comma, it meant a lot to him. Remembering the night that he had met Crawford, he realised that the man had been determined to know his real name. When they came to get him, Crawford had insisted on using Ran, he had made him take Ran back. He liked the fact that Yohji had called him Aya, because in truth he wasn’t Ran anymore. Whoever he was turning into - whoever he had been turning into since the day his family was torn apart - it wasn’t Ran, he didn’t know who it was.

"Well?" Ken demanded, looking straight at Crawford. He had clearly been annoyed by the interruption, and being told to shut-up.

Crawford raised his eyebrow at him, "well what?"

"You were going to say who had gotten Kase to ruin my career."

Crawford was silent for a few moments before answering. "I will tell you, but not when you order me to." His voice had now become low, laced with venom, and Ran saw Ken gulp slightly. "It is something that concerns everyone here, and you will learn to be respectful to everyone here, do you understand?"

"Yes, I understand." Ken spat out, angry and humiliated at being reprimanded in front of everyone.

"But will you tell us Crawford? Please, you did say you would." Ran leaned forward in his chair, his eyes boring into his (sometimes) lover. He thought for second that he saw Crawford’s eyes softening, but thought that he was probably imagining it.

Crawford looked to Ken and Yohji, "we can teach you how to use your powers, how to fight, just like we’ve taught Ran". He looked around at everyone "we will work together, we will bring those responsible to justice, for all of your pains and sufferings, for all your loved ones who have been hurt and killed."

There was silence in the room for a while, the three newest members of Schwartz taking in what they had just been told.

Yohji leaned in to the table, really looking at Crawford. He had been a private detective and thought that he was pretty good at reading people, and wanted to make sure that he wasn’t being lied to.

"You can really help us get our revenge, you know who killed Asuka?"

He could feel Schuldig bristle at her name, but he didn’t care, he was concentrating on Crawford, because if this bastard was lying to them…

"I know who is responsible for everything, and I will help you to destroy all of them."

"Why, what do you care? Why would you want to help us?"

Crawford raised his eyebrows, this guy was good!

"Because, the people right at the top have hurt us too, and we want them destroyed, and you will too."

Ran was listening to it all, relieved that he was finally getting some answers, but with a building rage of jealousy growing inside of him: how comes Crawford had never told him anything, but when the new people ask he tells them? His anger had been growing inside of him since his dismissal last night, and he thought he was about to explode. To bad somebody else got there first, Nagi slammed his spoon down on the table.

"We don’t need them, we can do it on our own, just let Him leave." He looked to Ken when he said it, face broadcasting his hatred of the older boy.

"Nagi, go to your room and calm down." Crawford was not in the mood for any more temper tantrums.

"No, I‘m not a child Crawford, I‘m an assassin, a murderer. Don’t treat me like a fucking child!" Nagi got up from his chair, and walked across the room into the waiting elevator.

The room stayed quiet for a few moments before Crawford cleared his voice, about to dismiss everyone, but they had many more questions to ask.

"An assassin, a murderer? Is that what you do for Takatori? Is that what we will do when we become proper members of Schwartz?"

"Takatori’s the one who had your parent’s murdered Ran." Crawford’s eyes never left Ran’s as he said it.

"And - and you work for him."

"Yes, we work from the inside, in order to destroy him."

"What?"

"Ran we were sent here by others to work for Takatori, but our plans involve destroying him and them. Everything that he does they either approve or tell him to do. He and they are responsible for Kase and Asuka."

Crawford looked to Ken and Yohji, then to Schuldig to see if he was convincing them, he already knew he was.

Ran took a big gulp, "so Takatori ordered my families death, and we’re going to kill him, you’re going to help me kill him?"

"Yes."

Ran nodded, it was all he needed: to know that he would get his revenge.

"But," Yohji interrupted, "what about the others? The people in charge of him, who are they? Why did they do it?"

Crawford leaned back in his seat, whilst Schuldig took a deep breath. "Well, I guess it’s time to tell them about Eszet."

* * * * *

"Nagi-Kun!!!" Omi was surprised to see his friend at the flower shop; they weren’t supposed to meet until later.

"Hi Omi, I’m sorry I hope I’m not disturbing you." He knew he was, Saturday’s were always busy for the flower shop, and Omi looked very tired.

"No, it’s ok. I’m just a little overwhelmed, as I’m on my own today."

Omi saw that Nagi looked confused, of course he would be, he didn’t know about Ken yet.

"Ken, he - he hasn’t turned up for work, and - and well - he might be dead".

"Dead?"

"Yes, there was a massive fire at his block of flats last night, loads of people died, and I’ve phoned around the hospitals and he’s not there. I don’t know what to do about it Nagi."

Omi looked heart broken, and it was enough to anger Nagi even more then he was already. Ken had made himself at home in his home, with his family, and Omi was crying over him.

"Oh I wouldn’t really worry about it, who cares." He knew it was a mistake the moment he said it.

"What?" Omi’s voice had lost its sweet child like edge, it was much darker and sharp, even with just that one word. "Ken’s my friend Nagi, I care. How dare you say that?"

Having enough of bring reprimanded today, and spoken to like a child, Nagi was not going to back down on this one. Why was everybody standing up for Ken?

"Because he’s nothing, he’s a nobody, and I don’t care! And don’t talk to me like I’m some child that you’re telling off, you have no idea of the things I do."

"I don’t care about the things that you do Nagi, I’m not afraid of you. You must live a very sad life, when you consider the life of an innocent man to be nothing. Get Out."

Nagi was stood where he was, shocked. How had everything deteriorated so quickly? Oh yeah, fucking Ken!

"No, don’t tell me what to do! I’m fed up of hearing about Ken, I’m fed up of everyone worrying about ken. I’m fed up of everything!" With a swish of his hand the plant pot near him flew through the air, heading straight towards Omi. It never reached its target, instead it stayed suspended in mid air, almost like someone had just frozen it right there, Nagi thought. Then it suddenly occurred him, he hadn’t made it stop. His head snapped around to look at Omi.

"You have no idea of things that I do either Nagi. Now leave!"

* * * * *

The silver BMW pulled up outside the shop. Ran frowned when he saw the name, what did kittens have to do with flowers? Crawford had wanted to bring Schuldig, but the annoying little telepath had refused to leave his empath. Ran had been insistent that he come along too, he wanted to be part of things, he wanted his revenge no matter what it took.

"You sure that Nagi is not there?" Ran asked. He didn’t want to meet a pissed off Nagi, not after the way he threw Ken across the room this morning.

"Positive, it’s just the kid. The old lady’s ill apparently, come on." He stepped out of the car and waited for Ran to join him, before locking it.

Omi looked up from behind the counter when the bell chimed, still angry from what had happened earlier that day. "Can I help you?"

"Yes you can Omi. We need to talk to you about what happened this morning between you and Nagi."

"So you’re Crawford then?" Omi replied, whilst backing away, hands behind his back.

"Yes I am, and don’t even think about it, drop the dart!"

Omi did as he was told, desperately trying to think of a way out of this situation.

"It’s ok we won’t hurt you." The red head said, approaching Omi, he had a sincere expression, but the foreigner next to him looked pissed.

"Ran, I do the talking remember, be quiet." Crawford glared at Ran for the interruption, and was surprised to see his young lover glare back with just as much venom.

"What do you want? He attacked me." Omi was panicking now.

"I know he did. Ran’s right we won’t hurt you, but we do need to have a talk. You should close the shop, so we can have our chat in private."

They walked through to the back where the living quarters were, Omi unhappy about having to close the shop on its busiest day, but what other choice did he have? Mustering his courage, he turned to the strangers that had just barged in.

"Alright, so what do you want then?"

The smartly dressed foreigner didn’t reply straight away, he looked Omi up and down, clearly sizing him up. It put Omi’s nerves on edge, who the hell does this guy think he is?

"I have a proposal to put to you" the man finally answered, whilst pushing his glasses back up his nose.

Omi tilted his head, this wasn’t what he had been expecting. In truth he hadn’t believed the man when he said that they were not here to hurt him, he actually thought that he was going to be threatened.

"I see, I’m listening."

"This gift of yours, you know how to use it," it wasn’t a question. "Furthermore, after your little fight with Nagi, you now know that there are others just like you, us."

Crawford could see from Omi’s face, that he was unimpressed with what he was being told so far, and it confirmed his suspicions.

"But you knew all this already. You knew about Nagi and us, because we work for your father, and you know all about your father’s dealings, don‘t you Mamoru?"

"Yes." Omi spat the word out, if he was being honest he was a bit unnerved that the man knew all this about him.

"Your father, Takatori Reiji, is a ruthless, corrupt politician, who refused to pay your ransom when you were kidnapped. You were rescued by your uncle, the police commissioner, Takatori Shuichi." Crawford looked to Omi, seeing if his words were having an effect. They were, the boy was visibly paling and Crawford was glad to see it. "Now Shuichi knows all about his brothers business dealings, and his connections to Eszet. Part of the reason that he has kept you a secret is because he knows that Reiji would have sold you to Eszet, right?"

"What is your point, Mr?"

"It’s Crawford, and I’m getting to it. Of course your uncle doesn’t have anywhere near the capabilities to fight his brother, just him and his little secretary. Oh and you of course, his little hacker." Crawford smirked at the boy as he said it, Omi and Nagi together could hack into any system in the world, but he had no intentions of letting the boy know he had that kind of ability, yet.

"Yes, I hack for my uncle against my father. So what are you going to do? Kill me?" Omi’s face had flushed red with rage, his eyes were brimming with tears, and he was beginning to shake.

"As long as you’re fighting Takatori Reiji we have no need to kill you." Ran added, his voice in monotone, but the way his eyes sparked at the mention of Omi’s father, made the boy shiver.

"I don’t understand, you work for him."

"We work for him and for Eszet, and we intend to destroy them both." Crawford had turned towards the window in the kitchen, his glasses catching the evening sun. "We are far more capable then your uncle, we simply need one last person."

"What exactly are you saying?"

"Join us."

* * * * *

Does anyone else have issues with posting? livejournal seems to re-arrange my paragraphs and stuff and play with the fonts, in between me writing it and it being posted to my journal. It happens a lot when i try to italicise certain words or sentences. I had to delete chapter 3 and 6 and do them again because it just kept changing things around every time i corrected it. Unless, which is probably the case, i'm being incredicly dumb.

Falling Empires ch.6

2008-06-26T22:18:41Z

Title: Falling Empires ch.6
Fandom: Weiss Kreuz
Pairings: CrawfordxRan, SchuldigxYohji
Rating: R
Warnings: violence

Chapter 6

Schuldig yawned loudly as he walked out of the elevator into the pent house flat. Despite the fact that he was tired, his clothes dirty from being a day old, and his hair barely under control under the bandana, he walked with a swagger and a smile that would have put a Cheshire cat to shame. Oh yes he thought to himself last night had been great, Yohji was great. If Schuldig had one complaint it was that Yohji was too great, it was now becoming so hard to not tell him the truth, and the thought of how Yohji will react after hearing the truth, it didn't bare thinking about.

Schuldig's internal ministrations over what he was going to do about his situation ended abruptly, as he was overcome with a barrage of annoyed, confused and embarrassed thoughts. Looking at the table where the others were gathered for breakfast, Schuldig couldn't help but smirk (and sulk) to himself, as he realised what had happened the night before, and the fact that he had missed it all.

/Well oh fearless leader, do i get three chances to guess what you got up to last night?/

/Shut it Schuldig, i haven't got time for your games, and don't even think of teasing Ran about it either./

Schuldig walked towards the table and sat himself down, helping himself to toast and coffee. Tossing a wink to Ran, he chuckled as the boy blushed and then threw one of his little glares at him. Ran's embarrassment, however, was very easily overtaken by the overwhelming thoughts of anger radiating from Nagi. Schuldig had to admit that he was surprised, that kid hardly ever had any emotion let alone to be feeling this pissed off. Crawford had said that he couldn't annoy Ran, he didn't say anything about dear, young Nagi.

/Awwww things not go so well with your dear Omi huh?/

/Bite me./

/Nah you're not my type./

/Pervert./

/Didn't i just say i don't do kids. Anyway, you didn't answer my question./

/No and I’m not going to./

/I could always just pry it from your mind you know./

Nagi gave Schuldig a particularly cold look, it was true that Schuldig could do that, there was no way that Nagi could keep him out, even with putting his mental walls up. However, Nagi was far past the age where he would let someone bully him, he wasn't exactly a damsel in distress and maybe Schuldig needed reminding of that. At that moment, the knife that Schuldig was using to butter his toast jumped up poking him straight in the eye.

“Oww, shit, fuck, you little -”

“That's enough now children, and you lot stop laughing as well.”

Everyone in the Schwartz household had been, at some point or another, the victim of Schuldig's intrusion and teasing. It was nice to see someone deliver some revenge, which was why at the moment Farfarello was laughing hysterically, whilst Ran and Nagi were giggling into their cereal. In fact, even Crawford was smirking at Schuldig.

“Bunch of little bastards.”

“Well you shouldn't have been ridiculing them then. Anyway we have important business to discuss, which requires all of you to be paying attention. These next few weeks are going to be crucial for us. We will be recruiting more members, and will be moving on towards our goal.”

Ran perked up when Crawford began talking, listening intently, he really wanted to know exactly what was going on, he wanted to feel a part of things.

“So what exactly is our goal, what are we doing?”

“I've told you before, i'll tell you when you need to know and no sooner.”

With that Crawford looked away from Ran, completely in business-like mode, there was not one ounce of emotion in his voice or eyes.

Asshole

/Here here./

“Three very important things will happen today: Schuldig you will tell Yohji everything, within reason of course, and persuade him to come here; Farfarello and I will be dealing with some sewer rat that's been pissing off Takatori; This person has a lover who happens to be a talent, we will also be bringing this person in. We will all meet here at nine o'clock tonight. Nagi don't think that I don’t know about you and your ‘study’ partner, however, he will prove useful in the future, and so i am going to let him live. Now go to school.”

Nagi's face had gone from horrified to relief in a matter of seconds, and he didn't argue at all as he picked up his school bag and headed out of the door. The other four continued to sit at the table in silence. Ran refusing to look at Crawford after the way he had been treating him this morning, Schuldig was pissed off at not being able to handle Yohji his way, plus he really was quite tired now, and Farfarello was using his knife to (rather surprisingly) butter his toast.

“Schuldig i think that it is best that you get some sleep for a few hours, then you can continue to teach Ran his power and the other stuff, Farfarello you need to get ready to leave.”

Schuldig and Farf wasted little time in getting up from the table and leaving the area, you didn't need to be a telepath to know there was an incredible amount of tension in the room. Ran got up and started to collect the plates, whilst Crawford remained in his seat watching him. As Ran leant over to pick up the man's plate, Crawford grabbed his arm and pulled him down into the nearby chair.

“Ran you need to understand -”

“- I don't understand anything because you don't tell me.”

“I know and you will know soon, i will explain i promise. But Ran you need to promise me not to freak out, take the time to understand things and listen.”

“Why Crawford, what are you planning on telling me?”

“You'll find out when we have the two new people involved. Why don't you get some rest, you didn't get much sleep last night.”

“Do you regret it? Last night i mean?”

“Not at all, why would i? You have no idea how special you are do you?”

Ran blushed deeply at the comment, averting his eyes to the floor. Crawford smiled, the boy could be so lovely, and soon when he becomes a man, he will be even more lovely. Getting up from his seat Crawford kissed him on the top of his head, before walking off to find Farfarello.

* * * * *

Everyone was out, it was so boring. Well, everyone except Schuldig, but that didn't count because he had spent the entire day in bed. Ran didn't want to see Schuldig anyway, because all he would do is tease him about Crawford. Ran did desperately want Crawford to come home, he hated being alone. He had spent so much time on his own since his parents death. Being here, he couldn't help but feel like he was part of a family again.

Ran was jolted out of his thoughts when he heard Weiss shrieking from down the hall, soon followed by a swearing Schuldig.

“Fucking cat! Thing needs to be dumped in the river.”

Ran raced down towards all the commotion, picking up Weiss he glared at Schuldig, though as usual it did very little to intimidate the man. Ran made a mental note to himself that he really needed to perfect that. Crawford had an amazing way of staring at people when he was angry, it was so frightening, Ran loved it.

“Can't you think about anything else, God. If it wasn't for that bloody fur ball of yours, it would have been you waking me up with your ‘Crawford this’ and ‘Crawford that.”

“Oh shut up Schu, you're just jealous. And don't threaten to drown Weiss again ok.”

“Jealous! Of you and him, you have to be joking. And keep that damn thing away from me.”

“Yes i think you are jealous. I saw your face this morning when Crawford told you that you had to tell this Yohji the truth. You're worried that he'll leave you, that's why your jealous, because i don't care about the things that Crawford does.”

“Oh you'll care trust me.”

A cruel smirk twisted onto Schuldig's face. God how he hated people pointing out the truth to him, they always seemed to forget that he could do it better then anyone, he new more about them then they new about themselves.

“No i don't and i won't. I'm not an idiot Schu, i realise that you're all criminals and what you do for Takatori is bad, and from the things that you've been making me practice with my power and the fighting, i would say that you were killers too.”

“Oh wow, clever you for working it all out on your own.”

“Yes it is, and i still want to be with Crawford no matter what.”

“Hahaha no matter what huh?”

This time Schuldig's face had contorted into something particularly vicious, it was something that many of his victims had seen, but Ran hadn‘t.

“Let me tell you something shall i Ran-kun, a bit of advice if you like. Crawford is a cold blooded murderer who will kill anyone who gets in his way, but he'll also use whoever he needs to get what he wants.”

“He's not using me.”

“How sure are you about that?”

“Why are you saying this.”

Ran knew that Schuldig could tease and be mean, but he had never been this cruel to Ran before. Ran could feel his voice cracking at the question, he didn't want to believe anything that Schuldig said, but then Schuldig had known Crawford far longer then him.

Schuldig looked at Ran and swore to himself. What was he doing? Ran was a team mate, not an enemy to be toyed with and broken.

“Forget it kid, i was just angry about Yohji, i didn't mean it.”

Ran sniffed whilst pulling his eyes up from the floor, he wasn't going to cry, he wasn't going to be weak.

“I'm sorry to, i shouldn't have said that stuff about Yohji. And stop calling me kid, i'm nineteen, i'll be twenty soon.”

“Ah don't worry Ran-kun you'll be a man soon, once you join the family business.”

* * * * *

Crawford and Farfarello walked up the staircase, towards the flat that their target lived in. Crawford looked around with disdain, refusing to run his hands along the banisters as he went. There was one thing that Crawford could never grasp about these low life criminals: For most of them, the reason they became a criminal was the money involved. Yet there was people like this Kase person, a no mark drug dealer according to their information, who clearly weren't making that much money, because they still lived in shit holes like this.

Crawford heard Farfarello chuckle behind him.

“Getting excited are we?”

“Yes i am, but i was laughing at you.”

Crawford turned around to look at his subordinate, eyebrows raised.

“Why do you come on these missions when you clearly detest them. Way you act it's like you think that you can catch something from these people.”

“Half the time you probably can Farfarello, and that reminds me no licking the guys blood ok, we don't want another scare like last time.”

Farfarello grumbled behind Crawford as they continued to walk. Reaching the landing that they were looking for, they proceeded to the door of the flat.

“But why didn't you just send Schuldig to come? It's clear that you consider killing these kind of people as beneath you.”

Oh great, Crawford thought, he's in one of his saner, talkative moods. At least he was more controllable when he was like this, but it also meant that he used his brain, which in turn meant that he was more likely to question, and Crawford hated to be questioned.

“These kind of low lives are beneath all of us, even Schuldig, but they're a means to an end, a way of getting much bigger prizes”, he added with a calculated smirk. “Killing people like this Kase will give us the leverage that we will need.”

Outside the door of the flat, Crawford and Farfarello stood side by side, as Crawford knocked on the door.

“There's only two of them right?”

“Yes and we're killing one and taking the other.”

Farfarello licked his knife, excitement beginning to rise. He wasn't really mad, well not all the time anyway, he just enjoyed ripping people to pieces. Now who hasn't wanted to do that at some point in their lives?

“What the hell do you want? Look if you're from those Takatori bastards you can just go and tell them to - “

Crawford smirked as he saw the man hit the floor, he always did have a good right hook. Farfarello was chuckling again, clearly enjoying the blood trickling down from the man's nose.

“Kase, kase? What's going -”

Ken stooped dead as he came into the living room from the bedroom. He looked from Crawford to Farfarello to Kase on the floor. He took a step back as Crawford approached him, not knowing whether to keep watching the man coming towards him or the other man now circling his ex lover.

“We're not here to hurt you, we've come to take you.” Yet there was nothing in Crawford's voice that was remotely reassuring.

“But Kase, you -”

“I said that we wouldn't hurt you, not him. Besides what do you care, weren't you about to leave him?”

“Yes, but - i don't understand.”

“You will.” With that he turned from Ken, looking towards Farfarello he nodded his head so the show could begin.

Farfarello gave his knife one last lick before plunging it deep into Kase's right cheek, delighting in the screams and blood oozing out of the wound. Moving the knife down towards the man's jaw, cutting away his bottom lip, Farfarello proceeded up the left cheek. He was amazed that the man was still awake, still screaming, still desperately trying to buck him off, he laughed at the man's fight.

In the background Ken was screaming, trying to get to Kase to save him, as futile as that attempt would have been. Crawford was holding him off with ease, whist calmly explaining to Ken all the things that Kase had done; the drug dealing and the murders.

Ken knew this stuff already, that was why he was leaving him. It didn't matter though, Kase was still a human being, he couldn't let this happen.

“What's wrong with you, despite what he's done he doesn't deserve this. LET ME GO!”

Ken was swinging his arms about, trying to twist his body out of Crawford's iron grip.

“Even though he was the one that drugged you, got you kicked off the J-league Ken? Ruined your life and career?”

Crawford timed his little announcement to perfection, just at the moment that Farfarello cut out the man's tongue, leaving him to choke to death on his own blood.

Kase's desperate gagging, though, could not be heard. Not over Ken's screams of anguish at seeing the man die, and learning to truth of the betrayal of the man he had loved. Fire erupted over the dead body, catching Farfarello by surprise, who jumped up quickly. More fires sprang up on the couch and in the kitchen. It was definitely time to leave.

Crawford turned the boy around, grabbing his face, “Ken we have to leave now before the fires gets out of control, you can't handle it yet.”

“Kase - drugged me?”

“Yes he did. but he's gone now, come on.”

With that Farfarello and Crawford lead a shell-shocked Ken out of the building, with most of the upper floors engulfed in flames. Fire engines were just pulling up outside, with people in the building screaming out of the windows, not that the three men walking out took much notice: two because they simply didn't care, and one because he could barely acknowledge anything.

* * * * *

Schuldig grabbed Yohji's wrists as he leant in to kiss him, causing the younger man to stare up at his lover in confusion.

“What's wrong? You've been acting strange all evening. Has something happened? Is it me?”

Schuldig pulled back with a gasp, as he was overcome with intense anxiety and pain. God, Schuldig thought, Yohji could sure promote his feelings, they really needed to get a grip on it.

“No it's not you, there's nothing wrong, i hope.”

“What's going on then?”

“We need to talk, about that stuff from last night.”

Schuldig took Yohji by the hand, and lead him to sit at the kitchen table of Yohji's small studio flat. Turning so that he was looking directly at Yohji, he braced himself for the worst.

“The thing is i know about Asuka, and i know who is responsible for her death.”

As each word of the sentence had left Schuldig's mouth, Yohji had shrunk further back desperate not to believe the words.

“What? - how?”

Schuldig exhaled, he had gone over how he was going to put this many times, but now the moment was here, every way of saying it seemed so stupid.

“I know because i am a telepath, and i read it in your thoughts.”

“Haha,” Yohji looked at Schuldig in disbelief, his face and empathy betraying his emotions of intense hurt and pain. “Your making jokes about the death of the woman i love“.

/No, i'm not./

“Holy shit, what the hell?”

“Yohji calm down please, just listen to me.”

Yohji got up from his chair, pacing to and throw in his kitchen. The man can speak in my mind, read my mind, intruded into my thoughts and is now throwing the memory of Asuka back in my face. Yohji let out a scream as an intense pain, that he hadn't felt since he had seen Asuka die, ripped through his body, leaving him lying on the floor in agony.

Schuldig raced to his young lover's side, pulling him up in his arms and cradling the back of his head.

“Yohji i'm sorry, i should have gone about this better.”

“What have you done to me?”

“It wasn't me, it was you.”

“No.”

Yohji violently shook his head, despite that doing so was causing him more pain. It couldn't be true, he hadn't been responsible for all that pain. He had always known that he was extremely sensitive, feeling so much pain throughout his life, but he had a hard childhood, it just meant that he was sympathetic to others that's all.

“No Yohji, it's not just that. The pain that you felt when Asuka died, the way you can pick up on others hurt and anxieties, that's not normal.”

“No, your wrong. I'm just sensitive, that's all.”

“Please listen to me so that i can help you. You feel emotions, other people's emotions, and your own intensify because you can't control it.”

“No. Let me up, i want you to leave. You're a liar and a freak, and i'm not like you.”

“Yohji, the pain that you felt just a minute ago, the pain that you felt when Asuka died, you remember right? You did that, it's your power.”

Yohji wanted to scream out no, that Schuldig was wrong and it was just his weird ability playing with him, but the memory of Asuka's death combined with his new lover's betrayal once again filled him with agony.

Schuldig clung to his lover, lambasting himself for not going about this better. Stroking the younger man's face, he attempted to get Yohji to experience some of his feelings, how much he cared and how much he was worrying about the man.

Yohji continued to shake violently, as the image of Asuka dying, and the acknowledgement of what Schuldig had done, replayed in his head. Desperately trying to overcome the intense pain anyway he could, Yohji began to feel other emotions enter him; loving worry and the want to comfort and protect. How could he be feeling these things when he was in so much pain? Whilst Yohji had always been able to feel a little bit of what others could feel, it had never been like this before. As the pain inside of him began to ease, he knew instinctively that it was Schuldig that he was feeling.

“Schu - what's happening to me?”

“You're gonna be ok, i'm going to help you. Don't be afraid Yohji you're special, and i'm going to take you with me to meet other special people ok?”

“I'm scared, I’ve never felt things as much as this before, i thought that it was just because i was a sensitive person.”

He attempted a laugh, the only way he felt that he could cope with what had just happened to him.

“You are sensitive, you‘re just extra-sensitive. Do you think you can get up? we need to leave.”

“Yes i can, where are we going?”

With Schuldig's feelings inside of him, the pain he had felt was beginning to fade, and Yohji wondered for a moment what that meant. Did it mean that Schuldig's love could overcome the pain of Asuka?

“You're coming to meet my family, and i mean family in inverted commas by the way.”

* * * * *

“Do you get it now Nagi-kun?” Omi gave his young friend a smile.

“Yes thank you Omi.” He had never had a problem with it to begin with, he was a young genius after all, but Omi didn't need to know about that.

“I don't know why you're so worried though Nagi, you're already so advanced, they won't mind that you take a while to understand some things.”

“Yes i suppose you're right, i just want to get it all right.”

“Your family must be so proud.”

“Ah - yeah i guess, they know i'm smart and they - find it very useful.”

“I'm sorry Nagi, i forgot that you were like me, not actually raised by your family. You would think that i would remember, i'm just so worried about Ken.”

Oh great him again. Nagi screwed his face up in annoyance.

“It's ok, Crawford and that lot are effectively my family.”

“Yes of course he must be, he raised you after all. Is he a nice man? Would you like a drink?”

“Oh yes please.” Omi got up from the table and went to the refrigerator. “Crawford's ok, he's quite strict but he's always been good to me.”

Omi returned to the table with orange juice for them both.

“So what about you? How come you ended up here with Mamoe-san?”

“Oh - erm.” Omi went slightly red and looked down at his drink, he very rarely had to explain this story, most people didn’t like to ask. “Well i don't have a family really either. I have an uncle, but i don't see him that much. He left me here with Mamoe-san because she's an old friend of his, and he sends his PA around sometimes to check up on me.”

“Oh, don't you wish that he played more of a role?”

“Well... i don't really know him anyway, and Mamoe-san is lovely and she looks after me, besides he thinks this is the best way to keep me safe.”

“What do you mean?”

Nagi was really curious now, of course he had done some research into Omi but found very little on him. What information there was of him, only went back ten years ago, it was as if he hadn't existed before that. Actually it had infuriated Nagi that he hadn't been able to find out more, he had never failed in finding information before.

“Well... i was kidnapped.”

Omi looked up at his young friend as he said it, he never told anyone about it, he didn't know what to expect from Nagi. Nagi, for his part, was completely at a loss at what to say. Staring at Omi with his mouth open, gaping like a fish, he had not expected that at all.

“Gosh Omi, i - i don't know what to say.”

“It's ok, you don't have to say anything.” Offering a reassuring smile, he added “would you like to stay for dinner?”

/Answers no Nagi, Crawford says get home now, we have two newbees./

/Fine, i'm coming, stop listening in to my conversations./

“I'm sorry Omi, I have to go, Crawford's expecting me. Can i come around tomorrow?”

“Of course you can, I’ll show you to the door.”

* * * * *

Falling Empires ch.3

2008-06-26T22:09:57Z

Title: Falling Empires ch.3
Fandom: Weiss Kreuz
Pairings: CrawfordxRan, SchuldigxYohji
Rating: R
Warnings: violence, references to rape, torture.

Chapter 3

Ran warily entered the club, he hated these kind of places. It was dark and smoky, the music was loud, vibrating on his ear drums, the people were all sleazy and sex crazed, as always. Even now he could see them in the dark corners of the room, grinding their bodies and doing god knows what. He sighed reminding himself that they were the kind of people that he needed. Looking towards the dance floor, he stared at all the young people his age, drinking, dancing, having fun. He could never be like them.

Ran noticed the looks being given his way, he knows what most of them are thinking, the building lust in their eyes gives it away. He had grown up always feeling like a freak, at least one thing he had learnt in the last year was that his looks got him punters. Ran walked over to the bar, he wanted to attract the right sort of guy. Ideally someone rich, and someone not to violent or in to all that BDSM stuff, he hated that, normally he couldn't walk for days afterwards.

At the bar Ran locked eyes with the barman, a young guy with blonde hair and green eyes, good looking too. They nodded to each other, though they have not always got on in the past, he had never stopped Ran from touting in the club.

"So what brings you here?"

"Wow Yohji, do you get dumber every time I see you? What do you think i'm doing here?"

"So it's not for a nice drink, and to have some fun like a normal person then Aya?'" Yohji laughed at the red head.

Winding him up was so easy, and it served him right for being so stuck-up and prickly all the time. Honestly, the guy’s a bloody hooker and yet he still finds a way to look down on everyone, unbelievable.

"Leave it alone Yohji, I’m not in the mood."

Yohji noticed the dark circles under the boy’s eyes, his skin was paler to (if that was possible). He could sense that the guy was extremely low and depressed, the fact that he hadn't argued more with Yohji worried him. Even though Aya was a prostitute he had always been a fighter, now it was like he was giving up. All of a sudden Yohji was overcome with feelings of desperate despair, anger and loneliness. He only ever felt something like that when he thought of Asuka. No. he told himself, I mustn't think of her now, she’s gone.

Ran watched Yohji with complete bemusement, what was he playing at? He acted as if someone had kicked him in the gut, how weird was that?.

"What the hell is wrong with you? Why you acting all weird?"

"Ah ...... heart burn, it's alright now. So how comes you ended up here, you don't normally come to these places unless you have to right?"

"Well that should tell you something then shouldn't it"

"Yeah well, whatever man, do what you want."

Yohji had his own life to deal with, his own demons to face. The last thing he needed was to deal with some mouthy street whore, with a terrible attitude problem.

Ran snorted to himself, that guy was such a prick, he had no idea what kind of shit other people have to deal with. Anyway it was time to find work, the sooner the better. Looking around he could see the stares still being generated his way, all he had to do was wait, someone will finally pluck up the courage and ask. He was right, it wasn't too long before some guy did come up to him. Dark hair, dark eyes, slimy little pervert, the usual.

"Hello there gorgeous, i haven't seen you around here before."

"Well i prefer to not work in these kind of places usually. Of course that doesn't mean that I’m not eager." It was always better to just get to the point.

"I see, well... how much are you exactly, maybe we could reach a deal."

The man smiled showing white teeth, and Aya had to fight to suppress a need to gag.

Over to his right he could see Yohji chatting to some guy with bright orange hair, and what the hell is he wearing? It was funny because for a minute Ran thought he recognised the guy, but that couldn't be possible, he didn't know any foreigners, and he would definitely remember a guy with hair like that.

"I'm 200 for the night."

"200 that's steep! Hmmm well…" The man looked Ran up and down "You look like you may be worth it, so we'll see shall we?"

"No. I want the money up front, NO disappearing acts."

The man just laughed, he liked the boys spirit, it was refreshing to see.

* * * * *

"AYA you little shit! How dare you lie to me?!"

Ran stood in horror as Ryuuichi stormed towards him, now he was in trouble. How did He find out?

"Out doing extra work i see. Are you forgetting that i own you? Everything that you make comes through me first, got it?"

It was emphasised with a brutal slap to the face. Ran gasped as his cheek began to sting and blood poured from his lip.

"Look I’m sorry, but i needed the money, and i knew that you would take it, and -"

A punch to the gut cut-off Ran's sentence, leaving him gasping in pain.

"You little shit, like i give a shit about you and your needs. You work for me, whatever money you make goes to me and i decide if you deserve any."

Ryuuichi grabbed Ran by his hair pulling his face upwards.

"You honestly thought that you would get away with it? You stupid boy. I control your life Ran, Aya whatever name you choose to use it makes no difference, you're still mine."

With that said, Ryuuichi continued to pull on Ran's hair leading him towards the exit.

"Ah...hang on just a minute, but we had just been discussing a price and -"

"Not tonight buddy, this one needs to be taught a lesson, another time maybe."

Ryuichi and Ran continued on their way out of the club.

* * * * *

At the other end of the bar, Schuldig turned to the sexy barman he had been chatting to.

"Wow...wonder what that was all about huh?"

Yohji looked concerned, things did not look good for Aya. He had heard of Ryuuichi and never anything good, he hoped Aya would be alright.

"It was just a whore and his pimp, we get them in here sometimes, classy place that we are."

He smiled at Schuldig, this foreigner was pretty cool and he made him feel so at ease, in fact he didn't feel anything when he was around him, it was such a relief.

Schuldig smiled at Yohji, he liked this guy, he was fun and easy going. Of course he, like nearly everyone else, had terrible pain in his past, but like Schuldig he had managed to hide it pretty well. Schuldig had caught his earlier thoughts of Asuka, and even though he himself was no empath, he could tell the pain that Yohji inflicted upon himself whenever he thought of her. Silly really, but Yohji didn't really know about his power and he definitely didn't know how to control it, but Schuldig would show him, teach him, love him. And why not? Crawford was going to get his powerful little pet, why couldn't Schuldig have one too?

Oh thinking of mister-stick-up-his-ass...

/Bradley, your little Kätzchen is about to get his pretty little ass kicked./

/I know all about the pimp Schuldig, and do not call me that. It's Crawford, C-R-A-W-F-O-R-D./

/Ja ja whatever./

/Just make sure you're there on time tonight okay./

Schuldig snorted to himself, Crawford... what an ass. Smirking he turned back around to mister-sexy-barman and asked:

"so what time do you finish tonight?"

* * * * *

With hands shaking violently, Ran finally managed to get the keys in the lock. He opened the door and stepped into his run down bed sit. Flicking on the light, he limped over to his bed, and rather unceremoniously fell down on to it. Yelping in pain he quickly jumped up again, realising that he has just laid down on his bad arm.

Ran slowly made his way over to the mirror, placed above the sink in the corner of the room, to look at himself... split lip, bruised and cut cheek, black eye and that was just his face. His arm felt sprained and so did his ankle, and that was just the beating. Ran didn't want to think about anything else, the other stuff He had done. It wasn’t as if it was the first time He had done it to punish him, but that didn’t stop the tears of hate, anger and humiliation well up inside.

Ran managed to steady himself. No, he couldn’t cry, he had to be strong, he had to be, there was nobody else now, he must be strong for them both.

Turning the taps on, he began to wash his face, the warm water stinging each time he ran the cloth over a fresh cut. That done he gingerly took his clothes off, there tightness making them inevitably touch his injuries. Ran winced and once again had to steady himself, breathing heavily. Finally clean, out of his rotten working clothes and in to a baggy jumper and jogging bottoms, Ran searched his one cupboard for food.

His bed sit was small, it only contained a bed, a sink with mirror above and cupboard underneath, a rice cooker and microwave next to that, to the left was a small wet room with shower and toilet, there was also a small chest of draws for his clothes. It was dirty and grimy, the wall paper and paint pealing off the walls, barely fit for human habitation, but the best that he can afford. Besides it was better then a squat and Ran definitely did not want to go back to that again.

Finding just a can of tuna left, Ran shook his head his dismay. He really needed to go shopping, but with no money and that bastard on his case he was not able to. Checking his pockets, there was just a few notes left, Ryuuichi had taken everything.

Suddenly remembering that he also had another mouth to feed, Ran limped over to the window and opened it. It didn’t take long for the kitten to arrive, it never did, the poor thing was as hungry as he was. Opening the can of tuna and quickly eating half of it, Ran then looked down at the pitiful creature now on his bed. Sitting down next to it, Ran gave a small sigh before offering the other half of the can.

Looking down at the little fur ball, Ran allowed himself to smile, it was such a rare thing he had almost forgotten how. In truth this kitten had gotten him through some pretty bad times, it was his only friend in the world, and he really did need a friend right now.

"Oh kitten, what am i going to do hmmm?"

The cat looked up at Ran to give a small meow as it moved over, closer to him. Ran smiled again and began to stroke it behind the ears.

"Asking a cat for help, i really must be losing it. How am i going to get myself out of this? Where am i going to get that kind of money from? Why did he have to ...? how did he know ...?" Tears welled up again in Ran's eyes, as he picked the kitten up and drew it towards him.

"No one deserves this."

Ran lied down on the bed, cradling his kitten in his arms and began to sob to himself, as he slowly carried them both off into sleep.

* * * * *

Across town Crawford stepped along the corridor of a filthy block of flats, each room giving off noises of some lewd act or drunken and drug fuelled debauchery. The block was in the centre of the red light district of Tokyo, and it showed. Crawford tried his best not to show how much the area and its filth affected him, it was simply disgusting and usually he would not be seen dead in a place like this. Walking up to number 30 Crawford stopped to check that his suit is still immaculate, and turned his nose up as he saw the dirt on his usually pristine shoes. Knocking twice on the door he could hear the noise of a chair being knocked over, and a man cursing about his disturbance. Crawford smirked, it was time this guy got his comeuppance.

"What the hell d'you want? Who are you?"

Crawford looked down at the man and asked "Are you Ryuuichi?"

"Yeah, and who the hell are you?"

Crawford easily pushed past him and into the man's small flat. Looking around the place Crawford sneered to himself; the man was simply disgusting. He could not wait to make him pay for what he had done to Ran.

"Oi, what the hell are you doing? Who do you think you are? Do you have any idea who i am? I'll have you fucking killed you shitbag."

Crawford turned to the man and smirked at him, pleased to see the man blanch slightly and then try to hide it.

"You pathetic piece of trash!"

Crawford's blue eyes turned to cold steel, and his face took on a mask of indifference that promised pain, as he pulled out his gun and shot the pimp in the leg.

The room was filled with screams and curses, as Ryuuichi thrashed around on the ground, his face contorted in a expression of agony. Behind him there is a deep chuckle, and he suddenly realised that he had left the door open after the man had barged in.

Crawford knelt down and looked at the man on the floor, pure hatred radiating across his face.

"We're taking the boy off of your hands. He is far to good for a pathetic normal like you. But don't worry you won't miss him, you won't miss anyone soon enough."

Giving a small laugh Crawford stood up and began to head towards the door.

"Can i play now? I want to make him bleed".

"Whatever you want Farfarello, take as long as you need. No one will care about him."

Ryuuichi's blood turned cold at those words and he began to shudder violently. Crawford carried on his way out the door, as Farfarello took out his knife and licked the sharpened blade. Screams of agony followed Crawford out of the building and into the dark and dirty street.

* * * * *

On the other side of Tokyo, Schuldig slowly woke up from a comfortable sleep. Looking around he realised the room was not his own. It was a nice place, though a little messy, and it smelt of cigarette smoke and booze. Schuldig began to remember the night he had, and smirked to himself as he looked to his left at the young man next to him. Oh mister-sexy-barman how good you were tonight. Yohji shifted uncomfortably in the sheets, and Schuldig recognized the pained look on his face.

"Asuka... Asuka... No please no…"Oh this again, that damn woman! If she wasn't already dead i would kill her myself

Gradually and with caution Schuldig slipped into Yohji's mind, to see again that repeated nightmare. Treading carefully Schuldig attempted to will Yohji's subconscious away from the scene, without waking him up, it proved to be rather tricky.

Eventually Yohji did leave the nightmare and went on to another dream. Calming down he emanated a feeling of comfort and trust. Schuldig deeply regretted that he had to leave right at this moment, but if he is late Crawford will probably shoot him, and that could be painful.

"Don't worry my little kitten, I’ll come back i promise."

/I'll keep you safe, I’ll love you, you will be mine soon/

Carefully, so as not to disturb his sleeping lover, he got out of bed, put on his clothes, and headed towards the door.

* * * * *

The door to the bed sit unlocked easily and quietly, without disturbing the sleeping forms on the bed. Crawford walked into the small room and looked around. The room was run-down and sparse as he had expected, though there were a few material pocessions. On top of the chest of draws was a picture of the boy’s family, and next to that was a picture of the girl in the first photo, which Crawford knew to be the boy’s sister.

Walking over to the bed he peered down at the two forms sleeping there and gave a small chuckle, the boy was soft and it will be easy to manipulate him. Sitting down on the edge of the bed, Crawford noticed the dried tears on the beautiful face and something inside of him tightened. It was true that when he had found out about the pimp and what he had done to Ran, he was indescribably angry, and anything that Farfarello has done the guy he had deserved. That did not mean, though, that he felt something for the boy. No, certainly not.

As Ran continued to sleep, Crawford lowered his hand to the boy’s face and brushed the bangs away, causing Ran to stir.

"Ran, come on, wake-up now sleeping beauty."

A slight shake and the boy's violet eyes fluttered open and stared at Crawford, completely dazed.

"What? You! What do you want? How did you get in here?"

Ran shifted on the bed as he tried to move further away from Crawford. The kitten woke with a start, hissing at their intruder and his own personal disturbance from sleep.

Crawford couldn't help but give a mocking laugh as he watched them both, neither of them seeming to realise they really had no way out.

"You need to calm down Ran, I will explain everything to you as soon as you come along with me."

"What? Get the hell away from me!"

Ran quickly got up and seeing that he could not get past, he lashed out at Crawford, hoping to catch him by surprise. No such luck. Though the boy had some skill, and obviously had past training, he was no match for Crawford. Besides the boy was injured, he didn't even really need to use his power to beat him, but thought he might as well just to prove his point. Every attempt by Ran was dodged and soon Ran found himself on his back on the bed, held down and helpless, his kitten hissing in the background but not making a move.

"I can counter any move you make. You will never to able to strike me. I can foresee your every move."

"Foresee my every move? What -"

"- the hell, you're mad, get away from me, right? I even know what you are going to say. I know everything that you will do."

Noticing the boy wince, Crawford released his arms and rose from the bed. In the doorway Ran noticed another figure come into view.

"You're late Schuldig, i started five minutes ago."

"Yeah well, i figured that you would want some alone time, just the two of you yeah." Schuldig said as let himself into the small room and closed the door behind him, turning around to look at the boy.

"What do you want with me?" Oh god not again, not again, I’ll fight, i won't let anyone do this to me again.

"Ha, don't worry little kitten that's really not my style, actually neither are you really. Well... i don't know though, i guess you are kind of cute, isn't he Crawford?"

/Enough Schuldig. Just show him your power so that we can convince him to come with us, and get out of this dump./

"God Crawford, always straight down to business, you know some people have fun."

/Schuldig!/

"What's going on? How did you know what i was thinking?"

/Because that's what i do. I can read your mind and communicate with it just like I’m doing now./

Ran noticed that the other man's mouth wasn't moving as he spoke to him, and the voice was in his head, not coming through his ears.Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god.

/Crawford he's gonna freak out./

/We'll deal with it./

Ran jumped up from the bed and ran towards the door, in a vein attempt to escape. His injured leg proving again to be a major obstruction, as again did Crawford, who easily grabbed him and pulled him back to the bed, holding him down.

"Stop struggling and listen to me."

"Just tell me what you want."

"What Schuldig just did, this man here with me. What he did is called telepathy. I can see the future and you can conjure things out of thin air. I know you can do it I’ve seen you, you did it when i fucked you remember, the knife."

"Yes...Ok. I did that, i can sort of, but... not very well, and that doesn't explain what you want."

"We want, no we insist that you come with us. You're one of us and we have others like you at home. You will be one of us and you will have a proper life. Furthermore you will be free, we have killed your pimp."

"You.... you've what?"

"Oh please" Schuldig butted in, "don't tell us you're upset for the guy. He beat you, he raped you, he took all your money so you couldn't save your sister."

"How do you know about my sister?"

"We know all about you" Schuldig answered. "But with us, you'll be paid loads of money, and in fact we'll pay your sister's medical bills for you, tomorrow actually, if you come with us."

Ran looked from one man to the other, hardly daring to believe what he was hearing. His pimp dead, his sister safe, others that are just like him in the world.

"Of course we'll also train you in your power, get it to work for us all." Crawford interjected. "Not to mention we know who is responsible for your families... 'accident'. We can get you that revenge that you so badly want. We'll help you and you'll help us."

"I...i need time to think."

"Think quickly."

In truth there was not much for Ran to think about. I could pay my sister's medical bills, he thought, have this power thing work properly, and get out of this horrible way of life.

/I think we have nearly got your little boy Crawford./

/How much more convincing does he need?/

/Nothing that i can't handle./

/Then do it quickly./

It didn't take much, a small mental nudge and the boy was theirs. Think of your sister you can save her, you can avenge her, you can have a family and friends again. Schuldig smirked as he saw his manipulation work, as the boy came to his inevitable decision. Something else caught his attention though, connected to that last thought, an image of Crawford. Schuldig had to restrain himself from making a snarky comment, Crawford will have his hands full with this one.

"Alright i'll come... for my sister."

"Of course" Schuldig replied with a smirk.

Ran quickly packed his stuff, he didn't have much; some clothes, toothbrush, the photographs and the kitten. Both Crawford and Schuldig did a double take, a cat!

"Ah no, you can't bring that." Crawford said very stiffly.

"But his mine, i look after him. I won't leave without him." Ran sat down on the bed, pulling the kitten close with a hard scowl on his face. Schuldig laughed out loud this time.

/Ah, come on Crawford, what harm can a kitten really do, besides it suits him./

/I hate animals!/

Crawford looked again at the boy and his kitten, massaging the bridge of his nose in annoyance. It was a common thing to do whenever Schuldig was around, it was just surprising that this time Schuldig was not the one causing him problems.

"Alright, you can keep the damn pet. Now lets get out of this dump."

* * * * *

Fic: Quality Time

2008-03-17T21:54:15Z

Title: Quality Time (oneshot)
Pairing: YohjixAya
Rating: 15
Warnings: Not really
Summary: Yohji takes Aya on a romantic break to London.

Quality Time

Yohji sighed as he looked up and down the aisle, it was late at night and it had been the only shop open in the immediate area. Where there was supposed to be boxes of chocolates piled high, there were only a few scattered remains of those that hadn’t been brought that day.

Yohji didn’t get it, he really didn’t. This was London right? It was supposed to be a 24 hour city right? So why was everywhere bloody closed? Furthermore what the hell was with the English and chocolate? Nearly everything was gone, it was as if there was a chocolate ration coming and everyone had decided to stock-up.

Yohji shook his head. This would never have happened back in Tokyo. In Tokyo he wouldn’t have even had to go out for chocolate, Aya would never have demanded chocolate back at home, Yohji was sure. He huffed in anger, stupid Aya, as if bringing him to London for a romantic getaway was not good enough, he had to go and find chocolate for him too. Unbelievable. Yohji had considered pointing out the chocolate mints that these fancy hotels put on the pillows, but decided that would probably have gotten him a punch in the face and, worst of all, no sex!

Instead then, Yohji had had to come out in the middle of the night, looking for a shop that sells chocolate, because Aya had demanded that for the evening to be romantic Yohji had to buy him some. This of course was the same Aya who hated it when he felt like Yohji was treating him as the ‘woman’ in the relationship. Yohji smiled to himself, considering the way that Aya always had Yohji so confused and the fact that he could never tell what Aya was thinking, he definitely was the woman in the relationship.

Picking up on of the few remaining boxes, a long funny shaped thing with Quality Street written on it, Yohji shrugged and carried it over to the cashier.

Entering the hotel room, Yohji was amazed to be met with the scene in front of him. There were candles everywhere, music in the background, rose petals on the floor leading to the bed. Aya walked up to Yohji, dressed in a silk dressing gown and, Yohji could tell, nothing else underneath. He held out a glass of red wine, with a mischievous smile playing across his face.

"What’s all this about?" Yohji asked, staring at his lover and trying very hard not to smile like a Cheshire cat.

"Well, you brought me to London on a romantic trip; I wanted to do something romantic for you too. We are equals in this relationship remember."

How could Yohji forget? "So this chocolate errand of yours, you sent me out in the middle of the night for nothing." Yohji attempted to give an impression of being pissed off, but from Aya’s smile he could tell that it wasn’t working.

"No, I still want the chocolates, what did you get?"

"Just these, there wasn’t much left. It was like there was some chocolate monster on the loose in London."

Aya laughed, he handed Yohji his glass of wine, and took the box of Quality Street. "Yeah it’s called Easter Yohji, everyone goes mad over here buying chocolate."

"Oh yeah great, now you tell me."

Yohji sipped his wine and walked over to the bed, shrugging his jacket off along the way. He sat down on the bed, back leaning against the massive pillows, "So you gonna make it up to me then? You know sending on a wild goose chase and all."

Aya walked over to Yohji and crawled on top of him, straddling his body. "It wasn’t a wild goose chase I really did want chocolate". He took the glass from Yohji’s hand placing it on the side and opened the box, pulling out a round sweet covered in orange wrapping. Undoing the wrapper, he unveiled the chocolate underneath and placed it into Yohji’s mouth.

"Mmmm, orange flavour. I thought they were for you?"

"I don’t mind sharing."

Aya leant in to kiss Yohji, tasting the orange flavoured chocolate still in the man’s mouth. Yohji took the packet away, placing it on the side, before grabbing Aya’s hips and turning them both over, so that Aya was underneath him. Yohji quickly removed his remaining clothes, before slowly taking off Aya’s robe. He loved the way the silk felt on his fingers and as he slid it across Aya’s smooth skin. Yohji picked up the box again and rummaged through until he found the one he was looking for. It was another round chocolate, this time covered in red wrapping. He undid the wrapping and placed in on Aya’s abdomen.

"This is strawberry flavour. It’s my favourite, it tastes like you."

He slowly moved the sweet up Aya’s body, coming to a stop in the dip where his collar bones met, just before his neck. Yohji moved his head back down and began to lick the path that the chocolate had just taken, stopping just before the neck. Aya moaned as his body tingled, he was already getting hard, and he wanted more. Yohji resumed pushing the chocolate on its path, up Aya’s neck and into his mouth. Aya took it enthusiastically as well as sucking on Yohji’s fingers. Yohji pulled his hand away out of Aya‘s grasp, and moved it down Aya’s body to his growing member. He began to lightly stroke him, whilst moving his head to the side of Aya’s neck to nuzzle him. Aya had a sensitive neck, and Yohji loved to tease it.

"Yohji", Aya moaned as if in pain.

"How does it taste?" He leant in again to kiss Aya, delving his tongue into the warm chasm tinged with the taste of strawberry and chocolate. It tasted good.

Aya raised his hand up and fisted Yohji’s hair, pulling him away. "Enough just do it!"

"That’s not very romantic Aya."

"I don’t care! If you don’t do it now…"

"But we’re supposed to be spending quality time together", Yohji lifted the box up again and waved it in front of Aya’s face, "you know, quality time with Quality Street."

"Yohji please!"

Yohji smiled down at the beautiful red head beneath him, he never could resist, the man was just too gorgeous. Instead he gave a dramatic sigh and rolled his eyes, "oh the things I do for you."

Aya laughed as Yohji once again began to caress and kiss him. Quality time in deed.

Fic: The Winner

2008-02-03T16:25:33Z

Title: The Winner (oneshot)
Fandom: Weiss Kreuz (After Kapital, no Gluhen)
Rating: R
Pairing: CrawfordxAya
Warnings: sex, angst, lovey-dovey stuff, Crawford's a bit OOC (i think)
Summary: Aya's yearning for Crawford but struggles to admit it until it turns out that Crawford is feeling the same way.

The Winner

'Well another one bites the dust, I’m off, see you all tomorrow'.

And with that Yohji turned off his ear piece and went on his merry way. Aya could hear Omi sigh at the man's antics, Aya really didn't care what Yohji got up to anyway and he really wasn't in the mood to hear Omi and Ken threat over Yohji's state of mind. For God's sake the man was a adult, let him make his own mistakes.

'I'm off too, I’ve got some stuff to sort out'.

'But Aya-Kun we really should discuss things, debrief, you know'.

'Yeah well, we'll do it tomorrow, i've got to go'.

With that Aya joined Yohji in abandoning the younger team members for the night. He may have felt slightly guilty over it, but his overriding feeling was just to get the hell away.

He had no place in mind to go, he thought about the clubs and bars that Yohji went to, but he had never really like those places, and he definitely didn't have the right clothes. Rounding a corner he came out onto a main road buzzing with clubbers and drunken youths. Stupid, ignorant, pricks, always happy and having fun, their whole lives ahead to them. He passed a young couple kissing passionately and was ashamed at the spark of jealousy he felt. He had never cared about that kind of stuff before, not until He came on the scene, making passes at him whilst they were fighting, making him have sex with him, threatening his sister. Stupid, American, Jerk, who the hell does he think he is?

If Aya was truthful with himself he hadn't really minded the sex, though of course he was against it at first, he had to admit Crawford was good, really good. Thinking of all the things the man had done to him, Aya could feel his cock growing in his pants. 'Oh great he's not even here to molest me and I’m still losing to him'.

Yes Aya had lost to him: whilst he had struggled against the man everything was ok, it was when he started to enjoy it, to love the way Crawford made him feel, to enjoy the time they spent together, then everything went wrong. Schwartz had practically disappeared off the radar after the elder's downfall, and Crawford hadn't been in touch at all.

So stupid, so fucking stupid. How could he have left That Man do this to him?

Walking to along the crowded street Aya grew more agitated as drunken club goers barged past him. Having people surrounding him had always irritated Aya and made him feel insecure, he just couldn't handle people.

What. The. Hell. Is. That? Aya halted in his tracks, someone had their hand on the back of his neck, someone has their hands on him!!! Now Aya had really had enough, he still had his kantana on him and this someone is about to lose a limb.

Swinging around Aya withdrew his Kantana only to have his arm grabbed and pulled behind his back, his body was pushed back around to the front, and the man's other arm came around to hold his chin.

'Naughty kitty, I thought you'd be pleased to see me, you were very pleased to see me the last time we met'.

'Bastard, let me go!'.

People walking past them stared, Crawford just laughed.

'My friend's a bit drunk, thinks he's a samurai warrior when he gets like this'. The people laughed and most went on without a second thought. Stupid idiots, they laughed at him, they actually laughed at him.

'Your going to pay for that Crawford'.

'Mmmm later maybe, let's talk somewhere more comfortable shall we?'

That somewhere more comfortable happened to be an alley near by and Aya was curious to know how this could be considered comfortable.

'Let me go!'

To Aya surprise Crawford did let him go, practically throwing him towards the wall. Aya steadied himself and then immediately tried to attack again. His efforts were easily thwarted by Crawford, who had a smirk on his face the entire time.

'Oh come on Aya, you can do better then that'.

It was true, as much as he hated to admit it, he wasn't really fighting that hard and deep down he cursed himself for it, but couldn't help it, he never could where Crawford was involved. Crawford always was the winner.

Aya gave in easily and moved to lean on the wall.

'So what do you want?'

'Have you forgotten our agreement?'

'You're still threatening my sister? I thought we'd moved passed that'. He couldn't help the disappointment that crept into his voice, he had truly hoped that he had been more then just an easy fuck for the man, but obviously not.

Crawford shrugged 'I thought that you may need reminding, i figured you wouldn't be so happy with how long ii had left things'.

'Have you had that damn telepath read my mind again'.

Crawford smirked again 'so you have been craving for me'.

Aya turned his head away in a huff. Crawford sighed and gently grabbed Aya's chin, turning his face back around to kiss him. The kiss was as gentle as the touch and it surprised Aya, it was almost tender and caring.

Breaking away from the kiss Crawford looked straight into Aya's eyes, though he was wearing his glasses which always made it difficult to read Crawford, Aya was sure that he had seen something there.

'Aya, i don't want to force you, i thought you had been enjoying it?'

'I had been, but you left without even a word, i haven't heard from you in months, i... i thought you cared about me'. Aya hung his head in shame, in one way it was a relief to finally get his hurt off his chest but he couldn't believe he had just opened himself up to his enemy like that.

Crawford slid his hand down Aya's check 'i do, i do care for you. I had stuff to sort out, we killed the elders we had prices on our heads'. Aya looked up, this certainly hadn't been what he was expecting.

'I will tell you everything soon, i promise. But right now i just want you. It's been so hard being away from you, come with me tonight, let me touch you again'.

Aya leant in to Crawford, resting his head on the man's shoulder. Off course it could be all lies, just a plot to kill him, but they had never really tried to kill them before. Aya couldn't help it, he had feelings for this man, Crawford would always win.

* * * * *

Crawford's flat was exactly as he had remembered it. Everything had its place, everything was in order, and best of all no trace of Schwartz.

Aya sat on the bed in the bedroom, looking up at Crawford with a glare, which clearly wasn't doing its job as Crawford was looking back down at him with a smile. Aya blinked, a smile, an actual smile. Crawford walked towards him with two glasses of wine and offered one to him. Gingerly taking the drink and smelling it, Aya returned to staring at Crawford with a miss-trusting look.

'well, what do you want me to do this time?'

'I have no intentions of forcing you Aya, you don't have to dress-up for me anymore - unless you want to of course'. Crawford smirked as Aya fixed him with another dirty glare. Of course Crawford knew that Aya had enjoyed their games as well, but he wasn't going to do any of them this time unless Aya decided to do them. The only problem was that Aya was so stubborn that he would probably never admit to enjoying their games or initiate them. Crawford decided that being nice sucks.

Crawford sat on the bed next to Aya and ran his hands along his cheek again, before leaning in to kiss him. Once again the kiss was gentle and light, with just the smallest amount of tongue involved. As Crawford breaks away and takes a sip of wine, Aya feels himself desperately yearning for more.

Making the decision that he really didn't care as to why Crawford was doing this, he just wanted to have the man now, Aya put his glass of wine on the side cabinet and then took Crawford's from him to do the same. Turning back to the man, who was giving him an amused look, he grabbed his chin and pulled him in towards him for a much longer, deeper kiss.

Pulling out of the kiss Crawford nipped the tip of Aya's nose and whispered in his ear 'as nice as that was, we're going to do something a little bit different tonight'.

'What d'you mean?'

Crawford smiled at him again and pushed him down to lay on the bed, climbing on to him, he whispered once again into his ear 'just relax Aya, i'm only going to give you pleasure'.

Aya shivered against the feel of Crawford's hot breath around his ear and neck.

Crawford pulled off Aya's t-shirt as he began to gently kiss and nip down his neck, taking the time to nuzzle into his neck, because he knew that Aya loved that. Continuing to reign kisses down his chest, he settled on teasing his nipples as his hands made work of Aya's trousers.

Aya was beside himself with the gentle kissing and touching, which was so wonderful and also just wasn't enough. Grabbing Crawford's shirt he eagerly pulled it off, tearing some buttons on the way.

Crawford, less then impressed with his ruined shirt, stopped what he was doing. 'Aya we're not doing it like that tonight'. Leaning in again to kiss Aya on the lips 'i want to go slow, i want you to feel everything, i want this to last'. Kissing his lips again, Crawford then returned to where he had left off, gradually working down Aya's body.

'Mmmm Crawford i need more, please'.

Stopping just above Aya's waistline, Crawford looks up to Aya and smiles at him again, 'soon, be patient'.

Patience, however, is not Aya's forte. Sitting up he pulls of his trousers, socks and boots and then looks to Crawford.

'Ready now'.

'Aya -'

'Oh come on, please, i can't do slow, you know i can't'. Aya grabs for Crawford's pants and starts to undo them, whilst Crawford gives a small chuckle.

'You're unbelievable, what if i stopped right now and didn't have sex with you'.

'You wouldn't, you want it too'. Pulling down Crawford's pants, he cups his cock with his hand 'see, you couldn't just stop with you being this hard'.

Crawford sighed, 'Aya just let me do this ok, just let me give this too you, please'.

How could Aya argue with that? Crawford had actually said please, Crawford had asked for permission.

Lying back on the bed Aya arched up and gasped in surprise as he was swallowed whole.

'Oh god, oh god, Crawford - need more -'.

Crawford pulled his mouth away and nipped the head of Aya's erection, before once again sliding up his body to kiss Aya's lips. He really did love kissing those lips, tasting that sweet mouth, god he really had missed Aya.

Breaking the kiss Aya slid his hands down Crawford’s chest before gently rubbing them over Crawford's cock. Receiving a nice moan for his troubles, he smiled up at the man, who had picked up a bottle of oil. Where the hell had he got that from?

Squeezing a generous amount on to his fingers, Crawford rocked their groins together as Aya continued to stroke him. Seeing that Crawford was ready to prepare him, Aya pulled his hand away and lifted his legs up to rest on the man's shoulders. Crawford circled his anus with his index finger once and then slowly slid it in, continuing his circular movements. Aya wailed at the feeling, he had waited so long for this. A second fingers was slowly inserted and Aya pushed himself nearer to Crawford, desperately needing more.

Crawford smiled down at Aya as he inserted a third finger and kissed the insides of each thigh.

'Now - please - i'm ready damn it'.

Yes he was ready, he had made sure that Aya had been prepared very well and Crawford was not going to waste time with it anymore.

Removing his fingers, Crawford covered his cock in a generous amount of oil before pushing himself into Aya, slowly and carefully. Aya moaned and arched, putting his arms around Crawford's neck he pulled him down for a kiss. Complying to Aya's wishes, the older man thrust gently into the younger man whilst passionately kissing him.

The sex was long and slow and tender, each continued to pet, caress and kiss each other as they both aimed for climax. Coming together, for the first time since Aya had been with Crawford, he had to admit that the man was right. It had been the best tonight, it had been worth doing it his way.

In the aftershock they both collapsed onto the bed, breathing heavily. Taking the time to collect himself from the high Aya was about to get up and leave the bed when Crawford pulled him back down.

'Stay. I want you to stay'.

Circled by the older man's strong arms, Aya decided that he really didn't have that much of a choice and so relaxed into the embrace.

'Not that i'm complaining or nothing, but why was you so adamant about it having to be like that?'

Crawford sighed deeply into the crook of Aya's neck 'because i wanted to make love to you Ran, and knew you wouldn't allow me too'.

'Oh' Aya continued to stare at the ceiling, well what the hell was he supposed to say to that? The man was basically telling him... telling him... oh shit!

Well - no actually - maybe it wasn't so bad, really. After all he had obsessed over the man for months, he enjoyed the sex, he enjoyed the company, he enjoyed having someone make him feel good, he was enjoying the fact that someone loved him. Yeah this was good, and in fact -

'- i love you too Brad'.

'Mmmm you finally got there huh?'

'Bastard'.

'You should be happy, now you know that you were wrong. I didn't win, you did'.

Fic: Falling Empires ch.5

2008-01-22T16:32:20Z

Title: Falling Empires ch.5
Fandom: Weiss Kreuz
Rating: NC17 (for this chapter) NC17 (overall)
Pairing: CrawfordxRan, SchuldigxYohji
Warnings: Sex.
Chapter Summary: Crawford and Schuldig get what they want and Nagi gets jealous. All of Weiss make an appearance.

Chapter 5

"No. Stop. Look you need to relax, clam down."

Ran looked at Schuldig with fire burning in his eyes, stupid telepath telling him to do one thing and then another. Schuldig had to control himself from laughing at the look that Ran was giving him, it made the boy look so petulant it was almost cute. Of course in the future, when the boy begins to work with Schwartz, the look may have more of an effect. Right now, though, it just made him look like a spoilt kid chucking his dummy out of the pram.

"How can I relax and concentrate as hard as possible, at the same time? Are you laughing at me again? Stop it, it's not funny."

"Awww I’m sorry kid, you just bring it out in me."

"I am not a kid. I'm only two years younger then you."

"Yes and trust me, there's a lot of difference between me and you."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing, look let's just get on, you're nearly there."

It was true, Ran had proved to be a relatively fast learner. He could conjure at will now, and always produce what he wanted, to a point of course. That was the problem, Crawford was certain that Ran would grow to be a level 9 conjurer, but right now he could only produce very basic things. For example, Ran could produce massive wads of cash, and that was great, but he couldn't look at a bank account, on a computer screen, and conjure millions into the account. Crawford was certain that Ran would get there, eventually, but the kid wanted to do it now.

Both Crawford and Schuldig had told him he had done well in the month that he had been living with them, but then he had been practicing for hours everyday, so he should be good by now. Ran just couldn't understand why all of a sudden everything had come to a halt.

"Why aren't i improving anymore? What's wrong with me?"

Schuldig looked into those beautiful violet eyes, and gave the kid a small smile

"Because this is always the hardest part, making your power grow and improve. It will only come with lots of practice, you have to remember the rest of us have been doing this for years."

"How do i get the practice then? When can i start working with you guys properly."

Schuldig threw his arms up in the air, and shook his head. "That's not up to me, you have to ask Crawford, and he'll only let you when he thinks you can do it."

"You're all so secretive and cryptic, i hate it!"

Schuldig got up from the couch and ruffled the boys hair, "yeah, you'll get used to it, like we're getting used to you."

Ran made a tutting sound and smoothed his hair back down.

"I'm going to see my sister. When will Crawford be back?"

Schuldig turned to Ran and couldn't help the smirk that formed on his face, whilst he was learning to like the boy, it was still fair game to tease him, despite all of Crawford's threats.

"Oh not to long i shouldn't think. Why? Romantic meal for two is it tonight?"

"What? what do you mean?"

"Well, you know that I’ll be out -"

"With this mysterious empath, who i'm starting to think is a figment of your imagination."

"Yeah, whatever, think what you like. Now where was i? Oh yeah, Nagi will be out as well, at a study session with that older guy from school -"

"How do you know about that? He only told me."

"Hello telepath" Schuldig patted a finger to his temple and rolled his eyes, "and will you stop interrupting me. Finally there's Farfarello who will be locked in his room, as always. So romantic meal for two it is then!"

"I hadn't really thought about it." Ran responded whilst blushing deeply.

Schuldig smirked again. It may have been the fact that he was once a prostitute, but normally Ran wasn't very quick to embarrass, only the mention of Crawford brought it out in him.

"Of course not." Sarcasim dripped from Schuldig’s words.

Schuldig waited for the reply, it was the perfect opportunity for Ran to hit back with something. He usually did, it was probably why Schuldig had grown to like the boy so much. Despite everything, the kid still had fire in him, he was still a fighter.

The reply, though, never came. Schuldig turned to look at Ran, the boy was looking down at his feet, biting his lower lip. He looked up to see Schuldig giving him a strange look, and new immediately that the man was trying to read him. Slamming his mental walls down, it was Ran's turn to do the smirking.

Shit who taught him that?

"Oh come on Ran, what's up? Something is troubling you, you can trust me."

Ran laughed "can i?."

Schuldig's face was very much devoid of any smile, when he replied "of course you can, haven't you realised that by now? We're a team, a family."

"Yes i have. I'm sorry Schuldig, i didn't mean it like that it's just - have i really made it so obvious about Crawford?"

"Hahahaha... well yeah you have, but i'm a telepath, other people can't read your thoughts. Besides Crawford's not really a normal guy like the rest of us, he doesn't do relationships."

"Then what am i supposed to do?"

"Whatever you want, if you want something take it. With Crawford you're just going to have to try harder."

"Maybe you're right, you've known him longer then me anyway. It's just - oh i don't know."

"Are you sure that you do want this? I mean this thing with Crawford."

"What do you mean?"

"Ran, you may have been able to bring that wall down to stop me, which was impressive, and i'll pay you back for it later, but you're not that good. I don't think that there's anyone in the world who truly understands Crawford, he’s difficult."

Ran opened his mouth to reply, but Schuldig shushed him.

"You must hear me out Ran. I'm not saying that Crawford can't be trusted, he’s the one person in the world that i would choose to have my back, anytime i was in a life or death situation. He is completely faithful to his team, but he's also ruthless, and nothings gets in the way of his agenda. We have a goal, something that we are all working towards, and you will be a part of that. That will always come first to Crawford."

Schuldig took a deep breath and looked at the effect of his speech on Ran. He was looking at his shoes again and biting his lower lip. Schuldig started to feel a little guilty. He truly had grown to like Ran, and had enjoyed watching the boy come out of his shell since he had been with them. It was right, though, to have warned him.

"So you don't think i should - you know?"

Schuldig sighed, all this giving advice and being the nice guy really sucked, he hoped he would get to kill someone soon and relieve the tension.

"I think, against all my previous perceptions of stick-up-his-ass Crawford, that he has a soft spot for you, and that you got to him that night that he - ah - met you."

"But his keeping things from me, you all are, i know, i'm not actually a member of the team yet, and the team is what counts right?"

"You are a member of the team Ran, and you will know everything soon, but all this is really something that you should discuss with Crawford."

Ran nodded his head, Schuldig was right, he would just have to bite the bullet and see what happens. Ran nearly laughed when he saw Schuldig breath a sigh of relief. It was good to see the always so assured German for once so ruffled.

"Now if you will excuse me, and the inquisition is all over, i have a very enjoyable date coming up."

"Oh yes, with Mr make believe."

"Haha, weren't you off to the hospital?"

* * * * *

Crawford pinched the bridge of his nose, trying in vein to relieve his pounding headache. Bloody Takatori! Honestly, Crawford didn't think he had met a bigger prick in his entire life. All he wanted right now was a nice cup of coffee, and some peace and quiet. Well, maybe not complete peace and quiet, Ran's company was always enjoyable.

Crawford smiled to himself thinking of the boy, glad that no one was around to see him do it. He enjoyed the conversations, where Ran would always be slightly embarrassed at first, and then slowly begin to feel more relaxed and open himself up. It was clear the boy had a crush on him, and Crawford was more then happy to use that to his advantage. It would make things easier in the near future, when he would have to explain everything to Ran about his family, and Takatori, and the elders.

Of course the fact that Ran was also stunningly beautiful, only made things even better. Although that did not mean that Crawford fancied Ran, no not at all. Thinking of the boy now made Crawford's pants tighten, ok maybe he did harbour some feelings, but only lust that's all.

Finally the doors opened with a ping, and Crawford quickly loosened his tie and undid the top buttons of his shirt. Walking into the lounge he saw Nagi at the table packing his bag.

"Where are you going?"

Nagi jumped with a start. "Oh, i'm - ah - just going round to a school friend for some revision."

"Right."

Was it Nagi or did Crawford completely not buy that, actually, no why shouldn't he buy that? it was true, he just conveniently left out the part about the older guy. Crawford continued to stare at the boy, sure that he was keeping something from him.

"Whose place are you going to?"

"Oh just someone from my biology class."

"Why do you need a study partner anyway? You don't even really need school, it's all just a front. I didn't realise you were taking it so seriously."

"Well yeah i know but - there's nothing wrong with wanting to be a little bit normal is there?"

Crawford's eyes hardened, they reminded Nagi of pure cold steel.

"Nagi, you are not normal, we are not normal, don't forget that."

"I'm not, i won't, it's just a study session! Why does it matter so much?"

"It doesn't i was just reminding you."

Nagi shook his head, trying to disperse what Crawford had said from it. Of course he knew what they were, but he was a teenage boy with desires. Why couldn't Crawford see that?

Yeah right, Crawford doesn't even recognise his own desires, if he did he would have had Ran-kun by now.

Nagi smirked to himself, he had enormous respect for Crawford, but the man needed to loosen up a bit. Not that he would ever tell him that mind you.

Picking up his bag from the table, Nagi walked towards the lift just as it opened to reveal Ran.

"Hi Nagi, you off for the night?"

"Yeah, oh i fed Weiss for you."

"Ok thanks, have a nice time." Ran gave Nagi a wink that Crawford didn't see. The man was standing over near the kitchen cupboards watching them, with a rather un-amused expression on his face.

With Nagi gone, Crawford turned on Ran.

"What the hell is Weiss?"

"The kitten." Ran didn't like it when Crawford used that tone, but he wasn't going to cower from the man.

"You named the kitten Weiss, why?"

'Well, your team is called Schwartz, so we named the kitten Weiss. Sometimes you need some grey Crawford, there can't always be extremes of everything."

What the hell? he's preaching to me, shit.

Crawford began to feel slightly uncomfortable. He liked shy and embarrassed Ran, but sometimes there was a Ran way older then his years, and sometimes this Ran surprised him.

"Where is the damn thing anyway?"

"Probably in Farfarello’s room, he likes it in there."

Crawford gave Ran an incredulous look. "Are you mad?"

"No it's ok, Weiss like Farf and Farf is actually good with the kitten, though he does keep on calling him Dougal."

"Oh he's not still watching that bloody show." Crawford rolled his eyes. Though really he should have been grateful, the show kept the man relatively quiet for long periods of time.

Crawford looked back at Ran again to see him laughing, he had a beautiful laugh and smile.

"It's actually not that bad, who knew an Irish comedy could actually be funny."

Crawford couldn't help but smile back at him, and then mentally kicked himself for the weakness.

Ran was glad to see Crawford smile, it was rarity after all, and it always made him feel so warm inside, to know that he had made the man smile. Sometimes Ran wondered what it was that made him so attracted to the man. Of course he was good looking, that goes without saying, but the man was also extremely aloof and cold almost all the time. Yet there were instances, like now, where Crawford would show his other side, one that was locked away for most of the time, and he always felt so privileged to be the one to see it. It was this Crawford that so often fuelled Ran's wet dreams of the man, something that he felt endless shame over, and that Schuldig just loved to tease him about. However, Ran wasn't stupid, he realised that this nice Crawford was easily and quickly replaced by the other one, and he had to admit that the thought of the cold and calculating Crawford, terrified him as much as it turned him on.

"Well i'll start making dinner, looks like it'll be you, me and Farfarello."

"I can help you if you want." Ran offered.

"Alright, i just need a coffee first. You have no idea of the day that i've had."

"Is it that Takatori guy again? Why work for him if you don't like him?"

"It's complicated and - "

"- you'll tell me when i'm ready, yeah i know."

"It's not like that Ran, i intend to tell you everything and soon, but you need to understand that a great many things are at stake, and i don't want you, or the others, to get hurt."

Ran turned his head away from Crawford, he had heard it all so many time now, it was getting old.

Crawford stepped towards Ran, grabbed his chin and pulled his head up to meet his eyes. Such lovely violet eyes, Crawford had to catch himself quickly, this boy could be so intoxicating, and as much as he hated to admit, he was developing feelings for him.

Sure he wanted the boy under his control, and that was one reason to seduce him. If that was all it was, though, he would simply have used the boy’s lust, kept him infatuated but without actually sleeping with him. Crawford was not a whore, not even for a mission, and doing that to Ran would have broken the promise that he made, about him never being used like that again. No if he took the boy to bed again, it would be because he actually wanted him.

"Ran, i do trust you, and i do want you to be a part of this team, but there's so much training that you have to go through first, and so much that you have to learn and accept, it's going to take time."

"Crawford - i - you know that night, when i was working and you - we -"

"Yes, i remember."

"Did you already know about me, about what i could do, is that why you picked me up."

"No Ran, i did have a vision of meeting you, but only that. I knew nothing about the other stuff, like i've said before, my power isn't an exact science."

"So if you hadn't have had the visions -"

"If i had seen you on the street, i would still have thought you were the most gorgeous thing i had ever seen, and would still have stopped."

Ran looked into Crawford’s eyes, and saw that he was telling the truth. Crawford ran his thumb down from Ran's nose to his lips, pulling the bottom lip down slightly.

"Ran i'm not proud of the fact that i have on occasion used prostitutes, but i am glad that it allowed me to find you."

Ran was not moving, he was looking into Crawford's eyes, waiting to see the sparkle of amusement which meant that it was all a joke, but it never came. Instead what he saw was Crawford leaning in towards him.

* * * * *

Ran pulled off his jumper and t-shirt, which when he thought about it later, was a pretty impressive feat, considering that he walking backwards into Crawford's room, whilst having a tongue battle. Lost in the intense heat and pleasure of the moment, Ran only pulled away from the kiss when he was forced to, literally, the backs of his knees hit the bed and down he fell.

Crawford crawled up on top of him, raining kisses down his neck and chest, paying special attention to his nipples, whilst his hand slowly moved down to touch him through his trousers. Ran bucked under the feeling, arching his back in a desperate plea for more. Crawford chuckled at him.

"Patience, I’m not going to rush this, it's going to be so much better then last time."

"Crawford - argh - want you!"

"I want you too, it's going to be so good, going to make you feel so good."

Ran arched up again, as Crawford continued to stroke him through the fabric of his trousers. His excitement growing, as he felt the man's other hands opening the button and pulling down the zipper.

Ran realised that Crawford had removed his top and his glasses, when did he do that? Never mind he intended to take full advantage. Lifting his back off the bed, he paid Crawford back for all the nipple teasing. He even got to smirk to himself, when he heard a low moan from Crawford's mouth, as he bit down on his right nipple and began to circle it with his tongue.

Once Ran's trousers were open and down by his ankles, Crawford reached out and grab Ran by his hair, pulling his head back. He moved his face so that their lips were almost touching.

"You are definitely going to pay for that."

"Hope so, go on Crawford make me pay - please."

Crawford hardly needed much invitation at that point, he was already rock hard and so was Ran, yes he was really going to enjoy this. Ran grabbed his trousers undoing the button and zipper, whilst Crawford leaned over the bed to the side table, and pulled out a tube of lube. His trousers fully down now, Crawford hissed as the cold air hit him, only to yelp with a start as Ran's mouth swallowed him whole.

"Argh, you little shit - so good." Setting the tube of lube down beside them, Crawford gently grabbed Ran's head, just to make sure he stayed there. Ran was very good at blow jobs, and really Crawford shouldn't have been so surprised, the kid must have had practice with his line of work. Oh, damn, that reminds me. Crawford once again leaned over the bed to the side table, and this time pulled out a condom.

Ran could tell that Crawford was almost at breaking point, he had always been good at blow jobs, he thought with a smirk. Feeling Crawford move, he pulled away to see Crawford place the condom by the side of them, next to the tube of lube. Ran tensed up as he looked at it. What does that mean? Is he still going to sleep with other people? Am i just an easy fuck to him?

Crawford knew instantly that Ran wasn't happy about the condom, he felt him tense, and realised that he should have gone about this better.

"It's not what you think Ran! I'm not trying to insult you for what you did or who you were, nor am i implying that i intend to sleep around, or with any more prostitutes. But we both have had an active sex life before each other, and i want us to be safe. Do you understand, i want to protect you."

Crawford brought his hand up to Ran's face and gently stroked his cheek, hoping it would make the boy see that he did care for him, and this was for both of their goods.

Ran breathed in, in truth relieved that Crawford wasn't doing it so that he could sleep with other people, which was silly really, because it's not as if they are going out or anything.

"I understand, your right."

He smiled up at Crawford and Crawford smile back at him. Oh God that smile, all the heat that had ebbed away in those few seconds came back, and clearly Ran was not the only one.

Crawford was relieved at Ran's acceptance, and the smile just reminded him of what he was about to do; show him that sex would never be a dirty thing ever again. Show him how wonderful it could be.

Opening the tube of lube and spreading it on his fingers, he then lifted Ran's legs and place them over his shoulders. Smiling down again at the boy he began to prepare him, whilst enjoying the sensual sounds and moans Ran was making. Ran could feel all of his self control ebbing away, it had never felt like this before, no one made him feel like this.

"Argh - Crawford. Need you. Now!"

"Don't worry, i'll be there soon."

Taking the condom in one hand and using his teeth to rip open the packet, Crawford quickly put it on and sheathed himself inside Ran, to the hilt. Ran screamed at the intrusion, first at the pain as it broke through that tight ring of his anus, and then in pleasure as Crawford hit his sweet spot straight away.

Crawford proceeded to move slowly, one because he didn't want to hurt Ran, and two because he really wanted to savour this. Ran continued to moan and gasp with each new thrust, but it wasn't enough, he desperately wanted more, he needed more.

"Faster - Crawford, please…"

Crawford smiled down at the boy again, enjoying the moaning and begging. Pulling Ran's hips higher, to get better access, he began to move faster and harder, pounding into him.

It didn't take long, in truth they had both been waiting a long time for this. Ran began to shout louder as he came nearer to his crescendo, and was pleased to hear Crawford moan as he too got caught up in the passion. Crawford moved his hand to tug on Ran's hard and dripping cock, giving quick and rough pulls. It was all that was needed to send Ran over the edge, with a loud scream. As the moment hit Ran, his whole body tensed for the release, gripping Crawford's cock, and it wasn't long before the man, normally so controlled and calm, came with a loud moan.

* * * * *

"Argh - argh -ARGH - so good baby, so good."

Flopping down on top of his lover, the man gave him a playful smirk.

"I'm good right? Go on admit it, i'm the best you've ever had."

"Hahaha, yes Schuldig you are, that was very impressive."

"Just that time?" Schuldig pouted and pulled at a strand of Yohji's hair. Yohji sighed and smiled up at his playful lover.

"No, not just that time, you're always good and you know it. Talk about fishing for compliments."

"Hey a person likes to be told that they're worth it."

Yohji smiled at the man again. He sat up and stretched his back, which had spent a long time trapped to the mattress. He shook his head slightly at the man's actions, but couldn't help the warm and satisfied feeling the man made him feel. When had he grown so attached to Schuldig? He never had relationships, and he supposed that you could call this a relationship. He had never felt this close to anyone, not since...

No don't think about her now! She's dead, she's not coming back.

It didn't work, it never did. Asuka had touched something in Yohji so deeply, and whenever he thought of her, he had to fight long and hard to get rid of the anguish that gripped his heart.

Schuldig listened in on Yohji's internal monologue, pleased that the man was becoming so attached to him, not so pleased at the mention of Asuka. Of course he knew that it would take a lot to get Yohji over her, and that would only really come when he began to get a control over his power. That was actually going to be difficult, as Yohji's power was being consumed by his grief for Asuka.

Deciding to nip this in the bud, and bring Yohji's attention back to the present and not to a dead girlfriend, Schuldig grabbed his shoulders and gave the man a chased kiss on the lips. Yohji had close his eyes expecting more, and when that hadn't come, he opened them questioningly.

Schuldig smiled down at him "I think that you're worth it too, the best i've ever had." He smile again and gave Yohji another chaste kiss.

Yohji looked up at Schuldig for a moment in confusion, before he realised what was being said. Smiling at the man he pulled himself up, and pounced on top of Schuldig, assaulting the man's mouth in desperate hunger.

He didn't know how Schuldig did it. Though he had never told the man about Asuka, he never told anyone, the man still seemed to know when he was thinking of her. Most probably he realised when he was getting upset from thinking about her. He loved that about Schuldig, the way the man seemed to just know him, and always put him at ease.

"You know Schuldig" Yohji said after breaking away from kissing the man to death, "i don't think i've ever met a person who i've fallen for so quickly, not even -"

Shit no, why did i nearly say that?

"Fallen for? does this make you and i a couple?"

"Ahhh - i - well, do you want to be?"

Schuldig smiled, it had taken a month of hard work, and getting Yohji's trust, and now it seemed to be paying off, the guy was falling in love with him. Yes, operation seduce Yohji was going very well, soon he could bring him in to Schwartz.

"I've fallen for you too. Actually since that day i met you in that club."

Yohji smiled, relieved that he hadn't made a complete Pratt of himself.

"Hey Schuldig, how come we never go to your place? If i'm going to be your boyfriend, i'm gonna have to inspect your wardrobe, you know."

Schuldig laughed, if that wasn't the best excuse ever for getting yourself invited to someone's place, he didn't know what was?

"You can come to mine, just not yet."

"Why?" This was so confusing, hadn't Schuldig just basically said he was in love with him, and now he doesn't want him at his place. What's he hiding?

"You see, i don't live alone - i live with - friends. There's stuff that you need to know about me first, stuff that you need to understand, but i will invite you round soon, i promise."

"Your not married aren’t you?"

"No, God no."

"So what are you hiding?"

"It's nothing bad, well not really. Look i will tell you everything, i just wanted you to know me first, and then judge the rest later. I care about you Yohji, i'll never hurt you, you know that right?"

"Yeah, course i do. Now i'm pretty sure that you had the last go, so it's my turn now isn't it?"

"Ah - well - you did say that i was good, so i think that i should go again."

"Oh no no no, definitely my turn."

With that Yohji pinned Schuldig down, and began to re-attack his mouth.

* * * * *

Nagi could see the flower shop in the distance. He was so relieved to finally be there, to be out of Crawford's way. He shivered, thinking of what Crawford would do if he found out his study partner was an older guy. Really, Nagi thought, he couldn't complain, he was here to study. It's not his fault that he is so advanced, and the fact the he has a massive crush on this guy has nothing to do with it. It doesn't, no, not at all, no matter what Schuldig says - stupid interfering telepath, should mind his own flipping business.

Nagi walked up to the doors of the shop, and noted that all the flowers had been taken in, which meant that he was right on time, Omi was about to close up for the day. Omi lived here with a really old woman who looked after him, Omi didn't have any parents, he never really explained why. Sometimes though, there was another woman that came to check up on him, she had red hair, but Nagi had never managed to find out where she fitted in to it all.

Nagi Looked in through the window, and saw Omi at the counter with that other guy who works there, Ken or something his name was. Nagi hated Ken, he so obviously wanted Omi, and Omi didn't see it at all. Whenever Nagi had tried to make him realise this, the guy had just told him to leave Ken alone, that Ken had had a hard time, that he was in a relationship with someone else.Yeah someone who was a drug dealing asshole, and had links to the Yakuza

Nagi wondered if he should tell Omi about it, but then he would have to explain how he knows, and that would prove tricky. No he'd just have to wait for it to all blow up. And it would, Nagi was sure. Takatori had already expressed his desire for them to eliminate Kase, and nothing would make Nagi happier.

The door chimed as he stepped into the shop, and Omi looked up to greet his school friend.

"Nagi! Hi! Sorry we're running late. If you go out back, Mamoe-san will get you some tea if you like. We're just about to shut-up for the night."

"Ok."

Nagi headed towards the door that lead to the living quarters, as he went through the door he heard Omi talking to Ken.

"Are you sure you'll be alright, you can stay here if you want to."

Nagi's heart skipped a beat, NO! He hid behind the door, it seemed like hours before Ken answered.

"No it's ok Omi, Kase and i need to have it out, but thanks for the offer. I should be going now."

Omi walked Ken towards the door, and put his hand on the guys shoulder, Nagi could tell he was trying to comfort him, but he still didn't like it.

"If you ever need me, you know you're always welcome here."

Giving a small smile, Ken thanked Omi and left.

Omi locked the door, and turned around shaking his head, he was so worried about his dear friend Ken, so much had happened to the poor guy. He Headed towards the door that leads to the living space. Nagi quickly made a run for the kitchen, hoping Omi wouldn't realise that he had eaves dropped on their conversation.

* * * * *

Drabble: All Your Fault

2008-01-13T19:18:10Z

Title: All your fault (drabble)
Pairing: CrawfordxAya
Rating: PG13
Warnings: mpreg

Something very silly that wouldn't leave me alone. I never thought i'd write mpreg but oh well.

All Your Fault

'No I’m not getting out of the car and that's final, this is all your fault'.

Crawford pinched the bridge of his nose trying to calm himself from losing control with his lover.

'Darling come on now, you have to go in to the hospital'.

'Don't like hospitals'.

'Yes I know and i understand why, but your sister's fine now isn't she'.

'Yeah no thanks to you, you -'

'Ok, we are not doing this now. We have to go to the doctor so he can perform the caesarean'.

'No, i'm not going. Everyone will see me like this'.

'Aww darling it doesn't matter, everyone thinks that you're a woman anyway'.

'BUT I'M NOT, i'm a man and you did this to me. I don't want the baby, it can stay where it is'.

Taking yet another deep breath, Crawford had been doing this a lot in the last few months of the pregnancy, he stilled himself to once again try to reason with his young lover.

'It can't stay there it has to come out, you know that stop being silly'.

'But i don't want to be cut open, and i never wanted a baby, this is all your fault'.

'Yes it is, we have established that many times. The baby is here and ready to be born, i thought you had warmed up to the idea'. If Crawford had known just how much trouble this was going to cause he never would have injected Aya with the stuff. Well of course he knew he wouldn't like the idea at first, but he had foreseen that Aya would make a good mum and had assumed that he would be ok about it by know.

'I did get used to it, but now I have to have it and you don't, you can just sit there twiddling your thumbs. What if i'm a bad parent Crawford?'

'Your worried about that? Of course you'll be a good parent with all the love you have to offer. I'm the one that should be worrying about that, i'm the evil assassin remember'.

'Yeah well so am i, i'm an assassin too'.

'No remember you left Weiss'.

'Because you made me'.

'Yes i did - '

'And then you made me have a baby'.

'Yes i did that too, now get out the car and have the baby!'

'Arghhhh, this is all your fault'.

*****

'Congratulations' the doctor was overjoyed at the success of the operation, he had never performed a caesarean on a male before. In fact he was so delighted that he failed to notice the young man on the bed with a baby, throwing a look at his lover which promised murder. He also failed to notice the said lover giving the young man a slightly worried smile whilst cradling the other baby.

'Why are their two of them?'

The doctor was brought out of his thoughts by the young man and was rather bemused by the question.

'Well... you had twins Mr Fujimiya. You knew you was having twins, i discussed it with Mr Crawford'. The doctor was actually surprised to see Crawford gulp at the look given his way by the young man.

'Well i guess i should be off then'. With that he left Crawford to his fate.

'You Bastard!'

'Now listen to me for just a moment, and don't be so loud or you'll wake them'.

'Why you - i'm gonna - arghh'

'Look i didn't tell you because i knew you'd freak out, you were already having fits over one baby'.

'And now i have to bring-up two, whilst you're out killing people'.

'Ssshhhh, not so loud. Isn't mummy silly, yes he is'. Aya actually stopped from the tirade he was going to make at that, wow who knew Crawford would be the paternal type. Anyway that wasn't the issue right now.

'You should have told me, actually no you shouldn't have gotten me pregnant in the first place, and who the hell said i'm going to be mummy, your mummy i'm daddy'.

'Oh no, i got you pregnant remember that makes me daddy, darling'.

'Don't you darling me, this is all your fault'.

Fic: Falling Empires ch.4

2008-01-11T18:16:47Z

Title: Falling Empires ch.4
Fandom: Weiss Kreuz (AU)
Rating: Pg-13 (for this chapter) NC17 (overall)
Pairing: CrawfordxRan, SchuldigxYohji
Warnings: Not really.
Chapter Summary: Ran meets his new team and tries to understand Crawford a little bit better, with Schuldig actually trying to give advise.
Comments: always appreciated.

Chapter 4

The car journey had gone in silence and Ran had been left alone with his thoughts; his mind a whirl of contradicting opinions. The man that had used him the other night was clearly dangerous and cruel if need be, what he had done to Ran's pimp was evidence of that.

The night they had spent together had been so strange, he had been cold and demanding. Yet Ran couldn't help it, the man had also warmed something inside of him. He still did it now, even when they weren't even talking or looking at each other. Ran had never experience those feelings before, he didn't know what to make of them. The way the man had made him feel that night! No punter had made him feel like that.

Ran looked up at the back of Crawford’s head and quickly back down again. He didn't know if he could cope with these feelings, he couldn't stand the man's eyes on him and his voice talking to him, yet he craved the attention so much.

Stop this, you mustn't think of him like this. He's just using you like all the others but just in a different way. You must think of Aya-chan all you do is for her.
Yes
Ran said to himself i must only think of how to help her, i can use them as much as they use me!

Ran looked up again, and his eyes caught Crawford's in the mirror.

Oh god, oh god, oh god!

The fire in his belly, which had been brewing, sizzled and popped. Had there been something in the man's eyes? Did he feel something too? But then another thought suddenly came to him: what does he want me too do? How is he going to use me? Will it be the same as the other time, will i still be a whore? Ran had always felt degraded and humiliated by his position, his 'job', yet that was all he had been able to do to raise money for his sister. Wondering whether sex was included in the man's plans for him, Ran hated the thought to be used like that again, but did he? The feel of His hands on his body, touching him, caressing him.

The car came to an abrupt stop and Ran's eyes flew open and he groaned to himself as he realised what he had almost just done.

/You're not kidding, i really did not want that journey to end, that's some mind you have there./

Oh shit, how could i have been so stupid? A telepath in the car and i did that!

/Oh don't beat yourself up about it, you'll get use to it soon enough. By the way, and don't think that I’m butting in or anything, but don't you think that you should get to know him first. Trust me, Crawford‘s not really the caring type./

"Are you two getting out or what? I don't have all night."

Ran jerked as the voice broke his train of thoughts, and Schuldig's little monologue. He had already exited the car and had began to walk away, and Ran was once again aware of that coldness that radiated from the man.

They were in an underground parking lot, and Tokyo flats with these were extremely expensive. Ran hadn't even noticed when they had gone down into it, and he felt a little silly now for not paying more attention to where they had taken him, well they hadn't exactly made themselves trustworthy had they? Taking a large breath and scooping up the kitten in his lap, Ran got out of the car and began to follow the other two, hoping that he wasn't being lead to his doom.

Crawford, Schuldig and Ran walked across the parking lot to the elevator, with Ran lagging behind as his bad ankle began to hurt again. When they had entered, Crawford pressed the button for the top floor, the penthouse suite. The ride took place in silence and Ran had his eyes firmly on the floor, thinking over the things that Schuldig had said to him about Him. Schuldig was right he didn't know the man, and in truth he was quite afraid of him. The silence was unnerving, and Ran desperately wanted someone to speak.

"So you’re Schul-dich, that’s a weird name, where’s it from?"

Schuldig raised his eyebrow at the boy, the kid had some sass.

"Yeah, well where I come from to be named after a flower is strange. It’s Schuldig by the way, try to pronounce it right."

Ran averted his eyes to the floor again, his face nearly as red as his hair.

"Do play nice you two." Crawford cut in. "Yes, his name is Schuldig, but in certain instances in the future you will refer to him as Mastermind."

"Mastermind? - "

"Yes mastermind." Crawford continued, clearly irritated at being questioned. "I take it that you have already heard Schuldig call me Crawford, and that is what you shall call me." The elevator pinged and the doors opened revealing the flat that he was to live in from now on. Crawford walked on past him and as he went over the threshold he turned to Ran and said "However, like with Schuldig, in certain instances you will call me Oracle."

Ran followed Crawford into the flat, trying to fathom just what the hell Crawford had said to him, whilst taking in the amazing living area of the suite. Everything was clearly expensive and maybe even rare, Ran wondered if they may be antiques. His family had been fairly well off, but nothing like this, they could not have afforded even half the things in this place. After taking in the decor and the size of the main living room, he became aware of the big TV in the corner, and sofas with people sitting on them.

"Well Ran, it is time for you to meet the rest of our team, your new family."

Crawford had said the last part with a strange smile on his face, and Ran wasn't sure if he was meant to be comforted by it or not. A family was the thing he wanted most in the world, but was this really a family?

Maybe he knows what i really want and is just fooling me, but how could he know that? Unless that Schuldig told him.

/Hey you catch on fast! And less of the 'that Schuldig' if you don't mind./

/Oh great! You're going to do this a lot aren't you?/

/Oh you'll learn to love me'./ Ran scoffed at the words.

"No seriously you will, i'm a loveable kind of person." Now Ran was the one trying very hard not to laugh, he was certain that Schuldig was joking, but the man had such a leer on his face when he said it, Ran just couldn't always be sure if the man was joking are threatening.

* * * * *

Crawford walked over towards the sofas and motioned to the two people sitting on them. "this is Nagi Naoe and Farfarello, for the foreseeable future you will be living and working with them."

The teenage boy on the couch looked up at Ran and stared at him, Ran guessed this to be Nagi Naoe as the other guy was definitely not Japanese. Ran looked back at the boy and gave a short and, hopefully, friendly smile. Nagi gave a short nod in reply but said nothing, instead he was staring at the kitten in his arms with a look bordering on amazement. The man next to him on the sofa said nothing as well, but gave a small, deep chuckle as he watched the TV. Ran noticed the blood on the man's arms and hands, and the scars on his face. At that moment Ran wanted nothing more then to run away, these people were really starting to creep him out.

Ran turned away from looking at Farfarello, with a desperate feeling to turn around and run a thousand miles, but as he did so his bad ankle jarred, and Ran went flying into the one man he really didn't want to.

"Don't worry, Farfarello only has blood on his hands from killing your pimp tonight, Schuldig will clean him up, won't you Schuldig? and put him in his room."

Oh right, yeah, because that makes everything alright does it?

"Yeah i guess so. What the hell is this you're watching anyway Nagi?"

"It's an Irish comedy called 'Farther Ted' , Farf likes it, it keeps him quite." Farfarello gave another chuckle at the television.

"It's about priests and stuff though, right? Shouldn't he be hacking the TV apart with a pocket knife by now?"

"No, the priests in this are either stupid, drunk or gambling addicts, Farf says that it hurts God."

"Oh the mind of a maniac huh?"

Ran listened to the conversation in awed silence, what the hell?

"What do you mean hurt God? it's a TV programme."

Schuldig turned to Ran, a wide grin playing across his face as he was about to reply.

"Schuldig take Farfarello and clean him up now! Nagi go to bed, you have school in the morning, go!"

Nagi slowly got up from the sofa with a big huff, and Ran was relieved to see that in some ways the boy behaved like a normal teenager.

"What's the kitten about anyway Crawford? You hate animals, you hate most things."

"The kitten is still under negotiation, it will all be explained tomorrow."

"No, it's not under negotiation, you said that i could bring him."

Ran knew he sounded rather petulant right at that moment, Crawford certainly didn't look impressed with the outburst, and Nagi had now returned to staring at him like an animal in the zoo.

"The boy's right though Crawford, you did say he could bring the thing."

"Schuldig butt out and take Farfarello with you, Now. Nagi, you were on your way to bed yes?"

Schuldig walked over to Farfarello, and pulled him up from the sofa.

"Come on Farf, big boss have given us our orders."

Ran wasn't sure whether to laugh or be deathly afraid, as Farfarello was lead away, out of the room. Turning to Crawford but not looking into the man's eyes, Ran opened his mouth to ask any of the hundred odd questions he wanted to ask.

"Not now Ran it's late. You're still injured, and you need to bath and go to bed, I’ll take you to your bedroom."

"My bedroom? You mean you don't want - i mean, that's not what i have to - "

"No Ran, i would not demand sex from you, you're not here to work for me like that."

"Oh - ok." Ran offered a small, shy smile, and Crawford felt himself feeling warm inside when he saw it.

"Come on, you need to get all those injuries cleaned."

* * * * *

Ran stepped into the hot shower, and revelled in the feeling of the scalding water hitting his skin, and cleaning all the cuts and bruises. Crawford had said that he would wait outside, in Ran's room. Ran didn't know actually how to feel about that, but he supposed that he should be happy the man was taking care of him. Ran had truly had a terrible night, but through Crawford showing up at his flat, and whisking him away, Ran had almost - almost forgotten everything.

As he stepped out of the shower, Ran hissed as the cold air hit him, and quickly pulled a towel around him. He was so relieved to finally be clean. The door to the bathroom opened, and Ran spun around in shock to be met by a rather embarrassed Crawford.

"Oh - sorry, i thought that you had finished."

Now Ran was really confused. "Er, i thought you saw the future. Shouldn't you know?"

Crawford had to laugh at the boy, he was pretty smart, and he was also relieved to see that he still had spirit.

"Yes, i normally do know these things. However it's not always a precise science", especially where you are involved Crawford added to himself. "Anyway, come on get dried and here's some fresh night clothes for you, we need to sort out your injuries."

"Oh no it's ok. They're not that bad, I’ve had worse."

"I don't care, you're no good to me injured. I'll bandage you up as soon as you get dressed."

Finally clean, dried and dressed, Ran walked out of his bathroom into the bedroom, and found Crawford waiting, sitting on the end of his bed. Even more amazingly he was stroking his kitten, Ran stood in shock for a moment just staring at the scene, and suddenly came to his senses at what he was doing. Looking down at the floor in embarrassment he murmured his apologies, Crawford simply smiled at him.

"Come, sit down, i'll bandage your arm and ankle, do you think that you'll need a doctor?"

"No"

"You're sure? Okay, come here then."

Moving over towards Crawford, Ran could feel his insides jump again. He was glad that Crawford was taking care of him, he wanted Crawford to take care of him, it was so good to have someone to care for you, it had been to long since the accident, no, the murder.

"Ok, we're all finished, leave it on over night, and i'll have a look at them again tomorrow."

"Thank you - for looking after me like this."

"You're important, you're talented. Soon you'll be able to take care of yourself."

Ran wasn't too sure how he was supposed to react to that comment, so he offered another small smile. Crawford decided that he quite liked those small smiles, and he was glad that Ran gave them to him.

"Go to sleep now, you need your rest, and we can all talk in the morning. Oh and best not to let the cat out of your room yet - Farfarello - if he got hold of it, wouldn't be a nice site."

"Ok i'll remember that."

* * * * *

Ran awoke from an uncomfortable sleep. He had been tossing and turning all night, unable to settle, as he mind kept on asking those annoying questions that he just couldn't answer, and replaying those images of Crawford on repeat.

Crawford. The more Ran thought about it the more it sounded right, the right name for him.

"Crawford." He said aloud. It was a to the point, strong American name, just like its owner. Actually he quite liked the name.

"Crawford."

"Ran?"

"Oh my god! Oh - um - sorry, you made me jump." Ran gave a small, nervous laugh to the man in the doorway, anxiously hoping he would leave very soon.

Crawford tried hard not to smirk at the boy, he was still timid and needed handling with delicacy.

"I'm sorry i made you jump Ran. I came to tell you that breakfast is on the table, and i wanted you to join us."

"You do?"

"Of course, you are a member of the team now."

"Oh, yeah right, of course the team."

Crawford could sense the boys disappointment, and gave him a small indulgent smile.

"We have to discuss things, and i have a meeting soon, so we need to get it done."

"Right, ok i'm coming."

"How are the injuries?"

"Oh they’re fine, can hardly feel them now."

"Ok well, give them another clean. and leave the bandages off for the day. If they begin to hurt you though, you must tell me understand."

"Yes, ok, I will."

"Good, now come, you must be starving."

As they walked back into the apartments’ open-plan living area, Crawford smugly smiled to himself about what he had just seen. He was glad that the boy was so taken with him, it would make him easier to manipulate. However, that little voice inside of his head pointed out: you smiled at him, you actually smiled, and it's not the first time is it. God that voice was so annoying. He lusted for the boy, that was it. Honestly, sometimes he was certain that the voice must be Schuldig in disguise, just trying to annoy him.

/Hey, I would never do such a thing! As interesting as your weird, decrepit mind may be, i have no desire to be in there. Although, i do think it’s right this time, you do have some feelings for the boy, and they're more then lust./

/Oh so now you're an empath huh?/ Crawford replied as he sat down at the dinning table.

/No, starting to date one actually though. But that's not the point, the point is that on more then one occasion, you have broadcasted some rather loud thoughts towards this new boy of ours./

/Don't be utterly ridiculous, and we need to have a chat about your new hobby by the way./

At that moment Ran nervously joined the table, kitten once again in his arms. Crawford, not happy about having an animal at the table, had to painfully bite his tongue.

Trying to avoid Crawford's eye, Ran looked around at the others: Farfarello didn't spare him a glance, but stared intensely at the cat, which made Ran pull the thing even closer towards himself, in an attempt to protect it; Nagi gave a brief look, and then averted his eyes back to the bowl of cereals; and then there was Schuldig, who looked directly at him with a massive smirk on his face.

"So, heard you trying to get to grips with your new boss' name huh?"

Ran went scarlet red at the statement, averting his eyes squarely on to his plate.

"That's enough of that, we do not have time for games Schuldig." Crawford punctuated the reprimand with one of his cold 'don't piss me off' looks, and he tried enormously hard not to smile smugly, when he saw that it had worked.

"I have offered Ran a place in Schwartz, that's the name of our team Ran. He is a conjurer, though at the moment untrained, and that shall be our job in the near future, as well as all your other duties."

Ran sat looking at Crawford dumbfounded, what exactly had he been expecting? He actually didn't know. Schuldig sat quietly with complete disinterest, as if this sort of stuff was just said everyday. It was Nagi who was the first to speak:

"What about Eszet? What have they said?"

"I have told them of the find, and they are happy to leave him in our care and guidance, as their number one team of course."

"And the rest?"

"They are still completely unaware, and that is how it shall stay."

Ran's eyes widened "What rest?"

"Nothing for you to worry about at the moment Ran, you'll find out when you are ready. Now I need to meet with our employer. Nagi go to school. Schuldig you will stay in today and start teaching Ran, save your stuff with the empath until later okay."

"Whatever. Hey when can I pull my lover boy in to our little group?"

"As soon as I say you can, and do exactly as I say Schuldig, I mean it."

"What about my sister? The money, you promised."

"The money has already been transferred into the bank accounts. As for your revenge, that will come soon, when you have learnt your power and - understand all the facts."

Ran continued to stare at where Crawford had been a moment ago, trying to understand that last comment. Was it him or had Crawford appeared a bit uneasy? It wasn't something he thought he would associate with the man. Nah, it was probably just wishful thinking, hoping that there was some vulnerable, loveable side to him. Oh god I’m doing it again, having those thoughts, he turned and found himself looking at Schuldig, oh great.

Schuldig smiled, a nasty smug smile, he couldn't help it. Crawford wasn't the only one that had felt uneasy about the last thing he had mentioned. Ran's revenge, how were they going to get the kid to understand their position at the time? Sentimentality was not Schuldig's strong point, it was so much easier being nasty to being nice.

"Right Nagi off to school, you heard him. Farf - go and - tear something up in your room okay. I guess you and I should get started ja."

"Yeah, i guess we should."

* * * * *

Falling Empires ch. 2

2007-12-09T14:51:14Z

Title: Falling Empires chapter 2
Fandom: Weiss Kreuz
Rating: PG-13 (for this chapter)
Pairing: CrawfordxRan (more later)
Summary: Crawford starts plotting and drags Schuldig along for the fun of it. Poor Ran is told devastating news, which results in lots and lots of angsting.

/ talking telepathically.
< > memories
Italics character's thoughts

Chapter 2

Schuldig was bored, very bored. Hospitals were not his favourite places anyway, and having to wait here with mister stick-up-his-ass, for some boy that said mister-stick-up-his-ass is obsessed with, well it is just down right annoying! Oh yes, Schuldig was bored - bored, bored, bored, bored, BORED!!!!

/Schuldig will you give it a rest, I’m surprised half the hospital can’t hear you with all your whining./

/Yeah well what do you expect? Why can’t we just knock the kid out and take him with us, instead of spending the entire day here?/

/No Schuldig, we need him on our side. Things are going to be difficult in the future as it is, we need him to trust us from the start./

/Trust us! Crawford you picked him up off the street and fucked him, he will just think that you’re some rotten punter./

/Then he will find that appearances can be deceptive won’t he. Don’t worry I have already foreseen that he will come with us willingly./

/Then what the hell are we doing here now? Lets go get him./

Crawford pinched the bridge of his nose, calming himself so that he wasn’t inclined to shoot his team mate. Schuldig was not an idiot, but sometimes he could sure act like one.

/We are here because we need to find a way to get him to come with us willingly. We are going to use what happens today to convince him that he needs us, now do you understand?/

/Ja ja, whatever. He just better hurry up, that’s all/

Crawford mumbled to himself about annoying team mates, before going back to reading his paper. Schuldig tried to think of a new way to pass the time; Whistling! Why didn’t he think of it before? Crawford couldn’t stand it, and it would serve him right for forcing Schuldig to come with him.

/Schuldig if you don’t cut it out right now, I swear to God I will shoot you./

/Better not let Farfarello hear you say that./

/Schuldig!/

"All right, all right. Look you must have some idea when the kid is going to turn up, you do see the future."

"He will be here shortly, he is having a meeting with the doctor".

/Really! Why what’s he caught?/

/Nothing Schuldig. I told you it’s about the girl./

/The sister? She’s a vegetable, that’s what Nagi said. How can things get any worse for her?/

"They may do and that is why we are here. To find out exactly what is going on, and how dear Ran will react to it".

"You know Crawford, you don’t usually go to this much trouble for some talented kid, especially not a whore. Are you sure that his power is the only thing that you’re interested in?"

"Schuldig, just for once in your life - Shut Up. This is important and he’s coming now, make sure you know what to do".

"Yes sir! Right away sir!" Schuldig gave a mocking salute to Crawford, but stopped when he saw the glare aimed back at him.

/His mind is in complete turmoil, this will be easy./

* * * * *

Ran exited the hospital in a daze, hardly even looking where he was going. If he had been paying more attention, he would have noticed the two foreigners following him, and that man that he had slept with the other week. But he didn’t, Ran was still reeling from what the doctors had said, panic and despair engulfing him.

< "I’m sorry Fujimiya-san but your sister’s care is extremely expensive, and we have to face the reality that she is unlikely to ever wake-up".

"She’s a human being, you can’t just turn the machines off, she’ll die".

"We have been patient and understanding Fujimiya-san, but if you can’t raise the money for her up-keep then we have no other choice".>

I can’t get that kind of money, I’m just a lousy street whore. Aya deserves better then anything I can give her.

Tears ran down Ran’s face and his shoulders shook as he sobbed, the truth was that he really couldn’t save his sister now. He had promised to protect her until she woke-up, and now he was going to let them kill her because he couldn’t raise the money.

He walked around the side of the hospital and down the path that leads to the park. He had been to this park many times as a kid, Aya loved going there, it had a pond and she would feed the ducks. She was such a gentle soul, this was so unfair.

Anger boiled up inside Ran once again, the hatred towards the people that had done this to them: destroyed his family, put his beloved sister in a coma, that she was unlikely to ever wake up from. His fingers started to tingle and Ran was quickly brought back to reality. No! He couldn’t do this, what if he made something appear? Or made something happen? Someone might see.

It was easier to wallow right now, to feel sorry for himself. His whole life had fallen apart, he had nothing and no one. Ran tried to tell himself that he didn’t need anyone, he was better off alone. Sometimes, though, especially when he finished ‘work’ he wished someone was there to look after him, to make everything all right. No, he told himself, he mustn’t think like that, there was no one, he had to accept that. He could look after himself and his sister on his own, he just had to find a way.

He thought about that promise he had made to his sleeping sister when the accident had first happened, and the tingling in his hands; the things that he could do. He had tried to do it before, of course, he would never have become a prostitute if hadn’t needed to. Trying to concentrate with all his might, Ran thought of the money that he needed, he tried to imagine the notes in his hand. He began to get that feeling that he always got with his ’power’, as he had termed it, he looked to his hands, barely daring to believe.

Ran felt cold metal, looked down, and there they were: coppers. He couldn’t even buy a sandwich for that. Hurt, anger, frustration, they all came back to him as he threw the coppers savagely on the floor. Why was he such a failure? It was bad enough being a complete freak, but to be a failure at being a freak was even worse.

It felt like he had sat in the park crying for hours, slowly Ran came back to his senses, he had money to raise. Sighing he collected his thoughts of despair and loneliness and forced himself to go back to work. Ran turned and walked back towards the path and the main road, he had never noticed that he was being followed.

Behind a near by tree Schuldig turned and smirked to Crawford.

"Well he’s just a bundle of fun isn’t he?"

"Lets go, we found out what we needed to. Now we can act."

"Ah Crawford, what exactly are we going to do? I mean, we killed his family, you sure he’s going to join us willingly."

"He doesn’t know that was us. Besides he needs money, security, and he needs to be trained in his power. He needs us and he’ll realise that when we make our move."

"You forget lonely, he’s also dreadfully lonely Crawford, maybe he would like your company again."

The smirk across Crawford’s face was positively serpentine, and Schuldig had to laugh, looks like this won’t be so boring after all.

* * * * *

Falling Empires ch.1

2007-11-30T19:41:59Z

Title: Falling Empires
Fandom: Weiss Kreuz (AU)
Pairing: CrawfordxRan, SchuldigxYohji
Rating: NC17 overall.
Warnings: Anal, MM, Yaoi, Masturbation, Toys, Prostitution, Violence, References to rape, Mild bondage.
Summar: Weiss have powers, but with no Kritiker there is no actual Weiss. This leads the way for Schwartz to recruit new members to their cause, leading to major angst and sex etc.

Chapter 1

Pulling up to the curb, Crawford peered out the window to give the boy in front of him a once over. He was leaning on a near by lamp post, eyes to the floor as if he found his shoes interesting. The bright red hair with pale skin was truly alluring, as was the tight but not too revealing clothes. He was indeed as beautiful as Crawford’s visions had shown him to be.

Crawford smirked to himself, he had been having these visions for days and finally he would sate his lust on this beautiful whore. The only problem that Crawford could see was that he couldn’t see, at least where this boy was concerned. Though he had many visions of this moment he could not foresee beyond this point, and that - intrigued - him.

When Crawford paid for something he expected the best. That included sex; he would normally check ahead to make sure the person was worth it. It wasn’t that Crawford enjoyed seeing himself having sex, though if he was honest he did get some kind of perverse pleasure from it. No, he was simply a busy man, and did not have time to waste.

This boy, however, was a mystery to him. Though his visions had been insistent on where to go and who he was going to have, they had told him little else. The inconsistency of his gift annoyed Crawford endlessly. It did make life exciting though, even he had to admit that, and he was rather excited about tonight.

What was so special about this particular whore? That was what Crawford really wanted to know. He continued to look at the boy and scoffed to himself. Even if there was nothing special about him, he would still make him work for his money. The boy was extremely beautiful and Crawford like beautiful things.

* * * * *

As the car pulled up to curb, dull violet eyes looked up from behind scarlet red bangs. His hair doing its utmost to cover the majority of his face, and the shame that he felt every night.

He was wearing extremely tight jeans, that hugged his hips and ass. They were low hung, showing off his mid-rift as his t-shirt, also extremely tight, stopped just above his navel.

He looked into the window of the car, and saw the man sitting there looking at him. He knew that look, like a vulture about to capture its prey. He got that look so many times, from punters who treated him as nothing but a piece of meat.

Ran sighed to himself, he had little choice in the matter really, and besides the man looked rich, maybe he would be paid well tonight. The man was indeed wearing what looked like an expensive suit, everything about his appearance was immaculate; shouting superiority and assurance.

Ran was filled with a deep sense of foreboding as he made his way to the passenger side of the car. The man followed him with his eyes, and as he moved his head the light from the street lamp overhead caught the lenses, giving an eerie flash. Ran shivered at the sight, he really was feeling quite apprehensive about this man. Swallowing deeply, he removed the thoughts from his head, and carried on to the car. Crawford noticed the boy shiver, though it was not cold out, but quite frankly he couldn‘t have cared less. The boy was a whore, and if he wanted money he can get in the car and work for it.

Crawford already knew what motel he was going to. It was cheap, relatively clean and asked no questions. He looked over at the boy he had just picked-up. He must have been around eighteen or nineteen, but there was no doubting that he was definitely still a boy, not a man, not yet anyway.

He was facing the front, looking out of the front screen at the road. The only thing that was moving was the rise and fall of his chest, Crawford thought that he looked like some pretty manikin in a shop window.

"What’s your name?"

Violet eyes opened wider and a head wiped around to look at him. Clearly startled, it was apparent that the boy hadn’t expected to be spoken to. Crawford took in the pretty face with its pale skin and unusual eyes. He caught his breath when he saw how dull and empty they were, no doubt that they had once been bright and full of life. He didn’t feel sorry for him, he didn’t feel sorry for anyone, it was just how beautiful they were, that was all. That’s what he told himself.

"What should I call you?" he asked again.

"Aya" Ran replied, biting his lip.

"Aya. Unusual name for a boy, is there a reason why you choose it?" Crawford couldn’t help but tease.

Ran made no reply and turned to face the front again. The rest of the drive continued in silence.

* * * * *

Crawford walked in front, up to the reception desk, carrying a small black holdall in his left hand. Getting a room key was quick and easy, and they were soon upstairs in a small but perfectly adequate room.

"Take off your clothes and lie on the bed." Crawford’s voice was cold and commanding.

Ran stripped, he was shaking, despite the fact that he had done this many times before. As he lay on the bed he shivered. Crawford took no notice of it and simply watched him.

"Lick your fingers and prepare yourself, I’m sure you know what to do." He could see ‘Aya’ blanch at the cutting remark, but the truth was never nice he shrugged.

Ran did as he was told, whilst closing his eyes, it was always unsettling knowing that he was being watched. Crawford enjoyed seeing the boy finger fuck himself, but there was much more to come yet. He smiled as the boy gasped as his finger brushed across his prostrate.

"Stop. Take you fingers out." Crawford opened his bag and pulled out a large dildo.

"Use this now."

Ran took the dildo and gulped as he looked at it. He had never had to do this before, most of them just wanted sex. Slowly he slid the dildo in and out of him, catching his breath as he did, it felt so strange and unnatural.

"Faster" Crawford commanded.

Ran looked over at him with pleading eyes, he was already ashamed and humiliated by his ’job’, why did this man have to do this to him. Crawford had moved from where he was before, though he was still standing, and he had taken off his tie and jacket.

Ran moved the dildo faster, closing his eyes again he could feel the warmth building up inside of him. He felt so ashamed as he moaned slightly. He could hear Crawford move again and the rustling of his bag.

"Stop" said the man’s voice, as cold as steel again.

Ran’s hands were pulled away and attached to hand cuffs, they were pulled up over his head and attached to the bed stand. Eyes widened in fear, he began to panic and struggle, but stopped abruptly as Crawford pulled the dildo out sharply. He quickly replaced it with a vibrator, switching it on to full power.

Ran gasped and moaned, thrashing wildly on the bed, pulling at the handcuffs. He had never felt this kind of pleasure/pain before, sex with his other punters and Ryuuichi had always been horrible. Ran very rarely even got hard doing it, sometimes he wondered if they had broken him, because surely he should have felt something. Now he knew that it was definitely them that were the problem.

Crawford smirked watching him. The boy looked incredibly beautiful being brought to pleasure. However, Crawford had no intention of allowing the boy to have his way that quickly, and slipped a cock ring on him. Ran screamed when he felt the ring encasing him, he so desperately wanted release. He looked up at Crawford, but was once again ignored.

Crawford was really enjoying watching the boy like this, though he would never show outward sign of it. He lightly began to trace the tips of his fingers over Ran’s chest and nipples, down to his navel and lightly fondle his balls. The touching hardly made contact, but was enough to drive Ran wild as his moans intensified.

"Please . . . I can’t . . . it . . . Oh".

Beads of sweat dripped down his face and chest. Finally, after what felt to Ran like hours, Crawford turned the vibrator off.

Crawford looked down at the boy, a smirk once again playing across his face. With the boy’s mouth open, eyes practically closed, begging - he can’t help but feel smug for bringing him to this. Crawford made quick work of his own clothes and climbed onto the bed. With no warning he entered Ran, though he had been given enough preparation.

Moving slowly at first, Crawford savoured the feeling of the boy underneath him, and hearing his continued moans. Ran could feel the pressure inside him continuing to build. He arched his back as sensations took over his body. Crawford moved faster, pushing his hand in between their bodies, he unclipped the cock ring and made quick work of the boy’s swollen length.

Ran arched even further as the orgasm ripped through him, and as he did an old memory, that he thought he had long buried, suddenly hit him.

Ran gave a strangled scream as the unwanted images intruded on his brain, and an unquenchable anger hit him. Then, he could feel it in his hand, the knife again. The one that appears every time that blind rage comes to him.

Crawford looked down smugly watching the boy come to orgasm. A sudden change comes over him, the change in his eyes: they are wider and more beautiful then ever before, but they are unseeing, and Crawford, forgetting his own erection and needs, watches the boy carefully to see what has brought all this on.

Just as suddenly as Ran changed, a vision takes Crawford: the boy sometime in the future, on a roof top with Takatori Reiji, suddenly there’s a katana and Reiji is dead. Then even further in the future, the Elders are there and their demise is imminent. Crawford knows this vision, he's had it before, but never a clear as this. He now understands why he was lead to 'Aya' tonight.

Coming back to the world, Crawford looked down upon the boy again. They were both panting heavily, and the boy was clearly struggling with whatever had happened to him. Slowly Crawford got up, and as he did so he noticed the knife in the boys hand. Smirking again, over what he now knows will now happen, he looked at ‘Aya‘.

"What is your name, really?"

"Ran" was the reply, in a cracked and unsteady voice.

* * * * *