Love Match, Perfect Match
By Leokitsune
Disclaimer: Weiß. Not mine.
12:12 AM, IWASAKI LABORATORIES, APR. 22 Balinese dropped down from the crawlspace above, his wire silently unspooling from his watch, until he was a few feet from the floor. With a practiced tug, he loosened the wire and the line reeled back with a nearly unperceivable whine. The office was deserted. The whole building had been a cakewalk to get into, with just a few lazy, overweight guards wandering around. They had been ridiculously easy to avoid.
He turned on the computer on the desk and inserted the disk. Even finding the file had been easy. Dr. Haramoto was too arrogant for his own good. He had left the damning file on the Cerberus Project in plain sight on the desktop of his computer, a cute little dog icon above it. The man had a warped sense of humor.
"Well, well, look what we have here."
Talking about warped senses of humor, Balinese thought as he turned to the speaker in the shadows. "Mastermind."
"I see you're here on business."
"And you? Business or pleasure?"
The redheaded telepath came out of the shadows, and leaned against the edge of the desk. "Oh, pleasure. Definitely pleasure."
Balinese smirked. "I can take you on, any time, any way."
"So confident."
"Name the time and place. This is neither."
"True. Two AM. 3335 Takaja Place."
"Ah. The usual. I'll be there. Ready and eager to go."
"As usual. We'll see how long you can keep up this time."
"I left YOU begging for mercy last time," Yohji purred.
Mastermind looked disgruntled. "I was having a bad night that night."
"Excuses, excuses. Come on, admit it. I'm better," Balinese insisted.
"Not on your life," the Schwarz member shot back. "We'll see tonight." He melted back into the shadows, then a second later, Balinese heard the door close behind the redhead.
He turned back to the computer with a smug grin. Oh, yeah. His night was definitely looking up.
6:10 AM, 3335 TAKAJA PLACE, APR. 22
Schuldig laughed joyously, his face a study in triumph. "Oh, yes. YES!" He raised his hand up to brush the strands of hair back from where they clung damply to his face. He couldn't seem to stop grinning like the cat who had gotten the canary. And he had, if you could imagine Yohji as a canary.
Yohji stared back, a small pout on his face, but inside he wasn't displeased. Everyone's Yohji Kudou had been at the top of his game tonight. Schuldig had come out on top through sheer luck. "Nothing but a lucky break for you. Next time, I'M gonna come out on top." "Ja, ja. That's what they all say." Schuldig grabbed a towel on his way out the door. "Show's over, time to wash up and get back. This game is over, set and match."
"I wouldn't go so far as to say that," Yohji said. He grabbed a towel himself and joined Schuldig. Next time, next time, he promised himself. But until then, he'd concede that he had played against a master player and managed to more than hold his own. Next time, Schuldig wasn't going to be so lucky. Then HE would be the one going down.
2:21 AM, 3335 TAKAJA PLACE, MAY 5
Schuldig studied Yohji. The only thing he was certain of was at that very moment it was love for both of them. Tonight, anyway. Things always fluctuated wildly between them. One night, Schuldig would have the upper hand over Yohji. The next, Yohji would have Schuldig on his knees. Overall, they were evenly matched. But for how long? They both were true players. Eventually, one was going to win for good, and the other would be forced to admit defeat. Then the challenge would be gone, and they would move on. That was the way it was for people like them. No lifelong partners, or in their case, more like rivals. No room for such casual ties in their lives.
He flicked his hair out of his eyes and watched for the little mistake that would make Yohji's ass his. Just one. That would be all he needed to wrap this up. For tonight. Who was to say how tomorrow would go? Schuldig smiled to himself. That was what made Kudou so perfect for him. Yeah, it may be love now. Maybe one of them would stay that way while the other scored, then moved on. But until then, it was all about the game.
2:00 AM, 3335 TAKAJA PLACE, AUG. 30
Yohji met Schuldig at the door and watched him pick the lock. The two slid inside, Schuldig turning on the lights with a casual flick of a finger. They had been doing this for months now. They knew where everything was, it was like a second home to both of them, one that only they shared. None of their other teammates, not Weiss, not Schwarz, knew what the two did together. The past few months had been taking on a quiet, unspoken air of desperation. Yohji finally couldn't stand the tension any more.
"Aya is getting suspicious," Yohji told Schuldig nervously. They had dropped the codenames months ago.
Schuldig stared down at the duffel that carried his change of clothes. "Crawford too."
Yohji picked at his own overnight bag. "So what do we do?" He said it casually, but inwardly he pleaded, no, not yet, not yet. I'm not done with this yet!
Schuldig shrugged. "Crawford's the one that looks to the future." He grinned at his co-conspirator. "I'm more stuck in the present, myself. I'm having too much fun to quit now." He sobered. "How about you?"
Yohji stared back, all seriousness and determination. "Me too. I'm not done with this, not by a long shot."
"Well then, that answers our question," Schuldig said with relief. It wasn't over yet. Thank God. He would have hated to have been left with the lingering question of who was the true master of the game. Maybe they could determine that tonight. The night stretched in front of them like a golden promise. Soon, Yohji, Schuldig thought. But not just yet.
2:00 AM, 3334 TAKAJA PLACE, AUG. 30
Across the street, on the rooftop of the building facing the one that Yohji and Schuldig was in, Crawford and Aya indulged in a glaring contest. Or at least Aya did. Crawford just smirked. "How did I know that I was going to catch two Weiss tonight?"
"Maybe because you're the pre-cog," Aya spat, literal to the last. Crawford just shook his head and sighed melodramatically.
Aya shook his head too. "You're here for the same thing I am."
"To see what my subordinate is doing with his nights off, yes."
Aya stepped back from his hostile stance. "Then I'll ignore you, and you ignore me. If we fight, they'll hear us."
"Agreed."
2:10 AM, 3334 TAKAJA PLACE, AUG. 30
"I can't believe it," Crawford said at last, his eyes wide behind his glasses. His capricious gift hadn't prepared him for this. "Are they-?" he couldn't finish the thought. It was just too much for him to take in. Schuldig? Yohji? This is what they had been doing together?
Aya finally found his voice. "Is it usually that. . . forceful?"
Crawford cleared his throat awkwardly. "For them, I guess it is. I prefer more. . . gentlemanly pursuits, myself." Schuldig and Yohji were like a pair of wild animals fighting for supremacy, snarling at each other, teeth bared. Then what Aya had said really registered. "You mean you've never-- "
Aya shot him an appalled glance. "No, that's definitely not my style." Then he realized who he was talking to and fell silent. The shock had gotten him to fraternize with the enemy! Where was his discipline? His gaze unwillingly went back to what he could glimpse of his teammate, fraternizing with—the enemy. Ah, hell. It looked like Yohji and Mastermind was going to be awhile. Might as well do something other than watch them get all hot and sweaty and feral and—stop right there, Fujimiya, he scolded himself sternly.
He slid a glance at Crawford. Well, maybe the Oracle wasn't so bad. He looked intelligent and had already confessed to preferring more sedate pursuits. Maybe, just maybe. . . He had been without a good, equal partner for so long. Maybe the Oracle. . . Aya took a deep breath and braced himself to take the chance.
Crawford's glasses caught the moonlight as he turned to Aya. "Yes. I would love to."
Aya was thrown for a moment. How did the Oracle know what he had been about to ask? Then he frowned to himself. How could he forget? He was dealing with the Oracle. But if Crawford was agreeing, then did that mean. . .?
Crawford answered again. "Yes I saw it. I think we're going to find each other a perfect match." He cleared his throat self-consciously. "I too, have been suffering from a lack of a good partner."
The corner of Aya's mouth lifted just a hair. There were advantages to dealing with a pre-cog.
6:05 AM, THE KONEKO, NOV. 12
"Are you sure that the rest are gone?"
Yohji nodded briskly. "Positive. Ken and Omi went to Nagano for a few days to see the snow monkeys. They love them, for some reason."
"And Aya?" Schuldig asked, craning his head around the edge of the door, ready to jump back if a sword-wielding redhead jumped out from behind a potted plant, brandishing said sword.
Yohji frowned. "Aya left last night for Hong Kong. He's going to be gone a week. First vacation I've ever seen him take."
Schuldig blinked at that. "That's weird. Crawford left for Hong Kong last night, too. He's also going to be gone for a week."
Yohji laughed. "That IS weird. You don't think—"
"No way," Schuldig said firmly.
"Yeah, you're right." Yohji shouldered his bag, and motioned for Schuldig to lead the way. Schuldig slung his duffel higher on his shoulder and the two men walked to the park around the corner from the flower shop. They dropped their bags on opposite ends of the long bench just inside the fenced-in enclosure. Schuldig smiled at the setup before him. "This was worth getting up at the crack of dawn for."
Yohji unzipped his bag and pulled out his equipment. "I hope you're right, Schuldig."
Schuldig unzipped his bag and pulled out his lucky racket. "You'll see. Playing outdoors on a clay court beats an indoor court any day of the week."
Yohji tossed him a yellow ball. "Not to mention, it IS nice to be able to play without worrying that Aya or Crawford is going to see us. Your serve, I think."
"Nice isn't the word for it," Schuldig said fervently. He faced down his toughest opponent over the white dividing net. "Ready, Kudou? Your ass is going down today."
"In your dreams. Bring it!"
6:30 AM, THE ROYAL ARMS CONVENTION CENTER, HONG KONG, NOV. 12
Aya and Crawford smirked at the roomful of potential victims arrayed in front of them. Those unwary souls had no idea of the devastating forces in their midst. "What does your sight have to say about the outcome?" Aya asked the American.
Crawford shoved his glasses further up his nose and his eyes gleamed wolfishly. "I don't need precognition to see the outcome."
"Strategy is key," Aya intoned.
Crawford nodded. "We have the skills and the teamwork."
"We also have surprise on our side." Aya spotted their first victims. "The Lanser sisters, from Canada."
"We're going to be East and West, I see," Crawford said.
"Most promising. That describes this partnership perfectly." Aya's eyes narrowed as he realized who his targets were. "They were last year's set game divisional leaders in the North American Tournament."
"That was North America, and last year. Neither one of us was playing last year."
Aya's lips curled upwards ever-so-slightly. "Then let's get started." He paused, then turned to his partner. "I still don't like you. But you were right. We are a perfect match. We're going to clean out this tournament."
"Indeed," Crawford said. He had already foreseen it, months ago on a rooftop overlooking a gym tennis court. Today, Asia. Tomorrow. . . he smirked to himself at what he saw. Maybe he wouldn't bring about world destruction. But it was going to feel that way in the world of bridge.
Owari