A/N: Well, yet another song-fic from my crazy little mind. This is, as per usual, my random piece of one-shot fluffdom that entertains me for a while and I hope entertains those who read it as well. The song title pretty much sums it up.
Disclaimer: I don't own Weiss or Schwarz, their concepts or plotlines. Similarly I don't own the song "(There's Gotta Be) More To Life" – these are owned by Project Weiss and Stacie Orrico respectively.
"(There's Gotta Be) More To Life"
//I've got it all, but I feel so deprived//
//I go up, I come down and I'm emptier inside//
The blond lazily lit up a cigarette, trying not to wake the naked lady asleep next to him. He took a long drag and exhaled a cloud that shimmered for a moment in the moonlight through the open window before dissolving, leaving the faint scent of smokey abandonment in its wake. The slight women curled up beside him shifted a little, a small smile touching her pert, pink lips. The man allowed himself a tiny, smug grin at that before he sighed and took another drag. He felt fulfilled, or did he? Was this a game he was playing because he enjoyed it, or was it merely a distraction from other, worse sins...
//Tell me what is this thing that I feel like I'm missing//
//And why can't I let it go?//
"Asuka..."
He murmured, smoke escaping in wisps from his lips before his blond brows furrowed for a moment and he flung the cigarette butt brutally out of the window. He saw its blazing salamander tip for a moment, lit up against the smothering ebony background before it too fell dark and disappeared from sight. Without a sound.
//There's gotta be more to life...//
//Than chasing down every temporary high to satisfy me//
//Cause the more that I'm...//
A thin smile flickered across a Telepath's lips as his mind sauntered through minds, most dulled by the grasp of slumber making his "entertainment" as easy as stealing candy from a baby. In fact, easier – slumbering minds that couldn't scream for their mothers in distress, they thought it merely a "nightmare". He chuckled at the thought before his probing thought tendrils grasped on something semi-conscious. He smirked when he skipped through the most recent memories and thoughts. He didn't care for names, places or numbers – merely memories, stories that could keep his attention for but a moment before his boredom caused him to move on.
//Trippin' out thinkin' there must be more to life//
//Well it's life, but I'm sure... There's gotta be more//
//(Than wanting more)//
He snickered and then muttered,
"Lucky dog...more than I'm getting at the moment...!"
A scowl then crossed his handsome European features as he caught a flash of blond hair, artfully cut. The Telepath muttered a curse before wondering out loud what had become of his life if he had to spy on his enemies' love lives, rather than focussing on his own – or lack thereof.
//I've got the time and I'm wasting it slowly//
//Here in this moment I'm halfway out the door//
The brunette dragged a hand through his well kept hair and adjusting the rough knot of a lurid orange jumper around his waist with one hand as he clasped the door handle with the other. Shifting a little he managed to twist the handle, tighten the knot and open the door with the use of his derriere all without falling over or making a sound. Quite pleased with his accomplishment he closed the door silently behind him and shoved his hands into his pockets before strolling a few brisk paces down the street.
Sleep was hard to come by when all your dreams were filled with crimson. He found that exercise often helped him to forget. His eyes weren't really taking anything in, until he saw the figure half obscured in the shadows in an alleyway to his left. He rolled his brown eyes towards the figure without changing his head position and took in a brief flash of long orange hair.
//Onto the next thing, I'm searching for something that's missing//
He resisted every nerve in his body screaming at him to attack or respond, but he forced himself to keep walking. The other man's back was to him and somehow that didn't seem fair. He would tell the others the next morning, someone would tell the head honchos at Kritiker and they'd handle it from there. He put his thoughts back to nothing and continued his stroll, he glanced around at the deserted streets before jaywalking across the road to the shadowy park opposite.
//There's gotta be more to life...//
//Than chasing down every temporary high to satisfy me//
//Cause the more that I'm...//
Binds so tight held him. He didn't really mind the tightness, as the pain wasn't a concern. The restriction annoyed him, stirred something in his insides that screamed to be released. Blood lust. He bit back a moan of longing, his teeth sinking into the flesh of the inside of his cheek and a coppery taste covered his thirsting tongue. Some of the liquid dribbled out of the corner of his pale mouth. His tongue quickly flicked out to catch it and as a result sent a scarlet spray across the floorboards swinging above his head. The simple satisfaction lasted barely a minute before the longing consumed him again.
//Trippin' out thinkin' there must be more to life//
//Well it's life, but I'm sure... There's gotta be more//
//(I'm wanting more)//
A deep seated yearning for blood that made his heart sing a desperate aria. He wanted to rip flesh from tendons, slice blades through skin to meet the ivory-coloured bones encased in delightful muscles. Those Weiss kittens were the only things he was allowed to release his urges upon. His eyes glazed in rapturous, devilish thought. Who would be more delightful to slay? The crazy brunette with bad taste in blades? Or the innocent genki, blond? He cackled with delight at his thoughts before releasing the flow of ecstasy into his mouth to satiate his hunger once more.
//I'm always waiting on something other than this//
//Why am I feelin' like there's something I missed....//
The blond teen sat awake at his desk, his face a dull blue shade – reflected from his computer screen as it scrolled through megabyte after megabyte of data. Searching for hits to his key words. He stifled a yawn and flicked bright blue, innocent eyes at his currently dormant personal messaging program. A friend he had met online had told him he would be on around this time, but so far he hadn't shown. The teen flicked his eyes back to the still scrolling screen and then allowed his mind to wander. He knew his friend came from this part of Japan and had an interest in computers as well. Their conversations usually didn't delve into their private lives, neither party seeming to want to know or share these details. So a friendship had started, based around debates about different software programs and occasionally political or current events issues.
//Always... Always...//
The blond couldn't help but think his friend seemed older than 15, and hoped he hadn't stumbled across one of the Internet's many pedophiles and perverts. His messaging program chimed and his thoughts were dragged back to reality.
"Sorry I'm late..."
//There's gotta be more to life...//
//Than chasing down every temporary high to satisfy me//
//Cause the more that I'm...//
The tired little teen slumped into his desk chair and wiggled the mouse on his computer with his mind as he untied his shoelaces. The screensaver winked off and he double clicked on his instant messaging program icon on his desktop as he placed his shoes neatly at the end of his bed before he collapsed onto it, his eyes straying to the glowing screen. He double clicked on his friend's icon and typed swiftly,
"Sorry I'm late..."
As he waited for his corespondent's reply, he closed his eyes and dozed, his mind wandering to his day at school where he had gone through the motions of being the dutiful schoolboy. The quiet, shy boy in the back of everyone's class – that kid everyone knows but no-one really knows. He doesn't stand out, he does his work and doesn't seem to notice the occasional flirtatious glance one of the girls in his class throws at him. His air of mystery and brooding makes him intriguing and exciting.
//Trippin' out thinkin' there must be more to life//
//Well it's life, but I'm sure... There's gotta be more//
As he absent-mindedly typed his conversation with a friend, like all those others at school. Who knew him but didn't know him. He wondered if anyone really noticed him. He led the life of a shadow and there was nothing he could do about it.
//There's gotta be more to life...//
//Than chasing down every temporary high to satisfy me//
//Cause the more that I'm...//
The redhead passed the study, expecting the house to be silent and dark at this time of night, and was surprised to see a dim glow coming through the doorway. He paused and stuck his head in and saw the youngest of his responsibilities (not that any of them admitted that's what they were...) wilting slowly in front of the computer screen as he clicked at the keys.
"Go to bed, chibi."
Startled the youth jumped, the clicking halting suddenly and the silence closing over the house like a blanket, before looking over his shoulder with a drowsy echo of his usual genki smile and replied,
"Soon – I'm almost done."
"Go to bed, chibi."
The blond knew that tone and striking a few well chosen keys the screen darkened and the youth stood from his chair, stretched and headed out of the room, mumbling a goodnight as he stifled a yawn. When the Weiss leader could no longer hear the teen he sighed and sat down on the floor in the hall. He had no idea how he landed himself in this situation. Not only was he wrestling with his own burning desire for revenge and destruction upon the Takatori family he was burdened with the responsibility of organising the majority of the team members almost all of the time, running their "disguise" florist and attempting to hold some sort of order within the realms of chaos that so often overtook the team – both mentally and physically.
//Trippin' out thinkin' there must be more to life//
//Well it's life, but I'm sure... There's gotta be more//
//(More to life)//
Was this really worth it? The late nights spent waiting for team members to come home and as the nights watches grew later, wondering if they were even coming home. The burden of being the steady pillar of silence and expressionless reason that all the team members liked and respected, whether they acknowledged it or not and his own private nightmares. He wondered if anyone else really understood how he felt...
//There's gotta be more to life (more to life)//
//There's gotta be more to life (more)//
//More to my life//
The American rubbed his temples as he sat at the kitchen bench, his inky brows lowered as he scowled at the headache that scattered his thoughts and scraped through his mind. The Asprin had done nothing to ease his discomfort, he muttered several well chosen curses about stupid attempts at Seeing things of his own accord. His Premonitions were random and on rare occasions he had been able to divine some form of Premonition of his own accord, the effort always leaving him drained and the results not always coherent or relevant. He sighed and ran his hands through his short clipped, neat black hair, thinking for the umpteenth time that the leadership role might not be suited to him at all. It seemed like it was all just a big mistake, after all, how can one man control and organise a sullen teenager who had a habit of hurling things around the room when he was annoyed, an over-intelligent Telepath favourite pastimes included the rape of people's minds and a crazy man who suffered from severe blood-lust and whose life ambition was to hurt God. What kind of a life was this anyway?
"The only kind I know how to live." He answered his own question aloud before heading towards the kitchen drawers for some more Asprin.