Insert standard disclaimers here. Not mine, never will be, etc., etc., etc.

Edited 12/29/04 for a spelling error.

Blurring the Line

There was no way that Reiji could have known that his brother was in charge of "Weiß" before he had virtually put Tokyo under martial law. At least, that's what Birman kept telling herself as she stood in the rain in front of the Takatori family monument.

Had he been surprised when he found out? Or had he expected it? Shuuichi had been quiet in his public hatred of his older brother, but anyone who really knew the family knew that they had issues with each other. All Birman knew was that it started for love of a woman named Kikuno.

Now both brothers were dead, and Kritiker was struggling to survive. There were very few in the organization who knew that the younger Takatori brother was Persia, but without him around to make the final decisions...

She wasn't sure that she could keep this masquerade that he was alive up much longer. Not without Manx, at least.

She sighed as she knelt down on the ground in front of the monument. A shadow moved on the side of the grave in front of her. "Are you happy?"

"Mmm...no. I don't like when you're hurt or sad, even if the reason should make me happy," a voice replied from the side of the memorial where the shadow was. "You're stressed. I should take you out to fix that."

"I don't have time to go out. I think you know that."

She heard his footsteps in the wet ground as he moved from where he was hidden to stand beside her. "I also know that you'll get pneumonia if I don't get you dried off." The umbrella he was holding deflected some of the rain, but it was too late to do much good. She had been sitting here thinking for a good thirty minutes.

"I'm fine. I..."

An arm slipped around her waist as he leaned down closer to her. "Come on. We'll find some place for the night." She felt him pull her to her feet. "I'll carry you if I have to."

"I can walk," was her only reply. He looked after her with a sigh as she turned and moved away from the memorial. That was all it was, of course. The bodies were gone--cremated as culture demanded. Or in Reiji's case, as his death demanded.

Schuldig rested the umbrella's pole on his shoulder as he watched Birman walk away. He had found her here when he recognized her thoughts as being closer than they usually were. Crawford had sent him out this way on an errand--he must have seen this the same way that he had seen their meeting at the Takaoka's grave in Yokohama. And here, like there, she was so far into her depression that she didn't even notice her own situation. . Her hair was plastered to her skin, and the rain must have soaked through the golden-orange dress suit that she was wearing.

He shook his head and started after her. It didn't take him much effort to catch her and wrap an arm around her shoulders to pull her under the protection of the umbrella.

xxxxx

"Just one bed?" Birman stood in the hall of the room that Schuldig had led her to. It wasn't a bad place except for the fact that it just had one bed.

"I'll sleep on the floor if it makes you that uncomfortable, but it's all they had. Come on, you're dripping on the floor," he tugged her into the bathroom by her arm. It was like she was shutting down. The stress of her work combined with rebuilding Kritiker...

He took off his own coat and laid it on the counter by the sink. "You're a mess, Kyoko." A hand reached up to push her hair away from her face. It rested there for a moment before he leaned down to kiss her. That got a response out of her as she returned the touch. She was desperate for the contact, for the warmth of it. "Sshh, kitten. Patience," he murmured as he pulled away, then tugged at the buttons on the front of the dress, undoing a few before she tried to pull his hands away. "You need to get out of that outfit. It's soaked."

"I can take it off myself," she replied almost inaudibly.

"Sure you can, kitten," he smiled at her, before undoing his own shirt and laying it on the counter with the coat. "That should be big enough for you to wear. It might be a little damp, but it's better than what you have on now."

The smile grew a bit wider as he caught a stray thought from the woman standing in front of him. He ducked his head close to her ear as he moved around her towards the door. "Don't worry, I'll let you touch when you're drier."

xxxxx

Birman waited until the door to the bathroom clicked shut before she started peeling herself out of her clothing. She was soaked. She hadn't cared before, and in fact, she had thought the rain felt good against her skin, but he was right. She was risking laying herself up for quite a while by letting herself get that wet. At least it was summer.

Maybe it was a subconscious attempt to get away from the world permanently. No, that wasn't it. She didn't have a death wish, per se. She just was overloaded with the work...

And the fact that her world had come crashing down around her that night. She should have crashed with it, but he had saved her from her own impetuousness.

"Reiji will kill him if he's given a chance!"

"And he'll kill you, too. I'm sorry. I know who I want to protect. I'm not letting you die for nothing."

She laid her clothing over the glass shower door to dry before picking up a towel.

I can't keep this masquerade up much longer. I can't keep faking the messages from Persia. Even with the help that I have, it's not enough. Kritiker needs a Persia...

It didn't take her long to dry her skin off. Her hair might have been another story. She wasn't sure that she could get it dry that quickly without a hair dryer, so she settled for getting out as much of the water as she could, thoughts still muddied in her mind.

So what am I doing? Nearly killing myself and once again landing in the arms of the enemy...

Her hair was as dry as it was going to get when she picked up his shirt. It still smelled like he did, she noted as she pressed the material against her nose.

...too bad the enemy is also the man I've fallen for.

Birman slipped the shirt on, buttoning just enough of the buttons to be decent--she noted that two of the top buttons were missing anyway--before walking out into the main part of the hotel room.

She found Schuldig laying on the bed, in just his pants and socks, flipping through the channels on the television. "You would think I'd be used to Japanese TV by now," he commented idly as he changed the channel again.

"Why?" she murmured, not wanting to move closer as the fear of what she wanted to do with him took over. It was hard enough to deny how she felt when he was clothed, but with him sitting there with no shirt and with his hair loose around his face, it was almost too much.

"I've been here over a year. And the kid will only watch the international feeds when we're not in Japan..."

"No. Why do you keep saving me? First from myself when I sat in that bar waiting for someone that I knew I could never catch. Then in Yokohama when I would have frozen to death if you hadn't found me. Then when the Takatori brothers were killed. And now. Why do you keep doing it?"

Schuldig's eyes turned their focus from the television to the woman standing at the foot of the bed. She looked lost...dejected even. He hadn't quite expected that, and it made him wonder if she had already crashed from the stress.

Still, there was a little of the fire left in her eyes. She wasn't gone yet. "Because I want to. Do I need to have another reason?" He tilted his head at her, then patted the bed beside him.

She shook her head slightly and tugged at the bottom hem of the shirt. "No, that's...that's enough of one."

When she didn't make a move to join him in bed, he shifted, setting the remote down and crawling towards her. "What do you want me to say? Hmm? That I do it for love?" He propped himself on an elbow before reaching out to brush his fingers over her leg. "I'm not sure I know how to love, but I can say that if it would make you happy. Would it?"

"Not unless you meant it," she replied quietly. He felt the shiver that ran though her body at his touch.

"Maybe I could. Aren't you going to try to tell me that you'll teach me how to love now?" He smiled, grabbing a finger and tugging her towards him. She stumbled a bit, then blushed as he found a better hold on her wrist and pulled her down to the bed. "I'm a good student, you know. And a quick learner."

He heard her laugh as she hit the mattress. "I'm sure you are."

"But?" He grinned as he crawled around to lay beside her.

"But I'm not sure I'm the best teacher in that subject."

"Let me make that judgment." He smiled down at her, kissing the tip of her nose before running his fingers along her skin under the collar of the shirt. "Let me make that judgment..."

She nodded quietly at him as he slowly moved to kiss her.

Don't be afraid. Don't think about anything outside of this room. Just let go and feel. Here we're nothing more than a pair of friends...a pair of lovers...

And someday we'll be able to stay here...

Owari