Chapter 25
Yohji was pacing back and forth on the pavement in front of his house. He kept looking at his watch and the road, muttering to himself.
"Damn! They're late!" He cursed under his breath. Ken and Omi were supposed to meet him at his house ten minutes ago; they were going to go to this Crawford's apartment with his car and drag Ran back with them. He waited impatiently and saw Ken come with his bike and Omi with his bicycle. Ken had a passenger with him. They stopped and quickly parked the vehicles and walked towards him.
"You're late!" He exclaimed at both of them.
"Sorry." Ken apologized. "Sakura-chan here wants to follow and made us wait for her."
Yohji huffed silently and ignored the guilty looking girl who was trudging behind the brown haired friend of his. "Let's go." He told them as he started the engine.
"The flies are coming." Schuldig watched the man disinterestedly. "I'm sure you saw them coming. Ooh, and his admirer is tagging along too."
Crawford adjusted his glasses and shrugged. Not that he cared, he had had the vision of them coming and he was sure that the young man would stay... After what he had done to him, Ran was confused then and he was still confused and now he was brooding in the room.
The German's eyes suddenly went wide and he laughed out loud when he suddenly caught something in the older man's thoughts. "I see… No wonder Ran looks like he is on cloud nine. You kissed him… Well after you fucked a woman. You sure know how to mess with a young virgin's mind…"
"So, while waiting for the entourage, care to tell me what it is that that Silvia chick wants from you… Apart from your good performance libido, that is." He grinned devilishly. "I could hear her moaning and groaning a mile away, you know," he mimicked the woman's voice with a straight face and stared at his so called leader. Crawford ignored the German but Schuldig saw the cocky smirk the man hid behind his newspaper.
Farfarello who was quiet from the time Schuldig dragged him along to Crawford's apartment began mimicking… "Oh! Aah! Ahhn! Harder! Ahh! Harder! Don't Stop! Aaaaah! I'm coming! Ahh!" while playing with his eye patch.
He continued the annoying rhymes until he heard the cocking of a gun from the table where Crawford was sitting and put on his eye patch immediately, "Beastly Crawford is angry! Run for your life! Beastly Crawford is coming with his big bad gun!" And he was running towards the door, they could still hear him screaming, 'beastly… beastly…' until the elevator door closed.
Crawford holstered his gun and sighed, Schuldig was bending down holding his stomach trying to stop his laughing when he suddenly sat up straight and counted loudly, "three… two… one…" and they heard the buzzer from the reception area. Crawford got up, letting the buzzer buzz for awhile, before pressing the button at his door. "Crawford."
"Crawford-san, there are visitors for you at the lobby," he heard the woman's voice from the reception from the voice box. "They said their names are Yohji Kudoh, Ken Hidaka, Mamoru Takatori and Sakura Tomoe. Shall I allow them to your floor?" She asked.
"Let them up," he answered curtly.
Five minutes later, Crawford heard the sound of the elevator, indicating that his unwanted guests were coming and he opened the door. He saw Yohji storming towards his apartment as the elevator door opened. "Where is Ran?" He demanded from the older man.
He noticed Ken and Takatori's Head of Police's son were trying to look tough as if trying to intimidate him. Crawford rolled his eyes; their eyes were too bright and round to intimidate him. Sakura was glaring at him, clearly showing her hatred towards the American. Crawford stood aside to let them in, his face remained calm and unreadable. He did not bother to reply to Yohji and closed the door.
Schuldig turned his head lazily and grinned wolfishly at Yohji. "So, you are that pretty guardian angel?" He asked and smirked lazily at the stern faced blond. "You know, if you'd smile, you would be one of the most good-looking Japanese hunks I ever met. Saaaay, is your hair down there as blonde as that on your head?" He winked at the man who was too stunned to answer him.
The German got up, stretching his body lazily, prancing in front of the blond and went to knock on the door to Crawford's room. "Hey Ran! You can come out! We've got a surprise for you."
Yohji waited impatiently and when he saw Ran rubbing his eyes as he opened the door, he quickly approached the redhead. Ran squinted. He thought he saw Yohji and began to rub his eyes again and then he saw Ken, Omi and … Sakura.
"Surpriiiiiiiiiise!" Schuldig said to him flatly.
"Eh…" Ran stood there, blinking his eyes.
"I am getting you out of here," Yohji told him as he took his younger friend's hand. Schuldig walked up towards the redhead and slung his arm around the boy's waist.
"Ran prefers to stay here," he said smugly at the blond. Yohji smacked the German's hands away from Ran's waist and pulled the redhead towards him.
"He is NOT." Yohji cast him an angry look and jabbed his index finger towards the German, "I don't know who you are, but that man…" He pointed at Crawford… "is not from Interpol." He turned to face Ran, "Omi's father checked on him, he is not in the Police Force, Ran. He lied to you."
Ran's violet eyes met Crawford's in confusion. "Is it true?" He asked. Crawford didn't even blink, he didn't even respond to the boy's question.
"It is," Omi said from the corner where he was standing. "My father confirmed it to me this afternoon. He checked all the systems and his name never popped up."
"He could be a retiree." Schuldig added and grinned at the boy.
"Retiree, my ass!" Yohji retorted, and his eyes never left the German.
"Are you offering? Your ass I mean." Schuldig raised his eyebrows and gave Yohji his trademark condescending smile. Yohji grabbed the nearest vase he could lay his hands on and threw it at Schuldig who ducked easily. People like to throw things at me nowadays, eh Crawford?
"Quit it!" Ran finally yelled at both of them. "I don't understand, why.. Why are you protecting me, if you are not even from the Police?" He stammered slightly and held Crawford's gaze with his.
"Protect you from what?" Yohji asked as he grabbed his friend with both hands, forcing Ran to look directly at him.
Ran bowed his head slightly, "I… I.. Somebody is stalking me and gave me a creepy call last week while I was alone at my house. Crawford was there… near my house at that time… "
"And you decided to call him instead of me?" Yohji eyes bugged out and asked unbelievably. "You don't trust me to help you and instead you asked for what... A foreign stranger that introduced himself to you as someone working for Interpol? Didn't you ever have the slightest thought in your mind that 'He' might be the stalker?" At this point Yohji was shaking his friend furiously.
"I'm sorry. I… I didn't want to involve any of you. I just…"
"You just don't want to see your friends get hurt, but you don't care if your friends see that you get hurt... Is that what you were thinking?" Yohji let go of both of his hands. "Ran! You know I will do anything not to let any harm come upon you or Ken and even Omi. The three of you are the only close friends I have. I have known you since you were four." He sighed and dropped his head. "I know that you were always being watched by people then and even up until now, you're still the center of attention and attraction. But still I am too blind to even realize when you are in trouble."
Ran muttered 'Sorry' to his friend. Yohji's eyes shone, his face showed a huge amount of concern and he hugged his friend. "Let's go okay? You'll stay with me." Ran nodded mutely.
Crawford walked towards them calmly, refraining himself from just yanking the boy away from the blond. He had seen and heard enough of Yohji being overly dramatic just to get the redhead to follow him. How cunning. He would not allow that.
"Ran is under my care," he said simply. "He will stay and we are professional bodyguards."
And also Assassins for hire, you forget to add that, Schuldig added helpfully, but only for Crawford to hear.
"Bodyguards? From Interpol to Bodyguards..." Yohji sneered at the older man, "And later what will you say, that you're fishermen?" He shook his head, "No! I am taking him with us, end of discussion."
"You think you can protect him?" Crawford chuckled darkly. "You don't even have the spine to come alone and meet me and instead you had to bring them along." Crawford pointed in Ken, Omi and Sakura's direction. "Did you know that the one who is after him is not only merely a stalker but also a killer? Of course you didn't know. Ran! You didn't tell him about what you saw in the woods in Osaka… Did you?" Ran grimaced, frowned and continued shaking his head.
Yohji was glaring at the man and he looked at Ran who was agitated. He was getting more confused than before, he got the part about the stalker but what he didn't get was the part about the killer. What mess had his friend gotten himself into?
Bodyguards? Omi was thinking hard, he knew he seen that man before, and he had been thinking where he had seen him since they met briefly in the school infirmary. "You!" Omi suddenly looked at him apprehensively, when he remembered who the man was. "I remember you. You once worked with my uncle. As his bodyguard."
"Ping Pong!" Schuldig grinned.