Title: Encoded
Content: shonen ai…yada yada blah blah…I don't even know why I bother writing this…
Disclaimer: Frederick the bird is MY creation, so I DO own him!
Pinku: But…he isn't *in* this…
Lorelei: That's fine. 'Cause I own Hajime!
Jime-chan: *pulls Lori's hair and giggles*
Lorelei: *grumbles* The spawn of Aya and Ken…
~Chapter Five~
Ken propped his elbows upon the window sill, gazing out the window with a dreamy nostalgic look on his face and in his eyes. The night was warm, so they'd left Hajime's window open. Ken barely even felt the gentle weight of Ran's hand resting on his shoulder, until he heard the redhead's low voice.
"Are you okay?" Ken turned, putting force a small, tired smile for Ran, making the older man smile back.
"Yeah…I'm fine. Just thinking," Ran seemed to make a noise of agreement, and kind of chuckled. This pulled Ken from his trance completely. "Huh? What?" Rand smiled, running a hand over Ken's messy brown hair.
"You're a very pensive person, after all," the redhead teased. Ken frowned, standing.
"Yeah, I am!" he exclaimed. Ran placed a finger on Ken's lips. Ken stared, cross-eyed, at the offending silencer.
"Shh. Jime's asleep now, and I am not staying up all night on a count of your big mouth," Ran finished with an accusing smirk.
"I don't have a…" Ran curled his pale, slender fingers around Ken's. He chuckled softly again.
"You didn't hear me just now, did you?" Ken stared at his lover in baffled silence. Ran sighed softly. "Hajime's asleep. That leaves just the two of us," his words ended on an expectant connotation, and after a brief pause, Ken's eyebrows raised in realization.
"Ohhh…" The brunette grinned at this discovery. He grasped at Ran's shirt, pulling him forward. "Then what are we waiting for?" he breathed. Ran smiled, as Ken tugged him out of the baby's room. Before they left, Ran flicked the switch of the light, the room only lighted by the pale beams of the moon outside.
Clothed in black, with the help of a large tree's shadow, Schuldig was but an extension to the shadows. Even his shock orange hair was difficult to pick out; until he stepped into the light, anyway. He squinted up above the tree, where a large branch reached towards a window.
"Nagi!" he hissed irritably. He was met with silence. The German frowned, clearly feeling ignored, and even worse, unimportant to this whole assignment. At least Brad and Farfello could spend their time doing useful things, while he, on the other hand, wasted his life standing next to a tree. Not even decent company. He snorted. "Better than Brad,"
A shadow leapt down beside him, landing in a graceful crouching position with hardly a sound. Two large blue eyes stared at Schuldig through the darkness. The German stepped forward.
"Find him?" he whispered, trying not to sound too impatient. Hell, he was bored! He had a good damn reason! Nagi frowned, standing. After a moment or two, he finally answered, in his soft, detached voice.
"Yes. As luck would have it, his room is right there." Nagi gestured to the window. Schuldig ran a hand through his long hair.
"Heh. Don't they ever watch any kidnapping movies? The kids are always stolen that way…" The German stopped when there was no response from his companion. Nagi had disappeared, most likely back up the tree. He sighed. "Oh well. Makes our job easy." The Japanese boy took longer this time, crawling through the open window and glancing around the room. It was still empty. Carefully, he peered into the crib, the child still sleeping. For a moment, he wondered how his parents would react, once they'd found their child gone. He wondered what would happen to the baby.
"I was taken away from my family when I was young…" Omi stated in a soft, sad voice. "I've always thought about…what life would have been like if I hadn't…" And then, a sweet smile. "But I suppose I wouldn't have met you, hm?"
Nagi scowled, brushing away these thoughts roughly. He reached in with careful, unflinching hands, taking up the baby in his arms. The child hardly stirred. Nagi cradled the child against his shoulder, and slipped back out the window. He crouched on the large branch, holding the one above it to balance himself, his other hand firmly grasping the child. He made his way across the branch, and quickly shimmied down the tree, all the while making sure the baby wasn't jostled awake. He successfully landed, on his feet, at the foot of the tree. Schuldig smirked.
"Finally. Let's get outta here," The two moved quickly across the lawn, careful not to be in plain sight of anyone within the house, and dashed down the sidewalk. As far as they were concerned, the job was clean cut, and well carried out.
With sleep-blurred eyes, Ken glanced over at the alarm clock that sat patiently on the nightstand. It stared at him with red-eyes, calmly informing him it was 2:30…in the morning. Ken groaned quietly, wondering why anyone would cruelly want him up at this ungodly hour. His eyes passed over Ran, who held him in loose pale arms. Ken smiled. Ran always looked so innocent when he was asleep. Carefully, he slid out of the warm loop of Ran's arms, causing the redhead to shift his position with a sigh. The brunette climbed out of bed wearily, deciding to check on the baby since he was awake.
He'd pulled on some pants previously, so he didn't even bother picking up a shirt to cover his upper body. On soft feet, he entered the baby's room, gazing lovingly at the crib. He walked over to peer into it, and the feeling of being kicked directly in the stomach passed over him. The air completely knocked out of his lungs, his throat and mouth became dry. The crib was empty.
Sweat beaded on Ken's face and body. Maybe there was no reason to be nervous. Maybe Yoji or Omi had come in and taken him, maybe…
God, neither of them would've done that! As good as they were with Hajime, if he ever made a fuss in the night, they'd both just come and wake Ken up to deal with it!
No…then that meant…Ken slowly slumped to the floor, hands grasping at the white bars of the empty crib. He didn't even realize he was crying until he felt hands, gentle loving hands, wiping at the tears that spilled persistently down his cheeks. Instinctively, Ken threw himself into the open arms of his lover, as Ran rocked him back and forth, rubbing his back soothingly.
"Ran…Ran…he's…" Ken's voice was hoarse, and words clipped. Ran held him closer, brushing loose brown strands out the brunette's tear-streaked face, which was beginning to blotch red from the crying. Ken buried his face in Ran's chest, clutching at the fabric of the redhead's nightshirt. "…gone…" Ran stroked his lover's back quietly, at a loss for words. Nothing he said could possibly soothe his partner more than what he was doing now.
"Don't worry…it'll be okay…" he murmured to his lover, but the words probably never reached the grief stricken brunette.
Nagi scowled down at the baby in his arms; Hajime had begun to wake up, and was none to happy about his new surroundings. Large violet eyes glanced about nervously, and then looked at Nagi with great speculation. Large tears began to build on the baby's long lashes.
"D-dadda…?" the child whimpered. Nagi raised an eyebrow, and the baby burst into tears. Nagi simply stared down at the sobbing baby, almost in a bored manner. He walked over to where Schuldig was sitting, dropping the child into the German's lap.
"W-what?! Nagi!" Schuldig protested in a shocked squawk. Jime looked up at him with big sad eyes, but his sobbing had ebbed. Curiously, he cocked his head at Schuldig, seeming to judge him as well. A small hand with chubby fingers latched onto a tendril of orange locks and pulled. Hard. "Damn it! Ow!" The baby giggled, repeating the action. "H-hey! Knock it off!" Schuldig grabbed the kid in his lap, holding him in one arm, the other grabbing all his long hair and defending it from the child's deadly grasp. "Nagi! What do you expect me to do with this?" He cried, making the baby coo, and clap his hands. Nagi shrugged absently.
"He likes you better than me." The young teen began walking away. Schuldig glared after him in annoyance.
"H-hey! Don't think you're gonna stick me with this! Nagi? Nagi!" Schuldig sighed deeply when the Japanese assassin didn't respond, and disappeared into his room. "God damn idiot." The German muttered under his breath. He slumped back down onto the couch, setting the baby in his lap. Hajime cooed warily, looking around the room with a wide-eyed curiosity. "Brad, you'd better get home soon," Schuldig mumbled. Hajime blinked up at Schuldig, as if asking what he meant. "Heh…I don't even know what to call you," the German observed, looking at the child. The baby looked a little older than six months old…or at least that's what Schuldig figured. He had large violet eyes, and unkempt brown hair, a longer length than most babies. Schuldig snorted softly. "You do kinda look like them…in a strange sort of way…you're probably cuter though," Hajime smiled, making some babbling noises. The baby reached up, his hand exploring Schuldig's face, playing with the German's lips, and resting on his cheeks. Schuldig raised an eyebrow, watching the baby. Hajime looked up at Schuldig with question in his eyes.
"Ga?" he cooed, his little eyebrows furrowing together in concentration. Schuldig chuckled. He ran a hand over the baby's soft hair.
"You're not bad. I think I like you," he admitted. The baby giggled, grabbing one of Schuldig's fingers in his tight little fist. The lock of the front door clicked then, causing both Schuldig and the baby to turn their attention towards it. Quietly, the door swung open, revealing Brad, dressed in suit and a long coat over that. His golden hazel eyes passed over the German and his quarry fleetingly, and the American turned to close the door behind him. Slowly, he removed his long overcoat, placing his briefcase down beside him. Schuldig frowned. "Why hello to you too, Brad," he scoffed. He rolled his eyes, making the baby squeal and giggle.
"I see you succeeded," Brad observed impartially, not even bothering to look at the child. Schuldig sighed.
"I always succeed." He replied, giving the baby a grin.
"Mm-hm." Brad didn't seem to care about that. Schuldig became annoyed. He stood, propping the child on his upper hip as he held Hajime in one arm, the other resting on his other hip in irritation.
"Well, Brad, what do we do now? You're the man with the plan here, not me." Schuldig blurted in annoyance. Brad nodded, picking up his briefcase, and moving to site down on the couch at Schuldig's side.
"Exactly." He responded. He sat down, opening his briefcase and taking out a folder. He sifted through its contents, Schuldig taking a seat beside the precog, the baby cooing in interest. "I have his birth papers," Brad finally stated, handing a packet to Schuldig. "Copies, of course, but at least they give us some information." Schuldig cradled Hajime in one arm, jade eyes flicking over the text on the page.
"Hajime…huh," The German paused in thought. "Brad; how does he have birth papers if he wasn't actually 'born'?" Brad took the papers from the orange haired man, placing them back in the folder.
"Every child is given birth papers, Schuldig," The American answered with a sort of distraction in his voice. Schuldig nodded slowly, yet questions still hung thick in the air, too many for Schuldig to ask all once, but questions he eventually wanted answers to.
"Why, Brad?" Brad raised his head, real interest in his golden eyes now. Schuldig fought a quirk of his lips. Finally, Brad was paying attention to him. "Why do we need him?" Brad sighed, showing the German he'd thought they'd gone over this already. Schuldig frowned stubbornly, showing that they hadn't.
"We need to get a sample of his DNA to break the code," he explained. Another question popped into Schuldig's mind, as many had been doing quite frequently in recent days.
"But…if you can get his birth papers…couldn't you have gotten his DNA too?" Schuldig queried. Brad smirked slightly, shaking his head. He probably thought Schuldig was the most ignorant person he'd ever met. Schuldig glared. "Hey, this is all new to me, okay?!"
"Schuldig, calm down. Look, DNA samples aren't taken automatically, and not everybody has theirs on record. It's not like birth papers; it has to be done separately, only when it's needed. That's why we need him." Brad explained. Schuldig nodded in understanding. He'd end his questions for the time being; he didn't want to annoy the American.
"So…we get to take care of him, then?" Schuldig stated absently, gazing at the baby in his lap, who was beginning to curl up and fall asleep. Brad stood, looking down at Schuldig. The German could almost swear his eyes had flashed something, maybe…fondness? Schuldig shook his head ever so slightly.
"Yes. I suppose we do." The American answered. Brad left Schuldig and Hajime. Schuldig sighed, a smile crossing his face once more.
"Okay then, Jime. Time for bed!"
Author's Note: Waiiiii! Schu playing daddy! Or mommy…or whatever…*coughs* wow, it's been awhile, hasn't it? Gomenasai! Things just pop up and I fall far behind…well, suddenly I've been hit with a writer's streak, so that's always a good thing. And, sorry this chapter isn't my usual sized chapter; I didn't feel like adding unnecessary things to make it longer. *gasp* The suspense! The drama! Hajime has been stolen by none other than Schwartz! *laughs*
Pinku: *sweatdrop* Lorelei, you're scaring the nice readers…*waves* Hi, nice readers! *holds out pocky* Neeeee! A-chan gave me pocky!
Lorelei: *face fault* He would…*clears throat* Well, well, well…Let's see what chapter six will have in store!
Pinku: *childish grin*