The Birthday Gift

[Chapter VIII]

By: Raiha-chan

Warnings: Shounen ai, may be a bit OOC in some areas.

Pairings: RanxYoji, tiny hints of SchuxRan

Disclaimers: Weiß Kreuz and its character do not belong to me. Please do not sue me. My wallet is called "The Fly House" for a reason. ~.~;;

// denotes thoughts.

% denotes mental communication


[July 7, pre-dawn]

Schuldich stare down at the bundle in his arms. His pair of jade-colored eyes held a touch of pity in them.

"Well?" the American looked at him.

"'Well' what?" Schuldich took his eyes away and fixated them on the figure in front of him.

"What are you going to do with her?" Brad jerked his head slightly towards the girl in the redhead's arms.

"I don't know. You got any ideas on you?"

"Maybe you should start with the bleeding." The American sounded rather amused with the situation at hand.

"Good idea," Schuldich grinned and set the body down onto the hard floor. "Pity that I don't have anything to clean it up with, though."

Brad scoffed lowly beside him.

"I don't understand why she must live," the silent Irishman spoke.

"Her death would hurt God, would it not, Farfarello?" Brad's eyes wandered to the shadows. A silver gleam and a light chuckle were his only answer.

"Farfarello asked a good question," another voice said, softly. "Why DID you allow her to stay alive, Schuldich?"

"As much as she will be in the way," the German stood. "I don't think Red would be too happy to find her body in a dumpster sometime in the next couple of days. She may appear to be an obstacle but we could always work around her."

"Why did she try to kill herself anyway?" the young boy asked.

"You're a stupid boy, aren't you, Nagi?" Schuldich shook his head. Ignoring the heated glare the young assassin shot him, the German continued.

"It's simple. She doesn't really want to die. She figured that if she went far enough, Red would start feeling something for her. Whether this feeling is what she wanted or not, she thought she can work with it so this feeling can develop into something more."

"In other words, she tried suicide so Red would be the guilty party," Brad said in a low tone. The silence fell over them for a moment before the youngest spoke.

"Why did Schu said so much crap when all that was needed to know was what Crawford said?"

"Because Schu is an idiot," the white-haired psychopath chuckled.

"Let me guess," Schuldich rolled his eyes. "My idiocy hurts God."

"Damn right."

+~+~+~+~+

%Are you awake?%

%I am now% Ran rubbed his eyes tiredly. He strained his neck trying to have a view of the clock by his bedside.

%It's barely 5 am yet. What the hell are you doing?%

%There's something you need to know%

%What?%

%Come down for a second, will ya?%

%…Where?%

%Back alley, outside your apartment%

As much as he hated it, Ran got up anyway. He made it his way out to the bathroom, where he then splashed his face with some cold water, waking him up completely.

Pulling on a jacket, the redhead headed downstairs and went outside to where the German said he'd be waiting.

Nagi was standing outside the alleyway, waiting for him. The young boy was giving him an odd look when he approached him. It seemed to be pity.

//Pity for what?//

Ran blinked when he realized that the emotion wasn't directed towards him.

"He's waiting inside," Nagi nodded curtly. Ran headed into the dark pathway, with the young telekinetic following behind.

+++++

They were standing in an opened circle. A figure lay on its side between them. Ran tried to make out who it was from where he was. All he could see was the tints of brown that appeared to be the figure's hair color.

But by the built the figure had, it had to have been a female.

Getting closer to the small group, the redhead finally was able to get a good glimpse of who the figure was.

He froze in his tracks and let out a small gasp. Nagi was caught off guard as he bumped into the older boy.

"Yo," came Schuldich's greeting.

What surprised Ran wasn't the fact that Sakura was there, but rather because of the blood.

"What the fuck did you do to her?!" Ran demanded, fists clenched.

"Whoa, whoa!" Schuldich took a step back and held up his hands. "First of all, we didn't do a thing. She tried to kill herself. Had Brad not foreseen this earlier, she'd already be dead."

Ran remained silent, trying to process the new piece of information in his head. "Why did she tried to kill herself then?"

"It's a typical girl thing, I guess," Schuldich nudged the unconscious figure lightly with his right foot. "Wanted to make you feel guilty for her death."

The redhead blinked. "D-doushite?"

"She had a feeling that Yoji liked you as something more than just a friend," Brad replied, adjusting his glasses a bit. "And somehow, also found out that you liked Yoji back. Therefore…"

"My motto," Schuldich interrupted the American. "No one can have what I can have."

"She'd rather die and have you pay by feeling guilty for the rest of your life, than to hand you over to Yoji-kun," Nagi added quietly.

Ran felt a headache coming as he tried to process all this information. Surely, those four must have misunderstood something. Sakura wouldn't…

%How would you know?%

Ran's head snapped up. The German was staring at him, all amusement gone from his face.

%How would you know she wouldn't? You can't possibly know what the other is thinking. You can't judge her by her actions alone. It's always the quiet ones you have to watch out for%

%I…%

%I picked up something before she fell. Would you like to hear her last thoughts before she went to meet her maker?%

%A-aa…%

//Ai shitteru, Ran…//

%People would do just about anything to get what they want% Schuldich looked at him strangely.

Suddenly, he was very tired. Everything around fell into a deep silence. The other Schwarz members were gone, too, it seemed.

"What do you want to do with her?" the German switched back to normal speech. "I called you down here for that. The blood has already stopped flowing, by the way."

"Bring her inside," Ran responded, quietly.

"You sure?"

"Aa."

"What do you plan to do with her when she wakes up?"

"I…don't know." Ran looked up at the German. The latter let out a small involuntary gasp.

There it was; the redhead looked at him with such desperation in his eyes. The once ice-cold bastard now had his emotions running around him in its nakedness. Schuldich nearly pitied him.

"This is going to change something, isn't it?" Ran asked, lowering his gaze back down onto the ground, never once meeting the figure.

"No," the German stepped a bit closer to the other and wrapped his arms around the other. He realized that the other redhead was shaking slightly.

"It doesn't have to change a thing," Schuldich reassured, stroking the crimson-colored hair gently. The German rested his chin atop Ran's head and the two stayed in that position, in silent, for what seemed to be an eternity.

[Ende]