Disclaimer: I do not own any of the WK, RK, or SM characters.
Tenshi's Notes: If response is good on this fic, I'll continue posting on ff.net at regular intervals. If not, I'll be placing it on my website, updating whenever I have time to. As is, I'm busy with a lot of things so if there isn't enough interest in this, I won't waste my time converting the file and you won't have to read my babble. To my reviewers, arigatou! I definitely appreciate everything you've done. If you'd like to leave your email addy somehow (either via review or email me), I'll inform you whenever I decide to do an update… IF I stop posting. Not to sound cranky but it's something that's been bothering me a while and I needed to do something about it.
Dedication: To ALL my wonderful reviewers, Angel-chan for always being there for me, Au-chan for constantly reviewing fics even if she has never seen a single episode of RK or WK, Kawaiibaka for your awesome and funny reviews, and to anyone else I forgot, *boinks self* I'm a baka! ^_^
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Chapter 7
With the afternoon came the colder winds, blowing about as she wrapped her biker's jacket tightly about her. She gave him a curious look, and he turned away, having been caught staring at her. Again.
"Are you cold, Ran-san?"
Ran. It had been so long since anyone but Aya had called him that. It reminded him of a time when all had been normal, and they had been your average happy family. He had been a regular teenage boy, with all the concerns that most males at that age were wont to do. The moment his life had ended, he had surrendered his emotions and his soul to Weiss. It had been so long. Long-dead emotions were now resurfacing because of her. How was that possible? He had known right from the start how deeply she would affect him, and yet he couldn't fight the attraction. He was so tired, and so lonely from the path he had chosen.
Cold. That he was. His heart had been frigid for so long. He had buried them so deep down within him that sometimes it felt like he was a walking time bomb, with so much anger and pain longing to be released. So he had numbed his emotions so he wouldn't have to feel any more, nor have the same scenes replayed in his head over and over again. The guilt, the helplessness… they were all nestled within, iced over by his determination and his need for revenge. It was the only flame that burned within him. Sometimes, that fire would blaze beyond his control, and melt the icy layer beneath. It was only then that the volatile mix of emotions would erupt, frequently without warning. Sometimes, he feared the inferno would devour what was left of him.
"Ran-san?"
He could dimly hear the concern in her voice, and unaccountably, the sheath over the bubbling cauldron of emotions thawed just a little. Usagi. She was the only person who could make him forget, if only for a moment. He knew he couldn't, but sometimes, it was nice to pretend.
"Ran-kun??"
She sounded so worried, and he struggled against the emotions that threatened to resurface. Nearby the sound of a little boy's laughter filtered through, disturbing the turmoil. She quickly glanced at the mother at child, and her face became crestfallen. Mother and son were by the stream, observing the ducks splashing about.
"No…" he heard her whisper before she took off with a speed that amazed him. The only other person he had ever seen move that quickly was Crawford. He followed suit, not too far behind her, watching in open-mouthed amazement as she leapt through the air. She knocked the screaming boy out of the way and in the process of preventing him from falling in, she wound up in the stream herself.
He panicked. Bursting forth with a speed he didn't even realise he possessed, he ran straight for her only to watch in awe as she swam back towards the bank. Incredibly wet. And droopy. The relief that blossomed through him made him take a step back when the dripping figure finally made her way to stand in front of him. Her hair was plastered to her face as she flung her the sodden mass behind her, sending droplets flying everywhere.
The sound of her laughter was unexpected as she did that. He merely stared at her in disbelief.
"Can you believe what a klutz I am? I try to save someone but I wind up nearly drowning myself," she commented with a wry grin, wringing the tangled dull golden strands as the puddle around her grew.
The ability to laugh at oneself was so rare that he couldn't help himself. Unable to take his eyes off her, he watched as she attempted to dry herself somehow. The jeans were practically molding themselves onto long, slim legs, and he could faintly make out the clingy T-shirt she had worn beneath the biker's jacket plastering itself onto her stomach. He nearly blushed at where his eyes were heading and immediately brought them back up to her face. At least that was safe. Nothing to distract there.
He was wrong. Droplets of water trickled down smooth skin, radiating with health. The sparkling blue eyes were looking at him in curiosity as if wondering what he was looking at. For all that she was a sodden mess, she was still the most beautiful woman he had ever met. And he knew for him, this was it. There would never be another that stirred his heart this way, where he was so powerless to control his every reaction to her, and his eyes were for once windows to his soul. She could read everything from them no matter how hard he tried.
Tossing her head back, she gave him a smile, unsuspecting of the turmoil that lay within him. He was this close to breaking, yet he couldn't. He couldn't possibly drag her along this path that was of his own making. How could he? Not unlike the first time he had laid eyes on her, he found himself at a loss for words, unable to verbalize what he yearned to say. The truth was he needed her. Of course, he could say no such thing. In a moment of rarity, he had wanted to save her, to protect her.
"Aya-san!" A bright voice called out, and his thoughts shattered abruptly. While he was scrambling to regain his wits, Usagi had turned around to lay eyes upon the newcomer. She was exquisitely tiny, around fifteen or so with features that reminded her of Aya. Here was yet another mystery to be solved. If his name was Ran, why was everyone else calling him by his sister's name?
Turning around once again to give him a quizzical look, she reverted her gaze back to the young girl at hand, who was currently looking at her with a mixture of jealousy and curiosity.
"I'm Usagi. You are…?"
"Sakura. Nice to meet you," she chimed perfectly.
Cherry blossoms. How perfect and aptly named. She remembered how life had been at fifteen. She had once been that girl who stood before her until everything had been cruelly taken away from her. Motoki had taken good care of her, leaving an enormous inheritance that he had managed to build with all the years of hard work that he did. But she didn't want that. All she wanted was her Toki-nii with her again.
Well, this was certainly another awkward moment. Silence draped on them like a horrible 80's style gown and they all looked at each other uneasily. Usagi, never one to remain in situations like that, straightened up and announced her departure.
"Considering I just took a swim in the stream there, I think I should go home and change before I catch a cold, ne? Nice to meet you, Sakura-chan." She gave the younger girl a brief nod before turning to meet the purple eyes that never made her shiver just the least bit. "I'll see you around, Aya-san?" she added, deliberately using what everyone else had called him, noting the flinch he gave in response.
Then, she strode away, leaving two people to stare after her.
"Who was she, Aya-san?" Sakura asked softly.
Leaving the question unanswered, he glanced longingly at her departing figure. Not mine…not mine…
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Red-hair glistened in the sun as Schuldig readjusted his shades. If Crawford was indeed telling the truth, he relished going up against the new opponent. Schuldig had already demolished one of the Weiss members and ended up paying the price for a stupid mistake that the psycho Farfarello had made. Rubbing his arm absently, he found that he did not care for the pain that still lingered.
Each time he probed the minds of his victims, it was as if he was caught between a rock and a hard place. On the one hand, he loved watching them suffer as he destroyed them piece by piece. Their pain was his manna. On the other, it was also his hell. How the flames consumed his soul each time he attempted the mind assault, as he withdrew information he had no right to. How else could he fill the emptiness that lived within his soul? He lived for no one, and answered to no one, least of all Crawford, or Takatori, the self-righteous bastard.
It seemed as if he just existed for the pain of others, and in turn causing his own. He floated around with no real direction or aim in life. Perhaps what he really wanted was for somebody to end it all for him. How do you live in life knowing little else but that? His skills were all he possessed, and he had no family to call his own. His gaze hardened as he leaned against the tree, not wanting to think about the past that he had buried so successfully. He felt nothing damnit.
"Thinking about something, handsome?" A feminine voice purred next to him, sliding her arms around his waist.
He almost leapt around to kill her if he hadn't felt the familiar embrace and the sensations that her touch stirred. She was his only consolation, the only heaven that he would permit in his life. Though she had just entered his life recently, he had felt an unaccustomed warmth in the region of his heart that had nothing to do with the incredible feel of her body against his. It was more than that. Silently, he wished he was a different man, able to give more to her. But then again, her past was just as shady as his was, her eyes shining with her joy at seeing him, despite the pain that still lingered in them.
"Boring stuff really."
He noted that she was wearing a clingy dress that caressed her spectacular figure, and a high slit up the side, displaying a very shapely left thigh. His eyes narrowed in slight disapproval. It was old habits, and he had more than enough cash to dress her in more… tasteful clothing than the types she would show up with. She knew damn well it aggravated him, but she wouldn't change for him. Just as she would never expect him to change for her.
"Did Crawford call yet?" she asked, rubbing her head against his chest.
"Not yet," he said, suspicious of what she was about to ask. For what little he allowed himself to care for her, their relationship was tempestuous. She was someone exactly like him. She had no loyalties to anyone, and he was as close to it as she would permit. Twin souls, with raging flames that would not receive any relief, burned even further whenever they were near each other. What they shared was part frustration, part exhilaration, and part happiness. Though sometimes they would nearly end up killing each other, both of them found that while they couldn't be together, they couldn't be apart either.
"I have a few hours to kill," she said suggestively, trailing her delicate hands up and down his chest.
He felt the stirrings of his body, and he leaned forward to capture her lips hungrily, the heat rising between them nearly searing his body. His hand cupping her chin, he tasted the sweetness of her mouth, and explored the recesses with thoroughness and expertise. He heard her whimper as her arms snaked up his chest to end up behind his nape, scratching his skin with her long red nails as she sought to be closer.
With a groan, he wrenched himself away from her, and her eyes fluttered open in shock. Her lips were slightly swollen from his kisses. It was getting harder to get her out of his system as time went along. A foreign sensation swept through his body as he rubbed her lips gently with his thumb.
"I can't afford the distractions now."
His eyes hardening, he forcefully yanked his hand away from her and pushed her away. He saw the anger flashing on her face as she threw a dirty look at him.
"One day, Schuldig… you'll learn that you can't continue treating me this way," she seethed, her voice an odd contradiction to her angelic looks.
"You and I both know that we can't be apart from each other," he said with an odd note of tenderness.
Her eyes widened at him, cursing him soundly as he strode off. As he left, he needed something to erase this disturbing feeling that still floated in him. What better way than the familiar bite of pain to remind him that he was still alive?
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Tenshi's blurb: Anyone notice I goofed up the chapters? *laughs* It's too late to correct at this point anyway. And next chapter, MORE building up of mystery and more characters. Why? Because I can!