A/N: Hey! Thanks for the reviews! I know it hasn't been long, but my muses decided that I had to write more immediately.

"Talking"

'Thinking'

__ Telepathy __

~~

At first, Ran didn't know why he felt so secure and comfortable. It had been a long time since he had woken up with those feelings. Then he remembered spending three hours crying (A/N: Yes, that's possible, I've done it before), and Schuldich coming in after those three hours and holding him. He also recalled falling asleep in Schu's lap, and blushed. 'I hope he doesn't bring that up in front of the others,' Ran thought, getting up and stretching.

After taking a shower and getting dressed, he headed downstairs for breakfast. Omi and Nagi were both bent over a laptop, discussing homework, and Brad was reading the paper while he drank his coffee. However, when Ran walked in, he looked up and smiled. "Good morning," he greeted, getting a cup of juice for Ran. The redhead tilted his head slightly and looked at him. "I've been told that you don't drink coffee, and I know I saw you drinking this juice yesterday," Brad explained, handing the glass to Ran, who took it with a nod of thanks. "Oh. Schuldich seemed to think you would be looking for him his morning, and asked me to tell you that he was heading out for the day. It must have been important for him to get out of bed at 5:00 this morning."

"Thank you," Ran mumbled, his sleep-clogged voice still making it hard to get much louder than that. He sat with Brad and the chibis until 8:00, when he, Yohji, and Ken had to go next door for the morning shift at the shop.

~~

"Ran is our brother?" Manx asked, her voice betraying her disbelief.

"Yep. His real father was a man named Kitada, who had two children at the time of Ran's birth," Schuldich confirmed.

"And I'm the one who introduced him to Kritiker. He'll hate me when he finds out. I led my own baby brother to a life as an assassin," Manx whispered, putting her head in her hands.

"You think that's bad? Brad, Farf, and I were the ones that rigged the bombs in the Fujimiya house. We were already working for Takatori, and I would have never guessed that I would be destroying my brother's life," Schuldich moaned.

"So, do you plan on telling him?" Manx asked.

"Why wouldn't I? He may hate me for what I did to his mother and sister, but he deserves to know that he *does* still have family alive."

~~

"If you're not buying anything, get out!"

"Ran, haven't you learned yet? Your little speech only encourages them," Yohji informed the redhead. All the girls in the shop giggled and pressed in closer.

"No; what encourages them is your flirting," Ran corrected.

"Well, at least I accept their adoration. You're so cruel! Leading them on, letting them believe they have a chance, and then yelling at them to leave the shop!"

"And how is what you do so much better?"

"I make it clear that I only date girls over eighteen. And even then, there are no guarantees that the relationship will last."

"What relationship?" Ken asked as he entered the front room. "You never last more than three days with any one girl."

All the girls in the shop giggled happily; there were three of the original guys working at that moment. Unfortunately for them, it was about time for school to start, so they all headed out.

~~

"All right. Yes, sir. I'll be right there." Manx grimaced as she closed the cell phone.

"Mission?" Schuldich asked.

"Yes. I'm going to go get the paperwork."

"Would you mind if I came with you?"

"Not at all."

~~

"Come on! Come on!" Brad looked up from his laptop and glanced across the room at the Irishman. Farfarello was sitting cross-legged in front of the TV, playing Super Monkey Ball on their new Gamecube. Apparently, the baby monkey wouldn't stay on the path, because every once in awhile, Farf would tip his body one way or the other. Feeling Brad's eyes on him, Farf looked up and grinned, his eyes sparkling happily.

"Where's your eye patch?"

"I didn't want to wear it today. The other kitties have seen me without it, so until we have a mission there's no point to wear it." **

"That makes sense," Brad said, nodding unconsciously, and returned his attention to the paper.

~~

"When do you plan on telling him?"

"When we get back from the mission. There's no reason to tell him now. In fact, telling him before the mission would do more arm than good."

"How so?" Manx asked, finally looking over to Schuldich, who was draped across the passenger seat in her car.

"He would have his mind on what I told him instead of the mission. He could get hurt if he doesn't pay attention."

"That makes sense. I'm going to the shop. Would you get everyone from the house and tell them to come to the missions room?"

"Okay."

~~

"So is everyone in?" Manx asked later that afternoon. It was a routine mission for Weiss. Persia had decided no to give them a more difficult one at the moment, because they were still getting used to the idea of having seven other people, instead of only three.

Manx looked around the room, waiting for an answer. Omi, Nagi, Farfarello, and Brad nodded. The others vocalized their feelings.

"Of course!" Ken exclaimed.

"There aren't any girls involved, but it would be fun to have Schwarz's talents on our side. I'm in." Yohji answered.

Schuldich smirked. "How could anyone resist a mission this easy?"

Ran nodded his head and told her yes before reaching out his hand for the paperwork that always came with the missions. As she handed it to him, Manx suddenly felt that it was a bad idea to let Ran go on the mission that night. 'Don't be stupid!'

__ Who are you talking to? __ She felt the voice ask in her mind.

__ Myself, __ she answered.

__ And why would you not wanting little Rannie here to go be stupid? __ Schuldich continued the conversation in the woman's mind.

__ Because I know he can take care of himself. All of a sudden, after finding out that I'm related to him, I don't want to let him go. It's just stupid. __

__ Actually, when you think about it, it's kind of nice to know that you care about family so much. And he's only half-family that we only learned about today! __

When their conversation stopped, Manx looked up to see a frown on Ran's face. "If you two are done, I would like to know when and where we are supposed to go?" The way he said it made Schuldich and Manx realize it was more than likely not the first time he had asked.

"Sorry about that! I needed to tell her something, and didn't want young ears to hear it!" Schu exclaimed, giving the best reason he could without lying to his brother or letting him know the real reason. Ran managed a small smirk in Schuldich'' direction before returning his attention to the Kritiker agent.

"You should leave tonight around 9:00, the paperwork should tell you where. Good luck Weiss." And with that, she turned and left the building.

~~

A/N: Before I get too far and forget that I made a note earlier, in Gluhen, Farf doesn't where an eye patch, proving my theory that he only wore it to creep people out! So in this, the eye patch is part of his mission wardrobe. Okay, back to the story!

~~

"Abyssinian, Siberian has spotted the target; he's heading towards you." Omi informed Ran over the comm. link.

"Hn." Ran replied to #1: let the younger boy know he heard, and #2: he knew that if he didn't respond, Omi would send in backup whether he wanted it or not. Ran waited in the shadows for the target to come into view. Unfortunately, he had met a group of people between the time that Ken had seen him and when Ran saw him.

Ran mentally revised his battle strategy to fit with having to kill seven people instead of just the one. As soon as he had it set in his mind, he charged the group of men. He managed to kill the initial target immediately, but after that point, the others began to put up a fight. There were only three left when Ran saw the gun. One of the three apparently was a bodyguard. Ran cursed himself for not realizing it sooner.

"Bombay! I need backup, now!" he growled into the link as he turned on the man with the gun. Before he could attack, though, he felt a searing pain in his shoulders and upper back. He stumbled slightly, but managed to kill his attacker before either of his opponents could get in another attack.

That left him with one opponent, a sore back, a headache, and slightly blurred vision. The last man raised a large board and headed toward Ran, whose only thought was, 'why'd he drop the gun?'. The man swung the board, the same thing that had been used on Ran by the other man, and hit him square in the face. Ran fell backwards, and was barely conscious enough to see the man drop the board and pull his gun from his pocket. 'Well, that's a dangerous place to hide a gun,' Ran thought, drowsily.

He watched in a haze as the man aimed the gun at his chest. Ran couldn't have put up a fight even if he wanted to. He watched as the man's finger tightened on the trigger of the gun.

~~

"Bombay! I need backup, now!" When Omi heard Ran's growl he immediately switched the link so that he could communicate with all six of the other assassins. It was rare for Ran to request backup and even more rare for him to demand it. Whatever it was must have been bad.

"Everyone who can get to him, Abyssinian needs backup immediately." Omi could hear Schuldich cursing, and knew that the telepath would be the first to reach Ran. And, according to their various responses, and how each of their fights were going, Yohji would be right behind him.

~~

Schuldich's heart almost stopped when he heard that Ran was in trouble. He started cursing his own lack of attention and headed to the area Ran had been assigned to. He stumbled on the stairs as he neared the room, still cursing himself, Manx, and anyone who dared put a hand on his brother. He threw the door open just in time to see a man standing over his bloody younger brother, finger tightening on a gun trained at the braided man.

~~

/// BANG \\\

/// BANG \\\

~~

"Where was he hit?"

"Stomach, I think."

"Can't you go into his mind and find out?"

"I already tried! He's too disoriented! If I concentrate too much with him in this state, he'll die!"

As Schuldich had entered the room, the man had pulled the trigger, but lost his concentration. He missed his target - Ran's head - and hit somewhere in his torso instead. Seeing Ran get shot made Schuldich pull out his own gun and shoot the man. Yohji arrived moments later and helped Schuldich assess Ran's wounds as best they could. They had quickly realized he needed immediate medical attention, and Yohji had contacted Omi, telling him to get the van around, and to let Kritiker's hospital know they were on their way. While Yohji was busy with that, Schuldich gently lifted Ran into his arms and headed to the exit.

They had arrived at the hospital to find Manx, distraught and pacing, waiting for them. When she saw Schuldich carrying Ran in, everyone saw her fighting sobs. She managed to keep herself under control, though. "What happened?" she asked.

"From what we understand," Schuldich said as he laid Ran on a stretcher, "he was outnumbered seven to one. He waited too long to call for backup and was hit in the head. When I got to the room, the seventh man shot him." They had all been following the stretcher, but at that moment, they reached an area that no one else was allowed in. As soon as the stretcher was out of sight, Manx broke down crying, and, after a few seconds, Schuldich began to cry softly as well.

~~

Five hours later, a doctor walked into the waiting room and headed toward Weiss and Manx. Schuldich shot up the moment he saw the doctor, as he had done for every doctor that had entered the room since Ran had been taken away. The others had gotten so used to his jumps in the past five hours that most didn't even open their eyes.

"Are you here for Fujimiya-san?" the doctor asked, looking at Schuldich. The telepath nodded dumbly before finding his voice.

"Is- how is he?" Schuldich asked, worry clear on his face.

"Come with me, please," the doctor requested. The eight worried Kritiker agents followed the man into a good-sized, white room. The one bed was holding their teammate. Ran was hooked to - in their eyes - a million machines. There was a machine to keep him breathing, and machine for his brain waves, and a machine that seemed to be keeping his heart pumping. Surrounded by the machines, tubes, and wires, Ran looked tiny.

"Doctor? Why is he hooked to all those machines?" Omi asked, staring at his friend in shock.

"We ran some tests, and, according to your story and the injuries on his body, we have concluded that he was hit in the back of the head by a large, blunt object, probably the same board that was used to hit him in the face. He was shot in the chest; thankfully the bullet missed all his vital organs. At the moment, Fujimiya-san is in a coma. Due to the blows to the head, it is highly unlikely that, should he wake up at all, he will have no lasting problems."

"What do you mean?" Schuldich managed to ask in a choked whisper.

"If he wakes up, it is almost guaranteed that he will have brain damage. However, it is highly unlikely that he will wake up in the first place."

~~

A/N: *sobs* How could I do that to Ran? *glares at muses* How could you make me do that to Ran?!?!?

Ran: Don't blame us! I'm the one you put in a coma!

Schu: Which is actually kind of ironic.

Elf: *sniffle* How so?

Schu: In the series, wasn't it his sister in the never-ending coma?

Ran: That's cruel irony.

Schu: Hey, if you guys review, she'll probably find some way to brig him out of the coma! *whispers to self* Even if he is a vegetable afterwards . . .

Ran: I don't want to be a vegetable!

Elf: *dries eyes* Well anyways, please review and let me know what you've thought of this chapter, and what you've thought of the story so far. Thanks!