A/N: Thanks to ln1, ranma, Anime the Fallen Angel, Chang Wumei, Aymeleh, and Lady Jam for the reviews. If anyone reviewed chapter six (and left their email), but didn't get a cookie, please email me and let me know. I know it took awhile to send them out, but I did try to send to everyone who reviewed that chapter.

~~

Schuldich sighed as he looked around the room again. It wasn't a very big room, and it seemed even smaller with all the machines still in it. His gaze drifted to his younger brother, who was sleeping peacefully. Schuldich grimaced at how small he looked. After three months of nothing but an IV, the hospital bed seemed to swallow Ran's diminished form. The already thin redhead had lost even more weight while in his coma.

He was brought out of his musings when he heard a stirring from the bed. He looked down just as one violet eye opened partially. He immediately closed it again, but after a few seconds opened both eyes.

"Morning." Schuldich announced, surprising the smaller man into focusing on him. Ran smiled at him.

"Hi . . . Where am I?"

"You get right to the point, don't you?"

"Yes. Now what happened and where am I?"

"You're in a hospital. I don't know if I want to tell you what happened," Schuldich answered. He could see the Ran's small patience wearing thin.

"Come on, Schuldich! Tell me! You promised," Ran reminded him, trying to give Schuldich a glare, but only succeeded in giving what looked like a pout. It was only the second day since Ran had woken up, but as far as the doctors could tell, there was no brain damage. Schuldich smiled when he remembered their stunned faces at seeing Ran's recovery. "Schu~u!"

Schuldich smiled again. "You know, whining really doesn't suite you," he told Ran.

"And lying doesn't suite you!" Ran shot back. "Now tell me!"

"We~ell . . ." he paused, watching the younger man squirm in impatience. "I will, but first I have to tell you a little family secret." Ran gave him a look that clearly said, 'Get on with it', and Schuldich did. "Um . . . you know how you said your real father's last name was Kitada?" he asked, seeing Ran nod, confused. "That's my father's name, too. When I was two, my father got together with a married woman. She got pregnant, and named the baby Ran. Her husband gave the baby his last name. After you told me about Kouga, I realized that we're brothers." Schuldich watched Ran closely, looking for any sign of a reaction.

"But the man had two children, a girl and a boy."

"Yeah, I have an older sister named Hanae. You know her as Manx."

"What?" Ran's face went from impassive to shock. Then, when he had gotten over the initial shock, he smirked up at Schuldich. "You really need to work on your delivery speech, though."

"Hey, it's not exactly something you practice! Besides, I was planing to tell you right after the mission, but you got hurt. Then the doctors told us you probably wouldn't wake up." Ran accepted the reasoning and leaned back against the pillows.

~~

An hour later, the rest of Weiss, and Manx, had come to visit. They had told Ran of how close they were to Lanen before and during her pregnancy, and how Schuldich had 'talked' to Ran before he was born.

"That explains why your voice in my head seems so familiar," Ran murmured thoughtfully. Then he thought of something else and looked up at his brother questioningly. "But, if you knew that the woman was Lanen, why did you kill her? Why would you murder someone you were that close to?"

The rest of Weiss, even Brad, looked shocked at his question. The original Weiss and Nagi hadn't known that Schwarz was behind the murder of Ran's family, and Brad and Farfarello hadn't known that Schuldich knew anyone in there. The telepath looked down for a moment before looking Ran in the eyes.

"I was mad at her. I couldn't remember her getting pregnant, I didn't remember that until after you were put in a coma, but I remember her leaving us, and that was reason enough to be mad at her, at least at the time. When she left, I was still too young to understand why she was never coming back. I spent a lot of my life thinking that she hated us. Then, when I got old enough - and mature enough - to understand things more, I was just mad that she would let herself become such a major part of our lives, and then walk away. I did it mainly for revenge. I hated Lanen for leaving, and Kouga for taking her away. I didn't even know of Aya until Takatori told us about her, and then I hated her for taking our place. And you, I had no idea who you were. If I had known, I would have fought Esset more, or at least have helped you get back on your feet without making a career of killing people."

"But you couldn't have done that," Farfarello said, trying to lighten the mood.

"Yeah!" Ken agreed, seeing where Farf was going with that train of thought. "Being an assassin is like a family tradition for you guys." Seeing their looks, Ken blushed and tried to explain himself. "Think about it! Manx is a Kritiker agent, and must have killed someone a one point or another, Schuldich tried to kill *us* on more than one occasion, and was working with Schwarz for Esset, and Ran became a member of Weiss. It's like you guys couldn't help but get drawn into it!"

"Not a comforting thought, but they're right," Manx said, nodding towards Ken and Farf. "We do all seem to have gotten ourselves involved in killing people. Even if some of us had no alternative. I'm sorry, Ran."

"Don't say that," Ran ordered, startling everyone with the intensity in his voice. "I had other choices; I just couldn't get revenge if I had chosen them. I did what felt right at the time, and although I have wished I had chosen differently from time to time, I know that I would still chose Kritiker if I had known what I know now."

"Why?" Schuldich asked, causing the others to look at him. "If you knew ahead of time, why would you still have put yourself through all the pain and guilt?"

"I got an even better family out of it." The other eight people in the room were obviously confused as to what he meant, so Ran explained. "I traded a sister, an unfaithful mother, and a cruel father-figure for a caring brother and sister, and a close group of friends. Now if you'll excuse me, the sappiness in that statement is about to make me sick."

~~

"I'm going to bring something in, does anyone else want anything?" Manx asked, pulling on her coat. No one understood how she could stand to wear such a thick coat in September, but they weren't willing to ask either.

"YES!" Manx blinked in surprise before fixing her gaze on her youngest brother.

"They are feeding you, right? They're not forgetting to give you food, are they?" Schu asked, switching from fun-loving pervert to over-protective big brother in a heartbeat.

"Yes, they are feeding me, but hospital food is awful!"

"Ah, come on! It can't be that bad," Yohji tried to reason with him.

"Then you can eat what they bring in here."

"On second thought, it CAN be that bad," Yohji corrected himself, staring out the door as a nurse walked by carrying a plate of . . . something. He looked to Ran to confirm that that was the 'food' they had been talking about and moved away from the door with a gulp. "Manx, are you sure these are Kritiker's doctors?"

"Of course, why?"

"Because, if they're passing that off as food, they're probably assassins undercover trying to kill people by poisoning them."

"Yohji, this is a hospital. I doubt there'll be any targets in a Kritiker hospital."

"Then they're trying to take over the world, one helpless assassin at a time!"

"Huh, I never thought I'd hear the word 'helpless' used to describe an assassin."

"When they're in enough pain to be in a hospital then they probably are helpless!"

"Okay, Yohji. Back to the original topic: Does anyone want something?" Manx asked. She went in search of 'edible food' after receiving eight variations of affirmation.

~~

A week later, Ran was discharged. After an argument-turned-fist fight it was decided that Schuldich and Ken wold go pick him up. The fight was mainly to see who would go with Schuldich. After picking Ran up, they came back to the Koneko and, on the drive, wondered how Ran would survive the mad rush of their fan girls. Al of the girls had been worried when they heard that Ran-san was in the hospital in a coma. In fact, they had bought out most of the shop to send him get well soon gifts. And when they found out that Ran had woken up, the shop had been emptied once again. This time, though, the bouquets were in the braided man's room, and not surrounding his hospital bed.

When they got to the Koneko, though, the girls calmed down enough to let Ran get somewhere that he could sit down. After being stuck in a bed for almost three and a half months, his legs were wobbly and he got short of breath easily. He had leaned heavily on Schuldich while he walked into the shop. From Farfarello's spot near the door to the backroom, it almost looked like the parting of the Red Sea, only it was girls parting for two redheads and a brunette. He chuckled at the annoyed look on Ran's face when he realized that the girls were only there to ogle and not to buy.

However, the girls - also reading his look - surprised him by buying the few things left in the store. After purchasing their flowers the girls said a quick get-well-soon to Ran and left. The look on Ran's face when all the girls were gone was priceless. His eyes were big enough to rival Omi's, and his mouth was hanging open.

"You think that's surprising?" Farfarello asked as he walked over to them. "Wait until you get a look at your room."

"What happened to my room?"

"If I tell you, it'll ruin the surprise. Besides, not telling hurts God."

"I thought you were over that expression."

"It was fitting there."

"If you say so."

~~

That night Ran went to bed early, tired out from all the excitement his return had caused. Schuldich followed him, wanting to ask him something. At the bottom of the stairs Schuldich held his arm out to help Ran ascend. Ran smiled in relief and gratitude.

__ Tired? __ Schuldich asked, knowing it would be easier for Ran to think it that say it.

__ Yeah. I never thought sitting in the corner of a flower shop could be so exhausting. __

__ It's the first real physical thing you've done in over three months. And you didn't just sit there. You had to walk to the car and walk to your spot in the shop. Besides, give it a little time and you'll be putting us to shame with your stamina again. __

__ Thanks, Schu. Oh, was there something you needed? __

"Um . . . " They were standing outside Ran's room, and suddenly Schuldich couldn't seem to get out the right words. "Ran?" The smaller man just watched him, waiting for him to put his words together. "Are you- I mean, do you . . . hate me?"

Ran pulled back in surprise. "Why would I hate you?"

"For killing your family and hurting you so much. And for not telling you we were related as soon as I found out."

"I thought we went over this last week. If you hadn't killed them, chances are I would have never found out I had an older brother and sister. I mean, I still miss them, and I always will, but there's really not much I can do about it now. Takatori's dead, so I've gotten my revenge. And you said you had planned to tell me about us being brothers after the mission so that I would be able to concentrate and not get hurt. Why would that make me hate you?"

"I guess I'm just worried. It's great having a younger brother, and I'm just worried that I'll lose you before I get to know you, and it will all be my fault."

"Don't worry about it," Ran reassured him, hugging him. "How do you hate your only family?" he asked with a smile. Schuldich smiled back and kissed his forehead before opening the door and gently pushing Ran into his room.

"See you tomorrow, Rannie."

~~

The next day, Ran was able to work in the shop, but he stayed behind the counter, and the others had found him a stool to sit on. He was sorting the bills and receipts while they waited for any customers to show up. There were still five minutes before the hoard of girls would show up, so the shop was relatively silent.

"Did any of you even touch these while I was in the hospital?" Ran asked, looking over the bills.

"Uh . . . I think Omi and Nagi tried to once, but then they had to go to school."

"Why do you ask?" Brad questioned, looking over Ran's shoulder to see the papers spread out before him.

"Because, there is no order here whatsoever."

"It's good to have Ran back. He can complain about paperwork, yell at us for not doing it ourselves, then get in a huff and do it himself," Yohji sighed, earning himself glares from two of his teammates.

By the end of the day Ran had gotten everything sorted out, and was in a much better mood. He volunteered to cook that night, and everyone enjoyed their meal. Omi and Nagi had dish duty, and for once did it without complaining. And after a few more days Ran was able to take all of his old duties back.

~~

A/N: Okay, I know I'm kind of leaving you with a dull ending, but that's how I thought it should be. There will be one more chapter for this story, and it WILL have a decent ending, even if it takes me a month to get it right. Please review and let me know what you think so far. I thrive from reviews! My muses crave reviews! See?

Schu & Ran: *foaming at the mouth* Reviews!

Elf: Thanks!