Disclaimers/Warnings: I didn't move them. They're still up front.
Author's Note: Wow. It's been... a very long time since I added to this fic. Six months or something. Yikes. Sorry bout that, everyone – I kinda forgot I was even working on it. Thankfully, a reviewer sent a message in the other day, and I was reminded how much you guys liked it. I'll try to update more frequently now. Summer's almost here, so my homework rate's going down again. Hooray! I'll try to get more chapters up on 'House Rules', too. I'm such a slacker. (cries)
Anyway, after all that nonsense, may I present the next chapter! (applause)
"Attention passengers – we will be arriving at Reno International Airport in about ten minutes." The loud, brusque, badly-accented voice talking jostled Yohji out of his restful nap. He shook his tousled bangs out of his eyes and readjusted his sunglasses, which had fallen to the tip of his nose during the flight. He blinked several times, then glared at the speaker above him where the deafening voice was coming from. "Please make sure your seat belts are buckled; put your tray tables up and your seat back in the upright position. The stewardesses will now be collecting your headphones."
Yohji sighed heavily. It had been a long flight, what with Schuldig's absolute allergy to silence. He glanced at the carrot-top, who had also fallen asleep and was sighing drowsily. Yohji wrinkled his nose at the cutesy sight. He despised that man – it wasn't fair that he could make himself look so harmless sometimes, when Aya had told Yohji repeatedly that in sleep he appeared as dangerous and stupid as he acted when he was awake. Coming from Aya, this might have been an exaggeration, but Yohji couldn't be sure.
His peaceful degradation of his sleeping com[anion was suddenly interrupted by the buxom stewardess, who had returned to the pair and abruptly yanked the headphones off of Schuldig's head. The German gave a surprised yelp, for which she smacked him with a plastic coffee spoon and instructed him to keep quiet. Schuldig glowered at her as she moved down the aisle once more, then crossed his arms over his chest and frowned petulantly. Yohji tried not to chuckle.
Then Yohji got an idea. According to Aya, there would be a representative from this sports camp waiting for him and all the other Japanese participants in the terminal where his plane would arrive. Still, there would be lots of kids distracting the poor fool, and they couldn't possibly know they were also looking for a blonde twenty-something man.
Yohji sat up straighter as his plan began to take shape. He could escape – he could get away once they got off the plane, run for the taxis, get out of Reno, out of Nevada, away from the camp. He could be free – free in the United States! Sure he had no money except for the four dollars he'd been given for phone calls once a week, but he could sell his stuff, take a small job as a bouncer or something, become a garbage man. He had lots of useful, marketable skills! Hell, he could even start his own flower shop here in the states! No more having to deal with Aya's punishment, Ken's soccer fetish, or Omi's overly-genki attitude. He could get up whenever he wanted, drink when he wanted, bring whomever he wanted home. He could be free. FREE! FREE AT LAST! Yohji took a tearful moment to praise the USA, where even people like him could find a better life, could get a second chance, where Aya couldn't hunt him down and take him back, because slavery was illegal.
"Take me with you!" Yohji was startled out of his daydream by a fierce tugging on his leather shirtsleeve and pleading green eyes that appeared in front of him. He blinked rapidly, then raised an eyebrow at Schuldig, who's eyes had begun to waver like Omi's did when he wanted something. "Take me with you! You're going to escape, right? Take me with you!" Yohji balked. "We can sell my stuff, too, and I'll be willing to work wherever you do. Whatever this mission is, I'm getting a worse and worse feeling about it – Bradley was laughing at me, LAUGHING. That's never a good sign! I'm scared to death! Please – I'll do anything, just help me get away, too!"
Yohji took a moment to recover from his shock, then scoffed a little. "No thanks – I don't need a pathetic German hanger-on when I'm trying to get my new start. Find your own way out."
Schuldig glared at him. "I am not pathetic!" he argued moodily. Then he got an evil gleam in his eye. "If you don't take me with you, I'll help the people you're running from – I'll help them find you. I won't let you get away without me." Yohji gulped – he'd forgotten about Schuldig's psychic powers. Now that he thought about it, having a telepath along might be very useful in a foreign country, especially one where neither of them spoke the language well. Slowly, he nodded his consent to Schuldig who brightened and began to chuckle.
Since he had lost track of time, Yohji was very surprised to suddenly feel the airplane connect with solid ground beneath him. Schuldig, who had been leaning over to talk to hi, fell forward and got a face full of seat cushion, which made Yohji laugh despite himself. Schuldig picked himself up while glaring at Yohji, and the two collected their luggage and headed for the terminal. As they reached it, Yohji motioned to Schuldig, and the two made a sharp right turn toward freedom. Unfortunately, however, someone behind them chose that moment to latch onto their elbows.
"Excuse me, sirs – are you 'Schuldig' and 'Yohji Kudou'?" the voice belonging to their captor asked. Begrudgingly, Yohji turned to face the middle-aged American man.
"Who wants to know?" he demanded, and the man gave him a slight smile. The next thing he knew, something was being sprayed in his and Schuldig's faces. Yohji tried to order an explanation, but he became dizzy and fell in a heap on the floor – beside him, Schuldig did the same. His last conscious thought was drowned out by the sound of the man calling his buddies for help, the roar of pounding feet, and the sensation of being carried away, as if by the breeze...
"Wake up... wake up..." Yohji groaned as someone shook his shoulder. The pounding in his head was unbearable – what had he been doing last night? How much had he drunk? Who was shaking him? Aya? Yohji decided that whoever it was could go to hell for all he cared, but he was NOT waking up yet. It was too early. Even if it was the afternoon already, it was too early. Heck, it was always too early. He rolled over and tried to slip back into dreamland.
Unfortunately, whoever was shaking him did not seem to have the same opinion. "Wake up already!" came a sharp, nasal voice over his head. Yohji's mind whirled. Where had he heard that voice before? It wasn't one of his teammates' – he'd know their voices anywhere, even if they were all talking through kazoos. So then where...
Like a sack of bricks, he was suddenly hit with the memory of a collapsing building, a rushing ocean, a smirking telepath with long ginger hair... he was up like a shot and backing away from Schuldig, who had been kneeling next to the sleeping blonde. Regrettably, Yohji hadn't noticed just how close to him Schuldig was kneeling, and he managed to ram his head into the other man's on the way up. Both of them slouched backward, clutching their heads in agony.
"What was that for?!" Schuldig whined. Yohji glared at him, doing his best to imitate Aya whenever Ken broke something.
"It's your fault for waking me up in the first place!" he retorted. Then he blinked at his surroundings, which appeared to be rumbling around him. "Where... are we?" he asked wistfully. Schuldig rolled his eyes.
"Don't you remember anything, you nitwit? That guy in the airport sprayed us – I just woke up a moment ago. As far as I can tell, we're in the back of a van. Oh, and the trunk's locked, so there's no escaping. That's all I know." Yohji's eyebrows shot straight to Heaven.
"You mean we've been... kidnapped?" He crossed his arms over his chest, expression supremely skeptical. Schuldig shrugged dramatically.
"That's my best guess at the moment. Or we're going to be sold for slaves on the black market." Yohji shuddered.
"No thank you – I think I'll take the first option. Although if they're expecting to get a ransom or something out of Aya, I think they'll be enormously disappointed." Schuldig huffed in agreement. Then something occurred to Yohji, and he sat a little straighter, wincing at the screw that struck his sensitive back. "Hey, Schuldig – how do you suppose that guy knew our names?"
The telepath blinked, then considered a moment. "I have no idea. They couldn't have just checked the passenger roster, because then they wouldn't have known what we looked like. Besides, Bradley had me flying under a fake name for protection. And they can't have hacked into the database and gotten our information, because I -know- Nagi has enough firewalls around our system to stop every hacker this planet's ever seen." Yohji blinked at the outpouring of semi-intelligent chatter from his companion.
"But then how-" Yohji's emerald eyes widened very rapidly, and so did Schuldig's.
"Crawford!" They both declared at the same time. A vision of the American businessman smirking as he hired the kidnappers came to their minds, and Schuldig scowled.
"That bastard!" he asserted, slamming his hand against the metal walls. "He sold me!"
"YOU?!?!" Yohji shouted. "What about me?! I'm not even his TEAMMATE! What did he have to go and sell ME for?" Schuldig frowned at him.
"How should I know? If he's cruel enough to sell me, his hardworking, diligent assistant-" Yohji had his doubts about this part. "-then why not sell you? You're his -enemy-, after all." Yohji glared at the German.
"I've had just about enough out of you. Now keep your mouth shut while I try to figure out how to get out of here!" Yohji should have known that was a dumb thing to say to a telepath, but it was too late, and now Schuldig was chattering mentally at him as he searched around him for a tool of escape.
This is going to be one long day,Yohji thought to himself. And with Schuldig along, I doubt I'll be sane by the end of it.
Schuldig: So, what did you learn today, Yohji?
Yohji: That you're really annoying!
Crawford: Muahahahahahaha...
Yohji: ...
Schuldig: Care to share what's so funny, Bradley?
Crawford: (smirking) No.
Schuldig: (pouts)
Omi: Read and review please!
Author's Note: Wow. It's been... a very long time since I added to this fic. Six months or something. Yikes. Sorry bout that, everyone – I kinda forgot I was even working on it. Thankfully, a reviewer sent a message in the other day, and I was reminded how much you guys liked it. I'll try to update more frequently now. Summer's almost here, so my homework rate's going down again. Hooray! I'll try to get more chapters up on 'House Rules', too. I'm such a slacker. (cries)
Anyway, after all that nonsense, may I present the next chapter! (applause)
"Attention passengers – we will be arriving at Reno International Airport in about ten minutes." The loud, brusque, badly-accented voice talking jostled Yohji out of his restful nap. He shook his tousled bangs out of his eyes and readjusted his sunglasses, which had fallen to the tip of his nose during the flight. He blinked several times, then glared at the speaker above him where the deafening voice was coming from. "Please make sure your seat belts are buckled; put your tray tables up and your seat back in the upright position. The stewardesses will now be collecting your headphones."
Yohji sighed heavily. It had been a long flight, what with Schuldig's absolute allergy to silence. He glanced at the carrot-top, who had also fallen asleep and was sighing drowsily. Yohji wrinkled his nose at the cutesy sight. He despised that man – it wasn't fair that he could make himself look so harmless sometimes, when Aya had told Yohji repeatedly that in sleep he appeared as dangerous and stupid as he acted when he was awake. Coming from Aya, this might have been an exaggeration, but Yohji couldn't be sure.
His peaceful degradation of his sleeping com[anion was suddenly interrupted by the buxom stewardess, who had returned to the pair and abruptly yanked the headphones off of Schuldig's head. The German gave a surprised yelp, for which she smacked him with a plastic coffee spoon and instructed him to keep quiet. Schuldig glowered at her as she moved down the aisle once more, then crossed his arms over his chest and frowned petulantly. Yohji tried not to chuckle.
Then Yohji got an idea. According to Aya, there would be a representative from this sports camp waiting for him and all the other Japanese participants in the terminal where his plane would arrive. Still, there would be lots of kids distracting the poor fool, and they couldn't possibly know they were also looking for a blonde twenty-something man.
Yohji sat up straighter as his plan began to take shape. He could escape – he could get away once they got off the plane, run for the taxis, get out of Reno, out of Nevada, away from the camp. He could be free – free in the United States! Sure he had no money except for the four dollars he'd been given for phone calls once a week, but he could sell his stuff, take a small job as a bouncer or something, become a garbage man. He had lots of useful, marketable skills! Hell, he could even start his own flower shop here in the states! No more having to deal with Aya's punishment, Ken's soccer fetish, or Omi's overly-genki attitude. He could get up whenever he wanted, drink when he wanted, bring whomever he wanted home. He could be free. FREE! FREE AT LAST! Yohji took a tearful moment to praise the USA, where even people like him could find a better life, could get a second chance, where Aya couldn't hunt him down and take him back, because slavery was illegal.
"Take me with you!" Yohji was startled out of his daydream by a fierce tugging on his leather shirtsleeve and pleading green eyes that appeared in front of him. He blinked rapidly, then raised an eyebrow at Schuldig, who's eyes had begun to waver like Omi's did when he wanted something. "Take me with you! You're going to escape, right? Take me with you!" Yohji balked. "We can sell my stuff, too, and I'll be willing to work wherever you do. Whatever this mission is, I'm getting a worse and worse feeling about it – Bradley was laughing at me, LAUGHING. That's never a good sign! I'm scared to death! Please – I'll do anything, just help me get away, too!"
Yohji took a moment to recover from his shock, then scoffed a little. "No thanks – I don't need a pathetic German hanger-on when I'm trying to get my new start. Find your own way out."
Schuldig glared at him. "I am not pathetic!" he argued moodily. Then he got an evil gleam in his eye. "If you don't take me with you, I'll help the people you're running from – I'll help them find you. I won't let you get away without me." Yohji gulped – he'd forgotten about Schuldig's psychic powers. Now that he thought about it, having a telepath along might be very useful in a foreign country, especially one where neither of them spoke the language well. Slowly, he nodded his consent to Schuldig who brightened and began to chuckle.
Since he had lost track of time, Yohji was very surprised to suddenly feel the airplane connect with solid ground beneath him. Schuldig, who had been leaning over to talk to hi, fell forward and got a face full of seat cushion, which made Yohji laugh despite himself. Schuldig picked himself up while glaring at Yohji, and the two collected their luggage and headed for the terminal. As they reached it, Yohji motioned to Schuldig, and the two made a sharp right turn toward freedom. Unfortunately, however, someone behind them chose that moment to latch onto their elbows.
"Excuse me, sirs – are you 'Schuldig' and 'Yohji Kudou'?" the voice belonging to their captor asked. Begrudgingly, Yohji turned to face the middle-aged American man.
"Who wants to know?" he demanded, and the man gave him a slight smile. The next thing he knew, something was being sprayed in his and Schuldig's faces. Yohji tried to order an explanation, but he became dizzy and fell in a heap on the floor – beside him, Schuldig did the same. His last conscious thought was drowned out by the sound of the man calling his buddies for help, the roar of pounding feet, and the sensation of being carried away, as if by the breeze...
"Wake up... wake up..." Yohji groaned as someone shook his shoulder. The pounding in his head was unbearable – what had he been doing last night? How much had he drunk? Who was shaking him? Aya? Yohji decided that whoever it was could go to hell for all he cared, but he was NOT waking up yet. It was too early. Even if it was the afternoon already, it was too early. Heck, it was always too early. He rolled over and tried to slip back into dreamland.
Unfortunately, whoever was shaking him did not seem to have the same opinion. "Wake up already!" came a sharp, nasal voice over his head. Yohji's mind whirled. Where had he heard that voice before? It wasn't one of his teammates' – he'd know their voices anywhere, even if they were all talking through kazoos. So then where...
Like a sack of bricks, he was suddenly hit with the memory of a collapsing building, a rushing ocean, a smirking telepath with long ginger hair... he was up like a shot and backing away from Schuldig, who had been kneeling next to the sleeping blonde. Regrettably, Yohji hadn't noticed just how close to him Schuldig was kneeling, and he managed to ram his head into the other man's on the way up. Both of them slouched backward, clutching their heads in agony.
"What was that for?!" Schuldig whined. Yohji glared at him, doing his best to imitate Aya whenever Ken broke something.
"It's your fault for waking me up in the first place!" he retorted. Then he blinked at his surroundings, which appeared to be rumbling around him. "Where... are we?" he asked wistfully. Schuldig rolled his eyes.
"Don't you remember anything, you nitwit? That guy in the airport sprayed us – I just woke up a moment ago. As far as I can tell, we're in the back of a van. Oh, and the trunk's locked, so there's no escaping. That's all I know." Yohji's eyebrows shot straight to Heaven.
"You mean we've been... kidnapped?" He crossed his arms over his chest, expression supremely skeptical. Schuldig shrugged dramatically.
"That's my best guess at the moment. Or we're going to be sold for slaves on the black market." Yohji shuddered.
"No thank you – I think I'll take the first option. Although if they're expecting to get a ransom or something out of Aya, I think they'll be enormously disappointed." Schuldig huffed in agreement. Then something occurred to Yohji, and he sat a little straighter, wincing at the screw that struck his sensitive back. "Hey, Schuldig – how do you suppose that guy knew our names?"
The telepath blinked, then considered a moment. "I have no idea. They couldn't have just checked the passenger roster, because then they wouldn't have known what we looked like. Besides, Bradley had me flying under a fake name for protection. And they can't have hacked into the database and gotten our information, because I -know- Nagi has enough firewalls around our system to stop every hacker this planet's ever seen." Yohji blinked at the outpouring of semi-intelligent chatter from his companion.
"But then how-" Yohji's emerald eyes widened very rapidly, and so did Schuldig's.
"Crawford!" They both declared at the same time. A vision of the American businessman smirking as he hired the kidnappers came to their minds, and Schuldig scowled.
"That bastard!" he asserted, slamming his hand against the metal walls. "He sold me!"
"YOU?!?!" Yohji shouted. "What about me?! I'm not even his TEAMMATE! What did he have to go and sell ME for?" Schuldig frowned at him.
"How should I know? If he's cruel enough to sell me, his hardworking, diligent assistant-" Yohji had his doubts about this part. "-then why not sell you? You're his -enemy-, after all." Yohji glared at the German.
"I've had just about enough out of you. Now keep your mouth shut while I try to figure out how to get out of here!" Yohji should have known that was a dumb thing to say to a telepath, but it was too late, and now Schuldig was chattering mentally at him as he searched around him for a tool of escape.
This is going to be one long day,Yohji thought to himself. And with Schuldig along, I doubt I'll be sane by the end of it.
Schuldig: So, what did you learn today, Yohji?
Yohji: That you're really annoying!
Crawford: Muahahahahahaha...
Yohji: ...
Schuldig: Care to share what's so funny, Bradley?
Crawford: (smirking) No.
Schuldig: (pouts)
Omi: Read and review please!