The Raven's Pendant

by silrayn silverwolf

Weiss Kreuz Crossover. Kurama gets a redheaded assassin for a brother, unfortunately his taste in friends gives the man a pause. To catch a raven... KxK, KxH, SchuxAya [shounen ai] UPDATED at Long Last!

10. The Past Revisited

Raven's Pendant WEIß KREUZ - YU YU HAKUSHO FANFICTION Part 10 - the Past Revisited Schuldig sighed as his eyes skimmed over the sparse glade. He was sitting on the porch of a Japanese temple on top of a small hill. The back porch overlooked an untamed stretch of land. It was a wild park large enough that one could forget that there was a city just around the corner except for the occasional rumble from the highway, down a number of worn stone steps and a stone path in the opposite side of the building. The ride here was certainly something... Though the statement was directed more towards the conditions of the ride than scenery, Schuldig had been busy worrying about Aya to appreciate the humor in it then... *** "So how is Aya going to live around here in that shape, might I?" Schuldig drawled sarcastically as he drove through the night traffic. It was hard enough to smuggle the still shocky redhead onto Schuldig's sports car in the apartment garage without anyone noticing. He had insisted that they wait for dusk to fall before venturing out. "Hn." Hiei said distractedly. Schuldig couldn't really read the runt's thoughts so he didn't know what to make of the grunt. "Hiei, will help him change to human shape. The first time is sort of tricky… It's not as if it's that hard once you've caught the knack." Botan [1] babbled. The last was directed to Aya. She was another person Schuldig couldn't read. It's hard to tell if she's really feeling about this situation... The rash of people he couldn't read made him a little bit crabby. "Hn." It was definitely an assent this time. "That's fine and dandy but what about Kurama-chan?" Schuldig snapped at the blue-haired ferry girl. The cheerfulness was really getting to him. He fought the instinct to slam on the brakes hard. How can she be so happy when we don't know where Kurama-chan is and what that bastard's doing to him? And Ran's still stuck with these powers and no way in control… Of course, Schuldig really couldn't know that but well... I can't read her so how would I know... "The other Reikai agents will be looking out for Kurama-san and Crawford-san. Don't worry; Kurama is a dear friend to us all. Koenma-sama won't allow him to get into any trouble." Botan's words slowed down considerably and the telepath could read the anxiety that hung on the words. Botan, it seemed, was the type to babble when nervous. Even so, the stream of words that poured out of the ferry girl's mouth still annoyed the hell out of Schuldig. Remember Ran and Hiei are here with you…not only that annoying blathering idiot… Remember that a jolt would do Ran any good in his condition… It's just going to irritate Hiei… It was just so hard. "Does she ever shut up?" Schuldig hissed at Hiei who sat beside him on the "hot seat" as Botan babbled the direction to this Genkai's place in between youkai trivia. Ran was at the back because the Weiß redhead's new wings couldn't be squeezed in the limited space in the front of the car. Schuldig didn't envy him his noisy company. "Hn." Hiei murmured again. No…I hope we can get to the place before I murder her out of sheer irritation… *** That Spirit Guide was certainly a wacky character… Sounds really unreliable... It was just crashing onto the Schwartz telepath that he had been annoyed at a Spirit Guide and had spent several hours in the company of demons. What a world... Things weren't simple for a telepath. Telepathy meant living in two worlds, the world of minds and that of the ordinary life, but this was really much different. The supernatural was another thing altogether. "Schuldig-san, would you like to train your reiki while you are here?" Botan asked. The bubbly fluff-head still hadn't left them after they had come to this place. Schuldig wondered what the girl was waiting for. The presence of Death in their midst was very disconcerting. He still couldn't believe that the airhead was actually a ferry girl who helped souls into the afterlife. She was just too like the fan-girls that frequented the Koneko. Schuldig had been sent to observe Weiß in their sideline professions so he knew pretty well what he was talking about. "What do you mean 'reiki'?" Talking to this girl was an exercise of patience. She seemed to take for granted that Schuldig would have the same reference points she had. It was mind-boggling. "Reiki is human life energy. You must have strong abilities to channel reiki since you're a telepath. Though you are untrained in it's use or you can do so much more." "Huh?" Schuldig didn't know what the girl was getting at. He was a telepath, reading minds is all he could do, wasn't it? "All humans have reiki and ability to channel it while they're alive but they usually don't have enough to be useful. You're a telepath therefore you have enough to train." "What's that got to do with me?" Schuldig was getting annoyed at the flood of chatter. We've got enough problems with Crawford absconding with Kurama-chan without me going off to train some non-existent or philosophical ability I might have... "Botan means that you could train to fight youkai. You could help capture your former leader and Kurama, if you do." A voice rough with age added from behind Botan. It turned out to be the gray haired old woman who owned the place, Genkai. "Why didn't you just say so?" Schuldig said exasperatedly to Botan. "Umm, that was what I was trying to tell you." "Botan, I think you should leave him to me. You're just confusing him." The ferry girl pouted but turned to go back inside. "So are you going to train your talent or not? For someone who's used to having psychic ability, you seem to be having quite difficult time adjusting to the supernatural." Genkai said testily. She seemed a fair judge of human nature... The old woman had no telepathy as far as Schuldig could discern but she was accurate enough at calling the shots from what he could see. "Well, that's one thing, this is another. Learning the afterlife's real, that there are demons and there are worlds out there, it's just...different." "As different as being able to live in the worlds men create in their minds?" "You have a point." Schuldig conceded. Farfarello's got some real odd shit in his mind especially when his meds are close to wearing off... The paranoid fantasies of the less rational member of Schwartz did tend to color the world a bit brighter and sharper, at the same time fogging up the thought processes. And it might be useful to have some training...in the mundane sense... "So I'll have Hiei train you along with Aya." "Hiei!" That Schuldig wasn't expecting. He'd assumed that Genkai was training him instead of the grouchy fire demon. He never thought that Hiei had the patience to train even one person much less two. "Uh-hmm. I'm too old to be training anyone." Genkai replied, giving Schuldig a smirk. Ah, a woman after my own heart... Though this was a complication he could do without. He could appreciate how he had been outmaneuvered into accepting training from someone he wouldn't have otherwise but... Might as well spread the blessings... "There's another thing though. We have another teammate who's a telekinetic..." "I might train you after all, three's a bit much for Hiei to do it alone." Genkai said, frowning thoughtfully. Schuldig answered with a smirk. "Don't be so smug. I'm a harder trainer than Hiei. Let me tell you that now. You call your teammate--what's his name?" "Naoe Nagi." "Nagi, and then we'll start on your exercises." Schuldig groaned at that. What am I getting into? "Don't be a wuss. At least you're an assassin, I think I won't get into the basics of fighting like I did with Yuusuke." Schuldig had just enough energy to wonder about whom Yuusuke was before the so-called exercises tired him out. *** In another part of town... "So what's next on our agenda, Fox?" Kuronue asked as they lounged about their second purloined apartment. They had marked three Estet safe houses that were known only to him as Crawford. After surveying all Estet properties, these remained untouched by the Reikai Tantei purge that argued for them being unknown to the Spirit World agents. Maybe I should try to find other possibilities, anyway…no need to be trapped in these… A redheaded Japanese boy and a gaijin man isn't going to remain unnoticed for long… They had been using their human forms to avoid detection outside of jobs but it hadn't been easy. For one, they couldn't use Estet assets to pay for their needs nor could they use Crawford's private accounts since those where easily traceable. The Spirit World would have found all the Estet accounts, by now. I had Nagi make the accounts and he might cooperate with them. No, not easy at all… Besides that we stand out like a blue rose in the midst of red ones, there's the matter of the Forgetfulness Spell holding up. There are residual memories associated to that form; it might be enough push to make him remember… everything… He's not yet grounded to our reality, as he should be… I don't know why he's fighting so hard…when we were what we were… I just don't understand it… Whatever it is, it's certainly not conscious… "Oh, a few other things but first..." Yoko bent over to kiss Kuronue's worries away. We'll just have to stay here awhile and get what we can… *** "What's next on our agenda, Fox?" Kuronue had asked lightheartedly over Yoko's preoccupation. A preoccupation he himself didn't know what to make of it. Why can't I accept this and move on? If I can't remember anything except for a vague sorrow…then it couldn't have been important… But, oh, why is it that I can't let go… Who is that runt in black and the rest of those people? The redhead I can imagine to be some sort of relation to this human body…hard to not see that really, we have the same rare shade of red. The color of roses in the sun… My head hurts… The migraine that threatened to descend on the Fox like the approaching night came in full force as it always did when he tried to remember the past. It couldn't have been important… Yoko kept repeating it like a mantra, though it didn't banish the doubts entirely but eased them so that the headache that pounded like rock imps on his brain. In the corner of his vision, he saw that Kuronue was wearing a slight frown on his face. I can't lose him... He's all I have in this world... Yoko did the only thing he could do dispel the worry. "Oh, a few other things but first..." He answered. Suiting word to action, he kissed Kuronue hesitantly, letting the familiar warmth soothe his doubts. Then he knew nothing more for a long time. But even then, in a corner of Yoko's mind, nagging voice of memory screamed in the silence, unheard. *** "I think we need to get back to the Makai. They're not going to stop hunting for us here." Yoko said, idly as they sat in the same apartment. They had moved when they had caught sight of patrol of A Class youkai scoping out the neighborhood and moved back in after the sweep had past. "Aa." Kuronue was relieved that the Fox was the one to bring it up. He didn't want to do it first and risk incurring the other's wrath. The Fox had always been the leader of the pack, his leader as well. To challenge Yoko's decision so soon after he had come back from the dead...didn't bear thinking about. "What we need to do is open a Gate to the Makai." "Hai, but how are we going to do that? There is a kekkai between worlds and neither of us have the ability to make a gate." "There's a spell I know that can be used to open a Gate to the Makai. Except we need objects of power to make it work against the kekkai." "And what objects are these?" How could he possibly know any "Objects of Power" to talk about? "These, they are all in Tokyo, of course." Yoko pulled out a small piece of paper with some items written on it. "How did you come by these?" "Remember when I went out last week and the day before?" "Aa." And how it gave me a turn too... Kuronue had fretted that Yoko might have remembered and left him. They had a huge quarrel over it, too. That's why the next time Yoko went out, the Fox took the effort to tell him. So this is what he was up to all along... His relief was so great that he nearly let it out in a sigh. "So let's get to it. No need to stall anymore than we have to." Kuronue finally said in the unexplainable silence that had descended. *** Thank the gods...he accepted the excuse... Yoko was very relieved that Kuro bought his half-baked story. He had gone out specifically to see if he could remember anything of his past from walking around the city. He had walked in his human form one night, alone and unaccompanied. He found that form more than adequate for the trouble he had found. I've clearly spend much of my life in this human city... His feet and mind was familiar with the roads even if he didn't remember what they meant to him. The buildings weren't alien to him. The jarring feeling of familiarity led him to a park where he was almost sure he'd spent some time with...a friend... His head had ached then, ached so unbearably that he had to lean on one of the cherry trees until it stopped. He remembered... *** Kuronue would never approve of what I'm doing now but...I must know... Yoko knew that he needed to know. The urge nagged at him every time he relaxed. It gnawed as persistently as Makai vampire plant on a victim. Everything doubled for a moment. Makai Vampire Plant...something about that plant...I...I almost... The migraine turned everything into a flashing disco light colors. Yoko let it go. Everything wavered back into the place. Why is it that I can't remember and when I try...? The headache threatened. I think I need to walk some more...this street...seems... I have walked this way before... "Hiya, pretty boy. Stay awhile with me?" An unshaven lout of a human said as he swayed to an invisible wind. The man was a large as a bull and looked as dull as one and he was clearly very drunk. It interrupted Yoko's musings, irritating the nether hells out of him. I almost got it...just one instant...why do these interruptions always come at the most inopportune times... Hmmm. There's a saying about that...Mur-- What? I never heard of any such thing...it must be a memory of my life--my human life... It was at the tip of his tongue and felt like it could burst out at any moment but he couldn't muse about such a thing before a battle. Not even remotely dangerous but anything can hurt you if you don't pay attention... The strongest youkai have died most ignoble deaths because they have not paid attention... "No, thank you." He replied in the soft alto voice of his. It always astonished him, that voice. Of all the voices I could have as a human why do I have to have a voice that would be almost girlish... Yoko knew it made him sound soft and make the man more aggressive. So be it... A fight may clear his head. He shifted his position slightly to brace himself. "Oh come now pretty, you're not playing hard to get are you?" The drunk said, inching his way closer. "I said no." Yoko pulled a little more hardness in his voice. He started to turn away as if he was going to walk in the opposite direction. That did it. The drunk charged. "Soft mama's boy, think you're better than me just because you're pretty." It only lasted a second. Yoko had dodged and turned to slash with one hand holding a grass knife. The man fell with a meaty thump and lay still as a rock. He had managed to slash clear through the jugular vein. He had walked away without a moment's regret trying to catch what he had been trying to remember. Mur--Mur--Murpi--- Try as he might to hold onto it, it had slipped his mind completely. It feels as slippery as a piece of nylon string--A piece of what? It came out as a slip of the tongue and an image of a semi-transparent string and the heaviness in the head. Yoko retreated before the advancing pain, cuddling his discovery to his breast. It's progress of a sort... Yoko thought it was enough for the night and turned to retrace his steps. He was several blocks away from the scene of the crime when he felt youki rushing towards his direction. He flattened himself against the alleyway to wait. Suddenly he felt the sudden surge of ki behind him. He whirled around in ready stance, sure that he had been found out but saw that there was no one there. He put himself against the wall again until he head the searchers' footsteps rush past. When he sensed that they had moved on, he extended his senses to locate the source of the power. He located it a few seconds; it was a small amber piece on a short chain and metal circle. Then he high tailed it out of that alley. That was close... Should be more careful next time... It's hard enough to hide ourselves in this place where the only youkai we're liable to bump into are Reikai Tantei or Reikai fugitives...and they only know the difference... Hmmm. That got Yoko thinking as he looped his find round and round on his hand. The ward between worlds was too strong for them to breach on their own. He and Kuronue had found out soon enough when they had tried to breach that to get to the Makai. He could still feel the buffeting wall of force pushing against him like a very strong wind. No we can't do it that way...and the Gate spells I've acquired wouldn't have enough zap to get through... We need a source of power or several sources of power...such as this... Yoko started to pay attention to his surroundings and scouted out for more signs of spiritual power. There were surprisingly many of them. Or not so surprising, the blindling humans don't use them...so... They are our ticket out of here... *** "Kuronue, look to the left." Yoko warned him as they went through the alarm net. They really didn't need to avoid the alarms since the only ones to respond to them would be pitiful ningen security guards. And what a pitiful lot they are too... Guns and bullets were nothing to them. Human reflexes could not match youkai speed but that would get them into bad habits. We are going home to the Makai. We're too much of a target around here… A pity, there were so many treasures yet to plunder here. Ripe for the picking and very little danger…when who would believe that a legend was making off with them? Besides with the Gift that my new body had given me and my youkai nature had enhance, nothing will be able to stop us… none of these blindling humans can stop us… It was the Reikai Kuronue wanted to avoid. The Reikai would do anything to regain their agent and their friend back into the fold. Kuronue pieced together the likelihood that the charming Fox had carved himself a place in politics of the Spirit World. No agent would be allowed to modify the terms of the mission he was sent out to do unless he had a special venue of appeal. The Fox could certainly charm the sun to setting at noon when he put his mind to it… Not that he'd fool me since I knew him well enough… He hasn't change his method of working it seems, all these years past… "Aa." Kuronue saw the laser orienting on his position. He rushed absently to avoid getting tagged. A smile curved on his lips as he remembered…another time and place… *** "Kuro, race you to the end of the gauntlet." Yoko said as they ran through an open field full of unpleasant surprises. "Aa." Kuro said, dodging several small black bombs that sprung out of the turf. They had just stolen a magical pot from a petty local lord. The item was not very valuable and the traps amateurishly set, they could have sent one of their patrols to take it but that wasn't the point. Stealing things for the heck of it was a game that they played now and then. Yoko claimed it kept them sharp for other more serious times. Kuro suspected the Fox just wanted to play. That was the Fox's nature, after all. I don't really understand it... The challenge, yes, of taking what is not yours from those powerful enough to resist or those things that you need from anyone at all but this wanton waste of energy... It was one of the things that made them different from one another. Kuronue was always serious, each and every action calculated to give him advantage, devious but direct. Yoko was playful, the Fox's plans always winded round and round before completion because they also considered "having fun" along the way. Kuro admitted that such plans did throw an enemy off balance but they also gave things time to go wrong. And things do go wrong sometimes... "Kuro, watch out!" The warning cut through Kuronue's thoughts late. He barely dodged the spear that came from his left flank. He barely avoided being turned into shish kebob. The spear had torn a shallow gash on his hip. The injury was minimal but it did remind him that the "battle field" was no place for deep thoughts. He managed the rest of the traps without other injuries but he did hear it from his partner later. ~*~ Yoko and Kuronue were sitting about in the little cave that was their temporary safe house for their rash of jobs in this vicinity. "What were you trying to pull, Kuro-chan?" Yoko asked him snippily as he twisted about to clean his wound with Makai firewater. "No--thing." Kuronue said as he panted and twisted about trying to reach every bit of the wound with the alcoholic beverage. The spear had hit in an awkward angle so the graze went off to slightly to his back. It wasn't going to do to leave it untended, septic wounds are a bad way to die. "Here, let me do that." Yoko said, impatiently. He swiftly lunged to take the flask away from Kuronue's hand. "Lie on your butt. I'll pour." "Really, it's nothing." "Don't be more a bonehead than you have been. Let me do this. I can't imagine how you lived until I found you. First standing around, woolgathering when you should be dodging traps. Now you won't let someone else tend a wound that you can't quite reach!" "Aa. " Kuronue said. He was rather stung by the implications but he did admit that Yoko was right he was being stupid. But he didn't have to be so snide about it... Kuronue thought resentfully as he lay down on the natural niche that made up his makeshift bunk. It's not as if I had been that careless... I managed to reach the age of 400 without him...and on my own for the last three centuries... They stayed there awhile like that. Yoko pouring the firewater and daubed with a clean rag on the wound while Kuronue hissed now and then in pain when Yoko hit on a particularly sensitive spot. He knew the Fox was being gentle considering. He's really doing the best he could... Those skillful fingers so good in picking locks were tenderly holding the rag over his wounds with more care than Kuronue'd ever thought were possible. He did not doubt that Yoko was making an effort on his behalf. The Fox was not the caring kind. He could've hardly learned to care in the slave pits... He barely hissed when Yoko put a cloth around his leg. He was about to protest again, this time at the indignity. However the look in those feral golden eyes stopped him. There was concern in those eyes that he felt would've surprised the Fox if the kitsune could see it. He cares... I don't know why he does...but he cares... I doubt even if he knows that he does... The cold Fox of the Makai cares for me... The Fox had bound the wound with some clean cloth they kept for the purpose. "There, it's all fixed. Just be more cautious next time. We don't want anything vital damaged don't we?" The innuendo was plain on his voice as Yoko closed the lantern with a flick of the risk. The cave was plunged into darkness. The Fox's libido is really something... We're technically in enemy territory too... "Aa. How can I ever thank you?" Kuronue asked, batting his eyebrows at him. "Oh, I'll think of something." Yoko replied demurely, his pose however held nothing of reserve about it. He was draped on the bunk with a studied languid pose. "I'm sure you will." Kuronue said. He leaned forward to give the silver Fox a kiss on his lips. You'd think that this would solve the problem... The disquieting thought faded into the warmth. *** You'd think that this would solve the problem... The thought echoed through the centuries to plague Kuronue again but he pushed it aside. We're together that's all that matters... It was like the old days, if not better. Yoko and Kuronue worked like an efficient machine as always. We're taking on all comers, taking what we want and trashing the rest...just like the good old days…together again…forever this time… Forever...but they never discussed any of it, never made anything formal to celebrate their togetherness, never discussing their differences, simply being together. I have him, he has me...nothing's changed...nothing will ever change... It was comforting and disturbing at the same time. No, that is nothing to be worried about especially since we still have to get away from here... The Ningenkai was very nice but Kuronue would sooner get away from it and the Reikai Tantei who would take Yoko away from him yet again. They managed that heist quickly and quietly. Now if we can manage to grab that statue...then we're all set and the Reikai couldn't stop us... *** "Hn. What are your intentions towards Kurama?" Aya asked Hiei as he came out of the temple to stand on the porch. The fire demon was staring at the stars, brooding as always. "Hn." Same to you... "Schuldig tells me he and 'Crawford' seem to have something serious between them." "Hn." None of your business... "So what are you going to do when we find him?" "Hn." Now that was informative... He's as closed mouthed as I am... Aya was finding out how frustrating it must be for people to have a conversation with him. They had his sympathy, they really did, but this was getting him nowhere. "Don't give me that! Answer. Me." "And what are you going to do when we see them? When we see your 'little brother' whose not your brother at all but a fox who took over the body that should have been?" Hiei sounded very pissed but Aya knew he was evading the issue. The question stopped the redhead even then. What will I do to Kurama-chan when we do find him? He's lied to me... It was something Aya tried to avoid thinking about since he had found out about it but now that he was thinking about it, he couldn't let go. Sweet little Kurama-chan is not so sweet after all...but then do you want him to be? Sweet and innocent, not someone who teased him and Schuldig together and subtly tried to match them up... Guileless green eyes looking up at him with nothing more than what it seemed. Shock in those eyes when the owner found out that Aya was more than he seemed, an assassin with blood in his hands, then revulsion. He at least understands, the need to protect...and he cares for me... Aya was shocked. Can I really leave it at that? Can I just put it aside? He as good as killed...by taking over the human body that was my brother... He remembered when they had been briefed at whom and what Kurama-chan was... *** "What?" Aya said. Genkai and Botan shivered as the room temperature plunged several degrees at his chilly glare, literally. It appeared that beside his wild precognition talent, Aya had gotten the Cei ability to control elements. He had gotten quite an unusual dose of that. Most Cei controlled only one element, be it Fire, Air, Water or Earth, he could control all four though his control varied in greater or lesser degree depending on the element. He was more powerful at controlling Air and Water and his icy glares definitely cooled the air. [2] "Aya-san, Genkai-shihan is telling you the truth." Yukina said, unperturbed, she continued to pour the rapidly cooling tea. "You mean Kurama-chan is not human. I can understand that but that he's not my little brother..." Aya was having a hard time accepting all this. Hard time accepting is an understatement... And why should I believe a bunch of strangers? He wanted to call them liars to their faces. To say that his brother was someone named Yoko, a well-known thief and one of the most ruthless bastards in the Demon World, was a bit much. Not Kurama-chan... He remembered how Kurama looked. Long hair flying about as his otouto hurtled towards him to glomp him, how Kurama would look at him mischievously trying to get his way and to get him more involved with things. He really did enjoy going out to that bar that one time and despite the need for him to watch his otouto had enjoyed it. Not Kurama-chan... "He's a five thousand year old youko named Yoko. He took over the body that was to be your little brother before it was born. Believe it." Genkai said bluntly. "But--" He was starting to believe. He began to remember things...things about Kurama that didn't add up. Like how he could accept Schuldig and the rest of Schwartz enough to go to their hideout... It's impossible not to have suspicions of foreigners living together as bodyguards... Nagi's underage for one...but still... Still, Aya remembered Kurama-chan's sweetness and couldn't reconcile the ruthless youko of legend with his little brother. Though it was hard now to deny the fact. Was it all illusion? "So he's just been playing with me." "Aya-san, it doesn't mean that Kurama-san never cared for you." The irritatingly cheerful Botan said. "Hn." "I would think that he does. Kurama doesn't cuddle up to anyone he doesn't like." "Hn." Aya said skeptically, he had seen Kurama hug Schuldig and treat the other the same way. It's probably part of his act... "He doesn't behave the same way with everyone else. He flirts and acts polite but never the same way that he does with us." Schuldig chimed in from the doorway. "Hn." "There's also the matter of him protecting you from that spell 'they' were about to cast. Remember?" Schuldig reminded him. Yes, he did. Aya didn't remember it too well. The images were all jumbled and blurry but it was there. ~*~ A living room with leather couches and people doubled in Aya's sight, filled with wavering shadows. It came reluctantly through the haze of detachment. "I think not." It was the same sibilant tones of his nightmares… "Aniki!" Kurama-chan! Concern and loss all concentrated in that tone. "He can't hear you right now." Yes, I can… I must get myself together…must…not give in…must protect… His body refused to cooperate. His arms remained stubbornly immobile above his body. Above…my…body…am I restrained? The world blinked again. "You'll pay for this." There was anger there in that mellow alto. Kurama-chan don't provoke them… Then a fall into all encompassing darkness…but the last words followed him down into unconsciousness and gave an odd sort of comfort. ~*~ Aya remembered the anger then in Kurama's voice and the comfort it brought with it. It was a familiar thing, similar to the vengeful anger at his parent's death, his sister's condition and now her kidnapping. And anger that said he cared…but how much is it feigned… "He wouldn't have held off using his power so long in that fight if he didn't. He got injured because of that." Purple eyes met another pair of green eyes. Aya's breath caught. His mind went empty of thought for a moment. The serious sincerity in those vibrant orbs was hard to deny. "So?" Schuldig asked, after a moment of silent communication. He's known Kurama-chan for a longer time than I did... "I believe you." Aya said absently and found that he did believe Schuldig. He believed the German telepath that had been his enemy for so long. That had more than an incidental role in his family's death. What does that mean? It still confused him but for now. "Hai." *** Considering all that-- --And thinking about it now…he could admit it. The skepticism had been mostly out of habit. The doubts have really gone away but the need to try to hold to it was real. He didn't want to think that someone who lied to him would care for him so much. But wouldn't you lie to your sister if she'd gotten out of her coma by now… You wouldn't want her to know about what you had done for a living these past few years and for her sake. If he really cared about you, he wouldn't want to lose your affection by telling you the truth… He acknowledged that in respect that would do the same as Kurama had done. He appreciated what the kitsune-chan did. He had visited his sister in the Kritiker hospital where she'd been put. He looked into that peacefully sleeping face. He held onto the warm smooth hand tightly to reassure himself of the solidity of her. He rescued her for me. She doesn't mean heck to Kurama-chan and why would she? He's never seen her even. There are lies and there are lies…but he did have Aya-chan rescued by Hiei…Hiei no less! By Hiei whom he trusts more than anyone…probably, more than me… Aya felt a twinge of jealousy at that. That settles it…the rest, the rest can wait until Kurama is here to talk to and clear things up… If Aya can feel jealousy for what his brother shared with the fire demon then surely he cared for him enough to make the rest fade to insignificance. "Kurama-chan is my brother...the rest...doesn't matter." Aya said finally. "Hn." Hiei grunted again. "But you're changing the topic. " "I'm going to…" Hiei trailed off. It took so long that Aya almost thought Hiei was going to complete the sentence and when it did come it was so soft that he almost missed it. "...Think it over." ~TBC~ Author's Notes: [1] Not to be confused with the Kritiker agent! Botan here refers to the blue haired ditz who rides an oar to guide spirits to the afterlife. The other Botan might have met her in the earlier part of the Weiß series though. ^^;;; [2] Gives the term "basilisk glare" a new meaning, ne? How'd you folks like it? Progress Report: - The next chapter of this fic is getting worked on. - Other Probable Update: Another new fic in the X1999 fandom! Yes, folks I'm insane! I'm trying to catch up to my sister's unfinished fics record! "Finders Keepers" have been in my head for a while now and I'd just have to get it out. (Yes, DragonSoul, this is the one I had been talking to you about, last week. ) The plot is in my private online journal. "In Season" Part 6 - "Caught you" - is getting worked on.