Chapter 1: Home Sweet Home



"Okay, here we are. Our new place." Schuldig swung open the door with a flourish. Nagi didn't look impressed. He had seen it already when they had been looking at new apartments. It was the best of the lot, a top floor suite with three bedrooms. Nagi hadn't asked Schuldig why he had been insistent on three bedrooms, and Schuldig hadn't volunteered the information.

The pile of luggage that had overwhelmed Schuldig's car seemed very small in the middle of the shining ocean of hardwood flooring. The apartment complex included maid service, so Nagi wouldn't have to be the one to polish that immaculate expanse. The maid service pleased Nagi. Crawford had always insisted they keep things clean themselves and had even forced Schuldig to contribute his share. Now that Crawford was no longer here, Nagi had worried that he would be the one to do all the cleaning.

Nagi winnowed out his few bags from Schuldig's mountain of luggage and floated them down the hall after him. The only thing he carried in his hands was Jei's new carrying case. Jei was awake, meowing piteously. Nagi absently stroked the kitten with a mental touch. Jei stopped, surprised, then began to purr again. The kitten turned out to be very affectionate once it had gotten used to them. Schuldig had made the decision to bring the cat, but after that had little to do with it. Nagi found himself to be the owner by default.

Nagi had been worried that the kitten would be a nuisance and had found the kitten to be an angel and Schuldig to be the nuisance. For three weeks, they had lived in that frightfully expensive hotel while Nagi had trailed exasperatedly behind Schuldig as the telepath rejected place after place. Schuldig had been at his worst, refusing to state exactly what it was he wanted, so it had been difficult to satisfy him. Nagi had come close to strangling the other man and stuffing him in a dumpster somewhere.

Finally they had found this one. It was perfect. New building, covered parking, all new appliances, and a fireplace—nothing that Schuldig could complain about. Not that he hadn't tried. Nagi finally spoke up. He pointed out here was a place which had everything Schuldig had demanded of the others. Schuldig had dragged them to three more before conceding.

Nagi looked around at the bare room that was to be his. With a flick of his mind, he shunted the bags into a neat row along the wall. Jei was starting to mew again, so he set the carrier down and let the kitten out. The kitten shot out like a furry bullet, only to skid to a stop in the middle of the barren floor. Nothing for him to hide under. Jei looked back at Nagi and mewed his distress.

"Heh. No place for you to hide, is there, katzchen?" Schuldig said from the doorway. The kitten mewed again, eyes wide and tail bushed out like a bottlebrush.

"Leave Jei alone," Nagi admonished Schuldig. Schuldig ignored him as he watched the kitten slink along the baseboards. Nagi couldn't tell what the telepath was thinking. Schuldig was always hard to read. Schuldig's eyes flickered over to Nagi with a brief flash of annoyance as he picked up on Nagi's thought, then he disappeared back into the living room. Schuldig was not only hard to read, he didn't like for others to try, either.

Nagi supposed it came from professional superciliousness. Crawford had the same reaction anytime someone tried to do what he perceived as 'his job.' Crawford didn't like for anyone to question his vision. Schuldig didn't like for anyone to try to pry into his thoughts. Nagi shook his head. He'll never understand these ESPers.(1)

/Nagi, give me a hand here, will you?/ Speaking of . . .

Nagi went out to the living room, Jei trailing apprehensively behind. To his amazement, three brawny guys were hauling in a couch. Schuldig followed, carrying a sleek chrome floor lamp. "Come on, Nagi, help the nice gentlemen." Two other men were unrolling, of all things, a zebra-skin rug in front of the fireplace.

Nagi didn't know whether to laugh at this touch that just screamed Schuldig or scream because he didn't know how they were supposed to pay for all this. The rug cost hundreds of thousands of yen by itself. He had worked with enough high-profile people to know that the modern-looking couch the men were settling into position was designer Italian leather. Millions of yen.

He settled for getting the strangers out now and asking questions later. Relying on Schuldig to block the events from any witnesses, Nagi made the rest of the furniture fly up to their apartment, unloading the truck in twenty minutes flat. With oblivious looks on their faces, the movers left. Schuldig stroked the butter-soft leather appreciatively. Nagi took an accounting of the goods, his face getting grimmer as the tally rose to alarming heights.

"Schuldig, what were you thinking?"

Schuldig waved him off. "Sorry about not getting your input on the bedroom suite, but I wanted to get it all in one go. If you don't like it, we can send it back and get another—"

"No, Schuldig. How are we going—"

"To pay for all this? 'After all, we can't openly access our money until things cool down with Esset.' Tch. Such serious thoughts for a child." Schuldig chuckled and gave Nagi a tolerant glance. "Don't worry about it. It's all been taken care of."

Nagi went cold. "You didn't."

"I did." Schuldig flopped down on the new couch and rubbed his cheek against a mink throw. "Mmm. This is nice, Nagi. Try it."

"But, what if—"

"Don't go telling me how to do what I do best, Nagi," Schuldig said. His tone stayed mild and his mouth was still curved up in an indulgent grin, but his blue eyes turned frosty. "It's all taken care of. They're writing this stuff off as we speak. They don't have to remember that it took a permanent detour, or where that was."

Nagi remained silent. Schuldig was powerful enough to make his words fact, and they both knew it. Still, the feeling of unease remained. Crawford hadn't liked for Schuldig to misuse his power for such frivolous reasons. He had to have a reason for that, but Nagi didn't know what. Crawford was not a man for explanations.

For the first time Nagi realized the change in his life. He no longer had to follow Crawford's rules. He no longer knew what his purpose in life was. They had lost their shot at attaining their goals when they had lost Abyssinian's sister. Maybe if they had stayed with Crawford, they would have been able to come up with an alternate course. Farfarello's death had changed all that. So now what?

"You go to school, that's what."

Nagi's face tightened. Sometimes it irritated him when Schuldig did that, but he knew that Schuldig really didn't care. In fact, he counted it as a perk. "What about you, Schuldig? What are you going to do while I go to school like a normal my age?"

Schuldig frowned. He hadn't thought of what he was going to do. He had made his promise, gotten away from Crawford, and gotten this new place. He might be able to coast through things on his talent, but the truth of it was that they needed money. Without cash, he would become the one to 'purchase' everything. That would tax his talent quickly, not to mention his patience. He didn't like it, but he knew what had to be done. "I guess I'll get a job."

"You? Work? That will be one for the history books."

"Tch," Schuldig said in mock-disapproval at Nagi's sarcasm. Then his smug grin resurfaced. "Who said anything about working?"

---
A/N:
katzchen – "kitten" in German.

(1)Most studies of psi phenomena is divided into Extra-Sensory Perception (ESP), which covers telepathy, clairvoyance, and precognition; and Psychokinetic (PK), the state of mind over matter. Nagi's a PK, Crawford and Schuldig have ESP talents. Most of you already know this, though. Who says you can't learn anything from anime?

Thanks to Black Kitten's Dream, KaraiAtsuiJoo and Fancy for their kind reviews on "Of Kittens and Dogs." They convinced me to continue with this fic when I almost quit because Schu was giving me problems. Because of you three, I was able to go on and give him problems, instead. Not for another few chapters, though! Everything else is still in rough draft, but chapter two's been beta'd and should be posted soon.
Thanks also to my other kind reviewers on my other stories: marsupial - loved your website (the Pre-Raphaelite artists are among my favorites), and I feel honored that you find my fic humorous; Mondtanz - won't you give this fic a try? Maybe it will be more to your taste; Blue Shoe 22, dorothy whainright, and koneko bombay - thanks for enjoying the stories, that's what every writer hopes for; Matt willi() and NightMaiden02 - I love misdirection, too. Glad to see I'm not the only one; and Shadowgirl1 - Thanks! I'm one of 'those' minds too. I definitely had an evil smile on my face as I wrote it.