Chapter 14: Friendly Overtures - Grey Interlude


Omi looked up in surprise as Ken came in. He glanced at the clock. No, he hadn't lost track of time. Ken was back early from his run. Ken stopped at the sight of Omi. "Just the person I wanted to see. Got a minute?"

Omi nodded his head. "Sure, Ken-kun." He picked up his tea and plate of onigiri and followed Ken downstairs into the mission room.

Ken didn't waste time getting to what was on his mind. "Omi, Schwarz is still alive. I just saw them this morning."

Omi grew still. "Are you sure, Ken-kun?"

"Positive. I even talked with them."

"Did they make any moves to harm you?"

Ken's brow wrinkled. "No. That's the strange part. Omi, I don't think we have to worry about them. The kid, Prodigy, looked so—alone. And Mastermind . . . I don't know what's wrong with him."

"Wrong?" Omi's gaze sharpened.

"Yeah. I came across him in the park. He was like a zombie. It was freaky." Ken paused, then grinned wryly. "Freakier than usual, for them anyway." He sobered. "The real reason I came to tell you this is because I know where they live."

"How?"

Ken fidgeted. "Well, I uh, kinda helped the kid get Mastermind home. But it was okay, I swear! The kid said that he didn't need to attract attention, and he needed help, so I couldn't just turn them away." Ken set his jaw. "Maybe Kritiker wouldn't like me helping 'em instead of trying to kill 'em, but if you could have seen—"

"It's okay, Ken-kun. Kritiker doesn't have to know about any of this," Omi told Ken reassuringly. "And I know you too well, Ken-kun. I've always said you wouldn't leave your worst enemy in need of help. You just proved it today."

"I hate to say it, but I was kinda hopin' that you would say that." Ken shuffled his feet. "I felt kinda sorry for the kid." He shrugged. "Maybe they need a break, you know?"

"Maybe. Well, the two of us can keep an eye on the situation well enough, I think." Omi gave Ken a cheery smile. "Right, Ken-kun?"

"Right. I'm off to hit the showers, then. I'll see you in twenty to help you open up." Ken jogged up the stairs. Omi watched him solemnly, then sighed.

"Damn. Nagi, what's going on?" Omi nibbled his lower lip, worried. "I hope you aren't in anything that you can't handle."

----

"Mr. Crawford. Imagine seeing you here."

Crawford turned around to face the other Esset agent. "Miss Polanski." What was Anna Polanski? A telepath? An empath? No, she was a pyrokinetic. Crawford relaxed. He could handle that well enough. "Did Esset send you to find me?"

"No, just happened to be in the area." Polanski turned a curious blue gaze up to him. Her eyes were softened with a hint of grey, unlike the brilliant, sharp blue of Schuldig's. "So what are you here for?"

"Freelance project. With Esset at loose ends, the bills still need to be paid." Polanski was perpetually running up gambling debts. She like betting on the ponies too much. If anything would lull her suspicions, it would be talk of owing someone.

"Erickssen told me you were going to be here and suggested I look you up for dinner." She glanced at him coyly from under her lashes.

Crawford wasn't fooled. I just bet he did. With Erickssen, he didn't 'suggest' anything. Nosy old fox. And to use a pretty girl like Anna as bait. He looked at the girl. She was only a year or two younger than him, but she was relatively new to Esset, a late bloomer in her talents. Her parents had both been good agents, so they had kept her at Rosenkreuz until she had blossomed. But she was behind all her peers in life experience as a result. Life experience, and the politics involved in dealing with Esset.

Pity. He wouldn't have minded spending time with a pretty girl like Polanski. Not with Erickssen as a invisible third party, though. He didn't want Esset to know that Schwarz wasn't intact. But why? Why was he still unable to let go, to cut his losses? The longer he kept the information from Esset, the worse it was going to be on him when they did find out that Farfarello was dead and Schuldig and Nagi had defected. He found he just couldn't bring himself to tell, though. "Sorry, I'm short on time."

Polanski laughed lightly. "Of course. Business before pleasure."

"Unfortunately."

Polanski looked around. "Where's the rest of your team?"

"Back in Tokyo," Crawford told her. "This project didn't need more than one person to handle it." That was true. He had been the only person needed. Mr. Edward Sonett had needed his foresight, nothing else. Now that he was done, Mr. Sonett could be the one to take care of his potential problems.

Crawford stiffened slightly when the vision hit. Feral eyes. There was something feral yet desperate in those eyes, thought the smirk stayed the same. It was wrong. Madness. Over the years, Crawford had perfected schooling his expression from giving away anything about the vision. This time, Crawford couldn't help being taken aback by what he saw. "Schuldig," he breathed.

"What?"

Crawford was snapped back to the present. The vision! It was gone. "Damn it, woman! Didn't they ever tell you not to disturb a pre-cog during a vision?" Normally Crawford would have been able to block out Anna, but he had lost control, something that hadn't happened since he first came to Rosenkreuz. The vision had unsettled him, making it easy to break out of. The fault was more his than hers. However, she didn't need to know that. Besides, he didn't want to deal with her right now. Couldn't deal with her right now. He had to go back to Tokyo.

----

A/N:
onigiri – the Japanese word for rice packed into balls. My favorite are wrapped in seaweed. In the manga, an Assassin and White Shaman, Omi makes them for Ken and Aya. Ken presents them to Aya as a peace offering. Let's just say that Ken didn't start out the relationship between the two of them on a friendly note, so the offering was necessary.