Insert standard disclaimers here. Not mine, never will be, etc., etc., etc.

Edited 12/29/04 to split the fics up and fix a spelling error.

Closing in on Freedom

Promise I won't die...

Birman sighed as she nudged a rock out of the way with her toes. She was on the beach where they had found Weiß, looking for some sign that the others had survived. She knew that she wouldn't find anything. It was a futile search since she had been over all of the shore around where the place had been. "You said you wouldn't die, Shu. At least you could have given me a chance to say goodbye." She crouched down to touch the water with a frown.

It had been months since Weiß had left her in the basement of the Koneko no Sumu-Ie and gone to face the three elders of SS, since that final battle that had almost cost them their lives. They said it was sheer luck that they managed to escaped the falling debris as the place crumbled an get to the surface. No one mentioned seeing Schwarz get out, and it wasn't like she could ask. Not with Yohji acting towards her like he had since then.

She didn't like not knowing what had happened. Manx and the boys had filled her in some, but she had a hard time believing that Weiß could have survived and not Schwarz. Her fingers swirled the water a bit as she thought on why she wanted to believe that so much.

She missed him. She missed that self-confident look that slowly melted into that of a confused boy when he'd look at her. She missed the way he'd embrace her at what could have been the worst possible moment. She missed the way he smelled. Most of all, she missed him.

She had precious few days off with rebuilding what had been Kritiker, but still she found time to come down to these shores and look. There wasn't a trace of any of them. Not that she would have been sad to never see the Irishman again. Not after he had attacked her in the flower shop. She rubbed at her t-shirt where her scar from that encounter was hidden with that memory.

Something about his conversation that night caused a thought to drift into her mind. It was one that she hadn't thought since before her days in high school.

But, mama, how does the horse stay white?

She had always loved Western-style fairy tales, but one day it hit her that the hero always rode a white horse. And through all of the travels of the hero, the horse never got dirty.

How does the horse stay white, mama?

"It doesn't. And in the end, even the best hero has some taint to his soul."

Her mother had never quite put it that way, but Kyoko learned that that was what she had meant. If he killed a man to save his lover, he still killed. If he stole from a king to feed the starving peasants, he still stole. It didn't change the fact that what he did was wrong, only gave a reason for it.

"Even white horses get dirty."

She stood up and stepped forward into the water. It was cold against her bare feet, but she kept going until it was over her ankles.

I'm sorry, kitten. I really did mean to come home to you.

That was the last thing she had heard from him. The last thought that he had sent her. It had woken her from the wounded sleep that she had fallen into after Weiß left.

I meant to come home to you.

xxxxx

"So what does your talent tell you?"

Crawford stepped up beside his teammate...No, former teammate, he corrected himself. They still traveled together, but there was no more Schwarz. There hadn't been since their last not-quite-mission in Germany. Farfarello had gone off with that girl, and Nagi didn't want to come back to Japan with the two of them. There was no more "Schwarz", just Schuldig and Crawford. "You tell me. In this chilly weather, I doubt she's here on the shore because it's a perfect day to go swimming," he replied, looking over at Schuldig. The telepath was staring at the woman standing in the water below them.

"I feel like such a child," Schuldig laughed after a moment. "Telepath and master manipulator and I can't even find the nerve to go talk to a woman because I'm too afraid she'll slap me for leaving her like that." He ducked his head a bit and smirked. "Scratch that. In her case, I'm too afraid she'd shoot me."

"I wouldn't be surprised if she did, but I would be a little disappointed," Crawford returned, a hint of a smile showing on his face. "She might actually want to see you, you know."

Schuldig nodded quietly. "I know." He took a hesitant step forward. "You can laugh at me, you know. I know exactly how foolishly I'm acting right now."

Crawford shook his head silently. "I won't laugh. You know where to find me when you want to."

xxxxx

Hallo, Katzchen. Es ist ein schöner Tag, ist es nicht?

Birman started from her musings as the German thoughts filtered through her own. German...

Two arms circled her waist from behind as lips pressed against the skin on her neck. "I'm sorry," the man whispered against her neck, the accent a little stronger than she remembered, but it was the same.

"Shu," was the only thing she could find the strength to voice as he held her.

"I'm going to teach you how to say the whole thing some day," he smiled, pulling her body back against his. "But not now." He lifted his head to press a kiss to her hair. "Not now..."

Warm...he was warm. That was the first thought that registered after the fact that it was Schuldig holding her. He was here, and he was warm. "I thought you were dead." He sighed a bit at that, and she felt him relax his hold a bit. "I'm glad you're not, though. Don't think otherwise." He replied with a soft 'hn' before shifting his grip slightly to lift her up and start to turn her around.

The first thing that she noticed was that he wasn't wearing his bandanna, and his hair was left free around his face in an almost neat mess...if that were possible. Sad blue eyes watched her as she reached a hand up to push some of that hair back out of his face. almost pass as a prince, you know..." she smiled at him.

He tilted his head to the side a bit. "What would make you say something like that?"

"Something your teammate said that night...about whether my prince would come to save me," she returned with a shrug.

He chuckled softly. No one had ever called him that before. "I'm not a prince. Princes don't kill as many as I have."

She leaned closer with a smile. "Even the most perfect hero has some taint on his soul. You can still be my prince." Schuldig blinked as she touched a kiss to the tip of his nose. "But if you start calling me princess, we'll have to rethink this." She smiled again, resting her arms on his shoulders in a loose embrace.

"Mmm, but you'd look so good in a big poofy dress," he grinned at her, leaning just a little closer. "We can always dress you up in one of those lovely formal kimonos."

"I have one of those. Maybe you can talk me into modeling it some day," she chuckled as his lips brushed hers.

Don't worry, I will. The thought started spoken, but that part died when his lips pressed against hers. Months of repressed feelings flooded back to him without warning, and he was forced to end the touch long before he would have wanted to.

"What's wrong?"

Schuldig shook his head with a faint smile. "Nothing, I just..." He paused, chewing on his lower lip a moment. "I just remembered how badly I've wanted to come back to Japan, that's all..."

xxxxx

Crawford watched the scene below him in silence. It made him remember the age difference between himself and Schuldig. The German was barely twenty-three years old and, in some ways, still very much a child. He may have grown up quickly, but...he was still very much a child. And he was a child that knew he was missing something that Crawford was watching right now. A child that wanted what he was missing and didn't care how he got it.

A child that finally had found someone that could give him that.

He smiled faintly with that thought before slipping into the driver's seat and starting his car.

xxxxx

"We're out where anyone can see us," Birman murmured as Schuldich slipped a hand under her shirt. The touch caused her to shiver. "We...mmmph..."

He silenced her with his own mouth. I know exactly where we are. Just missed you too much. She gasped out loud as he moved from her lips in a slow trail to her neck. "Let yourself go, lover. Just let yourself feel," he murmured against her skin.

Her fingers clenched around the back of his shirt, catching some of his hair in the process. "Like I could do anything else."

He lifted his head and smiled at the way she already seemed breathless. "So you did miss me?"

Birman nodded quietly. "You had doubts?" She smiled at him playfully. He laughed in return and shook his head. "Every day. But all I could do was hope that wherever you were, you were okay."

"I was. I was with...Crawford and the others."

"After this you can run off with her for all I care."

She noticed some emotion flicker in his eyes. "Shu?"

"No more SS. No more Rosenkreuz. And for tonight, forget about Kritiker. We're going out and be alive for a change. We're going to be normal." His smile widened a little mischievously. "We're too young to not have a little fun."

Birman blinked at him. "I...I can't...I..."

Schuldig's head tilted a little in a warning manner. "Wasn't a request, lover. Not like you're in a position to argue with me right now, either. We're going out. And that's that."

She frowned at him a moment. "Can I at least go home and change into something more appropriate?" He nodded, finally setting her down into the water as he did so. She started back to the shore and the rock where she had left both her jacket and shoes. She looked up just in time to see a car moving out of sight, then looked back at the telepath. He was still standing there in the water in what she assumed was some type of thought. "Shu, come on. I haven't had a chance to eat today, and I'd like to get something that resembled food before you drag me all over the city!" she called back to him as she dusted sand off of her feet and slipped her shoes on.

He turned to look at her, and the fading light from the sun setting behind her caught on his hair, turning it to an almost fiery orange. The light also made her realize how young he was. Older than Omi, certainly, and possibly Ken and Aya, but he'd be lucky if he was older than Yohji, or older than she was. She had always thought he was older, but...no...

"We're too young to not have a little fun."

"Yes, Shu, I think that, for tonight at least, you're right about that."

Owari

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Hallo, Katzchen. Es ist ein schöner Tag, ist es nicht? -- "Hello, Kitten. It's a beautiful day, isn't it?"