Note: Wow, a lot has happened since I started this chapter. I almost broke my finger, burnt my tongue about five times on hot cocoa and cappuccino for those all nighters I pulled, etc. etc. and so forth. XD Plus I started that three part songfic arc, which took a bit longer than I thought it would, misplaced my time line for this story (which I actually MADE, thankyouverymuch!), and hey, I dyed my hair blue. Then school started and I fell behind in physics, I'm in four AP classes and they all feel the need to give a ton of homework (heaven forbid) but enough! To the story they yell, the story!
And because I don't remember if I've put a disclaimer up, uh, I don't own Weiss. It'd be really cool though if I did. Because… fan girls would probably attack me, even though I'm female. Uh… yeah I don't own Weiss and that's probably a good thing.
FungiFungusRayne – Uh… interesting name. XD Anyway. Yes, eventually I will grant your wish. Just not yet. When the time is right I will.
Mangababy – Okay, you just wrote me like, a five page review. XD You asked what possessed me to cut Schu's hair. Well I must admit- I have no idea. I think it has something to do with wanting to try something other people wouldn't. Don't know. And don't worry, the intended pairings will eventually weave their way back into the plot, and it won't be too confusing. And yeah, a big hug to Yotan as the baby falls off him onto the floor and he doesn't notice. XD LOL! Thanks for the compliments though, appreciate it.
Myka – Why? Um… I was bored. LOL!
LoneCayt – Aye, aye, Captain! ) Writing in progress!
Chapter 9: Lack of Something
No one really knew what to say. What was there to say? Of course, Schuldich's hair didn't look bad. It was just different. Put lightly anyway. It was chopped short all around the back, and the top was chopped short, but long enough that Schuldich had been able to spike it. It was a good mix to go with the sharp features of his face, and it all around made him look good. His sunglasses were propped on top of his head, and his bandana was no where to be found. In an odd sort of way, Schuldich looked his age.
Of course, no one knew what to say to that. Finally Farfarello got bored with everything and just went to his room, muttering a mere "should have let me cut it" as he left. Schuldich frowned at the thought. He wanted to keep his head, so he had done it himself. And since he obviously wasn't all that talented at cutting hair, it didn't look freshly cut. It looked like he had always had his hair like this.
"It will definitely take some getting used to." Omi commented after a moment, and Nagi nodded from where he was sitting next to Omi. Schuldich randomly thought the two looked cute together, and then pushed the thought out of his head as he turned to Crawford.
That was the real test, seeing what Crawford would say or do. The elder walked up to stand as face to face with Schuldich as they could get despite their height and for a few minutes they just studied each other. Then finally Crawford reached out and messed with a spike, smiling gently. "I approve."
Yohji watched carefully as Schuldich's face split into a genuine smile, but the smile quickly twisted into a frown at Crawford's next words.
"We need to decide what to do with Clandestine." Crossing the room, Crawford picked the baby girl off the floor from where she had tumbled off of Yohji a few moments earlier.
"What's to decide Crawford?" Schuldich crossed his arms and leaned back against the wall. His posture alone told Yohji he was annoyed.
"Schuldich, we can't keep her, I told you that." Settling himself onto the couch, Crawford plopped the girl into his lap, where she sat happily sucking her thumb, wide eyes watching Schuldich.
"What do you propose we do with her then?" Schuldich attempted to keep a neutral face, but knew it wasn't working well. The others watched him carefully as if trying to memorize his every move. Of course, they were probably still staring at his hair. Or therefore lack of.
"I still haven't thought up any idea on what to do with her exactly, but the fact remains that you just cannot keep her." Crawford stared at the girl in his lap, trying to figure out what to say and how to say it.
"Crawford's right Schuldich, we really can't keep her." Nagi looked over at Schuldich, trying to help Crawford. "The fact remains that we don't know where she came from, or from whom. We can't raise her here with all of us; it'd be too abstract of a life. How would you explain how she came to exist with eight random males in a house out in the country? Besides, she'd basically be locked up all the time because we can't afford her going outside and being recognized." Nagi looked at his hands in his lap as he continued. "The fact of the matter is, someone is probably trying to frame us for her kidnapping, and it's only a matter of time before they find us."
"So we're just going to 'destroy the evidence', is that it?" Schuldich snapped; his voice icy despite his neutral expression. Nagi looked to Crawford for help in the matter, but Crawford just shook his head.
"To be honest Schuldich," Crawford rose and walked swiftly across the room, handing the baby girl to Schuldich, "I don't know who the biggest threat to us is. This girl or you." Ending the conversation, Crawford quickly turned and stalked out of the room, yet somehow managed not to slam the door to his room. Yohji mentally added five respect points to the Crawford total in his head for that bit of self control.
"Come now Weiss, what do you think we should do?" Schuldich quickly glared around at them all, but no one said anything. "The white hunters cannot bear to destroy the evidence either, and yet you all look at me with such hypocrisy in your eyes!" His bout of anger gone, Schuldich quickly handed the baby off to Nagi as he turned and followed Crawford. Schuldich, however, couldn't help but slam the door.
Crawford removed his glasses and carefully rubbed the bridge of his nose at the sound of the door slamming. He didn't even need to look up from his work to know it was Schuldich. Who else would have stormed after him?
"You make it sound so simple!" Schuldich was already yelling and the door had just been shut. Cursing under his breath, Crawford listened to Schuldich wearily. "You just tell me I can't keep her and make it sound like an everyday toy that I can just return to the store!" Schuldich walked around the desk, slamming his hands down across from Crawford. "She's a fuckin' human Crawford, a human! How do you expect me to just discard her like a broken toy?"
"She's a baby Schuldich, like she's going to know the difference in anything?" Crawford was tired, but he saw what was going to happen next. Or at least he had an idea.
"How dare you say that?" His fists connected with the desk again, and an extremely pained expression crossed Schuldich's face. "She knows the difference between someone who cares about her and who doesn't! She knows the difference between you and me, and I'll be damned if you…" Schuldich trailed off, shaking his head in frustration. "Fuck you Crawford." Turning his back to Crawford, Schuldich quickly stormed out of the room, completely allowing his anger to run his body. Obviously Crawford didn't know what would happen next, because he followed after Schuldich, making sure to keep a safe distance between them.
Stalking into the living room, Schuldich quickly ran through everyone's mind. Omi was thinking about what they might have to do with or to the baby, Yohji was whining inside his mind about not being able to go clubbing, and Nagi was processing a conversation he had recently had with Crawford.
"Maybe it's what Schuldich said, you know, 'it's not what it seems'."
"Yes, but what if it is?"
"But what if it's not? I mean, face it; you know they aren't sleeping together. So they have slight affections for each other, what's the big deal? Just talk it out with Schuldich and get it over with."
"And what if it's not that easy Nagi?"
"What do you mean?"
"What if, Nagi, he wants to be with Kudoh, more than he wants to be with me?"
Processing the conversation over in his head faster than he knew he was capable, Schuldich suddenly knew what he wanted to do. Whether it was the correct thing to do in his current situation or not, Schuldich didn't really give a flying fuck. It was what he wanted to do, and what he was going to do.
Crossing the room in three swift steps, Schuldich stood in front of Yohji, smirking. Yohji stared up at him from his seat on the couch, a confused expression dancing across his face. Leaning down and placing his hands on either side of Yohji's head, Schuldich's smirk widened.
'Play along, kitten.' The voice in his head caught Yohji off guard, but not enough that he couldn't tell what was going to happen. Schuldich all but flopped down into his lap, quickly bringing their faces together in a rough kiss. Remembering Schuldich's words, or thoughts really, and deciding that in some weird and twisted way this was rather pleasant, Yohji kissed back. The taste, scent, and everything was just too intoxicating and neither would have pulled away if it hadn't been for the hand that firmly gripped what little hair Schuldich had left on his head and pulled the two apart. Schuldich sent a quick 'You play well kitten' to Yohji before his head was viciously pulled around to face that of a clearly pissed off Crawford.
"Problem Brad?" The smirk that played across Schuldich's face was natural and he couldn't hide it. Although by the look on Crawford's face, he almost wished he could have.
"What the hell was that?" Crawford's eyes were basically swirling pools of emotion as hatred, rage, frustration, and jealousy all pounded down on Schuldich.
"That," Finding Crawford's hand still tightly twisted into his hair, Schuldich decided to answer the question, "was a kiss, which is more than you've given me for the past week." Feeling Crawford's hand tighten around his head, Schuldich flinched; slipping a bit as he allowed a pained expression to cross his face for a split second; before his normal smirk came back.
"Is that so?" Crawford quickly yanked on Schuldich's head, pulling the younger assassin's face closer to his. "Would you like me to change that?" Standing there staring up into Crawford's rage filled eyes, Schuldich realized quite suddenly that he had dug a hole for himself. He couldn't reject Crawford's not too subtle suggestion, but by the mood Crawford was in now, he didn't want to accept it.
"If it would please you, then yes I would." Schuldich swallowed, but it wouldn't go down. There was real fear playing in the back of his mind, and the pure anger that burned in Crawford's eyes wasn't dying out anytime soon. With a sneer, Crawford quickly turned to Yohji, his hand still clasped onto Schuldich's skull.
"Don't you ever go near Schuldich again!" Crawford snapped, before stalking down the hall, dragging Schuldich after him.
This time he didn't bother worrying about slamming the door.
Yohji was eternally thankful that Clandestine was young, naïve, and asleep. Turning his attention to his brown haired team mate, Yohji couldn't resist teasing. "Yo Kenken, Schuldich even makes you and Aya seem quiet."
The punch in his shoulder from behind caught Yohji off guard as Aya passed through the room with a mere "Hn" in response.
"Ken, your boyfriend is hitting on me." Yohji whined teasingly, receiving a glare and then a chuckle from his younger team mate.
"Sometimes I wonder about you Yotan." Ken shook his head before returning to flipping through the channels on television, searching out something worthwhile to watch.
Schuldich curled into the light sheets covering him, his eyes wearily with sleep. Still Schuldich managed to stay awake long enough to hear Crawford's sudden statement of "I'm going out" before his leader got out of bed and proceeded to rummage through his drawers for some clean clothes.
"Ne, Brad, what gives?"
"I just remembered some business that I have to take care of." Crawford continued searching for clothes, all but ignoring Schuldich.
"Business is always a priority over me, isn't it?" Schuldich rolled to his side so that he could watch Crawford without straining his peripheral vision.
"Schuldich," Crawford calmly sat on the edge of the bed as he fixed his suit and started to work on his tie. "What we have, what we share, isn't love. We share a mutual understanding that every now and then we both need some sort of release."
Sitting up, Schuldich reached out to fix Crawford's tie. He knew Crawford was right, and he had no objections. It was how it had always been. There were moments where they might have truly loved each other, been truly jealous of each other, but all the other times were mere occasions when they needed someone to hold them, to dominate them, and to fuck with.
"Are you still angry?" Schuldich asked cautiously as Crawford rose to leave.
"What we have is important to me," Crawford started hesitantly, his back to Schuldich, "but when you look at Kudoh, I realize there's more than just sheer lust and need." Reaching for the doorknob, Crawford stopped and looked over his shoulder at Schuldich. "Maybe I'm just angry because you've found something more important to you than I am, and you're all I have." With that, Crawford quickly slipped out of the room, closing the door lightly behind himself. He explained to Nagi briefly what he was going to do in the town, and reassured the young boy that he would not put himself in harms way.
Schuldich stared at the ceiling, reprocessing everything Crawford had said. But no matter how much he tried to focus on Crawford, he kept thinking of the response he had received from the compliment he had given Kudoh earlier.
'I don't think I was playing…'
Note: Soooo sorry it took so long! I'm over loaded with school and AUGH! It's annoying. I finished this chapter at 11:54pm, so I hope you like it. I didn't take the time to read back through it so… epps. Maybe I will. XD