Note: Ok, I will attempt to get this chapter out a bit sooner than that last one, but no guarantees. But, I would never consider dropping this fic, I love it too much.
Shout outs! Because I love reviews! XD
Rebound – Again, I will never drop this fic. Procrastinate like a mofo, yes, but drop it, no. XD Booya, I have achieved my goal of making you all feel sorry for Brad. And let's see… okay, let's throw in more OxN. XD
Myka – As I juggle tomatoes… Remember that story you haven't finished called, what was it? Zelos? Just teasing. Glad you're still reading my crappy writing. :)
Tigermink – I'm glad you enjoy the story too. Yeah, all the serious to funny to serious again is kind of a reflection of me. My moods change a LOT, and often rather rapidly. So I'll be writing this and then I'll get pissed and ANGSTANGSTANGST and then I'll be happy FLUFFLULFFLUF so… yeah. And yes, it's still going to be a Schu Yohji fic. Or… well… I hope. LOL.
Babymar-mar – Glad to hear you like it as well. And I am continually writing this. Really, I am. XD
Chapter 10: Unfocused
Yohji watched as Crawford explained to Nagi that he was running to town for a few supplies. The teen was more than happy to hand over the grocery list to his leader, who took the list without complaint. Of course, virtually everyone was looking for an excuse to get out of the house. They couldn't go on like this much longer, that was for sure.
List in hand, Crawford quickly headed out the door. Yohji checked to make sure Clandestine was playing happily in her play pen before heading down the hallway. He had a few questions he wanted to ask Schuldich before Crawford got back.
Noticing Yohji's course of direction, Nagi quickly ran past him, throwing his arms out to his sides to cut Yohji off. Yohji paused, and then took a step towards Nagi, who quickly gave the elder assassin a faint telekinetic shove back.
"I won't let you!" Nagi snapped indignantly. "You won't break Schwarz apart! I won't allow you to do so!"
"I just wanted to ask him a few questions-"
"No!" Giving another shove, Nagi held his grounds. "I won't let you tear Schuldich and Crawford apart, I just won't!"
"I'm disappointed in you Naggles." Nagi quickly spun around to face Schuldich, who was leaning against the door frame. "You're usually not this… emotional."
"I won't let you tear Schwarz apart either Schuldich!"
"Don't you get it Nagi?" Schuldich's eyes narrowed, matching the younger boy's. "There is no more Schwarz." Schuldich's voice was a flat as the words sunk into Nagi's head. "There is no more Weiss, there is no more Schwarz. Someone out there wants us all dead, and they're going to do anything they can to make sure we die. We're all one team now. We're like…" Schuldich paused, searching for a word to make sense to the Japanese boy before finally settling with "Grau."
"So you're just giving up on us, is that it?" Nagi's voice was full of venom as he glared at Schuldich. "Crawford really cares about you Schuldich, but you're throwing away the friendship you two made over the past years for… for… him!" Nagi quickly pointed at Yohji, who simply stood in shock at the argument.
"What the hell would you know about it anyway, Nagi?" Schuldich stalked down the hallway, stopping a few inches away from Nagi. "You don't understand what Crawford and I actually went through!"
"But what you went through, you're just throwing it away for-" Nagi's argument was cut short by the sudden slap across the face that Schuldich delivered to him. Nagi stayed frozen in shock for a moment before turning to Schuldich slowly.
"You don't understand, Nagi." The pain in Schuldich's voice was thick enough to almost taste, but Nagi just shook his head.
"You're willing to turn your back on your own team for… him… aren't you Schuldich?" Nagi watched Schuldich carefully, most of the anger draining from his voice.
"Get the hell out of my sight Nagi." Schuldich turned to stare at the wall as Nagi shook his head. As Nagi made his way back down the hall past Yohji, he looked up just in time to catch the other's eyes and muttered a mere 'I hate you so much right now' before stalking through the living room and storming down the stairs. For a while Yohji just stood frozen in the hallway, not sure of what to do. Schuldich pushed himself off the wall and turned to Yohji. "You wanted to talk to me?"
"Um. Yeah." Yohji's mind drew a blank. Suddenly he couldn't remember what he wanted to talk about, and he quickly realized for the first time that Schuldich was only wearing pants. Obviously he had left his shirt in the bedroom.
"God, your mind is so… sporadic." Schuldich shook his head and started towards the bedroom. "Come on you, let's have our chat and get it over with."
Without really giving it much thought, Yohji merely nodded and followed Schuldich.
"So what's on your mind? Well, I know what's on your mind, but what did you want to talk to me about anyway?" Schuldich rummaged through his drawer for a clean shirt to throw on as Yohji sat down on the edge of the bed.
"Well," Yohji's mind just wasn't focusing. He didn't really want to have this conversation in the bedroom, and definitely not after that argument.
Schuldich finally found a shirt he liked and pulled on. Finding that Yohji wasn't going to continue, he let out a sigh. "Look you," settling himself next to Yohji, Schuldich smirked, "I'm not going to eat you. Now out with it. Nagi's just a tad emotional lately, and I think you can blame your little Bombay for that."
"Omi? What does he have to do with Nagi's sudden… outburst?" Yohji looked truly confused, and maybe he was. But Schuldich couldn't help the laugh that escaped his mouth.
"Seriously, have you not noticed? Those two have been attached at the hip ever since they met up. Please tell me you've noticed they're constantly pulling the excuse of 'working on the case' to get more alone time." Schuldich winked, and Yohji suddenly blushed. He wasn't sure why, but it was something about the bluntness of it all.
"You mean… them… they're…" Yohji struggled for words as he mentally cursed himself. Damn, he wished he could think straight.
"Involved? In love? In a relationship? All of the above?" Schuldich rattled it off like it was no big deal, and really, it wasn't. "Yes sir they are. And who can blame them? Personally they're really cute, and happy, together, so let them be."
"I guess I just never put much thought into it." Yohji replied after a moment, and the two fell into a deep silence. After a moment Yohji turned to Schuldich with a determined look on his face. "You know Schuldich," he swallowed quickly as he fought for words. "I wasn't- I wasn't playing."
Slowly Schuldich turned to face Yohji, an almost sad smile on his face. Without his hair in the way, Schuldich just couldn't hide anymore. "I know you weren't."
"You know I have more to say, don't you?" As Schuldich nodded, Yohji fought with himself on how to continue. "The truth is," Yohji turned to stare at the wall as he found his words, "I don't want to be your scrape goat each time you and Crawford get in a dispute. I don't want you to run to me to make him jealous and stop neglecting you. If you do this again, I want you to mean it!" Yohji turned to stare angrily at Schuldich, but Schuldich quickly snaked his hand around behind Yohji's head and through his hair, bringing their faces unbearably close.
"What if," Schuldich's breath was warm against Yohji's face, "I told you I meant it? That I meant everything I had done, that I wanted you, right here, right now? What would you do?"
For several long seconds Yohji just stared at the green eyes so unwavering, so steadfast. After what seemed like forever, Yohji breathed a faint "fuck" before closing the distance between the two.
The kiss was overwhelming, but Schuldich was ready for it. He quickly tightened the grip he had on Yohji's hair, forcing the kiss deeper. Yohji didn't fight it as he grasped for a place to set his hands, finally resting them awkwardly on Schuldich's waist. With his free hand, Schuldich pushed lightly on Yohji's shoulder, willing him to lay back. Yohji eased onto his back, allowing Schuldich to pull his hand out of Yohji's hair as he turned with Yohji and ended up straddling the other assassin as planned. In the back of their minds both knew that they would have to break the kiss for a breath, but it seemed as if neither of them was willing to relinquish this feeling.
Finally Yohji turned away from Schuldich as he gasped for breath. He turned his head to the side, inevitably exposing his neck, to which Schuldich quickly paid homage to. Staring at the wall, Yohji struggled to keep his mind focused. His vision blurred at the feeling of Schuldich's breath against his ear, and somewhere in the back of his mind something clicked.
"We shouldn't-" Yohji fought to clear his mind, but his body was reacting to everything Schuldich did, every touch, every breath, every shift of their bodies that caused any friction between them, everything caused his body to react whether he wanted it to or not. Finally, despite Schuldich's mouth latched to his ear and his hands roaming under Yohji's shirt, Yohji finally managed out a weak, "we shouldn't be doing this".
"And why would that be?" Schuldich breathed the question against Yohji's cheek, causing a chill to run down Yohji's spine. Nonetheless, Schuldich halted his hands' exploration and waited for Yohji to respond.
"Because you don't mean it." Yohji turned to face the ceiling, only to be met by Schuldich's face resting a few centimeters above his own.
"What part of this don't I mean?" For a moment Schuldich's eyes almost looked hurt, but the look was gone before Yohji could be certain.
"Schu… I'm not Crawford, I'm not someone you can just fuck and walk away from. I need some… I don't know; substance!" Yohji blushed after saying it, realizing just how wrong the sentence had come out. The smirk on Schuldich's face proved he wasn't just going to pass this opportunity up.
"Substance?" Schuldich leaned closer to Yohji so that their lips were all but touching and Schuldich was basically doing a push up to keep himself hovering above him. "You want substance?"
"That's not what I meant. At least I didn't mean it like that." Yohji pressed himself back into the bed, trying to make even a slight bit of room between the two.
"Are you trying to tell me you aren't into casual fucking?" Schuldich pulled back a bit, a slightly astonished look on his face.
"Well I am, but usually with a female. And usually not with someone I referred to as my enemy just a few weeks ago." Yohji held his breath as Schuldich thought it over, then watched as Schuldich quickly rolled off of him to lie on the bed next to him. Yohji would have protested, except he would have contradicted everything he had just said.
"Ja, ich weiss. (Yeah, I know.)" Schuldich glared at the ceiling before turning his head to look at Yohji. "Brad's coming home, and he's in a hurry, so something must be wrong. Hurry up and compose yourself, then get to the living room." With that said Schuldich pulled himself up off the bed and stalked off to the living room, leaving Yohji in a disheveled state of mind.
After a few moments Yohji sat up, carefully straightening his shirt and hair, and then followed into the living room. Omi was sitting on the couch, and Nagi sat on the floor next to him, his head propped up against Omi's leg. Aya was sitting on the other couch, Ken by his side but not too close. Farfarello stood patiently leaning against the wall, watching Clandestine playing in her play pen. Schuldich leaned against the opposite wall, his eyes closed and obviously concentrating very deeply. Suddenly, Yohji felt very alone.
Crawford all but burst through the door, and the first words out his mouth were a simple "Nagi get Clandestine out of here." Nagi rose to go about the task, stopping with the child in his hands long enough to ask, "Where do you want me to put her?"
"Explanations are usually helpful." Ken pointed out from the couch, but Crawford ignored him.
"I don't care Nagi; where ever you can keep her quiet, as for the rest of you, just don't panic." It sounded calm enough coming from Crawford, but Schuldich shook his head.
"Fill us in as Nagi hides with the kid Crawford." Schuldich met Crawford's eyes, and for a moment neither said anything. Nagi hurried off with the baby as if it were an everyday occurrence. They were used to Crawford giving them abrupt orders, but usually he took the time to explain. Nagi wasn't out of the room for more than half a minute before there was a knock on the front door.
"There's no time." Crawford turned to answer the door, but with his hand resting on the doorknob he quickly turned back to Yohji. "Kudoh, look after Schuldich for me." With that he opened the door, and time seemed to freeze.
The police officers at the door looked up and quickly handed Crawford a piece of paper. "Bradley Crawford, we have a warrant first for your arrest, and second to search your house."
Note: Bwe! That was fun. XD I'm hoping to be able to put out a chapter a month. I know that seems like a long time to you, but that's really not much time for me. Oi! Enjoy! BTW, I didn't get a chance to proof this chapter, so ignore all spelling and grammar mistakes.