Title: The War of the Roses
Author: Zanna
Disclaimer warnings: see chapter 1
A/N: I'm so sorry it took me so long to update! I hope you will forgive me! I wish I could say it wasn't my fault, but I fear I was a little bit lazy. -) Anyway, I hope it won't take as long for the next chapter (and the next chapter isn't as long as this one, so I think I will be able to finish it sooner) and I hope you still remember me! Oh, and many, many thanks to all who reviewed!
Chapter 5
Ran lay awake for a long time, held the sleeping Schuldig in his arms and was thinking. What had just happened? He had slept with Schuldig. With Schuldig! Whom he had regarded as his enemy only a short time ago! Whom he really had gotten to know only two days ago! The short meetings at the missions didn't really count as 'getting to know'. How could that only have happened? It was very unlikely for him to behave like that. And he also couldn't put all the blame at Schuldig. Even if Schuldig was a person that took nothing serious and apparently was only living for the moment it had been Ran's own decision. He had untied Schuldig.
And Schuldig hadn't had to be asked twice. But Ran couldn't really blame him for that. He hadn't held back too. And he actually didn't regret anything, it had been the most incredible night of his life! But – what if it hadn't been like that for Schuldig? If it had been normal for him? If it hadn't been something special? If it hadn't meant anything?
Why did he want that this night meant something to Schuldig? Completely lost in thoughts Ran caressed Schuldig's long hair. Why was it so important? Ran sighed. Because that night meant something to him. Because he wasn't the kind of person that would sleep with someone they didn't care for. And that meant he could fall in love with Schuldig. Maybe he even already had. And if the night hadn't meant to Schuldig as much as it had for Ran then it would only lead to on thing. To Ran's broken heart. And he didn't want to risk that.
And therefore he would take the facts as they were. It had been an one-time affair, an one-night-stand, a marvellous, breathtaking, passionate and mind-boggling one-night-stand though, but nothing more. And it wouldn't be repeated. He simply wouldn't invest too much emotions into it. Right! Nothing simpler than that! With that thought Ran finally fell asleep too.
-
When Ran woke up again he still held Schuldig in his arms. It was already bright outside and a glance at his watch told him that it was already after eight o'clock. Slowly he loosened himself from Schuldig, anxious not to wake him up. As much as he had wanted to. Although Ran let his gaze wander over Schuldig enjoying. As tantalising the idea was to let his hands roam over this magnificent body and to explore, to caress and to seduce it! His mouth would follow the path of his hands, and then he would… Ran tore himself forcefully out of this thoughts. He had decided to go about it unemotionally! And that was exactly what he would do now! Right! And therefore he would begin with taking a shower and then getting clothed.
But instead to move Ran still stared dreamily at Schuldig's outstretched form. Why did he have to look so gorgeous? It would have been much more easier to go about it unemotionally if Schuldig would look like the Hunchback of Notre Dame!
'Don't be ridiculous, Ran, as if you really wanted that!' he laughed at himself. What had he been doing again when Schu had distracted him so sneakily? Oh yes, clothes. Where did he keep them again? Ran forced himself to avert his eyes. Wardrobe. Right. He kept his clothes inside the wardrobe normally. What was only logical. Or else that thing wouldn't be called wardrobe.
'Just what rubbish am I thinking right now?' Ran asked himself appalled.
Determined not to get distracted again he went to the wardrobe, fetched some clean clothes and disappeared into the shower. When he was finished he shortly hesitated at the door to his room. Should he wake up Schuldig and ask him what he would like for breakfast? Maybe he should make his famous miso-soup?
'Damn, get a grip on yourself! It was only a short, insignificant affair, nothing else, you don't need to spoil him!' he angrily reminded himself. He would go downstairs now and make breakfast – whatever was handy! – and if Schuldig got hungry he would appear, no question! Resolutely Ran trudged down the stairs. It would be really laughable if he couldn't get it under control! Hah!
Breakfast was finally ready but still no sound came from upstairs. Just how long Schuldig wanted to keep on sleeping? Slowly Ran went upstairs into his room again. Schuldig was still lying there, just as he had left him.
'I should wake him up,' Ran thought. After all, they had a great deal to do today. But how should he wake him? Should he go and shake him? No, better no physical contact. That could be dangerous.
"Schuldig!" Ran called therefore. "Wake up!"
Schuldig didn't move and only mumbled unintelligible in his sleep.
"Wake up! Hey, Schuldig!" Still no reaction from Schuldig. Ran would have to resort to more rigorous methods.
Now he would have to go over there after all and… Suddenly Ran had an idea. But no, he couldn't do it! That would be mean! And cruel! And Schuldig would probably kill him afterwards! But who cared, the fun would be worth it! With a wicked little smile Ran went into the bathroom to fetch a wet sponge.
Schuldig was dreaming. It was a really wonderful dream. After all, his kitten was playing a not so unimportant part in it, which dream wouldn't be fantastically given that? He was just caressing and touching Ran everywhere. And his kitten smiled at him and opened his mouth to say something seductive. Schuldig was sure of it.
"Schuldig! Wake up!"
Huh? That didn't sound very seductive. And just where was the affectionate 'Schu' from last night? Even in his dreams his kitten showed it's claws! Schuldig mumbled. He would have to double his efforts to make Ran purr again!
"Wake up! Hey, Schuldig!"
Wake up? But Schuldig didn't want to wake up. On the other hand, if his kitten even resisted him in his dreams he could as well wake up. While he was discussing semi-somnolent with himself the decision was already taken away from him. Namely by something cold and wet that hit him straight into his face.
"WAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" Schuldig jumped up and stood upright on the bed. His gaze fell on Ran, who was standing in front of the bed and was calculating holding a wet sponge in his hand.
"Well, awake at last?" Ran asked with a broad grin.
Stunned Schuldig fell down on the bed again. How could his kitten do something that cruel to him? And why was Ran awake anyway? And clothed? Shouldn't he rightfully have been lying soft and warm beside Schuldig and be roused by him? And much more enjoyably than it just now happened!
"Why?" Schuldig asked weakly.
"It's almost nine o'clock and we have a lot to do today, so up and out of the bed with you!" came the cheerful answer.
Nine o'clock? Schuldig peered at the clock on the bedside table to make sure. Indeed. That despicable sadist roused him in the middle of the night.
"Go away," he growled and buried his face deeper into the pillow. He simply would sleep a little longer.
"If you don't get up at once you're going to meet the sponge again!" Something like anticipation resonated in Ran's voice. Just how could he be so darned cheerful in the middle of the night?
"I never get up at an one-digit time of day," Schuldig clarified grumpily with still in the pillow buried head.
"Come on Schu, don't act like that! You said you wanted to help me, and if that was the truth then get up right now. We have to finish some matters before we could break into FlowerPower."
Schu! Ran had called him 'Schu' again! The thought cheered him up a little bit after all so that he actually considered to get up now.
"Coffee," Schuldig turned his head hopefully to look at Ran.
Ran smiled at him and said, "If you want coffee you have to get up."
Very well. Then he would just get up. Sighing he raised from the pillows and got off the bed. After he had mastered that difficult task he turned to Ran to beg for coffee again. But Ran seemed to be somehow distracted. Schuldig frowned. Why was Ran staring at him like that? He looked down at himself. Oh yeah. He was naked. Schuldig grinned. Judging from Ran's glassy look he liked what he saw! Provocative Schuldig crossed his arms and waited what his kitten would do now.
But Ran only blushed – 'Interesting,' Schuldig mused, 'Did he always imagine me naked when he blushed during the last days?' – and said, "Wardrobe."
Ran's stammering tore Schuldig out of his interesting thoughts. "What?" he asked completely surprised.
"Wardrobe," Ran repeated and gestured into the direction of said wardrobe. "Clothes. Inside the wardrobe are clothes. They're always there. The clothes. Uh… well, I mean, choose something and put it on."
With these incoherent words Ran fled the room. Schuldig frowned. Of course the clothes were inside the wardrobe. Did Ran think he was too stupid to know that?
Quietly muttering Schuldig turned to the wardrobe and opened it. Hah! He would be able to wear clothes of his kitten after all! Cheerfully he rummaged through Ran's wardrobe till he found something he liked.
After a short shower he got dressed, followed the smell of coffee into the kitchen and grabbed a cup of the rescuing brew. "You're lucky that you have coffee," he mumbled at Ran over the edge of his cup. "There are only two things that can perk me up at this time of day."
After a short hesitation Ran asked curiously, "And what's the other thing?"
Schuldig grinned. He had hoped that Ran would ask! "Well," he drawled and let his gaze roam savouring over Ran, "We're definitely both overdressed for that one."
But contrary to Schuldig's expectations Ran didn't blush this time but only looked at him motionless and said, "Stop that nonsense, Schu. Finish eating already."
Damn! And Schuldig had already thought he had finally grasped how that figure-out-what-others-think-without-reading-their-thoughts-thingie worked! He had really thought that Ran would react to that innuendo! But after all, he was still calling him Schu!
Cheerfully Schuldig shovelled everything edible that Ran gave him into his mouth. When he finally had had enough he leaned back and looked expectantly at the Japanese. "Well, what's your plan? How do you want to get back what those killer-flowers stole from you yesterday?" Schuldig frowned. "Just what exactly did they steal?"
Ran cleared his throat. "A rose," he said quietly.
Schuldig widened his eyes. "A rose? You mean, those three guys broke into your house, demolished everything, shot around rampantly, almost killed me, and all of this only to steal a rose? What prices do you have in your flower shop? Does one have to raise a mortgage if he wants to buy a bouquet of flowers?"
Ran cast him an angry look. "That wasn't a simple rose. It was a completely new breed that I have been growing painfully. It's unique on earth and it was the only specimen I had. The extraordinary of that rose is that it's iridescence. The colour changes depending on perspective and incidence of light. And whoever will come out with it first is going to earn a lot of money!"
Schuldig's corner of the mouth started to twitch and only with great effort he could restrain a snicker. "Could it be that Weiß takes it's disguise a little bit too far?"
"There's a life outside the missions!" Ran snapped angrily. "That rose is really important to me, I invested a lot of time and energy into it! It's my project, my baby and nobody steals it from me and gets away with it! You don't want to help me, fine, then I'm going to do it on my own! I should have known that you wasn't serious when you offered me to help!"
"Yes, I was serious. I really want to help you." Schuldig went to Ran, laid both arms around his waist and pulled him close. "After all, I really can't allow that some perfect strange killer-flowers steal something that's important for my Kätzchen," he murmured with his chin on Ran's shoulder.
But instead of leaning against Schuldig too, Ran stiffened and hastily freed himself of the embrace. "Alright," he said, "then we need the outline of the FlowerPower head office." With those words he disappeared into the back of the house.
Schuldig stayed back thoughtfully and a little sad. So that was how things looked like. Ran didn't want to be touched by him again. Hadn't the last night meant anything to his kitten? This thought really depressed Schuldig. Because although he normally wasn't averse to an one-night-stand, the affair with Ran was – different. It had been special. At least for Schuldig. He had never ever experienced anything similar. His whole world had changed yesterday.
But apparently not for Ran. Schuldig swallowed. He really would like to sit down on the floor and cry. Just what wasn't alright with him? Why didn't Ran like him? Had he perhaps not… Schuldig gasped horror-stricken. Had he perhaps not been good enough in bed? Could it really be like that? Did his kitten think him to be – boring? For sure it was because he couldn't read thoughts any more! But… maybe if Ran gave him another chance then he could prove that he was really good! Then he could make his kitten purr and then Ran would call out 'Schuuuu', just like last night!
Wait a sec. Ran hadn't seemed to be bored in the least last night. Far from it. And Schuldig couldn't believe that his kitten had only been pretending. Besides – Ran had been calling him 'Schu' during the whole morning. Not one single time he had simply called him 'Schwarz' again. That had to mean something, hadn't it? Could it be that Ran wasn't that indifferent to him as he pretended to be? Oh damn, why couldn't he read any thoughts any more? Then he would have found out long ago what his kitten felt for him!
Alright, how could he find out otherwise? Schuldig paced between fridge and cooking stove and pondered. He would have to provoke Ran. Right. So that he would show a reaction sometime. But just how should he provoke him? Schuldig sighed and followed Ran into the lab.
Ran sat at the computer in his lab and searched the internet for the floor plans of the FlowerPower head office. But somehow he couldn't really concentrate. And although he was looking at the monitor he didn't see what it showed. There could have been just as well a page for Teletubbie fan fiction, Ran wouldn't even notice. Over and over he heard how Schu had called him 'Kätzchen' in the kitchen just now. In that soft, caressing tone. Just like yesterday night. What did that mean? Did it mean anything at all? Or did Schuldig act like that with all of his lovers?
Ran didn't like that thought at all. He wanted that Schu would act only with him like that! That he was special for Schu! The intensity of this wish startled Ran. 'Don't think about it,' he advised himself silently, 'just don't think about it!'
That moment Schuldig walked into the laboratory and Ran quickly concentrated on the computer again. The floor plans. Right. He entered the needed URL and started the hacking program that Omi had written and that should give him access to the main server of FlowerPower. But it was a miracle that he succeeded in starting the program at all, because Ran wasn't really focused on his task. Again and again he looked from the corner of his eyes at Schuldig, who was strolling through the lab and lifting objects here and there to look closer at them. Ran sighed.
Schuldig turned his head and looked at him. Quickly Ran aimed his eyes again at the monitor. Did Schu notice anything? What was he doing now? Ran would have liked to check it, but what if Schu was still looking at him? And caught Ran watching him? So Ran kept on staring straight ahead on the monitor.
Suddenly Schuldig bent over Ran's right shoulder and looked at the monitor too. His left arm lay on the backrest of the chair, his right arm was rested on the armrest. It was almost like the embrace in the kitchen a short moment ago.
"Do you make any progress?" Schuldig's voice asked directly next to Ran's ear. Ran turned his head a little to the right. Schu was so close to him! If he turned his head just a little more he could capture Schu's earlobe with his lips and nibble at it and…
Ran closed his eyes to shut out the sight of Schu and therefore the temptation. But it was no use, he could still smell it, Schu's unique scent he could still remember so well from last night, and he could feel him at his shoulder where Schu was touching him slightly. Oh my, if he didn't turn his thoughts in another direction quite fast he would attack Schu any minute and take him on one of the tables. Or on the floor. Or…
'Different thoughts, different thoughts, think of something else!' Ran called himself to order. He opened his eyes again and cleared his throat. "How did it happen?" he asked to finally distract himself.
"How did what happen?" Schuldig sat down next to the computer on the table and dangled his legs.
"Well, that you can't read any thoughts any more. Something must have caused it, that kind of ability can't simply disappear like that. Or can it?" Ran looked searching at him.
Schuldig's face darkened. "No idea," he answered, "as it never happened to me before I don't know if one could simply lose that kind of power. All I know is that it simply didn't work all of a sudden. While flirting I wanted search the thoughts of the guy a little bit, just as always, but I couldn't. And it hadn't worked with anyone else since then. You can believe me, that was the worst day of my life. But I should have known as shitty as the whole day had started!"
"Why, what happened?" Ran asked again.
"Well, Brad sent me on this idiotic mission. I had to steal a disk. I! A stupid disk! From one of those multi-storey warehouses down at the harbour. And the building wasn't even especially well guarded! So why did Brad send me of all people? Am I perhaps his personal waiting-boy? This stupid mission was really unchallenging for my capabilities! Why couldn't Nagi take this mission? He could have simply flown the disk into his hands without even entering the building at all!
But no, Mr. I-had-a-vision-and-it's-ultra-important-that-I-get-this-disk insisted that I take the mission! So I climbed this stupid storefront, almost fell down and ruined my favourite shirt! And then a box of flour fell on my head from a shelf in that stupid office where the disk was kept! Just who is storing flour an places like that? The whole room was dusted, I almost suffocated in that flour-cloud and almost coughed my lung out. And as if it wasn't enough I had a ghastly headache afterwards for hours. But apparently it wasn't enough, no I also had to lose my telepathic abilities! Someone up there really hates me!" Schuldig looked accusingly towards the sky.
Ran frowned. Something at the story had perplexed him. There was something… "Which warehouse was it exactly?" he asked Schuldig.
"The high one which is painted with flowers from top to bottom. Why do you ask?"
Slowly Ran got a suspicion but he had to be sure therefore he kept on asking, "And the white stuff that you inhaled. Are you sure that it was flour?" He looked at Schuldig serious and concentrated.
"Of course. What else should it have been? It looked like flour and it floated in the air just like flour. It smelled a little bit funny, but maybe it was already spoilt or something like that. Why do you ask?" Schuldig repeated his question slightly alarmed.
Ran thought intensely. "I never would have thought that it could be real…" he murmured.
Schuldig's face looked slightly panicked. "What? What was that stuff? Was it toxic? Am I going to die? Say something, Ran!"
"The warehouse you broke into belongs to FlowerPower," Ran explained. "And we attended the meeting of the association of the floristic trade recently Gänseblümchen had been drinking a little bit too much. He had started to babble absurd things. No one had taken him serious, but he had made a lot of noise and shouted loudly around. That soon he wouldn't have to deal with all those idiots of the association any more, that he would usurp world dominancy and that Warzenkaktus was on the verge of finishing the drug." (1)
"Drug? What drug? Do you mean that I inhaled some kind of drug? Oh god, am I addicted now… – did you just say 'Warzenkaktus'?" Despite his earlier horror Schuldig didn't seem to be able to suppress a grin.
Ran grinned back. "He is one of the top-level scientists of FlowerPower. As much as I know he is absolutely ingenious and in addition definitely crazy. The drug that he is said to have designed turns supposedly all who inhale it into will-less marionettes. That way Gänseblümchen wants to down and control the people."
"But I don't feel like a will-less marionette," Schuldig protested.
Ran looked at him thoughtfully. "Yes, I wonder myself. There are two possible explanations: firstly, the drug doesn't work like it should, or, secondly, as you're not normal it's working differently on you."
"Hey wait a sec! What do you mean, I'm not normal?" Schuldig glared at him outraged.
Ran grinned at him. "I didn't mean it as insult. But you're a telepath, you can read thoughts and that means your brain is definitely working differently as the brain of a normal person."
Schuldig still looked suspiciously at him, as if he wanted to be sure that Ran really wasn't making fun of him. "You mean, I was a telepath. I could read thoughts. That's over now. Now I'm not the slightest bit different than the 'normal' people." That thought seemed to depress Schuldig each time anew.
"Exactly," Ran answered, "you could read thoughts. Till the incident with the 'flour'. Don't you see? You're inhaling a strange substance and suddenly you're not able to read any thoughts any more! There has to be a connection!"
Schuldig looked at him unbelieving. "Do you want to say that this stuff is responsible that I lost my telepathic abilities?"
Ran nodded. "Yes, I think so. You also said that you had a terrible headache afterwards. That could have been an indication of the drug that was changing something inside your head."
Schuldig swallowed. "Inside my head?" he squeaked horror-stricken and twisted his eyes as if he wanted to look inside his head to check if everything was still alright.
"Well, of course I don't know exactly how that drug works and how it affects the brain but I think you don't need to worry. You feel just like always, don't you? I mean, except of your telepathy."
Schuldig looked at him and nodded slowly. "And how can I make it undone?" he asked Ran.
Ran looked at him commiserative. "I don't know if you can make it undone, Schu. I would need to know how that drug works, and to find out about that I would need the formula. And even then the damage could be permanent... – The formula! That's it, Schu!" Ran called excited. Schuldig looked at him questioningly.
"If we break into FlowerPower to get back the rose we can take as well the formula for that marionette drug! And then I could try to make an antidote so that you can get back your ability!"
Schuldig's expression had brightened more and more at Ran's words and now his face beamed happy. "You can do that? And you would really do it for me?" he asked breathless.
Completely overwhelmed of Schuldig's overjoyed smile Ran could only nod. With a crow Schuldig jumped up, pulled the completely surprised Ran out of his chair and whirled him around laughing for some times. Ran couldn't resist for too long and joined in Schuldig's laughter.
Completely breathless they finally stopped but were both too dizzy to let go of each other. Ran looked into Schu's radiant face and got slowly serious again. How did he do it? How could Schu only break through Ran's entire barriers that simple? He had decided to not let Schu get near him again. But now he was embracing him again. And still, what was more important, he had offered to help Schu! And as much as his mind told him that Schwarz would be distinctly weakened without Schuldig's psychic power and he shouldn't help Schuldig, as little he listened to it.
Because Ran had noticed how deep it really had hurt Schuldig to lose his telepathy. He had seen how depressed Schuldig had been because of that, and how helpless he seemed to feel. And Ran simply couldn't bear it. He wanted to do everything to see Schuldig happy again, and if that meant that he had to steal the formula from Gänseblümchen and help Schwarz to get back the advantage of a telepath, then he would do it.
He smiled insecurely at the German, who had gotten serious meanwhile too and looked silently at Ran. Schuldig raised his hand and slowly caressed Ran's cheek with the back of his index finger.
"I think you really like me, Kätzchen," Schuldig whispered smiling.
Schu's face was very close suddenly and Ran could feel his warm breath. Completely lost in Schuldig's gaze from which he couldn't get free Ran bent slightly forward. Only a few centimetres and then he would finally feel Schuldig's lips on his own, something that Ran had been secretly wishing for the whole day.
Suddenly the blip sounded which announced the success of the former started program and tore Ran abruptly out of his droop. Hastily he freed himself from Schuldig's embrace and hurried to the computer. How could he have let himself go like that? He almost had kissed Schuldig! But it really was bloody difficult to keep his hands off him! Certainly Schuldig was doing it on purpose! Why did he have to be so... so... so... Oh, didn't matter, he was doing it on purpose, period! And with that Ran jumped at the preparations for the break-in at FlowerPower.
Schuldig leaned comfortably back into the passenger seat of Ran's Porsche. Why didn't anyone at Schwarz have a car like that? Yeah, there was Brad's Mercedes, but really, a Mercedes was a car for old people! But Ran's Porsche – well that car let speed up the beat of men's hearts! Just how the motor purred! And the acceleration! Too bad that Ran didn't want to let him drive. Schuldig sighed deeply and cast the next to him sitting Weiß a sidelong glance.
After they had finally gotten access to the main server of FlowerPower Ran had printed out the ground plans of their head office and afterwards he had searched through the data to find out where his rose and the formula for the marionette drug would be kept most likely. They had narrowed down on two possible places: the office of Gänseblümchen and the lab where Warzenkaktus worked. God, just who had thought up that name? 'Probably the same one who's responsible for Gänseblümchen and Co too,' Schuldig thought sarcastically.
And so they had left in the evening to break into FlowerPower. Ran carried as usual his Katana and Schuldig got a gun. He hadn't even known that Weiß owned any guns at all, but you live and learn. What a luck, he really wouldn't have wanted to strike out completely unarmed to get back Ran's baby and to steal the formula.
Schuldig's heart warmed at that thought. Ran wanted to help him! Only because of the suspicion that the drug was responsible for the loss of Schuldig's power Ran wanted to make a detour during their break-in to search for the formula! Schuldig didn't really know much about relationships but somehow he had the feeling that it was a good sign that his kitten wanted to do anything like that for him. Because why should he go to so much troubles for someone he didn't care for.
The thought that Ran wasn't that indifferent to him as he pretended had cheered up Schuldig much more than the idea to get back his power. And that had frightened him a little bit. After all, he had been mainly useful to Schwarz because of his telepathy, and he loved his live as Schwarz! He wanted it back! He wanted to take on missions, wanted to feel the excitement, the adrenaline! The same exaltation he felt just now too! Indeed, it wasn't a mission for Schwarz but after all he was on the way to seriously kick some ass!
And the best was that he was on the way together with his kitten. For once they would work side by side instead to fight each other like normally, and Schuldig liked it. He liked it very much. It almost let him forget that he went into this fight handicapped – never ever before he had had to fight without reading the thoughts of his opponents. But no one of Weiß had any special powers and they somehow managed it too – even if Schwarz had made it easy for them of course.
The Porsche stopped and Ran said, "We're here. We walk from here on."
They both got out and ran silently the few blocks to the head office of FlowerPower. They circled the building to get to the entrance of the underground parking. Arrived there Ran started to deactivate the alarm device. That reminded Schuldig of something.
"Why don't you have an alarm device at your HQ?" he asked quietly.
Ran looked up quickly and whispered back, "We have an alarm device."
"But it didn't go off, neither when I entered nor when the three killer-florets visited." Schuldig watched Ran skilfully find the right wires and short-circuit them.
"Primrose, Marigold and Dandelion are pros. They interrupted the alarm before they entered. I looked at it yesterday, there's nothing to do about it. No chance, I have to get a new one," Ran said. "Finished. We can go inside," he pointed at the rolling gate of the underground parking. Silently Ran and Schuldig pushed the shutter up.
"And why didn't the alarm go off when I broke into your house?" Schuldig really wanted to know it.
To make sure that nobody who accidentally would cross their way could recognise them they wore masks that only let free their eyes and mouths. Then the ran quickly towards the elevators and avoided skilfully the viewing area of the security cameras that were spread all throughout the parking.
Ran mumbled something indistinctly as answer to Schuldig's question and Schuldig stopped short. Had he really heard "cleaning windows" right now? Did Ran want to say that he had turned off the alarm device to clean the windows? He was still grinning when they reached the elevators and Ran cast him an angry glare. He had really heard right after all.
Quietly giggling he helped Ran to open the elevator doors. Then he looked up the long elevator shaft.
"Can you tell me again why we have to climb up there instead of comfortably taking the elevator?" he asked Ran groaning.
"Because they surely notice if the elevators moves, and we can't take the stairs as well because they are video monitored. I already told you that," Ran reminded him, tied his sword round his hips and grabbed the steps of the ladder that led up the elevator shaft. "And don't forget, should the elevator suddenly move, press close to the wall. There's enough room for the elevator to pass us by without touching us." With these words Ran started to climb up and shortly after he vanished into the darkness.
"Well, at least I can admire the view on my way up," Schuldig consoled himself and followed him.
Floor after floor they get by and Schuldig had lost the survey long ago. Why did Gänseblümchen have to have his office just on the 30th floor? Couldn't he usurp the world domination on the ground floor just as well? Why did those megalomaniac lunatics always have to sit on the top?
'Maybe I should write a book about it,' Schuldig mused, 'With the title 'Why would-be world conqueror love high buildings and what they want to compensate with them'. That's surely going to be a best-seller.'
"How far is it?" he asked.
Ran looked down to him and answered, "Only two floors."
Well, alright, Schuldig could manage two more floors. Some minutes later they were there and Ran stopped climbing.
"Come up here and secure me," he called down to Schuldig, "I need both hands to open the door."
Uhu, that promised to get interesting! Schuldig didn't needed to be asked twice and climbed up. One of his arms he lay around Ran's waist, the other he wound around one of the steps of the ladder. Ran bent forward and Schuldig hissed. Did his kitten do it on purpose? This position, Ran's ass that pressed provokingly against his groin, it really turned Schuldig on. And if it lasted just a little longer then Ran would feel it really clearly! But only seconds later the elevator doors opened and Schuldig sighed disappointed. He would have liked to hold his kitten a little longer like that, only to see what would happen. But Ran already climbed out of the shaft into the corridor and Schuldig didn't hesitate and followed him.
Silently they sneaked down the corridor towards Gänseblümchen's office, also anxious to stay out of the viewing area of the security cameras. The door to the office was opened quickly and immediately they both started to search for the hidden safe.
It was Schuldig, who finally found it behind a picture. "For someone who's aiming for world domination Gänseblümchen didn't choose a very witty hiding place," he whispered to Ran, who only shrugged as answer and started to crack the Safe.
But the safe was empty. Well, not really empty, there were a lot of papers, contracts and the like, but no compact disks or diskettes on which the formula could be saved.
"Damn!" Ran cursed suppressed.
"What do we do now?" Schuldig asked quietly.
Ran sighed. "We'll go down to the lab and hope that there's a safe too."
Silently they closed the safe again and saw to it that they left the office as untouched as possible so that no one could find out that they had been there.
Then they darted back to the elevator shaft and started to climb down to the floor where the lab was. The lock on the lab door was much more difficult to crack than the one on Gänseblümchen's office, but finally Ran succeeded and they slipped in.
"If I were a Warzenkaktus, where would I hide a rose?" Schuldig mused.
Ran cast him a look. "Maybe you should better think where you would hide the formula for the marionette-drug."
Schuldig shrugged. "Maybe we're lucky and find both inside the safe."
"You can't keep a flower inside a safe!" Ran's voice sounded almost horror-stricken. "It needs light, air and water or it dies!"
"Alright, then I'll search for a place with light, air and water and you can search for the safe." Schuldig started immediately with the search, he went by the benches and kept his eyes open for everything that even remotely resembled a rose. But he found nowhere even the smallest green leaf, no flowerpot, nothing. There were no plants in this lab.
Schuldig put his arms in his waist and turned around thoughtfully. Where could the rose only be? His look fell on a steel door in the back part of the lab. Maybe there. Determined he went to the door that wasn't only a door but a part of some kind of airlock – and that moreover was looked. And it looked as if they needed a security code to open it. Crap. Schuldig looked through the little window of the door into the sparsely lit room. He couldn't see very much, there was a computer terminal, some cupboards and some tools. And then he saw it. There, on one of the tables, stood Ran's rose. And although the room was only semi dark Schuldig could see that Ran hadn't exaggerated. The rose was really special. Even with that sparse light he could see it iridescent and changing colours.
"Ran," Schuldig called quietly, "come here!" But Ran didn't answer. Schuldig turned around but couldn't see him anywhere. "Ran!" he called again, louder this time.
"What's up?" Ran's head appeared behind one of the bench.
Schuldig breathed a sigh of relief. "I found the rose," he called to the Weiß.
Ran stood and quickly went to Schuldig.
"It's in there," Schuldig said and pointed at the door. "But the door is looked, we need a code." Schuldig pointed at the key pad of the lock. Ran shortly looked through the window of the door, then he focused on the lock. Then he fetched a little tool out of the pocket of his coat and connected it quickly to the pin pad.
"One of Omi's gimmicks," he said to Schuldig with a little smile. "Always useful."
"Where you lucky with the safe?" Schuldig asked.
Ran shook his head silently. "But I didn't really expect that the safe would be in this easy accessible room," he added, "It's probably inside this room." He pointed with a nod to the steel door that they just tried to open. Finally the tool showed the needed combination, Ran tapped it into the pad and the door opened.
Schuldig ran to the rose and lifted the flowerpot. "See, nothing happened to your baby," he said and turned around to Ran.
But Ran already searched the room for the safe. "You should better help me," he told Schuldig.
Schuldig put the rose down again and helped Ran to search the room. Finally Ran found the safe that was embedded into the floor. Immediately he started to open it and Schuldig knelt beside him and watched Ran.
This safe was just like the door – it was much more difficult to crack than the one in Gänseblümchen's office and so it took a while before Ran could finally open it. He shortly paused and looked at Schuldig. "Cross your fingers," he said and opened the safe. And there the compact disks downright piled up.
"And which one is the right one?" Schuldig asked at a loss.
Ran shrugged. "We simply take each one," he said and pulled a bag out of the pockets of his wide coat.
Schuldig looked at him surprised. "Are you always prepared for everything?"
"Of course," was the matter-of-fact answer.
Schuldig shook his head amused. He should have expected it of his little maniac for housework. Quickly they packed every CD in the bag, that Ran tied up and threw over his shoulder. Schuldig stood, fetched the rose and already wanted to leave the room when Ran grabbed his arm.
"Wait a moment," Ran said and went to the computer terminal. He started the computer and when it was powered up he pushed a disk which he had pulled out of the fathomless pockets of his coat into the drive.
"What's that?" Schuldig asked and came closer.
Ran looked up at him. "One of Omi's favourite computer virus. To make sure that nothing of the formula remains. Besides, the virus is going to spread through the whole system – that will throw back Gänseblümchen's plans to conquer the world a bit," he said with an evil little glitter in his eyes.
Schuldig raised his eyebrow. "Kätzchen," he said appreciating, "you can be really mean. And I like it."
When Ran finished to load the virus he removed the disk and switched off the computer. Then they left the secured room.
But unfortunately the outer lab wasn't empty any more. Schuldig and Ran stopped abruptly. They faced three armed opponents who waited for them with pulled out weapons.
"Well, well, what do we have here?" asked another man who stood in the background.
Ran cursed quietly. "That's Gänseblümchen," he whispered to Schuldig.
So that was him. The famous-notorious Gänseblümchen. Didn't really look that dangerous. Pretty short. Schuldig wasn't really impressed. The three killer-flowers however – because the other three could only be Primrose, Marigold and Dandelion – could rather get more dangerous.
Schuldig drew his gun and pointed it at Primrose – or was that Dandelion? He had no idea, and to say the truth, he didn't really care. Ran had drawn his katana meanwhile too and held it in front of him.
"Let us go and nothing will happen to you," Schuldig shouted to their four opponents.
Gänseblümchen started to laugh. "What do you think with whom you're dealing with, peewee?" he asked coughing.
Peewee? That broken off garden gnome called Schuldig 'peewee'? When Schuldig could spit on his head without having to stretch?
"It looks more like you don't know with whom you're dealing with. We'll have a walk-over with your killer-flowers," Schuldig said as patronising as he only could.
Gänseblümchen didn't seem to be very impressed. "And with whom are we dealing with?" Damn, he sounded much more patronising than Schuldig had managed.
"I'm – uh – Catnip and that's Fleißiges Lieschen beside me. We were send to cut you down," Schuldig said and tried to ignore Ran's angry side-glances. (2)
Gänseblümchen narrowed his eyes. "Enough jokes. Kill them. But be careful that nothing happens to the rose," he ordered his three killers.
Marigold – or was it Primrose? – jumped at Schuldig while the other two turned to Ran. Schuldig fired a shot but he was handicapped by the rose in his other hand and so he only grazed his attacker. Quickly he set the rose down on the floor and also attacked his opponent. Some kicks and hits were exchanged but no one could get the upper hand. Till Schuldig had enough and simply jumped at his attacker and knocked him down the floor. A quick hit and Dandelion – or was it Marigold? Damn, they all looked alike! – was out cold.
Schuldig cast a look at Ran but he was getting along quite well, one of his opponents was already knocked out and the other on would follow soon. Schuldig stood and grabbed the rose. Then he pointed his gun at Gänseblümchen, but he had already slipped away. Crap.
"Hurry, we have to go," Ran called, who meanwhile had finished with the last killer-floret too. He grabbed the bag with the CDs that he had put down during the fight and ran to the elevator.
"Damn, how did they detect us?" Schuldig followed him close by.
"No idea," Ran shouted back over his shoulder, "Maybe we set off some hidden alarm in the office or the lab."
They stopped in front of the elevator shaft. Schuldig looked down thinking. "Climbing would take too long," he said, "I think we can take the stairs as well, after all we don't have to worry about discovery any more." He ran a little farther, tore open the door to the staircase and ran down as fast as he could. Ran followed him hot on his trail.
Arriving downstairs they ran through the underground parking outside. They didn't worry about the security cameras too, speed was the only thing that counted right now. When they finally reached Ran's Porsche they stopped and propped gasping at the car.
Ran was the first who recovered his breath again. He removed his mask and cast Schuldig an angry glare. "Fleißiges Lieschen?" he asked furiously.
Schuldig grinned excusatory. "Was the only thing that crossed my mind quickly. And I could hardly give him our real names!"
The return proceeded in silence. Ran didn't react to any of Schuldig's attempts to start a conversation. And besides, Ran was driving way too slow to Schuldig's liking. He needed speed right now! He needed action! He was still completely psyched and couldn't sit still. This was the real life! This intoxication, this exaltation that he always felt when he successfully accomplished a mission! Others could say what they wanted but adrenaline was the best of all drugs.
Arrived at the flower shop Schuldig pondered what he could do now. He was way to exhilarated to sit down somewhere and maybe look through some boring disks right now. Maybe he could persuade Ran to hang out with him, at a bar or a disco or…
He just turned around to Ran to suggest it when Ran jumped at him, twined his arms around Schuldig's neck and his legs around Schuldig's hips, pressed his lips on Schuldig's and kissed him deep and passionately.
Schuldig staggered some steps back, found his balance again and closed his arms around Ran. 'Alright,' he thought and returned the kiss, 'that would have been my next suggestion.'
(1) Warzenkaktus: uh, didn't know how to translate this – literally translated it would be 'wart-cactus'
(2) Fleißiges Lieschen: didn't find a translation for that flower – literally translated it means 'hard-working Lieschen' (Lieschen is the affectionate form of a female forename)