Author's Note: To Whisper Reilman, LOL! I'm SO glad you caught onto that! Hopefully this chapter makes up for that, I didn't have much time to elaborate on that chapter. I share this computer with about five other people, so I have a two hour limit per chapter every day. I still try my best to make everything top quality, however.

I think I'm developing a tiny-TINY fanclub for my writings. That's so encouraging! I appreciate each and every one of you readers SO MUCH. I wish there was more ways I could express this effectively.

Thank you for your reviews everyone! I was sooo worried that this story was a terrible one. Those reviews really reassure me. All right, moving on!

Disclaimer & Warnings: Everything was listed in the first two chapters.

Pairing: RanOmi and a developing ShuKen, but pay attention to these pairings from now on because it's going to get a bit more confusing from here on out.

Fic Note: Same reminder as last chapter. Check the fic note there if you're not certain what I'm talking about. Looks like this fic is going to go on a little while longer! Hope people enjoy this!

Oh yeah, found about two spelling errors in the first three chapters that were bugging the life out of me, so I'll be sure to replace those chapters with the minor adjustments included soon. Hah, I'm sooo weird sometimes. I'm sure all my readers have forgiven my small errors already but...I refuse to forgive my own errors! Hahaha! Ahem, anyway, onward we go!

Versuch

By the time he woke up it was a while into the afternoon. Ken looked at the clock with a tired eye. It was 2:45pm. He had fifteen minutes until he had promised to meet the German telepath, but he wasn't feeling very up to it. In fact, he had no idea why he had even agreed to it in the first place. It was truly a ridiculous proposition. He had just been confused the night before. Yoji used to always mock him for poor judgement, but this current situation was making Ken start to agree with the playboy's statement. How stupid could he have been to agree to showing up to a random meeting with his enemy at his favorite soccer field? And to do what exactly, Ken wasn't even sure of either.

So at 3pm sharp, Ken had decided. He was going to remain asleep in his comfortable bed, and sulk by himself about everything currently going on in his life. He was planning to sulk about the fact that Ran was happy with Omi, he had left Weiss, and not being able to find his soccer ball last night, when he felt a presence in the room. He peeked out of his covers and looked around, but strangely there was no one there. He felt himself get a chill down his spine and buried himself under his blankets.

That was when he heard the amused laughter loud and clear in his head. Ken cringed as the smooth German's voice snaked it's way into his mind. "Tch. So kitty decided to camp out here, hm?"

Ken growled. "Get out of my head, Schuldich!"

The German only laughed. "Make me."

Ken grumbled and attempted to push Schuldich out, but he didn't even know where to begin. He groaned out of exasperation. "How did you even find me, anyway? No one is supposed to know I'm here..." Ken tagged the last part on as an afterthought.

Schuldich snorted. "Schwarz has many ways of finding people. Finding your house is nothing compared to the bases we have to find. Besides, how stupid can a Weiss kitten be? You used your real name for this house."

Ken groaned again. He should've known better. The German continued, "Now, do tell me why you decided not to follow our agreement?"

"Because I changed my mind," Ken snapped.

The German clucked his tongue. "I'm afraid changing minds isn't an option. And I'm afraid you still have the same mind, pet," the German laughed at his own lame joke.

Ken rolled his eyes. "Well, you can't make me come with you, so I'm staying right here."

"Hm...as I said before, I don't believe that was an option."

"Well, you can't make me come out! What do you want with me, anyway?"

"Why Siberian!" Schuldich said in a mock-hurt tone, "Today was supposed to be our first date!"

Ken sighed. "Yeah, as if I'd believe that coming from the enemy."

"Correction. I am no longer your enemy because you have left Weiss."

"Whatever. Makes no difference to me."

"You really aren't going to come."

"That's what I said."

"Hm...I didn't want to be this unconventional but..."

"Hey! Don't you dare try to break down my door!"

"Oh no, Ken. I wasn't thinking of that," Schuldich chuckled, "Though now that you gave me the idea..."

Ken cursed inwardly. "But I won't. I have something better in mind."

Ken opened his eyes slightly underneath his covers. He didn't like the sound of that. Suddenly, everything went quiet. Ken curled up into a tighter ball. "Schuldich...? Schuldich...?"

Out of nowhere, it was like someone struck a million bullets into Ken's head. Suddenly he was hearing all the thoughts of the people in the whole apartment complex. It was killing his head. He was hearing babies cry, men watching football, women talking about what they should wear for that night, and so on and so forth.

"Stop!" Ken screamed.

"Hn...will kitty open the door for me?"

"No! But make it stop!"

"Hm...I'm afraid I can't help you there then, kitty."

"No! Okay! I'll come, I'll come! Just make it stop, you psycho German!"

Schuldich chuckled. "As you wish, kitten."

When the sounds subsided, Ken blinked a few times to clear his vision. Then he realized he was leaning on something, or rather, someone. He looked up slowly to see a smirking Schuldich. "So nice of you to let me come in, during all of that confusion."

Ken growled. Not only had Schuldich given him the worst headache ever, he also had forced Ken to somehow open the door for him in the process. Schuldich looked down at the younger boy, amused. "So. Shall we go then?"

"Whatever..."

Schuldich smirked. "Great. First we'll get you to wear something decent. Then we'll get something to eat. Then, we'll do whatever you want for a while."

Ken barely nodded before Schuldich dragged Ken outside the room, locking the door behind them.

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Ran and Omi had been very quiet. Yoji was on a silent rampage. Even the girls didn't dare go near the playboy at the flower shop today. It was apparent Yoji wasn't in a good mood since their latest mission the night before. Ran had gotten a nasty gash on the back of his shoulder, something that wouldn't have happened if Ken had probably been there to block the enemy blow from behind and probably get scratched himself before killing the enemy.

Omi had recieved several bruises on his stomach, which Ken could probably have prevented while Omi took the fatal shots against the enemy. As for Yoji? Yoji's own weapon had been used against him, and it had taken almost too long for Ran to have figured that out and sliced Yoji free a little too late, causing him to pass out on the ground.

In general, the mission had been a success, but the three Weiss members didn't realize how necessary Ken had been to their missions until last night. Ran and Omi were still under slight shock, but Yoji was taking the situation a completely different way. He was even more bitter at Ken's leaving than he had been last night. Now he was ready to kill Ken, or the next Ken look-alike that came through the door.

A few hours into the late afternoon, the store was mostly deserted because the girls all had to go to their homes. Ran and Omi had been fixing up the storefront together, Ran was spraying the hose towards Omi's direction, and Omi was giggling, trying to block the all the water and failing. Yoji had been watering the plants inside the store when they all saw him. They could barely recognize him because he seemed to radiate. Ken was across the street, with some other man that was too far away for them to tell, and he looked-happy.

Ran's hand fell with the hose, and let the water flow to the dry pavement, causing it to turn a dark shade of brown. Omi was frozen in his hand-block position, following Ran's gaze, letting his jaw drop slightly as he saw Ken. Yoji had dropped the now empty watercan to the ground without realizing it, his hands firmly at his sides. He was angry. Angry that Ken had dared come around this corner of the city again, and angry that he appeared happy. How dare Ken be happy, Yoji thought, when Ken had killed so many? He made no move, however, to interrupt Ken's happiness. For some reason, Yoji wanted to do something to Ken, but he couldn't seem to force himself to move. Still, the other man Ken was with struck something strange in Yoji. He was sure he knew the other person Ken was with, but he couldn't tell for sure.

Ran felt a twinge of jealousy as he watched Ken go around the corner. He recognized Ken's smile. The same smile he had fallen in love with, and the same smile that had told him that it was all over, that Ken was onto his game, and that Ran should just go be with Omi to be happy. He grabbed Omi's arm firmly when the younger boy tried to chase after Ken. Ran shook his head when Omi looked at him with big round eyes.

"Aya...can't we go after him, please?"

Ran sighed. "Omi...we can't. He is no longer Weiss. That is the path that Ken chose. We have nothing to do with him...anymore."

"But Aya...!"

"Persia...Persia said to leave him alone. Just let him go...Omi..." and as if to make his statement final, Ran put an arm around Omi's shoulder and pushed him inside the shop.

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Ken had been very reluctant and skeptical about this "date" at first, but things weren't going so badly now. After fighting with Schuldich for the first couple hours of their time together, Schuldich had proved not to be such a bad person. From what Ken could tell, anyway. They had gone through a couple fancy outfits in the stores that Ken didn't approve of, and eventually after annoying Schuldich to death, they settled on a simple outfit for Ken that didn't scream of sports.

It was mostly a neutral unisex outfit, that seemed to bring out Ken's inner child. He had settled for a white turtleneck shirt and blue jean-colored overalls. Schuldich didn't approve at first, but bought the outfit anyway. The style seemed to grow on him as the day went by, however. Schuldich had planned for the day to go by with a ton of fighting, and humiliating Ken to no end. Yet somehow, here they were, strolling through the busy city streets with Schuldich barely listening to what Ken was saying, and Ken happily eating his ice cream.

Ken tugged on Schuldich's sleeve. That annoyed Schuldich. Somehow, he had gotten from being Ken's worst enemy to Ken's best friend in the whole world. "Schu!"

Schuldich groaned inwardly. The boy was even calling him nicknames now. "What!" he snapped.

Ken only smiled at him. "Let's go watch a movie before the theater closes, okay?"

Schuldich wanted to badly to slap his forehead, and slap Ken on the back of the head. He had tried to be nice to Ken only to hurt Ken later. So far, he was failing in his smooth transition. "No. I don't think so."

Ken laughed. "C'mon, Schu, please...?"

The brunette seemed to be enjoying his time with Schuldich. This was not what the psychic had planned. It was starting to annoy him very much. He tried annoying Ken again, but Ken seemed to be less and less irritated by Schuldich's attempts. The game was losing its fun.

That was when Schuldich suggested walking Ken home. When he saw Ken blush, he was confused. He decided to ignore Ken's reaction and start walking back towards Ken's apartment, grumbling inwardly all the while, miserable that his plan had backfired.

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Ken had never felt so relaxed in the longest time. It was ironic, how his worst enemy was the one to comfort him the most during his time of turmoil. The arguments that they had gotten in that day had released a lot of Ken's stress. They had argued over everything from clothing choice to what type of restaraunt they would go to, to what Ken and Schuldich were going to do when it was Ken's turn to decide the activity.

Over time, Ken realized the German was softening up for him. He began to forget why he was even with the German, and why he had not wanted to come out with the older man in the first place, but then he realized that he no longer cared. All he knew was he hadn't felt this happy since his break with Ran, and he felt that nothing-not even Schuldich's attempts to douse his day, would succeed in bringing him down now. He was just too happy.

He barely noticed when the passed by the Weiss flower shop, but out of the corner of his eye he saw Ran and Omi having their fun, and he fell silent. His mood was still chipper, but he felt a twinge of hurt as he passed by the place. Schuldich didn't hesitate to take this opportunity.

"Well, that was great," Schuldich started sarcastically, "But I honestly think it's time to send the little ex-Weiss kitten home now."

Ken's eyes grew round with disappointment as he looked up at Schuldich. He didn't want to go home, not yet, and maybe not ever. He had been enjoying the German psychic's company, surprisingly enough, very much. "Do we have to go now?"

Schuldich snorted. "What's with this we business? You don't expect me to take you home, do you?"

Ken looked away at that point. Of course Schuldich wasn't going to take him home. Schuldich probably still considered him an enemy. Shuldich surprised him, however. "All right, all right. I'll walk you home. Let's go."

Ken had looked up at Schuldich then, with probably the biggest blush on his face. He tried to hide it, but he was sure Schuldich had seen it. The German had the decency not to mock him for it, however, Ken mentally noted. The way back to Ken's house had been very quiet.

When they reached the door, Schuldich immediately turned to leave. Ken quickly grabbed for Schuldich's sleeve, missed, and ended up grabbing the psychic's hand instead. Ken's cold hand was warmed by Schuldich's. He felt the German freeze. Ken squeezed the German's hand slightly. "Will we be able to do this tomorrow...?"

Schuldich didn't respond at first, but then he burst out into laughter. Ken was confused and was about to let go of Schuldich's hand and run into his house, fearing a mistake when Schuldich turned swiftly and pinned Ken to the wall. Schuldich was now leaning unbearably close. Ken felt his face flush more. Schuldich's voice snaked its way into Ken's mind. "So...kitten liked our little playdate?"

Ken blushed harder and tried to look away, but there was something striking in the German's gaze, causing him to be transfixed by it. He nodded slowly. Schuldich closed his eyes and chuckled. "Well, at least one of us had some kind of fun."

Ken's eyes widened slightly. Schuldich didn't enjoy one bit of their time together? Then what was with all of the kindness and the smiling? Schuldich caught Ken's thoughts and laughed even more. "All part of the game plan, pet."

Ken didn't understand, and part of him didn't even care to understand, but Schuldich continued anyway. "You see, kitten...today meant nothing to me. Absolutely nothing. For you, it may have been the best time of your life. For me, it was pure torture, but now is my chance to have a little fun."

Schuldich bent down and kissed Ken on the mouth, and Ken let Schuldich in, small hope still burning within him. Schuldich pulled away and bent to Ken's ear and spoke normally. "Now...I bet you want me to tell you how much I've suddenly fallen in love with you, and that we should see each other again and be together forever, right?"

Ken bit his lower lip, hoping that this was the case. Schuldich chuckled and pushed away from Ken. "You've got to be kidding me, kitten. No one would want to be with someone as boring as you, and I mean no one."

Ken's eyes widened slightly. He should've seen this coming. The lies that Schuldich had spouted yesterday had been so obvious, yet he had still slightly fallen for it, hoping that Schuldich had been singing strains of truth when he claimed that he wouldn't hurt Ken like Ran had. Schuldich laughed as Ken found himself slumping slowly down to the ground. "Sorry to disappoint you, kitten. You didn't do anything to make me fall in love or anything."

Ken watched with a blank stare as Schuldich walked away. He didn't remember when it was or how he did it, but after a couple of hours he finally managed to go inside his apartment and flopped onto his bed, staring at the ceiling. A new anger was stirring within him. He couldn't believe that in such a short time he had managed to let his guard most of the way down just because someone was offering him soothing happiness. He realized how quickly that happiness could be taken away from him. Yoji had been right after all. Somehow, no matter if any of them left Weiss or not, they would forever be bound to the bad side of Lady Luck. They just weren't allowed perfect happiness. All Ken wanted was a special someone to call his own, but this was the third time he was crushed of that hope. First Kase, then Ran, and now his own enemy, Schuldich. The German's name made him feel sicker than ever. Ken closed his eyes and a picture of his bugnuks hanging in the air with blood dripping off them came into view. Schuldich's blood. He would have Schuldich pay for playing with him like this. There was only two things that made Ken genuinely angry. If someone messed with his soccer things, or if someone messed with his heart.

This anger had been building up in Ken a while now. The blows toward his heart were too painful. This was the last straw. Ken got up slowly, and fished out his old Weiss outfit out from his closet, the only thing of Weiss he had taken back to his home with him. He took his motorcycle helmet and got ready to get out of the house.

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Schuldich smiled to himself. He had been so worried that he wouldn't have had a chance to have his fun with the ex-Weiss member, but he had finally managed to chuck that last emotional blow in. Though as he was heading towards the Schwarz base, the joy in his stride seemed to fade. He was having second thoughts about his actions. He was remembering the smile that Ken had been flashing him all day and compared it to Ken's final reaction and suddenly found himself subtly preferring the former expression off the brunette. Schuldich frowned as he found his car and hopped in, speeding off towards the base and letting his thoughts bother him the whole way there, making him wonder what it all meant.

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Persia and Manx had just finished briefing the three members of Weiss of their next mission. Manx had left the building through the backway in the basement. Ran was silently looking over the file, half-smiling as he felt Omi's chin rest on his shoulder. He put a hand behind the chibi's neck and rubbed it absentmindedly while trying to concentrate on the file. Yoji was stretching, getting ready for a late night date before their next mission, which was to be implemented the next night.

Ran lost his focus when he heard footsteps from above. How someone managed to get into the flower shop, he could only guess. Omi and Yoji heard the steps as they got closer to the stairs, and soon all three of them were on their guard, in their attack-ready stances. Omi held his breath and took a step back as a shadow suddenly sprinted down the stairs and was hunched over. All of them were prepared to attack as the shadowed figure before them was breathing hard.

Yoji was the first to find his voice. "Who are you?"

The figure was hunched over in a familiar way that none of them could quite place just yet. Suddenly they heard a familiar laugh, a laugh they used to hear constantly during their fights. It wasn't a happy laugh, more of a sarcastically amused kind. The figure slowly lifted its head, two brown orbs expressing something indescribable, looking almost lethal through brown bangs.

Ran dropped his weapon, and Omi gasped. "Ken-kun...?" he whispered.

Yoji lowered his weapon but glared at Ken. "What are you doing back here? I thought you were happy to leave," he sneered, but he was a bit happy that Ken had come back.

Ken half-smiled. "Where is my weapon?"

No one moved. Everyone just stared at Ken silently. Ken advanced slowly, his advances a bit lopsided and shaky, as if he was going to explode with anger or perhaps something else. "Where...is...my...weapon?"

Omi was the first to knock into his senses and gave a shaky smile. "Um...why would you need it, Ken-kun...?"

Ken stopped where he was, and bent over slightly, his body shaking with amused laughter. Why he was amused, no one could tell. He looked up and gave a sideways glance to Omi. "Well, isn't it obvious? I've tried quitting Weiss, and realized that is impossible. Yoji...was right, of course," he gave Yoji a bitter glance as he said the last bit before returning his gaze to Omi, "So I've come back. I have a new reason to be here."

Yoji raised an eyebrow. Ran gripped his blade, in case Ken decided to do something rash. There was something wrong with this Ken. "So what is your reason then?" Yoji asked.

Ken looked at Yoji and laughed, "The same reason as all of yours. Eliminate Schwarz. I'm gettings so sick of those bastards."

They all regarded Ken silently for a moment, wondering what brought this sudden hate of Schwarz into Ken. Yoji's eyes snapped wide a bit in sudden realization. The man from earlier that he thought he knew must have been someone from Schwarz. Perhaps the sadistic German? Or maybe the soft-spoken Nagi. It was hard to tell. Yoji was willing to bet on the German, though. Crawford was too serious to get involved with the enemy on such a friendly basis, and Farfarello was just too crazy to look or appear normal beside anyone in public. Nagi probably wouldn't have a reason to look for Ken either. Only the German would be crazy enough to play with Ken during his time of vulnerability. Something must have happened, therefore, between the German and the soccer-player, Yoji decided. If Ken didn't seem so serious, Yoji probably would have laughed. It was as if he was seeing one of his dates dramas unfold before him. The girl who gets played by everyone. Except Ken wasn't a girl. And Ken wasn't one of Yoji's dates either.

Yoji moved slowly to a backroom and came back out a few minutes later and tossed the bugnuks at Ken's feet. Ken looked at his weapon, and then looked up at Yoji with an unreadable expression. Yoji smirked. "Well? There's your weapon. So now what?"

Ran and Omi both looked between the playboy and the soccer player. Ken leaned forward and slipped on his bugnuks with ease, as if he had never left the assassin group in the first place. He looked up and half-smiled again. "So. What's our next mission?"

Ken had chosen. He was Weiss, and it would always be that way. Nothing could change that fact anymore.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Saiki.Kensuke.Yuuta: Man, that was a looong chapter, wasn't it guys? Next chapter's going to be a new twist in this developing SchuKen, and I'm going to try to put in a little more RanOmi. I tried to put in a lot this chapter, and I guess my muse was just not feeling it today.

Reviews would be greatly appreciated as usual! Hopefully I'll get the next chapter up later tonight!