After returning from school and slumping on the bed, all I want is to drown in something that can make me forget the day. With a single thought, my stereo turns on and the music washes over me. I close my eyes and relax a bit, listening to the sounds of my rock music. I love it. I think I love this rock music because I scream along with it in my mind. It feels good to scream or to hear someone screaming for you, like this singer. Feels like freedom, or something just as close – an outlet to the pressure building up inside you.

The strong bass sound runs through me and drum on the back my head, turning my brain into jelly. I sigh, but before I can feel fully relaxed, Crawford bursts into the room. I know it would be futile to yell at him to knock before walking into a room; he never listens to me. "Pack up." He orders me with a chill in his eyes and voice. "We're leaving."

"Where to?"

"Germany."

With that said, he's gone, slamming the door shut behind him. He hasn't said it out loud, but I already know it. Leaving to Germany means we're going to SZ's headquarters, which means – we're meeting the elders of the organization and the other teams. For some reason, Crawford and Schuldig hate going there. I can understand Crawford; the elders hurt him mentally when he does something that isn't quite to their liking. However, Schuldig – I can't understand him. He was born in Germany, grew up there perfectly fine, was taught of his powers in SZ's special institute from an early age; so why the hate?

I shrug. Like I care...

So I pack up some cloths, Discman, some CDs with my favorite music and other stuff. I'm about to close the bag when I recall your picture under my pillow. I want to take you along with me, so I can fill lonely nights there with your presence. It calms me and warms me, and I want to take your picture with me, but then I decide not to. You can never know if Schuldig or Farf might decide to search my bag for something and come across your picture. That will lead to some nasty scenes and I don't want anything bad to happen to you....

Time to leave.

They all stand by the door, waiting for me. Like I'm the center of it all, they watch me closely as I walk out the door with my bag and get into the car. While driving to the airport, Crawford keeps looking at Schuldig through the mirror. They must be talking through telepathy about me, because every few minutes, Schuldig looks at me with a strange expression on his face; when he notices I'm glaring at him, he just sighs and looks back at Crawford.

---

The flight was long and boring as always. I was half sleeping in my chair; Crawford was reading his papers and getting calls from the people awaiting us. Schuldig was asleep too, but he seemed very restless in his sleep; and Farf, well, he was locked away in another part of our plane, so he wouldn't dirty it with his blood.

"Mr. Crawford!" A voice brings me back to the present. A tall man in white uniform, rushes towards us, to welcome us all. He shakes Crawford's hand in haste. "It has been quite a while. Please follow me."

The tall man smiles at me and leads us to the main hall where all the guests are gathered. "They have been waiting for you, Schwarz, for quite a while. They're eager for the results to come in." He says, not looking at us. From the corner of my eye, I can see Schuldig looking away, angrily. I think it's impossible, really, that the elders of SZ 'are eager for the results to come in'. They can easily foretell all of them if they want to, they are powerful pre-cogs. Why can't they just look into the future –aka use their precious pre-cognitive powers - and see the results?

Because things don't work this way. There are things that should be checked manually and can't be foretold. Schu's voice drums in my head.

Schuldig has that serious look on his face that I rarely see. He looks kind of nervous. I wonder why.

I look back into the palace-looking guest room. It's full of people and wine glasses, and noise of conversations and whispers. In the middle of the room was a long sofa surrounded by men and women of the other units of SZ. I try to get a closer look, but suddenly a china doll with blonde curls and crying blue eyes makes her appearance before me.

I instinctively shove it out of my face with my telekinesis and the attention of half of the people in the room is turned to me. The man that has been holding it tightens his grasp on it and glares at me, but not before his expression changes again. "You know, it's not nice to treat my precious doll like that..." He says with a childish voice and pouts. How disgusting it looks. The man must be over 27 , and pouting like a kid is really unfitting and quite disturbing to sight. "She might hurt you back..." He then whispers evilly into my ear, although he's still standing right in front of me, about a foot and a half away. Telepath...

He looks at Schuldig with half-mast eyes. From what it seems to me, they're talking through their telepathy because Schuldig sure gets pissed off. The puppet guy glances at me and then at Crawford quickly and seems to say something pretty nasty, getting the reply out loud – "Lay a finger on him and I'll kill you."

I blink. Did Schuldig just show a shred of protection over me?

The redhead looks down at me with cold eyes and walks off to wherever Crawford has gone to. With Farfarello still by my side, we walk off to seat ourselves at one of the free chairs. I've been thinking about maybe asking him why our telepath is acting so strange, but for some reason, I don't think I'll get an answer from him. Looking the way he looks now, stabbing the chair he has just sat on, I don't think I'll get a coherent answer that won't involve hurting god.

Time passes by slowly. It feels like going up endless stairs, it goes on forever and the more you go up, the more tired you get and the more you know how boring it will continue to be. Farf already gave his chair a new shape and decoration. A funny picture comes up in my mind – a picture of Farf as a furniture designer. That would be interesting to see for real, don't you think, Bombay-kun? After maybe three hours of nothing but noise all around, Crawford gestures for me and Farf to come join him in a session with the elders.

"Ahh! He has grown marvelously." The old woman says, examining my body and my eyes. "How are you doing in Schwarz, Naoe Nagi?"

Always asking the same questions... I hate the elders but I know I shouldn't make any sign of it, I mustn't even think about it while I'm talking to them, because they'd easily read it out of my mind. Even my strongest shields can't block their minds. "Okay." If they ever pick my thoughts of them, how they disgust me and how I would deliberately get rid of them, they'll either erase my mind till I'm nothing but a doll to their use, or that they'll kill me for trying to betray them. On second thought, they won't kill me – my psycho-kinesis is much too precious for them to lose.

She grins a wide grin with cigarette-tainted teeth, and the wrinkles of her face gather by her eyes to hide the greed in them. I want to run. Luckily she turns back to talk to Crawford and Schuldig signs me that it's our time to leave.

We are being lead to our rooms at the place's own hotel. I can't help but feel eyes on me. I try to look over my shoulder, through the corner of my eye, but all I manage to see is a small doll smiling at me. I recall the telepath from earlier, holding it. Disgusting.

"Ignore him." Schuldig tells me as he keeps walking silently by my side. He looks down at me and I can see a sort of pity in his eyes. "Nagi," He starts and I know he's about to say something important by the tone of his voice and the mention of my first name. "Do you know why we are here?" He asks, looking away from me.

I shake my head.

"We came here because the elders wanted to see your abilities and potential. Right now, you are one of the most important possessions of SZ." He sighs and continues. "We should have told you earlier but, tomorrow, you are going to be scanned by the top of SZ's machinery and personnel. They're going to check you for any sign of physical damage to the brain by the powers, and see if you might grow stronger or weaker, or maybe have new type of psycho-kinesis. Also, they're going look into your mind to see if you are any potential danger to the organization. You'll be treated by the best telepaths here; only count me out, I'm not allowed to go through your mind 'cause I'm a part of our group... So you see, this is why the elders have been so interested with you tonight. This is why almost everybody in the hall turned their attention to you when you pushed that friggin' doll out of your face."

I stop walking and stare at him. What on earth did he just say?

Just what you heard.

Masaka...

---

I fall on the bed in my room. I hate every moment here and it's getting worse by the moment. What was he saying? I don't want to be scanned. What if they discover that I hate the elders? I turn over to my side and caress the soft sheets. They feel like a lover's skin. My eyes then widen – What if they'd find out about my feelings for you, Bombay? I can't hide them. Even if I decide to lock you in my heart, they can still reach you, because the heart I keep you in is a part of my mind. It isn't the heart that resides under the rib-cage. What if I'll lose you...?

I shake my head. I mustn't think like that. I have telepathic abilities, so I should be able to lock away that part of my memory. I won't lose you.

I can feel my hand fisting in the sheets, collecting as much as possible into it, holding onto the velvety feeling of skin. I miss you. I want to reach under my pillow to take out your picture, but it's not there; No, it's me who is not there.

Don't worry, my beloved Bombay, I'll keep you with me.

I sigh. It's amazing how my feelings for you have grown. And the pain of it grows stronger every day, knowing that with all my love for you, you still don't know of my existence. So innocent... So unaware... And yet I still feel connected to you. And yet... I still feel for you such great love.

Love?...

I undress and change to my pajamas. I wish I could have been with you now, instead of being stuck here. I wish I could be home right now, and touch your picture again, feel the warmth and kindness pour from it to embrace me. However, going back there means I'd also have to go to school again and then go guard that idiot - Takatori.

I caress the sheets again. Hug me, Bombay; the bed seems much too big and way too cold without the presence of your blue eyes and rose-buds smile.

----

The new morning has come too early. All too soon, I am out of bed, dressed with my usual cloths and heading with Schuldig and a professor to the place where I'll be 'scanned'. I've managed to put a barrier on my memories of you. It might not be that strong, but it is the best I can do. Cross your fingers for me, I say and imagine you standing at the corner of one of the corridors, smiling that reassuring smile of yours and raising your hand to show me you have already done that.

Thank you.

We enter a room in the size of a whole flat back in the Schwarz Penthouse. There is a small pool in the middle of the room with an arch above it. I suppose it is the CT scanner as it is full of machinery stuck on it, but I wonder why the pool under it. On the wall in the front of the room, there is a huge mirror that seems to me like a one sided mirror. Behind it, I can tell, are people that are responsible for the tests – doctors, telepaths...

The professor that has led us here tells Schu to leave to the other room, the one behind the mirror. He gives me a weak smirk of 'good luck' and leaves. The professor now turns to me and smiles. I glare, I have a hunch I won't like one bit of what he's about to say.

"Naoe-san, please, take all your cloths off, and stand by the CT scanner." He says calmly and motions at the arch-thing.

I glare.

"It is necessary for the test, Naoe-san. The serums in the plasma must reach every point in your body."

As much as I hate him for making me do that, I believe him. His tone of speaking sounds truthful enough. I guess it is just me hating people who tell me to undress, brings back painful memories of a dark past.

I resentfully undress myself, and try to hide myself as much as possible with my hands. Standing by the scanning system, I look down into the pool. Beyond the gooey liquid in it, I can see that the bottom of the little pool is round, like the bottom of an egg. It's made of glass and beyond it there is another arch of machinery. The other arch must be a continuation of the arch that is beside me.

"Let's see..." the professor comes to stand in front me, "Put this on and tell me if it's tight." He gives me a gas-mask. I check it and it's okay. He makes few more check on it and then motions me with his hand to sit on the edge of the pool.

"The serums in the plasma here are to ease your muscles to a point you won't be able to move. It's so you won't harm the device. The gas you will breathe will put you to sleep and you'll wake up about an hour after we will finish the test. All right?"

I nod. By his signal, I slip myself into the yucky liquid. The gooey feeling of it heaves on me and I panic slightly when I can't feel my legs, can't control them. However I relax as I remember what the man has just said and drown whole into oblivion. I can't move, can't feel a thing, can't hear a thing... I'm just floating in a pool of gooey stuff. Soon, my eyes feel heavy and my vision blurs. This... this is the end ....

"Starting systems... and CT check starts now. Please, stay out of the boy's mind until the red sign is off." The man in front of control panel murmured, clicking and switching buttons. Schu glared at his back. He might be just over-protective of the prodigy, but he also knew how terrible it feels to be in there while other people, people you don't even know, poke in your mind, see everything you have gone through until they reach the very depths of your lost soul. It was disgusting.

After one long hour, the red sign turned off and the telepathic-personnel approached. Each closed their eyes and molested another part of Nagi's poor mind. The long silence in the room only made the Schwarz telepath even more on edge. He bit his lip in irritation when one of the telepaths made a long moan. Hmph, of course, the redhead thought, anyone who looks through Nagi's whoring-days gets a little horny. He walked over to a sofa near by. He should just wait till it was over. He was really over-reacting about this.

Another break at the long silence – This time the head of the telepathic-unit opened his eyes and looked up.

"Schuldig, you should keep a sharper eye on this child." The man said.

"Why? He's a good kid, doesn't make any trouble. He doesn't like the elders like most of us, so he can't be a threat. So what's wrong?"

"He's guarding something. He put a block on a small part of his memories. He's keeping something away from us."

"He wouldn't do that. What's he got to protect so much? We know every little thing that happens to him."

The other man was silent for a moment, gazing straight at the object of their test. "We're going to break the block."

"Go ahead." Schuldig said carelessly.

-

Inside the pool in the room across, Nagi's eyes made a jumpy movement.

-

The head telepath jumped a bit. "That can't be, he's still protecting it. It's like he's still awake."

"Awake?" the man at the control panel asked with a puzzled expression. "That's impossible. He's been in deep sleep in there for--"

"Increase the amount of sleeping-gas in his air system!"

The man at the control panel quickly tapped over few buttons and moved a few switches higher than they already were.

Then again the head-telepath opened his eyes and looked straight into Schuldig's green eyes.

"What you got?" the redhead asked, a bit less slacked off.

As soon as Schuldig finished his question, the other telepath flashed a series of memories into his mind. Nagi was fantasizing about a certain forbidden blond, the youngest kitten of their enemy team, Weiss. More than that, he was in love with the boy. He was hiding a picture of him in his room. Schuldig could feel all the emotions that were raised in Nagi while watching the small photo. When the flashes stopped, and the redhead was staring at the other man again, he smirked and got up to watch the boy through the glass. "I see..."

"He's your enemy. If this goes any further, he might betray you." The telepath said coldly.

Schuldig was glad the telepath talking to him wasn't allowed to read his mind right now. This little romantic affair kind of interested him. However, he couldn't allow it. It would eventually bring to betrayal, no matter how hard they would try to make him forget that stupid love, or talk him into never leaving their side at the battle. It would have been a nice little play to watch, like a new-age version of 'Romeo & Juliet'.

"What do we do?" the head telepath asked.

Schuldig gazed deeply at him and told him coldly, "Erase."

The other man nodded and closed his eyes again.

-

Inside the pool, Nagi's skinny body started moving on its own. His hands moved franticly around him, then tried to cover his head, as if his unconsciousness was moving him to protect his mind at all costs. His legs started kicking off the plasma, as if to kick away all intruders; but despite all this, his walls had been breached. As a last resort to keep everybody out of that sacred memory, he screamed with all his strength.

Then, all there was, was silence. He was back in his sleeping state.

-

"That boy..." The head telepath slowly opened his tired eyes, looking at the professors' shocked faces. "That boy isn't real... he's not human... "

Nobody said a word. All agreed wordlessly, still trying to figure out how the boy managed to move and scream while being put to sleep by so many drugs. As the telepath said – it was inhuman.

Nagi woke up with a slight pain in his head. It was almost evening and he could hardly remember what happened after he had arrived at the weird room. However, he couldn't care less. He was after the damn test and was glad it was over. Now he could go back to the boredom of his room in the Schwarz Penthouse in Japan, and to the one thing that kept him going through the annoying job and bitchy school – his computer.

He didn't even care about the results of the test. It didn't matter to him whether he was going to live or die, whether he was growing a new sort of power or whatever. He didn't care about that. Nobody (except SZ's elders, of course) cared. No one would ever care.

He shrugged and turned to his side, to continue sleeping. If only that pain in his head could leave him alone. Why was it hurting there, anyway?

-----

TBC

Yoo-Hoo!! I hope it came out good as I think it is. I wrote this chapter twice so if you see some mix up in the words or some paragraphs that don't make much sense – now you know why it's there. Anyway – review me and tell me what you think. It's very important to me, and the more reviews I get – the faster the next chap will be posted. Thank you.