Schuldig looked at the elevator numbers. He frowned and asked Farfarello, "Where is the four?"
The ferret bared its teeth. "You never noticed before? They omit the number four wherever they can. Especially in hospitals and other official buildings."
Schuldig tilted his head. "Why that?"
"Because four sounds like death in Japanese," a low voice answered. The fox turned towards the cat. The feline looked up at the changing numbers and did not seem to notice him stare. Schuldig shook his head.
"You mean, you disregard the natural numerical order because the words sound alike? You have to be kitten me."
The cat did not even blink, but Schuldig heard the faint thoughts that spoke of bloody murder. Murder that involved skinning him alive. Without using a knife. He snickered inwardly. Of course he had noticed that strange habit of eliminating the four before. But he knew how to wear people down and ignoring their culture was one of the most offensive things you could do to those Japanese fools. Like leaving your shoes on when entering their house or crossing the ribbons on a gift packages. He once offered a bowl of rice with the chopsticks poked into it to one of their clients. The reaction had been rather funny. Even more so, because Crawford actually killed the guy a few hours later.
"Ah, come on. You have to change your cattitude. Stay pawsitive!" Schuldig grinned at the cat that still choose to ignore him.
"Would you please refrain from those stupid cat puns?" The greyhound looked down on him with a sour expression. "They are not even funny. You've got paws, too, if you failed to notice."
"Well, I could change to dog jokes instead. Do you know what the Dalmatian said to the masseuse?"
The greyhound did not react. Schuldig stared at him and could hear him think. He was trying really hard to find the solution. Finally he gave up.
"I don't know. What did he say?"
"Oooh yeah, that's the spot."
The 'ding' of the elevator saved the greyhound from answering. The faint smell of disinfectants that had almost disappeared while the were in the elevator came back with full force. Schuldig wrinkled his nose. He did not like the smell. It stirred some not so pleasant memories. He steeled himself and got out of the cabin just before the greyhound could leave him to be the last. His tail hit the dog's nose and got him a growl. They all were a little...keyed up. For different reasons, though.
The cat, Aya, was worried about his sister. The greyhound, Yoji, was worried about Aya...and Schuldig. And his own face. This man/dog really was vain. Farfarello was keen on killing something. That was nothing out of the ordinary, but today Schuldig had to hold him back from doing it. It made the ferret itchy and unpredictable. A state Schuldig usually enjoyed because on most days he liked the outcome of it, but right now he would have preferred a little reassurance. He would never admit it aloud, but the situation had started to get to him as well.
The way here had been full of obstacles. The night had driven most of the animals from the streets, but it had also brought out the hunters. They had had to dodge more than one pack of dogs and literally got into a catfight. At first Schuldig had thought that the two hissing and caterwauling felines were normal cats. Then one of them had uttered actual words and he had had to realize that they were former humans. He had been take aback by the fact that he had not been able to notice that. Afterwards he had searched the area for human thoughts and had had to admit that there were much fewer of them than expected. And their number was still decreasing. It was like watching a dark city. There were lights all over the place that started to go out one after another. At first you did not see a difference, because there were so many of them. But there came the point when you had to admit that it was getting darker and darker. And Schuldig was afraid of the darkness.
"What do you think you're doing?" An unpleasant nagging shook Schuldig out of his contemplation. He looked up and was faced with a voluminous white cat sitting on a round corner counter. Its long fur made it look even bigger while its face looked as if it had run into a wall several times. Large green eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.
"Aya Fujimya. I'm her brother. We are here to visit her."
Schuldig could tell from Aya's thoughts that he had identified the white cat as the head nurse. The white cat gave up a little of her grumpy attitude.
"I see. You come here often, don't you? I'm afraid the hospital is closed right now due to the circumstances."
Aya's tail started to twitch just a little bit. He fought hard to stay in control. "We will just pay her a short visit to see if she is alright."
The cats stared at each other. Schuldig could hear their thoughts running high...and he could hear them change in their favor. Finally, the white cat lowered her head. She licked her front paw a few times.
"Alright, off you go. But don't let yourself be seen by any of the other patients. Since most of the doctors have run off, I can hardly contain them in their rooms."
Aya nodded and headed off towards a room at the end of the corridor. Schuldig quickly caught up with him.
"You know, you and grumpy cat would really make a purrfect match," he tried to get another reaction of the stubborn Weiß, but he was not even granted a glance. So he went for the thing that occupied the cat's thoughts the most.
"How come you and your sister share a name? That's odd, even in Japan, isn't it?"
Yellow-green eyes stared at him. "That's none of your business."
Schuldig smirked. "Curiosity is my middle name. You know what they say about curiosity and cats?"
Aya made a small noise that might have been a growl or something similar. Then he shook his head. "We will now enter my sister's room. I want everyone of you to stay back from her. I will take the sample all by myself."
Schuldig felt Farfarello move next to him and a husky voice whispered right into Schuldig's ear. "I'm excited to see how he will do this without thumbs. I predict there will be blood shed."
Schuldig nodded and followed the cat into the room. It was almost empty apart from a small cupboard, a chair, a bedside table, some beeping medical equipment and, of course, the bed. And on it lay...
"Oh deer," Schuldig said without even thinking about it. Spread out on the white linen was a young doe. The light-brown fur covering a slenderly built body still showed faint white marks. Large ears framed a delicate face despite of the muzzle with the prominent black nose. Her eyes were closed, but Schuldig imagined them to be large and brown and shiny.
Aya hopped onto the bed and sniffed at the doe. Then he rubbed his head against his sister's forehead.
"Everything will be alright, Aya. We just need something from you to cure everyone in Tokyo. You don't need to be afraid."
While the cat brother kept whispering reassuring things to his sister, Yoji stepped up to the bed. He tilted his head and frowned.
"A doe?" he murmured. "But that's not a domestic animal. That a wild one just like..."
He did not finish the sentence, but Schuldig could hear it in his thoughts anyway.
A wild animal just like the gifted members of Schwarz. Now this was interesting.
"Aya, are you alright up there?" Yoji asked and tried to get closer to the bed.
"I said back off," Aya snapped and showed his sharp fangs. "I've got everything under control."
His thoughts told Schuldig otherwise. Of course he could not handle the syringe Dr. Nishimura had given him. I had been a stupid idea all along, but as the doctor had refused to leave the house they would either have to find someone with thumbs or...
"Why don't you wake her up? She will awaken from the pain of the sting anyway. Like that we could bring the whole sister to Dr. Nishimura's lab and not just her blood."
Yellow-green eyes almost pierced Schuldig through. "I cannot wake her up. She's in a coma caused by your former employer Reji Takatori."
"Ah, I see. That's what this whole revenge thing was about." Schuldig put on a fake understanding expression. "I always wondered what made you hate him so much. Apart from putting the blame for all those terrible murders on you and chasing you around like rats in a sewer system." He winked at Aya. "I guess you're even now. I mean, you killed him, didn't you?"
The cat hissed once more and turned round to the doe again. Maybe the sight calmed him down a bit. However, it did not solve the problem at hand. How would the get the blood sample, if they could not handle the needle? There was, of course, the possibility of just opening a vein and somehow catch up the flow, but that comprised the risk of killing her in the process, if they were not able to stop the bleeding in time. Schuldig was sure that another dead sister (or cousin, as it was, but he did not plan to share that information, because he was glad enough that no-one had raised the Ouka issue up to now) would make their collaboration even more challenging if not impossible. And Schuldig really, really wanted to get rid of these ears.
He stepped closer to the bed, ignored Aya's hateful stare and put his front paws on the white linen. He sniffed at the doe, but could not tell if there was anything unusual about her. The fact that she was a wild animal, on the other hand, was quite interesting. Was she gifted as well? With what kind of talent? Had Crawford seen her in one of his visions? Was this the reason Schuldig was here?
Instinctively he reached out with his telepathy and felt something he had not expected. He furrowed his brows. This was, indeed, unusual. It felt like a human mind hidden behind something that resembled a giant chewing gum bubble. He poked at it and it responded with a soft bump back. He sensed something going on behind it, but it was like watching the shadows of shadows. The dark blur of sounds and shapes could be anything. It made him curious.
"I could wake her up," he suggested and got unbelieving stares from the two Weiß. The both resembled owls more than a cat and a dog.
"You...you could do that?" Aya finally said. His thoughts were tumbling about in his mind. Schuldig tried to shut them out a bit and smirked.
"The did not codename me Mastermind for no reason. Your sister's spirit seems to be trapped inside her mind. I can get her back into the real world."
"Why would you do that?" Yoji wanted to know. He still was quite wary about trusting the members of Schwarz.
"Because I'm a nice person", Schuldig answered and rolled his eyes. "You know we could have killed you several times. Even let Takatori do it nice and quickly by telling him who and where you were. But we din't. Despite what you think of us we aren't homicidal maniacs." He spared Farfarello a glance. "At least not all of us."
Aya looked at him as if he was trying to read Schuldig's mind. The wish to see his sister back between the living was burning strong and bright within the white knight, no matter how cool or aloof he wanted to appear. His sister was his Achilles' heel and Schuldig was ready to draw a knife whenever he had the chance to cut right through it. But first of all he wanted to know what was going on in this interesting head of hers and for that he needed Aya to trust him. He could not risk getting attacked while being stuck in the girl's head. And he had a feeling that getting through to her would take a while. Therefore it was essential to, at least, let Aya think Schuldig was on his side.
He peered in Yoji's direction who was watching the scene from a slight distance. Of course this was not about him, but he would keep an eye on everything he thought suspicious and it looked like he thought Schuldig to be the biggest threat. Why could he not take Farfarello more serious? He was the one with the knives and the blade licking! But perhaps those hypocrite Weiß, like most people, only saw the one-eyed man as a weapon unable to make his own decisions. Which was not true. Sure, there were days when he needed a shorter leash, but most of the time he was not that crazy and pretty capable of accomplishing jobs on his own.
Schuldig smirked inwardly. Maybe he could use that prepossession, if he orchestrated things the right way. This was, after all, one of his favorite game. Getting people to do what he wanted by secretly pulling their strings. In another life he would have made a wonderful puppeteer. Lights! Music! Curtain! Here was the marvelous, the great, the one and only Schuldig...
'Hey, Blondie, I need a word with you.' It was essential not to be too friendly, if people thought you the scum of the earth. Double that if they thought you to be smart.
Yoji winced at the unwelcome sound in his head. Schuldig did not know what it felt like to be suddenly intruded by a telepath. He had been hearing all those voices as long as he could remember and was used to talking only in his mind. Nagi had once said it was a strange tingle when the connection was initiated for the first time. Yoji had to feel this right now and, judging from the look on his face, he was not amused at all.
'GET OUT OF MY HEAD!'
Now it was Schuldig's part to wince.
'No need to shout at me' he growled mentally. 'I can hear you pretty well without you stabbing my telepathic ear drums.'
Schuldig shook his head and barely resisted to scratch his ears that were still ringing. Sort of. Because it was not really his ears that were infected by Yoji's fury. It was more like a physical translation of his psychic pain. And now the greyhound was opening his mouth/nuzzle to actually voice his complaint! Schuldig had to prevent that or it would lure Aya on his trail.
'Shut up and listen' he thought again not too friendly. 'I'm trying to help here. We have a problem.'
Yoji tilted his head and still looked distrustful.
Schuldig sighed. 'Ok, the short version. Aya is trying to get his sister's blood. As soon as he spills the first drop, Farfarello is very likely to go berserk. Even I will not be able to hold him back then.'
Yoji gaze wandered in Farfarello's direction. The ferret was watching Aya intently, his little pink tongue licking the sharp edge of his teeth. He really looked bloodthirsty and Schuldig thanked whatever devil was steering Farfarello's mind at the moment. It left the gate wide open for Schuldig to march through.
'You see what I mean?' he asked, leaving some of the conversation to Yoji. It had to look like it was his own idea to convince Aya into letting Schuldig have his way with his precious little sister. Luckily, Yoji did not seem to be the brightest candle on the pie. Which was, on the one hand, good, but unfortunately he also jumped for the wrong conclusion.
'We have to get him away from here', the greyhound confirmed. 'I could carry him outside.'
'Only if you want to save the fee for a tonsillectomy. And the removal of other major parts of your throat.'
Yoji pursed his lips in disgust. Maybe the image Schuldig had sent with that thought had been quite convincing. It was nothing he himself had not seen Farfarello doing, so it was easy to conjure up the most horrible sceneries even for this Weiß who certainly was used to some level of violence and blood shed.
'But what can we do? We need the blood sample from Aya's sister for the antidote.'
'If the mountain will not come to Muhammad, then Muhammad must go to the mountain.' Schuldig wriggled his eyebrows (or what was left of them) suggestively. Yoji only looked more confused. Had this putz been paying attention to anything Schuldig had said before? Or maybe it was just the western symbolism that did not work for the Asian man...dog...whatever. Perhaps tickling his chivalric instincts would do better.
'We don't need the blood.' Schuldig pointed out. 'Dr. Nishimura does. And we might as well carry all of it to her...or let it walk there on its very own feet. Do you get what I'm implying, now? We could save the girl...and even get some benefits to it like getting our own appearance back. I don't know about you, but I miss seeing my face. And the ears! Oh those ears..."
Schuldig let his mental voice trail off and left Yoji to his own device. The greyhound shot Schuldig one last look, before his expression changed from wariness to determination. He stepped up to the bed.
"Aya, I think, Schuldig is right."
Everyone in the room looked at him in confusion. Schuldig was only faking it, but as he was the only one being able to read other minds neither Aya nor Farfarello would notice.
"What do you mean?" Aya growled and his tail started to lash behind him. He ducked down on the bed as of he wanted to pounce on Yoji.
"I think, we should let him examine your sister. Perhaps he is the only one who can help her in her state. Do you really want to miss that chance? Perhaps the only chance she has to ever recover? Are you really that selfish?"
Aya looked like someone had dumped a bucket of cold water on him. Instead of imposing the perfect picture of a protective brother he looked like a drowned, well, cat.
Schuldig had to bite back a laugh. This was so pathetic! But it was working. Oh, it was working so well. Aya slowly retreated, his yellow-green eyes fixated on Schuldig.
"If anything happens to her, I'll kill you," he said, but his voice missed the normal oomph. Schuldig had beaten him fair and square. Well, perhaps not fair, but who wanted to split hairs? There were bigger things lying ahead.
Schuldig hopped onto the bed and settled next to the doe's head. He made himself comfortable and closed his eyes. This was going to be interesting. Very interesting indeed.
Music: Coraline end credits - Bruno Coulais