title: Precious
author : cluelesspsycho
fandom: Weiss Kreuz
characters/pairing: Crawford/Ran, Ken/Aya-chan
rating: NC17
warning : AU Fantasy, a little crack, OOCness, OC, weirdness, slash, cross-dressing, some kinks, pirates, guest appearances, lemons, I'm sure there are more.
disclaimer : I own nothing but my crazy writing talent.
summary : Fujimiya Aya was ordered by the Emperor to marry Count Crawford, a nobleman from the other side of the ocean. However, Ran, her big brother, heard that Count Crawford was a cruel man with strange gift. He didn't want Aya to suffer. Ran arranged for Aya to escape with Ken, and showed up at the wedding as the bride.

Part Four: Persephone

"You can't do that!" Lord Reiji particularly shouted when he had gotten over the shock of the announcement. "It's an insult for us! We have prepared everything and we expect…"

"With all due respects, my lord, my country comes first," Count Crawford spoke in flat, icy cold tone, ignoring Lord Reiji's anger, "and now that I have Lady Aya married to me, I assume I have all the rights to do as I please to her."

Barbarians, Ran gritted his teeth under his veil. It made him feel even more relieved that he got Aya to escape the wedding. He was very confident now that Crawford had planned this from a start. His hand went to the handle of his kodachi again. He was going to kill Count Crawford in private, when they were alone in the bedroom, however, now it seemed that he had to do it here, in front of people. That did not make any difference to him anyway.

"My lord, can we discuss this calmly?" asked Fujimiya Senior, his voice soft, but Ran knew his father was torn between anger and grief. He still had not shown any sign that he had known it was Ran under the veil, not Aya.

"Unfortunately, Fujimiya-san, there is nothing to discuss," replied Count Crawford. "Just rest assured that I won't break my wedding vow whatsoever."

Fujimiya Senior went pale, he looked like as if his blood had been drained from his body. His wife was sobbing behind him, embraced by Momoe-san and some other ladies. Ran's hand moved to pull the kodachi from its sheath.

"In that case, Count Crawford, I will use force…," Lord Reiji spoke.

"No, no," Fujimiya Senior cut in. "I'm sorry, my lord, I'm sorry," he bowed at Lord Reiji, then he turned to Crawford and Ran. "Go, if you must, but don't let me hear that you mistreat my… child, because if that happens, you will be sorry you were even born."

Crawford only snickered. Lord Reiji stomped his socked feet in disdain, but he did not do anything. He crossed his arms across his chest and glowered at the groom.

"Please, can I hug my child for the last time?" Ran's mother asked, tears staining her pretty face, ruining the make up.

Crawford stepped aside to give access, and Ran tore his hand away from the kodachi, not believing that everything ended like this. He fought back tears when his mother slipped her hands beneath the veil and touched his face. Did he really have to go with the count? He could always kill the count when they were on board, but what about Aya? He promised to find her after the wedding, providing that he had killed Crawford, but now he couldn't do that.

"Be safe, my child, and if you want to come back, you know I'll be waiting here for you," his mother spoke softly, pressing her forehead on Ran's.

Ran touched his mother's hands with trembling fingers. He needed to say something. He needed to tell mother where Aya was and mother and father would do something about it.

"The rabbits are waiting for you in the field of poppies," he said slowly, in almost an inaudible voice that only his mother could hear. He decided that it was safe to assume that by now, his mother had found out that he was not Aya, and that she would understand the meaning of his words.

Then, taking his mother's hands, he brought them down. "I'll be fine," he murmured, squeezing his mother's hands before letting them go. He decided that he'd get on the ship, kill Crawford when nobody was looking, then jumped from the ship into the ocean and swam his way back home.

Mother nodded softly, and stepped back.

The other guests parted to give Crawford and Ran to exit, Ran had to carry the tail of his kimono, his drape stayed intact. A carriage was waiting for them outside the castle, and they climbed up, Ran went first with Crawford helping him, their hands touched and Ran almost jolted from the sparks resulted by skin contact. He shifted on his seat, positioning himself as far away from Crawford as possible. The carriage sank a bit with Crawford's weight when he sat down. He did not give Ran so much as a glance.

Then the carriage moved, and Ran did not try to look back. He was coming back soon anyway, therefore there was no point in saying goodbye. His mother perhaps did not join people at the door to see him going. She probably was talking to father now, informing him about Ran's words, and then they would begin planning to find Aya. That was good, and when he came back, Aya was back at home again, and they – including Ken - could all live happily ever after.

They didn't talk during the short trip to the dock, Crawford did not start any conversation and Ran simply did not want his voice betray him. Yet. Besides, he wouldn't know what to do, he didn't know this count at all. Ran had his eyes lowered, hiding his hands among the layers of his kimono, touching his obi to feel the kodachi from time to time. His heart was beating faster than usual, but he took it as anger. His stomach churned, giving him an uneasy feeling. His head itched, he wanted to release his hair from the pins that held them together on top of his head and he definitely wanted to yank the veil off. It was supposed to be Crawford's right to do that, and until the count did it, he could not do anything. He could only wait.

It did not take them long to reach the shore, and again, Crawford helped him getting off the carriage, this time with his hands on Ran's waist. With a brief glance around, Ran found that there was a cart behind them stocked with chests and boxes of his personal stuff. No, Aya's personal stuff. There were also some samurai from the Takatori castle guarding them to make sure that Count Crawford did not do anything stupid until they reached the ship. They had the porters to take the boxes and chests into the ship as Crawford led Ran with his hand on Ran's elbow.

Ran took a deep breath as he walked along the plank connecting the dock to the ship.

Persephone.

He wondered whether the name meant anything. However, since Crawford did not pause to explain to him, he continued walking.

"Welcome to the Persephone, Count and Countess Crawford," greeted someone at the deck. Ran lifted his eyes and saw a young man, tall and lanky, in velvet coat and pants and ruffled white silk shirt and shiny black boots. The man had long hair in the color of honey, tied back at the nape of the neck. He also had green eyes like jade. His face was a bit exotic, it was certain that he had mixed blood inside his body, but he did speak Japanese very well. "Well, my lord, aren't you going to carry her over the threshold?"

"Shut up, Kudoh," snapped Crawford. "Aya, this is Kudoh Yohji, my cousin who happens to be my personal assistant too. Yohji, don't you dare do anything stupid to my wife."

Yohji grinned from ear to ear and that only had his handsome face even more beautiful. Ran lowered his eyes again. Knowing that Yohji was at least half Japanese somewhat made him calmer.

"Oh, come on, Crawford, my duty is to protect you and that will extend to the Countess as well," Yohji extended his hand to Ran. "May I?"

"No," Crawford swatted his hand. "And I can protect myself and my bride, thank you. You better pay more attention to what's going on in the ship."

Yohji laughed, his voice clear like water from the spring. "There is nothing going on in this ship and I'm glad that this ship will finally experience a more feminine touch."

Crawford glared at him. "No wonder the anchors have not been lifted yet."

"Hey, I'm waiting for the porters to finish loading those boxes and stuff," Yohji shrugged.

"They're done," a timid voice talked from behind Yohji, and Yohji stepped back, hissing, "Goodness! Stop sneaking like a ghost like that, Naoe!"

"I'm not sneaking," the boy pouted. He was so small and so thin, but wearing thick clothes, and Ran thought it was sensible, the clothes were heavy enough to help keeping him on the ground.

"Well, what are you waiting? Go!" Crawford jerked his head toward the opposite direction.

"Aye, aye, sir!" Yohji saluted before marching away.

Crawford subtly took a deep breath. Then he turned to Ran, "This is Nagi Naoe. He'll be your hand-in-waiting during the trip."

Nagi Naoe was clearly Japanese, and Ran wanted to know how the boy ended up in a barbarian's ship like this. Still he did not think that it worth to ask right then, he was leaving anyway, and he did not want to be burdened by someone else's life story.

"I'll show you the room," said Crawford, as he took Ran's elbow again.

They resumed walking, climbing down a flight of stairs to the bottom part of the ship, Naoe following them like an obedience puppy. He did give an impression of a ghost, he walked without making any sound, but that was perhaps he did not wear any shoes or sandals. Even his breath was too soft for human ears.

"Naoe, you can leave us for the moment and I will call you again when I need you," said Crawford when they reached a door.

"Yes, sir," Naoe nodded. "I have prepared food and wine for yourself and tea for the countess, and I have prepared hot water just in case you want to bath, and if the water has…"

"Just go to Yohji and make sure that he does what he's supposed to do, thank you."

With that, Naoe disappeared, walking fast towards the stairs again. Ran made a mental note to tell Crawford not to treat the boy rudely, but then, Crawford was a barbarian, so perhaps it was only a normal behaviour for a barbarian to be rude.

Crawford pushed the door open, providing Ran with a full view of the bedroom. The room was spacious, although not as big as his own, there was a huge bed with canopy in the middle, a wooden drawer cabinet at the left side of the bed and a desk with a chair at the other side, the desk was topped with food and drinks, and there were flowers everywhere, on the cabinet, on the floor, rose petals on the bed.

Crawford inhaled deeply, he looked completely annoyed. "Yohji," he gritted his teeth.

If Aya saw this, she would squeak with delight, and Ran was in the opinion that Yohji was a hopeless romantic who knew very well how to treat a woman, how to get into a woman's heart. Except that Ran was not a woman.

"Come on," said Crawford. "We have this tradition that a groom has to carry his bride from the door to the bedroom."

Ran was in the process of opening his mouth to protest but his body had left the floor suddenly as Crawford lifted him, and carried him to the bedroom. In reflex, he wrapped his arms around Crawford's neck, and he felt something creep inside him… a feeling, a comfortable feeling of being protected. He bit his lower lip to stop him from having stupid ideas in his brain.

Crawford laid him carefully on the bed, the mattress was surprisingly soft like clouds, so unlike his futon back home. However, that brought Ran back to what he was supposed to be doing. He moved to get up, and when he was doing that, Crawford pulled his veil gently.

And now that they were face to face without anything between their eyes, Crawford's golden orbs looked straight into his violet ones, Ran said, "I'm not Aya."

Crawford set his lips into something that might suppose to look like a smile, but it made him look dangerous and devilish.

"I know," he said. "That was why I insisted on leaving as quickly as possible."

Tbc