II. Slow Heat
It was over. They had managed
to rescue Aya-chan from the Schrient while Weiss fell neatly into the trap
the Schrient had set for them. The White Hunters would be out of
commission for a while, Ran thought with dark satisfaction. It was
only what they deserved for trying to take Aya-chan away from him.
First, his parents then his sister, Kritiker was greedy in their persecution
of him.
I won’t let you take Aya-chan
away from me…
Aside from Ouka, Aya-chan
was all Ran had of his old life, the life before Sensitive, the Schwartz
assassin. Of the life before the bloody hell he was trapped in now,
a life full of sunshine and happiness, family and warm security.
He had no illusions about being able to go back to that life ever.
Even if Aya-chan should wake up tomorrow, he would still be an assassin
beyond redemption and Crawford’s whore, unworthy of being her brother ever.
Ran sighed and rose up from Aya’s bedside to go to Crawford’s room where
he had slept since he became Schwartz. He knew that Oracle didn’t
love him and never did. The man had made it plain never showing a
hint of affection as he took Ran but he was the leader of this group and
more than ever Ran must obey him, for his sister’s sake. Sometimes,
illusions would make life a bit simpler.
***
“Fujimiya Ran a.k.a. Sensitive,
this is your first assignment? How did you find Rosenkreuz?”
Mr. Crawford said as he looked up from his laptop. He closed
it to give his new recruit a once over.
“Quite educational, Crawford-san.”
Ran said neutrally though he was uneasy with a fear he could not name.
He had never had much contact with Schwartz before in his old life.
All he knew of them was that they were Takatori-san’s bodyguards.
Now he was one of them.
“It says here that you are
a competent with both sword and gun and a proficient empath, is this accurate?”
He Felt nothing but a milky-white nothingness from the man as if he didn’t
even exist. This made Ran wary, though he did his best to remain
unruffled. He had learned all too well in Rosenkreuz what the Estet
was like and knew that someone open-faced and trusting wouldn’t last long.
“It is accurate, Crawford-san.”
“Can you obey orders without
question?” Crawford said, walking from his desk to circle Ran as
he did so.
“Hai, Crawford-san.”
Ran wondered where this interview was going. The look in Crawford’s
eyes made his skin crawl for some reason and he wanted nothing more than
to walk away from the precog’s scrutiny. Though he had not long to
wait to find out what this is all about.
“Take all your clothes off.”
“Nani?” Ran said thunderstruck.
“Just do it.” There
was a ring of steel in the command.
Ran did as he was bid, covertly
shivering in apprehension as he quickly and efficiently stripped the last
of his underwear.
“On the couch now.”
Crawford said as he loosened his tie.
Ran complied again.
He had no choice.
For Aya-chan, I cannot
refuse.
The cool leather of the couch
kissed Ran’s bare skin and fought not to show the revulsion that was rising
in him for what was sure to come next. He could never abide by the
touch of strangers even the brief contacts in a crowd made him jumpy and
not only because he had to shield against the emotional leakage. Growing
up with his Gift made Ran an intensely private person.
I don’t even know you
at all…
In the time it took Ran to
settle on the couch, Crawford had removed his shirt and was approaching
Ran with a tiger’s grace. Ran thought rather objectively that the
man was well muscled and rather coldly handsome in his own way though his
expression was surprisingly unemotional. All these things just made
the empath more nervous. Ran had thought there would be more to it
than this, perhaps lust or cruelty. Was this just a test of his
loyalty, perhaps?
Crawford bent over Ran putting
his lips onto the redhead’s chest tracing moist patterns there, sucking
nipples to pebbly hardness. Hands moving all over Ran’s body, touching
places that he had never known to be that sensitive and arousing Ran despite
himself, nibbling at the edges of his iron control. His shields began
to slip and slide out of his grasp leaving him feeling more naked than
ever. Desperately he tried to hold on, it would not do to blast a
superior officer with his Gift even if the officer in question had initiated
the situation.
“Let go, Fujimiya.”
Crawford said as his assault on the Ran’s senses. The precog must
have sensed the tension that trembled through his body.
Not that Ran had any choice
but to obey the order. For on the next wave of pleasant sensations
his shields fell completely and he was beginning to feel the heat of the
other’s lust becoming indistinguishable from the flames that had been ignited
by hands and tongue on his body. He completely lost it when the hot
mouth closed over his now hard male organ. He never felt so hot in
his entire life. Even his wildest fantasies were nothing compared
to this.
“Ngnnn…onegai…” Ran moaned
in disappointment as the hot moist cavity withdrew. He was beyond
caring about the indignity of the situation.
“Eager aren’t we?”
Crawford said through the red haze of passion that completely overwhelmed
Ran.
Then Ran felt cold, slick
fingers stretching him, touching him inside and lost himself again in the
sensation. They hit a place that flashed lightning into his
sight with pleasure and pain. Vaguely he felt them slid out and a
moment later felt a thicker more solid organ slide home. Everything
was blurring into one. His body and mind felt like they were fusing
with the world in the molten lava of feelings. In the moments that
followed he couldn’t say if he was the one who pushed into the tight enticing
warmth or was the one receiving the glorious friction. Then everything
ended in a psychedelic explosion that stunned him.
“You’ll do.” Crawford
said as soon as Ran had awakened from his post-orgasmic daze. He
was barely panting from their exertions and looked as unflappable as ever.
“You will move in the room
next to mine in the north side of the hallway but you will be spending
your nights with me.”
“Hai, Crawford-san.”
Was all Ran said as he dressed.
The coolly considered words
with the cold stickiness in between his thighs made him feel quite disgusted
with himself. He had acted like a whore, wantonly, without shame,
allowing Oracle to fuck him senseless.
What did you expect?
Sweet words? Love? Passion? Something emotional to explain
away what had happened between us? Not that you would believe them,
but still…
Crawford didn’t even pretend
an explanation for what happened. Ran's guilt at allowing himself
to be used hurt more than slight pain in between his legs.
“You are dismissed.”
Crawford said. The Schwartz had donned his suit and was relatively
unruffled, already starting to look through a stack of papers on his desk.
Ran limped out of the office
into his room. Mind in turmoil he laid in his bed to stare unseeing
into the ceiling.
I shouldn’t have let him
do that to me. I should complain. I should leave here.
I should…
Ran was, then and there,
ready and willing to leave Schwartz and Estet for he knew he would never
be heard. Crawford, he knew from what he heard in Rosenkreuz, got
results and that was all that mattered to the Elders, Oracle could do whatever
he liked as long as it didn’t endanger Estet objectives. His cold
side, his practical side, asserted itself.
And there’s Aya-chan to
think about… Besides where would I go? Kritiker? That thought
was bitter, he would rather die than throw himself at the mercy of his
parents killers. All I know is what They taught me, I’m hardly
qualified to be anything else but a drudge or an assassin and Aya-chan
needs the expensive care. I have no choice. Then
and there he remembered what his ‘tousan had told him years before his
parents were murdered, when he had found out what they actually did for
Takatori-san.
***
“’tousan, ‘kaasan is that
true?” Ran burst in on his parents’ conversation. They had
thought that he and Aya-chan was asleep and had begun to talk of certain
questionable deals for Takatori and his other cronies. Ran had just
been old enough to understand some of it and knew the things to be bad
and decided to confront his parents.
“Ran-chan aren’t you supposed
to be asleep?” His mother had said concerned.
“I came down to get a drink
of water. ‘Kaasan say it isn’t true that you and ‘Tousan aren’t involved
in bad things…”
“Ran-chan…” His mother
said, embracing him to reassure him.
“No, Nanami1,
I think the boy’s old enough to hear the truth.” His ‘tousan said
before his mother could utter another word.
“But…”
“He’s old enough.”
“If you say so…” His
mother put him on the couch beside his father and left them alone.
“Ran, in this world things
are rarely one or the other, good or bad.” His father began looking
at him gravely as if he was another grown-up and not a fourteen-year-old
that had stumbled unaware into something he shouldn’t have had.
“But that’s bad, sensei said
so… if you and ‘Kaasan get caught…”
“Listen to me, Ran, me and
your ‘Kaasan will not get caught. The Takatoris are too great a political
family for that.”
“It’s still bad…”
“Look Ran what would have
happened if we refused to do it?”
“Takatori-san would have
found someone else...”
“Not before he had us killed
for knowing too much, Ran-kun. Do you want to grow up an orphan?
To have your sister separated from you?”
“No ‘Tousan but…”
“Remember you yourself said
that Takatori would find someone else. It is the way of the world,
Ran-kun. You can’t do good all the time, not if you want to live
and take good care of your family. Sometimes you have to do something
bad or go with bad people to achieve something good. Takatori-san’s
influence and money gives you children opportunities and the good life
but if we refused him, it could have easily given you ruin. Do you
understand that, Ran-kun?”
“Hai, ‘Tousan.” Ran
said even if he didn’t really understand all of it, though it must me true
if his father had said so.
“Never mind, Ran-kun, you’ll
understand when you’re older. Just take good care of your sister,
ne?” Ran’s father said before he could voice his protest.
“Hai, ‘Tousan.” Ran
said more enthusiastically, that was something he understood and could
agree to with a whole heart.
***
It was the memory of that
conversation that had stopped Ran from doing anything rash after what Crawford
had done to him and continued to do to him. Necessity, he understood
it now more than if his parents had lived. It didn’t matter that
he was going to whore his way to survive and kill people for a living.
If not him, there would be others many others to take his place if he faltered.
Not as desperate perhaps but willing. If he left, he would be killed
for knowing too much and where would Aya-chan be? He was her only
living relative. He now understood very well what his father had
meant but the understanding had come at a bitter price and too late to
share. Old grief stirred within him, a memory rose unbidden of pain,
hurt and screams not his own…
Stop it…stop it right
now Ran… What good will it do to remember that?
His father had been wrong,
someone had caught them. Someone had gotten through Takatori-san’s
protection because the man was a Takatori himself. Shuuichi Takatori
had decided that enough was enough and sent his hounds to kill the Fujimiyas
for their involvement with money laundering for the drugs trade and other
darker things. In the latter’s self-righteous hypocrisy, he never
understood like those spoiled by easy living how Ran’s parents had no choice
in doing what they did and surrounded himself with people that felt the
same. Kritiker, the name was an epithet in Ran’s mouth, as if they
were so clean!
Ran sighed and rose from
Aya-chan’s bedside where he had been talking about his latest date with
Ouka to his unconscious sister to go to Crawford’s room. It was late
but then Crawford-san had always been a workaholic and never in bed before
ten at the least.
Sleep well, Aya-chan,
may you wake up soon…
***
“What is the meaning of this!”
Ran asked forgetting himself enough to demand the answer from Crawford.
The printout he had been reading dragged on his hand like a dead weight.
Crawford had requested that
Ran confer with him in the study. The redhead had done so uneasily,
though Crawford had not done anything to him there since their first sexual
encounter and had discretely restrained all sexual activity to the bedroom,
the room still held unpleasant associations for Ran. And now this…
No, no, not Aya-chan…
“It means that the Estet
Elders want to use your sister for the Sacrifice. It will bring untold
power to our organization.” Crawford said meeting the young man’s
gaze. A mighty feat considering that an empath’s rage is known to
kill. Not that the precog would fear that since he seemed able to
survive the worst of whatever Ran could throw at him.
“You’re not questioning their
orders, are you?” Crawford added before Ran could speak. His
tone was mild but there was a hidden edge in his eyes.
Just take good care of
your sister, ne?
Can you obey orders without
question?
Sometimes you have to
do something bad, or to go with bad people to achieve something good.
Kritiker. Weiss.
“No.” Ran said finally
and rose from the couch to brood in his room. He must now find the
strength to ask for aid, distasteful as it maybe from his parents’ murderers.
Aya-chan is innocent of
wrongdoing they will see that. It will be worth it. She is
worth it…But it’s THEM... wailed his mind… That can’t be helped…
“That’s hardly going to be
the end of it.” Schuldich said emerging from the shadows of a corner
where he had been lurking.
“I know.” Crawford
said, eyeglasses glimmering with reflected images from the computer screen.
~TBC~
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