Weiss Kreuz Fan Fiction ❯ Borderline ❯ The Shrinking Violet ( Chapter 4 )

Disclaimer: *sigh* Again… I did not own them, all the lovely bishies in Weiss nor Schwarz… but I do owned Schwarz, my kitten.

Note of thanks:

MiniMorr: My first thanks goes to my lovely beta reader whom I owed so much for her help, suggestions and comments. *hugs"* I hope I don't mess the text ^__^

Pandora.81: My lovely friend who is now vacationing in Japan.^^ Stop drooling over the bishies out there *grin* Anyway, Fuuma said if you want tips you must agree to be underneath him *looking at Fuuma who is leering*

simply_kim: Domo Arigatou^_^ *go on singing Oops… I did it again by Britney Spears before being smacked by one of my muse* and I hope to read more of your writing too^^

Sardius: Thank you very much for liking the story and sorry if you had to reheat your coffee^^. I will try my level best to make the story interesting and I hope you enjoy this one too.

Li: Yeah… Far the butler! I think it suits him in this fic and I don't know why^^ I hope you enjoy this chapter too.

Krimson: *hide* I know this was OOC, I'm trying a fic with a friend of mine based on character. I have been watching Weiss over and over again… but still the only thing I can see is Crawford sexy body ^^ *smack self *

Hele: Arigatou^^ No problem about the review. I appreciate it… really… because at least I know someone is reading and enjoying it. I just love to write psychological stories and suck at humor and romance.

The Shrinking Violet

Yohji arrived at Crawford's house two hours later. The heavy rain earlier had slowed down his journey. He had been stuck in the heavy traffic and was abruptly stopped behind a bus that was spilling black smoke from its guts. When he arrived, he parked his car outside a white double stored bungalow and spotted a familiar motorbike underneath a shady pine tree. The boy on the motorbike took his helmet off and waved at Yohji. /Ken/ He stifled a smile at the thought that Ken was here to see Crawford right after their first date. Crawford must have treated him like a baby prince. He returned the wave and signaled Ken to wait for him before ringing the doorbell.

"What are you doing here?" He asked.

"Ah… ano… I brought Crawford a tiramisu, he told me that he loved to eat it and I know the best Tiramisu in Tokyo," Ken's face flushed as he answered Yohji's question.

"Is that the reason or do you miss Crawford already?" he teased. "I thought you had a soccer game tomorrow. Aren't you supposed to be practicing?"

"Ah… I…. " This time Ken was not only blushing but the boy would practically have bolted if Yohji hadn't held onto his arm and led him to the house.

The Irishman greeted them. "Good afternoon, Sirs!"

"Don't call me `Sir'! Farfello, I feel like a fat rich old man with a medal when you called me that!"

"Yes Sir! Yohji-Sir!"

Yohji sighed; he sometimes thought that Farfello enjoyed teasing him whenever they met /Wicked Butler/."Where are Omi and Nagi?"

"They have extra math classes today," Farfello informed him as they proceeded to the hall. Omi and Nagi were the orphans that had been living with Crawford for almost a year after their parents' untimely death. That was one more reason why Yohji respected Crawford, for despite his cold external behavior; deep inside he was a man full of compassion and humanity. "Crawford?"

"With Schuldig-san…. In a room."

The blond detective frowned at the answer and was trying hard to hide his displeasure. "Where?" he asked again.

"Study room, Kudou-san… not bedroom!" Farfello turned and snorted at Yohji's obvious show of jealousy.

Yohji knocked at the door to the study room slowly and heard a faint voice that he was certain belonged to Crawford telling him that door is open. He poked his head in and saw that Crawford was standing beside Schuldig and had turned his head to see who was at the door.

When Crawford saw that it was Yohji, he was tempted to tease the young blonde. He knew about the insecurity of the young man whenever it came to him as the subject matter. He almost slipped his arm around Schuldig's waist when he saw Ken was poking his head in beside Yohji and greeted him with a shy smile.

"Ohaiyou! Crawford-san…"

"Ohaiyou! Hidaka-kun."

Both he and Schuldig left the study room to greet their guests. Farfello came out from the kitchen with a tray with a pot of tea, cups and tiramisu that had been sliced and placed it on the coffee table. Crawford thanked Farfello and asked whether he had kept some for himself and also for Omi and Nagi. Farfello merely nodded before disappearing.

They enjoyed the tea and the cake in silence. Crawford noticed that each of them had different facial expressions. Schuldig - tired and gloomy. Yohji-anxious and impatient and Ken- shy and blushing. Crawford sensed that Yohji wanted to say something but was holding back. He was also aware that Ken was clearly uncomfortable whenever his half brother was around. He remembered clearly last night when Ken complained that having a police brother was not easy. Yohji tended to be over protective at times. He had to report where he was going, with whom, by what, for what and other explanations and had to persuade Yohji to let him go. And if he was late even by five minutes, Yohji would question him with series of queries like a police officer interrogating a murder suspect.

After what seemed as an eternity of silence, Ken got up from the sofa and bowed humbly, excusing himself and said. "I have to go."

Crawford raised an eyebrow at him.

"We need to strategize our soccer game tomorrow." He explained further.

Crawford rose from his seat. "Want me to see you to the field?" He offered.

/Such a gentleman/ Schuldig thought and smiled knowingly at Ken.

Ken was blushing bright red and he nearly stumbled over the carpet at the offer. "Ah... ano… I came with my bike."

Crawford smiled at him and Ken returned the smile with his own shy one before retreating to the door. "I walk you out." Crawford offered.

Schuldig watched as both of them walked towards the main door and when they were completely out of his sight, the redhead ran towards the side of the sliding door to take a peek. Yohji merely shook his head and rolled his eyes at the childish display of his lover.

Yohji heard a soft chuckle emitted from Schuldig's lips and walked briskly towards his lover as he was curious to what amused Schuldig so. He pushed his lover aside a little and peeked outside and saw that Ken was embracing Crawford in a diffident manner.

"Sweet, huh?" Schuldig commented and Yohji answered with a snort.

Schuldig averted his eyes away from the sliding door and observed his lover. "You were caught in a vicious case, right?" Extreme brutality?"

Yohji stared at Schuldig, astonished. "How did you know?"

Schuldig moved closer and cupped his blond lover's chin. "You have this look, a burdened look, with dark clouds hovering over your face. And your hands, I noticed, were trembling."

Yohji placed his hand on the German's waist, pulling him closer. His lover's body always calmed him down whenever he was stressed. "Poor baby, what can I do to make you feel better?" Schuldig whispered. Yohji closed the gap between them and kissed him deeply before they heard a cough. Both of them turned and saw Crawford standing at the door looking at them. "Ooops… busted!" Schuldig chuckled.

"What are you two doing here from there?" Crawford pointed at the sofa where the four of them had been seated. "And... please get a room if you decide to do something kinky, it's bad influence for the entire household you know."

"The chibis are not here," Schuldig answered but didn't let go of his tight embrace of Yohji, instead he kept on teasing Yohji's ear with his tongue, like a display.

"Bad for Farfello then," Crawford answered, not admitting defeat.

Both Yohji and Schuldig snorted. Crawford's eyes widened and he asked. "What?" The two younger men in front of him answered in unison, "Nothiiiiing!"

"Both of you are impossible!"

Schuldig released Yohji from the embrace and walked back to the sofa. Yohji followed behind him silently and the worried expression returned to his face. Furrowed lines appeared on his forehead making him look older than his years.

When they were finally seated, Yohji turned to Schuldig and asked "Any luck on who was your mysterious morning call?." His lover took a deep breath and sighed in defeat, "Nope! Nada! Zero! Zilt!"

Silence again. Yohji seemed unsure about how to bring his case up to his lover and finally said, "Remember, this morning when I received a phone call from my partner on a homicide?" Schuldig nodded. "I… I think I need your advise or opinion or perspective, or expertise or whatever shrink terms you guys using are." He took out a thick file from the sling bag he had carried from home and put it in his lap.

"I am not good on homicides, I'm a therapist. I mean… ex-therapist."

"This is more than homicide, Schu. It is almost…." He paused, swallowed and continued, "… like a butcher's theatre."

Crawford was eyeing him inquisitively. He knew that ever since that lady-killer case Yohji had been very, very careful not to get his friend involved in any of his cases. With Yohji asking for help, it must be a pretty screwed up occurrence, whodunit case. The one Schu dreaded the most.

"Do you like me to leave you alone?" Crawford suddenly broke into the conversation. "Or you can use the study room," he added.

Yohji faced the older man. "I need your help too Crawford. Hell, I need all the help that both of you can offer. But before you take a look at the file, I need a reassurance on confidentiality. Off the record" He gazed at Crawford and Schuldig intently. "And I want it to be played by my rules, no more DIY nonsense." This time his eyes were directed directly at Schuldig. Schuldig merely stuck his tongue out at his lover.

"The police wanted this case to be quiet." Yohji informed them as the matter of fact.

"Why the hush-hush?" Schuldig asked.

"Hey! It's not my call… the big boss said.. `no press… no statement, no details out without my authorization'. When asked by the press I shall answer like a parrot `no comment'-smile, nod - `no comment'- and get the hell away," Yohji answered indignantly.

"Can I see what's inside the file?" Schuldig asked, " I'd like to know what is so classified that your pristine station is too afraid to open their mouths."

Yohji picked the file from his lap and handed it over to Schuldig and the word `Achtung' accidentally came out from his mouth. Schuldig was surprised to hear his native tongue come out from Yohji's mouth and was wondering why. He got his answer when he took out the first picture out from the envelope in the file.

Schuldig, lockjaw, moaned involuntarily and held his breath when he looked at the first picture presented to him. A moment later, he threw the photo and the envelope on the floor before running towards the bathroom. Crawford observed that the throw was not a calculated one but a startled reaction of a person who was utterly surprised by some piece of nasty art.

Both Yohji and Crawford could hear a vomiting sound from the bathroom. Yohji rose and trailed after his lover.

Curious, Crawford picked up the scattered pictures and the envelope from his carpet and took out the rest of the crime scene photos. He who was always calm couldn't hide his shock and bafflement. He had been-no was-a doctor, but, this… he never seen this.

The first picture, Crawford noted, was of a middle aged woman, laying sprawled on her back by the staircase with an extension cord around her neck. The cut on her back, even without the Coroner's report, Crawford knew was bone deep. The second picture was the one of her face, swollen and battered, her jaw was broken - a result from repeated hard blows by hands or a blunt object.

The second victim was pinned to the door and positioned in crucified manner. Both of his hands were nailed to the door, his body drenched in blood and his face was unrecognizable. "The face was skinned!" Suddenly, he heard Yohji's voice. He jerked his face up, Schuldig had returned with Yohji, his face still white. Crawford waited until his friend's face had more color again before passing him the pictures he had looked at.

"How many victims?" Schuldig asked.

"Five! Two couples and a baby! The first couple are the owners of the house, the second one…" Yohji pointed at the picture. "… were shot point blank. The husband behind his ear and the woman at her eyes."

"Hear no evil, see no evil." Schuldig interjected. To some killers, he knew, killing was an art, showing how they felt when they killed; anger, hate, revenge, lust, passion and sometimes fun. The ones with fun as the motive for mutilating humans were the ones feared the most. /Psychos./ He knew in which category this slaughter case fit when he saw the last picture Crawford handed over to him. The one of the badly burnt baby. Its skin was red and black and peeled off in some parts. Schuldig again suppressed the urge to vomit. His eyes widened. "How?" He managed to croak out.

"Baked!" Yohji answered.

"Alive?" He hoped not, for the sake of the baby, he hoped not.

"The toddler was shot at the back of her temple with the same gun that killed her parents, stripped from her night clothes, sliced and wrapped with aluminum foil. They covered her with condiments and baked her. Fully."

Crawford remained quiet from the beginning, but in his mind he kept on thinking of the victims. What had been their final thoughts when they died? Their agonies? And what the fuck had the killer been thinking while marring their prey? He thought this kind of psychotic killer existed only at his own native country. When he was staying in the States, he was fed almost every day with bloodlust news, serial killing, a guy fucking over another guy and butchering them, castrating them. Parents raping their own daughters and sons. Ted Bundy, Charles Manson, Son of Sam, Jeffrey Dahmer were a few names he knew were popular with their heinous crimes, but that was in the States, this was Japan-or is this bloodlust had become a contagious disease that spread its virus across the Pacific Ocean? There was no safe place to stay. Not even your own home.

"Any witnesses?" Schuldig questioned, breaking into Crawford's musings and he stared at the young blond, waiting for his response.

"Maybe… maybe not… it will make my job easier if we had a witness, bad for the killer but good for us-without witnesses there will be no evidence, no evidence - no lead, no lead - no arrest. In the end it ends up as cold case, the perfect crime!"

"You knew the victims?" Crawford asked suddenly.

Yohji sighed and took out the family portrait and showed it to Crawford. "Fujimiya! Ring a bell?"

Schuldig jumped from his seat to Crawford and almost landed himself in the older man's lap as he snatched the snapshot from Crawford's hand. He let out a choking sound. "Fujimiya? I… I knew this family and him…." he pointed at the picture of a young man with fingers that had turned chalk white.

"What?" Crawford rose from his seat and looked at the person in the picture that Schuldig was pointing at. A young man, smiling and probably in his early twenties with high cheekbones and crimson hair. His pale complexion was completed with cherry lips and his eyes had the most beautiful hues of violet. God created beautiful things and without doubt this one had the most physical beauty he had ever seen. The Jewel in the Crown.

"He-he is the one that I almost ran over this morning."

"Where? When?" It was Yohji's turn to get up from his seat.

"A mile from here, he was running, stopped right in front of my car, he looked… he looked scared… really scared before he disappeared into the alleys."

Yohji grabbed his car keys and pulled on Schuldig's arm. "Show me the exact location, maybe he is still around the area." Schuldig looked at him skeptically. "He can't go far in the heavy rain," he explained further.

"Wait!" Both Schuldig and Yohji turned to the owner of the voice.

"I'm coming!" Crawford watched their surprised faces. "If it's a mile away, I know the area very well" Yohji nodded.

"I drive." The older man said.

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The rain had moistened his shirt. He cursed silently; not only was it crinkled but now it was damp too. The little kitten was mewling at his feet, jumping and trying to catch his fingers in its playful mood. He was walking near the drains at the abandoned construction site, the water level in the drains had risen due to the heavy rain and the currents were strong.

He had to find his sister. His last hope, but he had to hide first, concealing himself from the eyes that were watching him even in his sleep. He had no idea where his sister was now, but he knew that she would find him when she realized he was gone and their parents… He struggled for breath when he remembered them. They were gone now, he was sure of it, leaving him. It was not their choice and he understood that. They were slaughtered… because of him… His fault for running away, knocking at the door last night, scared like shit but they knew and his parents had to pay the price. /My fault… my fault… my fault/ He slumped on the pavement and began to cry.

He felt something climbing on his hip. He wiped away his tears and saw the kitten's front leg was on his leg, craning its neck and watching him with wide eyes and mewling softly as if asking him why he was crying and that it felt the same. He scooped it up, nuzzling its neck. "I wish I knew what to do."

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"You knew them? This family?" Crawford asked, glancing at Schuldig in the passenger seat.

"I did… they had two children, Fujimiya Ran and Fujimiya Aya, and I treated one of them."

"The son?" Yohji asked from the back seat, leaning closer to his lover.

"No… the daughter-Fujimiya Aya." Then he realized something, remembering and exclaimed, "The voice! Now I remember the voice… It was his voice!"

"How could you recognize the voice now?"

"The son is a shrinking violet, I never met him, but he is the one who always picked up the phone whenever I called the house to confirm or cancel an appointment. I didn't recognize his voice earlier because he wasn't one of my patients."

"What did you treat his sister for?" Crawford asked all of a sudden.

"You know I can't tell you that, Brad."

"In general!"

"Agoraphobia!"

"When?"

"Two years ago."

"What is Agoraphobia?" Yohji asked, unfamiliar with the psychological term.

"Fear of going out to an open space or a public place," Crawford explained.

"Can I ask what triggered that phobia… in general?"

"An accident or a threat or someone carrying out that threat and the victim was traumatized by the event… that kind of situation," Crawford explained further when he noticed that Schuldig was lost in his own thoughts. Yohji nodded and made a mental note to check on the matter.

"Did Aya know what happened to her family?"

Yohji turned his face towards his lover. "Asuka is trying to find her, she is on holiday with a friend. She is lucky."

"I want to be there when you break the news."

"Okay, Now… let's concentrate in finding the shrinking violet."

"What are you going to do or say when you find him? `Police Officer! Freeze'?" Schuldig asked his lover.

"He might be the witness and he might be the suspect. If it is the former I need to protect him, but if it's the latter…." His voice trailed off.

"He could never kill anyone, Yohji."

"How do you know, you've never even met him."

Schuldig had no answer to that but whatever it was he was sure that Aya's brother could not do what he had seen in the pictures before. It had to be someone else, someone strong and someone really screwed up and Fujimiya Ran was not. His desperate voice asking for help this morning was the proof. /Okay... Maybe he is slightly screwed up but he does not fit the profile./

They drove in silence again. Schuldig was hoping that they found the young man before anyone else did. He believed that the real killer was still loose out there and was also searching.

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Me: Waaa…. (after reading Mini-san comments) *hides* I mess up the text with past and present tense. *humbly bow at Mini-san* . Thank you very much for alerting me!

Fuuma: I think you should write what her muse suggested^^

Me: What? Yohji and Schu doing it in Crawford's study room?

Fuuma: *nodded eagerly*

Me: *grin* May be I would… Anyway, I had to ask one question for the readers… In the series, Schu's eyes were jade green right, however when I watched the OVA, his eyes were sky blue. So now I am confused, did he gone for eyes transplant or something in any of the Dramatic Album before the OVA??? Last but not least, thank you very much for reading this fiction and please drop in few words of comments. Ja matte ne ^___^