Weiss Kreuz Fan Fiction ❯ Day Care Mission ❯ The assassin ( Chapter 9 )

Day Care Mission

by Myka

chapter 9 "The assassin" (aka resolve)

Warnings: some violence, more angst than usual (I can't help it when it's these two)

A/N: Okay. I know I said this was going to be the last chapter, but it's not. I got some good suggestions from the original ending and decided to expand it. Which means DCM will end in chapter 10.
I forgot to put this on the last chapter. I made a silly DCM floor plan picture. The link is on my author page (because ff.net refused to upload the chapter unless I removed the link). That is how I saw it in my head as I wrote. ^-^
A million thanks to naaha and Kato-chan for betaing this. I got a very nice response for my beta plea and they were just wonderful.

~~~

"Minako…"

Schuldig couldn't keep the shock out of his voice.

Kyra whimpered, catching Schuldig's attention. The telepath took the opportunity to command the kids to hide behind him. Kyra and Ryon responded immediately, almost running to hide behind the redhead. He was now the only thing between them and Minako.

"This was all a set up, wasn't it?" Schuldig asked as one of the kids clutched to him; Kyra. Even if it was Yohji's job to protect her, Schuldig wasn't about to let the child get hurt just because Yohji wasn't there. It was clear the woman was after both children.

Minako nodded slightly, her hand shaking. This worried Schuldig the most. The gun's safety was clearly off. This was no bluff; Minako had come for those kids. "I'm just a pawn." She said, "I have to do what they say. Just give me the kids, Schuldig."

Schuldig shook his head.

"Please…Just let me take them."

"No."

Schuldig watched as Minako started to squeeze the trigger and instantly tried to open a link between them so he could stop her.

But she had shields. Strong ones. She didn't stop.

"Minako please! I'm sure there's another option than the one you're taking," Schuldig pleaded, realizing that his telepathy was useless at the moment.

She just shook her head sadly.

"You're in the way Schuldig."

~~~

Yohji cursed for the twentieth time as he slammed his entire body against the nursery door. He knew something was wrong and he knew he had to open that door now.

He was about to charge at it again when he heard a gunshot followed by a kid screaming.

Yohji froze for a second. His entire body, from head to toe, getting instantly cold.

"No…"

He slammed himself against the door again with more force than before.

Once. Twice. At the third blow the door pushed open and almost immediately a hand wrapped itself around Yohji's throat, pushing him back inside the room again. The hand around his neck belonged to a scrawny looking man with a thin face, blue eyes and dark hair. Yohji choked under the pressure on his throat and raised his knee upwards, successfully slamming it against his attacker's groin.

The unknown man groaned, loosening the grip on Yohji's throat. Yohji shoved him away; his only goal right now was getting to where Schuldig was. Yohji reached for his watch, but before he could pull the wire out of the device he felt a sharp pain on his shoulder. Yohji winced and reached for the long needle embedded on the back of his hand. He pulled it out and threw the needle away as the attacker pulled more of the small weapons from his pockets and launched at Yohji again.

~~~

Kyra had a death grip on Schuldig as she cried her eyes out.

Schuldig did his best to calm her down by using his telepathy as he tried to cover the wound below his shoulder.

Minako really was serious about going through with what, apparently, was an order from someone. Schuldig couldn't believe that she had actually shot him. At least she wasn't out to kill him; she could have easily wounded him in a more fatal spot than his arm. Schuldig was starting to get nervous, a feeling he hated. For some reason he couldn't use his telepathy against Minako. And as much as he hated to admit it, he needed help. Where the hell was Yohji?

"Move away, Schuldig," Minako asked again, still keeping the gun pointed at the redhead.

"Get a grip Minako. Take a look at what you're doing," Schuldig spat back.

"I have no choice!" she screamed. She stepped forward, but seemed to hesitate. Schuldig saw his opportunity and launched forward, snatching the gun from her hands and ordering the kids to run. She struggled against him for control of the weapon. She scowled. "I didn't come here alone." She suddenly said.

Schuldig finally took the gun from her grip and hid it in one of his pockets. He ignored Minako and went after the kids, because if Minako wasn't the only one there, then Kyra and Ryon where still in danger. He spotted the kids hiding behind a bookshelf in another corner of the room and instantly went towards them, making sure they were all right. He glanced around but saw no one. If Minako's words were true then where was her supposed accomplice?

Schuldig concentrated and searched for Yohji. But before he could pinpoint the blond, one of the kids yanked at his shirt, claiming his attention. Schuldig turned around to find Minako with a new gun in her hands.

He had made a mistake.

"I told you before, I have to do what they say," she said. "Move, Schuldig. I don't want to hurt you."

"You mean you don't want to shoot me again," Schuldig spat sarcastically, unable to stop himself.

"I'll do it again if I have to."

Schuldig could not believe what he was hearing. There was something wrong with Minako. He hadn't notice it before because she had surprised him. But now it was quite obvious. Her attitude, her posture; everything so unlike the cheerful woman he had come to know in the past four months. "Who are you?" he asked.

Minako had the beginning of what seemed to be tears in her eyes as she shook her head.

"Move!" she yelled.

Schuldig remembered the gun he had taken from her. But he didn't even reach for it. For some reason he knew he couldn't shoot her, not in front of the children and certainly not when he was certain Minako wasn't in her right state of mind. He just shook his head, his resolve firm. "I won't."

~~~

Yohji dodged to the left, avoiding a needle that was aimed at his face. All he wanted to do right now was get rid of this guy and find out what was going on in the other room. He was supposed to be protecting Kyra, but he was still here dodging sharp objects. Every time he tried to reach for his wire, one of the little needles was thrown at him. They were at a draw.

Then another shot ran out, sending a chill down Yohji's spine.

Yohji noticed a grin forming on his attacker's lips at the sound. But he didn't feel dread or worry. Just pure uninhibited anger. He launched forward, connecting his fist with the man's face, successfully sending him backwards. His wire wrapped itself around the assassin's throat, but not before the man managed to plunge one of his needles into Yohji's shoulder.

The struggle didn't last very long and soon the man lay dead on the floor.

Yohji retracted his wire back into his watch, pulled the needle from his arm and ran out of the nursery.

~~~

Minako gave another step forward.

Schuldig sat on the floor, his arm wrapped around his waist. It hurt too much for it not to be a serious wound. He could hear Kyra and Ryon crying softly behind him. They were scared.

Minako tried to go around him and reach the kids but he pushed her back. He gave her a death glare, making clear his intention that there was no way she was getting to those kids as long as he was conscious. His lower abdomen screamed in pain as he moved.

"Yohji, where are you?" Schuldig thought before he felt the pressure of the barrel of the gun against his temple. He glanced up; Minako's eyes were bearing down on him. "I told you to move." She cried softly. "You leave me no choice."

Schuldig closed his eyes, waiting to hear the shot, waiting for everything to go dark. He never thought he would die for a couple of brats.

But there was no shot. The cold feeling of the gun disappeared. And Schuldig snapped his eyes open to find Minako on the floor, her arms tied with a line of wire. She was crying.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" she kept crying over and over. "They have my baby! I have to do what they say! I have to take the kids! I have to!"

The next thing Schuldig saw was Yohji. Kneeling beside him, asking what had happened and if the kids were all right. There was instant relief in Schuldig's mind. He finally felt he could relax after everything that had gone down. He rested his back against the bookshelf and took a deep breath.

Yohji took the kids with him and sat them down where he knew they would be safe. Then he took Minako, who seemed to have fainted, to the nap area and laid her there. He then returned to Schuldig's side.

Schuldig tried his best not to move because every move he made, no matter how insignificant, was extremely painful. A hand touched his forehead and Schuldig opened his eyes to a concerned looking Yohji. "You're hurt," Schuldig muttered, taking notice of the blood on Yohji's shoulder.

"It's nothing, just a flesh wound." Yohji disregarded it. "How about you? She shot you in the arm?"

"I got shot more than that." Schuldig chuckled a bit. "But at least I did my job."

Yohji gave him a confused look and the slight amusement in Schuldig's eyes instantly changed.

"What's wrong Schuldig?" Yohji asked. Schuldig avoided the piercing gaze and finally moved his arm away from his waist, finally exposing the gunshot wound he had received in the stomach. "She shot me twice."

Yohji instantly snatched his blood-soaked hand away, checking the wound over.

"Schu! Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

Schuldig forced a half-smirk on his face. "Because I don't think there's anything you can do."

"Don't talk like that!" Yohji snapped. "They're on their way."

"Your friends?" The redhead asked.

"Yes. I've had a warning device, ever since the accident at the amusement park."

Schuldig nodded slowly, allowing a smirk to form on his face. "I guess I won't be able to make it tomorrow." He added, squeezing Yohji's hand.

"Does it hurt?" the blond asked.

"Of course it does, hurts like hell," the redhead replied, closing his eyes briefly.

"Hey!" Yohji yelled; grabbing Schuldig's chin and making their eyes meet. "Don't fall asleep on me."

Schuldig smiled weakly. "I'm trying."

Yohji could hear what sounded like a siren in the distance. "C'mon" he told the redhead as he took him in his arms. But the second he tried to pick Schuldig up, the telepath screamed.

"Stop! Don't…"

Yohji put Schuldig back down and released him. He was about to pull back when Schuldig's hand wrapped around his shirt, smearing it with blood, not letting him leave. The redhead rested his head against Yohji's chest as he tried to ignore the pain.

Yohji put an arm around Schuldig's shoulders, allowing the redhead to rest against him. Schuldig noticed Yohji's heartbeat was faster than usual and he allowed himself to be held. It felt nice.

"I'm sorry I didn't respond to you this morning," Schuldig whispered.

"Did you say something?" Yohji asked softly.

Schuldig smiled and raised his head upwards, tracing a finger across Yohji's cheek, in the same manner that the blond had done that morning. Yohji's eyes seemed to widen slightly, but he responded to the touch and pulled Schuldig closer to him, letting their eyes meet.

"I cared," Schuldig whispered as his eyes closed and his world dimmed into black.

"Schu?" Yohji questioned, shaking the redhead a bit. "Schuldig?"

Emerald eyes didn't open. There was no response.

The siren sounded closer now.

Yohji just screamed.

"Schuldig!"

~~~

It was over.

The bad guys turned out to be an upstart gang that had wanted to kidnap the children and use them as leverage against Esset and Kritiker. Their reasons were never revealed. Minako received no penalty for her actions; she was treated for the drugs she had been given and released shortly thereafter. Her son had been rescued during the mission and returned to her.

Everything went back to normal. Or as normal as things could be.

Yohji walked slowly towards the counter at the Koneko no Sume Ie. He held a bouquet of orchids in his hands. He had just started wrapping the flowers on top of the counter when Omi walked into the room.

The teenager took notice of Yohji's chosen chore and scowled slightly. "Those are for him aren't they?" he asked.

Yohji didn't respond.

"You have to let him go Yohji. It's been two weeks. The mission is over."

Yohji finished wrapping the flowers and turned around. "Like you let Nagi go?"

"It's not the same thing Yohji. Nagi and I just spent a day together."

"Well for me it was four months," Yohji finished, making his point.

Omi hushed, taking a deep breath. Yohji picked up the flowers and exited through the shop door, leaving Omi still worried inside.

~~~

Yohji decided to walk. He didn't particularly care what Omi thought or knew for that matter. It was his business, his personal business at that. It had nothing to do with Weiss. He needed to do this; he needed to see Schuldig at least one last time. It took him approximately ten minutes to reach his destination. He walked into the building, saluted the person at the front desk and took the stairs up to the second floor. He didn't even bother to use the elevator, heading straight to the third room to the left. He opened the door without knocking, just in time to catch Schuldig trying to rip the I.V drip from his arm.

"What are you doing?" Yohji asked.

Schuldig raised his head and immediately stopped trying to pull the needle out. "Yohji!"

"You aren't by any chance trying to remove that needle again are you?" the blond said as he reached the bed.

"But it stings!" Schuldig pouted. "It's making me nuts."

"Baka," Yohji replied hitting Schuldig on the head with the bouquet of flowers. "You know what the doctor said."

"I know, I know. That I won't heal as fast unless I keep this damn thing on."

"Very good." Yohji nodded. "Now that we got that clear. Here," he added, giving Schuldig the flowers.

"Flowers again?" the redhead asked as he took the bouquet. "You know, Yohji, chocolates say 'I love you' too," he finished with a grin.

Yohji frowned. "Don't be a smart ass."

Schuldig laughed as he put the flowers aside. "Nagi came by yesterday to tell me, the mission is now officially closed."

Yohji nodded. "Everything's sealed as of now. It's as if none of it ever happened."

"Have you gone back to the daycare?"

"No, I haven't had time. But I heard everyone's ok, including Minako."

"She came to apologize after I woke up." Schuldig said. "Is not that I resent her, but I still think she didn't have to go to such extremes."

"It really wasn't her fault, Schu. You know they had her kid and they gave her those drugs."

"I know. Still doesn't erase the fact that she almost killed me."

"Yeah. You ruined my clothes with all your bleeding," Yohji snickered, making them both laugh.

"Funny how we can laugh about that now. But I was told you looked quite distressed when they wouldn't let you come with me in the ambulance, and that you even started fighting with one of the paramedics."

Yohji blinked. "Who told you that?"

Schuldig grinned. "Omi told Nagi, who told me."

Yohji's eyes widened. "You mean Omi and Nagi are on speaking terms?"

"As far as I know. Seems they discovered they have a lot of things in common."

Yohji stood from the chair in a single movement. "That little liar!" He yelled as he started pacing around the room, waving his arms around. "After telling me all that stuff about how I need to stop seeing you…."

Schuldig followed Yohji with his eyes, snickering under his breath as the blond went from one corner of the room to the other. "Well are you?" he asked eventually.

Yohji stopped and turned his eyes to the redhead. "Am I what?"

Schuldig still had a slight grin on his lips. "Are you going to stop seeing me?"

Yohji averted his eyes for a second, then walked back to Schuldig's side and sat on the chair again. "I kinda have to," he said calmly.

"Oh…" Now it was Schuldig's turn to avert his eyes for a bit. "It's going to be hard you know."

"What is?"

"Going back. Erasing everything that has happened. You were right; it was unfair of them to pair us up like that. Everything's different now." Schuldig hushed after he spoke, not daring to look Yohji in the eye.

Yohji noticed and rose from the chair again. "I really should head back now, before someone notices that I'm missing." Schuldig looked at him and Yohji thought he saw sadness in those emerald eyes. He stretched his hand and pushed Schuldig's bangs away from his face, leaning in and placing a gentle kiss on the telepath's forehead. "Goodbye."

Schuldig took a breath, watching as Yohji left his side and headed out of the room, away from everything that had happened, away from him. Words crept to the tip of his tongue, but he didn't dare speak them. He just watched, and let Yohji go.

"Goodbye…"

~to be concluded~