Weiss Kreuz Fan Fiction ❯ Gilded Cage ❯ Chapter 1

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

This is a rather strange disturbing short story that the muse urged me to write. Perhaps I should have tried to make it longer, but I find myself reluctant to invest the emotional energy it would take to explore this much deeper.

Acknowledgements:
1. The rp players of the story arc Weiße Gefangene found at http://whitecross.i-hwy.net/forumdisplay.php?fid=24
2. Silrayn Silverwolf for introducing me to the term 'Stockholm syndrome' in her fic 'As it is, As it was...'

Something clicked with my muse when I read Weiße Gefangene and it made me remember the term 'Stockholm syndrome.' This story is a result of that combined inspiration.

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Just a little reminder to readers, please: This is a work of fanfiction. The opinions and observations as expressed by the characters in this piece of work, should not be construed as opinions and observations shared by the author.

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DISCLAIMER: Kyoko Tsuchiya and Project Weiß hold the copyright over all names, likeness and rights of Weiß kreuz. All these characters and materials are used without permission, and I'm not profiting from this piece of fan fiction.

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Gilded Cage
Part 1 - Entrapment
By Jacque Koh
April 2002
@>;-'-

A gasping moan of pain whispered beside Crawford's ear as he furiously thrust into the pale body beneath him. Chains clinked overhead as struggling hands reached to grip the lengths that secured them to the bed head. Crawford pushed himself up to tower over his little slave, liking what he looked upon. The street lamps outside the window cast lines of light over them past the vertical blinds covering the windows, framing the suffering form of Schwarz's former enemy in an impression of a gilded cage.

"Br-- Master, o-- o--negai--"

He could have reprimanded his little slave on the lapse, but he decided to be generous. It was caught in time and Crawford really couldn't fault the man for momentarily forgetting. It was hard to concentrate when you had someone fucking your brains out.

"O--ne--gai-- hurts..."

"Shhhh, Precious." He eased up slightly on his rhythm. "It'll feel good soon. You have to relax, remember? Have I ever left you unsatisfied?"

Tear filled amethyst eyes, gazed up at him in trust. "N-- no, Master--"

#Crawford, give him a break, the kätzchen's going to faint from the pain if you don't ease up. You were a bit too enthusiastic with the paddle tonight.#

Crawford bent to kiss and sip at the tears rolling down Ran's pale cheeks. As suggested, he made his rhythm gentler. "Shhh, don't tense up. It hurts worse when you don't relax. Just feel, Precious." He reached down to stroke the quickly hardening length trapped between their bodies. /Concern for our little toy, Schuldig? It doesn't seem like you./

#The next time you want to spend so long beating the shit out of him, I get first dibs. See how much *you* enjoy fucking an unconscious body. I like him awake and screaming when I take him.# The German pouted at him as he reached over to stroke Ran's blood red hair and spread it a little more over the black satin covered pillow. They loved looking upon the contrasts of his hair and skin against black satin. It brought a smile to his face to see their red-haired toy turn to nuzzle against his hand.

/And here I thought you appreciated following after me so that you could claim responsibility for bringing our sex kitten to orgasm. His body still responds when he's unconsciousness./ Crawford's mouth and tongue kept busy, nibbling and licking the pale neck and throat of the responsive man beneath him. The moans were slowly changing in sentiment to pleasure. "See, Precious. Don't I always make you feel so good?"

"Master." Ran gasped as he arched into the punishing teeth. "So-- good-- to me."

Schuldig purred as he grabbed Ran by the hair and turned his face so that he could plunder the sweet depths of his mouth. #I prefer him awake enough to thank us for the torture and rape.#

"Always, Precious. You're always so precious to us." Crawford looked up at his German colleague and smirked. /We have him well trained, haven't we?/

Psychologists named it the Stockholm syndrome. They coined the term in the early 70s to describe the puzzling reactions of four bank employees, who were hostages to convicts who had held up one of the largest banks in Stockholm. If there were ever a poster child for this unusual behaviour, Ran could have been a perfect candidate. Youji couldn't believe the apparent ease he was currently displaying with the man who Weiß knew kidnapped, and from evidence they'd received, brutally raped him. His mind reeled to wonder what could have possibly happened over Ran's eight months of captivity to make him appear so-- happy to be with his captors.

Youji had been very lucky to accidentally spot them amidst the crowd of partiers that turned out to enjoy the cherry blossom festival. However, despite ditching his date, he was still having a devil of a time keeping an eye on the couple as they rapidly disappeared into the crush of people.

/It isn't fair!/ Youji cursed softly to himself as he tried to unobtrusively hurry after them. He seethed inwardly to remember the bright smile on the redhead's face as he looked up at his taller companion. In all the three years Fujimiya Aya/Ran had worked with Weiß, Youji could count on the fingers of one hand the number of occasions when the stoic younger man had so much as cracked a tiny smile of amusement in their presence. Yet in the space of the five minutes he had been tailing the couple, Youji saw the same man smile openly and even outright laugh at something the bespectacled bastard had whispered to him. It was-- inconceivable for Ran to be that-- that 'cheerful' with the rapists who kidnapped him from Weiß at the conclusion of a mission.

They had been searching for Ran all those long months, fearing the worse after receiving a set of audiotapes the morning after his abduction. Weeks of silence followed the tapes before they received one mocking phone call from Schwarz warning them against ever contacting their redhead teammate again. After that, it was as if Schwarz had dropped off the face of the earth with their friend. The only assurance Weiß and Kritiker had that Schwarz were still in Tokyo was the underworld buzz, which told of the assassin team's presence in the forging of a new gangland order in SZ's ashes. Of their redhead friend, they had no further news.

/Kami-sama, what did they do to you, Ra--?/ Something hard and unyielding poked Youji in the side and a seemingly casual arm draped over his shoulders to stop him from pursuing the two men.

#Kudou, we warned you about approaching our kitten.# The nasal German accented drawl was unmistakable.

"*Your* kitten?" Youji hissed angrily, but had the presence of mind not to put up a hint of a struggle. "When did you have the righ--"

The silencer tipped gun was shoved into his side harder. #When it took us two months to put him back together again after Weiß shattered him, Kudo...#

"What?! What do you mean *we* shatt--?"

#The kitten was already in bad shape *before* we got our hands on him.# Schuldig cut him off as he unobtrusively started to pull Youji away from the crowd.

"What?!" A flash of memory hit him. Youji's head swam. He couldn't believe what the German was saying. All those weeks ago before his kidnapping, he, Ken and Omi were concerned about Ran. They knew he hadn't taken his sister's death from a road accident very well, but they hadn't realised it was quite that bad...

Schuldig turned the Weiß blond around to glare at him balefully. #Another couple of weeks and he would have died of neglect under your very noses.#

"We would never-- We were watching him, you bastard!" Youji didn't care that the people around them could hear him yelling at the Schwarz Garman. "Until you and your fuck buddy decided to kidna--"

Schuldig quickly pulled Youji from the crowd and into a secluded grove. "Watching him?" He hissed angrily. "Did it never occur to you that you could have acted sooner? Gott! We thought he'd die!"

"And it was never your intention to kill him?" Youji snarled at him angrily. "We far from received any assurance from you that you wanted him for any more then to be a toy to rape and torture."

At this, Schuldig looked a little rueful and embarrassed. "Believe me, Balinese. We hadn't intended to keep him for more than a couple of weeks. It just-- turned out that way..." But his expression turned hard again as he pinned his gaze at the Weiß blonde. "He's ours now Weiß. Ours to hold and protect from you!"

Youji shook his head in disbelief. "Protect him from *us*? What the hell have you been smoki--?!"

Schuldig eyed him appraisingly. "You really don't know what you did to him, do you?"

"*You* raped--"

"We saved his life!" Schuldig told him coldly. "The man was sick, malnourished, dehydrated, mentally *and* physically exhausted... And this happened to him under your watch, Weiß. The doctor said this neglect must have been going on for over a month. Any longer and he could have damaged his internal organs beyond his body's ability to recover without being chained to pills and medication for the rest of his life."

"What?!" /Kami-sama.../ That span of time. It was about right if he counted all the weeks after the accident Ran had spent visiting the hospital before his sister eventually died. Added to that the weeks he spent brooding following her death... They hadn't realised it was *that* bad. His clothes must have hidden his thinness too well. He had been so bent on pushing them away and wallowing in his own misery--

"You actually left him alone because he wanted you to?" The German snorted at him in disgust. "You never gave a thought that *you*, his *family*, should have pushed the issue and been more forceful to make sure he didn't succeed in doing himself permanent injury?"

The infuriating accusation was enough to shake Youji out of his guilt to glare at Schuldig sceptically. The Schwarz German had the grace to flush in guilt at the un-worded challenge. "Damn it. Yes, we-- We wanted-- we pushed him on other issues-- It changed. That's all. The situation changed when we realised..."

"You could have left him to us--"

"To finish him off?" Schuldig had the speed to duck the wild blow Youji launched at him for those words. "Admit it Kudo, you wouldn't have had the backbone to do *anything* for him. He would have fought you tooth and nail, and you would have let him continue to ignore his health until it was too late!"

"No! That's a lie!"

"Is it?" To Youji's utter surprise, Schuldig holstered his gun and breathed out a deep and tired sigh. "Let it go, Weiß. Fujimiya is safe and contented where he is. Schwarz is his family now and we protect our own."

"After listening to those tapes..." Youji growled at him angrily, "You want us to trust you? Leave our friend in your care? Why should we?"

At this, Schuldig snorted in sardonic laughter. "Lets just say we awakened to hitherto unknown needs within ourselves when we started fucking him. For all we know-- you and Hidaka might have formed the same kind of bond with him if you'd forced the issue yourselves."

"If we'd-- Bastard!"

This time Schuldig caught the fist that Youji shot at him and used it to twist his arm cruelly behind his back. "This is our final warning, Weiß." The German whispered into his ear. "Back off or next time we won't be so merciful."

In the next moment, Youji found himself alone again with no idea where the German had disappeared. "Ran..."

He didn't-- couldn't bring himself to trust the Schwarz bastard. There was still no closure for Weiß with this conversation. Ran-- The tapes they had received were heart-wrenching evidence of Ran's brutal first night as Schwarz's prisoner. It was inconceivable to think that Ran could have fallen in love with his rapists.

Youji swore to keep up the search for their redhead team-mate. After having failed Ran once-- no-- evidently twice now, they weren't going to fail him a third time by letting this go. They owed it to Ran to free him and they were going to keep looking for him for as long as it took.

Nagi started awake just as a familiar figure was tucking him into bed. "Hn. You could have slept on, Nagi. You looked like you needed it."

"Ran-kun?" The Japanese boy was mesmerised by the redhead who was kneeling beside his bed. Ran had not yet closed the blinds in his room, and from where he sat the vertical strips of light were cast upon the redhead like-- gilded bars.

The figure nodded. "You were probably studying too hard." A gentle hand tousled his hair fondly. "I found you asleep over your books. Go back and nap, I'll call you when dinner's ready."

Nagi shot out a hand to catch Ran's sleeve before he could approach the window to adjust the vertical blinds. "Ran-kun? Why--" He hesitated, Crawford and Schuldig were adamant about their never questioning the Weiß redhead's inclusion into their ranks. Though he deeply appreciated Ran having joined them, Nagi was still very disturbed about the situation. "I'm-- glad you're here, but-- We-- were enemies for so long. Why do you take care of us now?"

Ran looked at him sadly. "Perhaps-- I had-- thought-- You took care of me while I was sick, Nagi. I--" He moved towards the blinds and twisted the rod which would cause the long strips to close and block out the afternoon sun. "You probably showed me--" His lips quirked a little sheepishly in admission, "Well-- more like forced on me more attention and consideration than I ever received before I was-- brought here... You want me around."

Nagi clamped his mouth shut before he said something about the first few days of Ran's stay with them. The man had been lost in fevered dreams during that first week. They had even been afraid that he would die. With his slow recovery, it was clear to them that Ran didn't remember anything of how he had come to be brought to the Schwarz safe house. They had let him believe that they picked him up off the streets after he wandered away from Weiß at the successful conclusion of their last mission.

"Do you-- miss them?"

"They-- don't want me." He looked sad, but gave Nagi a small smile as he reached over to brush his bangs out of his eyes. "Besides, I seem to have a place here without ever needing to kill again."

"And-- Crawford and Schuldig are-- treating you well?"

Ran blushed and would have snapped at Nagi for suddenly teasing him if he didn't see the seriousness of his expression. "Hai, they--" He blinked, frowning slightly as if suddenly giving their relationship a thorough contemplation for the first time. "They are good to me."

Nagi almost, but didn't growl at the incongruity of the statement. He was well aware of the numerous bruises and scars that Ran hid under his long sleeves and all concealing clothing. The Japanese boy was deeply concerned that Crawford and Schuldig never seemed to care to wait until the damage they did to him healed first before engaging in more of their-- 'games'.

"Are you--" He glanced nervously towards the door. He really wanted to ask something, but-- if he did, he was quite sure Crawford and Schuldig would be very angry with him.

Ran gave the boy a reassuring smile and a blush as he pressed Nagi to get back under his blankets. "What ever it is you think you hear at night, it's just playing, Nagi. There's never any permanent damage and they make sure I enjoy it."

Nagi tried not to look sceptical. "Sometimes-- you sound--"

"I'll talk to Crawford about giving me a gag the next time we get rough." He interrupted firmly and leaned over to tuck Nagi in again. "I am happy, Nagi. I have a home here where I never had one before.

"Take a nap, you do look like you need it. I'll call you when dinner is ready."

At the soft click of the door closing behind the redhead, Nagi turned under the covers to stare at the closed vertical blinds and the strips of light that gleamed along the edges. /Are you truly happy, Ran-kun? Or do you think you have nowhere else to go and-- are just-- accustomed to their demands?/