Weiss Kreuz Fan Fiction ❯ To Those About To Die ❯ Chapter 9 Kiko ( Chapter 9 )

Chapter Nine -- Kiko

For years I have endeavoured to break through the veil which shrouded it, and at last the time came when I seized my thread and followed it, until it led me after a thousand cunning windings, to ex-Professor Moriarty... He is a genious, a philosopher, an abstract thinker. He has a brain of the first order... You know my powers, my dear Watson, and yet at the end of three months I was forced to confess that I had at last met an antagonist who was my intellectual equal.

"The Final Problem" -- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

"What are you doing, Berger?"

I looked up, blinking. Kiko stood in the doorway, bathrobe carelessly ajar and a toothbrush sticking out of his mouth.

"Research," I told him, my voice hushed as though we were in a library. I dog-eared the already worn page and set the paperback down on the floor; this was my third time reading it, or was it the fourth? I stretched and ran a hand through my hair. The olive brown mop had grown quite long; I considered a haircut, then realized I had become distractable with fatigue.

Around me, the floor was covered with piles of folders and stacks of papers. A notebook computer and box of disks completed the information overload that had me in its thrall. I yawned in spite of myself and rubbed at my eyes, trying to regain some degree of alertness. I glanced at the clock: 3 a.m.

Casual as always, Kiko sauntered through the clutter and dropped to sit cross-legged a couple feet away, unmindful of the rather personal view he was giving me. He resumed brushing his teeth with a left-handed grip while picking up a folder at random and flipping it open on his lap. "What is all this?" he mumbled around the toothbrush.

"It's everything we have on Schwarz," I replied, "or at least everything they deem appropriate to my level." I sighed. It would be the information missing that made the difference, but the higher-ups never seemed to understand that. "Every recent sighting, all encounters in the field, their school records, Crawford's marksmanship records for God's sake. Everything I could get them to send to us."

As I frowned at the monumental task of sifting through all this in the hopes that I would be the one to find the critical clue, I heard the sound of heavy glass sliding across wood, then the distinct sound of spitting. I looked up.

Kiko set the ashtray back on the table, a gob of mint-scented foam congealing in the center of it.

"You know, she hates when you do that." I couldn't keep the smile from my voice.

"Yeah? Well, she can bite me."

"Don't let her, you don't know if she's had her shots." Our eyes met, and laughter followed. Neither of us liked or trusted our third teammate, and the moments to vent were rare and cherished.

Kiko wiped the last bit of toothpaste from his lips and turned his attention back to the folder on his lap. "Berger, you know you're obsessing, right? You've read this before, we all have. I thought maybe you had something new."

I decided to take a chance. "I do, Kiko." I tapped my temple. "It's right here, though, and I can't quite decipher it. I feel as if I know the answer, but I just can't make it come clear." Frustration pushed me to my feet and I began pacing, again.

He looked at me as though sniffing for falsehood. Then he nodded. "Yeah, I know what you mean. It's right there, you know it, I know it, and damn if we can't figure it out. Something's been bugging me, though, and, well..."

"What, Kiko?" I paused and looked at him. If he had some hunch, I needed to hear it.

"Well, Berger -- now, don't get all pissed if you don't like this, and don't shoot me, but -- it's almost like you don't really want to find them."

I blinked. Surely he hadn't just said...what was in my heart all this time?

"I mean, sure you're team leader, and sure you have to do what they tell you, right? But hey, something about these four guys has you bothered, and you don't seem to hate them enough to want them dead. It's like you'd rather meet them for lunch, get to know them, you know? You're curious, for your own agenda. Screw Rosenkreuz." He watched for my reaction.

"Does She know?" The words came out a little sharper than I intended, and Kiko flinched.

"Berger, don't you trust me? I'm not trying to mess with you, I know how much losing Toni hurt you, but you gotta know, if anyone else figures you out, you'll go the same way he did. I'm with you, I promised you that, but be more careful, okay? She's not as stupid as you think she is."

At his mention of Toni, I felt myself wilt. Fatigue and grief and pointless existence crashed together and the world went gray. Then a warm presence was at my side, strong hands keeping me from falling.

"Shit, Berger, don't do that! I don't need you passing out. I can't carry your big ass to bed!"

Laughter brought with it a renewed energy. "Kiko, I'm fine. Don't worry about carrying my big ass anywhere."

Kiko remained serious. "You don't look fine. You look like shit. When's the last time you ate anything? Or slept more than three hours?"

I frowned, unwilling to let the frantic mirth slip away just yet but unable to keep it. "I had dinner. And some cake around nine."

"It's after three in the morning, Berger. What about sleep? Don't think I haven't noticed, I notice a lot."

I sighed. It was true, Kiko paid attention. I hadn't slept well since... "I don't sleep so good alone."

I could almost hear him make his decision. Then he was gently but firmly guiding me to my room. "Come on, Berger. You need rest. It's a good thing She didn't find you like that, you know. She's good at getting what she wants from a man who can't fight back."

"I'm not a man, to her," I mumbled, fatigue blunting the hostility She always inspired.

"You have the parts, you're good enough," he growled. "She don't care much."

I paused at the door to my room. "Kiko, do you and her...?" I had to ask, I had to know.

To my surprise, my blue-haired teammate laughed. "No, because I'm more of a stubborn bitch than she is. I let her get all worked up, I lie there, let her get me all excited, you know, me first then her? And after I let her get me off, I roll over and go to sleep. Hey, you know how guys are. She falls for it every time."

Then, to my surprise, I laughed too. "As she once mentioned, Geisel, you are a bitch! I'm impressed."

"Berger...please don't call me Geisel, it's a girly name," he said as he followed me into my room.

"And Kiko isn't?"

He grinned that irrepressible grin of his and said, "No, it's not. It's the name of a Polynesian sex god, don't you know?"

A pause, then I asked, "You're lying, right?"

"Berger. Would I lie to you?" His face was all mock innocence.

I regarded him critically. "Yes."

He grinned and tossed his bathrobe onto a chair. "Oh, well. Busted. What's a guy to do?"

"Uh, Kiko?" I couldn't help but stare. I hadn't been near a naked man since Toni, and very few before him. "What are you doing?"

"I always sleep in the nude," he stated, strolling to my bed and turning down the covers.

I watched him move as he leaned over and fussed with the bedding, the flex of muscles through his legs and ass, the conspicuous flash of black hair at his crotch, the hands I knew would be warm and skilled...

"Kiko," I croaked, my voice betraying my confused state, "what are your intentions?"

He looked up, and damned if he wasn't honestly baffled by my distress. "But Berger, you said you don't sleep well alone. I'm not going to let Her sleep with you, that would be nasty. So you get me. Come on, get in bed." His gaze remained on my face, ignoring my rude lower half which by now had thoughts of its own. Very visible thoughts.

I slipped out of my shirt and tugged off the socks, then turned out the light. I would keep the pants on, a fragile barrier between my ache and his very accessible body. I resented myself for wanting, I resented him for being so damn naïve as to not even care that I wanted. I would not allow myself to seek a substitute for Toni, I would not --

Warm hands caught me before I reached the bed, neatly unfastening my pants and sliding them down with a little difficulty. Hot breath caressed my straining erection as Kiko's voice drifted up to my pulse-deafened ears: "You always sleep in the nude too, Berger. I noticed."

No! I did not want to betray Toni, to fall so easily into another's bed! Please, no... Please... Oh, please...

I heard a low groan and realized it had come from my own lips, the lips that Toni had kissed just so. Hot, wet ecstasy encased my cock, sliding from tip to base to tip with practiced ease. My hands fell to Kiko's head, tangled in his thick, curly hair, and begged him...to continue.

Thoughts became irrelevant in the wash of pleasure flowing up from my groin. He was good, damn good. And it had been so long. Toni would not have wanted me to suffer, would he? No, he would have wanted me to relive the joy and the passion, not lock it away in a box with his name on it like a coffin. For the first time in far too long, I listened to my body, and my heart.

Kiko felt the quickening in me, and responded with skillful intensity. His hands were hot upon my buttocks, guiding me into his mouth; his mouth was molten fire surrounding my helpless flesh. Oh, God, it's almost...I'm almost...oh GOD!

I cried out as I spilled into his mouth, my body spasming as every muscle clenched in that ancient rhythm. He drank every drop I had, coaxing the last bit out with gentle sips.

Then he guided me into bed. If he wanted more, I was in no condition to fulfill it. I fell asleep with his head upon my chest.