TITLE: Gambling My Freedom Away

CHAPTER: Six

BY: Simply Kim

GENRE: Yaoi (Angst/Humor/AU)

CAST: Guys from Weiß and Schwarz... Oh yeah, and maybe the Crashers too if needed... heh, I really don't know...

DISCLAIMERS: The series I'm referring to do not belong to me… ^_^ only the weird story does.

NOTES: (~) is for the telepathic link, (~*~) is for Crawford's visions, and (/ /) is for character thoughts.

CHAPTER 6: Breathe

"Ran-san, could you please pass me the mop?"

Ran's eyes immediately scoped the area, trying to find the needed object amidst the clutter of the casino. "Ah, here it is Nagi-chan..."

Nagi gave him a glare. "Ran-san, stop calling me that! I'm already grown up!" He protested, taking a hold of the metal handle, his lips puckered into an offended pout.

Ran smiled indulgently. "Hai, hai." He said in complete amusement, his eyes never leaving the younger boy's childish features. "Wakatteiru yo. I wont call you that again, I promise... unless..."

Nagi was about to protest when the locked front door opened with a huge bang. Surprised, both jumped, eyes straying in fright at the doorway. Brown eyes slitted in complete irritation. The morning sunlight filtered in, rendering him temporarily blind. Slowly, he let them adjust, widening as the figure standing so tall a couple of meters away from him cleared. "Oi, what are you doing here? This place is closed in the morning!" He exclaimed, quite intimidated by the way the man stood without much hesitation... as if he wanted something and he was sure to get it.

"I know that kid." Came the haughty reply. "I was just visiting a..."

Nagi jerked as he felt the sudden trembling of the person beside him. Wondering if Ran knew the intruder, he cast a questioning glance at the older boy. However, he was not prepared to see the glistening gemstone eyes that were set in a homesick face. He watched as Ran took a shaky step forward, the tears he was trying to hold in check pouring out like a raging river down the pallid cheeks. A slender hand reached out in a gesture of helplessness.

"Schul... dig...?"

* * *

Schuldig was afraid.

He was not sure what to do the moment he set eyes on the person he was supposed to know. This man was a stranger, eyes freezing that one moment as he stepped into the gleaming casino floors, seeming to regard him as trouble...

But when he saw the sudden burst of repressed emotion in the eyes he loved so well... the feeling of absolute terror was replaced by something he could only name as some sort of longing. He realized almost instantaneously that the man standing a good two meters away from him was none other than Fujimiya Ran...

A broken Fujimiya Ran.

He remembered that kind of expression. He had seen it before...

Back when his sister was committed to a mental institution a few years back. It was the same self-pity... the same helplessness... the same pain. Anger boiled inside him, threatening to erupt. The urge to go and strike anything was strong, but he knew that those eyes would only be more pained if he did what he did not rebel against it. Instead, he took a couple of deep breaths... and another... and another, until he decided that taking in too much air would render him unconscious on the marble floors... a consequence of hyperventilation.

He took a step forward, his cheeks felt cold... and something was dripping down his shirt. He took another step... and slowly... another, all the time staring at the broken features... a bit blurred but still distinguishable.

"Ran..." He murmured as a helpless hand reached out for him, eyes beseeching him to take it and drag him away from this hell. He came forward... closer... closer... and closer, finally reaching his goal and with a guttural cry, hugged his best friend tightly... never letting go... never wanting to let go. "Ran..."

"Schuldig..." He heard Ran's tearful whisper. They had been apart for exactly a month, and they had been missing each other since day one. There were times when Schuldig wanted to just get Ran away from Crawford's claws in those long days, but Ran's mental pleading for him not to interfere calmed him somewhat. He knew that his friend was being sexually assaulted almost everyday... and it was too much for him to take. He wanted to kill the casino owner, but as usual, Ran pleaded with him, told him that he shouldn't interfere with his fight, saying that it was the last show of his dignity... and his family would have been, even if in a minuscule amount, proud of him, standing up for himself.

He knew that Crawford had Ran playing cards with him every week. The stakes were high. Ran gets his freedom if he wins... and if Crawford had much luck, Ran would stay with him... at his beck and call. The fourth game had just ended yesterday... and Ran was once again, the owner's personal property. The subtle insults hurled by the American yesterday were too devastating that Ran had finally broken down in the private gaming room of the Crawford Mansion... in front of Crawford himself, no less.

It was the last straw for Schuldig... so he came.

He wanted to see the effect everything had on Ran.

And if the boy's skin turned a severe black and blue from too much abuse, hell, even if Ran pleaded with him not to interfere, he's getting him away from there. He will kidnap him, if worse comes to worst.

He held on more tightly. He knew Ran might suffocate from the way he was hugging him, but from the clinging arms around his body, he knew that at the moment, he was his lifeline... his momentary source of strength he needed much of from what he goes through everyday.

"Ran..." He murmured almost lovingly, his lips buried under the fiery glory of the smaller boy's hair. He closed his eyes, letting the scent of wild cherries assault his senses. "Ran... stop crying..." He was never good at comforting though, and with little awkwardness, he muttered: "Stop crying... you're saturating my shirt... I bought it only yesterday, you know..."

He relaxed a bit when he heard a sudden soft snort of laughter from the younger boy. "God forbid, I can't afford to buy you another one." Came the muffled reply.

Tears escaped as Schuldig closed his eyes.

You are still Fujimiya Ran...

* * *

Nagi did not know what to do.

He was standing there, virtually forgotten as Ran and the newcomer exchanged really sappy looks and then went on to an equally sappy embrace. He did not know what was happening. Why are they like that? I mean, it's not as if they're forbidden to see each other all anytime... Ran-san's not exactly a prisoner in here... and I didn't know he knew someone from this area... I distinctly heard him say he was new to this place back when Ken-kun asked him if he had been in this city before...

He regarded the painfully emotional scene before him with wonder. Was he... lying?

That may be it, but Nagi was not exactly convinced.

Maybe he should ask Farfarello about it... that guy knows everything going on around him.

He went to the backroom then, trying to make the least noise possible. As much as he was perplexed, he did not want his new friend to feel uncomfortable... now that he and the other guy were such in an emotional moment.

* * *

"He WHAT?"

Omi winced as his older brother screamed in the greenhouse. The cry echoed, doubling the little effect it might have had on him. He gazed at the shocked features he knew so well, trying to delve deeper into the surface... trying to decipher whatever emotion was there. He seemed to out of it... so afraid... so elated... and so defeated... all at the same time.

Frankly, it scared him, seeing oniisan this way. "He went to the casino to see Ran-kun... that's what he told me, Youji-niichan..." He said softly, trying to gauge the other's condition. He knew he shouldn't have answered his question... he knew he should have convinced Schuldig to tell his brother first before going with his plan... after all, Youji wanted to see Ran too.

Youji was trying to control the feelings roiling inside his heart. He was happy that Schuldig went to check Ran; to make sure he was okay as the former told him the latter was... but then his soul seemed shucked into bite-size pieces. Schuldig went to see Ran ALONE... Like he didn't want him to be his company anymore... that he needed to see Ran without a third wheel.

It was almost too painful to bear.

But what can I do? That's what he wants after all... He thought forlornly, the tight grip he had on the watering can loosening as piercing pain engulfed him. He wants to see Ran alone... I'll just be a hindrance to his plans... He sighed and shook his head as if to clear it. It was only when he heard someone clearing his throat when he realized that Omi was still beside him, looking at him, trying to make out by himself how the revelation was affecting him. He hid everything quickly, right behind the mask he had been valiantly putting forth that it seemed like it was second skin.

He smiled brightly... as if being surprised beyond usual was an everyday occurrence.

"That's good." He quipped quite happily.

"You're not upset over it? I mean... you hadn't been informed of it first..." Omi asked falteringly.

He beamed down at him and with his free hand, ruffled the blond locks.

"It's fine." He lied through his teeth; deliberately ignoring what he perceived was another of his frequent attacks... trying to stay upright until he got to his room in a couple of minutes. "I'll get my chance to visit Ran... soon, I hope."

With one last parting grin, he set down the can and tried his best to walk out straight.

The pain was increasing in intensity. His heart was not cooperating with his mind again. With a sudden burst of energy he didn't know where he got, he dashed straight to the main house, up the stairs and into the safety of his room.

But he never got to close his door.

He slumped down the floor in pain... hands clutching his chest, as if wanting to tear everything out...

And then his world darkened...

He could hear someone crying out his name in complete terror...

But he passed it off as another of his attack's effects.

And then everything was without color... his world was totally black.

* * *

Crawford gripped the second floor railing.

He wanted to break them apart... but he couldn't... somehow, he felt that he owed Ran that much. After all, the deal did not involve his friends having the initiative to see him. He almost wished he had given that as one of the conditions a month ago.

He stared at them, guilt spreading throughout his body... and something else... guilt and something else.

He closed his eyes, trying to erase that deep embrace of someone seemingly dear.

Crawford had been successful all his life, but there was one thing that he wanted, which he never had the chance to have whatever it was he tried to do to get it...

He had just seen it.

The foreigner who had held Ran was feeling it... obviously more than platonic in fact... but Ran did not share that kind - his was definitely a fraternal kind...

It was love.

His father never gave him that. For the deceased man, he was property... one which has the biggest output. His mother moved away. She didn't like him... after all, he was a mistake... a product of a couple of nights' stand. Nagi's adoration was completely some sort of God-worship... the others, his employees... they all thought of him as someone who will provide them the means to acquire enough food to feed themselves and their respective families.

He was nothing more to anyone.

The tableau finally broke apart - that he realized as he, once again, resumed gazing at the two. The newcomer whispered something, which he assumed to be funny... and to his surprise, Ran laughed.

The laughter was heavenly in Crawford's ears. He had never heard it this carefree... before, it was too controlled... too... fake. But now, hearing it, he knew he would never tire of it. He wanted to hear it everyday... filled with happiness and none of the darkness that had seeped into the uneven pitch when Ran was with his other employees.

He wanted to be the one who would make him laugh this way.

He wanted Ran to see him for what he was, not as the person who destroyed his life with a simple Blackjack hand.

But what can I do now? He thought hopelessly. How can he see me other than a bastard when I hit him the moment he irritates me at night? When he acts so virginal all the time? I attacked him so violently when he fights back... I leave discolored marks on his pale body after having... sex. I...

Golden brown eyes softened at the momentary happiness he was witnessing.

What can I do now?

* * *

Hiya! This is the lovable Schu-Schu! I can't take your call right now, so just try and ring me up later - I have too much important stuff to do other than chat with you, so just leave a message after the annoying beep. Ja!

Omi shrieked in complete frustration as he was answered by Schuldig's active voicemail again for the thirteenth time. He cancelled the call and threw his cell phone against the wall, satisfaction coursing through his body as the casing broke, the LCD shattering so loudly that he knew his Persian cat outside could hear it and cower under the picnic table again.

He sighed, shaking his head, then banging it on the edge of his study table.

He had an ambulance come over and bring Youji to the hospital a couple of hours ago. They said he was stable now, but had yet to be woken up. Youji's doctor took pity on him and made him go home against his will, and once he got in, he dashed to his room and picked up his mobile phone, trying to reach Schuldig to tell him what had happened.

He couldn't reach him.

The guy had also broken the telepathic link for this day. He said he wanted to talk to Ran without someone criticizing his every word in his head.

Omi did not know what to do.

If Youji doesn't wake up soon...

Tears dripped down helpless azure eyes.

Kami-sama... please... help...

* * *

A/N: I LIVE! Gyehehe... I finally updated this fic. Whew! I finally got the idea for the story straight... thanks to your reviews! Anyway, I think I will update this fic more now... THINK being the keyword. Heh-heh. Anyway, I'll be waiting for your reviews! Tell me what you think - and what you want more to happen in this fic... I might change my mind about the flow of the story... *GRIN* Reviews, reviews!