Weiss Kreuz Fan Fiction ❯ SECOND STRINGERS ❯ A New Type of Jepardy ( Chapter 7 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

SECOND STRINGERS

Chapter 7 --- A New Type of Jepardy

//mental talking//
‘mental thoughts’


There was a sharp knock on the door to the mansion that Schwarz called home. It was one that Takatori had put them up in. Since his demise Nagi had changed the deed to make it theirs. It worked for what they needed. Plenty of bedrooms, a large office for Crawford, and cells in the basement to house Farfarello. All in all it was a nice place to live.

Upon hearing the knock, Nagi and Schuldich exchanged glances. Crawford hadn’t said anything about anyone coming by, and being that Crawford was a precognitive, he knew things like that. Right now Crawford was trying to clean up the mess Tinkerbell and Farfie had made in the kitchen with the blender. Now the two of them were both down in the cells, playing jacks of all things. 'Oh well, the place needed another lunatic would enjoyed licking knives, yeah, RIGHT!' Nagi thought as he followed Schu to the door.

Schuldich pulled open the door and nearly fell back over on to his ass from the sight, and he was as flamingly gay as they come. Nagi, well he nearly sprouted a nosebleed, among other things. A young girl stood on the other side of the door. She leaned against, well actually was draped over, the door frame with one arm, her legs crossed at the knee and the other arm lazily was placed on her hip. The tight sharpie red pants she wore were so tight on her skin, it looked as if they were painted on. They showed off every curve and every line perfectly well. They fell from low, very low on her hips to her feet and at the last second opened up enough for her to be able to pull on the high heeled boots she was wearing. The boots were of the darkest black leather anyone could ever have saw. They gave at least three inches to her height, yet she was still short. Without the boots she wouldn’t even be as tall as Nagi. The shirt, though it covered so little it barely earned the right to be called that, was a sharp yellow. Not the soft pale colors that Crawford wore at times, but a sun shine color. Neon and flashing, it would have blinded them if direct light hit it. It looped up around her neck and had one thin strip of cloth that tied behind her back. It was low cut, and high riding, and also beyond skintight. The outfit was made to get her noticed, get attention, and get people to look at her. And at the same time there was just as much skin showing as there was clothing. And all the skin that was reveled had a beautiful darkness too it, not of nationality, but just of the most perfect tan ever. And it served to compliment the dark shade of violet that was her hair. It hung loosely about her face in small tuffs, pin straight and almost unruly, if it hadn’t been for the way she managed to make it look perfect. Her make up was set to show off every tiny feature in the face that most people didn’t know existed. She peered up at Schuldich through half lidded eyes. Eyes that shown a magnificent violet. Dark and hard, yet willing to be so much more. One single nearly smoked cigarette was in her lips. She never said a word but instead pushed past the speechless German and in to the living room, swaying her hips in rhythm to the rising pace of the heart rates in the room, grinding the cigarette out on the steps. She then turned and looked at the room. Nagi and Schu had come to stand together by the coffee table staring in spectacle at her. No one knew where this mansion was. And if someone just waltzed right in here, well, it didn’t bode to well for them. And Crawford would have their necks for LETTING her in, in the first place.

“I, I, think you have the wrong place. We already have one whore..umpf.†Nagi’s protest was cut off by a dirty look and elbow to the ribs from Schu. She just placed a smirk on her lips, well it was supposed to be a smirk, it didn’t look right on her face though, and sighed, looking past them to a folder on the coffee table.

“No, I got the right place. You’re looking at my profile after all.†Her voice came out in a delicious twirl of the Japanese language, proving she was not only an expert at using it and manipulating it, but probably a natural born speaker. Not many people outside of true Japanese could master the language. Farfarello never tried, he didn’t need to, he got by with licking knives and scaring priests. Schu knew the language and could use it, but still he was horrible at best. Crawford was the best, besides Nagi who was native, he had learned perfect German, and French, and he knew Japanese very well, but even Crawford still said Mister. This girl though, Nagi couldn’t pick up any of those unusual characteristics about her speaking. Though she didn’t look exactly what you’d expect a Japanese to, it was close.

Nagi stared at the girl for a moment more then flashed his eyes back to the folder. It hadn’t said much, only she worked for Esstet from the age of 4 to 15. A large part of that time was spent undercover as part of Kritiker. Then she disappeared a few years back. The only photos they had of her were black and white ID pictures. One from when she was first brought in to Esstet and another a few years later, right before she went undercover. And the only name given for her had been her codename, Jepardy. And unlike most codenames, where they'd give you an idea of the person’s powers, hers didn't. Nothing else at all. No real name, or background, no idea of where she came from, or what her power was. Nothing. And now out of the blue here she was in all her glory. 'Something doesn’t make sense, how did she know that we were looking for her, much less where to find us? And why come back? Okay its not just something, a whole hell of a lot doesn’t make sense.' Nagi thought to himself as his eyes took in the person before him.

“Ah, you’re here. Earlier then I expected though.†Crawford said as he entered the room from the kitchen. He wasn’t shocked at all to find a hooker standing in his living room. Sometimes it seemed HE was the one with the repressed emotions. The most he did was flash a disapproving look at her and her ensemble. When his eyes reached her, almost, smirking face, he nearly scowled at her. And her facial expressions didn’t offer much better for him.

“Now, for introductions…â€

â€&# 339;No way.†She promptly cut him off. He wanted this cutthroat, and she wasn’t about to let him have his way. She was going to drag it out as much as she could, if for nothing else then to piss him off. And she tried for that in every way she could. Stretching in front of him, literally inches from touching him, in a way that managed to drop the pants lower and raise the shirt higher. She was blatantly showing herself off to Crawford. Even Schu never went to extremes like this, but she was, and she’d just met the man.

“Shower first, then nap, then I’ll introduce myself in my own time.†Came a sleepy, yet damn sexy response from her, and at the same time she stroked his check with her hands and pouted. Crawford’s eyes flared with anger at already being disobeyed.

“No. Now.†He was pissed off. More then Schu even got him after trying for hours, and she’d only been at it 5 minutes.

“Okay, okay, just a shower then Braddy. But I’m at least getting that.†And before he could introduce her, push the argument further, stop her, or even kill her for not only saying Brad as Schu sometimes could, but Braddy, she was up the stairs and all three of them could hear the water running. Crawford glared at where she had disappeared and whirled around on his heels back to the kitchen. Okay, pissed didn’t even begin to cover this. That man would kill the first thing that came with in five feet of him, given the chance something in the house was stupid enough to come that close to a pissed Crawford. Schu just stared after him, and Nagi stared after the girl. ‘This is turning out to be a VERY interesting couple of days indeed.’ Nagi thought to himself. //And even without my help liebe.// Schu purred back in to his mind.

**********************

It wasn’t until a good twenty minutes later that the girl stumbled down the steps wearing a battered gray tank top and a pair of babies breath blue boxers, with yellow cartoon duckies dancing on them. They were slowly sliding lower and lower on her hips to revile more and more skin, but it seemed okay with her. Her wet hair was pulled back in to a lumpy ponytail. And water still dripped on to her back where it lay. Without her makeup, the darkness under her eyes was evident, not just from a lack of sleep either. Schu could tell the minute she hit the landing, not only was she a trick, which had been fairly evident before, but also a junkie in need of a fix. He’d been there himself, he knew the signs and he knew what this poor kid would be put through as soon as Esstet found out. And he knew, again from personal experience, it wasn’t fun. It did give a slight insight in to her, and her powers though. If drugs were in her life, it was a 99% chance her power dealt with some sort of mental abilities. It was too easy for powers like that to get out of hand, and the quickest way to shut them up was drugs.

Crawford stood from the couch where he had been pretending to work on a file, in truth he had been sulking. Schu followed suit and stood with him, barely letting his full attention wander to the girl, he had liked that show that was on the TV, old American reruns of M.A.S.H. were the best,(*1) even if the dubbing was worse then Godzilla movies. What finally drew his attention off the TV was Nagi. Nagi was blushing feverishly hard and not looking at the girl at all as he came to stand by the others. She apparently picked up on this right away as she finished the walk down the short hall and in to the living room. She also apparently knew why he was blushing.

“Gomen nasai. Yours were the only clothes even to come close to fitting me in this place. All mine are for the street or the clubs, and those ain’t very comfy. I mean I couldn’t fit in too anyone else clothes. Even these are too big, haní(*2).†The girl told Nagi as she motioned the fact that the boxers were falling off if it wasn’t for her hand on her hip holding them in place. Schu turned and smirked at Nagi.

“Dancing duckies. Cute.†His laughing was barely contained. Nagi would have liked to dodge out the door, and even started to, with Schu almost casually following him, laughing, but Farfarello picked that moment to come in to the room, blocking off his escape.

“Yes. Now that everyone is here, lets begin.†Crawford snapped at his followers to stop the impending fight he saw as a possibility. He wanted this out of the way, fast, he knew what was coming, even without his precognitive abilities, and he wanted that done quickly too. The girl shot him a dirty look, as if there was a reason why he should be handling this different in her mind. Schu tried to pick that up from her thoughts, knowing that even Crawford had surface thoughts he could always pick up on. And again, he was shocked to the core of his existence. He couldn’t get anything from her, at all. But even the brick wall that he encountered when trying to read Tinkerbell’s thoughts was better then this. It was like a black hole that sucked in everything around it and left an empty spot on the planet. Not even could he pick up on the fact it was another shielded mind, it was nothing but an abyss. She shot him a look, almost as if to say, ‘don’t try that again’, and then turned back to Crawford.

“Allow me Braddy. You’d get my name wrong anyway.†She told him as she snaked around behind him so that she now stood facing them in a row in front of her. Crawford’s eyes flashed again. At the arm around his waist, the use of the name, being told he’d be wrong, or again being disobeyed, who knew?

“Well, Farfie-koi, long time no see, just as crazy as last time though. As always, not a really pleasure but oh well, I’ll make do. I’ll give you a knife and you don’t mention god, and we’ll both be fine.†The tall white haired Irishman simply let out a half growl and smirked his lip up at the corners. That was his way of saying ‘hi’ back. He remembered her, but didn’t really care about her, so this was pointless to him. He just wanted to get back to Tinkerbell and their game of jacks.

“Naoe Nagi, mind if I call you Nags, you do, I don’t care, I will anyway. The resident telekinetic. Has no emotions, or just likes to think he doesn’t. When it comes down to it, you do, and when they get out of control, holy shit watch out. You’re a live wire inside, and I like that.†Nagi gapped openly at her. She was right and he didn’t like that.

“Braddy, well who cares about you, I don’t, oh wait, the German over there does, but I haven’t gotten to him yet.†She said with a twitch of her head to Schu. Then she turned to face him.

“And you,†she then broke out laughing, well a cute little giggle that was trying to be a laugh at least, “I think, I KNOW, I’m going to like you. Not only do we share a similar past, but†she paused again for laughing, “Schuldich, I’d like to introduce myself,†she held out her hand, and as he leaned in to take it she finished, “The names Sünde.†At that Schu laughed as well. They were a lot like, even without him knowing her past, with a name like that, he could only guess.

“I think I’ll like you too, Sünde.†He told her. His own lips curling up at the ends as he said her name in a perfect purr of the word. It fell naturally from his lips.

“I know you will.†Then she turned back to Crawford. A Crawford who was steaming mad and had nearly lunged at her neck upon the act of saying her name. Apparently she hadn’t said what he expected her to. And he didn’t like it.

“There Braddy, I know you don’t need me for the rest. I’m gong to get some sleep. I had a long night.†She again wound her hand around him again on her way back up the stairs. If looks could kill, the rest of Schwarz wouldn’t have to worry about learning about another new member, only where they'd want to be buried. In two bounds and with enough speed to almost make Schuldich himself jealous Crawford was at the top of the stairs facing her.

“Just what do you think your doing?†he growled at her, it was less of a question and more of a simple growl of annoyance. It didn’t faze the girl at all.

“I think I’m getting some sleep. I told you, I had a long night, a long morning, and I’m planning on having another long night to hopefully get rid of this shinigami damn headache I have haní.†She told him as a mother would explain to a 3-year-old why they can’t have a cookie before supper. It looked ridiculous. The girl was a foot, if not shorter, then Crawford, and had to be at least ten years younger. On top of that the leader of Schwarz had a look on his face like he was ready to kill her, and she was merely pouting at him. Then, more to break his concentration then anything else, she pushed up against him and wound her hands behind his neck and played with the tail ends of his hair.

“K..†was the only sound he got out before she placed one of her fingers over his lips to silence him.

“See, I told you, you would use the wrong name. It’s Sünde now. Remember that, cause I think,†she paused for a mere second as it looked like she winced with some unseen pain. “I know, I can make it so that you never knew me by any name but Sünde. And you don’t want that, I know.†And then, leaning in even closer to him, and brushing her lips against his ear to be sure that he was the only one who could hear her words said one last thing. “It’s been six long years Braddy, six years since we last seen each other and you don’t even give me a second glance as I walk through those doors. Even without being a precog you should have known better then to do that. Goodnight Braddy.†She unwound herself from him then and walked in to the room that had been set up for her, with no one ever telling her which one it was, but then again they never told her where the shower was either and she found that just fine. In her walk away she managed to add a swagger to her hips that could be nothing short of complete eye candy motion. It had Nagi's, and even Schu’s, undivided attention. It seemed to just piss Crawford off even more though. The brief look of inner pain that swept through his eyes at her last words, now was completely gone. He turned back around to the others, anger flashing behind his eyes.

“And just what are you looking at?†he snarled at them, but focused his gaze on Nagi.

“I, ah, well,†Nagi tried to formulate words that would save him a harsh lesson from Crawford, and failed. Luckily for him, Schu came to the rescue.

“Give the kid a break, he’s just enjoying the view of one fine ass. Her picture really doesn’t do her justice.†He purred as he motioned the file.

“I though you were homosexual, Schuldich.†Crawford snapped at him.

“I am, but when it looks THAT good, it don’t matter who or what you are, you’re going to look, and like.†Crawford managed to turn red with anger at those words. It was quickly becoming evident that this was a touchy case to him. The only thing that saved a massive blow up on everyone’s part finally, was Farfarello. He had stayed to the back ever since it all had begun, and now decided to part for good.

“I’m going back down to Tinkerbell. I already know how most of this goes.†He said as he retreated back down to the cells. Those words caught Nagi’s attention.

“Yeah, she said she already knew him. How?†he asked.

“And she obviously already knows you too, Braddy.†Schu purred at the older man. He was received with a swift punch to the stomach that nearly made him collapse completely. At what he did receive he could already imagine a very black and blue couple of ribs.

“You EVER call me that again, you WILL die. That understood.â€

“..yeah..â̈́ 4; came the muffled reply as he tried to straighten himself out.

“K.., Sünde, has been a part of Esstet for as long as I have. We were both on the team that first assembled Schwarz. Soon after Farfarello was brought on, she was removed from Schwarz and placed undercover. That is how she knows both Farfarello and myself.†He told them as flat as he could, yet there was something just hiding behind his voice. Something more that he wasn’t sharing with them.

“And her power?†Nagi asked. New people would make it interesting, sure, but if at the same time they were useless, then they did no good. And so far to him, Tinkerbell didn’t seem that useful, he hoped that this girl would be.

“Answers.†Was all Brad said. Apparently he thought that was enough for them.

“Answers to what?†Schuldich’s nasal voice was slowly returning to normal.

“Everything. Jepardy possess the answer to any and every question that ever has, or might be asked. It is a tremendous gift, yet at times it makes her quite unstable.†He glanced at the two members. They were staring back at him as if he’d just spoken in Greek. He sighed bitterly and turned to head in to his office. He could foresee that Esstet had sent him the next phase of this assignment, and he wished to get working on it so that all of this could be done as quickly as possible.

“That is all for now.†He said over his shoulder as if he was dismissing the other two. He really wasn’t for they could do whatever they liked as long as there was no mission, but it was the idea that he had that power that made him to do it. To Bradley Crawford everything was always about power.


*1: Inside Joke
*2: Honey (Japanese)

Anything else that was in either Japanese or German that you didn’t recognize was either a word of affection, like love, dear, honey. Or it was a curse word. You should have been able to guess that though from the content around them.


TBC......