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Chapter 5
"Heather, Youji wants to know if he can have a shower?" Brittany walked quietly through the archway to the living room as Heather hung up the phone.
"Hm... Maybe a bath would be better... We'll have to do something about his dressings though..." Heather followed Brittany back to the sun room past a glowering Brad.
"He's been begging for the last five minutes," Brittany sighed.
"I was not begging," Youji told her with an insulted look.
"Sure you weren't," Heather gave him an appraising look. "I guess you could have a shallow bath if we put plastic over your bandages and you promised not to move much. Save me the trouble of figuring out how to sponge-bathe you."
"On the other hand, perhaps a bath is a bad idea..." Youji grinned at the girls.
"Perv," Brittany shook her head sadly.
"Bath for you!" Heather turned and went to find the medical kit, tape and some plastic bags.
"Damn," Youji grinned more widely. "Should have let the topic alone and gotten a sponge-bath."
"Good luck!" Brittany sighed and sat Youji up. "I'm not sure how we're going to do this..."
"Here," Heather handed some bags and a pair of scissors to Brittany, "help me cut these up." After she had some large squares of plastic she began to tape them over the bandages on Youji's torso and arms.
"I look really... Stupid..." Youji commented as the girls taped off the last piece of plastic on his back.
"You can have a blanket until you get in the bath," Heather helped Youji up off the couch and wrapped a blanket around him.
"Thanks," Youji leaned on Brittany as she walked him to the bathroom.
"After you get out of your bath you can dry yourself off and come back out here, then we'll wash under the bandages again. I'm going to look after Farfarello," Heather picked up the medikit and walked into Farfarello's room. "Good morning, Farfarello."
"Good mornin'?" Farfarello looked at her with an impassive amber eye.
"Yes, did you sleep at all last night?" Heather sat beside him on the bed.
"Yes," Farfarello looked away again.
"I didn't see anyone else come in here this morning so I'm guessing they didn't feed you, are you hungry?" Heather put down the medikit when she didn't get a reply and left the room. She quickly made two pieces of toast and poured a mug of milk which she brought back to the room. "Eat this while I tend your wound, okay?"
"Why d' ye care?" Farfarello watched her set the plate and mug down before she began undoing the straps on his straight jacket.
"You deserve to be treated like a human, too?" Heather unwound the tenser bandage she'd put on his arm the night before and pulled away the gauze carefully. "This looks like it's gonna heal just fine. It'll scar but somehow I don't think that will bother you," She attempted a smile as she wiped up the excess blood around the cuts and applied some antiseptic.
"No," Farfarello quietly ate his toast and drank his milk.
"I don't understand why they treat you like that..." Heather put some more gauze over the wound and secured the tenser bandage around Farfarello's arm. "You don't seem so bad to me."
"Why aren't ye afraid o' me?" Farfarello asked her with a slight frown.
"You're not scary," Heather looked confused. "Do you want me to be afraid of you?"
"Yes," Farfarello knocked Heather back before winding his hands around her throat and beginning to squeeze slowly. When she didn't start to make small sounds of discomfort like the others he had choked in the past but merely shut her eyes Farfarello hissed his displeasure and squeezed harder. Her neck was pressed into his grip more firmly as she relaxed slightly and he could feel the pulse of her cursed and God-tainted blood flowing through her veins. His smile grew as he slowly increased the level of pressure he was applying to her neck.
"Do you want to know what she's thinking Farfarello?" Schuldig pushed open the door and leaned on the frame with a smirk.
"Go away, pest," Farfarello spat at the redhead. How dare this man try ruin his revenge on God!
"Harder," Schuldig's evil grin widened, "she wants you to press harder." Farfarello smirked back.
"Schuldig, ye lie like God. His angels never ask t' be destroyed," Heather's hands closed around Farfarello's and he grinned in triumph expecting her lips to form pleas of delicious terror, or even better, pleas for help from God. Then her hands began to push his own tighter instead of trying to pull them away.
"What are ye doin'...?" Farfarello was swiftly becoming confused as none of his victims had ever acted like this before. They groveled before him for mercy or screamed in terror -- sometimes one would even try to go out with quite dignity for a while, though they all begged in the end -- never before had one of them encouraged him.
"You relaxed your grip a little when I came in and she didn't appreciate that. She wants you to press harder and hurt her more," Schuldig was happily feasting off of the Irishman's current uncertainty. "Complacency is a virtue God encourages," Schuldig couldn't help but add. Farfarello let out a roar of rage as he threw Heather down and stormed from the room.
*****
"Crawford will see to it that he's tied up," Schuldig sat down on the bed beside the panting girl.
"Why'd you stop him?" Heather asked with a flat look as she rubbed her neck.
"I didn't feel like having to clean up your corpse or dealing with the mental screaming from your little friend when she found out you were dead," Schuldig adjusted his sunglasses and sent her a dazzling smile.
"Lovely. Nice smile but it's not working, buddy," Closing her eyes Heather began to breathe in a calm pattern and tried to ignore the pain signals her abused throat was broadcasting.
"Let me help you with that," Schuldig gently pushed her hands out of the way and began to massage her neck with experienced fingers. He could feel her tense up under his grip and moved his ministrations to her shoulders. She didn't say anything as she realized that she had less than half a chance of escaping with his hands holding her down firmly. She slumped forward in defeat then sat perfectly still as he sampled the savory storm of chaos thrashing in her mind.
"Why haven't the rest of you killed us yet, and why are you acting like you're trying to get me into bed with you?" If he hadn't seen the questions reflected off of her consciousness nanoseconds before she said them Schuldig might have been surprised.
"The first answer is because you're still very useful to us in keeping Youji alive and acting as our hostages. The second is because I am, very perceptive of you," Schuldig smiled.
"Well, always nice to know you're loved. After me I suppose you'll try for Britz followed by any other pretty girl you can find in the area, right? I'm betting you won't use your talents either because it's all in the challenge," Heather sighed and tried to pull away from his hands.
"Smart girl, you can recognize my type when you see us. I'm afraid you've got my personality down quite well," Schuldig pressed more firmly to hold Heather beside him. "I'd bed each and every one of you without a second thought, and yes I did catch that comment about most of the girls in Rossland not being difficult conquests."
"Nice goal," Heather grabbed Schuldig's hands and pushed them away. "I'll remember 'bedding as many as possible in as short a time as possible' when I start writing down what I want to accomplish during my lifetime. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm rather tired and stressed and need to go change into turtleneck and then warn Brittany of your intent before helping her wash Youji's wounds."
Schuldig watched the girl as she stood and walked from the room. She would be a more complex prize than usual with all her ethics, principles, worries and that weird shifting personality she housed atop normal hormones that he could tell were reacting to his presence. There was a great possibility that he could enjoy this odd hostage situation with very little effort on his part for once. His smirk grew.
*****
"Oh thank god you're here!" Heather ran up to the red car as it parked in front of her house. "I thought I was going to go insane!"
"Youji can't be that bad," Nicole climbed out of the car. "Cara came with me, I hope you don't mind."
"Brad is going to kill me..." Heather muttered under her breath before smiling at Nicole. "Not at all, but, um... I need to warn you two about something..."
"Youji's injuries are worse than Nicole said?" Cara walked around the car looking concerned.
"Um... No," Heather looked down at her feet and fidgeted. "Schwartz is here..."
"What?!" Cara's eyes went wide.
"Have they done anything to you?" Nicole asked.
"No..." Heather sighed. "We managed to convince Brad to keep all three of us as hostages instead of killing Youji, and us."
"And he's letting you have us over?" Nicole looked surprised.
"Yeah, actually," Heather smiled. "Amazingly enough Schuldig helped me, he brought up the point that even if they stay I'll have to go to the biology course or people would come over to see what was wrong. So you're allowed to work on the term project with me." Heather gave Nicole a hug.
"So, is Brad as much of an asshole in real life as he is in the anime?" Cara asked as they walked towards the house.
"And more! He got mad at me for getting up for a drink in the middle of the night," Heather pouted. "Not to mention throwing me into a wall when he burst in here with Schuldig and Nagi last night."
"Wait," Nicole stopped and gave Heather a flat look. "If they've been here all night why didn't you tell me when you called?"
"I... I wasn't sure you'd want to come if you knew," Heather looked down again. "I really wanted someone else who I can trust here... I'll understand if you want to leave," Heather opened the door.
"No, we're here now," Nicole followed Heather into the house.
"Really?" Heather sighed in relief and smiled gratefully at Nicole. "Oh, thank you!"
"Cara, Nicole!" Brittany glomped onto both girls as they entered. "I'm glad you came!"
"I think we need to go downstairs..." Heather noticed Brad glaring at her.
"Alright," Nicole followed Heather.
"Would you like to meet Youji first?" Brittany grinned at Cara.
"Who are these lovely ladies?" Youji held onto the wall as he came around the corner with his most charming smile in an oversized loose shirt that fits easily over his bandages.
"Why are you out of bed?" Heather countered with a glare.
"These two are Nicole and Cara, friends of ours," Brittany gestured to each girl as she said their name. "This is Youji."
"Hm, tall, blond, asian... You're were the one my mom said was shamelessly flirting at the coffee shop, weren't you?" Nicole pointed at Youji accusingly. "And while Steph was trying to work no less!"
"Every pretty girl deserves some appreciation," Youji smiled and tried a shallow bow before wincing and straightening again.
"Back to bed now!" Heather carefully grabbed Youji's uninjured arm and pulled him around and back to the bedroom.
"Wow, he looks like he's pretty bad off..." Cara followed Heather and Youji into the room.
"He is, but he won't admit it," Heather cut Youji off before he could say anything. "I had to help Aya stitch him up last night."
"I'll be fine," Youji let himself be pushed onto the bed.
"If you sleep," Heather glared at him.
"She's right, you need to get a lot of rest to recover," Nicole backed Heather's argument.
"See, Nicole agrees with me. Now go to sleep," Heather pushed Youji back into the bed gently.
"Don't treat me like a little kid," Youji complained.
"Then be an adult and get some rest," Heather tucked the blanket up around Youji. "If they bug you just yell for me, okay?"
"At least try and get some sleep, Youji," Brittany waved to him as they left and closed the door behind them.
"Heather," Crawford was standing by the table and glaring as Heather stepped into the dining room.
"Um... Hi, Crawford...?" Heather cowered slightly.
"I thought you were inviting only one person over," Crawford tapped his foot impatiently.
"Um, I wasn't expecting Cara to show up," Heather looked away from Crawford's angry gaze. "I was hoping you wouldn't mind..."
"Be quiet and don't invite any more people over!" Crawford clipped off his words in an authoritative manner and strode back to his laptop.
"Yes, Brad," Heather whispered and quietly led the others through the dining room and kitchen to the stairs and down, missing the startled glance Brad gave her.
"He is an asshole!" Cara blurted out as soon as Heather closed her door.
"I'm just glad he didn't say anything else," Brittany sighed and flopped down in the computer chair. "You should have heard when Heather was trying to convince him to let you come over."
"Has he been acting like that since he arrived?" Nicole asked.
"Worse, most of the time," Heather sat on her bed and sighed "but I guess you have official permission to be here now at least."
"How do you live with that bastard?" Cara snarled as she sat beside Heather.
"We have to?" Heather slouched.
"What a jerk..." Nicole growled as she sat on the other side of Heather. "I can't believe that he treats you like that."
"You think he's bad?" Heather sighed again. "This morning Farfarello tried to strangle me and after Schuldig managed to drive Farfie away he started trying to seduce me!"
"Farfarello did what?!" Brittany demanded. "When?!!"
"When I went to change his dressings and feed him breakfast. He was upset that I didn't fear him like everyone else..." Heather brought her knees up to her chest and hugged her legs.
"I'll kill him," Brittany glared at the roof approximately where Farfarello's room was.
"Let me see your neck." Nicole waited until Heather pulled down the high neck of her shirt to reveal a set of red marks and touched them gently.
"They're fine, I think they'll fade within a day or so," Heather pulled her turtleneck back up to cover the marks again. "I hope they don't bruise..."
"And then Schuldig tried to seduce you?" Cara looked shocked.
"Oh, that's not the half of it!" Heather laughed bitterly. "Then he told me that I'm just the first of many conquests here and after me he's gonna go after Britz then every girl in Rossland."
"Funny, I would have thought Brittany was too young for him to go after..." Nicole mused.
"So did I," Brittany blanched. "I don't want him trying to seduce me!"
"You think I do? Just because he was my favorite character from the anime doesn't mean I want him doing... Oh shit, I bet that's why he's targeting me..." Heather hung her head. "I don't need this..."
"Don't think things like that, it will only encourage him," Cara patted Heather on the back.
"He should lay off if you show enough resistance," Nicole smiled at Heather.
"It's hard to ignore something like that though," Heather smiled back. "Actually, I didn't see him or Nagi upstairs, I wonder where they went?"
"Couldn't tell you," Brittany shook her head. "I was keeping an eye on Youji until Nicole and Cara arrived."
"Yeah... We should probably get to work before Brad starts yelling at me again," Heather stood up and grabbed her biology workbook and a bag of birdseed.
"Alright," Nicole took the birdseed and followed Heather to the door, "you two might want to hide out down here for a while."
"No kidding," Cara sat back on the bed. "Brad is an asshole!"
"Yeah, just be glad you don't have to live with him," Brittany grinned at Cara.
"No shit," Heather said as she and Nicole headed upstairs, closing the door behind them.
*****
"We should wait until next class before we go and talk to Mr. Manning again," Heather was staring out the front window at the still bird-less feeder.
"No, if we leave it too long he may not let us change our feeding guild," Nicole sighed as she flipped through their textbook.
"But what if we get more birds by Monday? Then it will be for nothing!" Heather opened her book and flipped through to their project planning guide.
"What if we don't?" Setting down the book Nicole sat back on the couch.
"Then... We'll have to quickly find something else..." Heather ran her finger down the page. "And we're probably screwed."
"Exactly," Nicole nodded. "So it makes more sense to talk to him before Monday and make arrangements for if we have to change anything. If we don't then we can just leave things as they are."
"I guess... I need to refill the feeder anyway, though," Heather put down the modules and grabbed the seed. "I was thinking we should set out some bits of bread with the seeds?"
"Apples would probably be better," Nicole looked at the seed thoughtfully.
"Well, I thought bread because it should take longer to go bad..." Heather walked to the kitchen and was careful not to look at Crawford who was still typing at the laptop.
"But apples may attract more birds," Nicole countered.
"Bread is easier to replace and won't attract any other types of scavengers," Heather cut two pieces of bread from the loaf on the counter and began to shred them.
"But apples are higher in nutrition so we may get more competition between birds," Nicole opened the fridge to get an apple.
"Bread, dammit!" Heather finished tearing the bread into small pieces.
"Apples!" Nicole thunked the apple down beside the cutting board Heather was working at.
"Bread!"
"Apples!"
"Bread!"
"Apples!"
"Brad!"
"Um... I don't think he'll fit in the feeder very well, remember, we want to attract birds," Nicole started to laugh.
"Oops! That came out wrong! I meant bread..." Heather began to laugh with Nicole.
"SHUT-UP!!!" Crawford yelled angrily from his desk. "I will not tolerate useless noise while I am working!"
"I'm sorry..." Heather cringed as Brad yelled. "I should have known better."
"That is beside the point, you will work silently or I will simply kill you and get you out of my way," Crawford glared at Heather and crossed his arms. "Do you understand? This is a hostage situation and I will not tolerate any insubordination."
"Yes, sir," Heather looked down.
"Good, now be silent," Brad turned back to his laptop.
"Right," Heather grabbed Nicole by the wrist and pulled her to the feeder outside.
"Stupid fuck..." Nicole glared back at the house as she helped fill the feeder.
