FicWad

Megumi was a sweet girl that never spoke too loud and never made fun of Cailin's eyes when they were in grade school, unlike so many others. Megumi was polite and friendly and could get along with almost anyone. And so, over time, she became Cailin's friend. Her only friend, really, aside from her cousins.

Brett thought there was something wrong with the girl, most likely the result of being dropped on her head as a kid.

"I swear, there's something wrong with her," Brett griped on loudly at the dinner table. "I saw her give her up seat on a train once. For an old person."

Nagi sighed and rolled his eyes. "That's called having manners."

"Or no common sense," Schuldig muttered, concentrating hard on the chopstick battle he and Farfarello were engaged in for the last dumpling. "People like her won't survive long."

"In what? We're in Japan, not the Congo."

"Same thing." The German then snarled at Farfarello, who growled back. "Doing stuff like that only lands you a cardboard box home and an empty stomach. For instance," he said louder. "I could keep battling for this last dumpling-"

"There's a dozen more on the counter..."

"For the last dumpling," Schuldig pressed. Nagi wisely closed his mouth. "I could stop and Farf-o-jello could grab it for his own greedy self."

Farfarello looked like he sincerely hoped this would happen.

"But," Schuldig continued. "Then I would be hungry. Because I gave up my seat on the train. That's exactly how the world works."

"That made no sense. And there are more on the counter."

"That's not the point." Schuldig turned to glare at him. At which point Farfarello's chopsticks swooped in like a vulture and snatched away the dumpling. "Dammit!"

Cailin stared at her family, confused. "So....does this mean she can't come over?"

"No, she can't. Then we'll have even less dumplings and Uncle Schu will throw a fit," Kirito said around a mouthful of rice.

"That wasn't the point!"

Farfarello finished chewing his and swallowed his prize. "If Cailin wants ta 'ave a frie'n o'er, sh'can. Boy, pass the dump'lins o'er 'ere."

Schuldig grumbled and picked at his dinner plate, pausing a moment to grab a dumpling from the dish that passed by. There was a nudge at his leg and he looked down into a pretty pouting face. Sighing, he gave it to Miyavi. "Fine. Let her come over. I'm not taking the blame when Crawford threatens to kill you all."

Cailin looked concerned. "She can have my portion of dinner, Uncle Schuldig, if it helps..."

Schuldig pinched the bridge of his nose. He felt a headache coming on.

Miyavi sat back against the wall as he listened to all this, enjoying his new favorite form of entertainment.

*

Megumi paused in sweeping the floor, pushing a stray lock of hair behind her ear. "Pardon?"

"Do you want to come over this afternoon?" Cailin repeated as she straightened the desks of their homeroom. "My Uncle is picking me up today since Kirito and Brett already left. You could ride home with us and one of my Uncles can drive you home."

Megumi smiled. "That sounds great. I've always wondered about where you live. You're always talking about your family. They seem really fun."

Cailin grinned, which always made her friend kind of uneasy since it was the same grin that Farfarello wore before he killed someone. Of course, Megumi didn't know this and Cailin was hoping she wouldn't find out.

Fifteen minutes later they were leaving their high school, chatting happily about what they would do when they got to the Schwarz residence.

"Why do you call it the Schwarz residence?"

"It's the name of my Da and Uncle's.....business..." Cailin said quickly then noticed the black BMW with black tinted windows and pointed. "That's my Uncle! Come on."

The car was as grey inside as it was black outside. Grey leather seats that barely made a noise when you slid onto them, grey dashboard, grey floors though Megumi noted that there were a couple dots of brownish red near her feet. She idly wondered what they were.

"Megumi, this is my Uncle Crawford. Uncle Crawford, this is my friend Megumi." Cailin beamed happily.

"Nice to meet you, sir," Megumi said politely.

Glasses flashed coldly in the rear-view mirror, the gleam changing quickly to reveal eyes that were just as cold. "I'm sure." The car pulled forward into traffic.

Cailin giggled. "Uncle Crawford, did you just get back from work?"

"Yes." Eyes flickered in the mirror between the auburn-haired girl and her friend. "I can only imagine the state of the house now."

"Did you get to visit your relatives at all while you were on your business trip?"

Lips quirked. "Yes, briefly." Then the stern expression returned and Crawford's eyes flickered back towards the girl next to his niece. "No more questions regarding the trip now."

Cailin nodded, smiled at Megumi, and sat back in her seat. "This will be fun."

The Japanese girl shifted uneasily.

*

The house looked like a typical westernized house in Japan. Two stories, white paint, windows scattered about. There was more land around it, perhaps, than most houses in the area had and the house itself seemed big but Megumi knew that Cailin's family was rather wealthy. The car pulled into the stone driveway and into the three-car garage, stopping next to a shiny red sports car.

Cailin opened the door and hopped out. "That's my Uncle Schu's car. He almost killed Brett when he crashed it last year."

Crawford was already at the door leading to the house. "To be fair, Schuldig gave him a head start. I'll be in my office working. Tell your cousins not to bother me until dinner."

"Sure." Cailin ran up the stairs as Crawford disappeared, motioning for Megumi to follow. Slipping off their school shoes, Cailin gave Megumi a pair of slippers to wear before walking into the house. "This is the living room," she announced.

"It's nice. And big." Megumi looked around, noting the large television and leather couches. "Much bigger than my house."

"Well, there's a lot of people living here. There was even more before, but one of my cousin's left. Now we have pets."

"A pet," Nagi said as he stepped out of the kitchen. "We got rid of the thing, remember? It kept stealing everyone's left shoes." He nodded to Megumi in acknowledgement then turned back to Cailin. "Your father had an attack earlier. You might not want to bother him right now."

Golden eyes widened. "What happened?"

"Schuldig thought it would be funny to put City of Angel's on. The combination of God and Nicolas Cage was too much. He's in his room now, tied up."

Megumi's tried not to look startled.

"Did you have to hang him upside down?"

Nagi nodded, turning back to the kitchen. "He'll be fine in a while," he said and went back into the other room.

Cailin flopped down onto the couch in a flourish of skirt and curled hair. Megumi tentatively sat next to her. "I'm sorry, Megumi. I was hoping you could meet my Da. Hopefully he's safer before you leave."

"Safer?"

"Yeah. He's sensitive about religion." The golden-eyed girl sighed. "At least he didn't get to a church this time," she added, mostly speaking to herself.

Megumi patted her arm awkwardly. "I'm sorry, but if you don't mind my asking...will your father...hurt himself if he isn't tied up?"

"No, not really, anymore."

Eyebrows furrowed, the Japanese girl opened her mouth to ask another question when a blur rushed into the room and slid to a halt. Silver-lavender hair was clinging to curved features as the tattooed man in a towel stared at the two girls.

Pierced lips parted to say something-

"Don't you want to be clean?" an exasperated voice asked from the hallway. Schuldig stalked into the room, hair wet and clad in low-cut white pants, and stopped next to Miyavi.

Megumi tried desperately to tear her eyes away from the pair, or at least keep them above the neck.

Schuldig noticed and smirked at her, draping himself over his pet. "Yo."

Cailin rolled her eyes. "Really, Uncle Schu, you could get arrested."

"Only if I'm caught. Which I wouldn't be."

Nagi peered into the room. "You almost were once, when you were going after Balinese. Abyssinian almost cut you in half."

Schuldig snorted. "He didn't even get close. And the only other person there was Hideki, who's two nuts short of an Almond Joy. He wouldn't even get near me."

"I'm sure the mind tricks had nothing to do with it, right?"

Megumi jumped in. "Mind tricks?"

"I'm a Jedi," the German drawled, amused.

Kirito and Brett wandered into the room at that moment, carrying two boxes. Kirito looked mildly offended. "You couldn't be a Jedi. You'd turn to the dark side too fast."

"The Schwarz side, huh?"

Brett raised an eyebrow. "Just don't cut my hand off while we battle to the near-death one day," he drawled in the same tone that his dad just used. Megumi blinked as she suddenly realized how identical they nearly were, aside from Brett's eyes. Which looked, strangely enough, like the man in the car's eyes.

Schuldig smirked again and opened his mouth, then closed it. He looked thoughtful, like he was listening for- to- something and his smirked widened. "Braddy is on a work break, Meevs, which means it's playtime." Hooking a finger around Miyavi's rhinestone collar and bell, Schuldig lead them both down the hallway and up the stairs.

Kirito groaned from where he was setting up his Playstation. "Your dads are weird, Brett. Can't they at least leave the puppy?"

The redhead shrugged. "They're young and have not our wisdom. Now who wants to play DDR?"

"I don't," Kirito sniffed. "You use your precognition! You know which arrows are going to show up before they do."

"Yeah, well you always move my dance pad so I miss."

"Do not!"

"Do too!"

"Do not!"

"Do fuckin too!"

The lights flickered and the furniture rattled a bit. There was also a noise that sounded like a mix between a scream and a howl.

"Guys, you're scaring my friend," Cailin ground out angrily and stood, eyes gleaming dangerously. "Now stop it! She looks like she wants to faint."

"It's her fault for not fighting for the last dumpling!"

"That doesn't even make sense!"

Megumi watched with a polite smile on her face, hands folded neatly in her lap. She was currently debating whether or not to run for her life. But then she decided she might not make it to the door.

A door opened from down the hall. Farfarello had been enjoying a nice nap when all the noise had woken him up. The Schwarz house was a noisy place in general and he had been ready to metaphorically turn over and burrow under the covers again when he heard Cailin shouting. The straight jacket had been discarded in record time.

Cailin smiled when she saw her father and ran towards him. "Da!"

Brett and Kirito took a couple steps away for their own safety.

"Wha' was all tha yellin' about?"

"Brett and Kirito were arguing and making the room shake and Uncle Schu and Uncle Brad and the puppy were being loud and my friend was scared and-"

The two boys stepped farther back.

Farfarello looked around the room. "Wha' frien'?"

"She's on the cou-" his daughter started then realized that the couch was unoccupied. And the door was swinging closed after the sounds of running footsteps.

"Aww...dammit."


*

Megumi had made a run for it the second she saw the scarred man emerge from the dark hallway. Her heart had stopped and her guts had wrenched, making her legs take control and run for the door. And she kept running until she neared her house, lungs protesting and feeling light-headed.

The devil's house, she would have told someone had they asked where she had been. An asylum of freaks that made furniture shake and slept with their human pets.

Insanity, she thought. Complete insanity.

And at the same time, the image of three men entwined on a bed, red and black and silver-lavender, would be stuck in her head for the rest of her life. And every time she heard a bell tinkle, blood would rush to her cheeks as thoughts filled her mind.

It eventually drove her to the edge, where she fell into a world of sex and drugs and fetish clubs. Until she wasted all she had and was left with nothing.

Schuldig had been smug for weeks afterwards.