Part 2

He trotted along behind his mother, carrying an awkward armful of silks. The bundle was really too large for his small, spindly arms, but he wanted so badly to please his Master by being useful. Kaa-san said that pleasing the Master was everything important in life, and meant special treatment - good food, better bedding, an easier life all around. He was old enough now to realize that the Master had been displeased with kaa-san when she had given birth to him - the old ladies gossiped about it when the Master wasn't around. He didn't know why the Master disliked him being born, but he figured if he worked hard enough then the Master would be pleased with him, and then be pleased with his mother for having him.

A trailing hem from the clothes he was carrying tangled around his ankle and tripped him, and the precious bundle scattered all over the floor. He sat on his hands and knees, palms stinging from the impact with the hard stone floor, tears welling up in his eyes. His mother turned around, horror and fear in her eyes, and one of the guards the Master hired to keep watch on his slaves when he wasn't present raised a discipline stick over his head.

He took the flogging without crying out, biting his lip to keep the noise inside. They beat you more if you cried out, because you weren't supposed to talk without permission. The harsh blows fell on his already sore back - he still wasn't very good at being useful, and tripped or dropped things a lot. He would have to work much harder if he was going to succeed in this.

Finally the beating stopped, and he hastily scrambled to gather up the clothes he'd dropped. His lower lip trembled with the burning pain in his back, and tears spilled out of his eyes, but he stayed silent like a good boy, and saw kaa-san give him a tiny approving nod for his efforts. Hastily wiping his eyes and nose on the ragged cotton of his sleeve so he wouldn't ruin the silk, he stood with his bundle once again.

"Stop, boy," came an authoritative voice, and he froze immediately. He knew that voice, though it had never been directed at him before - that was the Master, and anything he said was to be obeyed immediately and completely. He waited, one foot still raised in the air, hoping he would be able to keep his balance and not fall again. Bad enough for the guards to see him drop things - worse, much worse, for the Master to see it.

"Remarkable," the man at the Master's side said as they walked forward along the line of slaves. "He was born to one of your slaves? One of your own bastards?"

"No, his mother had been a gift to another guest while he was here," the Master replied absently. "Damn near ruined her for concubine work, and somehow she managed to hide it long enough that it wasn't worth aborting him."

"He's quite well trained," the second man commented, eyeing the way he was trembling with the effort of not moving at all.

"Don't pay much attention to him, to tell the truth," the Master admitted. "He just gets in the way, mostly. Old enough to be useful carrying things now, at least."

He brightened at the offhand praise, though he struggled to keep it from his expression. The Master's companion laughed heartily. "My friend, you have no concept of a thing's worth unless it's already in its finished state and ready to please you," he chuckled. "You need to learn to appreciate the potential in things. Take this boy, for example - why, you've had him from birth, no one else has ever influenced him, taught him bad habits or to think for himself. Just look how his only thought is to please you. You have the makings of the finest slave in Japan before you, and you ignore him!"

"I have neither the time nor the patience to wait for him to grow up, and I'm not fond of males slaves at any rate, as you well know," the Master replied sourly. "He is only a nuisance to me."

"Sou? Then would you consider selling him? Say, for an eighth the price of a trained male? I find myself interested in the challenge."

"An eighth? Surely you must be joking. Not that I would expect you to pay full price, of course - but two thirds would be more reasonable."

His limbs were shaking now, threatening to make him drop the bundle, but he forced himself to remain still with an effort of will. He could see in his kaa-san's eyes that something was happening, something that might be bad, and figured that getting in trouble now would not be a good thing. "A quarter," the other man countered. "After all, I'll have the expense of training him and housing him until he's useful."

"Half," the Master replied. "I've had the expense of feeding him for four years, and the medical expenses for his mother as well."

The other man waved as if to say this was negligible. "From the look of him, I'd say you haven't been feeding him much," he said acerbically. "He's thin as a reed, at an age where he should still have plenty of baby fat. One third."

"Hardly worth feeding such a useless creature," the Master grumbled in return, but he reached out to shake the other man's hand. "One third, then. At least I'll get something for him."

"Excellent. Come along, boy - give that to one of the others, and follow me." The other man gestured at him, and he glanced at the Master uncertainly. The Master's dark eyes told him nothing, so he looked at his kaa-san for instruction.

Her sweet blue eyes were full of fear and grief, but she nodded slightly. So he put his foot down and handed the bundle to the slave who was waiting to take it, and started to walk over to where the man was.

Abruptly his mother cried out and dropped her own burden, falling to her knees to hug him tightly. Immediately the guards moved in, but she bent her head to his and whispered frantically before they could take him from her.

"He is your Master now, you must do everything he says! You're a smart boy, so much brighter than me, I know that you can please him and earn a good life for yourself." The guards had her now, and pried her arms from around him as he stood, frightened and uncertain. "Be a good boy! Remember!" she called to him as they dragged her away, the Master furious in the background. He saw the tears in her eyes, and knew that he would never see her again.

Blank-faced, he turned to the man kaa-san said was his Master now. He trotted over to stand just behind and to the left of the man, as he'd seen other slaves do with his old Master, and the man nodded approvingly. "Good boy," he said, patting him on the shoulder. He brightened, happy that he'd pleased his Master already. "Come along," he was instructed, and he followed the man obediently.

They went along the halls, into places he had never been before, until they came to a small circular room where the man seated himself in a chair beside the old Master. Standing beside the chair, he could see the guards tying his mother to a post in the centre of the room. Other slaves were herded in, and he understood - this was one of the public Disciplines kaa-san had told him about.

Frightened, he watched as four guards took up posts around his mother. At a signal from their Master, they raised their whips and began to beat her, one after another in quick succession. He trembled, eyes wide as the sharp metal bits on the ends of the whips tore her skin apart, until her control eroded and she began to scream. His new Master glanced over at him, and smiled slyly. "You'll be a good boy, won't you?" he murmured, reaching out to caress his baby-soft cheek with a rough hand. "You wouldn't want to follow in your mother's footsteps, would you?"

He shook his head a tiny bit, shaking and watching with wide eyes, unable to look away but not making a sound as they flayed his mother to pieces while she screamed and screamed and screamed...

Schuldig woke with a gasp, clenching the sweat-soaked sheets entangled around him as his body shook with remembered terror. Remembered? No, that wasn't his memory. Not that he knew what his childhood had been like, but the man had been speaking Japanese and he was fairly certain he had been raised in Europe. It could, of course, have been one of those odd twists that dreams often take, but he didn't think so.

Another wave of fear nearly swamped him, confirming his suspicion that the dream had come from an outside source. He gritted his teeth and rode it out, scrambling to strengthen his shields against the mental intrusion. When it finally abated a bit, he untangled himself from the sheets and swung his legs over the side, groping blindly for the jeans he'd discarded the night before. There was only one possible source for the emotions battering themselves against his shields, and he wouldn't be able to sleep again until he calmed the boy.

Cursing, he stumbled to his door and wrenched it open, still shivering a bit in reaction. He padded down the short distance to the boy's door, and opened it without even bothering to knock. He doubted the boy would hear it, trapped as he was in a nightmare.

Sure enough, the kid was writhing about in his bed, tangled in the sheets just as Schuldig had been. His pale, thin face was etched with grief and terror, his lips clamped shut over the scream he would not allow himself to voice. Schuldig settled himself on the edge of the bed, wondering how best to go about waking him. He didn't dare touch the boy skin-to-skin - he'd be dragged back into the nightmare. Finally he settled on projecting as much calm and soothing emotion as he could muster in his own shaky state, reaching out to shake a sheet-covered shoulder. "Nagi, wake up! It's just a bad dream. Hey, wake up!"

The boy bolted upright, eyes wide and panting, and Schuldig tumbled off the side of the bed as if he'd been pushed sharply in the chest. His ribs ached with the impact, and he lay gasping on the floor for a moment, trying to get his breath back. Nagi's hands hadn't moved from where they were clenched in the sheets - this must be a sample of his telekinetic power. He sat up gingerly, making sure not to startle the boy again.

"Chill," he told the shivering child. "It was just a bad dream. Memory. You're not there anymore." Nagi stared back at him with huge wounded eyes, trembling badly. Schuldig tried projecting the soothing thoughts again, and saw him relax marginally. "Crawford and I would never do that to you," he told the kid softly but sincerely. He emphasized the message with his mind, glad that it was him and not Crawford who'd found Nagi this way. The American hadn't an ounce of empathy in his soul, and would have just left the child shivering if he'd bothered to wake him at all. "We wouldn't, and we'll never let anyone else do it, either. I promise."

Nagi was calming down a bit, but his disbelief was clear in his mind. Schuldig saw that the child believed him - he would take anything his Master said as Gospel Truth, and he was coming to regard Schuldig to be at least as much his Master as Crawford was - but that he knew his next Master would be just as bad as all the others. "And we're not gonna let anyone else have you, either," Schuldig added to his earlier statement. "You're not just Crawford's slave, Nagi, you're part of our team. You're too powerful to be wasted on the sort of shit those guys put you through - and if you don't learn to control your powers, you're gonna end up killing yourself or somebody else."

He lifted himself back onto the bed again, glad to have caught his breath at last. He reached out and brushed the sweat-soaked bangs away from the boy's eyes, still projecting reassurance for all he was worth. "Never again," he swore, locking eyes with the child. "I promise, you'll never have to go back to that. Perform a little at the parties, yeah, sure, but you will NEVER be hurt like that again."

Nagi's trembling increased, his lower lip wobbling as well, and Schuldig frowned, wondering what he could possibly have said to upset him further. He reached into the boy's mind, and caught a chaotic swirl of disbelief and fear, and an aching hope that was almost too small to be noticed. He reached out to that little spark of light, feeding it with his own belief, and abruptly found himself with an armful of sobbing adolescent.

Before Nagi could realize that he'd done something without orders and pull away, Schuldig wrapped him up tight in his arms and tugged him closer against his chest. Nagi was sitting sprawled across his lap now, arms twined around the German's neck as he cried into his bare shoulder, body wracked with the force of his sobs. Schuldig just held him and murmured encouragement in his mind, praising the boy for acting on his own and hopefully planting the seeds that would lead to the child becoming able to function without orders.

As the torrent of tears finally began to lessen, he eased himself back against the headboard, stretching his legs out down the length of the bed and keeping Nagi cuddled tight against his side. He kept up the flood of positive emotions until the boy finally slipped back into sleep, one small hand locked around Schuldig's wrist like a drowning man hanging on to a lifeline. Schuldig sighed with relief as the overwhelming flood of terror and pain finally eased off, allowing him to breathe freely again.

He kept his shields up, knowing from personal experience that it was unlikely for the boy to go the rest of the night without another nightmare. He made no effort to extricate himself, though, since he knew he'd have to wake the boy to do it. Besides, this way he'd be there to soothe him through the next nightmare, and any that followed. If he could get it rooted in the child's mind early on that he was safe here, perhaps he would feel more willing to do things that might previously have earned punishments.

As he waited for his own body to relax enough to let him sleep again, he thought back over the day's events. Crawford had returned home precisely on time, just as the movie had finished. Oddly, he had ignored the boy all night, curtly telling Schuldig to handle it and leaving it to the telepath to make sure Nagi got fed and taken care of. Schuldig had known that Crawford wasn't the most caring of people, but he would have expected the precog to take better care of the prize he'd brought home, if he thought the boy was going to be so important to him. Well, perhaps he'd foreseen that his own clumsy efforts at comfort would do more damage than good, and left it to Schuldig to deal with.

He yawned, feeling his ribs protest the movement. That had been one hell of a push the kid had given him - if that was a sample of his powers, small wonder Crawford thought he would be useful! When he learned control and the ability to fight without orders, he would be a formidable opponent indeed. Now, if they could just get him to think for himself a little...

Schuldig fell asleep while still wrestling with the problem, Nagi a warm, almost comforting, lump at his side.

Warm. Safe. Schuldig swam to the surface of the darkness, pulling his conscious mind out of sleep with great reluctance. Surprise. Confusion. He frowned slightly, trying to figure out if the emotions were his own or coming from outside his mind. Resignation. Outside, he decided finally. He wondered who was projecting so strongly that he was picking it up - his empathic ability was considerably weaker than his telepathy, and almost never kicked in on its own unless he was in physical contact with someone. There were no thoughts in the sensations floating through his mind, only reactions.

He opened his eyes, blinking against the harsh morning sun that had awakened him, to see Nagi staring back at him silently. He jumped, surprised, before the memory of the night before returned. The boy had been having a nightmare, and Schuldig had picked it up. He'd come in here to calm him, and ended up holding him all night long. No wonder he'd been picking up the boy's emotions - they were both naked or nearly so and curled tightly around each other.

Nagi was watching him intently, waiting for an order, Schuldig supposed. Knowing the kid's background, it wasn't hard to figure out what kind of order he was expecting - in his experience, waking up to find someone in bed with him could surely only mean one thing.

"You were having bad dreams last night," Schuldig told him, voice even raspier than normal from sleep. Nagi's eyes widened slightly, and he looked guilty. "No, don't look at me like that. It's not your fault, and I didn't tell you not to dream last night," Schuldig said in irritation. Nagi glanced down, upset that he had displeased Schuldig. The German sighed and raked his free hand - the one that wasn't under Nagi's slim torso and curled around his shoulders - through his long hair. "I'm not displeased with you, baka. I came in here to help calm you down, and I stayed so you wouldn't have any more. I DON'T expect you to 'service' me, or anything like that. Christ, you're just a kid."

Nagi looked back at him uncertainly, and Schuldig could feel the confusion in his mind. "I told you, neither Crawford nor I are going to expect you to do that kind of thing," Schuldig told him gently. "We won't punish you for no reason, or even for little stuff. Hell, we won't punish you at all except for show at the parties, and that won't even hurt. We don't expect you to have sex with us, of any description. Crawford hates being a Dom - he only became one to rescue me the same way he rescued you."

Nagi swallowed hard, his lower lip trembling slightly. Not from tears, Schuldig sensed, but rather from the shock of the very idea. No punishments? No sex? Not ever?

"Not ever," he reassured the shell-shocked boy. He hugged him briefly, hand rubbing his shoulder, careful to avoid the cuts and bruises there. "I swear you won't ever have to go back to that kind of shit. Over my dead body, you hear me?"

Nagi nodded hesitantly, his eyes still wide and full of doubt. Schuldig knew it was going to be a long battle to get him to believe that he was safe. "C'mon," he finally sighed, sitting up in the bed. "I'm not gonna be able to get back to sleep, and Crawford's up already. Time for breakfast."

Nagi sat up as well, reaching for the same sweatpants and t-shirt he'd been wearing the day before. In the bright dawn light Schuldig got a clear look at the multitude of scars tracing over his entire body, and shuddered. There but for the grace of Crawford go I, he thought to himself, fingering one of his own nastier scars. The least of the boy's injuries seemed more damaging than the worst of his own, and he felt vaguely guilty for all the times he'd been self-pitying.

"Remember the routine I gave you for the bathroom?" Schuldig asked him, and Nagi nodded. "Go do it all again. In fact, unless one of us tells you otherwise, do that as soon as you get up every morning. Including pissing or shitting if you have to. Then come out to the kitchen. Can you do that? Follow a standing order like that, I mean?"

Nagi nodded again, and made his way out of the room towards the bathroom. Schuldig stood and stretched, and sauntered out into the hall after him, making his way back to his own room for some fresh clothes.

Once he'd dressed and given his hair a cursory brushing, he wandered out to the kitchen. Crawford was alone there, sipping his morning coffee and reading the newspaper, as was his habit. Nagi was nowhere to be seen, but the shower hadn't been on when Schuldig came out of his room, so presumably he would be joining them shortly.

The American raised an eyebrow at him. "You're up early," he commented blandly. Schuldig shrugged, pouring himself a cup of coffee and sitting down at the table, yawning.

"Kid woke me up with a nightmare last night," he said, sipping at the too-hot beverage, hoping it would wake him up a little. "I ended up staying in his room - the drapes weren't drawn, so the sun woke us both up. He's getting cleaned up, he should be here soon."

Crawford nodded, looking pleased. "Good. I'm glad to see he's learning to take care of himself." Schuldig rolled his eyes and would have commented, but at that moment the topic of conversation appeared in the kitchen doorway.

"Sit down," Schuldig told him after a long moment when Crawford said nothing. Nagi came inside the room and sat at the chair they'd scrounged up for him at dinner the night before, folding his hands in his lap and keeping his eyes on the tabletop like it contained the secrets of the universe.

*You've got to tell him to make food and eat, Crawford,* Schuldig projected in irritation when Crawford continued to sit there ignoring the boy. The precognitive shrugged negligently.

*You're handling him well, you take care of it,* he replied dismissively. Schuldig frowned at him, but followed the order.

"Nagi, can you handle making your own cereal?" he asked, gesturing at the cupboards. Nagi nodded after a moment of thought. "Good. Do it, and then eat it. Bowls in that cupboard, cereal in this one, milk is in the fridge and spoons in that drawer. Got it?" Nagi nodded again, and set to work making his breakfast. He hesitated when he discovered that there was more than one kind of cereal, and looked back at Schuldig and Crawford for instructions. Schuldig stayed silent, wanting to see what the boy would do, but encouraged him with his eyes. Slowly Nagi reached out and picked up the first box, waiting to see if the choice would earn him a blow. Instead Schuldig projected pleasure and reassurance at him, and he brightened, going about the rest of the task with alacrity.

Maybe this won't be so bad after all, Schuldig thought as he watched Nagi settle in and start eating. They could set up most of his daily routine as just standing orders, and handle exceptions as they came up. And Nagi seemed to be slowly learning that making small decisions earned him rewards, not punishment - eventually he would probably start making larger and larger decisions. Hopefully. "Eat as much as you can, but when it starts getting hard to make yourself swallow, stop," Schuldig told him. "Just like yesterday." Nagi nodded, not pausing in scooping the sugary bits of cereal into his mouth.

The bowl was only about half empty when Nagi raised the spoon, hesitated, then put it back down again and looked at Schuldig for approval. "Good!" he praised the boy aloud, making his eyes light up. "See, that wasn't so hard. Do that whenever you eat, okay? And if eventually you find that you're not full by the time all the food is gone, tell me. I'd rather you have more food than you can eat than not enough."

Nagi smiled hesitantly, the shy expression transforming his delicate features into something beautiful. Schuldig glanced at Crawford, and found the other man apparently absorbed in his newspaper. Whatever he was really thinking, it was well hidden behind that damnable shield of his.

"I want the credit card today," he announced suddenly, watching carefully for Crawford's reaction. The precog looked up and adjusted his glasses, scowling.

"No," he said curtly, rattling the newspaper as if to emphasize his answer. "You're not permitted to use it outside of my presence, remember?"

Schuldig winced - when he'd first come to be Crawford's slave, the man had given him his gold credit card and told him to get 'whatever he needed'. He'd maxed the card out in less than a day, and needless to say Crawford had not been pleased with him.

Stubbornly, he stuck to his guns. "That was two years ago, Crawford!" he protested the restriction. "Nagi needs something to wear besides my sweats, and a toothbrush and stuff like that. And something to keep him occupied during the day. For Christ's sake, the only thing he owns is that damn harness he was wearing when you brought him home, and I doubt he even thinks he owns that!"

Crawford frowned thoughtfully, and his eyes got that unfocussed look that meant he was looking into the possibilities of the future. "Very well," he finally sighed, and Schuldig restrained himself from crowing in triumph. Rubbing the victory in the American's face might annoy him enough to revoke the newly won privilege. "I don't want you spending more than two thousand dollars today, understand?"

Schuldig waved his concerns off. "I've learned a little restraint since then, for crying out loud. And what the hell would I spend that much money on for him?" He stood, clearing away the plates and mugs and dumping them in the sink. He eyed the pile of dishes already there, and sighed. Crawford refused to allow Takatori's servants into their apartment to clean up, and Schuldig agreed with him on principle - too many variables introduced to the situation for Crawford to keep track of anything that might be risky to them, and he didn't want strange people poking around in his stuff anyway. The downside, however, was that he inevitably got stuck doing the chores. "I'll do the dishes when we get back."

"You'd better," Crawford agreed mildly, meaning that he'd foreseen that Schuldig would later decide NOT to do them, and was warning him to stick to the original plan. He folded his newspaper carefully and set it down on the table, rising. "Takatori is about to need me," he announced, and turned to head for the front door. Schuldig waited until his mind was out of range for casual contact, and turned to Nagi.

"Okay, kiddo, let's get you some real clothes."

Schuldig had forgotten how much he hated malls. He really, really detested them, in fact. Hordes of people crowding around everywhere, their minds racing along the same old petty little tracks. Does this colour look good on me? Does this outfit make me look fat? Will he like it? It's too expensive... and thousands of other random bits of useless information, swarming over him constantly.

He winced and tightened his shields a little more as a group of hyperactive teenage girls brushed by them, their vapid minds matching their giggling exteriors. Nagi trailed along behind him, one step behind and to the left, eyes wide as he stared around them.

"Haven't you ever been to a mall before?" Schuldig asked him aloud, not willing to open his shields enough to pick up the boy's mental reply. Nagi shook his head, shrinking back against Schuldig's side as a frustrated woman herded her three young children past them. "Huh... maybe I should have started with one of the smaller malls," he muttered, looking around at the three story monolith around them. There were thousands of stores in this mall, but it was the closest to Takatori Towers and he hadn't wanted to spend any more time on the subway than he had to. Subways were even worse than malls - he was forced into almost constant physical contact with the people around him, and that made it harder to block them out.

"In here," he finally decided, directing the boy into a shop that carried clothes for kids about Nagi's age. Well, for kids a bit younger than Nagi's actual age, but the boy was so small that he wouldn't fit things designed for his age group. Nagi followed him obediently, but Schuldig was startled to feel one hand creep into his, as if seeking reassurance.

The physical contact allowed him to read what the boy was thinking without opening his shields, and he was amused to find that Nagi didn't even realize he'd taken Schuldig's hand. The boy was frightened by the frenetic activity around him, and had instinctively sought reassurance from the one person in the world he was coming to think of as 'safe'. Schuldig tried not to think about why that last bit sparked a bit of warmth in his chest.

A saleslady bustled towards them, frowning a bit as she took in Nagi's ragged state. "Can I help you?" she asked, now taking a closer look at Schuldig's own ripped jeans and t-shirt. Schuldig sighed, used to the reaction. This was an expensive mall, and neither of them looked like they had enough money to be worth wasting time on. These people got paid on commission, after all.

He dug into his pocket and pulled out Crawford's gold card, flashing it and seeing the yen signs light up in the woman's eyes. "My guardian just adopted this kid, here," he said, indicating Nagi. Technically Crawford was no longer Schuldig's legal guardian since the German had turned twenty, but it helped to explain why Schuldig was using his credit card. "His family was killed in a fire," he lied smoothly. "Poor little bastard doesn't have a damn thing. We need to get him some clothes."

She smiled that bright, false smile of a salesperson, and nodded happily. "Well, you've certainly come to the right place!" she chirped, leading them deeper into the store. "How old is he? Nine? Ten?"

"Thirteen," Schuldig told her, and her eyes widened in shock. Even though he'd had the same reaction just the day before, he enjoyed seeing it in someone else.

"Oh, my. He's quite small for his age, isn't he? And so quiet," she noted, as Nagi clung silently to Schuldig's side.

"He's not big on crowds," Schuldig told her, glancing around to see what the store carried. The summer styles were out, so there weren't a lot of long-sleeved and long-legged outfits, and he grimaced. Nagi wouldn't care if people saw his scars - he was used to wearing far less than shorts and a t-shirt in public - but it would raise too many questions. "Do you have anything with long sleeves? He doesn't like his arms and legs showing."

She frowned. "Not at this time of year, no," she said reluctantly, feeling the sale slipping from her grasp. "We have some jeans, of course - those are always popular. But I'm afraid the only thing you're going to find with long sleeves at this time of year will be suit jackets."

Schuldig glanced down at Nagi. The boy looked back up at him with big trusting blue eyes, and he sighed. "Jeans will work," he muttered, glancing at the display of denim along the back wall. "And we'll probably need to get him at least one suit - Crawford made ME buy one, for any formal events Takatori wants us to attend."

The lady perked up at the mention of the powerful politician's name, and Schuldig cursed the slip. "Takatori-sama? Is he your guardian?" she asked, stars - and yen - in her eyes.

"No," Schuldig replied curtly, projecting a chill aura at her to get her to back off. She shivered and took a few steps back, unconsciously rubbing her arms as if cold. "I don't think we'll need any more help."

"Of course," she murmured, looking ill at ease. "Just call if you need anything..." She practically scurried away, anxious to get away from the cloud of bad feeling around Schuldig and his charge.

"Hn." Schuldig smirked a bit, pleased with himself. He'd been practicing subtlety lately - using subconscious tricks like that cold aura to manipulate people, rather than just bludgeoning their minds with his like a sledgehammer. "All right, Nagi, let's try some of these jeans on."

Half an hour later Nagi was wearing one of the four pairs of jeans they'd purchased, carrying the other three draped over his arm. They looked good on him, fitting him well in the waist and hips and flaring out over his legs enough that his near-anorexic skinniness wasn't quite so obvious. By contrast, Schuldig's t-shirt looked even more over-sized on his slight shoulders, but they hadn't managed to find anything better.

"I suppose I can always just buy you more t-shirts that size," the German finally sighed, shaking his head in exasperation. "They cover your arms well enough, but it looks pretty silly. You won't be able to wear that for work." Nagi blinked up at him, looking a little uncomfortable in the new jeans, as if he wasn't quite sure they wouldn't vanish out from under him if he blinked.

The saleslady had ventured near them again, and was hovering. Schuldig glanced at her, annoyed, and she apparently took that as an invitation to begin a dialogue. "What school will he be attending?" she asked brightly, determinedly ignoring the restlessness and unease Schuldig was projecting at her. Must be short on her quota this month, Schuldig finally decided with a snort. "We carry several of the more popular lines of school uniforms... though, I suppose he's old enough to be going to middle school, isn't he?" she concluded, face falling. "We only carry the junior uniforms."

"He's getting home schooling anyway," Schuldig told her, already dismissing the store as being out of useful options. They'd pay for the jeans, and try somewhere else...

He stopped just before they reached the cash register, blinking at a display of said school uniforms. "Most of those have long-sleeved jackets, don't they?" he asked slowly, eyeing a dark blue one thoughtfully.

The saleslady caught his line of thought immediately, and brightened again. She was starting to remind him of Nagi, with her sudden mood switches depending on whether Schuldig was pleased or not. "Why, yes!" she bubbled, scurrying over to the display case and unlocking it. "Most of these identifiably belong to one school or another, but we do carry a few lines of generic uniforms..."

She pulled out the blue tunic that Schuldig had been looking at, as well as a couple of sweaters in red and blue. Schuldig glanced down at his still-silent companion, but knew better by now than to bother asking Nagi's opinion. "That blue one's not half bad," he admitted grudgingly. "Try it on, Nagi."

When Nagi emerged from the change room wearing the blue slacks and overtunic, Schuldig was pleased by the result. The tunic's collar came up high enough to hide both the scars on his neck and the collar that marked him as Crawford's, and the sleeves came just to the backs of his wrists. Catching the boy's hand and sinking briefly into his mind, Schuldig determined that the uniform was quite comfortable, and more flexible in some ways than the jeans. On top of that, it was respectable looking - he would be able to wear it when they were doing work for Takatori.

"This line of uniforms comes in a couple of different colours," the saleslady informed them cheerfully, pulling out two more tunics to demonstrate. "The light and dark greys, and black. They also make uniforms for middle school and high school, in much the same style, so when he outgrows that it won't be any trouble to replace it."

"We'll take it, and the two grey ones as well," Schuldig decided, nodding decisively. "And a couple of white shirts to go underneath them, I guess." Nagi stood by him, looking a bit more at home in the looser and more comfortable uniform. "Can he just wear that out of here?"

"Certainly," she agreed readily, ringing up the sale and packaging the rest of their purchases. "I can have these delivered, if you don't wish to cart them along for the rest of the day."

"Sure," he nodded absently, fishing the gold card out again. "Have them delivered to Takatori Towers for Schuldig - the receptionist will know where to send them." He took the card back from her and slipped it into his pocket again, and turned to walk out of the store. Nagi trailed along, moving up beside him when Schuldig gestured for him to come forward. Schuldig reached out and caught Nagi's hand this time, and the blue eyes turned to him in surprise.

*This makes it easier to talk to you mentally without dropping my shields,* Schuldig told him, projecting reassurance. *I can make you hear me with them up, but I can't read you unless I'm in contact or I drop my shields.* Nagi nodded solemnly, but his fingers squeezed Schuldig's a little tighter.

"Next order of business is shoes, I think," Schuldig said aloud, looking askance at the soft, obviously made-for-indoors slippers Nagi had come home with Crawford in. They were wearing through and the seams were threatening to split, despite the fact that he'd hardly worn them since then. Luckily there was a shoe store near the clothing boutique, and Schuldig directed Nagi inside.

They went through the little ritual of displaying the gold card to the salesman again, Schuldig mouthing the same easy lies to explain Nagi's somewhat less ragged state. Nagi's feet were small, but not unusually so, and they were able to get him two pairs of sneakers and a pair of dress shoes with no trouble.

In trying on the shoes, Schuldig discovered another lack that hadn't occurred to him - socks and other underthings. They asked directions from the shoe salesman, and trouped up one floor to a department store. Nagi looked a little frightened when they entered the area that held underthings, and it took Schuldig a moment to figure out why.

He thinks I'm buying slave outfits, Schuldig finally realized, seeing Nagi's hand unconsciously go to finger his collar as he looked around at the wide variety of underwear.

"This stuff goes UNDER your other clothes," Schuldig told him, grateful that there were no overly conscientious salespeople in the department. Losing all his clothes in a fire did NOT explain why Nagi had no concept of how to wear boxers and briefs. Given the kid's reaction to the briefs, he decided it would be safer to buy him several pairs of boxers instead, though he did grab one or two pairs of briefs as well. On their way to the cash register, he picked up a toothbrush and other assorted toiletries that the boy would need. Schuldig paid for it all, then directed Nagi back into one of the change rooms to put on a pair of boxers under the uniform pants, as well as a pair of socks he'd picked up. He got enough of each for one week; thankfully they sent their laundry OUT to be done, every week.

Now the boy looked like any other kid his age, Schuldig thought with some satisfaction as they made their way out of the department store. Any odd glances directed at them now were a result of his own flaming red hair and cat-green eyes, not Nagi's bedraggled state.

Catching sight of the food court, he realized it was coming up on lunchtime when his stomach rumbled. "You hungry?" he asked Nagi, and surprisingly the boy nodded. "Good! Let's get something to eat."

Figuring the kid could use a break from the unfamiliar Western food he'd been eating for two days, Schuldig ordered them both ramen and glanced around for a free table. The food court was crowded, so he shrugged and focussed on a teenage couple who were almost done. He implanted a sudden impression of being very full in their minds, and they simultaneously dropped their chopsticks and started gathering up their things. Keeping anyone else from stealing the table by clouding the thoughts of anyone who approached so that it seemed occupied, he sauntered over and put their tray down, gesturing Nagi into the other seat.

"Remember what I said about eating?" he asked, passing Nagi's bowl over. Nagi nodded. "Good. Eat up." The boy picked up the chopsticks that came with the meal, puzzling over them briefly before realizing how to break them apart. He started to scoop up the hot noodles, slurping the broth contentedly.

Schuldig did the same, wielding the utensils like a native. "You should have seen me trying to eat when I first woke up in Shigeru's harem," he told Nagi between mouthfuls. The child watched him with intelligent eyes, looking puzzled. "I have amnesia," Schuldig added, sensing the reason for the boy's confusion. "Don't remember anything before about three years ago. Anyway, they'd been feeding me when I was catatonic, so I'd never learned to use chopsticks. Made a right mess of myself at every meal for the first month or so." He snorted, slurping up an extra long noodle and licking his lips. He sensed faint amusement from Nagi, along with incredulity, and glanced up to catch a glimpse of the same fleeting smile that had crossed his face that morning. He smiled to himself, pleased.

Nagi managed to finish most of the small bowl of ramen, and Schuldig happily finished off his leftovers. "You know, you're allowed to talk to me," he told the boy as they dropped the trash in the bins. Although the boy's eyes were incredibly expressive, Schuldig was getting tired of having to probe to find out what he was thinking. "Unless I specifically tell you that you need to stay silent, anytime you have a question to ask, feel free. And if I'm talking to you, consider that to be explicit permission to speak, okay? Can you handle that?"

Nagi started to nod, then hesitantly replied, "Yes. I..." he trailed off uncertainly, and Schuldig prompted him.

"You...?"

"I... think so," Nagi concluded, ducking his head shyly. Schuldig projected his pleasure, and Nagi looked up again with wide eyes. "You... you're really p-pleased when I..."

"When you do things beyond the parameters I've given you?" Schuldig finished for him, seeing that he was struggling. "Yes, very. I was especially pleased when you chose your own cereal this morning. And when you gave me information I hadn't specifically asked for, yesterday." He backed his words with another strong burst of pleasure and reassurance. "You're a smart kid, and a fast learner. You can do this, Nagi."

He sensed Nagi wanted to say something, and nodded to encourage him. "You... do you really think... that I could learn to be... normal?"

Schuldig almost made a face, then reminded himself just in time that Nagi would take it as displeasure for asking the question. "I don't think any of us can really be normal," he replied seriously, stopping beside one of the mall fountains and staring at the coloured sprays of water. *We're psychics,* he added, taking the conversation to telepathy so no one would overhear. *And assassins. Or at least, Crawford and I are, and you will be too once we get you trained. Neither of those activities are something 'normal' people do. But if you mean, do I think you can learn to function on your own some day, then yes. I know it's hard, and frightening, but just take it one step at a time and I know you can do it.*

*You really think so?* Nagi asked a little wistfully, squeezing Schuldig's hand harder.

*Yeah, I really do,* Schuldig answered him with conviction. It was pointless to deny it to himself any longer - somehow this little slip of a kid had wormed his way straight to Schuldig's supposedly impenetrable heart, and he seemed determined to stay there. I better watch it, or I'm gonna start going soft, he thought to himself with some disgust, careful to keep from projecting it. "C'mon, let's go find you something to do all day," he said aloud, breaking the moment that was threatening to turn intimate.

They stopped at the bathroom first, because Schuldig needed it and figured Nagi probably did too. He frowned - they were going to have to do something about this problem. Sooner or later he'd forget to tell Nagi to go in time - or worse yet, he'd be away and unable to do so. Takatori sometimes took long trips out of town, with Crawford and Schuldig with him. *Listen,* he said as they left the bathroom. *You know how you felt just now, before we went in there?* To emphasise what he meant, he projected the sensation at the boy briefly. Nagi nodded. *Whenever it gets about that bad, start looking around for a bathroom. Unless you're occupied with something else or we've ordered you not to, go to the bathroom as soon as you find one, okay?* Nagi frowned for a moment, working through that order in his mind. It was probably the most vague order Schuldig had given him yet - it involved a lot of judgement on his part.

"I think I can do that," he finally said softly. Schuldig nodded, pleased.

"Good. Don't hesitate to ask permission if you REALLY have to go, too. Don't let it get as bad as it was yesterday - if you start feeling pain from holding it, ask!"

They wandered through a few bookstores, picking out a small stack of books for Nagi to read. He had no preferences, so they basically just tried one of everything. "You can tell me which of these was the most interesting when you're done them, and we'll buy more of that type, okay?" Schuldig said as they handed the books over to be delivered to Takatori towers. Nagi nodded, though he looked uncertain.

They wandered by a music store, and Schuldig stopped and got Nagi a little portable CD player and some discs to listen to - mostly the J-pop and J-rock stuff teenagers tended to listen to, but a few classical CDs here and there. Beside the music store was an electronics store, and there Schuldig got a glimmer of the reason Crawford had warned them not to spend more than a few thousand dollars.

"Video games!" he exclaimed, grinning widely. "Oh, yeah, that's perfect. Those can keep any teenager entertained for HOURS!" He dragged Nagi into the store by the wrist, moving fast enough that the boy had to trot to keep up with him.

He left Nagi watching a couple of kids play the display game, while he went hunting for the best system. There was an array of choices, from Nintendo to actual computer systems, but it looked like the best game system was the Sega Genesis. He picked up one of the boxes, and made his way back to the games section.

Nagi had drifted a bit, and was now watching a store clerk typing away at a computer with fascination. Schuldig halted a few feet away, before Nagi was aware that he was there, and looked at the absorbed expression on the boy's face. Blinking, he probed a little deeper, and got a sense of wonderment and excitement. Nagi was listening to the clerk explain to a customer that the computer could be hooked up to the Internet, allowing him to talk to anyone, anywhere in the world. What seemed to have caught the boy's full attention was the idea of leaning things online, of having entire libraries at his electronic disposal. Schuldig realized he should have known someone capable of learning four thousand kanji in six weeks would have a thirst for learning.

"You want one of those?" he asked the boy, taking the last few steps to come up beside him. Nagi looked up at him, startled.

"I..." he paused, thinking. "I don't know."

His mind said differently, even if he didn't know how to interpret the feelings he was getting, and Schuldig grinned, putting the Sega system down on a convenient counter.

"Computer it is, then," he said, rapidly calculating how much money they had left to spend within their limit. "Let's see, we've already spent..." he trailed off, trying to do the math in his head. Mental calculations were always difficult for him - numbers tended to trail off and get lost in the void of voices that was always hovering around him.

"Roku-man go-sen yen," Nagi reeled off when it seemed that Schuldig was waiting for him to answer. "About six hundred fifty dollars."

Schuldig blinked at him. "Ah... right. Why doesn't it surprise me that you're a lightening calculator as well? How much do we have left of the two thousand dollars, then?"

Nagi thought for a moment. "A little less than a hundred and thirty-five thousand yen," he calculated, converting the currency in his head since all the prices were listed in yen. Schuldig nodded, pleased, and caught the eye of one of the salespeople.

"Can I help you?" the man asked pleasantly, eyeing the game system Schuldig had set down. "Were you interested in the Genesis?"

"I was, but I changed my mind," Schuldig told him. "We want a real computer - something not too difficult to use, but that will connect to the Internet. We've got about a hundred and thirty thousand yen - what will that get us?"

The man looked thoughtful. "Well, that depends. Are you going to need a fast, colour printer, or will slow black and white do?"

"Uh... slow black and white for now," Schuldig decided arbitrarily. "We can always upgrade later."

"And what size monitor are you looking for? We've got a Sony 13" model on sale right now. Also, how will you be connecting to the Internet? The speed of the modem makes a difference in the price."

"Shit," Schuldig swore, frowning. "I can't remember how Crawford connects his computer. We'll worry about the connection later, I guess. Just the basic system for now."

The man walked them through several more choices, - motherboard, processor, operating system - most of which Schuldig made arbitrarily or based on price difference. Nagi watched the proceedings silently, with wide eyes tracking back and forth between Schuldig and the salesman as they spoke.

When they'd finally agreed on a system and arranged to have it delivered with the rest of their packages, Schuldig used the last of their allotted money to buy a couple of video games for the computer. He led Nagi out of the store with a satisfied smirk on his face, Nagi's surprised happiness travelling up his arm from the connection of their hands and giving him a disgustingly warm fuzzy feeling in his chest.

They passed a dessert store on their way back out of the mall, and Schuldig paused in front of it. "I think this calls for a celebration," he decided happily, tugging Nagi's hand to direct him into the little cafe. "Ever had ice cream before?"

"Once," Nagi replied, following him obediently. "One of my Masters got married, and let me eat with everyone else at the party." He paused, then added softly, "That was the same one who taught me to read." There was a feeling of affection and wistful longing attached to those memories, as though he regretted having lost her as his Master. Well, small wonder, if she treated him so well.

Schuldig glanced down at him. *How did you get bounced around so much, anyway?* he asked curiously as they stood in line. *That's at least four different Masters that I know you've had...*

*I've had seven,* Nagi told him. *My Masters keep getting challenged for me.*

*Ah,* Schuldig nodded. *That makes sense.* In the bottom-feeder circles Takatori - and, therefore, Crawford and Schuldig - moved in, any Master could be challenged at any time for possession of his sub. People had finally stopped challenging Crawford for Schuldig after his third or fourth extremely bloody victory. Schuldig didn't know where Crawford had learned to fight; the precognitive didn't LOOK like much, but he was death incarnate in a fight. Bare hands, knife fight, martial arts - it didn't matter. He never took a hit, because his powers allowed him to see what his opponent was going to do before they ever moved, and he packed one hell of a punch.

They'd reached the front of the line, and Schuldig ordered for both of them. A simple vanilla cone for Nagi - he probably wouldn't be able to even finish that much, this close to lunch - and a double-scoop chocolate fudge and cookie dough cone for himself. They sat in a corner away from the window and the rest of the crowd, slurping at the cool treats contentedly.

Nagi actually managed to finish the ice cream, though he left the cone. Schuldig figured out why when the boy's eyes widened as he bit into his own cone - the kid hadn't realized the cones were edible.

The subway was even more crowded on the way back than it had been on the way there - Schuldig gritted his teeth and clung to the overhead grip like a lifeline, fighting to keep his shields strong enough to keep him from getting lost. Nagi watched him in alarmed concern, but he couldn't take the focus from his concentration long enough to explain what was wrong. When they finally made it to the relative quiet of Takatori Towers, Schuldig slumped against the elevator walls with a relieved sigh.

Nagi was still watching him, looking half panicked. "I'm okay," Schuldig told him gruffly. "I have got to convince Crawford to let me have my own car. I still have trouble blocking out that many people sometimes. Crawford's been helping me with my shields, but I've got a long way to go." He shrugged, straightening and grateful his limbs weren't shaking the way they sometimes did. "It's not so bad as long as I'm not in contact with anybody. No," he added as Nagi instantly tried to tug his hand out of Schuldig's grip, "I don't mean you, I mean random strangers. Your mind is pretty quiet." He ruffled the boy's hair in an unthinking gesture of affection, and Nagi smiled hesitantly back at him.

The packages hadn't arrived yet when they got back to the apartment. Schuldig started to suggest watching another movie, then grimaced when he remembered the stack of dishes waiting for him. He sighed. "You can crash here and watch a movie," he told Nagi, heading for the kitchen. "I've gotta do the dishes."

A whisper of thought crossed the boy's mind, easy to pick up on now that he was able to lower his shields a bit. "What is it?" he asked, turning back to see Nagi still standing by the doorway.

"I... could help?" Nagi suggested, making it sound like more of a question. Schuldig started to tell him that there was no need, then changed his mind. If Nagi was taking enough initiative to volunteer for something, he certainly wasn't going to discourage him!

"Sure," agreed readily, gesturing for the boy to follow him into the kitchen. He indicated a dishtowel hanging on a rack, and started the water running in the sink. "You dry, and put everything away. Here," and he gently placed the memory of where everything was kept into the boy's head. "So you know where stuff goes."

Nagi blinked, sorting through the disorientation that always came with shared knowledge, and nodded. "Okay." He picked up the dishtowel, and stood waiting.

Schuldig hated doing dishes, with a passion. That was mostly because he didn't do them often enough, and the dishes at the bottom of the sink were always disgusting and mouldy. Wrinkling his nose, he scrubbed at them hard to get the caked food off. Nagi kept up with him, drying the dishes as Schuldig passed them to him and putting them neatly away where they belonged.

He was on the second-to-last dish when he saw Nagi drop the plate he was holding from the corner of his eye. The ceramic platter fell towards the floor, where it would surely smash into a thousand pieces on the hard tile. Nagi's face was full of horror, and Schuldig caught a spike of fear in his mind. Despite all the reassurances, Nagi was still terrified that he would be badly punished for breaking the dish.

It happened so fast that at the time he really had no idea what was happening. Only later would he sort it out; there was a brief burst of the humming noise he'd noted the day before, sharp and loud, and abruptly the dish was back in Nagi's hands, safe and sound. Schuldig hadn't even finished turning around yet - he stared at the relieved expression on Nagi's face in shock.

"How did you do that?" he demanded, making Nagi look at him uncertainly.

"Do what?"

"Catch the plate," Schuldig elaborated, watching him closely. "No one's reflexes are that good - it should have hit the floor. How did you catch it?"

Nagi looked puzzled. "I had to," he said, as if that explained everything. "It would have broken."

"You had to," Schuldig repeated, leaning against the counter with a slow smirk spreading across his face. "Don't you realize what you just did?" Nagi shook his head, eyes wide, confused as to why his almost dropping the dish seemed to have pleased Schuldig. "You used your powers to catch it," Schuldig told him gleefully. "Just like you used them this morning to push me off the bed - and yesterday to keep yourself from wetting your pants, I think. Christ, kid, you're hardly going to need any training at all - you just need to learn to get conscious control of the instinctive ability you already have."

Nagi blinked back at him, not sure what he was talking about. Schuldig turned and put the pot he'd been scrubbing on the edge of the table. "Knock it off," he instructed, moving to stand behind Nagi with one hand on his shoulder. "Just push it off the edge - but don't move," he added, tightening his grip as Nagi started to walk forward, mystified.

He could feel the conflict in the boy's mind. He'd been given an order, he HAD to follow it, but Schuldig wouldn't let him move to do it. Somehow he had to move the pot without touching it...

As the turmoil in his mind peaked, another burst of that subsonic humming came, and the pot rattled and fell off the edge of the table. Schuldig grinned in triumph, patting Nagi's shoulder and projecting pleasure and pride as the boy stared at it in shock. "See, I told you!" he crowed, ruffling the dark hair again. "You've had control of your powers all along - you developed it to help you follow orders! It's just that whenever you're in too much conflict - panicked, afraid, whatever - it manifests as a general burst of force instead of being applied with a specific purpose."

Nagi swallowed hard, still staring at the pot on the floor. "I... I really did that?" he whispered, voice trembling.

"Yeah, you really did," Schuldig confirmed, projecting the pleasure and pride again. "You're gonna be one hell of an addition to this team, kiddo. Fuck, in some ways you'll be the most powerful of the three of us!" He grinned, eyes sparkling.

The intercom by the door buzzed before Nagi could think of something to say to that astonishing idea - that he would be more powerful than his Masters - and Schuldig strode over to punch the receive button. "Yeah?"

"Schuldig-san, several packages have arrived for you," the receptionist informed him cheerfully. "Would you like them sent up?"

"Yeah, thanks," he said, punching the code into the security panel that would unlock the elevator doors for this floor. They had the entire floor to themselves, and no one could get to them without that code. Their apartment took up only a small section of the floor, despite the size of the rooms - the rest of it was Crawford's office, a security station that was a duplicate of the one in the security office, a large, open, matted room for physical practice, and a smaller shielded room for practice with their powers.

It took a few moments for the deliveryman to make his way up, but they got the packages sorted out in short order. Once the man was gone again, Schuldig helped Nagi put away his new clothes in the drawers and closet he'd been given. Finally only the computer was left, lying in pieces in several boxes scattered throughout the room.

Schuldig eyed the boxes. They'd already opened one, and one look at the dozens of kanji in tiny print in the instruction manual told him he wasn't going to be much help. "I've got to finish cleaning the kitchen," he told the wide-eyed boy examining the manual. "Do you think you can set this up on your own? Just follow the instruction manuals." Nagi nodded, and Schuldig left him happily occupied with the boxes.

The boy came out only once while he was working, in search of tools. Schuldig thought it was a good sign that he was asking for things necessary to complete the task he'd been given - it meant that if given an objective in a mission, he might be able to go beyond the strict parameters to accomplish it. He let Nagi know in no uncertain terms how pleased he was that the boy had asked for the tools, and Nagi left clutching the screwdriver with his eyes shining.

Schuldig peeked in on him when he finished cleaning the kitchen, and found him buried in electronics, happily fiddling with circuit boards. "What are you doing?" he asked in curiosity when Nagi looked up at him.

"Setting the jumpers," Nagi told him, as if that should explain everything. Well, to someone who understood computers, maybe it would. Schuldig just shook his head and told him to carry on, before going out to the living room to flop down and read.

He hadn't seen hide or hair of the boy after that by the time Crawford came home, and was aware of him only as a kind of contented thoughtstream in the back of his mind. He got up automatically when Crawford came in, and went to take the older man's coat.

"Well?" Crawford asked as soon as he saw his slave. Schuldig shrugged.

"He's doing okay. I think I've managed to work it out so that we won't get a repeat of yesterday's problem, and he's a lot more responsive today. God knows he seems to be having a blast messing with that new computer."

Crawford nodded, unsurprised by the news that they'd purchased a computer - not surprising, if he'd foreseen the event. "I've arranged with Takatori to get another connection in our apartment to the building's fibre optic line," he said, confirming Schuldig's suspicion that he'd known about it. "I'll also take care of getting the equipment he needs to use it."

"Eh, you computer junkies can discuss it among yourselves," Schuldig teased. "It's all Greek to me. I saw him use his powers today, too. He's convinced he has them now, at any rate. Are we ordering out tonight, or scrounging?"

"Ordering," Crawford said, moving towards the phone. "I'll take care of it - you get Nagi."

Schuldig went down along the hall towards their bedrooms, noting with amusement the dim glow of a computer monitor from within Nagi's room. Apparently he'd gotten it set up successfully. He tapped on the door, then peeked around the doorjamb.

Nagi was perched on his desk chair, which was just a little too low for him relative to the desktop. He had several of the manuals open in front of him, and was doing something esoteric on the system itself. "What are you doing now?" Schuldig asked, and Nagi jumped a bit as if he hadn't been aware that he had company. Guiltily, the boy turned to face him.

"I'm sorry - I didn't hear you come in!" he whispered, ducking his head. "I'm configuring the settings. Did you want me for something?"

"Just dinner," Schuldig told him. "Don't worry about it - you looked like you were having fun. Do you like it?"

Nagi considered that for a moment. "I... think so," he said at last. "I'm not sure how to tell."

"Well, it looked like you were, anyway. When you finish that, come out to the kitchen, food'll be here soon." He walked away, pleased that he'd found something tangible for Nagi to enjoy. It was, he thought, a step in the right direction.

|Part 1| |Part 2| |Part 3|

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