Katrina left the room once more, looking more than a tad annoyed at the recent turn of events. Nothing was going the way it was supposed to in her opinion; hell, her cousin should have shown by now--

//You doubt me? When was the last time I neglected my favorite German cousin?//

The woman turned to offer a mild glare at the redhead now leaning against the wall a few feet away. "I'm your *only* German cousin," she reminded him, her tone belying her expression, which soon softened into a smile. "I was expecting you sooner, Johann."

Schuldig shrugged slightly pushing himself off the wall and quickly covering the short distance to drape an arm around Katrina in a casual hug. "You know how it is: big explosion happens and the insects all panic, causing traffic jams and major headaches for poor neglected telepaths."

"Neglected?" One dark eyebrow quirked. "Since when have you been neglected?" The only reply was a small smirk before Schuldig squeezed her shoulder and took a step back.

"So," he said, slipping his hands into his pockets and alluding to his conspicuously absent cohorts, "when do we get to meet the boss man?"

~*~*~

Tohma, with Mika not too far behind him, didn't make it too far before a semi-familiar man stopped him at the elevator. 

"It would be best to remain here, Seguchi-san," he said by way of explanation, dark eyes unreadable behind glasses that kept catching the light. "My people are already investigating the disturbance and should report to me shortly."

Tohma bristled slightly. How dare this... this underling order him around at his own company?! Before he had the chance to snap a reply, Mika came around the corner.

"Damn it, Tohma, why can't you wait five se--" her words trailed off as she caught sight of the man blocking the elevator. There was only one person she knew who could get away with wearing a cream-colored Armani suit and not look like an ad for gay pride. "Brad." 

Crawford blinked at the newcomer, expression neutral but silently cursing both Schuldig and his talent. He would never have agreed had he realized he would run into his older sister before he was ready to deal with the family on the heels of Yuki's death. 

In a voice that was much calmer than he felt at the moment, he replied, "Hello, oneechan."

~*~*~

"Well?"

"Don't rush me, chibi. I can't turn it on and off like the guilty one does."

The Japanese teen heaved an annoyed sigh and glanced around the corridor. Seeing no one, he shook his head and turned to see the older teenager leaning against the wall, eyes hidden behind dark glasses. After a moment or two, the white-haired boy pushed off the wall and shook his head. 

"Nothing. Whoever it was has already left the building."

"Your range blows, Farfie."

Farfarello shrugged in reply. "If someone had taken time to train me, I wouldn't have to leave my body to access my telepathy and I'd be able to search the surrounding buildings."

Nagi heaved another annoyed sigh, wondering idly if he could use this incident as a reason why Schuldig needed to stop dicking around with his responsibilities despite Crawford telling him a thousand times to work with the Irish assassin.

"In that case we should find Crawford and tell him that we lost the trail." A smirk crossed scarred lips, drawing a curious look from Nagi. "We also need to let him know that NG has a kitten infestation."

~*~*~

About a block and a half away, a figure in a car pulled out a cell phone and dialed a number. When someone answered, it spoke, "We have a few new problems."

First Draft: 04 December 2003
Revision: 04 December 2003

Okay, that's my contribution. Not too much on the Gravi part since I haven't
seen enough to know much about the characters, so I got to pull Schwarz into
play. No, Farf isn't wearing the eye patch. I'm of the opinion that he's going
for a 'look' with the eye patch, that one eye we get to see is so pretty...!

Locations of my other collaborated works: 
http://www.angelfire.com/anime/saotomechan in the collaborations section
http://www.angelfire.com/anime/saotomechan/sweetxsweet under fiction, labeled webmasters collaborations

And the name? Well, Ryoko Crawford is sorta an inside joke between me and Angel-chan, let's just say some predictions I made about ANGEL one week came eerily true the very next episode =^_~=