Mist, Act 1

A foggy mist cleared off the damp ground revealing two figures sitting alone. Younger and young. Master and servant. Sacrifice and Fighter.

'Are we something more?' Ritsuka always questioned himself. Soubi always made it seem like they were that and only that, but his actions heavily contradicted his words. Over and over Ritsuka always asked himself that same question. And over and over it always made his head, and somewhere deep in his chest, feel a slight pain.

The younger boy looked up at his partner, staring into Soubi's deep, cool eyes. Despite the outward chilling color of Soubi's eyes, whenever they looked back at Ritsuka they felt warm. The warmth seemed to flood into him when Soubi looked his way, as well as from Soubi's hand, gently clutching his own. But nothing about Soubi's eyes or the rest of his expression revealed anything to answer Ritsuka's unasked question.

The look only made him squirm.

The sun had been set for almost an hour but yet, neither of them were tired. Ritsuka's veins flowed with energy that seemed to be generated from the exhilaration of the day, making memories and of course being by Soubi's side. Soubi, too, would stay up for hours or days if that meant spending more time with his little Sacrifice. The two sat together quietly on a park bench, looking out into the dim night and postponing when they would inevitably need to leave.

It was extremely unexpected when a loud voice interrupted their silence.

"Battle System Initiate!"

Familiar, frightening words were being shouted in their direction. They boomed out and echoed through the park. Without a bit of hesitation Soubi whirled around, grabbing and holding onto Ritsuka, as darkness flooded around them. It was an eerie sensation that Ritsuka didn't think he would ever get used to; the world slowly fading out. The initiation of the battle dome sent a powerful shock through every bit of Soubi. But just like every other time, he endured it and his face didn't betray any of the pain.

Ritsuka was consumed with shock, he could barely think. What had they been doing to deserve such a sudden attack? All of these teams were so…barbaric. They didn't care about anything but fighting. But Ritsuka wondered, if that made him bad too, always fighting back. But then, he wasn't sure that there was ever a choice. It was just something that needed to be done. And every battle left questions that needed to be answered.

Soubi's expression, instead of showing the pain, showed anger. So many people kept coming after him and Ritsuka, and it didn't make sense. It hadn't from the start, he had never questioned it because that wasn't his duty. All he had to do was protect Ritsuka. But he had never expected the units to be coming after them so constantly. It seemed to be the school's doing... but now... could it be something else causing this? Didn't Seven Voices have their hands full enough? Wasn't the one who they had angered someone else…? Hadn't they gotten on Seimei's bad side…?

"If you want to fight, show yourselves!" Soubi yelled out, the other team was yet to be seen. Ritsuka clung to his side and cringed at the harshness of Soubi's voice.

Then two figures appeared, walking closer to Soubi and Ritsuka in the darkness of the battle area. They were average height, as could be seen by their distant silhouettes. Tall to Ritsuka, short to Soubi. Slightly less than shoulder length hair breezed around their faces, but no other features could be seen in the dark.

One of the opponents stepped forward and declared in a rough voice, "Loveless. We have come to challenge you. Are you prepared for us?" His partner followed immediately, "Battle, start!"

Soubi glared at the newcomers briefly before turning to Ritsuka. "What should we do?" He, of course, knew exactly what they were going to have to do, but he wanted to hear it from Ritsuka.

Ritsuka squeezed his arms around Soubi tight and looked up at him innocently. "End it quickly, please."

"Is that an order, master?" Soubi inquired, the name slipping out unintentionally. He didn't even notice his blunder.

Ritsuka scowled at Soubi, he wasn't angry ...but it irritated him, couldn't Soubi stop acting like that? "Yes it is... and don't call me that."

"Is that an order?" Soubi was just teasing now.

Ritsuka became flustered and his words tumbled out, "Idiot! Do what you like, just start. I want them gone! Who are they anyway..?" Ritsuka huffed discontentedly.

"Yes master" Soubi nodded at him, this time using the name playfully, if anything, to distract Ritsuka. His tone was light and he knew Ritsuka would understand.

Soubi was more than confident with Ritsuka by his side. He planned to protect his Sacrifice as he always tried so hard to do. "Battle, accepted!"

The pair across from Soubi and Ritsuka were a few hundred feet away, but they were more visible now. The two joined hands. "We," they said in unison. "are Desolate!" Raising their hands higher, Ritsuka could've sworn he saw glowing orbs fly away from them and shimmer dimly in the sky. "Desolate," they repeated. "devoid of other's lives." The one on the left seemed to have a slur or lisp in her voice when she said their name.

"Muro!" The Fighter yelled, "Step back and watch me shine!" He shouted to her proudly, with a glint of confidence in his eyes. He then turned to Soubi and Ritsuka with a threat, "We have come to defeat you. A certain someone wants you under control. ...Haha!" He laughed at Soubi and Ritsuka, who he considered to be a pathetic team.

Soubi's eyes widened. 'He? Ritsu-sensei...? Seimei...? Was there someone else…?' It was true that both men were obsessed with controlling Soubi, and for Seimei, Ritsuka as well. Those two were all that came to his mind. Was it one of them? Standing by Ritsuka's side, he knew it would be impossible for him to do what his true master wanted, to devote himself to Seimei, and only Seimei. That was impossible for him now.

Soubi pretended to ignore the opponents disparaging and hid the fear trying to break across his demeanor. Kneeling down he brought Ritsuka close to his face and brushed his lips against the boy's with gentleness, sincerity. It sent a tingle down Ritsuka's throat, dropping like lead in his stomach.

"I love you." Soubi whispered to him, pulling his lips away, his hot breath gracing the edges of Ritsuka's mouth.

Ritsuka thought he heard an emphasis on 'you', he bit his lip in wonderment. Soubi did nothing but confuse him. He wondered what was going on. 'Why is this happening? Any of it…'

Then the battle broke out quickly, the other team was definitely either not noticing or not caring about whatever contact Soubi and Ritsuka held that was irrelevant to their battle. "Rip! Form from the ashes of two rusted souls!" Desolate's Sacrifice started out immediately. A twisted line lashed out, as the spells effect, coming closer to Ritsuka and his Fighter. It wasn't just Ritsuka who didn't recognize the odd spell, neither he or Soubi had ever seen such a thing before.

Soubi didn't have much choice, so he defended, unsure of what he was really defending against. "Barrier. Shield. Hold out against all!" Soubi's voice had a power, a feel, much stronger then the Desolate boy's raspy voice.

The braided whip dissipated. But before Soubi could act again and attack, Desolate started, their speed was amazing and even had somehow overcome Soubi, "Restrain! Shackle and PAUSE!" The rough words had an incredible power behind them this time. And sure enough, Soubi's protective block crumbled.

"Ritsuka!" Soubi yelled out as his Sacrifice became shackled at the wrists. Ritsuka's small arms were yanked backwards by the chains, it happened so quickly that Soubi couldn't help but fear the boy's small arms would be ripped right off. He grabbed Ritsuka tighter but there was nothing he could do physically to relieve the pain of a spell battle. He was about to ask Ritsuka if he was alright but suddenly was frozen in place. He realized how strange it was that Ritsuka hadn't made a noise through all that, it was because he too had frozen from the spell. Pause. The pausing spell gave Desolate plenty of time to attack further. Ritsuka's wrists were shackled but his fists held tight to Soubi's shirt, his arms had fought to come back to Soubi before being frozen there. His torso was frozen against the man, held by 'pause' and not Soubi's strength. He eyes were full of fear, and it was impossible for Soubi to look away. The freeze hadn't numbed them, in fact it was the exact opposite. They were frozen in all of the pain.

"Hey, Muro?" The Fighter said with casualty and curiosity to his partner.

Her small nose crunched, "Hm, Shin. Death?" Death. Death. Her lisped words added a luminous feel to the ending.

"What should we do to 'em? The usual?" The Fighter continued, seeking approval as he teased the frozen pair.

"Oh yes, Death! Death!" A smile curled across her smug face. Only a moment ago she seemed shy and quiet. Not anymore. This team was actually something to be feared.

'Death!' Soubi and Ritsuka's thoughts were sent whirling. 'Who would go this far…? Are we being toyed with…? Tested…?' They knew there was no chance these two were working on their own, not after they had declared someone else wanting this. There were so many options and Soubi wasn't even sure that knowing the answer would be of any help in stopping this. What was he to do if it really was Seimei…? Either way, Soubi was definitely not letting Ritsuka die, or go through much more pain. He was disappointed in himself for not ending this the moment it began.

"Let's move along! Our little kitty looks frightened." Shin teased, he immediately switched back to battling. "Forge! Frozen soul, seize!"

Soubi was confused by the attacks. It was a style he'd never heard of before, even with his massive vocabulary and spell knowledge he was lost. 'Forge?' But he wasn't left a lot of time to linger in his thoughts.

"Ahhh...mph!" Ritsuka was unfrozen, he had started and the pause had ended. But he was in agonizing pain. He bit his lip to stop from yelling out in pain. 'I don't want to worry Soubi... I don't want to distract him.' was all the boy could think, he tried so hard to do his best in the battles that he hated so much. He knew Soubi always did his best. Soubi was still petrified, his large frame surrounding but doing nothing to comfort the boy's pain.

Flashes of light emitted from Ritsuka, they were drawing out from him fast. Like his energy was being sucked out in the form of bright flashes. The strikes of light gleamed on one side, like swords in the light. Then they joined. Not to make a sword, but to make a scythe.

"Ahhhhgh! Sou-… Sou-… SOUBI!" Ritsuka yelled out. His voice was unrelenting, he couldn't hold it in when the pain was just getting worse and worse. Each of the light rays had caused him more and more pain and it seemed to all hit at once when they joined together.

That did it. Soubi couldn't handle Ritsuka's pain any more. He couldn't handle it to being with, but hearing it intensify and intensify was just too much. He broke through Desolate's 'pause' spell with a burst of anger driven strength. It astonished the team that someone, anyone, could break through such a powerful hold without even saying a spell or being in a position where he could say a spell.

The Fighter, Shin, was extremely angry about it, "Now you've done it bastard! Don't you dare break our spells!" he yelled out the non-spell words quick then lashed out with a few quick, consecutive spells.

Soubi kissed Ritsuka's head and allowed himself to look away from the battle a moment, "I'll protect you. I'm sorry Ritsuka, I'm sorry."

Ritsuka could only whimper in response.

Shin's spells all guided the scythe now. The large, glowing curved blade, floated in the air above them ominously. Its glow was strong and blinding, almost alluring. And it was made out of Ritsuka's pain.

"Slash! Soul R-I-P!"

"Block! No pain!" Soubi retorted.

"Fierce slash out!" Despite Soubi's efforts, the scythe got to Ritsuka many more times before he could block its powerful moves. Never before had he seen someone fight with a weapon made out of spells quite like this. And the team wasn't attempting to use any other sort of spell, rather they were relying wholly on the scythe that they had made.

All the while, Muro cheered on her partner, with little pain coming her way, Soubi hadn't gotten the opportunity to say many offensive spells. He was focusing the brunt of his effort on protecting Ritsuka. Protecting Ritsuka was what was important, but yet it would be much easier if he could get some serious blows on the other team.

Ritsuka tugged on Soubi's shirt and looked at him desperately. "S..Soubi. The scythe.. Death.. They..." he sputtered trying to get his words out. Soubi shushed him. But he needed to say it.

"Death gods! Soubi, death gods! It's a death scythe! Listen to that girl! Death! The name too, Death-olate!" At first Soubi could only think the words were wrong and pain driven. But then it came together, started to all make sense. Desolate thought they were death gods. Or at least wanted to be or act like they were. They specialized in using a spell weapon, just as a grim reaper would use a death scythe. They and their weapon were strong, but now Soubi knew what to do.

"Thank you, Ritsuka. Please hold on a bit more. I'm sorry." Soubi whispered to his Sacrifice. Despite him being the one who was reassuring Ritsuka, Soubi was scared. Ritsuka was in pain, it had to stop. Now. Soubi brought his lips down to meet Ritsuka's, he wanted to find comfort there, in Ritsuka's small, warm lips. He wanted to slip his tongue into the small mouth. His body just craved it, to be closer. Even in the environment they were in Soubi couldn't hold back. He wanted to reassure Ritsuka, he wanted to make him feel better. He was in so much pain… Soubi slipped his tongue into Ritsuka's mouth. But before he could barely initiate more of a kiss he stopped himself. Even if Ritsuka wasn't pushing him away.. It wasn't okay. No. Not now. Soubi needed to concentrate, he needed to stop the attack first. Lovingly he ran his tongue over the inside of Ritsuka's teeth before intending to pull away. He was very unsure of how Ritsuka's was feeling about his advance… He didn't seem angry at least… Suddenly, a sensation ripped through Soubi's body and he felt two sets of small teeth clash together with his tongue in the middle of them. Ritsuka was biting him, and then much too quickly he let go.

"You never know... until you try." Ritsuka sputtered, as he slumped down to the ground, gripping Soubi's legs tightly.

Soubi started to battle, fueled by the words, fully understanding the message Ritsuka was trying to pass on to him, "Unruly death seized!" Soubi's spells had more of a purpose now that he knew the other team's aim. His spells hit spot on and chains lashed around Desolate. Their weakness let one of Ritsuka's own chains fade.

Ritsuka had reminded Soubi of a time when they had just barely met.

The scythe was fading. But they lashed out with it once more, once more the shining blade came down and swung across Ritsuka's small body. Soubi responded with power ruling his voice, passion. "Demons defeat, punish all sinners!"

Muro screamed in pain, causing Shin to panic. The scythe got chains of its own this time, holding it to the ground.

They had been eating. Soubi said Ritsuka should eat better, it'll make your senses better. Increase sensation in your mouth, your tongue. What for? Someone might bite you. That's gross, it'd hurt. It might feel nice, you never know until you try.

Ritsuka's innocence rang through him, love. He had to protect his Sacrifice at all costs. And he had to protect Ritsuka at all costs, Sacrifice or not. Because he loved him. Soubi had to be successful, and it wouldn't be possible until he tried.

"Ungodly sinners. Death at your hands, reverse! Ring through flames of hell!" Soubi was powerful now, his spells stronger than ever. Flames burst through the ground, circling Desolate. The scythe turned against them and swung above them, showering them in red embers before it just dissolved. Desolate collapsed, gripping each other at the wrists. The flame subsided. Ritsuka's chains released. And the dark battle area faded to reveal true darkness slightly lit by the moon.

Everything ended so quickly in a battle that seemed like it would never end.

"Soubi!" Ritsuka cried out as he was released from his chains. He grabbed onto his Fighter. Burying his head in Soubi's chest and hugging him tight. "Thank you Soubi." But all Soubi could do was hug back and solemnly apologize.

"I'm sorry Ritsuka."

"Don't say that, idiot. Are you hurt?"

"You were in pain. I failed. I'm sorry."

"Soubi! Shut up! I'm fine now."

Soubi was upset but he saw the heat in Ritsuka's face, he didn't want to overwhelm him. He knew when he needed to stop, even if he wanted to persist and beg and beg for punishment and give his apologies, he knew that Ritsuka couldn't handle it. As hard as it was to admit, he knew that Ritsuka didn't want those things like Seimei had. Soubi knew that he definitely should be apologizing in this situation and he wanted to…. He wanted to so badly…

Soubi couldn't so he forced his body to switch gears. He settled for teasing the boy, hoping to calm him down. "Ritsuuka." Soubi whispered the name and then licked Ritsuka's cheek playfully, yet apologetically.

Ritsuka blushed furiously, "Stupid! Get off!" But still he allowed Soubi to pick him up and hold him in his arms and carry him off to Soubi's apartment. They left Desolate without even a glance behind at them. They were defeated, the battle was over. And Soubi was afraid he might kill them should they ever appear before him again.

The walk back was quiet. Soubi nibbled on Ritsuka's kitten ears persistently and periodically gave him pecks on the cheek, only to be pushed away. He scratched at the delicate bases of Ritsuka's feline ears, knowing how much it relaxed the boy. The moon and flickering streetlights were their only guiding path in the dark night, no one else was out on the suburban streets at that hour. They said nothing for a while, until Ritsuka broke the tense silence, "Soubi, why? ...What's going on? Who…? It's Seimei. I know it, there's no use in avoiding it, is there? What does he want?"

Silence filled the air again. The only reply that came was soft, "Us." Ritsuka knew not to ask anymore, not now.

When they got back to the apartment they quickly fell asleep, collapsing onto Soubi's bed together without a care except for their exhaustion. Wounds were left forgotten and untouched. Clothes left unchanged. But arms wrapped tightly around each other.


Thank you for reading!

*Chapter edited: various grammar mistakes. 10/4/11

*Chapter edited: writing. 2/20/12 I ended up changing more than I thought I would have to and it's really changed the story a lot, but the plot hasn't changed.