Ritsuka stood there, fists clenched, it couldn't be true, it just couldn't. It couldn't have happened, not again. He couldn't be standing here by another fresh-filled grave. The rain poured down and he didn't notice. It dripped from his suddenly soaking hair and sodden kitten ears he had been planning to lose to the man he had lived with. The man in the grave.
It had only taken an instant, a hesitation on both their parts. The battle had been hard, harder than any they had ever fought. They had both taken damage, he and Soubi. His fighter had taken more than his fair share of the restraints as ever. He had been weak. Soubi had taken more damage, more pain than he had but he had called him, distracted him, broken his concentration. In that split-second, the other team had struck.
He had fallen, the indigo eyes flashing open in surprise, the platinum blond hair flowing out behind him as he landed with a soft grunt of expelled air. He had screamed, they had forfeited the battle, he had crouched by his faithful fighter's side.
It was too late.
He had arranged the funeral, the burial, all in a daze. Nothing had seemed real. Now he could feel. He collapsed back to his knees, just like he had by Soubi's side.
His knees were coated in mud from the dewy rain and soil from the grave. He knelt there, frozen, unable to move, unable to cry, wanting to stay forever. He had nowhere to go, no-one to care.
He had stayed there for hours, trying to pretend that it wasn't true, it hadn't happened. He was soaked, shivering but not noticing. It wasn't as cold here as in the grave.
The first time he moved after falling to his knees was to jump, then hang his head, resigned as hands settled on his shoulders. He had no-one to protect him anymore. Maybe they would kill him. He hoped so. He could be with his fighter again, the best fighter in the world, and beg for forgiveness.
Kio looked sadly down at the little kid who had meant so much to his best friend. He was soaking, knelt by the graveside like a statue, one of the concrete angels dotted throughout the cemetery.
Ritsuka's eyes closed with the dreadful certainty of what was about to happen and he waited. But nothing happened. He eventually found the strength to raise his head and turn agony-filled eyes on the man behind him.
Kio felt his own eyes fill with tears at the utter desperation and the pain and grief in the child's eyes. No-one should have to suffer that, least of all one so young. Sure, he wasn't the traumatised twelve-year-old Soubi had first introduced him to, but sixteen was still too young and the little brat had had it happen twice. This time he hadn't just lost his best friend, his lover, but also the last link to the older brother who had been his world until he had died when this kid was ten.
He rested a hand on the other's shoulder, it didn't feel right to intrude on his private grief more than that. His protective walls were up again, the walls Soubi had spent years breaking down, the walls he had been the only one able to get inside. Ritsuka seemed to be emanating his desire to have no physical contact, to be left to grieve alone, but still Kio kept his hand on his shoulder. He needed to comfort him, needed comfort himself and he had to hope that, maybe, his link with Soubi would permit him to reach, even slightly, this lost soul who had no-one left in the world to care for him.
Ritsuka looked up at him but did not pull away, a brief flash of pained gratitude in his eyes before he turned back to stare at the grave. Kio too stared and mourned silently. He couldn't fall apart. He and the kid had each other; there was nothing else for them anymore.
They didn't move for hours, and it was Kio who finally broke the silence.
"Come on kid, let's go home…"
Ritsuka's head jerked round, eyes wide, panicked, confused.
"Wha- what?" he croaked. Kio smiled sadly in spite of himself.
"Home."
"But…"
"Come on… you can stay… I won't… won't kick you out just because…" he couldn't bring himself to finish the sentence, to utter the dreadful truth.
"Because Soubi's dead." Ritsuka finished, face stony, eyes dead, voice cracking. Kio fought back his own tears, bit his lip and nodded. Ritsuka too nodded, just once, a short sharp movement of grudging assent and struggled up, clinging to Kio's shoulders as the knees he had been resting on for hours gave way in protest at suddenly having to stand. Kio caught him, hands on his ribs just under his arms, glad of the distraction.
"Easy kiddo… I've got you…"
Ritsuka pushed him away, eyes flashing.
"My name" he glared "is Ritsuka."
Kio nodded, fighting to keep his face calm.
"Ritsuka." He said quietly "Just because Soubi's gone, doesn't mean there's no-one to catch you when you fall."