a few years have past since the fight between the two brother's what happing now? is their relationship still the same? or will it develop into something they both never thought could happen?
this is written from Soubi's point of view. (please keep in mind, this is my first fanfic so please don't be to harsh on me if it's bad)
CHAPTER 1
Flash Back
It's been the whole day and I've only managed to apply a few marks upon my canvas, I'm constantly looking at my watch to determine how much time I have left till... well till I have to pick Ritsuka up. He's not expecting me, nor does he even know who I am but I would like to surprise him with a worm welcoming, sine he hasn't come in search for me as of yet.
"Sou-chan, what are you doing? You've only made a few marks, you know the teacher wont like that if it's not handed in on time. You always have a habit with doing this sort of thing; keep your mind focused on the work!"
"Oh Kio, you know I've never fail to hand in work by its due by date, so don't worry". Kio, probably the only friend I have. Though it wasn't by chose, more buy force.
"Sou-chan, are you listing? Hurry up and paint" Kio screamed raising his voice above the class. At this point in time I once again averted my eyes from the canvas to my watch, it was time. Kio screaming in the background, I lifted myself off of the stool while swiftly picking up my back and phone and headed for the door.
"SOU-CHAN! WHERE ARE YOU GOING?" Kio still screaming at the top of his lounges, little did he know that he was making a huge scene in the art room and that everyone at this point have now had their eyes fixed directly on Kio. I hadn't cared nor notice Kio and the rest, I just simple ignored everyone and walked out the door.
Good I had five minutes remaining before twelve-o'clock, before school finishes... before I finally get to meet Ritsuka, Seimei's younger brother. I wonder what he's like. I've only ever heard stories about him through Seimei. The way he used to talk about his little brother was in oar; it would at time seem that Seimei used to think that an immaculate world would only consist of him and Ritsuka.
I thought as I'm waiting out front with a few minutes left; I might as well pull out a cigarette. Placing one in my mouth as I light the small white skinny stick filled with comical, I took a deep drag while relaxing against the wall in front of the high-school.
Not long after my first or second drag, there came the noise of the bell. 'Hmmmm, I wonder if I should get rid of the smoke. What if he doesn't like smokers'? I thought to myself as I turned around keeping my eyes fixed upon the crowed of children running around in order to get home. Carefully scanning the crowed in search for Ritsuka was a tad harder than I thought all I had was photo to go by and stories, but what help are stories when looking for someone?
Sure enough, not after too long my eyes had locked on to a small boy running as tears streamed down his face, his black messy hair waving in the wind with every step he took, this had to Ritsuka, it just had to be.
He's perfect porcelain skin shined like silk under the sun gaze, the only thing detracting from the boy's beautiful face was the bandages the where placed at random. One on his cheek, another on his forehead; which I had only got a glimpse at when his head moved from the fast movement of his footsteps that carried his toward to the front gates of the school. Yes this is Ritsuka.
Seimei used to tell me about the horror stories in which his mother used to do to his little brother. It seems still now, after his brother's death, this vial act was continuing and now that Seimei is gone, Ritsuka has no one to protect him. My heart felt like braking, this poor boy, what a tough time he must be going through. Though from now on this will change, it's I who will now protect this small boy to whatever come his way to harm him, I will fight for him, I will protect him, and I will love him. These are the words he said to me. "Soubi, if I shell die, you'll be Ritsuka's fight unit" and not long after, Seimei was gone from this beautifully world. Seimei's words are absolute, even after death he still controls me.
That day was the first time I meet Ritsuka and the beginning of something far greater than I ever expected, something I never thought could have been possible in my wildest dreams. If I were to be sent back in time to do everything again, from the beginning, there wouldn't be a thing in the world I would change, because every act that had happened in the past three years have only brought me closer to my true purpose in life. To be reborn, to serve and fight as Loveless's fighter unit.
End of flash back
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1.30am, 1 year later (after vol 8)
'Buzz, Buzzz' the sound of my phone which awoken me from my deep sleep was ringing. Slowly turning over, I rummaging around on my bead side table that had mess scattered all over it, to answer my cell that was creating an agitating sound. Then all of a sudden I felt this painful calling coming from within my head. Ritsuka's voice, he's calling me.
From Ritsuka calling and the buzzing noise coming from my phone, my heart could only sink to the deepest part of my body. I just know something wasn't right for Ritsuka to be calling not only my name but my phone as well. Trying hard to find the phone, which only a few seconds later I had possessed in my hand I quickly answered.
"Sou.....Soubi..... p..p..please help" Before I could even speak, my body had swung itself out of the bed and was halfway toward the door, grabbing a shirt along the way as I listened to the painful cry of Ritsuka on the other end of the line. He's voice were like daggered slicing through his word before he could even pronouns them.
"Ritsuka, I'm on my way, what's...." I stopped from another voice in the background of Ritsuka phone.
"This will be the last time you'll ever disobey me, you imposter.......... beep beep beep"
This wasn't good, his mother had yet again lost her control, and the only outlet of her aggression was focused on poo innocent Ritsuka. I just needed to get there, forcing every little smidgen of will in my body to encourage my legs to carry me further and quicker as I ran out of my apartment and down the street, towards the insane house that had my little Ritsuka held captive with his abusive mother.
I couldn't think, no I didn't want to think about what dreadful things his mother was doing to him at this point in time I wasn't there. It's not like I don't know about his mother and her illness or how she abuses him, but somehow it had developed to much more than a cut here or a bruise there. Lately it has been several cut and slashed, above masses of bruises (blue and purple) that covered his body from head to foot. I'm quite surprised not one person has yet noticed about his increasing wounds upon his body, but yet again Ritsuka has always hidden them well, making sure they are not notable to the eye unless you look really close.
"Not much longer, only a block away" I whispered through my deep panting breath. My heart was pounding with every step that took me closer to Ritsuka; I was defiantly dreading the sight I would soon see Ritsuka's poor body in, but I couldn't think of that now, squinting my eyes as I lowering my head to move fast in pursuit towards his house.
Soon as I had turned the corner of Ritsuka's house, pushing myself to go fast in order to save my Ritsuka as soon as possible. I pulled the key of his house that Ritsuka had once given me long ago out of my pock, to which will soon be pushed into the key lock of the front door. Once the door was unlocked I slammed it open, not worrying about closing it behind me as I set my concentration in darted up the stair towards Ritsuka's bedroom. As I came to his door I hear crying sobs coming from behind, followed by the sound of banging against the wall. Not hesitating, I slammed the door once more as I entered as quickly as possible.
My eyes darted across the room in search for Ritsuka's injured body; it only took a few seconds before I could process the situation. Ritsuka's mother was across the room, curled up in a fettle position banging her own head against the wall. It almost sound like she was chanting some sort of spell but it was far from it.
"You're not Ritsuka, you're not Ritsuka, you not Ritsuka..." she continued to repeat as each followed with the slamming of her head against the wall.
From Ritsuka's mother, my eyes soon were being lead by a trail of small blood droplets on the carpet. Leading from the mentally unstable mother to around the end of the bed to... to a pair of feet that where sticking out from behind the other side of the room. Nothing could have prepared me for seeing Ritsuka in the state he was.
Ignoring the insane mother who continued to slam he head up against the wall (who had not even realising I had entered the room) I ran towards the bed to see Ritsuka body lying in a lifeless manner on the floor, my heart sunk deep than it already had before. Tears were swelling up from my tear ducks uncontrollably as I kneeled down to wrap my arm around his fragile little body. The sight was too hard to bear, if I hadn't needed to attend to Ritsuka right then and there, I surly would have done something deplorable to his mother.
"Ritsuka... can you hear me" whispering closely to his ear as a few drops of sadness escaped from my eye, to only land on his bloodstained cheek. As I examined him, making sure he was surly breathing, I then quickly skimmed over his body to see how deep the cuts and laceration were before make a clear note that it was safe to move his limp body that was pail white.
"Soubi....." he moaned as my name was forced through his lips with what little breath he could muster.
"It's alright Ritsuka, I'm here now, your safe" trying to fight back all the emotions I was feeling all at once, as I held him gently like a little child in my arms. The small little kitten, Ritsuka with all his might snuggled his head deep into my chest as I slowly walked down the stairs.
"your..... wo... worm Soubi...." he came again as he exhaled into me. I tightened my grip around him; brining his badly injured body closer to mine to share the heart between us. This way he wouldn't feel the harshness of the cold that would engulf him as we exited his home into the pitch blackness of the night sky back to my apartment.
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Once we had arrived at the bottom of my apartment it had already turned 2:30 in the morning. As I started too walked up the set of stair I heard little Ritsuka mumble a few words. Not that I could understand a word he was trying to pronounce but as I stared upon his little face, I couldn't help but whines at the cuts he possessed. Even though poor Ritsuka face was cut and bruised, he still managed to look more adorable than ever, as his head was snuggled into my chest.
When I had finally arrive at the top of the stairs to my apartment, softly moving a arm to reach out for the handle of my apartment, trying hard not to disturb Ritsuka from his sleep, I opened it and entered. All the lights where off, only the shine from the moon in the night sky shun through the window of the kitchen and the bedroom, shining enough light so I could find my way to lay Ritsuka down on the bed, without tripping over anything that blocked my path. It was dead silence; apart from the echo of my feet touching the ground made a sound, not even the wind in the air made a noise.
It hadn't taken long at all to reach my bedroom, only a few meters from the front door, all due to my apartment being so small and all. Coming to the side of my bed, I softly moved Ritsuka, whose face was buried into my chest trying to contain as much heat from my body because of the freezing air on the way home. Trying not to wake nor hurt him, I place his limp body in the middle of the bed. Minus the cut and bruises, he looked adorable the way the moons light shun through the window of my bedroom, directly impacting on his face; somewhat of a fallen angle who needed to be picked back up on his feet again.
Being as quiet as ever, I rushed to the kitchen in search for the first aid box which I needed to help clean and bandage Ritsuka up with. This was becoming increasingly more and more frequent, the aid box continually needed restocking at least every month and the box is now placed in a more convenient place for easy access.
Once I had all I needed I returned to the bedroom, where even in the duration I had been gone, Ritsuka hadn't moved an inch. Placing the aid box on the table beside the bed, I sat next to him gently just in case I would hurt him. Leaning in, I started to unbutton his top. He was still very much asleep not even noticing. This part of my job, I couldn't bear. It's been 3 years now, but still no tie can ever get you used to the fact a poor boy was being abused and there was nothing I could do... well without disobeying Ritsuka's orders. No matter how bad, no matter how often the beatings are, Ritsuka will not let anyone harm his mother. Even if it tears me up inside, I have to obey him, Ritsuka's orders are absolute.
Lifting the lifeless body up into my arms as I slipped Ritsuka shirt off, I laid him back down on the bed, from which I started to clean the blood stain that had dried in the duration of time since I had carried him back to my apartment. Without his shirt on, Ritsuka body was as white as a ghost, pail like a porcelain doll. Even the cut that he processed looked like they had been painted on. I got to work on the cuts once I had cleaned and disinfected them, patching them up with more bandages with the rest that where already there.
"hhhmmm.... y-your handssss are c-c-cold Seimei" Ritsuka whispered in a daze. I was quite surprised, I hadn't heard Ritsuka not once mention Seimei's name, not since that night after Gora. The night was the moment everything became clear to Ritsuka, and also what made him decide his final decision about Seimei and about me as his fighter. It's no wonder he hasn't felt like bringing up the past, it was only a year ago but it was like he knew that he couldn't relay on his big brother any longer, that he needed to stand on his own two feet. From that night onwards, Ritsuka had become more forward and confident within himself. This became quite handy with our fighter unit; we had gotten much stronger than before and hadn't lost a battle since.
Simple ignoring Ritsuka because I know he was talking in his sleep, so I continued to undressed him completely to yet again dress him in a more comfortable and worm clothing to sleep in. Pulling out a long sleeved shirt of mine, placing it smoothly over his arms while buttoning up the buttons one by one as this part of my task had finished. All that was left to do was pull the bed sheets over him and watch over him for the rest of the night.
Cleaning up all the blood stained toils, old bandages and disinfectant, I placed the first aid box back into the kitchen. With no doubt in my mind I'll have to use it again sometime near in the future. Once everything was done it had now turned 3:00am in the morning, time for me to be returning back to Ritsuka's side as I keep an eye on him till he awakes from his sleep. Reaching the side of the bed, taking off my shoes and jacket, I slowly pulled the sheets back while gently slid under right next to Ritsuka's body which was not like a cold corps but instead warm. Still the moons light shun upon his small endearing face with his ears and tail making him look even that little more adorable, like a little kitten. Moving closer to Ritsuka, I wrapped an arm around him trying my hardest to not hurt him or his injuries, while pulling him closer to me so we couldn't share body heart so Ritsuka would get cold during the night. Not once did I close my eyes, yet instead they stayed fixated upon Ritsuka's sleeping face till the morning birds sung for the beginning of the next day.
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"Morning Sou-chan!" a voice screamed as footsteps echoed. There was only one person who's voice this could belong to, no doubt in my mind that he would selfishly barge in without even knocking, Kio you rude basted. Swiftly moving my body quickly but carefully, I emerged from the bed to launch myself at Kio's screaming voice, which echo loudly around the room. The look on his face said it all; Kio knew he had done something wrong, trying his best to struggle backwards away from my hand which was in pursuit to reach out and cover his loud mouth.
"N-NO, So.... Sou-chan, I'm... so... orry!" trying to squirm his way out of my grasp. Darting my eyes back to where Ritsuka was soundly sleeping, he hadn't even noticed the noise, he was still in his deep sleeping slumber in which he had been all night thank god. He hadn't even woken to move position, but then again he probably didn't have the strength to anyway. Pulling Kio's face that was tightly in my grasp; closer so that my lips were only centimetres away from he's ears, in a low but demanding tone that was electrifying. "Kio, who gave you the right to barge in to MY apartment, screaming at the top of your voice?" Kio's whole body stiffened just as I my grip around his mouth tighten as he tried answering.
Kio, my friend, my only friend, alright it wasn't by choices but I have to give it to him, his persistence in trying so hard to get my attention did work off. Though it wasn't his wholehearted friendly personality, it wasn't his outrage looks or charm that attracted me, it was something far more miner. One night after art class, it had been raining and Kio opted for me to stay the night at his; due to the huge amount of downfall and Kio's place was only five minutes away. During my time spent there I had noticed a beautiful tattoo across his back as he came out to get dressed.
"A tattoo...?"
"Huh? I didn't tell you? Yeah, it's just a tattoo. It's not like I was hiding it" Kio said buttoning his shirt up as he got dress. Kio never presented himself to me as one of those types of people to be interested in tattoos but it surly was the one thing that lured me into becoming friends with this guy. That was the foundations of our newly formed friendship, Kio was very pleased.
After the whole fiasco with Kio barging into my apartment, I had told him of the situation at hand and why Ritsuka was laying in my bed all bandaged up and dead asleep.
"Sou-chan, why don't you do anything?"
Oh only if he knew how badly I wanted to, but I couldn't. It's like putting a huge bit of meat in front of a bog through the window but that bog not being able to eat it. Instead of the window being my barrier, its Ritsuka's orders through his words that stop me.
"Because Kio, Ritsuka ordered me not to" I sighed as I handed him a mug or coffee. The irritated on Kio's face was nothing I hadn't seen before; it's more of a memory from years ago when I was Seimei's fighter. Everything Seimei did every act he had done or placed upon my body, Kio hated. He used to continually yell and scream about abuse and everything, but in my eyes it was much different; it was more a mark of ownership. Something Ritsuka hasn't and most likely will never do due to being much like Kio.
"Well Sou-chan, if you're not going to do anything then I might as well just leave. I don't want to hang around someone who would rather watch the person they love be hurt and not do anything about it" Kio said standing up dramatically with rage in his eyes. I wasn't going to stop him, although I knew deep within he was right. Walking towards the door, Kio stop just before he reached for the handle.
"Sou-chan, for Ritsuka's sake don't let this get out of hand!" and with that, Kio left in silence. My eyes averted to Ritsuka's sleeping body as he laid spread out over my bed, I hung my head in shame. It's not that I didn't want to change his situation, living with his mother but it's more the fact I couldn't. If I were to stop his mother violent traits then I would be winning one thing but losing so much more. I just couldn't bear to lose Ritsuka's trust, not now, not that we've come this far and this close, I couldn't throw it away because of disobeying my masters orders. On the other hand, clenching my teeth every time I return him to his mothers care, I dread dearly what the outcome will be every single time. There wasn't much I could do until Ritsuka woke up, so until then I decided to meditate with the silence that consumed the apartment whilst finishing off my paintings for art class so Kio wouldn't be on my back on this as well.
4.00 pm come around and there was still no disturbance from Ritsuka, only a mown, grown or the sound of the sheets being tossed around as he repositioned himself for a more comfortable position. I considered waking the poor child but he looked to adorable to wake, I couldn't bring myself to disturbed him as Ritsuka lay with sweet emotionless expression upon his face. Instead I just laid down beside him in awe of his childlike beauty till he awoke from his slumber.
first fan fic so sorry if its not that good but the second chapter should be posted up within the next couple of weeks! feedback is more than welcome and any ideas you would like to be imputed into the next chapter feel free to ask =]