Warning: This story includes things such as: death and mutilation. :.-( Slight spoilers. Hints at sex. (As in, it's there, you can tell it's there, but you never actually READ it's there...I may edit it in later though... ^.^) This will be somewhat graphic towards the end...maybe...if I get to that point...-sweat-
Disclaimer: I don't own Loveless. If I did, instead of being shounen-ai, it would be a yaoi. XD It would DEFINETLY be a yaoi...
[a/n] This is placed in Gora. It has almost nothing to do with the version that happened in the series. I CANNOT BELIEVE I AM SO MESSED UP AS TO WRITE THIS FIC! I MEAN, SURE, I'LL WRITE SMUT, AND DEATH, AND SELF-MUTILATION, BUT THIS?!! T.T
Hn...for some reason, when ever I right stories like this, I always listen to Evanescence and Blue October (and LEMON DEMON...how the hell does the Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny inspire me to write THIS???)...I wonder why...
--------------------------------------------------
"Are you having fun, Ritsuka?" Soubi smiled at the little boy, lifting his chin so he could look into his cool dark eyes.
Ritsuka blushed before nodding. "M-hm. I like it here at the onsen...(1)" The boy shot Kio a worried glance as he saw him slip on some of the wet rocks.
"Ahargharachargh!!" Kio coughed/screamed.
Soubi glanced in the direction his Sacrifice was staring, and smiled. He was used to the antics of his best friend. "Don't worry about him. He'll be fine."
"Are you sure?" Ritsuka looked skeptical, one of his ears twitching slightly as he listened to Kio's warbling cries.
'Ah! So cute!' Soubi's cheeks were tinted with a light pink, barely visible behind the steam of the onsen. The recovering Kio waded into the water and swam over to where Soubi and Ritsuka were. His face was red, either from the embarrassment of falling in full view of everyone, or the heat of the onsen."Yup. Pretty sure." he grinned at his best friend, who seemed to become even more red, if that was possible.
Soubi's ever-shortening attention span flipped back to its most common point of focus: Ritsuka. 'He's so innocent,' he thought adoringly as he watched Ritsuka splashing water first at himself, then at nothing in particular.
'I wish I had brought Rubber Duck-chan...' the small onyx haired boy thought absentmindedly as he rested his head on his arms and leaned his body against one of the smooth surrounding rocks, slowly relaxing and getting more drowsy by the second.
"Um...Hey, Sou-chan?" Kio whispered to the taller man -as he watched Ritsuka splash his tail around in the water, a smile on his gorgeous face as he rested on the rocks- Kio looked around, and blushed again. For about the past ten minutes, everyone in the onsen had been leering at the three, some of them being careful to hide their interest, the others just openly staring.
"What is it, Kio?" he smiled as he reached over to pull a flower petal out of Ritsuka's hair.
"Um, let's see...how do I put this? You do realize everybody's staring at you, right?" he said flatly, before sneezing.
"Huh?" Soubi looked up and turned around, seeing the same thing that Kio saw, and glared at the perverts with the lolita complexes that were staring at Ritsuka, before he grabbed the small, thrashing, eared boy and quickly snuggled him into his very naked chest.
"Argh! Soubi!!" Ritsuka swatted at his Sentouki's arms, blushing furiously.
"Yes? What is it, Ritsuka?" he grinned at the little boy.
"Uh, you realize even MORE people are staring now, right Sou-chan?"
"This isn't what I had in mind when I said I wanted to make memories with you and Kio..." he grumbled. Realizing that Soubi wasn't going to let him down soon, he decided to give in and rest a little while he could. The last thing he did before falling into a restless, nightmarishly light sleep was mumble a few parting words: "...you...pervert..."
------------------------------------
That had been earlier that day. Now it was time to head to Seven Voices Academy.
"It's cold..." Ritsuka whispered into the night air, clinging to the two adult's arms for warmth, angling his body to shelter himself as much as possible from the wind.
"We're almost there, Ritsuka. Don't worry." Soubi turned to smile at his owner.
"Don't worry, don't worry, DON'T WORRY?!" Kio shouted, jumping away from his best friend, and flapping his arms wildly in the air. "HOW THE HELL CAN YOU TELL A SIXTH GRADER NOT TO WORRY RIGHT NOW?!! We're walking around LOST in the freezing cold wearing only normal clothes and LIGHT JACKETS, in a BLIZZARD, at NIGHT, looking for a PSYCHOPATH, NONE of our cell phones have ANY service out here, and you tell him NOT TO WORRY?!"
"First, Kio, YOU'RE the only one who ignored my advice to bring spare and HEAVY clothes," chided Soubi, "Secondly, we are NOT lost. The school is only a matter of yards away."
"R-really, Soubi?" Ritsuka forced himself to speak through freezing lips and chattering teeth. The wind suddenly picked up, blasting them as if it was a solid force, shielding some secret base from spies. Soubi grabbed up Ritsuka and reached out to Kio before he lost them in the sudden white-out blizzard, most likely caused by an opposing fighter unit.
"See that? We're DEFINETLY close now. Thirdly, Kio," the ashen blonde continued their previous conversation to keep unwanted questions from arising.
"Thirdly, Sou-chan?" Kio arched an eyebrow, throwing away the BIO-DEGRADEABLE paper stick from the lollipop he had been sucking on for the past twenty minutes.
"Yes, we ARE looking for a psychopath, so when we find him, be on your guard." He said, letting go of Kio's arm and setting Ritsuka down so he could clean off his glasses. "Fourthly, we..." Soubi stopped, realizing he couldn't hear Ritsuka's or Kio's breathing any longer. "Ritsuka?" No response. "Kio?" Still no response. "No...!!" he swore under his breath, his hand flying to the bandages around his neck and tearing them off. 'I must protect him!!'
"Heat from within...engulf me, heating a path in the blizzard so we may find our way home...!!" The snow slowed and simmered around Soubi, melting into rain, and falling quickly to the ground. "I'll find you Ritsuka," Soubi stumbled forward, each step taken melting more snow, clutching his bleeding neck with his left hand, his right blasting away the snow. "I promise..."
---------------------------------------
Soubi ran down the hall, following the invisible tie he shared with Ritsuka, thin and strong as piano wire, to the library. Grabbing both door handles, the ashen blonde slammed open the cold grey double doors with a smash. Carefully stepping into the old room, musty from infrequent visits, he surveyed his surroundings, looking for his Sacrifice. 'What? He's not--' Soubi's thoughts stopped dead in their tracks as he recognized the presence slowly entering the room from one of the back doors.
"Well, well, well. I personally never thought you would WILLINGLY return to the Academy, but it appears I was wrong." The cold sadistic man looked over his glasses at his former pupil, a wide smirk forming across his face.
"Willingly my ASS. You KNOW why I'm here." Soubi glared at his sensei, the man forever haunting him like a nightmare you can never seem to wake up from.
"Ah, yes. To reclaim something I supposedly took from you, no? What was it again...?" Ritsu slinked forward gracefully, the swaying of his hips rather reminiscent of a cat on the prowl.
"You stole Ritsuka. Return him, NOW." Soubi thrust his arm threateningly forward, as if he was going to cast a spell. "Or else."
"Or else WHAT, Soubi-kun? What will you do?" he smirked, pulling a chair from one of the many book covered desks and turning it, so he could sit in it, and scoff at our hero's attempts much like the evil mastermind he tends to be. (EVIL!!! EVIL, I tell you! EVIL!!!!!!!!) "You're still just a child, Soubi-kun. You're a scared little child, who can't even protect a Sacrifice."
"No...No, you're WRONG." Soubi clutched at his throbbing head with his left hand, Ritsu's words starting to take affect on him, as they always did.
"You lost not only the elder Aoyagi, but failed to protect the younger as well." Ritsu laughed nonchalantly.
"I'm not afraid of you!" Soubi tore his left hand from his head, and began to chant a spell, his right hand spewing sparks.
"Is that so?" Ritsu stood, all traces of humor gone. Seeing the defiance in Soubi's eyes, Ritsu's tone turned to a threatening one. "Then perhaps you didn't learn your lessons well enough."
Soubi's eyes widened as Ritsu appeared in front of him with an inhuman speed. "Then what is that in your eyes as you back away from me? It is certainly not COURAGE."
"No...I will NOT fear you." Remembering his Sacrifice, Soubi glared up at his former teacher. "You're simply a bully, who steals what people care about to get them to do as you wish. I've seen you do it a thousand times."
"Oh, this isn't about your damn ears again, is it? And you're right, I HAVE done it a thousand times. You'd think people would realize what I was up to around the tenth time, but people are stupid, so I get to--"
"Do whatever the hell you feel like, and get away with it. And yes, this is partially about my ears." Soubi wanted desperately to look away from the bewitching man, but knew he could never do it without showing his fear.
"Aw, I bet you wanted to give them to Aoyagi Seimei or maybe, the younger one...Aoyagi Ritsuka, was it? What is he like, by the way...Seimei-kun's little brother?" Ritsu smirked at the glaring blonde man.
Like a switch, Soubi's attitude flipped to one of possessiveness and anger. "That's none of your business!" Soubi yelled, glowering at the older man.
"Really? Well, I'm sorry you feel that way, Soubi-kun..."
"Shut up."
"Afraid I'll take his ears?" This earned another glare from Soubi. "What's he like, anyway? Is Ritsuka-kun CUTE?" Ritsu smirked suggestively as Soubi's eyes visibly widened.
"Shut the hell up, and leave Ritsuka ALONE."
"Oh, but if I leave him alone, someone might just snatch him away..." Ritsu looked behind Soubi and smiled. "I'm growing tired of this. Bring the child in."
Soubi turned to see a barely concious Ritsuka being dragged by a fighter unit across the floor, each one supporting the bleeding boy by taking hold of his arm. "No..." Soubi stared in horror as they dropped Ritsuka's body to the floor, earning a small groan from the boy. As Soubi ran to care for his Sacrifice, one of Ritsuka's attackers stepped forward, and walked to where a beaming Ritsu stood. Carefully, he handed Ritsu a bloody handkerchief, which Ritsu delicately unwrapped. Ritsuka smiled when he saw Soubi. "Ritsuka! Are you alright?! Where are you bleeding from?" Soubi's eyes got even larger when he realized where Ritsuka was pointing. "R-Ritsuka..." He picked the little boy up, and clung to his small body. "I'm so...sorry..." Soubi choked back a sob. "This is all my fault..." Soubi lightly touched the place where Ritsuka's ears had once been. He stared at what was left of Ritsuka's tail. 'How could ANYONE do this?!' Ritsuka pushed back so he could look at Soubi.
"It's not...YOUR fault, Soubi..." he smiled, before wincing at the pain of his injuries. He gave the older man a worried look. "Soubi?"
"Yes, Ritsuka?" He gave the little boy a weak smile.
"Am I going to die?" Soubi was blown away. Never had been asked such a thing without seeing a fear of death in the asker's eyes.
"Ritsuka--"
Ritsu smiled as he opened the cloth to reveal two furry, jet-black ears. The fighter winced as he saw Ritsu raise one to lick at the blood. 'I always knew Sensei was a little OFF, but to think he'd make us chop off some random little kid's ears? That's just...wrong.' Ritsu turned to smile at the fighter, a trail of blood smeared across his chin.
"You have done well. In battle, you must be ready to do whatever your Sacrifice orders, including dismemberment of an opponent." Ritsu gave him a sick grin.
"No, Ritsuka...you're not going to die...not in a place like THIS...I won't let you..." It took all of Soubi's self-control not to cry, no, he wouldn't cry, not in front of his former Sensei, at least.
"It's okay, Soubi...at least...I'll get to see...Sei...mei again..." Ritsuka smiled weakly as he leaned into his Sentouki's chest. Quickly grabbing the boy up, Soubi began to run away from his sensei, calling Kio and telling him to meet up with them in the small shack where he first got his name from his first Sacrifice. Setting him down gently, he gave his child-like boyfriend a light kiss on the lips, ignoring the blood that ran from where his ears had once been to his chin.
"Ritsuka..." He lightly brushed Ritsuka's bangs from his face with one of his long fingertips. 'He's lost so much blood...I don't think he'll survive the night.'
"I'm coming...Seimei..." Ritsuka smiled deliriously.
'Even when dying, he still believes in Seimei. He's got a devotion I don't even think I have.' Soubi ran his fingers through his own hair, and felt where his ears had once been. Remembering what had happened when he lost his ears, he got an idea. 'Maybe, if I took Ritsuka's ears and tail the RIGHT way, rather than chopping them off, they'll heal over...and stop the blood flow!' Ready to try anything, he grabbed Ritsuka, placed him by the fire he had started earlier, and began to undress himself and Ritsuka.
------------------------------------------
Kio cleaned his glasses of snow for what felt like the trillionth time that night. Stumbling through the woods, he finally reached a clearing where the tremendously tall pine trees kept much snow from reaching the ground. There, in the center of the clearing, stood a little shack and a cottage with smoke coming out of its brick chimney. "Is this the place Sou-chan told me to meet them at?" Walking up to the door, he found it locked, and started to knock on the door. After twenty minutes of slamming himself against a locked door and having no one answer, he gave up and walked over to the open shack, and decided to wait for them amongst the tools.
-------------------------------------------
"Ri...tsu...ka..." Soubi threw his head back as a feeling he hadn't experienced in quite a long time took him by surprise.
"Ah...hn...Sou...bi..." Ritsuka gasped out, wiping the sweat and blood from his face.
Pulling out and laying down beside his panting boyfriend--no, lover now-- Soubi took Ritsuka's head and leaned it agianst his chest so he could examine the places where his ears had been. His tail was now completely gone, --a feature Soubi would definetly miss-- rather than hanging precariously and mutilated from his back side. His ears were now completely gone, the chunks from where they had been cut roughly away gone. Unfortunately, he could tell that the damage had already been done. Ritsuka had already lost too much blood, and even if they had sex all night, he wouldn't be able to keep Ritsuka warm enough. With the white-out blizzard, no ambulance or rescue team could get here until at least tomorrow afternoon, and the closest hospital was too far for even him to make it to while carrying a small, bleeding and dying child in the snow and cold. His reason for living was slowly dying. The person he had sworn to always protect and love was slowly dying in his arms, and he knew all he could do was lay with him and wait for the cold to creep in and steal him in the middle of the night. "R-R-Ritsuka...I, I...I love you. I promised I wouldn't let anybody ever get to you, and I failed. I'm so...so sorr--"
"ENOUGH, Soubi." Soubi looked up with blurry eyes at his owner. "I'm not going to," Ritsuka winced as he touched where his ears had been. "die. Not yet, anyways. We still have several more hours to be together, and I'm not going to let us spend it sobbing over what could have been." Ritsuka forced a smile weakly as he put a finger over his lover's lips to silence him.
"R-Ritsuka?" Soubi tilted his head, moving the boy's hand so it cupped his cheek.
"Soubi...while I'm a bit angry because you didn't ask," he sighed, glaring up softly at the older man through his bangs. "I understand that you were only trying to save me. Now, if you feel up to it, then this time, I'll give you my permission to--"
"DAMN IT, OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR YOU LUNK HEADS!!" Kio pounded on the shack door, ready to kick it down.
"K-Kio-san?" Ritsuka blushed, grabbing Soubi's coat to cover himself. "Wh-why's he...Soubi! You didn't leave him out in the snow to DIE, did you!?"
"It's possible that I may have forgotten."
"Oh, you idiot!" Ritsuka growled, throwing on his own clothes and throwing Soubi's at him before going to unlock the door. When he tried to stand, he crumpled to the floor.
"Ritsuka!"
---------------
"Damn it, that asshole! I'll kick his ass to kingdom come when I see him! I finally wander long enough to find a rental car place, just to find that my stupid wallet is missing; I leave my Rolex my parents got me for my birthday as collatoral for a car; I find the shack, just to be locked out of the damn place?! Oh, I'll kick his ass, I swear I will!! OPEN THE DAMN FUCKING STUPID-ASS DOOR--!!" Kio happened to kick at the door at the exact moment that Soubi opened it and walked through it, carrying Ritsuka on his back. As Kio's foot connected with Soubi's special place, the taller man crumpled to the ground, nearly dropping Ritsuka. "Oh. Hey."
(1) --A form of Japanese hotspring. If you want a really funny example of a really freaky onsen, take a look at Yuu Watase-sensei's "Absolute Boyfriend." (published by VIZ, under Shojo Beat.)
[a/n] Waah...I hate to put my little Rit-chan through all this...but it was an idea I just couldn't pass up on! (:puppy dog eyes: Does that make me a bad person, putting FICTIONAL CHARACTERS through hard times for my reader's entertainment?) If so, review and tell me that I'm a horrible person for killing off Ritsuka. (I won't hold it against you, after all, I was beating myself up about it too...) But, if you LIKED it, feel free to say that too! ^^
REVIEW!!!!