Day 001

"Nng…" Ritsuka moved his body, attempting to roll onto his side. Soreness took over his senses of feeling, deeming him unable to do so. He fought to open his eyes, to resurface to consciousness. His eyes were crusted over, everything around him was cold, he was sore, his mouth was dry, and wherever the hell he was, he'd been there for days.

Ritsuka groaned again and tried to find something solid to sit up against. He kicked out one of his feet, finding out that, one, he still had his sneakers on, and that there was a stone wall behind him. He gave it another good kick and then scooted himself back towards it.

He licked his lips, trying to give himself some sort of wetness in his extremely dry mouth. He was hungry and thirsty, but most of all, confused. Who brought him here? Why? The sound of chains moving sounded above his head made Ritsuka come to the knowledge that one of his wrists was chained to the stonewall.

Ritsuka's spine hit the wall, causing more pain to spark up. My spine is probably broken in a couple places. Funny. That had been the first thought to go through his mind since 'waking up'. He hauled himself up into a sitting position, biting his lip to keep from yelling out. He raised his free hand and rubbed at his eyes. He was almost certain that they were completely bloodshot. His eyes dilated and adjusted to the almost completely dark atmosphere.

The first thing Ritsuka was able to pick out was the glint of the heavy chain connected to the wall. He thrust out his right arm and felt the chain jerk and rattle. Tears welled in Ritsuka's eyes as the realization hit him that he was trapped. He looked down at himself. His clothes were torn and bloodied. There was dirt all over him and his hair was un-brushed and all over the place. He was a mess. At least he could see Soubi's coat thrown off to the side, a little dirty, but intact.

His coat… Ritsuka's mind flashed back to a couple nights before. Soubi… Oh God, Soubi…

"Ritsuka," Soubi purred as he laid down next to him. "I'm sorry the heat's off." He nuzzled a kiss onto Ritsuka's neck. Ritsuka shivered as Soubi's fingers danced across the skin reveled by the unbuttoned part of Ritsuka's shirt. Soubi smiled mischievously and leaned over him, his long hair draping down to brush Ritsuka's face. "Are you cold?"

Ritsuka laughed and fingered the other man's collar. He had just turned thirteen and his hormones were already starting to act up. "How did you convince me to stay here for the night, anyways?" Ritsuka had somehow found himself agreeing to stay in Soubi's overly-cold apartment.

Soubi glanced away from him for a second, "I feel better about you being here than you being there."

Ritsuka put his hand on his face; wanting to, for once, comfort Soubi's anxiety about Ritsuka still living at his mother's house. "Stop worrying about me so much. And yes, I am a little cold, so no unbuttoning my shirt, pervert."

"I am not a pervert, Ritsuka," Soubi lay back down next to Ritsuka. "I love you," He said nipping at his neck again.

"Hmm, let's go to bed, I'm tired," He closed his eyes, and shivered again.

"Do you want me to go sleep on the-?"

"No," Ritsuka grabbed his wrist before he could move. "Stay." Ritsuka blushed, trying to come up with a good excuse as to why he wanted Soubi to stay. "I-I'll get cold without you."

Despite the blankets and Soubi's warmth beside him, Ritsuka still woke up in the middle of the night freezing. Soubi had apparently noticed because Ritsuka had woken up with one of his heavy furry coats wrapped around him. He had found a note on the nightstand.

Dear Ritsuka,

I'm sorry I had to leave. I had classes this morning. Don't wait for me; just go home before your mother notices you're gone. Call me if she does anything to you. I'll see you later tonight; I promise I'll be over by eleven. Keep my coat, its cold out today.

Love,

Soubi

What happened after that? Ritsuka thought frantically, searching his memory. What had happened? Who had he been kidnapped by? Why was he trapped in- well, wherever the hell he was trapped at?

Ritsuka could see more, now that his eyes were adjusted. It looked like he was in a basement, up against the back wall. What was that by him? Was that… a body?
Ritsuka shrieked, eyeing the shape on the floor. Yeah, that was definitely a body, and next to that, a skeleton. Either Ritsuka was insane or somebody was planning to murder him. Ritsuka was seriously hoping that he was insane.

He breathed heavily, staring up at the ceiling and at the unlit light bulb. He wanted to sob, to cry like he never had before.

Had it been his mother? Sure, she would beat the hell out of him almost everyday but she would never go this far. There was that time that she tied him to the chair but that was nothing like this.

His father? He wasn't crazy; just a drunk lawyer that never came home. Ritsuka barely even knew him. His father had no reason to kidnap him.

Soubi? No. That was impossible. That was totally out of the question. Soubi would never hurt him. Never.

Seimei? He was alive and operating as Ritsuka and Soubi recently found out. And as much as Ritsuka hated to admit it, his older brother was the one who probably did this.

Pushing the thoughts of his brother out of his head, Ritsuka looked at the coat, which was just out-of-reach. Flattening himself to the ground, he went out as the chain would allow. Of course, it was just beyond his fingertips. Thinking quickly, Ritsuka kicked out his foot, hooking the hood of the coat and bringing it to him.

It was starting to come back to Ritsuka as he escaped what he assumed to be his haze and held Soubi's jacket close to his heart. Tears started to fall freely as he remembered what had happened when Soubi had come over later that night. He had been so harsh… Why had he said those horrible things? Soubi probably hated him now…

Ritsuka waited and waited, glancing at the clock every few steps he paced. 12:05. Soubi was late. Over an hour late. Why am I even waiting? Ritsuka asked himself. He shook his head, fighting away the feelings of sadness, loneliness, and maybe even…jealousy. Soubi was, after all, probably with Kio working on a project. Ritsuka couldn't blame him. All he did was push the Fighter away.

Whimpering, Ritsuka collapsed onto the bed, holding the pillow. The curtains covering Ritsuka's open balcony blew and he sat up, "Soubi!" No reply came. It had just been the wind. Crestfallen, he flopped back down, flipping open his phone and looking desperately for a text message.

"Looking for me?" The deep voice made Ritsuka sit up again.

"Soubi!" Ritsuka ran the man leaning on the doorway. He wrapped his arms around Soubi's waist, not caring about his own usual attitude about affection.

"I'm sorry I'm late," Soubi ran his fingers through Ritsuka's jet black hair. "It turns out that it was Natsou and Youji who broke the heater in my complex. I had to go and talk their way out of it."

Ritsuka pulled away from him a little, "Can we talk?"

"Anything, Ritsuka," Soubi agreed, a loving smile on his as Ritsuka sat down on the bed.

"I-I want you to explain to me," Ritsuka started, looking down at the floor. "What really happened when we went to the academy a month ago?"

Soubi sighed, sitting next to Ritsuka on the bed, "Ritsuka…"

Ritsuka met his blue eyes, "Please, Soubi, I just want to know."

"Ritsuka, I can't."

Ritsuka got up and crossed his arms, fuming. "And why not?" He asked angrily.

"Because I-"

"Let me guess," Ritsuka cut him off. He knew he shouldn't snap at Soubi like he was, but it was always the same story. "Seimei told you that you couldn't say anything to me, right? I wish you would just realize that's its all in your head. You're my Fighter now! You don't have to obey Seimei anymore!"

"Ritsuka, you don't understand-!" Soubi started again, almost franticly.

"I do understand! You don't do anything I say, but you'll do anything Seimei says!" Ritsuka was yelling, now. "You know what? You don't even love me! Sometimes I let myself believe your lie, but I know you just say that because he told you to-!"

"Ritsuka!" Soubi grabbed Ritsuka's arm, yanking his down close to him. "I do love you. I love you more than anything. I'm not lying," He said sincerely. "And I can't tell you because I don't know. There are things neither, you or me know. This is one of them. I don't know what happened that night. I'm still working it out myself."

"Bullshit!" Ritsuka yelled, tearing his arm away from Soubi. "Get out, liar! I hate you! Get the hell out of here and never come back!"

And Soubi left. He left Ritsuka alone and went away silently. Ritsuka had collapsed to the floor after he did, sobbing. "I don't hate you! I'm sorry!" He cried out. At some point, Ritsuka had crawled into his bed and found Soubi's coat under his pillow. He draped it over himself, crying into it and falling asleep.

Ritsuka let his loud crying echo through the basement. He wanted to get out of here, he wanted something to eat, but most of all he missed Soubi. As if being in a cold, dark place wasn't enough, the person he cared about the most probably hated him. He had the right to anyways, after what Ritsuka had said to him.

"Why?" Ritsuka said between his sobbing to no one in particular. "Why did I say that? I didn't mean it!"

Ritsuka fell asleep once again curled up with the jacket, knowing he was going to die without ever having a chance to say how sorry he was.

Ritsuka had been missing for three days. Three days of pure hell. Soubi paced in the boy's room, trying to think of where to search next. He didn't need to be a genius to figure out that something bad had happened. He had called every one of Ritsuka's friends, even the ones from his old school. Then he had called the teacher, Shinonome-Sensei and every other kid in the class. Nobody knew anything.

Soubi also knew Ritsuka didn't run away. He would never leave his mother, for one thing, and he most likely would have left a note. The note would've told Soubi to not look for him, since Ritsuka would figure out that Soubi would if he didn't tell him not to. That meant that he had been taken. Kidnapped. Maybe even… murdered. No, Ritsuka wasn't dead. Soubi refused to believe it. He would find Ritsuka, and he would find him alive.

There was other evidence Ritsuka had been taken, such as the bed left in disarray, the room a mess, and the blood spattered on the wall. All signs of a struggle, one that probably took Ritsuka away from him.

"Ritsuka!" A woman called from the floor below. Soubi froze. Misaki. Ritsuka's abusive mother. She had been gone for the three days Ritsuka had been taken, but now she was back, destroying one of Soubi's few leads on where his Sacrifice could be. He had already searched the house, anyway.

Misaki pounded up the stairs, banging on Ritsuka's door, yelling for him to come out. Soubi just barely jumped the railing of the balcony before she busted open the locked door and barged in. He ran, trying to be unseen by her, down the street that he always took back to his own apartment.

"You're back!" Youji stated loudly as Soubi headed through the door for the first time in days. He had left Natsou and Youji with Kio, knowing that they would burn down the entire building if they were left alone.

"Where have you been, Soubi?" Kio asked from the kitchen.

Soubi looked at him, eyes narrowed, "I need to talk to you." He motioned for him to follow him into the bedroom. Kio didn't try to crack any jokes, probably because of the serious expression on Soubi's face and the fact that he had been gone for three days.

"Ritsuka is missing," He said, looking his friend straight in the eye. "And I think I need the police's help to find him."

Hello!

I am Wolfie.

This is something I started writing a while ago. I have some of it planned out and I have up to the third chapter written, but I was skeptical about posting this. I finally decided to, though.

It is rated M for later chapters.

Review if you want moar!

~Wolfie