A/N: I-own-NOTHIIIIIIING! :)
Ritsuka. I wouldn't dare utter the master's name. Only when I am alone; and only whispered, then. For he might hear, and decide I would be stripped of the only thing that kept this body warm. Even before his birth, I had been gifted to him, by this world. My stars couldn't have divined a fate more – beautiful. Surely, I must have been a hero in a past life, to have been worthy to be connected to such a soul as his.
My feet carry me to the threshold of his home, where he said he'd be waiting. I had hidden from him for months, after a long awaited first meeting, and a ritual that had me running across the earth to escape the future he had envisioned for me – alone.
How he could have thought I desired freedom, from him, is incomprehensible to me. Why? After I had almost run out of miles to traverse trying to find him? When I felt this heart pulse (and I say this, for it could have been someone else's, had I been weaker); as if it had just recognized the world – as if it had known all along the difference between being near and far from the master, I would have flown to his side. But as I was that day, after a particularly vicious battle, I could only utter a sob, jumbled, the way a foreign tongue could sound to his ears. And he walked on, still oblivious of my existence – of me.
I started to shout. What, I did not know. I made enough noise to rouse the continent. As it was, Ritsuka turned. What must it have looked like? A nearly grown man, flailing his one unbroken arm, saying no one knows what, blue eyes clouded in pain and hope, dark brown hair matted with dirt, blood and tears. He grasped the arm I held out, and I felt a breath rush out of me. Oh, so I breathed? I truly existed?
Master, the name I whispered, called a Soubi. Who was this? I need not have been bothered. I was content. And he will be, with me, as well. What need had he of others once he realized, acknowledged, knew, of the nature of my being in connection with his? I was content. I had found the Sacrifice they thought had been lost to me since the day of his birth. No one had thought I would be capable of such a feat. To fight numerous battles without a sacrifice, and still survive only to wander off again in search; often bloodied, often hungry for so many things I did not dare dream about but now.
I was content. But in one fell swoop, Master decided I had to be freed; like a stray, he wanted me out of sight, out of mind. Inside the circle, I felt my soul being muffled again, my heart was slowing, my breaths – I realized they had ceased again. What had I done to warrant this punishment? Why? Why did the master not want me? Was my gift to be conferred to Soubi instead?
Grief, tasting the way it always had, felt more bitter, as I gazed to master and that Soubi, standing behind him, steadying him, once more. I promise, I plead, I will do better next time. I've never failed you, I never will. Just let me live. With you. I won't ask for anything else.
He shook his head, no. I would have my freedom. Like he wanted, because fighters had to be free of the bonds that held them like slaves to their sacrifice.
Why? I asked. Why? All I had existed for was to be bound to him. Why was only I rejected?
Two more people burst into the room, around master's age, and order him to stop. Master raises his head and his gaze away. I steal time to look. And I was content again. I was breathing again. That seems to happen when he is there. I breathe.
STOP! He'll go crazy! They shout. I watch as the master hastily erases the circle. I almost smile as realization dawn upon him, his ears twitch in agitation. But I knew this moment of hesitation would not last. Soubi was whispering in his ear again. I feel the sting like a dash of lighting in my mouth. I steal a glance. I would need it to last me for only God knows how long. And I escape, still barefoot, and I can only hear the master call. I would hide until he wants me again. Until he decides he does not want the chains around my soul gone again.
Those days have passed. And in a span of seconds, as I crossed the slight distance to the soft folds of the master's arms, I began to breathe again. The sweet, clear air filled my lungs once again and I was alive. The master wanted me again. He deemed me worthy of this heart again. No one could take it from me. Not when I had earned my prize and was allowed to be near him again. I'll live, I'll fight, for this.