Photography

Ritsuka sat up on the bed, his knees drawn up to his chest, his head resting on them. He shifted and rolled onto his back, staring at the ceiling. Stretching out, he sat back up and pulled the blanket over his head. Then he lay down on his side and buried his head under a pillow.

Nothing seemed to help drone out the continuous sounds of his mother's ranting and raving, speaking sense and nonsense at times.

Sitting up again, Ritsuka looked out the window. No Soubi tonight. Not for the next week as well; he had a big exam to prepare for. Ritsuka found out about the exam from Kio, not Soubi. Ritsuka knew that if Soubi knew the root reason why Ritsuka ordered him to stay away from him for the next week, Soubi would dismiss it as usual with his " You can call me anytime, as long as you need me, I'll be there" phrases, which were always getting on Ritsuka's nerves. Even a thirteen-year old could figure out that missing final-year exams was a really stupid idea.

Footsteps were approaching.

"Ritsuka"

Ritsuka got up and turned on his computer. It was already 1 o'clock in the morning, and at that rate, he was never going to get any sleep. He figured he may as well work on his homework.

"Ritsuka" his mother said on the other side of the door "Won't you open up? I've got something for you!" she coaxed. Ritsuka could see her fake-happy-sad smile on her face. He clicked a few more links and began to surf the web.

"Ah, good boy, you're busy with your homework are you? Then I'll just leave it in the fridge" she said and slowly walked away, mumbling something incoherent under her breath.

Ritsuka couldn't' keep his mind on his assignment though. His eyes were drawn to the folder he kept on his computer with al his "memories" in it.

He skimmed though those of Yuiko, Shioiri and himself, and clicked on the ones with Soubi.

"Love…"he murmured to himself. Some of the pictures only captured Soubi's back, which was a beautiful silhouette against the sunset, his light hair sparkling in the dying rays. Others only captured, somewhat glances of Soubi's face, as he always seemed so elusive, even in front of a camera, when Ritsuka took an unexpected photo. It was only if Ritsuka asked properly, then he'd be able to take a good picture with Soubi, but even then…even then…

"Stupid photographer" Ritsuka said, collapsing the folder, his mouse wandering across the screen. The mouse hovered over an unnamed folder. Ritsuka, heavy-eyed and half-awake, considered the possibility of being kept awake all night by merely the thoughts and images in his head.

He could avid it all if he didn't open that folder. But then again could he? Really?

Ritsuka double clicked the file.

It opened.

Inside the file were very private and confidential pictures of Soubi, which Kio had given Ritsuka fairly recently when Ritsuka had gone over to Kio and Soubi's place while Soubi had been out.

It had been a dreary afternoon. Soubi had been called away for a meeting with his teacher-mentor, and although Ritsuka had ordered Soubi to leave him attend the meeting, he couldn't quite let go of his fighter. Thus, he decided to make a trip to his fighter's apartment.

"Well look at what we have here" Kio had grinned, opening the door for the sacrifice. Ritsuka wandered in, looking entirely awkward to be alone with Kio.

"Hello" Ritsuka murmured as Kio closed the door behind him.

Kio ruffled Ritsuka's hair "I'm glad it's only you. If Soubi found out about my private stash, he'd pull out my piercing!" he laughed, disappearing into another part of the house.

"Private stash?" Ritsuka repeated as he took off his shoes and followed Kio into the other room.

"Oh here, come and see. You'll love these" Kio had grinned, beckoning Ritsuka closer.

Kio was sitting on his bed with a laptop propped up on a foldable table, which was cushioned by several pillows.

Ritsuka crept up onto the bed and stared at the screen. The first picture he saw was Soubi in the bath! It was quite beautiful really; Soubi's shimmering hair cascaded around the rim of the bathtub as he rested and soaked in the water. The rest of his body, aside from his arms which also rested on the rim of the bathtub, was completely submerged in the foam-covered water. The steam made everything so beautifully foggy and dream-like.

"Beautiful huh?" Kio smiled while Ritsuka blushed.

That picture was followed by Soubi cooking, Soubi cleaning, Soubi buying back groceries, Soubi buying back beer, Soubi sleeping, Soubi watching a horror-flick, Soubi hanging out the clothes, Soubi leaning on the balcony, talking to some one(Probably Ritsuka) on his hand phone and so on and so forth.

"They are all so pretty" Ritsuka had blurted out at the time, then clamped a hand over his mouth, embarrassed.

Kio only laughed "Fetch me a beer, and get something for yourself too, I'll show you the videos I've taken of Soubi this time. You'll adore those!" he winked, grinning in delight.

Ritsuka got off the bed, a bit too excitedly such that he tripped and fell over. Blushing even more furiously, he tried to even his pace, though he was bursting to run there and back again.

Ritsuka grabbed a can of beer and settled on water for himself, pouring himself a cup, and eagerly returned to Kio's side, though he tried not look so eager, failing miserably.

"Sit down, sit down, here we go, the first movie" Kio smiled, ebullient, and patted the space beside him "Finally! Someone I can share my stash with! I thought I was the only obsessed maniac" he laughed, ruffling Ritsuka's hair again.

"Stop that!" Ritsuka glared, but Kio could see that the small boy was becoming more comfortable and smiled, pressing play on the movie clip.

Within a span of thirty minutes, Kio showed Ritsuka what Ritsuka did not get to see wheb he was at home, away from his fighter. Kio had video taped Soubi from sleeping to awakening, going for a bath, cooking, cleaning, leaving and the most beautiful of all, painting. Ritsuka, for the first time in a long time, finally felt as though he had been touched by Soubi, Not that he couldn't and wasn't touched by Soubi at other times - Soubi was always hanging around him, physically - but this helped him to really see Soubi in a new light, and not in that cool, semi-detached manner which Soubi always showed to Ritsuka.

"Thank you Kio" Ritsuka had murmured " I have to get going now" As he saw it was already getting dark outside.

"I'll see you to the door then" Kio had smiled, walking out first as Ritsuka clambered off the bed.

At the door, after Ritsuka had finished putting back on his shoes, Kio handed Ritsuka a disk.

"Copy the contents onto your computer hard disk, it'll work faster that way. They are all the pictures and videos I just showed you and more. I know you'll want to see them again later in private" Kio smiled warmly "They are very special parts of Soubi you don't get to see often"

Ritsuka accepted the disk like it was forbidden treasure, staring at it openly.

"Just don't ever let Soubi see them! I'll be piercing-less and full of blood-seeping holes okay?" Kio grimaced, opening the door for the kid.

Ritsuka had nodded and turned away, already walking down the stairs. He was much more concerned about the fact that if Soubi knew that Ritsuka had them, he'd get even more obnoxious about his "I love you" s . Either way, he had absolutely no intention of allowing Soubi to find out about them. He intended to delete them from his computer every time he saved them onto the computer, or better still, he'd just view them from the disc itself.

However when Ritsuka had gotten home, and inserted the disk, he realised that the pictures would only load up nicely, and the videos only worked if they were downloaded onto the disc.

"Then why is the file still on my desktop?" he asked himself, his eyes gazing at the beautiful bathroom-picture of Soubi.

"I really should delete this" he said, right clicking the file.

However while Ritsuka's eyes were still glued onto Soubi's beautiful face. He forgot what he was trying to delete.

The next day found Ritsuka only half-awake in class. He had to pinch himself to stay awake. Eventually it was no use, and he fell asleep across his booklet, his eyes so heavy he could barely stand it.

"Aoyagi! Aoyagi!" came a hushed whisper.

"Shioiri-kun?" Ritsuka murmured.

"Wake up!" Shioiri sighed and hit Ritsuka on the head. Just as the teacher turned and noticed them, Ritsuka sat up, holding his head.

"Ritsuka-chan, are you alright?" she asked, smiling.

"He's got a headache" Shioiri chirped in.

"Oh dear, go see the doctor and take a rest. It must be because of this summer heat" she smiled.

Ritsuka thanked the teacher and then Shioiri, and left, rubbing his eyes, grabbing his stuff and taking them along with him. Ritsuka found that the nurse and doctor were both out, so he picked a sickbed ad slept while waiting for them to return.

When Ritsuka woke up, he felt surprisingly comfortable. He shifted, feeling warm and relaxed, and sighed. Then he realised something odd; he seemed to be lying on something warm and soft and breathing; a living breathing body.

Ritsuka opened his eyes and sat up. There was Soubi, sleeping beneath him, amidst the sick bed sheets, his hair curling and cascading over the edge of the bed. Ritsuka was really tempted to take a picture, so he slunk away from the bed, grabbed the camera from his bag, and crept up, capturing the beautiful shot of a sleeping Soubi, which he knew not only him, but Kio would absolutely adore.

Then he put away the camera and roused Soubi

"Don't make yourself a mattress when I've already got one on the bed" he chided Soubi, who merely sat up and ran his hands through his messy locks and smiled, releasing them.

For a moment, Ritsuka was entranced at how his frazzled strands, having been combed through by Soubi's fingers, fell back around Soubi's beautiful face so smooth and perfect that it didn't look at all as though Soubi had been fast asleep on a bed a moment before.

"Is that on order master?" Soubi asked.

Ritsuka shook himself out of the enchantment which Soubi had on him and turned away "No. It's a warning that the next time I will make it into an order" Ritsuka huffed and left the room, grabbing his bag and books on the way out.

Soubi followed after him in a slow saunter.

"Why are you here anyway? You should be studying or at the university" Ritsuka asked, annoyed.

"I've finished my examinations, thus, your order has creased to have effect. Your homeroom teacher informed me that you were sick when I came to pick you up, so I came here to see what was wrong" Soubi replied, lighting cigarette.

Ritsuka turned, further annoyed "No SMOKING IN MY SCHOOL!" he yelled.

Soubi immediately crushed the lit cigarette with his hand and threw it away.

"Forgive me" he replied, bowing his head slightly, then raised his head, looking at Ritsuka in half-amusement.

Ritsuka on the other hand, was horrified. He gasped and grabbed Soubi's hand.

"Open!" he urged the unrelenting hand.

"Ri-"

"OPEN!" Ritsuka now ordered, his voice echoing through the empty hallway.

Soubi opened his hand. There was an angry looking burn mark along the centre of his palm. Ritsuka brought the hand to his lips and licked it, trying to soothe the burn. Then he dragged Soubi to the nearest bathroom and flushed water onto the wounded hand. Drying it, he inspected it, relieved that it didn't look like there would be any swelling or bruising.

Looking up at Soubi, who had a faint flush on his cheeks, Ritsuka narrowed his eyes "DO NOT EVER DO THAT AGAIN" he ordered, and released Soubi, marching off in an dense cloud of unhappiness and disbelief at the extent at which Soubi could harm himself.

Soubi looked at the hand. Then brought the hand up to his lips, licked it, then placed a kiss in it, sharing an indirect kiss with Ritsuka.