Disclaimer: Loveless belongs to Kouga Yun. The stanza in italics at the beginning is Billy Joel (except for the 3rd line, which I shamelessly made up and substituted).

A/N: This is posted as three chapters, but they're really meant to be read as one (ffnet formatting just makes chapters the most efficient way to separate parts), so please read all three together if you have time :) They're not so much different chapters as just separated for ease of reading. Let me know what you think :)

-

So I would choose to be with you

That's if the choice were mine to make

But my choices belong to you

And you can have this heart to break

-

Sightless

Leaves shift insignificantly in the wind, the sun beats on shifting clusters of students, and Agatsuma Soubi refuses to twitch as his shirt shifts on welts that are barely healed over. It is the middle of the day, and uncomfortably warm outside, even in the constant breeze through the grounds of Seven Voices Academy. Across from Soubi, two boys a few inches taller than him and almost three years older stand squarely in the grass, and their eyes are the only things that shift at all. Mori Ataru and Oshiro Rai, Fighter and Sacrifice, are busy looking confident and unruffled. Sightless is proud to be the strongest team at Seven Voices Academy, and not about to be caught nervous about a fight. Especially one against a Fighter with no Sacrifice.

The Academy's top student glares only a little petulantly across the grass at his tall, pale, Sacrifice-less and apparently indifferent opponent. Neither has lost a battle any time in the recent past, but Agatsuma Soubi is just an upstart...if one who's been 'upstarting' for years now. He hasn't fought Sightless since they were…eleven? They thrashed him then, of course—he was a little eight-year-old kid with no Sacrifice. And now, Ataru reminds himself, he's just a big kid with no Sacrifice. This fight wouldn't even be happening if Soubi weren't Ritsu-sensei's favourite. No one wants him to win. No one even speaks to him, really.

He's weird, Soubi. Spends more time with Ritsu-sensei than he does with any of the students. And whether or not it's Sensei who took Soubi's ears is the worst kept rumour in any school, ever, Ataru thinks. Not that it's really a question. Who else does Soubi have anything to do with? It's pretty obvious, too. There's something like a circle around the battle, except that anyone can see it's got a crowd on one side, and some leaves and a lot of sun on the other. The other students are trying to spread out in a poor effort at tact, but Ataru knows they all expect Sightless to beat Soubi, and they're all happy about it. He grins as his Sacrifice steps in behind him.

"You know the only person who wants him to win is Ritsu-sensei. I don't think Soubi even wants himself to win."

Ataru smiles weakly. Rai, his partner, his life, is right, of course. No one wants Soubi to win…except Sensei. He scowls across the space between them. On his side, everyone. And across from him, Agatsuma Soubi and their teacher, who should be his teacher, but is too busy fawning on his favourite to pay more than cursory attention to the top student. He tells himself he doesn't care, and knows it's not true.

Ataru turns to glare behind him as Rai swats the back of his head. Sweat runs through short black hair, down his neck, tickles his back beneath his shirt.

"Stop glaring at Sensei's feet. We're here to prove we're better, right?"

Ataru nods sharply. "Yeah. We'll beat him easy."

Rai grins maliciously across at Soubi, who may or may not be watching. No one can tell. He's probably just staring into space. "I think everyone's just about here. We should be good to go soon."

Ataru glances across the space again. "I figure he'll challenge us when Sensei's ready."

Rai briefly considers taking his Fighter's hand, but he doesn't want it to look like this battle is a challenge. They're going to win this in minutes. "Don't go easy on him, Ataru."

Ataru turns back to meet his Sacrifice's eyes and as the rest of the world fades away, he finds it much easier to smile. Who cares about their teacher, after all? Rai wants him to win, and he wants him to win, and as long as there's the two of them, who cares about the rest? He nods again, and this time he looks like he might believe it. "Sounds good, Rai. Soubi won't know what's hit him."

Soubi studies his opponents with a deceptive passivity. Sightless are obviously closely bonded. The boys even look similar, though Soubi doesn't suppose that counts for much. He wonders wistfully whether they cut their hair short together, or whether it's just coincidence. It's not exactly a distinctive cut, after all. Soubi's hair doesn't look much like anyone's, though maybe it looks a little like Ritsu-sensei's, he thinks. He knows that Sightless is strong, but that doesn't count for much either. Ritsu-sensei expects him to win and with no trace of arrogance, Soubi implicitly intends to. Soubi acknowledges and fulfils all expectations and all orders.

"Soubi."

His teacher's voice is only steps behind him and though he has no Sacrifice, Soubi feels the bond between them sustaining him, power waiting for his words.

"Sensei?"

The command is simple. "Begin."

Soubi takes one small step forward, a courtesy to his opponent. He sees them straighten minutely, and knows they didn't miss it. "Battle systems engage."

A wave pulses through their surroundings, resensing, reforming, rematerializing. Dimensions shift subtly. Soubi feels the well of power at his call, and only vaguely wonders how this will be when his Sacrifice stands by him, because he has done this many times before and there is little new left to wonder. "I declare a spell battle."

Sightless too step forward, just a step, and their hands join. "In the depth of the dark you cannot see us coming—we are Sightless. The sightless see all. We accept."

Soubi smiles faintly. "That's a good spell."

The words sound strangely genuine, but Sightless are sure he's taunting them. Rai almost taunts him back, but he can still see their teacher behind Soubi, though strangely separate—outside of this dimension—and Rai is still a schoolboy, even if he really doesn't like this kid. "Ataru, attack him!"

"Right!" Ataru lets the words collect in his throat. "Silence, crush his voice and oppress him. Restrain!" It's a long time since Sightless has fought against someone on auto, and it's a slight effort for Ataru to call up the spells—they're a little different to fighting a team.

Soubi's voice is clear and almost flat. "My voice rises through the silence. Damage is zero."

And so the battle begins.

A/N: All three chapters are meant to be read together (they work together as one whole story, not as separate chapters) so please go on :)