The manga 'Loveless and all of the characters mentioned in this story belong, of course, to Yun Kouga. Warning for slight OOCness...
Unreachable
The clacking of the keys on Minami Ritsu's computer was the only sound that permeated the nearly complete darkness of his office as Sagan Nagisa, as per usual barged in without knocking. Ritsu's long, slim fingers stilled on the keyboard for a moment as the door suddenly opened and bright light from the hallway of the school streamed in. The principal blinked against the sudden brightness. He had been working without once rising from his high backed leather chair for many hours; it was now completely dark outside. It had been late in the afternoon when he had sat down to once more resume the endless stream of paperwork that his position demanded. The only light in his dark office came from the illumination of his computer screen. Ritsu glanced briefly at Nagisa-sensei as she stood framed in the doorway wearing yet another of her absurdly sickly sweet dresses and then returned, wordlessly, to his typing.
"Hmph," Nagisa scoffed, glancing around at the dimness his office as she closed the door behind her, "And you wonder why you wear glasses."
"Not really." Ritsu responded in his calm, detached manner, never taking his eyes from the computer screen.
"Did you see the email I sent you?" The petite azure-haired woman inquired, advancing further until she stood in front of his desk.
"I didn't," Came the brief reply, "I deleted it."
Violet eyes narrowed at Ritsu and annoyance seeped into Nagisa's too youthful sounding voice, "I figured you would. Jerk. That's why I came myself."
She paused but Ritsu said nothing, unless one counted the continuous clacking of the keyboard as a wordless form of disregard, which Nagisa certainly did. She sighed, irritated- it was one thing to delete her emails without reading them because he saw that they were from her, but to ignore her when she was standing right in front of him was just plain rude.
Which, of course, was just plain Ritsu...
"If I am indeed in the wrong for having deleted your email under the misapprehension that it would be once again something frivolous and therefore not worthy of my attention, I will apologize most fervently, Nagisa-sensei," The principal responded with a stoic face that belied his teasing tone, not ceasing his attention to his work for an instant. "However, first you must prove me wrong."
Nagisa lifted the file she held in her hand as she began, "It's a matter concerning the school...a proposition if you will."
"Proposition?" Ritsu murmured questioningly.
"I've suggested it before..." she continued enthusiastically, opening the folder and thrusting it and the first page in front of his face, "School uniforms! This whole folder is full of uniforms of my own design-you can pick!"
The typing stopped abruptly and suddenly the room was deathly silent as Ritsu froze and ever so slowly shifted his eyes up to look up at Nagisa...with the barely restrained stare of a person who was looking at someone as if they had just grown a second head. Her face reddened at his intense glare and he pressed his lips together until they resembled little more than a white line, as if he was suppressing an internal explosion that was trying to force its way out.
Finally, Ritsu moved, rapidly seizing the folder from Nagisa's outstretched hand and unceremoniously dropping it into his wastepaper basket with a blank expression. "Thank you once again for vindicating me by proving that my judgment is the correct one...Please close the door on your way out." He said blandly and returned his attention to his typing.
Nagisa glared at him without any real hatred behind it, she'd already known that Ritsu would do that very thing. She'd known him too long and too well to be truly surprised by much of what he did. "You don't actually think that's the only copy, Ritsu?"
He smiled slightly at this, "I never considered myself that fortunate..."
"I'll just keep giving it to you until you finally look at it." She reminded him mildly, running a finger idly along the front of his desk.
"And I'll just keep throwing it out," Ritsu smirked, "You know, I begin to wonder if you don't enjoy this little tradition of ours? Any sensible person would have given up by now..."
"When have I ever claimed to be sensible?" Nagisa retorted, raising an eyebrow, "For every year that you ignore it, the file just gets bigger... Eventually you will look at it."
"No...I won't." The principal stated slowly, as if he was speaking to a very small and very stupid child.
Nagisa smirked at him, "Well, then maybe you're one who derives the most enjoyment out of this 'little tradition'- since you're the one who's so unwilling to end it! Just look at the stupid file already, idiot!"
Irritation spread across Ritsu's face like an allergic rash and he glanced sharply at his annoying colleague, "I have already told you many times that I have no intention of EVER instituting school uniforms at this academy, therefore it would be a waste of my valuable time to look at it. Not to mention a waste of yours as well, as a member of Septimal Moon. But if your heart is truly so set upon seeing your designs brought to fruition on our unsuspecting students then feel free to show it to the next principal after I have mercifully died...Who knows, if my successor is an idiot he might give you a chance."
Nagisa sputtering unintelligibly, her face gone red as a tomato in fury, and she snatched up the open file on Ritsu's desk that he had been typing so intently from and made for the door. If he wanted his file back he would just have to look at her designs first! She heard the rapid screech of Ritsu's chair being pushed back and fled as swiftly out the open door as her heels would let her, stolen folder in hand. The principal's secretary sat up straighter at her small desk outside Ritsu's office, narrowing her eyes suspiciously at the odd scene but knowing better than to interfere with a member of Septimal Moon. The woman gaped when a moment later the principal himself came charging out and seized Nagisa by her slender upper arm, flashing her a terse smile that seemed say 'get back to work' as she stared at the once again quarrelling Septimal Moon duo, and dragged the teacher back into his office, nearly pulling her off of her heeled feet.
The irate man shut the door softly and gave his colleague a small thrust away from him as he released his grip on her arm and Nagisa stood with her back braced against the door, her violet eyes widening. Ritsu took the file from her hand and dropped it back on his desk, but she was surprised when he didn't automatically dismiss her with some depreciating remark and resume working. Instead he turned right back around and took a few steps towards her before haltingly, his emerald eyes narrowing on her face.
"Nagisa," Ritsu prompted in a low but irritated tone, "Is there something you want or do you simply not have anything better to do than annoy me and cause scenes in front of my secretary?"
Nagisa bristled at his words and her face flushed in anger.
"Actually I do," she responded sharply, "on both counts."
Ritsu raised an eyebrow slightly. "Well? What is it? I don't have all day, unlike you apparently. What do you really want?"
Frustrated and aggravated to the bursting point Nagisa startled both herself and Ritsu by charging forward suddenly, hands upraised, and shoved the tall silver-haired man back until he hit his desk with a low thud. His hands lifted involuntarily and his green eyes widened in shock.
"What-?" Ritsu began sharply but was cut off when the petite azure-haired woman roughly grabbed a handful of his black dress shirt at the collar and abruptly pulled his face down to hers. Nagisa's other hand firmly caught his chin and held it in place as she closed the few remaining inches between their startled faces and brought her lips to his.
Nagisa pressed her lips fervently against his, mentally cataloguing the sensation for she was certain that the ever stubborn and indifferent man would manage to escape her tight grasp any second now. His lips were surprisingly warm- very warm in fact, and had his mouth not been as unyielding as the rest of his body had gone it might have been soft. The scent of cigarette smoke and something else- something subtle and vaguely pleasant that she couldn't quite place - reached her nose. Was it his aftershave that smelled so good? His chest was firm against her as she leaned into him and warmth emanated through his thin dress shirt. Nagisa used her grip on Ritsu's chin to better angle his head to allow her to deepen the kiss. Her tongue darted out to gently tease his lower lip but it was to no avail. If only that stubborn Ritsu would just open his mouth...
Ritsu had felt his whole body tense instinctively as his cloyingly dressed colleague grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him down to her. She seized his chin in a shockingly iron grip and then suddenly pressed her lips directly against his. Ritsu's eyes widened as the woman who had annoyed him more than any other for many years, had been his unrelenting rival every day for so very long, had yelled at him and called him names both immature and cutting (names that had left no doubt in his mind that the woman held him in the same contempt that he held her), was suddenly, inexplicably, kissing him. The small woman leaned into him, the softness of her breasts pressing lightly against his chest, as her tongue began to explore his lower lip, no doubt asking entry. Ritsu struggled not to let himself be drawn in by the now almost foreign feeling of another living person, a warm body, being in such close proximity to him. It had been so long...but he couldn't allow this.
Ritsu moved to capture her slender wrists and wrenched his chin from her hand, breaking the contact that their lips had made. He held her wrists firmly in his hands. Abruptly disconnected from the source of her attempted ministrations, Nagisa stared at the sight of her hand still holding on to Ritsu's shirt and at his large hand now encircling her wrist- she couldn't look at him. She was afraid to see the terrible expression that must be on his face. She didn't even want to contemplate what look those cold eyes must have held. Nagisa felt like she couldn't breathe, so great was her dread. What had she done? What had she been thinking?
Her friend Nana's words rang in her ears, But you love Ritsu-sensei, right?
She had yelled back at her in vehement protest of such a ridiculous idea- her in love with Ritsu? Right. Nagisa in love with that arrogant, cruel, cold-hearted man- what had Nana been thinking? Yet now here she stood, moments after having physically assaulted the man she had repeatedly denied being in love with, as filled with trepidation as any criminal who awaited judgment that would decide whether they lived or died. She also couldn't deny her hurt at his rejection- even though intellectually she had always known to expect it- it still stung.
Ritsu stared down at Nagisa's bowed head and felt himself starting to smirk. "So," He said in a low, mocking voice "is that what you wanted?"
At these provocatively said words Nagisa's head jerked up to stare at him with wide eyes. She was silent but for her burning crimson cheeks which spoke loudly of her embarrassment.
"Hmm, Nagisa-sensei?" He teased, pausing for a moment to stroke delicate flesh of the inside of her wrist with the pad of his thumb. "...I've never known you to be so quiet. And here all these years I had assumed that there was no off-button."
Nagisa made a huffing sound and released his shirt as she tried to free her hands from his grasp. "Let go of me, you jerk!" She yelled at him, trying to recover the shreds of her dignity, but this only made his grip tighten.
"Why should I?" He asked mildly, as if he really had little interest in anything that going on right now. He sat down on the edge of the desk and casually crossed his ankles. "You started this."
"Well, now I'd like to end it." She retorted quickly, glaring at him. She didn't bother trying to free her hands again. If this was how Ritsu wanted to play then she wouldn't be getting them back or getting out of his office until he felt like it. Nagisa cursed herself for her impulsiveness. She had made a huge misstep with her long-time rival and now she had no doubt that he thought he had earned the right to torment her.
"Certainly," Ritsu said pleasantly, "Right after you answer my question."
Nagisa stood up straighter and narrowed her eyes. "I'm not one of your students, Ritsu; I don't have to jump when you say how high! If that's what you're after maybe you should give your perfect fighter, Soubi, a call... oh, but wait. That's right; he doesn't want to have anything to do with you." If he wanted to torment her she could easily match him stride for stride.
Any pretence of civility left Ritsu's face for a moment as he glowered at her, a dangerous look in his eyes. Nagisa's body tensed involuntarily and she berated herself for giving away more ground to him.
Ritsu's face carefully schooled itself into its perpetual blank slate as he stated quietly but firmly, "Enough." His grip on her slackened somewhat and this in it itself was telling enough for Nagisa. She had spent years learning how to read the man that was forever inscrutable to others. Her words had hit the intended mark and though she could probably now free herself, she didn't.
Nagisa watched him silently, trying not to become distracted by the heat of his hands. She shouldn't have mentioned Soubi- now his mind was elsewhere and far away from her- but he just made her so mad she swore she couldn't think straight sometimes.
"Ritsu..." She called softly, poking him in the chest.
"Hmm?" Ritsu murmured, irritation returning to his eyes as he glanced at her. "What?"
Nagisa felt strangely light-headed- she attributed it to being a side effect of having been at such close proximity to the aloof silver-haired man for so long. Or maybe it was because the air really was thinner the higher up you went, she mused distantly.
A teacher's words from a few years ago came back to her. When it had begun to be obvious that Ritsu's new office secretary was developing a crush on him, some of the long-time teachers had felt that it would be kinder to the woman to nip such feelings in the bud.
Don't even let yourself go there, the teacher had warned, Minami Ritsu is like Mount Everest- the man is unattainable.
Yes, Nagisa thought, if there was one thing that Ritsu was it was unreachable.
Ritsu...even when I'm with you I feel lonely. Like I'll always be outside of you. You'll never really let anyone in. Sometimes I think it's because you honestly don't know how. Even Soubi- there was a time that that boy had eyes only for his sensei (as much as I hated him for it) and even him who affected you so deeply, you gave away...
There were so many things that Nagisa wanted to say to this man, so many things she wanted to ask, but all the words died away on her tongue. Finally, she did the only thing she could think to do. She had already humiliated herself today irreparably- what did it matter?
Nagisa pulled lightly and Ritsu let her hands slide from his grasp easily. This time when she closed the distance between them she did so a bit timidly, simply wrapping her arms around him even as she felt him stiffen. Ritsu didn't try to stop her but neither did he return her embrace, his arms hanging limply at his side. Nagisa rested her head on his chest and listened to the sound of his heart beating steadily, neither slow nor fast- its rhythm her only reassurance, for all of his coldness and hardness, that she wasn't actually embracing a statue and not a flesh and blood man.
"What exactly do you think you're doing?" Ritsu asked dully.
"I'm giving you a hug, dummy!" She responded, scoffing at him. "What do you think I'm doing, trying to do a heart check-up without a stethoscope?"
"With you one never really knows," he muttered. "And why exactly are you giving me a 'hug', as you call it?"
Nagisa gave his back a hard pinch, "Because I'm your friend, dummy!"
Ritsu gave a derisive snort and shifted uncomfortably, "Well, I'm not yours. You really are the stupidest woman."
Nagisa forced herself not to bristle at his harsh words and yell mean things back at him in turn. Even if Ritsu himself didn't know it, Nagisa knew it was the response he was pushing for and she wasn't about to give it to him. She had no intention of making it that easy for him to push her away and Nagisa had always been a relentless woman.
She forced herself to smile. "That's all right. I don't mind."
Ritsu glared down at the top of her head in disbelief. What was wrong with this irritating woman? What the hell did she hope to accomplish by this absurd display of frivolous sentimentality? She had kissed him earlier- was this her way of trying to seduce him? If so, the attempt was as childish as the ridiculous pigtails that Nagisa still insisted on wearing despite the fact that she was technically a grown woman. Of course, the only empirical evidence that existed to support that claim was her age and lack of ears.
Ritsu rose rapidly from the desk hoping to dislodge her but she just shifted with him, fitting herself closer to his body. He sighed, "I feel like I have a barnacle stuck to me. Nagisa, really...I have work to do. Stop this."
Nagisa's voice was muffled as she buried her face in his shirt. "I would but I really can't." Her face turned up to look steadily at him, her voice uncharacteristically low and almost sombre as she confessed, "I don't want to."
Ritsu felt something in his chest tighten at her unforeseen and bewilderingly quiet honesty and continued to stand awkwardly with his long-time colleague's arms wrapped around his waist. He sighed almost inaudibly.
"Nagisa..." he began calmly but then trailed off. He wanted to say something rude or cruel to her but no such words would come out. He'd rather she slapped his face in anger or hurt than hold on to him like this. Ritsu couldn't stand being disconcerted by such an innocent action. It made him feel weak... and weakness was simply unacceptable.
Soubi-kun had been the last person to cling to him like this and Ritsu had given him away to another, betrayed and heart-broken. It was no wonder the child wouldn't speak to him. Ritsu couldn't do this. He wasn't kind. He couldn't comfort anybody. He had nothing left to give...
That's probably why Soubi's mother abandoned me for that damned Agatsuma, Ritsu thoughtwith a pang.
Nagisa gazed intently at him, at his faraway eyes and faintly hurt expression. It was so subtle that someone who didn't know Ritsu as she did would have missed at entirely. Hesitatingly, a hand slid from Ritsu's slim waist to tentatively touch his cheek.
Ritsu started slightly from the contact, brought back from the place of memories that he kept so deeply hidden within himself. Nagisa's fingers were warm and trembling slightly as they stroked his face. Ritsu met her gaze silently, his piercing green eyes dark and disturbed. His eyes were suddenly searching her face- searching for what Nagisa didn't know but she continued to caress his face, trying to comfort him for as long as he would let her. She didn't dare speak- she felt instinctively that whatever spell had been cast upon him, it would shatter if she spoke.
Nagisa reached up with her other hand, letting her fingers slide though his silver hair. She released the breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding at the sensation. It was so soft...his fine, straight hair was like silk against her shaking hand. Ritsu's eyes drifted closed and his head inclined forward slightly as if trying to make it easier for her to reach. Surprised but encouraged by his reaction, Nagisa reached with an increasingly pounding heart and flaming cheeks to drive her fingers deeper into the thickness of his hair. Shifting her other hand from his cheek to his tensed shoulder she tried to gently coax him to sit back down on the desk with the slight pressure from her hand. To her amazement and pleasure he continued to be uncharacteristically compliant and leaned back against the desk. He kept his eyes closed, his long, dark lashes casting a shadow against his lowered face.
Nagisa felt herself worrying in the back of her mind about why he was keeping his eyes closed. What was he thinking about? If he was thinking about that damn Soubi or his wretched mother, Nagisa swore she would smack him. Her hand tensed up and stilled for a moment as she forced herself to stay calm.
Don't break the spell, she reminded herself, don't be paranoid. Just because he's not looking at me doesn't mean that he's imagining that I'm someone else. He probably closed his eyes because it feels good to be touched and he doesn't want me to see that. This is Ritsu, after all, and there's no denying that he's seriously screwed up. Yep, gloomy and cute- he's my type, alright... How could I have ever denied all these years how drawn I've always been to this strange and cruel and beautiful man? I guess that makes me kind of screwed up, too.
Ritsu sat perched against the edge of his desk with his eyes closed, allowing the feeling of having his hair stroked like this to wash over him. It felt so...strange. He wondered when the last time had been that anyone had ever touched him like this. Soubi's mother used to sometimes wind locks of his hair around her fingers when she had stood so close to him and spoken quietly so long ago, back when they were young and she had still had her ears and his hair had been longer. Back when her voice had filled his ears and his mind constantly- back when her voice had been the only one that mattered. But she had never had either the nerve or the longing to drive her fingers through his hair like this. No, there was only one person who had ever stroked his hair gently like this. His mother had done so once upon a time he vaguely recalled...when he had been very small.
His mother...Ritsu barely remembered her. He had been scarcely older than Soubi had been when he had lost his mother. He had been about seven-years-old when she had left him- left him to a life that had been solely dominated by his father- because she hadn't had the heart to live anymore.
Not even for her son. As for his father- what a mockery that word, he thought, fist clenching- he didn't want to think about that man.
The day of his mother's funeral he had stood small and alone next to a remote and towering man that even his mother had been frightened of much less him. He had clasped his small hands tightly together in front of him, for he had already learned by this tender age that his father was not the type of man who would ever give him his hand and that he would not answer any questions that he considered foolish or driven by sentimentality, and tried his hardest not to cry- Father hated crying. Father hated people who were weak. He had hated Ritsu's mother for her weaknesses and thereafter strove to drive the parts of Ritsu that he had determined to be like his gentle and loving mother, and thus disadvantageous, right out of him. Using any means necessary...for his son's own good, of course. His father had wanted him to be strong- inside and out.
Nagisa felt Ritsu's shoulder grow rigid beneath her hand and saw his fist clenching at his side. She reached to caress his cheek soothingly again, wanting to ask him what was bothering him but afraid. Ritsu had never answered her in the past, why would he start now? She had learned long ago that anytime something was really wrong Ritsu would deny it.
This is nothing, he would say.
Ritsu was such a liar. He could never admit when he was hurt.
Nagisa closed her eyes as a day from years ago forced it's way to the forefront of her mind. She had been only six years old but the shock of that day had never left her memory.
She had been playing on the beach in the late afternoon summer sun not far from her house when she had spotted him from a distance. Minami Ritsu, the son of her physician father's co-worker who lived in the enormous estate closest to hers, whom she had known for as long as she could remember but never found to be very friendly, was lying on his back staring up at the clouds. He was alone, of course. He was always alone...and he seemed to prefer it that way.
"Ritsu-san!" she had called out in surprise, running up to him with her light blue pigtails and long, ruffled skirt flying behind her in the wind. His head turned slightly towards the sound of her voice but he didn't respond. He had returned his gaze to blankly staring up at the blueness of the sky in a disinterested manner. Ritsu had been thirteen then and had always seemed impatient and annoyed by her whenever she saw him. To him, no doubt, she had thought, she was just an annoying little kid. (Sometimes, even though Nagisa was now in her thirties, she still felt like that was really how Ritsu thought of her.) Not that Nagisa had ever been one to be particularly deterred by his attitude, even as a child.
As Nagisa had gotten closer she had pulled up short and gasped loudly. She fell to her knees beside him on the sand, reaching for him in alarm. Ritsu's hand was pressed tightly against his ribs but it wasn't enough. His hand and white shirt was crimson with blood.
"Oh, my God, you're bleeding!" she had exclaimed loudly.
Ritsu smiled wryly. He looked so pale. "Really? I hadn't noticed." The boy murmured condescendingly.
"What are you doing out here?" she demanded. "You need to go to the hospital! Can you get up? What happened?" The girl reached out for his arm to try and help him up but he wouldn't move.
"It's fine," Ritsu said quietly, "I don't need to go to the hospital."
Nagisa's eyes widened in panic. "You are not fine!" she yelled at him.
"I am." He said firmly. "Don't concern yourself over nothing...Just go away."
The girl felt tears sting her eyes as she noticed that there were cuts and bruises on his face as well. His pale silver-blue hair had been half covering his face before so she hadn't noticed them...his hair...wait!
"Your ears," she whispered in shock, "Your ears are gone..."
Nagisa hadn't known what it meant really when people didn't have their ears anymore. She only knew that only adults didn't have ears and a tail. If children were missing their ears...her mother had given her the impression that it was a very terrible thing.
Ritsu didn't say anything. He just closed his eyes with a grimace, like it hurt to keep them open.
"Ritsu-san." Nagisa said insistently, shaking his thin shoulder. There was so much blood she was afraid that was why he couldn't move. "You have to wake up! You have to get up! Ritsu..."
His eyelids didn't even twitch in response. The girl felt a cold, stark band of fear clench at her heart. Nagisa forced herself to her feet and then telling him, "I'll be right back!" she ran up the beach to her house as fast as her short legs would carry her.
She burst into her mother's large private office, where she ran her psychiatry practice from, calling out, "Mama! Mama!"
A petite, elegantly attired woman with neatly pinned up azure hair looked up from where she sat writing at her desk, startled by her daughter's wide panicked eyes and tear-stained face and rose immediately to her feet.
"You have to come!" Nagisa blurted out, gasping for breath from having run the whole way. "You have to come down to the beach!"
"Nagisa, what happened?" her mother asked, alarmed by the state the girl was in. Nagisa gasped and started crying, hard, her small body shaking. Her mother rushed around the desk to hold her. "Nagisa, take a deep breath and tell me what's wrong."
The girl forced herself to do what her mother said. She had to calm down and get the words out, or she was afraid that Ritsu would die. She took another deep breath and then forced the words out rapidly, "It's Ritsu-san, he's hurt! He's bleeding a lot and he wouldn't get up! I couldn't get him to wake up!"
Nagisa's mother narrowed her eyes, "Minami Ritsu? ...Where is he now?" she prompted her.
"I found him on the beach." Nagisa answered, agitated. Her mother moved swiftly, leaving her office and seizing a first aid kit from her husband's medical supplies.
The woman checked quickly that her two-year-old daughter, Sanae was still sleeping soundly in the playpen in her office and then said to Nagisa, "Take me to him."
A few minutes later they arrived on the beach and Nagisa's mother went straight to work unbuttoning the blood-soaked shirt and tightly bandaging the wound at the boy's ribs. Ritsu's pale eyelids fluttered as she tended to him but he didn't awaken. Her eyes were dark and troubled as she took him in from head to toe, her eyes lingering wordlessly on his earless head. When she had done what she could with what she had, the woman tried to rouse him.
"Ritsu-kun," She called gently, placing her hand on his small shoulder. "Ritsu-kun..." she repeated a bit louder and finally Ritsu's eyes slowly opened. Nagisa's mother looked relieved.
The boy squinted up at her in confusion for a moment before murmuring, "Dr. Sagan?"
"That's right," she said and then turned to an anxious Nagisa. Dr. Sagan handed her daughter the first-aid kit and told her, "Take this back to the house and stay with your sister while I help Ritsu-kun, okay?"
Nagisa glanced worriedly at Ritsu but at least he was awake now and then nodded, turning to make her way back up to the house. When Nagisa returned she set the first-aid kit down on the desk and checked on her little sister. Thankfully Sanae was still asleep. Nagisa looked out of the office window that faced the beach, searching for her mother or Ritsu-san.
Almost ten minutes later her mother entered the house with a pale and trembling Ritsu at her side. Her arm was around him, supporting him, and she guided the boy to the living room sofa. She told him to lie down and set a cushion beneath his pale shoulder-length silver-blue hair. Nagisa hovered nervously, helplessly around them, twisting her hands together.
"Nagisa, stay here with Ritsu-kun- and mind you, let him rest- I'm going to call your father." Dr. Sagan said and went to use the phone in the kitchen.
Nagisa stood over Ritsu wondering what she could do. His eyes were closed, the bruises and cuts standing out even more grotesquely against such a pale, delicate face. She felt tears stinging her eyes again and she let them fall silently. Who would do such a thing to child?
Nagisa saw her favourite blanket was still on the leather arm chair where she had left it earlier in the day and gathered it up. The girl brought the soft pink and white coverlet over to the sofa and covered Ritsu with it, tucking it carefully beneath his chin and around his arms. Ritsu's large green eyes fluttered open to look at her and for a moment she just stared back, not knowing what to say or do.
"Um, sorry, if I woke you..." she muttered.
Ritsu looked so tired. "It's okay," He said quietly and closed his eyes again. "Thank you." The boy whispered so softly she almost didn't hear him.
"You're welcome." She whispered back as she sat down on the floor beside him, bracing her back against the sofa and pulling her knees up to her chest.
Snatches of her mother's voice drifted in to Nagisa from the kitchen. "No, I don't think so...He won't. He refuses to go to the hospital... No, he asked me not to call his father... I don't know... That wound on his ribs is deep- I hope there isn't internal bleeding. He'll definitely need stitches... I don't know for certain, I could barely get him to talk to me... I did. He said...he said it was a fire poker..."
A fire poker? Nagisa thought in horror, thinking of that terrible wound to Ritsu-san's ribs. Did a fire poker do that? And why doesn't Ritsu-san want Mama to call his father? She felt sick and tears burned beneath her eyelids.
She heard her mother's voice again: "Well, I'll have to call eventually he's only a child...and I think you should..." The woman made a long pause and lowered her voice and Nagisa just barely caught the words, "I think you should bring a rape kit as well...I feel sick to even think of it, but aside from the household staff there's no one else in that house... He didn't actually say that but...I just saw him last night and he still had them then...I will. All right, I'll see you soon. 'Bye." Her mother hung up the phone.
Nagisa sat frozen on the floor, not really understanding all that she had just heard but feeling in her gut that something...something unforgivable had been done to Minami Ritsu.
Nagisa open her eyes and was startled to discover that Ritsu was staring right at her. She realized that her hand had stilled in his hair and her other hand had dropped back to his shoulder and was gripping it tightly. She let go of his shoulder let her hand fall back to her side.
Damn, Nagisa thought, the spell is broken isn't it? I got distracted and now... now he'll never let me touch him like this again...
Suddenly embarrassed she reluctantly withdrew her hand from where it had tangled itself into the softness of his hair. As she removed her hand, preparing to distance herself once more from him, he surprised her by catching her hand in his. She was so startled that she gasped and her cheeks flushed again.
Ritsu was looking at her intently, a wicked glint in his eye, and Nagisa got the feeling that internally he was laughing at her. She blushed even deeper- there was one area she had always known that she stood no chance in ever rivalling Ritsu: she would never be as imperturbable as this man; it seemed her emotions would forever be on display for his cold and critical eyes. Just like all those dead butterflies on the wall...
"What were you thinking about?" he asked quietly, holding her hand loosely in his, meeting her eyes with a mild curiosity that he rarely bestowed on anyone. Nagisa tried to focus her mind on his question but all she could think about was her hand burning within his.
"Uh, well, I was remembering something..." she responded awkwardly. Never in all the years that she had known him had he wanted to know what she was thinking. He'd never cared. Nagisa took a deep breath to steel herself against her true thoughts, "Actually, I was thinking about you."
Ritsu arched an eyebrow. "Oh?" he said in his obnoxious way that gave her the impression that she was being ridiculed yet again. What a jerk, that he could convey so much in such an innocuous sounding syllable! She didn't know why she let herself worry about him...
Nagisa glared at him- really, sometimes she just wanted to punch him! Right in the face. Forcing herself to stay calm when he was once again trying to push her buttons, she gave his hand a deliberate squeeze, "Since we're asking intrusive questions...Ritsu, why are you holding my hand?"
An arrogant smirk graced his handsome features, "Why, shall I let go?" Nagisa felt her face burning at that knowing smirk. Just once, just once she'd like to do to this man what he did to her!
"You're such a cocky bastard!" she snapped at him, yanking her hand out of his grasp and turning her back on him with a huff of annoyance. She heard him chuckling behind her.
God, that stupid jerk! Why do I always have to make such a fool of myself around him?
"I'm leaving," She stated coldly, "I hope you and your work will be very happy together. Goodnight." Not even sparing him a glance she quickly crossed to the door, jerked it open and left, slamming the door hard behind her for good measure. The nerve of the man!
A brief while later the door to Seven Voices Academy's security station opened and fellow Septimal Moon Saotome Nana (a.k.a. Seven) looked away from the monitors in surprise as Nagisa sank into a chair beside her and buried her face in her hands.
"Nana-tan," she said with an aggravated sigh, "You'll never guess what I just did..."
A/N: Hi, just a reminder to please remember to review! Thanks!