Quick Author's Note: Sorry, for the delay, but I will try to update weekly if I can. I have relatives visiting, and this week is my church's bible school. I have to get a job very soon, but hopefully that won't cut to much time out of my writing. Enjoy the chapter! (hopefully)

This is Soubi's thoughts.

This is Soubi talking to Ritsuka over their connection as Sacrifice and Fighter in their minds, okay?

Chapter Two: Questions and a Confused Soubi

"Hello?" Soubi didn't think about anything he was saying; he just needed to say it.

"Aoyagi-san? You probably don't know me, but my name is Agatsuma Soubi. I'm... friends with your son, Ritsuka. I'm at the hospital, and I need you to come down now. You need to fill out forms, and the doctors want a parent or guardian present."

"What?"

Why was he being forced to be deal with incompetent people when Ristuka was still hurt?! "Ritsuka is unconscious as a result of your wife's abuse. Ritsuka, your youngest and only living son, is in the hospital. You need to come down here. Ritsuka's hurt." He was met with silence.

"What hospital are you at?"

Soubi quickly gave him directions and hung up, silently fuming. He had only seen Ritsuka's father on rare occassions with Seimei and Ritsuka, and Ritsuka never talked about him much. He was rarely home, preferring to stay at the office than to come home and face reality. Ritsuka, of course, didn't blame him just as he still didn't blame his mother for her abuse. Soubi watched the people passing by and calmed himself. His worry wouldn't go away for weeks, but he had to make sure that no one could tell he was worried, especially Ritsuka's father.

Fifteen minutes later, Ritsuka's pale haired father walked into the ER and went to the information desk. Soubi stayed back and simply observed. He was tall, thin, but was nothing extradionary. He looked like a normal man who wasn't overly concerned with anyone. He looked...tired. He looked like a coward.

Soubi walked up behind him as the nurse pointed him to Ritsuka's room. Soubi didn't move as the other man gasped slightly and apologized for running into him. The fighter saw the surprise on the man's face as he blocked his way again when he tried to move past. "I'm sorry."

"For what?" Soubi asked mildly, feigning surprise and genuine curiousity.

"For bumping into you. My son is here with a severe head injury, and I need to go see him."

Severe head injury? How severe? Why aren't these fucking people doing something to help?

"Oh, I'm sorry, but shouldn't you be sorry for allowing that to happen?"

"Excuse me, but you have no right to question me! This was an accident; accidents happen. He's a teenage boy. He's more than capable of taking care of himself, and I will not be questioned by an absolute stranger."

"I'm the man who called you saying that Ritsuka was hurt." The other man's anger faltered and dissipiated.

"I suppose I should thank you for bringing him to the hospital then."

"Yes, you should." Soubi didn't need to force any coldness into his voice, or any ice into his eyes; it was already there. "Ritsuka is this way." He didn't bother looking behind him because he knew the man was following him. Soubi pushed open the door and stopped dead. He could barely tell the person lying on the examining table was his Ritsuka. There was some sort of purple balloon thing attached to a tube that was down his throat. There were wires on his chest that Soubi assumed were to monitor heartbeat, there was something clipped to one of his fingers, and there was an IV sticking out of his right hand.

"Only family members are supposed to be in here," one nurse said while walking past the pair. "Are you his father?" Aoyagi nodded and the nursed turned her attention back to Soubi.

"Sir, you need to leave."

"I'm staying," he replied, turning on his charms. Being cold hadn't worked earlier, but his charms and looks had never failed before. The nurses was undoubtedly pretty, quite beautiful in fact, and Soubi was sure he could stay with a little coaxing. He simply flashed her a winning smile that had worked countless times in the past, but the nurse only laughed at him. Soubi couldn't keep the surprise from entering his eyes. She thought he was funny?

"Your looks aren't going to get you anywhere with me. It would be a waste of my time to think that I had any chance with you."

"I'm sure I could persuade you to think differently. Allow me to stay and it will be worth any trouble I might cause." He noticed Ritsuka's dad watching him, but paid the man no attention. The nurse only smiled and shook her head.

"Why is that? Are you going to dump your boyfriend, turn straight, and pick the first pretty girl you see?" She gave him a knowing look before turning back to Ritsuka, but made no more efforts to extricate him from the room. Soubi stood there for a moment, thinking. He never would've guessed someone would be able to resist his charms. He completely forgot about her though as a doctor came up to them.

"We need to do surgery. One of his lungs has been punctured. Surgery will fix the problem, but we need your consent to operate." Soubi immediately decided he liked this woman. She was all business and stoic just as he was.

"How is he doing?" No one saw the contempt enter Soubi's eyes; the only person capable of seeing it was still unconscious. Of course you're concerned about him now that he's in a hopsital. You should've been concerned an hour ago when your wife was beating him. Soubi ignored Ritsuka's father altogether and focused on the doctor as she answered his question.

"He has a severe concussion, and there was some swelling in his brain, but it was very mild. We treated the swelling and it is going down; there's no need to worry about that. He has six broken ribs, one of which punctured his lung. His lung is the biggest problem right now. We need to operate immediately, so there won't be any permanent damage to his lung. I need to ask both of you some questions." Soubi had been intently listening to her, but he was also paying careful attention to the two other doctors who had come down while she was speaking and were now wheeling Ritsuka away from him. Ritsuka was covered with blankets up to his chin, but Soubi could still all the tubes and wires he was connected to. Get better, Ritsuka. I'll be here when you wake up.

"Will he be all right?" Soubi barely registered Aoyagi senior's spoken question, eyes still following Ritsuka down the hallway and into the elevator.

"He should be. As long as everything goes fine in surgery, he'll be fine. He'll be in here for a few days, and he'll need to stay quiet at home for a few more days. After that, he should be fine." She offered them a smile that was supposed to ressure them, but Soubi wasn't going to believe that Ritsuka was fine until he saw it with his own two eyes. "Now, like I said earlier, I need to ask you both some questions. Agatsuma-san you brought him to the hospital, correct?" Soubi simply nodded, alert. "Were you with him when he was hurt?"

"No, he was like that when I arrived."

"Arrived where? At his house?"

Soubi hesitated for a fraction of a second. "Yes."

"Was there anyone else at home?" The doctor, whose name tag read Uotani, now looked at Ritsuka's father.

"My wife doesn't work, but she was probably at the store. How did Ritsuka get hurt?"

Uotani sighed and looked down at the papers in her arms. "That's the problem. He has numerous bruises covering his body, and there's evidence of old injuries that were not treated correctly, if they were treated at all." She gave them both a look that was supposed to get them to confess. Soubi looked straight at her, revealing nothing. "With the types of injuries he has, including the head injury, is something that we often see with child abuse." Both men remained silent. Soubi had always wanted to do something about Misaki's abuse, but what exactly would happen if an outsider did something about it? Would Ritsuka be put with another family? Despite he own opinions about Misaki, he knew Ritsuka loved her no matter how horrible her abuse was. He had tried convincing the teen to come live with him, but Ritsuka refused to leave his mother. Ritsuka's answer as to why still baffled Soubi.

Flashback

"Soubi, I can't leave Mom. She would notice if I stopped coming home."

"Call every few days. I'm sure she'd be fine with that." Ritsuka shook his head while trying to discreetly place his stinging arm against Soubi's cool one next to him on the bed. Soubi noticed this though and simply pressed his arm against the welt as he used his other arm to pull Ritsuka closer. The beating hadn't been that bad this time; he had only received a few punches and one large welt on his arm.

"She wouldn't be fine with that. I can't leave her Soubi, I can't. She's my mom, and I love her." Soothed by Soubi's fingers running through his hair, he closed his eyes and snuggled closer to the man. "I can't leave her alone. Dad's never home anymore, and I'm all she has left. I know what it feels like to be alone. I can't leave her alone.

End Flashback

"Aoyagi-san, has there been any problems at home lately? Sometimes if there's a traumatizing event, one parent begins abuse, but it's only tempory." You're lying. You just want one of us to admit to the abuse.

"There haven't been any problems lately, no."

Only because you're never there. The problem is that Seimei is dead and has been three years.

"Okay, has anything happened to upset your wife? Have you noticed her treatment of your son changing?"

"My wife didn't hurt him. She's a loving mother. We wouldn't do this to our child."Soubi would've dearly loved to roll his eyes and snort and yell at the man, but Ritsuka had ordered him explicitly not to tell anyone, in any shape for form, about his mother. His hands were tied.

"Alright, but we have to ask these questions. Agatsuma-san, may I speak to you in private? Aoyagi-san, we'll be back in a few minutes. One of the nurses will show you to the waiting room." Resigned to the questioning, Soubi followed the nurse into an empty examining room. He doubted he would be able to get anything past her with his charms. All of the nurses in this place seemed to have an exceptionally good gay-dar. He had vowed only to use spells as a last resort. "First off, I do not think you are the person who hurt him, but I do think that you know who did."

"You do?"

"Yes, you've put a mask on, but no one has forgot how you were acting when you first brought him into the ER. Do you remember anything you said?" Soubi could feel his"mask" slipping, but did it really matter anymore? He had already ruined that facade.

"Not really. I was worried that he was badly hurt, and I was right, wasn't I?"

"Yes, but he'll be fine. We perform this surgery thousands of times in a year. He should be back to normal in about a week. That's when he'll be able to return to school, but I need to know who hurt him." Soubi suddenly had the desire to look down at his feet. What's wrong with me? Why am I acting like this?

"I can't tell you that. Ritsuka, or one of his parents, will have to answer that question."

"They're not going to tell me. Abused children rarely tell on their parents. No matter how horrible they're treated by their parents; they're still their parents. Do you want him to stay in that environment?"

"I can't tell you who hurt him." Soubi could tell the doctor was getting frustrated. He was wrong about all his assumptions today. She cared more than he ever could've guessed.

"I can't do anything until someone tells me who has been hurting him. Until then nothing can be done. He will simply go back to that environment, that house, and continue being abused until he moves out. Are you going to allow that to happen?"

Soubi just stared at her, feeling defeated. She already knew the answer to most of her questions, but it hurt nonetheless. Of course he didn't want Ritsuka with his mother, but his hands were tied.

"You two are dating, aren't you?"

"Yes, sensei, we are. I don't see how that affects my telling you anything about what you think is abuse." The doctor studied him for a moment. Soubi didn't flinch this time, didn't look away. He knew he was going to win.

"So the bruises aren't abuse? I can't write this off as rough sex because he still has his ears. They're not fake ones either; we checked. How old are you, anyway? Twenty-four? Twenty-five?"

"My age is none of your business. I'm not going to give you any answers, so you should get back to your patients and Ritsuka. Sick people need to be treated."

She considered arguing with him, but had a feeling that it would get her nowhere. "Fine, have it your way, but you're just as guilty as his abuser if you do nothing to stop it." With that she stomped out of the room to leave Soubi to carefully tuck away his feelings until this was over.

Author's Note: First off, thank you SO much for all the reviews!!! I was only expecting about four, but I got 17!!! That's the most I've ever gotten for the first chapter of a story!!! Okay, I know Soubi is OOC, and I don't really know why yet, but we'll just right it off as worry, okay? I tried to get him a little more in character, I think if Ritsuka really was this hurt that Soubi wouldn't be able to conceal every little emotion. Does anyone know if it ever says Ritsuka's dad name in the manga? I can't find it anywhere, even in my scans. HELP ME WITH THIS!!! What do you all think should happen? Should someone tell about Misaki's abuse? I don't know a lot about Japenese culture and how telling authorities about child abuse works. Do they have foster care system like America? Someone please help me with if you can!! All the reviwers got a cookie, THANKS SO MUCH FOR THE REVIEWS, AND REVIEW THIS ONE TOO, PLEASE!!!