Chapter 2

My dear readers, thank you so much for the reviews and mail! I cannot describe how happy you're making me :) (Just to explain, I was writing some poorly reviewed Kyou kara maou Fanfics over the past months and almost thought that the people don't like my stories any more :/) So, please more! :D There's no better motivation for me to write!

I'm so sorry that it took me so long to upload the next chapter, but as I said, I hadn't written it out yet and I had to rewrite it because of various reasons... there's a flashback in here that I wanted to do later, but decided that it made more sense right here. So, yes, there will be a few flashbacks later on as well.

Enough said, the story continues... This story isn't that romantic yet, I know – there will be some, of course, but later – and this chapter will include a bit of angst.

Warnings: contains physical violence and hard language. And smut. Aw yeah :3

As Ritsuka woke up embraced by two strong arms that kept him cozy and warm, he didn't even want to open his eyes. He just wanted to lay in this very spot forever. Although today was the day of Soubi's birthday party, it was also a regular friday – and he had to go to university today.

Soubi's breath against his ear was still regular and quiet when Ritsuka finally opened his eyes to take a look at the clock. Half past 6 a. m. and with a short look at the window, he noticed the warm light of the rising sun on the cloudless sky. Perfect weather to have a good morning jog, he thought and carefully tried not to wake the blonde man when he wound himself out of his arms. Soubi was a light sleeper – usually – but he seemed to be fast asleep as the younger one left the room.

With a short sigh, Ritsuka got dressed and left the house to take his usual round through the nearby park. At this early hour, no one was seen around here, which was also part of the reason why he preferred this place so much for jogging. The black-haired twen took a deep breath of the fresh autumn air – it became colder from day to day, but he liked that. Right now, the temperature was perfect.

In the clear morning sun, he became fully aware once more, how immensely things had changed compared to his situation five years ago, when he was merely seventeen and still had lived in his parent's house. It still hurt to think of his mother, of all the things she had done and said to him – one particular situation still hunting him even in his dreams.

Ritsuka stood eye-to-eye to his mother as she hit him for the first time that day, a hard slap onto his left cheek. Immediately, it started to burn painfully and warmth was spreading over it. He blinked away the tears that welled up in his eyes and tried to ignore what she shouted into his face. He had heard those words thousands of times before, or at least it seemed like that to him. It was always the same and there was nothing he could do about it.

„You're not my son! You've never been... - Where is Ritsuka?" she broke into tears. „You took him away from me, where is he? I hate you! I hate you so much!"

A second slap, right into his face, the right cheek this time. He couldn't prevent the tears flowing down any more. „I wished you'd never been born! You're nothing but a huge failure! Seimei was so much better than you..."

What she shouted then he didn't understand anymore. It was redundant - senseless, incoherent insults, interrupted just by her hands crushing down on him again and again. With her increasing level of rage, she didn't care where she hit him any more. Ritsuka felt his senses become dull and blunt, and he just tried to overcome it somehow, just tried to not provoke her any more. She would get to the point when she would break down and stop – and he just hoped that point would come soon.

Ritsuka never understood if she was aware of the fact that she hit her own child, molested it, hurt it. And not only physically. With every word she destroyed his love for her some more. He always tried to do everything to please her, to be how she wanted him, he lied about food that didn't taste and about opinions he didn't have. Nothing had satisfied her. Day by day, it got worse.

He came home from school, and when she was there, she would pursue him into a „talk", which most of the time resulted in either insults or punches. Or both. He didn't care any more, he couldn't change it, he couldn't change her.

That moment he realized, that she wasn't able to change him either. Only he himself could, if he wanted. Did he want to...?

As she balled her hand into his hair, pulling at it and throwing him to the floor, he howled in pain - he knew that this one would hurt more than usual. His hip crashed painfully onto the wooden floor and he had to gasp for air. Her foot connected hard to his body several times – first his shoulder, then his belly, his hip, his neither regions. He curled up to a ball, his body aching from the beginning bruises. Silent tears ran down his reddened cheeks. He just prayed for her to stop, but his prayer wasn't answered as he felt the foot again on his back, the impact causing him to loose breath again. If she went on like this, she would probably kill him, shot through his mind.

Suddenly, it stopped. No kicks any more, no punches. As Ritsuka regained his senses again, he heard a familiar voice.

Much to his surprise, it was his father. He had been at work, like he usually was when these things happened. As he looked up, he saw that the man still wore his jacket, so he had apparently just come home.

„Misaki! What are you doing!" he shouted as he gripped his wife's hands harshly. She tried desperately to wind herself out of his grip, but failed.

„He's not my son! He's not Ritsuka!"

„Are you blind? Just look at him, he's the child you gave birth to! You're hurting him, don't you see how much? He's our own flesh and blood!" he shouted angry.

She didn't respond. Ritsuka's surprise increased even more, he had never heard something like that from his father before. He had always looked aside whenever Misaki had one of her fits come around again. This was truly something new.

The older man's eyes looked down at him worriedly and apologizing. „Ritsuka, I'm so sorry. I won't let this happen ever again, I promise. Please go to your room and call me when you need help, okay? I'll look after you as soon as I can."

The black-haired boy just nodded quickly and got to his feet, hurrying up the stairs to lock himself in his room.

It was over.

He fell onto his bed, his whole body aching from the hits and kicks. He never wanted to move again. Every single one of his limbs hurt. With his last power, he grabbed for the cell phone to call Soubi.

His call was answered by the second ring. „Ritsuka?" he heard that familiar, deep, soft voice again, which made him break into tears.

„Soubi..." Ritsuka managed to answer, his own voice muffled by the tears. His fighter didn't need any more words, though.

„I'm on my way, give me five minutes."

Powerless, the boy left the cell phone where it was, he didn't even bother to close it. All that mattered was that Soubi would come. He closed his eyes.

Ritsuka didn't know if he had passed out in the meantime, but when he woke, he felt a strong hand on his body, soothing his wounds, calming him down with caressing strokes. He opened his eyes lazily and met the blonde man's.

„It's not your fault, never forget that," the latter said softly, kissing him on the forehead.

„Soubi... I want to get out of here. As soon as I've come of age."

„I would appreciate that very much. You can move in with me if you want," the older one offered while putting the gaze bandages and patches aside. He took his seat on the edge of the bed again, reaching out his arms to carefully cradle the boy in them.

Gratefully, Ritsuka rested his head at the broad, muscular chest, allowing himself to doze off to sleep. He needed it badly.

And what he needed the most, he realized, was Soubi. Now that he was here, everything would be fine. Always.

Studying japanese literature wasn't easy, but it was perfect for Ritsuka – on days like these, though, he regretted to have chosen it. He'd rather like to go back home, to prepare their flat for the small birthday party, than sitting here at the library and searching for books. But the test was next week, he finally had to start learning for it. Unfortunately, it was important. Many other students already had holidays now.

He took another look at the clock, which seemed to be the twentieth time within the last ten minutes, the time just wouldn't want to pass by. The student sighed deeply.

Finally, the four o'clock bell rang. Ritsuka was sure that he had never left the college building that fast. But there was a lot he wanted to do today. And he had never been home any faster.

With a short look around, he could quickly spot Soubi in his atelier. He put his bag aside and went to his room without greeting his roommate. There was something he needed.

After he grabbed the little package, the black-haired student stepped towards the atelier and waited in the door frame.

„I'm home, Soubi," he said quietly.

„I know," the painter answered, an amused undertone clearly notable in his voice.

„I got something for you."

The blonde man turned around, a slight smirk on his face. Ritsuka reciprocated the smile. „Happy birthday again, and this is your present," he held the little box in his flat hand towards the older one.

„Thank you very much," Soubi answered happily, pulling the young man into a tight hug. Shyly, he wrapped his arms around the taller one's waist and squeezed him firmly. It still felt wonderful to be that near to him. When they parted again, he almost felt a bit frustrated. Suppressing a sigh, he realized that he needed a lot of body contact lately.

Meanwhile, the blonde man had unpacked the present. His eyes sparkled as he looked at the filigrane silver chain with the small, blue butterfly pendant.

„It's beautiful, thank you, Ritsuka," he quietly said. „Will you help me put it on?"

„Of course," the younger one responded and took the necklace out of Soubi's hands. As he closed it on the backside of the other one's neck, he was aware that this was almost another embrace. Not that he would mind.

When he was done, Soubi had already wrapped his arms around him anyway. Ritsuka earned another quiet gratitude in the form of a short kiss on his cheek.

He looked aside and blushed deeply when he realized that he would have preferred to have it on his mouth.

„Your t-turrrnn..." Ritsuka waved at Soubi. His view was blurry and he knew he shouldn't have drunk that much. He was a lightweight and that three bottles of beer were clearly one too much. They were playing a simple board game, though the young man was sure that neither Soubi nor Kio did clearly know what they did anymore.

At least, the whole cooking-thing had worked out – he had made some Misowan soup and Sushi for all of them, as he knew this was his roommate's favorite food. After that, they had started to play various games and it had ended with... well - this.

A sudden, muffled sound made him startle. As Ritsuka looked across the table, he noticed Kio had fallen to his side, his head rested onto a cushion on the floor.

„Are you alllllright?" he tried to pronounce the words correctly, but failed.

„He's.. ssshl... sssleeping," Soubi managed to babble. He gave the younger one a gleaming smile.

He really makes a cute drunk, Ritsuka thought. What am I thinking... again?

„We ssshould assss well..."

The blonde man nodded wordlessly and got to his feet, trying to hold his balance. He offered his hand to help Ritsuka to stand up as well, which he gratefully accepted. Their hands didn't part, though. The black-haired one pulled Soubi out of the kitchen and into the older one's room.

Soubi closed the door behind them, but as he turned around, he stumbled and almost fell to his knees. Quickly, the younger one stood at his side, grabbing his waist to support him.

„We had too much..." he stated, but leaving the sentence unfinished. Ritsuka simply nodded.

Soubi's hand had found its way around his waist as well by now. The mere physical closeness was electrifying to Ritsuka. Just to feel his friend that near, to smell his unique scent of menthol cigarettes and... well – Soubi – made his hormones go crazy. Blue eyes looked deep into his own, making him squirm with their intensity. He didn't even know if he should blame the alcohol for his current state... he didn't care, he just pulled the other one down to kiss him passionately on his mouth. Soubi had always felt different than any of his girlfriends, his kisses were always lovingly and soft, but it was never that kind of "soft" than the ones of the girls were.

As he felt the older one's lips brush over his demandingly, a sudden wave of excitement rolled through his body. Pressing his body against the other one's, he deepened the kiss, not knowing what he initiated. Soubi's tongue was already in his mouth, caressing his own, while his hands ran up and down his back. Then, suddenly and without warning, his back connected to the wall as the blonde man pressed him against it, one leg between his. Ritsuka squirmed because of another wave of erection flowing through him. It had never been like this. Not ever with Soubi nor with one of the girls. Maybe he should actually blame the alcohol. Or Soubi, for god's sake, how should he resist him when he was... that hot?

He didn't know when his hand had chosen to slip underneath the older man's shirt, caressing the toned muscles of his belly. It was all new to Ritsuka, not at least also the other one's definite behavior. Soubi was never like this. In any other cases, he was always just the fighter, the one that took orders and fulfilled them perfectly. He always did what Ritsuka said, though they hadn't had a fight for years, he still did, and he was never acting selfish or wishing for something. This was the first time he saw the older man do something he wanted to do right now, the perception sending butterflies down his stomach, whatever that should mean...

But, on the other hand, that could also be just because of the fact that they both were drunk.

Ritsuka realized that he didn't want it that way – that he didn't even know what he wanted. He broke the kiss and shoved Soubi away a bit, breathing heavily.

„We should... go to bed now, Soubi," he panted.

The older one just nodded and turned around to pull his shirt off. Ritsuka couldn't help but stare and wonder what was up with him.

And if they should talk this over tomorrow or not.

He was scared.

I could write on forever, but that's as far as we go for chapter 2.

Sorry again for the late update, I'm doing my best, and I hope you enjoyed :) Next one will be up sooner, hopefully!