After a few hours Kio realized that sleep wasn't going to help. He got up and ruffled his already messed up hair. He let out a loud yawn and then stood up. His shoulder hurt. It had felt like that for some time now. He opened the door cautiously, expecting Soubi to be outside his door. To his disappointment, he wasn't there. The whole apartment was dark. He walked past the guest room, where Youji and Natsuo slept, calmly. He smiled and went to the fridge. He flicked the light switch, but nothing happened. He sighed disappointedly. It probably burned out a while ago. He walked over to the fridge and opened it. The light didn't come on. He picked up a water bottle and groaned. It was warm. The power must've been out. He rummaged in the cupboard under the sink and found a flashlight. He turned it on and left the apartment room. He walked down the stairs to the basement.
The basement was dark and smelled really musky. He coughed a bit as his lungs tried to adapt to the heavy air. He looked around and finally saw the fuse box. He walked up to it and noticed the fuses had been torn out for his apartment. He immediately felt uneasy. Someone had lured him here. He spun around, hearing a noise, and shined his light on...a mouse. He breathed a sigh of relief and looked around the basement for some spare fuses. He found some and decided to replace them. But after a few minutes he gave up. The person who did this had basically screwed up the fuse sockets, peices of bare wire showed through. He was now seriously pissed. This was a bad joke. He turned around and gasped. There was a figure standing atop the staircase to the basement. All he could see was a sillouette. He stumbled back and bumped into the wall.
Soubi growled as he asked the bartender for another beer. He never drank this much, at least not alone. But he was really confused, and worried, and pissed off about the whole situation. Kio never kept things from him, so why would he now? Maybe Kio had a new boyfriend, and that guy was beating him? No...he would've noticed, and besides, Kio wouldn't let something like that continue. So what could it be? Then something struck him. He had never told Kio much about Fighters and Sacrifices...so how did he know so much? Someone must be stalking him...someone from Septimal Moon.
"Shit!" He got up and slammed the money on the counter. He raced out of the bar frantically. No wonder Kio couldn't tell him, they must've been threatening him! How long was this happening, and he hadn't even noticed! He dashed down the street, wondering why they would target Kio. It was probably because of him, he had been nothing but trouble for him. Seimei had told him to leave Kio, or else something bad would happen. And what did he do? He went against Seimei's orders...in the most defiant way: He had taken Kio's ears that night. When Seimei found out, he was enraged. It was then that Soubi realized he could never go against his Sacrifice. Seimei had beaten him so badly he couldn't move. He then dropped him off on Kio's doorstep, bleeding. Kio was broken after that. He really had caused Kio nothing but trouble. And now what? Seimei was dead, so who else would want to go after Kio...after all this time?
Kio growled as the intruder approached.
"What do you want?" He asked, nervously.
"I warned you...I told you to stay away from him..." The figure hissed. Kio knew that voice. The voice that called him every night since he had lost his ears...it disappeared for a few years...but it had recently started calling him again. He never wanted to pick up his cell phone, because he knew who was on the other end.
"Seimei..."
