Disclaimer: Loveless doesn't belong to me, only the dirty plot bunnies running aorund in my head are mine.

Summary: Ritsuka and Soubi come to the school for a visit.

Chapter 4 - Visitors

The salve was a great help over the next few days, without it Youji would have never been able to sit thru his classes. Every free moment was spend either reading the books 7 had lent them or watching the other fighter Units thru newly open eyes.

Kissing had also opened up a whole new world of experiences for them and they sought out dark corners and secluded places to practice this new and wonderful thing. No wonder Soubi was always glomping Ritsuka and throwing a lip lock on him at the slightest provocation, and once Ritsuka had accepted Soubi he had turned out to be just as bad, kissing the tall blonde at the drop of a hat. Youji had kissed Ritsuka once trying to 'taste' him, having seen Soubi do it he'd wondered if that was what kissing was for, back then the Zero pair had had almost no feeling just slight sense of touch. The furious Soubi had tossed the startled Youji out his apartment door for kissing his Sacrifice, at the time neither Youji nor Natsuo had any idea why he'd gotten so bent out of shape about it. Soubi had eventually relented and let Youji back in when he realized Youji had no clue why he'd gotten upset in the first place. Now years later the pair finally understood.

It was also during this time that they noticed most of the older pairs were nearly all 'adults' and even many of their year mates had recently become adults as well. Finally understanding much of the gossip they'd been hearing around the school for years they realized there were a couple 'bets' going on regarding certain Fighter units and when they would lose their ears. The current red hot bet was their year mates and friends Midori and Ai, they had just turned 15 and were always together, the 'Breathless' pair was considered the top contenders for the next pair to lose their ears. In fact a lot of their fellow students were surprised the lovey dovey twosome had gotten this far. Not surprisingly there was also a large pool going on about when Ritsuka would finally lose his ears to Soubi. The oblivious Zero pair didn't realized they were also a hot betting item, their classmates weren't nearly as unobservant as the teachers, several people had seen the Zero pair making out in corners recently, and well, Youji was extremely noisy, those students who had rooms near his, were very aware that the Zero pair had started 'playing around' with each other.

Youji and Natsuo also realized during this time that the majority of the Fighter units didn't only just bond thru the original Fighter/Sacrifice bond, but eventually most of the units formed a strong love bond as well. Strengthening the original bond and bringing the Fighter Unit that much closer together.

A month had passed since that momentous day in the bath, and tomorrow the school had scheduled the start of annual training exercises for the established Fighter pairs. Soubi and Ritsuka were coming for a visit and were going to participate voluntarily this year. It had been two years since the night Seimei had reappeared. Last year the 'Loveless' pair had declined Ritsu-sensei's invitation to join the exercises, but for some reason this year they had accepted. They were expected to arrive shortly, Youji and Natsuo had volunteered to put up the 'Loveless' Fighter and Sacrifice in their rooms.

So they were hanging out in the lobby waiting for them to arrive. When they did show up and walked into the lobby the first thing both noticed, was Ritsuka's totally lack of ears and a tail.

"Ritsuka! Oh my god, you guys finally did IT. You are so going to have to give me details. Come on everything's already been taken care of, your going to be staying in my room." The outgoing Youji flung himself at the blushing teen and hugged him, before dragging him off into the school and towards his room. Natsuo had followed his Sacrifice in a more sedate manor, he just grinned at Soubi.

"So, Soubi, get tired of waiting?" Soubi looked over at the male Zero Fighter and shrugged.

"Wasn't my idea, Ritsuka made the decision all on his own."

"I'm sure he did, he's a lot stronger than Ritsu and the others suspect. Come on, your bunking in my room." Natsuo entered the school, Soubi following him to the Wing that held the Fighters and their rooms.

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Over in Youji's room the two teenagers were gossiping, catching each other up on what had been happening lately around the school and in the outside world as they were getting ready for bed. Youji had undressed and was about to throw on a night shirt, his back turned to Ritsuka. He'd totally forgotten that just before they'd headed out to the lobby Natsuo had given him a light spanking, there were telltale pink hand prints marking his behind. Ritsuka gasped when he caught sight of them and going over to his friend he pulled up the night shirt in the back, fully exposing Youji's pink bottom to his eyes for a moment before he let it drop back in place.

"Youji, who's done this to you, was it Nagisa-Sensei, has she taken to beating the two of you now? Why would she do that, you guys aren't supposed to be able to feel pain. Is she testing you or something?" But those marks were of a hand and that was a very personal way of disciplining, as Ritsuka was well aware of, it didn't make sense that it would be Nagisa. As he watched the Zero Sacrifice Youji started to blush furiously. Damn, thought Youji, he'd forgotten all about the fact that his butt was probably still a little pink from the earlier discipline Natsuo had applied to it.

"I-I ah, no Nagisa-Sensei doesn't bother with us much anymore. I-it was, well, Natsuo gave me a spanking for not getting a good enough score on a test I took yesterday."

"Natsuo, did this?" Ritsuka's eyes opened wide at that news, Youji's blush darkening even further, hands twisting the bottom of his night shirt, his feet fidgeting, Youji decided to tell his friend the truth, with Soubi as his partner perhaps he would understand.

"I-I, well, I s-sort of like it when Natsuo disciplines me. I can feel pain now, Ritsuka, sure it hurts but it's also w-well it's exciting all at the same time."

This was news to Ritsuka, but he wasn't all that surprised, Natsuo and Youji were nearly the same age the female Zero pair had been when Yamato the Female Zero Sacrifice had first started feeling hot and cold temperatures and the pain of the damage she received in battle. Kouya and Yamato were currently enrolled in the same college as Soubi and they kept in touch, especially now that they were no longer 'Zero'. Both girls were very happy and reasonably well adjusted all things considered. What did confuse Ritsuka was that Youji was the Sacrifice and was supposed to be the one commanding his Fighter, shouldn't it have been the other way around, unless the two were both trying it out on each other. What with the ability to feel pain being so new, perhaps that was it.

"Do both you and Natsuo feel pain? Are you guys testing out your limits seeing as it's so new?" As Youji didn't seem much bothered by his pink rear end the two sat on the bed now, facing each other as they drank some cola and munched a few snacks, they discussed the changes that had recently taken place between the 'Zero' pair.

"Huh? Oh no, Natsuo says he has absolutely no desire to be on the receiving end, he says he does feel pain now, he got a cut the other day and swore up a blue storm when I put the antiseptic on it. Needless to say we haven't told Nagisa-Sensei, but 7-Sensei helped us out answering some of our questions and giving us some really informative books."

"Really, that's great. But I would have thought it would be Natsuo who'd 'like' it, you know like Soubi does, seeing as he's the Fighter."

"Yeah, you'd think so but 7-Sensei said that in each pair, one partner is usually more dominate than the other, and that it doesn't follow a set pattern, so it could be either the Fighter or the Sacrifice who's the more submissive partner."

"But isn't it the Sacrifice who gives the commands to his Fighter during a battle?"

"True, but each Fighter Unit is different in how they fight and interact depending on personality and inclination, in our case when we fight Natsuo and I are a team, other than issuing the initial command to Natsuo to start a fight, we make most of our decisions together during a battle. 7-Sensei thinks that now that I'm capable of feeling the damage I receive, that perhaps it's best I'm the submissive partner, she said that the ability to endure pain can be a valuable asset to a Sacrifice and make them able to hold up far longer."

This made a lot of sense to Ritsuka, and cemented something he had suspected for a long time, it also explained why he and Soubi had been able to win some of their earliest fights, as an abused child Ritsuka had endured the pain of his mothers beatings for years the damage he received in a spell battle was almost nothing in comparison. Before he and Soubi had been able to bond somewhat Soubi had taken the damage upon himself, able to withstand it because he like Ritsuka had been beaten when he was younger, and also as the submissive partner Soubi had an actual liking for pain, well at least if it was Ritsuka dealing it out that is, with anyone else he just kind of ignored it. Well that wasn't a problem anymore they were bonded completely now, Ritsuka had taken care of that just last week in fact, touching the 'Loveless' now imprinted upon his throat (1). He smiled at the memory.

"So Ritsuka, come on tell me what happened to your ears?" Ritsuka smiled at the pretty long haired Sacrifice, next to Soubi Ritsuka had always thought Youji was one of the cutest people he knew. Taking his hands he opened the top button on his jammies and showed Youji the writing written there on his throat.

Youji's eyes grew big as he realized Ritsuka was finally marked with his true name.

"Ayah, Ritsuka is that why the two of you are here this year, are you looking for the real 'Loveless' Fighter? What about poor Soubi?" Youji felt kind of bad for his friends, he had started to hope that the real "Loveless' Fighter would never show and that Soubi and Ritsuka would be able to stay together, he knew that if he had to give up Natsuo he would just die, literally just die. He didn't know how he could survive without Natsuo at his side. But Ritsuka was smiling again. Huh?

"Oh, I found my real Fighter all right. Tomorrow take a good look at Soubi's throat, right where 'Be-love-d' used to be, he's not going to be wearing those bandages after today." The way Ritsuka drew out the word 'beloved' and the way the word 'loveless' was emblazoned on his throat told Youji all he needed to know. Throwing himself at Ritsuka he hugged him in joy.

"Oh, Ritsuka I'm so HAPPY for you two. I knew it, I just knew you were meant for each other. Now no one can ever take Soubi away from you." Ritsuka laughed as his enthusiastic friend hugged the stuffing out of him.

"Hey, hey Youji, come on let me up your squishing me. No really, come on. Hahaha."

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AN: (1) see 'The Hidden Truth' for Soubi and Ritsuka's story of how they finally bonded.