4

…

Katsuko-sensei had called Soubi out of the room to talk to him, though Soubi did not know why. The dean of medicine already said it was alright for him to spend the night in Ritsuka's room as long as the door was kept partly open. He sent Kio back home to get Soubi's new laptop, clothes, and some books for Ritsuka. He didn't know how long they'd be staying, and he knew that Ritsuka couldn't just sit around and do nothing all day. He really didn't know what the hospital did after a child got raped, since he had never been taken to the hospital after what happened to him.

Katsuko didn't say a word, but led him into an office in the pediatric ward, closing the door behind him. She took a seat behind the desk, Ritsuka's file lying open on it.

"You're not Ritsuka-kun's cousin, are you, Agatsuma-san?"

Soubi knew the act was up. He had lied to the other staff, telling them that he was Ritsuka's cousin. They looked nothing alike, so he couldn't pass as anyone in Ritsuka's immediate family. He knew he couldn't fool Katsuko, though.

"No, no I'm not," Soubi sighed, running a hand through his hair. "I'm not related to him at all."

"Would you mind telling me what that is on your clothes?" The woman fixed him with a hard stare, not even trying to hide the fact that she was suspicious of him.

Soubi knew what she meant. When he had finally tracked Ritsuka down and beat his father into telling him where he was, he had found Ritsuka lying in an alleyway, naked and sobbing, restrained and in pain. He had immediately begun apologizing, probably for having an erection. What had really pissed Soubi off was that Kiyoshi had shoved a vibrating string of anal beads so far into Ritsuka that Ritsuka's bottom was messy with blood and he was unable to pull it out by kicking his feet to pull on the anchor. Not wanting to put Ritsuka through anymore pain, Soubi had had to slip his fingers inside of Ritsuka, resulting in the boy suddenly coming and releasing all over. Soubi had gotten some on his clothes.

"Listen, Sensei, it's a long story. Do you have time?"

Soubi ended up telling the entire story to Katsuko-sensei, starting from meeting Ritsuka because he had been told to by Seimei and going through nearly everything, explaining his relationship with Ritsuka. He told of what happened with Ritsuka's mother and how Ritsuka would often seek Soubi's comfort after a beating. He spoke with disgust of Kiyoshi, telling her everything that had gone on in the past few days. He left some parts out, though, such as everything pertaining to Seimei and Soubi and Ritsuka's Fighter-Sacrifice relationship.

Soubi took a deep breath, his voice quivering as he reached the part that had just happened, "The next morning I walked him to school. See, Sensei, I have late classes on Mondays. I don't get home until after midnight. Sensei, this is all my fault. I…I thought he'd be okay if I got rid of all the alcohol in the house and made it so he couldn't go out to a bar. I told Ritsuka to stay in his room. I thought it'd be enough…"

Soubi paused, hanging his head, unable to believe he was talking to a psychologist. Katsuko had stopped being so suspicious and cold towards him about midway through Soubi's story. Soubi didn't trust psychologists, though. Minami Ritsu, his former teacher had been one and he had had something obviously messed up with him. He hadn't been completely sane, so Soubi refused to believe that any other psychologist would be different.

"It wasn't, though. I screwed up. Something happened that I didn't take into account beforehand," Soubi went on, barely finding the strength to do so. He glanced up at the doctor sitting across from him, finding her gaze oddly kind and sympathetic. He thought about poor Ritsuka sitting alone in his room. He wondered if the nurses had been alright giving him a bath. The poor child was so distraught; the only people he allowed to touch him were Katsuko-sensei and Soubi.

"Agatsuma-san you—"

"It's just 'Soubi', Sensei," Soubi cut her off, his thoughts still on young, innocent Ritsuka. Ritsuka had never used any sort of formality with him. He had always just called him 'Soubi', not 'Agatsuma-san' or 'Soubi-kun'. Soubi liked that. Not using any sort of honorific with one's first name announced familiarity and extreme closeness.

"Anyways," Soubi started again, not waiting for Katsuko to say what she had first intended to. "I left him alone. I'll never forgive myself for that. Like I told you, he wet the bed the night before, so I left him some instructions on doing the laundry."

"Wait, Soubi-san," Katsuko interjected. "You said he wet the bed?"

"Yes," Soubi nodded, looking up at her. "I thought I went over that?"

"No, you didn't. Could you tell me about that, please?"

"Well, we sleep together a lot," Soubi frowned, knowing how bad that sounded. "I don't think he likes sleeping alone. I didn't want to leave him when he needed me, so I stayed over again, just like the other two nights. He talks in his sleep a lot, though, so I usually know what he's dreaming about. He had a nightmare and he wet the bed. He's never done that before."

"Were you angry at him for that?" Katsuko scribbled something down on the notepad, leaning forward with a worried expression.

"No," Soubi sighed, thinking back to that night. "It was an accident and I know why it happened. He had a dream about his father."

For a minute, Katsuko-sensei didn't say anything and just wrote on her notepad. Finally, she looked up again, "Please go on. What happened tonight?"

"I called him during the breaks I got. He seemed alright," Soubi continued, getting to the hard part. "On the third break I got, I called him, but he didn't answer. I thought he was probably taking a bath. I…I know it was wrong, but I put a tracker in his phone after I found out what his father was doing to him, just in case. I checked his location and I found out he was in the red-light district."

Soubi couldn't do this anymore. It was just too painful and all he wanted was to see Ritsuka again, "Can we finish this tomorrow? Please. I've had a lot of shock for today. I really just want to get back to Ritsuka."

…

"What are you looking at, Kitten?"

Ritsuka started, twisting around to look behind him. He found Soubi leaning in the doorway, a gentle smile on his face. Ritsuka's mood picked up as soon as he saw him. He had been sitting on the bed, his knees pulled to his chest and his tail wrapped around his legs, thinking about how he could no longer have a childhood or a family. Soubi was back now, after nearly an hour of having been called away. He was even still calling Ritsuka the nickname he had recently adopted for him.

"The paintings on the wall," Ritsuka responded, looking at the painted family again for only a moment before glancing back at Soubi. "Soubi, can I tell you something?"

"Anything," Soubi sat in the chair next to Ritsuka's bed, leaving the door wide open. He took Ritsuka's hand in his own, gently touching the IV in it. "I'm always here to talk."

"I don't think I'll ever be able to be a child again…" Ritsuka confessed, wrapping his smaller fingers around the adult's.

"Why do you think that?"

Ritsuka looked right into Soubi's eyes, finding it unbelievably easy to talk to him, "I lost my ears. Soubi, I'm not even Ritsuka…"

Soubi frowned, looking thoughtful. "You are Ritsuka," He told him softly, stroking his hand. "There is no 'other' Ritsuka. There's only you and who you used to be. You may be different, but you're the same person. Besides," Soubi leaned in a little more, smiling again and making Ritsuka blush. "I like this Ritsuka. And losing your ears doesn't automatically make you an adult."

"Did you know me before I lost my memories?" Ritsuka prodded, curious.

"Yes, I did," Soubi kissed his nose, just making Ritsuka turn even redder. "To be honest, I didn't like you much. I love you how you are now. You're still a child, Ritsuka. I know you haven't had much of a childhood, but that doesn't have to continue."

Ritsuka wanted to have a childhood. He wanted to be like the children who would swing on the swings in the park or play board games with their friends. He didn't want to be an adult yet. He wasn't ready at all. He still wanted to be able to curl up in Soubi's arms and not have to worry about being 'mature'.

"Will you play a board game with me in the morning?" Ritsuka had seen some board games in the common room they passed when Soubi walked Ritsuka up to his room. Ritsuka knew exactly where they were in the big hospital. He was in the pediatric ward for older kids, most with very, very mild psychiatric problems. Most of the children in this ward would be staying for awhile, so there was a large room with games and books and other things for teens to do.

"Of course we can. We can do whatever you want tomorrow."

…

After Ritsuka asked him to play a board game with him in the morning, Soubi picked up Ritsuka's medical chart and quickly read through it, listening to Ritsuka telling him about the nurse who had given him a bath. Soubi suddenly froze once he read a written note at towards the end of Ritsuka's chart, listing an extremely dangerous poison that had been found in Ritsuka's blood in a rather alarmingly large amount. Soubi could only draw one conclusion from this.

Kiyoshi had drugged Ritsuka and tried to kill him.

…

"Soubi?" Ritsuka asked, seeing Soubi freeze and go wide-eyed. Soubi just stared at the medical chart, his mind trying to remember everything he had learned about that poison in one of his advanced science classes. That was the day he had been texting Ritsuka in class and been caught. Damn…what had been on the board that day? He couldn't remember.

"Soubi, what's wrong?" Ritsuka tried again, clearly scared by Soubi's reaction to the medical chart.

I can't tell him, Soubi thought. Ritsuka would get scared if Soubi panicked. Soubi couldn't show any emotion. Ritsuka would take after him. He was the only man that Ritsuka trusted. If he saw Soubi panic, he would immediately do so himself. Nothing good could come out of Ritsuka being even more frightened than he already was.

"Nothing, Kitten," Soubi lied, feeling extremely bad about doing so. "You just have a lot of broken bones. You're probably going to stay here for a while." Both those statements were true, but Ritsuka having broken bones wasn't the reason why he was going to be in the hospital for a while. One thing Soubi could remember about this poison was that it took twelve to twenty-four hours to go into effect and once it did, it was horrible. There was a good chance Ritsuka's organs would fail and they probably would. Soubi was glad that he took Ritsuka to the hospital. If the poison had gone into effect when Ritsuka was at Soubi's apartment, Soubi would have had no way to stop it and it would probably be too late once he got him to the hospital.

Ritsuka reached for Soubi's hand, wrapping his tiny hand around Soubi's fingers, "I'm glad you're here, Soubi; I'm really afraid of being alone. I didn't think you'd still love me after…what happened."

Soubi sat on the edge of the bed, trying his hardest to push the poison out of his thoughts for now. He would talk to the nurses and doctors about it. For now, he had to get Ritsuka to sleep. The poor child had been up for so long and he looked so tired. A good long sleep would do him good. It was early morning, but none of the other kids in the ward were up yet. Soubi himself was tired, but he was too worried and panicked to sleep.

"I'll always love you, Ritsuka," Soubi told Ritsuka, looking right into his eyes. He opened his arms and Ritsuka immediately crawled into his lap. Soubi wrapped his arms loosely around Ritsuka's waist. Ritsuka looked up at him, his big eyes giving away his want to be loved. "I love you. Always. None of this is your fault."

Ritsuka dropped his gaze suddenly, looking down and away from Soubi. "I'm gay, Soubi," He whispered, his voice weak. "Does that make me a whore?"

Soubi just stared at him wide-eyed for a moment before his fast-working mind pieced all the pieces of the puzzle together. Ritsuka would've never asked a question like that unless someone he trusted told him he was a whore for not liking girls. Ritsuka had just lost the rest of his respect and trust in his father. It all fit. He must've tried to tell his father that he was gay. That was how everything started. That was why Ritsuka's father had beat him, raped him, and sold him.

Quite honestly, Soubi couldn't think of a more stupid, fucked up reason. There was something seriously psychologically messed up with him. He needed help. No, he needed punishment. Soubi was going to kill him. This was the end of the line. This was it. The end. No more. Soubi could find no reason not to hurt Kiyoshi. His son had tried to confide in him, only to be violently punished for what he tried to tell him. Fathers were supposed to look out for their children, not fuck them and attempt to kill them.

Soubi pulled Ritsuka closer, running his fingers through his silky soft hair. "It's alright if you like boys, Ritsuka," Soubi spoke in a gentle tone, not letting any of his anger show. He scratched the base of his young love's still-attached kitten ears. "You're not a 'whore' or anything of the sort."

"I…I tried to tell him…my dad…I tried to tell him I wanted to live with you," Ritsuka was still speaking very, very quietly, as if he was afraid to speak of what happened. "He stopped me when I said that I was dating another man. Tha…that's when all this started…" When he glanced up at Soubi, he had tears in his big violet eyes.

"I'm going to make everything better," Soubi told him, remembering how Ritsuka had begged him to help him after they talked about the group home. "When the hospital releases you, you're going to come home with me. I'm not going to let your father hurt you anymore. I promise."

Soubi kissed Ritsuka's head and picked him up, setting him back down in the spot he had been lying on in the bed. Ritsuka surprised him, then, grabbing him by the collar and pulling him down in a quick kiss. He blushed afterwards, making Soubi smile a little and forget momentarily about what was on the medical chart.

"I'm not tired," Ritsuka denied, clearly just not wanting to sleep.

"Why don't I tell you a story?" Soubi suggested, sitting back down on the edge of the bed and pulling the covers over Ritsuka.

…

Ritsuka smiled, perking up at the mention of being told a story. He was tired of acting like an adult. He had dropped that façade now. Soubi didn't care if Ritsuka couldn't act mature and grown up for his age. Soubi understood the pain Ritsuka was going through, how he felt betrayed because of what his daddy did to him and how he felt as though he really couldn't trust anyone but Soubi and his doctor. He just wanted to be taken care of. He was tired of having to do it himself because of his deadbeat father, his insane mother, and his ever-absent older brother. Despite all the horrible things that had happened with his father lately, he had come to enjoy being able to depend on Soubi. He had even come to the revelation that he was in love with him.

"What story should I tell you?" Soubi wondered out loud.

"Make one up," Ritsuka urged. He felt sick, but he didn't say anything. He put a hand on his stomach, trying to call the aching pain. He still hurt all over, but the doctors had given him some pain medication through the IV. He was starting to feel a little better. Soubi was here and Ritsuka was safe where his father couldn't get him.

"Alright," Soubi paused, thinking for a few moments. Ritsuka really didn't want to hear any of the old, unrealistic fairy tales Seimei used to tell him. He wanted one that he could relate to. He figured that any story Soubi would come up with would be better.

"Once upon a time about a hundred and fifty years ago in England, there was a young boy," Soubi began. Ritsuka listened intently, not remembering the last time someone told him a story. It was probably Seimei or his father right after Seimei's death. Ritsuka shuddered at the thought of his daddy and reached for Soubi's hand again, wanting him to go on. "This boy was only thirteen. He was short and had big violet eyes and soft black hair. This wasn't any young boy, though. This boy was an earl."

"What's an earl, Soubi?" Ritsuka interjected, not familiar with that term.

"I see they didn't teach you about England's hierarchy," Soubi teased lightheartedly, smiling a little. "See, England has a hierarchy that's still in play to this day. Earl about the seventh or eighth down. It's a high title. Right after it is viscount. Anyways, this young boy's name was Ritsuka, and he didn't have any parents. His mother was committed to an insane asylum and his father left. As a result, young Ritsuka was left to the hands of his servants. Ritsuka was very, very lonely, so continued the family business under the permission of the queen. Ritsuka started to investigate crimes committed against the English people. This was a very dangerous job.

"Ritsuka had a tutor, a Viscount named Kio. Kio was pure soul. He was a nice man, a person who couldn't help but to care about others, especially troubled teens. Kio moved into Earl Ritsuka's manor soon after he began teaching him, even though Ritsuka told him not to."

Ritsuka laughed for the first time in what seemed like forever. After what happened just a couple hours ago, he had felt like he would never be able to again, but leave it to Soubi to get a laugh out of him. "That sounds like Kio," Ritsuka said once he stopped laughing.

"Viscount Kio learned about Ritsuka's past and about his job," Soubi continued. "And Kio took it upon himself to take care of Ritsuka. He disapproved of Ritsuka's continuation of the family business, but he stopped having Ritsuka go out alone and figure out the cases himself. One day, though, two things happened."

"What happened, Soubi?" Ritsuka urged when Soubi stopped with a smug smile. "Tell me!"

"Nope," Soubi told him. "I'll tell you more tomorrow night. It's time for bed."

"I don't want to sleep," Ritsuka murmured half to himself. "I'm scared." He didn't want to dream about his father. He didn't want to relive his time in the sleazy motel room, where so many men had thrown him down on the bed and fucked him hard. He knew dreams would haunt him.

"I'll be here, Ritsuka. I'll wake you up if you start dreaming."

…

As soon as Ritsuka fell asleep, Soubi pressed a kiss to Ritsuka's head and quietly left, going to the nurse's station.

"I need to see Aoyagi Ritsuka's doctors. All of them, including Katsuko-sensei," Soubi demanded, needing to know what was going to happen with this poison. It was deadly. Soubi knew that much. But there was treatment, though it didn't have a very high success rate, which scared Soubi to death.

"They're in a meeting discussing Aoyagi-san's condition. I'm sorry but I can't—"

"Let him in," Another voice ordered. Katsuko-sensei had come up behind the nurse, her arms crossed and a grim look on her face. "He's Ritsuka-kun's caretaker after all, and intelligent enough to be of some help to us." Katsuko nodded and Soubi immediately followed her behind the nurse's station into a hallway. "I did a minor background on you," She explained. "I found out you take a lot of science, math, and medically orientated classes even though you're an art major. Why is that, Agatsuma-san?" She stopped outside of a closed door, her hand on the handle, blocking Soubi from getting through.

Soubi narrowed his eyes at her, wondering why he was being interrogated when Ritsuka's life may be on the line. Why did it matter what classes he took? "There's a couple reasons," Soubi told her, willing to do anything to get into that room and find out what exactly was going on. "I used to be in a very…abusive relationship with someone before Ritsuka. I've always sort of thought about getting into a medical profession if painting didn't work out. I'm just…interested in those subjects. Now, can you please tell me what's going on?"

Katsuko looked Soubi straight in the eyes, "Ritsuka-kun has been poisoned badly with a deadly toxin. He's going to start feeling the effects very soon. Unfortunately, we can't treat it or flush the poison out until the symptoms show up. There's a couple different ways to treat this, depending on the symptoms, but if we get the wrong one, he could easily die."

…

As soon as the tall, black-haired man was done with him, he left Ritsuka alone, lonely and sobbing on the bed. Ritsuka struggled against his restraints again and again, trying to somehow break free. It was useless, though. The metal handcuffs made him stay close to the headboard. Ritsuka stopped, knowing that even if he tried his hardest he wouldn't be able to break the handcuffs. He was alone. Painfully alone. Even though Ritsuka hated all the men who had used his body, he thought he might hate them less if they had at least stayed with him.

Ritsuka got a good look around the room. He was in a sleazy love hotel. The bed was big, but old, and the springs dug into Ritsuka's already aching back. The sheets were wet mainly from Ritsuka's tears, but also with fluids from the other men.

Ritsuka cried harder, feeling his bottom ache from being taken so roughly time after time. The last man had beat Ritsuka, particularly around the face, and then shoved him down on the bed on his stomach, restrained him, and started pounding into him roughly until he released his hot seed inside of Ritsuka. Right now, his semen was starting to drip out of Ritsuka's entrance, the now-cold liquid running down his thighs.

Soon, the door opened again, and Ritsuka squeezed his eyes shut, not wanting to see the face of the next man who would punish him.

Ritsuka woke up with a start, screaming and thrashing around on the hospital bed, delusional. He clenched his eyes shut, unable to completely come out of the dream. He still believed he was on that hotel bed with another man getting ready to screw him into the uncomfortable mattress. He nearly pulled the IV out of his hand, but was stopped and forced to come back to Earth when a pair of strong arms pinned his hands to the hospital bed, away from his IV.

Ritsuka found himself staring up into Soubi's blue eyes. He relaxed, breathing hard, looking up at Soubi, suddenly having severe flashbacks from the night. When Soubi let go of him, Ritsuka curled into a small ball, his eyes wide open, reliving his father hitting him and calling him a whore, yelling insults at him, screaming 'I hate yous' and 'I wish you were never borns' at him. He repeated those two sayings over and over again, forcing Ritsuka to apologize for being born. He had forgotten until now that his father alone had made him want to die. He watched the scenes again and again, the flashes coming in few-second intervals. He could feel himself crying, could hear Soubi franticly asking him if he was alright and another voice in the background joining his. He felt embarrassment in the back of his mind, knowing that the warm, sticky feeling in his lower-half meant that he had wet himself again. He couldn't focus on any of that, though. The only thing he could concentrate on was the pain he felt and all the memories playing out before him.

…

"He's having flashbacks," Katsuko said calmly to Soubi, who was nearly panicking. He had thought that Ritsuka was suffering something related to the poison coursing through his veins.

Soubi immediately stopped shaking Ritsuka and sat down, pulling the shaking, crying, suffering child into his lap, hugging him tightly. Katsuko just stared at him, not saying a word, but looking on with interest as Ritsuka began quieting down and clutching Soubi's shirt. Within a minute Ritsuka settled down to the point of just whimpering, his eyes clear again, the flashbacks obviously gone. He simply held Ritsuka in his arms, knowing full-well that the boy had wet himself.

"Soubi…" Ritsuka whispered after a few moments. "I…I wet the bed again…"

"I know, Kitten," Soubi pushed the bangs out of Ritsuka's face.

"You're not angry?" Ritsuka asked, dumbfounded.

"Of course not. There's no reason for me to be angry."

…

Ritsuka was soon back in bed and asleep after having been cleaned off. Katsuko-sensei sat calmly in the chair next to Ritsuka's bed and Soubi paced the room, his mind racing and unable to sort out one thing from another. This was his fault. Katsuko-sensei explained to him that Ritsuka was in extreme danger, but they couldn't do anything until Ritsuka started showing symptoms. There was a chance they wouldn't be able to treat the poison in time. A frighteningly high chance. It scared Soubi to death, especially when he was forced to think about what would happen if Ritsuka was no longer in his life.

…

I had a ton of trouble coming up with a name for the fairy tale Soubi tells Ritsuka. First, it was called 'The earl and the prisoner' because Soubi was going to be a prisonor prosecuted for homosexuality, but that didn't fit for the rest of the fairy-tale. Then, it was 'the earl and his servant', but as soon as I came up with that, I thought "...kuroshitsuji..." and well, this little fairy tale mirrors that series enough, so I couldn't have that. So, I settled for "The earl and the Scholar"

Also, you guys may notice that this is "part one". That means that, yes, I'll be continuing the little fairy tale :3

thanks to Alois Pinstripe, Mew Mew Kitty 3, Lovelessreviewer, Bigmachine, LYRICA, Lolita, Ebony-S-White, Riku Tensei, Freya01, evangelinevsalithian, Tlcatlady, Promocat, Gurgicalcipher, Riaries, and Tamer Lorika for all the reviews! Thank you all so much! I love to hear your thoughts about this chapter and how I can improve.

So, review for the next chapter!

~Wolfie