Chapter six

VI

Soubi waited for Ritsuka in the chair next to Chouma. He had requested for her to be the physician he would do the examination with since Ritsuka seemed to be comfortable around her. She had a private lab, too, one that was away from the institution's clinic and infirmary wing.

Soubi worked better with her, also. When he did examinations with other doctors or had gone to the clinic, he often ended pointing out their stupidity and even snapping at them. He didn't like people anyways, so working with them was even worse. He was fine with Chouma, though, because she knew him well, and their intelligence was on the same level.

"I want to go to court," Chouma whispered to him as soon as Ritsuka was in the bathroom, getting changed. "That woman went too far last night. I've seen bad, but this was lot worse, Soubi. Is there anything even wrong with the kid?" She spun her seat around and pulled up a file on the desktop she was in front of.

"I can save you the trouble," Soubi offered, careful to keep his voice quiet. "Every one of the doctors who wrote part of the file says the exact same thing; that there's absolutely nothing wrong with Ritsuka."

"But what do you think?" Her eyes stared into his as she waited for his answer.

"The same thing," Soubi said almost instantaneously. He didn't have to think about it. Ritsuka was just like a normal kid. Well, probably as normal as a teen with retrograde amnesia could get. The only thing that prevented him from being normal was his mother, Crazy Misaki. "But we need to keep him here."

Chouma wasn't on his line of thinking, for she seemed puzzled. "Why? If he's not crazy, why keep him with the crazies?" One thing about Chouma is that she never used the 'correct terms' for anything. She called the insane mental patients what they were, crazies, the teenage drug-addicts what they were, druggies or stoners, and so forth.

"Why send him home to the crazy mother, who'll just ship him off to another institution and continue to beat the crap out of him?" He replied, leaning over her and reaching around her to the keyboard and mouse.

"Ah. Yes. Now I see your line of thinking, Mr. Holmes," Chouma was also keen on dry humour and jokes no normal person (normal not including Soubi) would understand.

Pulling up a new document, Soubi quickly typed in a few phrases. "This is what I gathered from what he told me today. He glanced down at her from his leaning-over-her position, watching her read the text on the screen.

Ritsuka lost his memory two years ago

He changed completely

Traumatic accident?

If so, he doesn't remember it.

His mother seems to think he is not Ritsuka anymore, so she beats him when he does something the 'Other Ritsuka' would not do.

Ritsuka adores his brother

Ritsuka's amnesia is retrograde and he will most likely never regain his memory.

"They're all reasonable conclusions," Chouma stated after a minute of reading. "For C to be true B has to be true. B is extremely possible, beings that his brother is Seimei. From what we know, Seimei was doing some pretty illegal shit before he even was elected onto the board."

Soubi didn't want to believe it, but Chouma was probably right. He would think about her theory more later, when he had more time. "Onto D, what about-!"

"Hi, Ritsuka!" Chouma greeted over-cheerfully as the bathroom door swung open. Soubi settled back down in his previous spot, observing Ritsuka as the boy entered the good-sized examination room. He wore the gray hospital-gown and had all of his bandages off, excluding the newest ones. "I assume he," Chouma shot a playful glance at Soubi. "Already told you that I'm Doctor Kaidou Chouma?"

Ritsuka smiled at her. "Yeah. I saw you last night, too."

"He met your brother, as well" Soubi pointed out. "He barged into my apartment far too early this morning, like usual."

"What do you expect? That's just Kio," She turned her attention back to Ritsuka, "Just call me Chouma, Ritsuka; I dislike formalities. You've been through this before, yes?"

"Yeah, of course," Ritsuka replied. "What first, mental, physical or intellectual?"

"Whatever you want to start with," Chouma smiled at Ritsuka, a calm reassuring smile that she didn't use often. "I warn you, though. I do longer tests than other doctors."

Ritsuka seated himself on the examination table, his legs dangling off the edge of it. "Physical is the easiest, so let's do that."

"Good idea," Soubi commented. "We probably won't have to do the other tests, anyways. We have all of your records." That fact hadn't occurred to him until then, but it made their lives easier.

Chouma apparently hadn't, either, "You're right." She scooted her chair towards Ritsuka, with Soubi following close behind.

"Stand up, Ritsuka," Soubi said, offering his hand to the boy to help him down. Ritsuka hesitated again before accepting it, though he did at the last second. Soubi looked in awe at all of his scars. There were many of them, some with healing white skin, and others with angry red or purple flesh. Some were new and some were old, but it was obvious where every one of them came from.

Ritsuka angled his body away from him, catching him looking. A sad expression took over his features for a moment and the memories reflected in his eyes.

Does he really love that woman? Soubi wondered. It could be that he simply just thought he did when the 'love' was really an illusion. Ritsuka undoubtedly knew that he was supposed to love her, but he also knew that she wasn't supposed to abuse him. The contradiction and confusion was probably ripping him apart every single day.

Soubi felt a pang of empathy for the teen as he remembered his own past experiences. Ritsu had been abusive towards him, just as Seimei had been. He had the scars to prove it, just as Ritsuka did.

"Spread your arms, Ritsuka," Chouma told him. Ritsuka stood with his back to her and spread his arms. Chouma cast another side-glance at Soubi as she observed the scars.

Soubi focused his brain on what he was supposed to do. His mathematical mind worked and wrapped around his task. "Four feet, eleven inches," He concluded.

"What?" Ritsuka abruptly spun around. "How'd you come up with that? You never even measured me!"

Soubi pressed a finger to his lips, glad to be thinking about something happier, "It's a secret."

"I got the same thing," Chouma nodded and wrote the height down. "Soubi is a very smart man."

Ritsuka snorted with defeat, "How old are you, Chouma?"

"Fifteen," She replied, raising one of his arms above his head. "Are you feeling any pain when I do this? Other than your injuries, of course."

"No," Ritsuka answered as she did the same with the other arm.

Soubi took one of Ritsuka's hands when he relaxed his arms. Ritsuka tried to pull it away, but Soubi stopped him. "Press your hand down, as hard as you can," He instructed, using the test as a pathetic excuse. Ritsuka paused and then did. "Seventy pounds," He told Chouma.

"Tell me how the hell you knew that!" Ritsuka demanded. He truly wanted to know, since there was a look of confusion and annoyance in his face and eyes. The truth wasn't so complicated, Soubi had just been trained to measure height and weight without scales and by using tests.

"Nope. And you're underweight. Is it because of your mother?" Ritsuka had said something about being tested with food while talking to Soubi earlier.

Ritsuka's ears drooped, but he said nothing.

"I hear Soubi's a wonderful cook," Chouma grinned slyly. "I'm going to need you to take the gown off."

Ritsuka stared speechless at her. "No way!" He snapped. "Not in front of him!" Ritsuka jerked his head in Soubi's direction.

Chouma giggled and Soubi found himself chuckling, also. Ritsuka was quite shy, maybe even self-conscious. That was another sign he was normal, though. No person in the right mind would undress in front of somebody who randomly kissed them.

Ritsuka glared at them, showing his childish side for the first time. His file showed that he was fourteen, but he was much more mature than that.

"How about if I promise that I won't let Soubi do anything to you," Chouma winked at the pouting Ritsuka. "If he does, I'll kick his ass out of here."

"You couldn't do anything to me if you tried," He was going to go along with it, so that he could gain Ritsuka's trust. "I won't do anything, Ritsuka. I'll look away."

"Fine! No peaking!"

You better not touch him.

"Hah!" A high-pitched ringing sound cut all sound off in his ears as Soubi stumbled backwards. His eyes went wide and he backed up into Chouma's unorganized desk, knocking several stacks of paper down in the process. He held his throbbing head in his hand, his long hair draping over his face. The effect was worse than the last time the voice had haunted him.

Chouma and Ritsuka were staring at him. Soubi didn't need to look up to know it. Neither one of them had heard the voice or experienced the pain. They had no idea. He needed to get away from them.

Silently, Soubi left the room.

"Alright Ritsuka, we're done. Go find Soubi and tell him to walk you home," Chouma explained to Ritsuka. The evaluation had taken hours longer than expected, as Chouma had decided to do other tests. Soubi had left when light from the single window in the room had still been shining. It was well after dark now. "Its dangerous to walk around here alone at night."

Ritsuka nodded, "I'll find him." Ritsuka was worried about the mysterious doctor. Soubi had left rapidly after acting strangely. What had happened? Ritsuka hoped he wasn't hurt.

Chouma waved to him with a broad smile on her face as Ritsuka exited through the door. Ritsuka left the room and discovered Soubi passed out near the door. He was against the wall, lying on his side, with his glasses on and all. He had most likely passed out there, which meant he'd been there since he'd left.

"Soubi!" Ritsuka hissed, leaning down and shaking the man. "Soubi! Wake up! Soubi!" He shook him more violently, desperately trying to get him to wake up.

"Ritsuka!" Soubi's eyes shot open and he abruptly sat up. "How long have I been asleep?"

"Asleep? You've been passed out here for close to five hours!" Ritsuka eyed his smudged glasses. "You look like you took a pretty hard fall," He said, reaching for Soubi's glasses. "Your glasses are dirty. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Soubi replied, taking the glasses back after Ritsuka had cleaned them. "Thank you, Ritsuka. How'd the rest of your tests go?"

"Good. Chouma said you should walk me back to the dorms."

"She knows well. Its dangerous at night," Soubi stood and offered his hand to the teenager. Ritsuka took it without a thought. He was getting used to Soubi, and also getting over his fear of being close to people. He was letting his guard down, just this once.

Soubi put his arm around Ritsuka as he led the way outside. It was pitch black, with the exception of the stars glittering above. The sound of the waves on the beach sounded from not far away. The scene around them did not seem dangerous at all.

"What dorm are you in?" Soubi questioned him as they walked towards a cluster of short little buildings behind the main building.

"The second one-!"

"Hello Agatsuma-Sensei," A voice hissed from the alleyway. A girl stepped out of the shadows, and Ritsuka felt shivers go down his spine as she did . She looked about Ritsuka's age, judging from her height. Insanity and anger directed at Soubi gleamed in her amber eyes.

Soubi's grip on Ritsuka's shoulder tightened, pulling him a little closer. "What are you doing out here so late," He asked, returning her glare . "Its past curfew, and you're in sector three. How did you get out?" His words were cold, but they showed that Soubi knew this person. Was she another one of his patients?

"Aoyagi… Ritsuka," The girl ignored Soubi and stepped closer to Ritsuka. She leaned down to look at him, which gave Ritsuka a better look at her face. Her features were sharp in the glow from the moonlight, her eyes glinting, and her short neatly cut pink hair fluttered slightly in the breeze.

Ritsuka moved backwards, as he was startled by her closeness. She made no attempt to close the space between them again.

"Go away now," Soubi's voice deepened with anger . "And I won't call security on you."

The young woman had been continuously fidgeting with her hands. She twitched awkwardly every-so-often. A few tremors shook her entire body violently, while others were barely noticeable. She kept looking back and around her as if there she was positive someone was watching her.

"I'm not going back there," Her voice was on a different pitch with each word. She glared up at Soubi as she became dark again, "You know what happened to me, Agatsuma-Sensei. You know damn well. You know he's still alive. You know he took me."

What is she talking about? This woman was freaking Ritsuka out. That crazy look on her face reminded him of his own mother. Something about her words made Ritsuka shrink away and the darkness suddenly seem eerie to him. There was something wrong with her, but the man she was speaking of had without doubt caused that.

"And you!" She snapped at Ritsuka, turning her glower onto him. "Your brother did this to me! This man here just can't accept that he's fucking not dead!"

Ritsuka heard Soubi make the smallest sound of surprise. His hand twitched against Ritsuka's shoulder. Her words had as much of an effect on Soubi as it did on Ritsuka.

Seimei wouldn't ever hurt anybody! Ritsuka thought franticly. His Seimei had been kind, gentle, a pacifist, just like him. He had taken care of Ritsuka after Misaki had beaten the younger Aoyagi son. Seimei would never have laid a finger on anybody!

"Ai!" A shape burst out of the shadows, running quickly towards the three. The girl, Ai, whipped around, her eyes widening at the sight. A boy with chin-length green hair leaped onto her back, and tackled her to the ground.

"Midori! Let me up, Midori! These two need to know the pain I went through, they need to-!" She flailed against him helplessly and soon resorted to kicking and screaming. Ritsuka took another shaky step backward, a shriek piercing his ears.

"Agatsuma-Sensei," Midori grunted, straddling Ai by sitting on her back. He bent forward and pinned the girl's arms above her as he looked up at Soubi. "I need something to restrain her with. I left my cuffs back with Natsou and Youji."

Silently, Soubi produced a pair of handcuffs from his coat pocket, tossing them to Midori's side.

"Thanks," Ritsuka watched him lock the restraints around Ai's wrists and sit back up as she kicked franticly. He held up a radio and spoke into it, "Where are you two? I need the sedative."

"Let's go," Soubi whispered to Ritsuka. Ritsuka looked back at the two struggling as two flashlights appeared before letting Soubi pull him along.

"What did she mean by saying that Seimei's still alive?" Ritsuka asked after a few minutes of walking in silence. Soubi seemed more distant after the encounter. Ritsuka was shaken up badly, but Soubi seemed to be going into some sort of mental shock. "Why did she say he did that to her? Who-!"

Soubi pulled Ritsuka into an alleyway between two stumpy buildings. He pushed the confused boy against the brick side-wall and got close, pressing their lips together. Instinctively, Ritsuka closed his eyes and relaxed. He could feel Soubi as close to him as possible, heat radiating off his body. One of his hands was on the back of the teen's head, pushed up into his ruffled black hair, while the other one held him around the waist. All of Ritsuka's self control left him as he reached his arms around the man's neck.

Ritsuka shouldn't have, but he wanted this. It was hard to understand why. Maybe it was a way to make a reality for the both of them after having heard the truth in the girl's words. Maybe it was a distraction or a way to find comfort in each other.

Ritsuka's thoughts left him when Soubi licked at his lips. He turned his head slightly and opened his lips, moaning at the sensation of having the other male's tongue inside of him. It explored his mouth as the hand on his waist slid under his shirt. They broke apart for a second and looked at each other, violet eyes meeting blue ones.

"Soubi," Ritsuka whispered the man's name, wanting to feel that distraction again. It was wrong, but Ritsuka's sense of wrong and right didn't matter then.

Soubi smiled for the first time since Ritsuka had woken him up. "Open your mouth, Ritsuka," He quietly instructed. Ritsuka parted his lips and closed his eyes, feeling Soubi's warmth and calmness surround him once again. The man pressed against him, slowly driving him insane. The discomfort of the wall against his back didn't even matter then. All his thoughts were driven towards Soubi's tongue divulging deeper into his mouth.

A fit of giggles exploded from the entrance of the alleyway as Ritsuka moaned again.

Soubi and Ritsuka broke apart and Soubi glared at the two culprits. Two boys, one with long sea-green hair, and the other with crimson red hair were laughing uncontrollably. They shone their flashlights in the other two's eyes making them both look away from the bright light.

"Looks like Soubi's finally gonna get laid!" The apparent leader, sea-foam hair kid, laughed.

"Hey Youji, isn't that his patient?" The other giggled. "I don't think you're supposed to do that!"

"I'm seriously going to kill you two one day," Soubi growled.

Ritsuka tugged at his sleeve, "Who are they?"

"Two accidents and dangers to humanity."

"Hey!" The two said in unison.

"I think we're technically experiments and dangers to humanity," Sea-foam said. The other nodded in agreement.

"Wait," Ritsuka said, looking back at Soubi, as he registered what he had said. "These two are your kids?"

"Hell no," Soubi replied, looking taken aback and faintly disgusted. "That's Natsou and Youji. Youji's the leader and Natsou's the other one. They're Nagisa's experiments. She's the scientist. A while back she got secret funding to make humans that felt no pain, and, well, these two failures are the result of that experiment. They feel no pain, and yet, they're two annoying little bastards."

"Soubi lets us sleep at his apartment sometimes because Nagisa doesn't take care of us," Natsou said sadly. Youji shook his head in agreement. "So are you two gonna continue, or what?"

Ritsuka noticed they were in a very odd position. Soubi still had one of his hands under his shirt, resting against his chest, and Ritsuka was pressed as close to the wall as possible with his arms still looped around Soubi's neck. Blushing, Ritsuka gently pushed Soubi away.

"Get out of here, you two," Soubi ordered. "Aren't you two supposed to be on patrol? Get on it!"

"Fine, fine," Youji agreed grudgingly. "See you around, kid," He waved to Ritsuka as they walked off into the distances.

"Its getting late," Soubi told Ritsuka. "Your dorm isn't far from here. Do you need me to walk you the rest of the way?

"No," Ritsuka moved out of the alleyway. "I'll be fine. Will I see you tomorrow?" He fought the urge not to look at him in embarrassment.

"Probably," Soubi put his hand on Ritsuka's shoulder, coming up behind him. "Call me if anything happens."

Soubi watched Ritsuka walk away from him towards the dorm. Natsou and Youji, the two menaces that lived part-time with him due to Nagisa's neglect, had gone off into the shadows somewhere, leaving him completely alone.

Should I follow Ritsuka? Soubi wondered if he should for a brief moment. His thoughts drifted to Ai jumping him and Ritsuka. Ai was a psychiatric patient of his who had been put into the institution three years earlier under the claims of physical abuse from her guardians. Midori was the son of a teacher. The two had bonded and Ai had found her first friend.

Then, Ai disappeared. Midori and those who were close to her were interrogated thoroughly, since it was the very first disappearance of a student and only a couple weeks after Seimei's murder. She'd wandered back onto the beach three months later, completely psychotic and altered. Someone had been giving her illegal drugs and banned procedures had been performed on her brain. Soubi was assigned to her case, and Midori seemed to be the only person who could calm her down.

Soubi's phone buzzed in his pocket, distracting him from the mystery of Ai's disappearance and the source of her delusions. A message from Ritsu flashed on the screen.

Nagisa is calling an emergency meeting on actual terms

Get to the Septimal Moon conference room now before Seven procures the perimeters.

-Ritsu

The lack of a greeting or any of Ritsu's usual sexual references made Soubi think that he was probably actually serious. Had something happened? Why would Nagisa, of all people, call an emergency conference? The last one the council had had was on the night Seimei's body was discovered. The meetings had to be called on real terms or else Ritsu would refuse to send out the message.

Turning his back to Ritsuka's disappearing body, Soubi hurried off in the other direction towards the main building. The main building was seven floors high, with a large conference room at the top. The seventh floor was reserved for the Septimal Moon board members, as that's where some of their offices were, along with a few of their homes. The main building also harboured the primary school (the first and second floors), many therapist offices, a small medical clinic, and a closed off third and fourth floors for the dorms of the low-priority insane and criminally insane.

The institution was bigger than it seemed at first glance. It looked big when in reality it was huge. The two towers on either side of the main building were home to many of the students. Behind the main building were little independent shops and tiny offices. A little farther off were the combined middle school and high school and the staff apartments. Other student dorms were scattered around, tiny and infrequent, and mostly housing older kids.

Soubi didn't live in the staff building for his own reasons. Firstly, all the teachers and orderlies were there, many of which he didn't care for. Secondly, Ritsu lived there. Soubi had had an apartment built adjunct to his office so that he could be in solitude. He could also be closer in the case of an emergency meeting ever being called, as it was at that moment.

Soubi didn't bother with waiting for the elevator, and instead went straight for the stairs. He could hear a desperate weeping as soon as he hit the sixth floor, and immediately assumed it was Nagisa. What's going on? He wondered to himself as he tried to locate the conference room. What could have made Ritsu call a meeting this quickly?

Nagisa was bawling in Seven's arms, not even stopping to look at Soubi as he entered, shocked at the sight. For once, she was a mess. Her blue hair was pulled out of her pigtails, her dress a crumpled, dirt-stained mess. Soubi had never seen her look this bad in his life. Chouma was also trying to help Nagisa with Kio standing off to the side. Ritsu glanced at Soubi as made his way to his seat.

"What's going on?"

Ritsu sighed, motioning for everyone to sit down, "Koya and Yamato have disappeared."

First thing's first! That 'Don't tell me these two are your kids' line is a running joke between me and one of my friends.

See, I had this freaking hilarious (and very weird) dream where Soubi had two kids and the mother hated him. Yeah, I just had to slip some joke in about that.

I stopped naming the chapters, by the way, and I put the roman numerals at the top of every chapter!

Oh and take a look at my new poll! Its "who's your 3 favorite Mind Maps characters?" make sure to stop by and vote!

And review, please! I love all the reviews on here! I really do work hard on this story!

Special thanks to my beta, Summer-flower-girl!

~Wolfie