The slender point of the needle syringe flashed silver alert in the lamplight.
Hands traced over the line of his bare hip, unbelievable warm in sensation. The pungent smell of cashmere it wrapped suffocating the last bits of his responses.
And the pitch-black shadows of drugs cradled him down.
xXx
"It's been a while, Sensei."
A soft, calm laugh, the quality of the sound teased his inner ear with familiar feelings of blind devotion and triviality. "So it has. When do I get to see you again Soubi-kun?"
The ash blonde man blew a bit of smoke from the corner of his lip. "Seimei Aoyagi is alive. He has Loveless. How is this?"
"Am I supposed to know everything that happens in this world?"
Silence.
"Very well. You are aware of the fact that Seimei is not your real Sacrifice, yes?"
Soubi stopped mid-inhale of his cigarette. The powder-blue cell phone in his other hand almost slipped from his sweating grasp.
"Based on your lack of a response, I'm supposing you didn't. The only reason Seimei could control you as well as he could was not because he was born to be your Sacrifice but because of your willingness to please him and his name that remains carved into your skin."
"You tricked me."
"As long as you believed it to be true; things worked out according to plan. Your real Sacrifice is still alive."
The graduated pupil screened his eyes from the starlight flooding in from the window he sat in front of, as if ashamed to be seen. "…it's Ritsuka, isn't it?"
xxx
xxx
xxx
"Soubi."
The high school student closes his eyes lazily as a smaller hand caresses his abnormally long blonde hair. "Yes, Master?"
"The Seven Moons are angry with us. They don't like how powerful we've become as a unit. They plan on targeting me, and I plan on letting them kill me." The person attached to the hand frowns pensively, causing his Fighter to reopen his purple-blue eyes at the feel of the hand tightening, painfully yanking at his scalp. The ache is soothing.
"Why?"
"They are after Loveless. They have already killed his Fighter and his destiny reads as to be murdered by these people. Mostly out of a whim to test him. I won't allow that."
The hand releases his Fighter, as if a drowning victim; the blonde begins gasping for large breaths as the younger continues unperturbed.
"Soubi, I order you to become Loveless's Fighter as soon as you hear I am dead. You will protect and love him, and never tell him who killed me or anything about the Seven Moons."
xxx
xxx
"He will never submit to violence. He is pure." Dark eyes searched periwinkle.
xxx
xxx
"I understand."
xxx
xxx
xxx
"Soubi-kun?"
Now shaking wildly, he pressed away the victimizing and yet at the same time enduring remnants that craved to plague his swirling, mismatched thoughts.
After smashing the butt of his seventh cigarette in the last half an hour, he managed to touch the END CALL red button before letting Ritsuka's cell drop heavily onto the wood-panel floor.
Where was that smoke coming from?
In a typical fashion, eyelids twitched irritably. The sleepy occupant of the single cot room wrinkled his nose; but not with displeasure. It smelled vaguely of vanilla.
Doing away with the wondrous reminiscences of an accustomed periwinkle-color, Ritsuka slowly opened his heavy, blurry eyes. He became aware of several matters in those first few moments of becoming conscious.
The smoky and vanilla smell issued from the thick candle on the bureau nearest his pillow.
. . .
He wasn't wearing pants.
A porcelain coffee cup sat next to the candle.
His throat throbbed along in time with his pulse.
Seimei was arranging the blankets at the foot of the cot.
. . .
A surge of joy sky-rocketed through his nerves upon seeing his older brother safe and unharmed, as if reading his thoughts, narrow dark eyes cut sharply through equally dark bangs. "Don't bother speaking Ritsuka; your voice won't be able to return to you until you have a little more time to heal."
To test that theory, the younger parted his mouth and immediately winced, his voice box sputtering pathetically. It hurt!
Seimei sighed knowingly, sitting down on the mattress to lean over and rumple his hair, "You never listen to me." Ritsuka slapped the taunting hand away, still lying down, and gave a pout that did not seem to fit his sixteen-year-old exterior.
"If you are wondering where we are; we're in an apartment room for the evening. Do you remember what happened?"
Quite truthfully, the earless boy shook his head hesitantly. The cat-man smirked back.
"There's nothing to worry about. Mother made herself ill again and Father thought it best that we spend a bit of time away from the house. It's…sort of like a honeymoon for us."
Ritsuka giggled childishly; at least in his head he did (Seimei was so silly!), and smiled shyly when his brother passed him the tea in the coffee cup. As he drank without question and Seimei twisted a strand of his hair out of his face, indigo eyes peered back boldly, almost pleadingly. "Do you love me Ritsuka?"
A nod: Of course.
"You know I would never do anything to you that you didn't want, right?"
After confirmation (another this time, a weaker nod…why was the room spinning…?) the elder relaxed in his posture thus inviting the other boy to smile faintly. Ritsuka's body, still prone to the bed, acted just the opposite as Seimei hoisted himself above his sibling, seating himself cozily between the teenager's bare legs. Even at the sight of the shudder, he did not draw away.
"What's the matter? I thought you trusted me, did you not tell me that you loved me?"
The younger flinched, his skin crawling horribly where his brother's possessive hands skimmed. When they planted themselves securely on the sides of his hips, he bucked, fighting.
"It's a shame Ritsuka; it's a shame that this beautiful flesh had to be taken by some lowlife who didn't deserve you. Tell me, was it Soubi?"
Seimei held tightly as his sibling fought harder for control, to throw him off, his expression twisting up into one of downright venom for the very mention of his ex-partner. It calmed into cool superiority as his fingertips lightly sketched the wide lip of Ritsuka's underwear, the muscles beneath it convulsing in fear.
"Ah, but wait…you wouldn't remember that now would you? I guess that proves the drugs were as strong as I liked."
As his large, calculating fingers delved into the fabric, to claim what was his, as his little brother cried out noiseless, cheeks staining blood red with mortification and humiliation; Seimei merely clucked his tongue. "This is what people on honeymoons do."
Then suddenly, he stopped.
Dark, flushing eyes looked up. The buzzer outside chimed frantically in the next room.
"It appears we have an intrusion." Within seconds, Seimei rose from the mattress and disappeared from the apartment room.
Spread out indecently, tears now running freely, Ritsuka found his entire body unable to move. Though his legs trembled and his stomach tossed in a vicious circle from many unnamed emotions, his limbs had lost all motivation to remove himself from his dangerous position.
The tea.
Glistening purple eyes tore away from the half-drained porcelain cup to shoot up to the double windows to his right, whereblocking the setting sunhis rescuer climbed in.
Whether it was relief that broke the spell or the compelling desire to not be exposed so crudely to Soubi Ritsuka gathered the strength to lift his body and practically tackle the bespectacled man with outstretched arms.
"We have to leave now, there will time for this later," the blonde whispered urgently into one of his ears, scooping up a pair of jean shorts for Ritsuka to slip into and fitting him into his extra jacket to protect his naked torso. Just as the smaller finished buttoning on the wool coat, both figures paused when Seimei reappeared in the doorway, folding his arms self-assuredly, "Just where do you think you are taking my little brother?"
As his Sacrifice froze terrified on the spot, aware of the physical sensation against his chest where he had Ritsuka squashed into him; Soubi said, sneering, "This is how you take care of him? Taking advantage and violating someone who loves you unconditionally?"
"I'm good at what I do."
Purple-blue darkened over with an unexpressed importance, even Ritsuka had no choice but to suffer the aftereffects of an icy-and-hot wash of hatred for Seimei in his temporarily hypersensitive gut.
"Soubi, you will go back out the way you came and let Ritsuka come to me."
The younger squeezed his eyes shut, burrowing his face deeper into Soubi's sweater when one of his lover's arms tightened around him.
Indigo-dark eyes flashed briefly with rare anger that he could not repress. "I order you."
Fighting off the strongest and most bizarre impulse to abandon Ritsuka, Soubi did succumb to the other urge of jumping out of the third-story apartment. Taking a running start, he snatched the quivering teenager up by the legs before leaping over the railing.
xXx
TBC...
I'm not going to lie to you, it was Hell to complete this chapter. Besides feeling sorry for Ritsuka and Soubi (-glomps plushies- I LUB YOU!); I had my own personal demons to deal with last and this week. But, that's over now, I'm stronger for it, and I'm just excited to see everyone's reaction. The reviewers for the last chapters, I worship the ground you all walk on, and I hope I could satisfy you with this update. The next one shouldn't be too late into this month. And as always, reviews and comments keep me going since this story is pretty much for the readers. You are loved. -heart-
