Chapter nine

Ritsuka was sobbing incoherently on the floor, unable to stop. Seimei had degraded Soubi down to nothing and then had made him repeat what he had called him. Ritsuka was crying, but he was crying for Soubi and how much the young man must've hated himself after that conversation. Soubi had always had odd tendencies, such as apologizing because of the littlest mistakes or not being happy with himself when he made the slightest error in something unimportant, and Ritsuka could see now that it was the effect of what Seimei had done to him. This was too much. It was way more than any person should have to endure.

Seimei. Caring, loving, Seimei, who was the perfect picture of everything an older brother should be. He had tricked Ritsuka, lured him into a trap, and then shut it around him, leaving him no escape and no idea how Seimei was playing him. Why had he never paid attention when Seimei came home with blood on his coat? Or when Ritsuka had noticed red dried markings on his walls that were so obviously Soubi's blood from when Seimei would physically abuse him? Seimei had played Ritsuka like a magician played his audience, and Ritsuka had been dumb enough not to even notice when the magic trick had started.

The façade Seimei had put on for him was not his true nature, it wasn't even close. 'His' Seimei had been nurturing and protecting, always kind and never raising a hand to anybody. In all actuality, Ritsuka's Seimei had been a lying, deceiving bastard who got some sort of sick, sadistic pleasure in shattering Soubi's world to bits and pieces. This person that Ritsuka had loved…had hurt the person he currently loved the most very, very badly.

Ritsuka's crying got quieter as he finally realized that he didn't want to wake Soubi. He glanced up at Kio, nodding at him to signal that he wanted to hear the next recording. This one was titled 'recording2 12/27 23:23'.

"…Soubi?" Ritsuka was shocked to hear his own voice, accompanied by a loud, long yawn. "It's really late. What's so important that you had to call me instead of coming over?" Ritsuka flinched at his own shortness, remembering that day. He had been waiting for Soubi to come over and had fallen asleep while doing so.

"I…I'm sorry, Ritsuka…" Soubi's voice was shaking and it seemed as though he was on the edge of having another mental breakdown. Ritsuka couldn't blame him after hearing what Seimei had said.

"Hey…are you okay? You don't sound so good…" Ritsuka's tone got a lot more calmer and gentler than before. "I didn't mean to snap at you like that. I'm the one who should be sorry."

Soubi was silent and, when he did speak, his voice was quivering even more than before, "Ritsuka, do you love me?"

"Soubi…I…I'm sorry. I can't really say that I do."

Ritsuka wished he could go back in time and slap himself for saying such a stupid thing.

"…That's all I needed to hear, then."

"Wait! Soubi, I didn't say that right. What I meant was that I can't say I do because I don't know. I don't really understand love, but I know that I do feel something for you. I care about you. and I like you. A lot. Don't ever think that I don't."

"Thank you." Soubi had whispered the two words quietly, nearly inaudibly.

"Is something wrong? Should I come over?"

"Actually…that would be nice."

"I'll be over in a few minutes, then."

Ritsuka had fully stopped crying once the second recording ended. Silently, he watched as another recording came up on the screen, this time titled 'recording3 1/3 18:43'. Ritsuka shook his head, wanting a few minutes to absorb the information and to think. He got up, saying that he was going to go get Soubi up. Kio just nodded, not taking his eyes off the screen.

Ritsuka headed into Soubi's room, sitting on the bed. He carefully placed his hand on Soubi's chest, just above his heart and relaxed at feeling that familiar beat. Soubi sighed in his sleep and shifted so that he was facing Ritsuka.

"Who could love a disgusting creature like you? You imbecile! You're nothing but a stupid, needy, ugly monster."

Ritsuka could nearly hear Seimei's words, just as he had said them to Soubi. What a horrible, untrue thing to say. Soubi wasn't stupid, he was extremely intelligent. He seemed to know everything. Ritsuka could ask him some random question about something and Soubi could answer almost instantly. He always had some weird trivia, too. He always helped Ritsuka with his homework, and he never had to use a calculator since Soubi could do long division problems in his head. He read all the time, but Ritsuka could never understand anything he read. It wasn't just books on art; Ritsuka had seen him with books on scientific theories and medical or psychological studies. Once or twice, Ritsuka had even seen him with a book in a totally different language.

Soubi wasn't needy, either. Well, not excessively. All he needed was a little affection and acknowledgement, which was easy to give. He didn't ask for much more. All that he did ask for, Ritsuka was happy to give. He wasn't like a little kid that needed affection, either. It was just natural affection, such as holding hands while they walked or an intimate hug when they were alone, things that were easy to give and not uncomfortable. They were simple and normal.

Calling Soubi ugly was just overdoing it. Soubi was beautiful, but tragic and fragile, like a butterfly. Ritsuka would actually compare him more to a piece of glass, beaten on so much that the simplest of taps would shatter him completely.

"I'm not a monster, Ritsuka, I'm human."

That statement had seemed strangely out of place at the time Soubi had said it during their conversation about spells and magic. That must've been only a couple days after Soubi had gotten that phone call from Seimei. He was directly trying to deny what Seimei had told him he was. Soubi wasn't an 'ugly monster'. Seimei had no right to call him that, none at all.

"Soubi," Ritsuka gently shook Soubi's shoulder, rousing him.

Soubi blinked open his wide, clear blue eyes and smiled up at Ritsuka, "Ritsuka." Ritsuka smiled back. He could almost imagine that this was a normal day where he had come over to wake Soubi up, and that Soubi hadn't lost his memory and this was a totally average day.

"Good morning," Ritsuka gently pushed Soubi's bangs out of his face, tucking the long strands of hair behind his ear.

"Good morning…?"

"Yes, good morning," Today was the day that Soubi was going to start learning new words.

Soubi brightened up, "Good morning, Ritsuka!"

Ritsuka sat back, grinning, thoroughly amused with Soubi's enthusiasm. He could almost forget about the horrible things Seimei had said and done. Soubi was here with him now, and he couldn't at all be troubled by Ritsuka's brother. Soubi was better this way. Soubi had never had a childhood, or really a chance to be happy and un-plagued by those who wanted to hurt him.

Ritsuka patted Soubi on the head. "That's right," He told him warmly. "Time to get up." Soubi just gave him a blank stare, meaning that he didn't have any idea what Ritsuka was talking about. Ritsuka took his arm and pulled him out of bed and into the other room.

After breakfast, Ritsuka took Soubi back to the bedroom so that he and Kio could listen to the next recording. He left Soubi sitting on the wooden floor with a blank canvas and a palette of all different colors of paints. He quietly shut the doors and padded back to the main room to find Kio lying on Natsuo and Youji's mattress. He was stretched out by the wall and facing it. Ritsuka rushed over to him, worried that something had happened.

"Kio!" He jumped on the bed, kneeling on the mattress next to Kio. "Are you okay?"

Kio rolled over to look at him, "…I'm just not feeling well."

"It was hard for me to listen to, too," Ritsuka admitted, knowing what the man's real problem was. He and Kio shared the same mindset and morals. Neither of them wanted to see anybody, especially Soubi, get hurt, and they were both pacifists. Exceptions could be made, though, and Ritsuka vowed to hurt the person who did this to Soubi badly. He was sure that if Kio knew that it was a person who had done it to him, he would promise to get revenge, too. He hated what Seimei had done to Soubi, as did Kio.

"There's one thing that I can't figure out," Kio started. "I'm wondering how the hell you and Seimei could be related. You two are nothing alike."

Ritsuka looked away, "I'm wondering that myself. We should listen to the next recording. There's something I need to tell you once we get done with all these files."

With that, Ritsuka slid into the chair and pressed play. Soubi was the one to speak first, which told Ritsuka that this would probably be another recording with Seimei in it.

"Hello?"

"Good afternoon, Soubi. There are some things I'd like to talk to you about." No surprise. That was Seimei's voice. Kio let out an audible sigh.

Then, Ritsuka heard his own voice in the background, "Soubi, is this right?"

"No, Ritsuka. You divided six-hundred and eighteen by the wrong variable. Try doing it by negative three and then see what you get for X."

"Ugh. I hate algebra." The Ritsuka in the recording groaned, obviously not knowing that his own brother was the one Soubi was talking to on the phone. There was a pause before Soubi spoke again.

"I'm going to go into the other room. Keep working on that, okay?"

Another groan from Ritsuka. Footsteps and then the sound of a door closing.

"You seem to be much calmer than when we last talked, Soubi." Seimei sounded a bit amused. Ritsuka frowned, questioning where this conversation was going.

"I am."

"Why is that, I wonder? Did something happen with Ritsuka? You better not have tried anything with him, Soubi."

Soubi's voice dropped to a whisper, but it was still strong and solid, "I wouldn't ever do anything to him when he's this young."

"You wouldn't? Are you not attracted to him? Remember, don't lie to me."

"I am attracted to him, Seimei."

"Aren't you afraid that you're becoming like your teacher?"

Seimei had obviously hit a hard spot. Soubi had been raped by his teacher, and he was with a teenager much younger than him. Even Ritsuka could see how Soubi might compare himself to Ritsu-Sensei. Of course, he would never do anything to Ritsuka that was unwanted. Even if he was going insane with the urge, Ritsuka knew that he would lock himself in a closet or jump off a bridge before he did anything. Soubi had too much self-control to do the unthinkable.

It was Seimei who talked again when Soubi didn't, "What did Ritsu used to do to you? I know you watch Ritsuka sleep. Did Ritsu do that to you?"

"I just watch him to make sure he's safe!" Soubi's tone rose from a whisper to a sort of cry.

"Isn't that the kind of excuse that Ritsu would give you? Are you lying to yourself as well as everyone else? Are you turning out just like him?"

"I…"

"Anyways, that's not exactly what I called about. You need to stop, Soubi."

"Stop what?"

"You know damn well what I mean!" Ritsu3

ka flinched at Seimei's yelling.

"I'm afraid I don't."

"Are you talking back to me?"

"No, Seimei. I really don't know what you mean."

"You idiot! Like hell you don't know what I mean!" Seimei breathed hard for a moment, and then his voice returned to normal and he spoke very slowly. "You. Need. To. Stop. Helping. Him. Research. His. Amnesia."

Soubi's reply wasn't what Ritsuka expected. "Why?"

"Didn't I tell you never to ask me that question? Fine. I'll tell you. You or him, most likely you, will realize that Ritsuka's amnesia isn't at all normal or a text-book case. It has very…unusual circumstances. You're going to stop teaching him, correct, Soubi?"

"No, Seimei, I won't."

"What? I gave you a direct order! You can't tell me no! Do it, Soubi, or I swear to god there will be consequences, consequence that you will not-"

The recording ended and Ritsuka realized that Soubi had hung up. He had disobeyed an order from Seimei. Soubi had gone against all of his training and had disobeyed Seimei for Ritsuka's sake. It was amazing and Ritsuka felt a surge of pride for Soubi being able to do that. Soubi had never stopped helping Ritsuka. Never. That meant that he had never listened to Seimei's order and had acted completely on his own.

Without a word Ritsuka moved onto the next recording, titled 'recordings4-10 1/6, 1/10, 1/17, 1/18, 1/22, 2/3'.

Ritsuka found that they were not phone conversations, but messages left by Seimei. Each was short and Seimei seemed to get more and more frantic and panicked with each one.

"I'm giving you a chance to take back what you said. Maybe if you do, I'll take you back. Nisei isn't that great of a Fighter. Perhaps I could use you, even though you're so clearly replaceable. Stop helping Ritsuka and leave him alone completely, and I'll come and get you myself. That's what you want, isn't it?"

The second message was a little more eerie, especially since Seimei was talking about kidnapping Ritsuka. "It's been four days since I left that last message. There's no way you couldn't have gotten it. You're still helping Ritsuka and being with him every day. You're an idiot, you know that? A dammed, idiotically monster that no one cares about. The deal's off. I'm not taking you back. I never was going to. That's right. I lied. Apparently, you don't want me to take you back, do you? You want to stay with Ritsuka. I won't let you! Do you have any idea how easily I can take him away from you? I'll do it, Soubi! I swear that I will if you don't obey me! You're my Fighter, Soubi. You belong to me! Remember that."

Ritsuka stole a quick glance over at Kio, who met his eyes and gave him a small shake of his head at his distaste for Seimei. Ritsuka could only frown in response, not knowing how he felt about his brother now that he knew what he was really like. Kio looked like he was going to say something, probably ask about what a Fighter was, but the third message started playing.

"I can't fucking believe you! How dare you disobey me like this! I ought to call Ritsu-Sensei and give him a piece of my mind about how lax your training has become! How would you like it if I sent you back to him? I'm not going to let you stay with Ritsuka! Listen to me, Soubi, if you don't obey me I will erase you of your very existence! I know exactly how I will do it. When I'm done with you, you won't even remember who you are, much less who Ritsuka is! You know what I'm going to do now, don't you, Soubi? I advise you to obey me if you don't want that to happen."

Ritsuka's mind was working in dark places. The person who had attacked Soubi…was Seimei. There was no doubt about that. The sixth message was left on the third and Soubi was attacked on the sixth. Soubi hadn't obeyed Seimei and it had cost him everything. Seimei was trying to stop him from helping Ritsuka understand his amnesia because there was something about it that he didn't want either of them to know. He realized that Soubi was smart enough to fully figure it out and he wanted to keep Soubi from doing so. What could be so bad about the circumstances under Ritsuka's amnesia?

The fourth message to Soubi really began to scare Ritsuka.

"This is really getting out of hand, Soubi. Have you forgotten all of your training? I ordered you to stay away from Ritsuka and to stop helping him and you don't listen to either of my commands. Have you figured out what really happened three years ago when Ritsuka lost his memories? I suppose you won't remember what happened, but do you know what you did? Have you figured it out yet? It's your fault. It's always your fault. You're worthless, a dog that is disobedient. Do you know what happens to disobedient dogs, Soubi? They get beaten. They get beaten and killed."

Ritsuka was shaking hard by the end of it, and he found himself getting pulled onto the bed by Kio and hugged tightly in a way that reminded him of Soubi. He shook in Kio's hold, totally unprepared for the next message.

"Pick up your damn phone, Soubi! I can't believe you've actually gone this long without obeying me. That's right, Soubi, I'm watching you and Ritsuka. I've always been watching you, ever since the very start. I know everything you do. Who do you think sends all those horrific nightmares to Ritsuka and you? You already know what I'm going to do. You know what spell I will force Nisei to use. You know that you'll lose everything. So why can't you just obey part of the order? This is your last chance, Soubi. I will rip your world from underneath your feet if you don't obey."

Ritsuka had his face hidden in the fabric of Kio's shirt to hide the tears streaming down his face. The reasoning and the perpetrator behind Soubi's attack was becoming clearer with every threat Seimei threw at Soubi. Seimei had done this, had made Soubi lose everything. He was responsible for it all, not Soubi. Soubi had finally stood up to Seimei and told him 'no' so that he could stay with Ritsuka. He had directly told Seimei that he didn't want him to come back. Ritsuka felt his heart beat a little faster, knowing that Soubi had done all this just for him.

But…that made it his fault. It was Ritsuka's fault that Soubi lost his memories. He had just kept on wanting to learn about his amnesia. Though Soubi had never said anything, Ritsuka should've known something was wrong when Soubi had to gone into another room to answer the second call from Seimei or when Soubi started saying some strange things such as 'I'm not a monster, Ritsuka, I'm human' or when he was explaining spells. It had seemed out of place, but Soubi knew what was going to happen and he knew that Ritsuka would have to know about the process of reconstruction and deconstruction.

The more Ritsuka thought about it, the more he realized that Soubi had known this would happen and had tried to prepare Ritsuka for it. That magazine that Ritsuka had remembered when he first figured out that Soubi was locked-in, not brain dead, had been given to him to read by Soubi. Soubi had given Ritsuka the article, saying that it was interesting, but, in reality, he knew that the doctors were going to believe that he was brain-dead and Ritsuka would be the only one who would realize he wasn't.

Static from the computer made Ritsuka's cat ears perk up as the last recorded message began.

"I gave you one full month to do as told, from the third of January when I first ordered you to the third of February. That was more than enough time, wouldn't you say? What do I get? Nothing. I tell you to stay away from Ritsuka, and you do the exact opposite. I tell you to stop helping him understand his amnesia, and you go on teaching him. Bad dog, Soubi, bad dog. You know, Ritsuka won't care about you once you can't even remember your own name or how to speak. He'll leave you, just like everyone else. You'll have no one. Nobody will want you when you're a whiney, needy child. Not even Ritsuka. My brother knows better than to fall for such an animal. There's no way he'll take care of you after this."

"He's wrong!" Ritsuka cried, clutching onto Kio's shirt with both hands now. He couldn't help it, he needed someone to hold onto like this, otherwise he was afraid that he would fall to the floor and curl up in a tiny ball, bawling like a child.

"I know, Ritsuka," Kio spoke gently, clearly recognizing Ritsuka's need. He softly rubbed the teen's back in slow circles. "Shh, you don't want Soubi to hear, do you? He'll get worried."

Ritsuka glanced up at him with tear-stained eyes and nodded, pulling out of the embrace to wipe his eyes. He wanted to see Soubi, to hug him and tell him it was all going to be okay, even if Soubi didn't know what was wrong in the first place. Quietly, Ritsuka tugged Kio up by the wrist and led him to the closed bedroom doors.

Upon opening the French doors, they were both greeted with a very odd sight. "Oh…my god…" Ritsuka muttered, looking around at all the mess.

It seemed that Soubi hadn't quite known what to do with the paints and paintbrush. Or, more or less, he didn't know where to paint. The dark red-ish walls of the bedroom were splashed with all different colors and splattered all the way up towards the ceiling. It was all over the wood floor, too and there were footprints of many colors tracked all over it.

Soubi looked up at them, his eyes giving off a deer-in-headlights look as they widened. He obviously knew that he had done something wrong. There were streaks of blue and purple paint on his face and in his hair, too. He was kneeling at the canvas, a paintbrush in his hand. Ritsuka slowly walked over to that canvas to see that Soubi had indeed finally figured out where to paint. What really amazed him was that Soubi had painted a pastel butterfly, one that was even more beautiful than the ones he usually painted for school.

Ritsuka looked around at the paint-splattered walls and the footprint-stained floor and, despite himself, he started to smile. What really made him laugh, though, was when Soubi looked up and him and started smiling, too, and said rather loudly, "Good morning, Ritsuka!"

It wasn't until later when they found that the computer was still trying to make them listen to another file.

Ritsuka was kneeling on the floor in front of Soubi, who was sitting on the couch, and pointing to various objects, attempting to have him recognize them. Ritsuka had been at it for a few hours and had found that Soubi was a very fast learner. He had already learned his own name and Kio's, as well as most of the large objects in the room. Kio was lying on the mattress still due to a headache he had come down with. Ritsuka had told him to sleep, which was what the young Sacrifice assumed he was doing up until something woke him up. Ritsuka didn't know what had made him wake up, whether it was a particularly excited word from Soubi or Ritsuka being extremely pleased with him being able to recognize an object. All he knew was that Kio had gotten out of bed to check his email and was suddenly calling Ritsuka over.

The audio file was only about five seconds long and titled 'recording11'. Kio glanced at Ritsuka before playing it, both expecting some sort message from Seimei, but instead it was Soubi alone speaking into the computer's microphone, addressing Ritsuka directly.

"I left you a note, Ritsuka. It explains everything, I promise."


100 reviews? THANKS SO MUCH!

So, I'd like to say a few things about this chapter. First of all, I understand that Sacrifices may not always like their Fighters and may occasionally whip/talk bad to them, but I truly do believe that Seimei crossed the line with Soubi into a place where it wasn't accepted for him to do the kind of things that he did to him. This is why I really do not like Seimei and I also believe that he does not and is incapable of showing remorse for what he did.

Thanks to Mew, Lyrica, Lovelessreviewer, Bigmachine, Lolita otaku, Jo, Riaries, EternalTearsOfBlood, Promocat, DarkAngelJudas, Thecatlady, Tamer Lorika, and xxLovelessxBelovedxx for all the reviews! *hugs you all* thanks for helping me break 100! Kepp it up! Reviews keep me alive as a writer!

Thecatlady: I agree with you. I hate Ritsu for what he did to Soubi, but I believe that, unlike Seimei, he is human and MIGHT regret what he did. Either way, I still don't like him. And yep, I think I made it pretty obvious who the 'mystery' security-fooling man was XD

Also, please take a look at my new fics/one-shots(?) His 'Perfect' Brother and Blood Lust (Which MAY get continued).

Keep reviewing!

~Wolfie