Day 014

"They want to kick you out of the university," Kio informed Soubi over the phone the morning of the sixteenth day that Ritsuka had been missing.

"What?" The staff couldn't do that. They couldn't just drop Soubi from all classes without formal warning in writing. Of course, the dean of his class really had something against him, but that didn't mean he could kick him out of the school.

"Our dean says you've been missing too much school," Kio responded, sighing. "Soubi, I-!"

"Just tell him I'm taking a formal leave of absence," Soubi interrupted him. "I'll send him an email as soon as I can."

Kio was silent for a while on the other end. Soubi had thought that he had hung up and was about to do so himself when Kio spoke up, "How's the search for Ritsuka going? I'm worried…so is Natsou and Youji." Soubi had left Kio to look after Natsou and Youji.

Soubi smirked, "Watch the news in four days and tell me what you think."

"Watch the news…" Kio repeated, sounding dumbfounded. "What channel? What time?"

"Any time, any channel," With that Soubi hung up. He had thought about telling Kio of what Ritsu had told him about his family. He had decided against it, though thinking that he would tell his friend soon, just not now.

Kiyoshi was out at the moment, probably getting breakfast from somewhere. Soubi had found himself acting less spiteful towards him. Kiyoshi was showing a want to find Ritsuka almost as much as Soubi did. He was working hard on their cover, just as Soubi was. He was still blunt, rude, and quite sarcastic towards Kiyoshi, but that was just his normal attitude towards people in general. That, and he still hadn't quite forgiven him.

Soubi was looking through his call history when he found Nisei's number. I wonder if he'd answer if I called him…? It was then that his thoughts drifted to the phone he had given Ritsuka. He hadn't found it in the boy's room when he'd searched it. Had Seimei taken it? What would happen if he tried to call it? If it was picked up, who would pick it up?

Ritsuka woke up late in the evening the next day with somebody's hands under his shirt playing with his nipples. He groaned, knowing he should kick Soubi out of bed, but damn it actually felt good. He had been having a dream about him, and he was almost positive that it had been a wet dream because the sheets were damp and he felt a bit aroused. He knew that even though he didn't remember the dream now, he would later.

"Good morning, dear Ritsuka. How did the sleeping medication work for you?" Wait. That voice didn't belong to Soubi. And the hands…the hands that were now travelling over his skin felt rough and calloused.

It all came back to him, then. He wasn't at home or in bed with Soubi; he had been kidnapped by his own brother. Soubi was dead and it was probably Seimei trying to molest Ritsuka again.

Ritsuka sat up, finding his lower half completely exposed and quickly moved to cover himself with the sheet. Seimei sat on the other side of the bed, chuckling slightly. Ritsuka glared at him, knowing that Seimei had probably been touching him in other places below his nipples before he woke up.

"Get out," Ritsuka turned away from him, stretching, all feelings of arousal gone. His mind felt a bit foggy but the aching was momentarily subdued. He stood, pulling the T-shirt down so that it covered everything down to mid thigh. For the first time since he'd been in the room, he went over to the dresser, looking in the long mirror on top of it. The boy that stared back at him looked like Ritsuka, but it didn't at the same time.

In the two weeks Ritsuka had been kidnapped he hadn't changed much, but the chances that had occurred were very noticeable. He was very pale, probably from the sickness that he'd been having. His ears were gone and mounds of dark hair took their place. His bangs covered his eyes and his hair had grown a bit longer. There was a large bruise from where Seimei had hit him and attacked him six days previous. He seemed…older. He had always been mature for his age, but he felt, and looked, older now.

"It's not very nice to talk to your brother like that, Ritsuka," Seimei came up behind him, leaning down and brushing his lips against his neck. "You actually responded when I touched you this morning."

Ritsuka turned around, placing his hands on Seimei's chest and shoving him away. "I wasn't responding to you," Ritsuka sneered. He no longer cared if he got hit; he just wanted Seimei to go away. "I was dreaming about Soubi."

Seimei stepped away from Ritsuka, holding his hands out in defeat. "I know. You were saying his name. You had a wet dream about a dead man, Ritsuka?"

"It wasn't like I could do anything about it since you gave me sleeping medication." Ritsuka huffed, turning back to the mirror and pulling at the metal collar around his neck. He could see Seimei's unreadable expression behind him. Ritsuka knew that he hadn't been expecting Ritsuka to act to coldly to him when he kidnapped him. After a few minutes of pulling at the collar thoughtfully and watching Seimei out of the corner of his eye, Ritsuka finally knew what he wanted.

"I want proof," Ritsuka faced him, meeting his older brother's evil looking eyes.

"Proof of what, brother?" Seimei smirked maliciously. "Anything you want, I can get it for you."

Ritsuka didn't hesitate with his answer, not even dropping Seimei's gaze, "I want proof that Soubi's dead."

"What are you thinking?" Kiyoshi questioned from the desk he was working at. Soubi had been ignoring him ever since he had gotten back from getting food. Soubi was trying to draw again, but still nothing came out on the paper that didn't remind him of Ritsuka. He had finally given in and was drawing a detailed picture of the teen.

"Don't you see the irony in that question?" Soubi muttered, concentrating hard on his sketch. He could sense Kiyoshi's eyes on him and figured that he was probably reading his thoughts. Soubi hadn't called the Ritsuka's phone but was still debating over it. Seimei or Nisei were the two most likely to answer. Then there was that other person that Ritsuka had mentioned, Nakahira.

"I do," Soubi heard Kiyoshi approaching him, but still didn't look up. The older man leaned over him, looking at what Soubi had drawn so far. "You're good. I can already tell that it's him." He watched him draw for a few minutes before speaking again, "It can't hurt to call."

"Yes it can."

"Your bond with him is breaking," Kiyoshi stated, sensing Soubi's distress. He wanted to avoid talking to Seimei at all costs. He knew he couldn't put it off forever, but he didn't want to do it now. "You should do it. For Ritsuka. Any sort of information helps."

If it was for Ritsuka, Soubi would do anything. He nodded in agreement and started to dial Ritsuka's phone number, but Kiyoshi grabbed his wrist suddenly. "What the hell-?" Soubi started to say, stopping when he saw Kiyoshi grinning like a mad man.

"Let's trace the call," Kiyoshi said. "Let's go get Ritsu, Nagisa, and Seven and trace the call."

Ritsuka held his brother's intimidating gaze for a long time. He wasn't going to back down. There was no way to tell if Seimei was lying about Soubi. His little speech the night before had sounded sincere, but Seimei was a deceiving liar. Soubi had told Ritsuka not to believe everything Seimei said. Ritsuka would believe Soubi's word over Seimei's any day.

Of course, that wasn't how it always was. Up until meeting up with Seimei at Seven Voices, one of the words Ritsuka would have described Soubi with would be 'liar'. It wasn't that way now, though. At the academy, Ritsuka had seen just how much power Seimei still had over him. Soubi hadn't wanted to break the window and allow for Seimei's escape. He hadn't wanted to help him at all. Soubi had hesitated, though, and Ritsuka had been proud of him for being able to, if only for a second. Seimei had complete control over Soubi, whether the Fighter liked it or not. He couldn't disobey Seimei.

At one point, not long before Ritsuka got kidnapped, Soubi had told Ritsuka that he was sorry that he couldn't tell him everything he knew about Seimei and Septimal Moon. He wanted to, but he couldn't. He hadn't been lying then, either. His scars had bled excessively throughout that night, showing that it was going against his name and that he meant it. In fact, Soubi almost never lied about anything except for what he knew about Septimal Moon.

"You want…proof," Seimei repeated back at Ritsuka slowly.

Rage flared up in Ritsuka again, overtaking his entire being. How could Seimei not understand what he wanted? "Yes," He tried desperately to keep from yelling. "I want to-!"

A sharp ringtone sounded, cutting him off. Ritsuka recognized it immediately. It was his ringtone. From his phone. The one that only played when Soubi was calling Ritsuka.

Seimei's eyes went wide with shock as he registered what was happening. He started to say some curse, but didn't get the entire thing out before Ritsuka jumped at him.

Before Ritsuka knew it, he had closed the gap between he and his older brother by tackling the older boy to the ground. Ritsuka was small, sick, and weak, but he was fast and had the element of surprise. He was blind with anger and didn't really know what he was doing. All he knew was that there were large hands pushing at him and that he had to get to the source of the music playing.

Seimei shoved at Ritsuka, trying to push the boy off. They were on the floor, Ritsuka on top of Seimei, darting through all of his attempts to grab the half-naked teen. It all happened very quickly, but it felt like a long time for Ritsuka. At one point, somewhere during the middle of the song, Seimei had Ritsuka on his stomach and knelt over him, arms on either side of the smaller, trying to catch his breath. Ritsuka darted out from underneath him, twisting around to grab at Seimei's dark gray jacket. He pulled at it, finally locating the phone in one of the pockets.

"Soubi?" He said franticly into the speaker. He just needed to know that he was alive. He didn't know what to believe. Had Seimei lied to him? Was the voice on the other line going to be one of Seimei's henchmen or some random person? If it was, why had Seimei fought him for the phone?

And there it was, that voice that Ritsuka had longed to hear for two weeks and had thought he'd never hear again for the past week. It was a single word, not even a phrase, but it was unmistakenably said by him, "Ritsuka?"

Ritsuka's name said by Soubi, the man who Ritsuka had thought to have been dead, was the last thing he heard before a thousand bolts of electricity emanated from the collar Ritsuka wore around his neck. It wasn't long before his screams stopped and he was out cold on the floor.

Soubi sat with Seven at a large control board with many buttons and cords connecting to computers spread out on it. It was late at night, because it was well- known that Seimei often operated at night. Seven wore a large pair of headphones, as did Kiyoshi. Ritsu stood behind Soubi, not making a sound as he did. Kiyoshi and Seven worked two computers. Kiyoshi recorded the call and Seven traced it.

What was left of Septimal Moon had agreed immediately when Soubi had told them of what he and Kiyoshi had planned to do. Nagisa hadn't been able to come, but Soubi was okay with that since she was just annoying anyways.

"Ready?" Seven asked. She had hooked up his phone to another device and had given Soubi a headset with a microphone attached.

Soubi nodded, wordlessly. They all knew there was a high chance Seimei had disconnected the phone or even left it on the street somewhere. Seven had said even if nobody picked up the phone she would still be able to get a general idea of where it was, but Soubi had the feeling she was unsure Seimei had kept Ritsuka's phone.

Soubi was connected. One ring, two rings, three, four, five. Soubi was beginning to lose hope when a breathless voice suddenly answered.

"Soubi?" Soubi was in a state of shock for a moment. Ritsuka. Ritsuka had answered. Ritsuka was alive. He stared wide-eyed at Seven's computer screen, where as the seconds ticked by, she traced the call.

"Ritsuka?" Soubi answered, without thinking. Why couldn't he have thought of anything more intelligible to say? Something like 'stay on the line' or 'where are you' would have probably been a lot more helpful.

As soon as Soubi was about to say something there was the sound of electricity connecting with flesh on the other line. "Ritsuka?" Soubi said anxiously. A high-pitched scream sounded, obviously belonging to Ritsuka. "Ritsuka?" He tried again, this time more scared than anything. The screaming stopped and another voice came onto the other line.

"Hello, Soubi. It's been awhile, hasn't it?" Seimei. This confirmed everything. Ritsuka had probably fought Seimei for his cell once he heard it ringing, which had resulted in Seimei somehow electrocuting him. "You just ruined my hard work," Seimei's voice sounded mocking and condescending. Soubi's breath picked up and he realized he was standing, bracing himself with his hands against the long control panel. If he let go, he was afraid he was going to fall. He and Seimei were the only two in the room right now. He knew that the others were there, but his mind really didn't register them. Seimei's voice was surrounding him, taking over anything. Soubi didn't want it. He didn't want to go back to that. He couldn't.

"You know, Ritsuka thought you were dead for an entire week," Seimei continued.

Something in that sentence snapped Soubi out of his breakdown state. "You told him I was dead?" He hissed, hearing a short gasp from Seven and seeing Kiyoshi look at him in shock. He had never spoken to Seimei in that way before, never dared to. Something had broken between them. Something, or someone, had caused it to break. This breaking, thinning out bond had broken because of Ritsuka. It allowed Soubi to speak to Seimei in a way his mind had kept him from doing so before.

"What's that I hear in your voice?" Seimei was playing his mind games on him now. "Is that anger? How dare you speak to me in that tone of voice? Who do you think you are? You've lost sight of where you came from. You're mine, Soubi, you'll always be mine. Go punish yourself right now for speaking to me in such a way. That is an order."

"I don't take orders from you." Those were Soubi's last words before throwing the headset to the ground, smashing it easily with his foot, and walking out the door without another word.

Today is Soubi's birthday! :D

I give you...an update! I really like this chapter because of how that last part turned out.

I can't really say much more because I have to go to school now...

BUT I LOVE YOU, MY REVIEWERS.

keep on reviewing, and I'll put up the next part in a day or two.

~Wolfie

EDIT: I made a mistake with the time frames. corrected it.