Dlbn: Hey everyone! Another chapter is here at the ready!

Nbld: My updates are starting to catch up to my pre-written portions of this fic, so I'm going to be on a writing kick for a while so I don't get to a point where I'm stuck.

Dlbn: Like with every other long chapter fic. Seriously, how long has Careless been on hiatus?

Nbld: Too long. We won't update again before Tuesday, so Happy Halloween, all. Review corner! Thank you to Promocat and The DarkCat for reviewing! Candy and cider for you both!

Promocat: Regardless of how much he's against it. And he's very much against it.

The DarkCat: Sorry :/ things came in piece by piece as the investigation went on, but they will have meetings every so often to clarify things. Seimei will make an appearance, yes, but I won't say when ;) Thanks. I've started and am about a quarter of the way done? Took a while to come up with a viable plot for this one. I'm sure you will finish on time. Can't wait to see it ^^

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot and non-canon things and people. Canon stuff belongs to Yun Kouga. I make NO money off writing this.

Dedication: Dedicated to my new soul sister, Victoria. Seriously, we have so much in common, it's almost creepy ;) Glad to meet you at the Halloween party!

000

Ritsuka wasn't surprised to see Sweepers at school the following day. Ritsu surprisingly pulled through in a short amount of time. He supposed he'd have to pull through on his end of things and speak with his brother, regardless of how much he dreaded it. He'd wait until the weekend. If the Sweepers came up with enough, he could do other things before having to settle for speaking with Beloved. Whether or not Seimei offered him assistance, he couldn't help but feel that it was just another one of Beloved's carefully laid out traps. Yuiko bubbled on at lunch about going strawberry picking with her parents the day before, but he barely paid any attention to her words. The lead sensei from his grade came up to their table.

"Good afternoon, kids." She greeted.

"Good afternoon, sensei." They moved to stand, but she stopped them.

"You have a visitor, Aoyagi-kun." She said. "I came to get you and bring you down to the office. Your uncle Ryoko?"

"Oh, I forgot he was coming." Ritsuka laughed. "Sorry, guys but I have to go."

"Aw, you can't stay?" Yuiko pouted. "I wasn't done with my story."

"That's okay, Yuiko." He smiled gently. "I wasn't listening." He had to laugh as her jaw dropped. "I'm sorry, I'm kidding, I really am. I'll see you guys later."

He took his backpack and nearly empty food tray to leave. After depositing his garbage in the proper bin, he left through the double doors on the side that lead to the main lobby. It wasn't hard to guess who was waiting for him, so he wasn't surprised when the head Sweeper from the other day was waiting just inside the front door.

"Hey, Ritsuka." He greeted. "I almost forgot about your appointment. I hope I'm not interrupting a class."

"Hey, uncle. No, everything is fine. I was in lunch."

"I see. Well, I signed you out, so we're good to go."

"Alright. Thank you." Ritsuka smiled at the secretary.

"Have a good day, Ritsuka-kun." She offered him.

"Thanks, you too."

He waited until they were outside the school grounds to say anything.

"I'm hoping you found something noteworthy." He stated. "I don't like to miss school when I don't have to."

"I got you a description and a car." He informed, handing Ritsuka a manila envelope. "Seems the man was alone, but the secretary there remembers what he looks like. If I was a sketch artist, I would have gotten you one."

"That's fine. A physical description is enough." Ritsuka shook his head.

He pulled open the envelope as he followed the Sweeper to his car. He pulled out papers and slipped into the passenger's seat, buckling himself with one hand as the Sweeper shut the door and got in on his side.

"Vehicle is a 2002 Honda Accord, silver. Slight damage to the front passenger side, but is otherwise in descent looking condition. Dark grey pinstripes peeling off in several locations. Plate number HLA-8HGJ" Ritsuka shrugged. "Helpful, but I'm not the DMV, so that won't do much for me. Looks like he got in willingly." He put it away and pulled out the piece of paper with the description of the guy on it.

The description didn't match the photos of Flightless he'd seen at the meeting. Even if they had aged, it didn't make sense that it could be them.

"It's worth talking to the Sacrifice again." Ritsuka thought aloud. "I don't think she was approached by who she thinks she was approached by."

"Want me to take you? Or would you prefer to go with your Fighter?"

"We can swing by, if you don't mind the millage. It's close to Seimei's territory."

The Sweeper paused but nodded after a moment. "Whatever you want to do, Loveless. I'm just the messenger."

"And chauffer, apparently."

"Minami instructed me to be as much of an asset to you as possible."

"I see." Ritsuka pushed a few buttons on the on-board GPS and put in the address.

The slightly annoyingly pitched feminine voice from the console greeted him with a time of arrival and instructions to turn in a mile and a half.

"Do you want to stop by to see your brother…?" The sweeper asked. "Minami mentioned you might be going to him, so…"

"If I go to my brother, it will be on a day when I can be accompanied from a distance by my Fighter. I can't risk anyone on Seimei's side seeing him and assuming I'm declaring war." Ritsuka chuckled. "Though, to be fair, the day he too Soubi from me, my brother inadvertently declared war."

"Not much of a war. He came back."

"Two years later."

"At least he came back." The sweeper smiled gently. "His faith in your bond was strong enough that he knew coming back wouldn't have been fruitless."

"I suppose." Ritsuka shrugged, putting back the paper with the description.

No one he'd encountered so far matched it anyway.

"My Fighter and I were like that once."

"What happened?"

"She met someone."

"Oh…I see…" A pause. "Then, in a way, you're the same as Minami and I."

"The only difference is that his died, and yours came back. Mine simply severed our bond and went on her merry way." He sighed. "You think having your heart broken is bad? Try having your bond destroyed. There's severing a bond, and then there's destroying it."

"What's the difference?" Ritsuka wondered.

No one had ever told him this before. He figured there was only one way to sever a bond.

"Zero has the ability to sever their bond to connect with other Zeroes if need be. They can reform their bond, no problem." He smiled gently. "When your other half destroys your bond, there's no going back."

"Ouch."

"Yeah. Stings in more ways than one." He replied. "You're lucky. You kids have good Fighters."

"Is that why you joined Sweepers? No Fighter means you can't do much fighting."

He nodded. "I didn't have much of a choice. It was either that or retire. But, honestly, I loved this stuff so much, I couldn't just walk away from it like Yoko did."

"Is that really her name or are you making a Beatles joke?"

"No, that's her name."

"Ironic."

"You think I would have realized it wasn't going to end well forever ago."

Ritsuka chuckled. "Yes, you'd think so."

"Does that physical description help you any?"

"It's very generic. Man in his late twenties, raven hair, no ears, green eyes. You know how many black haired Japanese men there are in Japan? Here's a hit, it's a lot."

The man chuckled. "Well, at least you know it's not Flightless."

"That's what concerns me."

You can't fake a name.