Day 018

Part one

Ritsuka refused to come out of his room for two days. The only person he could think about was Soubi and how he was alive. Him sending out a battle frequency meant that he was in a battle and since Ritsuka wasn't there, he was fighting without a Sacrifice. Which meant he'd probably been hurt.

He's too strong for that, though, Ritsuka reassured himself. It worked, since he knew that Soubi was one of the best Fighters in the world. He remembered that one time after a battle, Ritsuka had told him he was really good at fighting and then had asked him if there was anyone else better than him and if he'd ever been beat. Soubi had admitted that he was the top Fighter that had ever graduated and that he had only lost a couple battles in the sixteen years he'd been fighting.

Ritsuka smiled warmly on the morning of the seventeenth day when he realized with a surge of satisfaction for Soubi that he had most likely not been hurt. He still slept with Soubi's coat clutched tightly to him, and he could still pick up the man's scent in it, just as he was doing that morning. He laid in bed, feeling in a good mood, with his nose pushed into the soft purple fabric, thinking of fond memories.

Ritsuka always told Soubi that he did well after a fight. They had never lost a fight, although Ritsuka had gotten hit a couple times in one battle after the incident at Seven Voices. That hadn't been Soubi's fault, though. Ritsuka had told him to attack rather than defend and he had obeyed.

Soubi always looked happy when Ritsuka told him he did well. He understood now that Seimei had never told him that he was good. Ritsuka had always hugged him and took care of the bleeding scars on his neck afterwards, too. Soubi always told him he didn't have to, but Ritsuka always did, anyways.

He was proud that Soubi could do so well under the pressure of a battle. Ritsuka knew that he would never be able to keep the calm, collected exterior Soubi did. Soubi could think up spells instantly and under huge amounts of pressure. They were also always so beautifully phrased, too.

He must be extremely smart to be able to do that, Ritsuka thought with another small smile. Of course Soubi was smart. He'd graduated at the top of his class early. He could always tell Ritsuka little facts about anything. He always helped Ritsuka with his homework and always seemed to know the answers to math problems without even using a calculator. He read a lot, too. When Ritsuka would come over to his apartment he'd be reading and when Ritsuka napped at his apartment, Ritsuka would usually wake up to Soubi painting or sitting beside him reading a book.

I just want to see him again. I don't care if it's only for one day. He would do anything Seimei wanted him to if he would just let him have a day- no, an hour- with Soubi. That way he could confess his feelings and Soubi would stop looking for him.

Ritsuka knew that Seimei telling him that Soubi was dead had not only been not only a lie, but a warning. Seimei had said that he killed him because he was looking for Ritsuka. There was no doubt in his mind that Seimei would actually carry that out. Maybe he had already sent somebody out to carry out the plan…

Soubi's dreams were filled with voices, spell words, and Ritsuka. He relived memories in the strange dream-like state. Memories like the birthday party he and Kio had thrown for Ritsuka when he turned thirteen. He was even taken through the fight they'd had just before Ritsuka had disappeared. That was one of the most painful memories, because if Soubi hadn't just walked out, Ritsuka might still be with him.

Finally Soubi broke out of the dream state, his vision doubling and blurry as he tried to focus on Nagisa's face. He was in excruciating pain from his mid-back from where the humanoid with the talons had pierced him. Nagisa was pushing something into an IV that Soubi realized was his own. That meant he was in a hospital; the place he hated the most.

Nagisa shot a glance at him, watching him slowly regain consciousness. Her face hovered over his, shining a bright light into both of his eyes. He blinked; the light blinding him a bit, but didn't move. There was a breathing mask over his face and nose, and he assumed that if he moved he'd mess something up.

"He's disorientated," Nagisa told someone in the background. "But he's stabilizing." Soubi recognized the steady beeping somewhere behind him as his own heartbeat.

"Is he going to be fit to speak today?" That was Kiyoshi's voice. He sounded close, as if he was sitting at his bedside.

Nagisa waited a long time before answering. Soubi closed his eyes again, almost falling back asleep before she spoke, "Yes. Just get him back here as soon as you're done. I would order him to be here for the next few days but I know he'll never listen to that and that you two can't call off a huge press conference like this."

This got Soubi's attention. He tried to sit up, only to be violently shoved back down by Nagisa herself.

"You're going to yank your IV and disconnect the oxygen tube, you idiot!" She snapped.

Soubi pulled the breathing mask away a little and propped himself up so that he could see more. "Where…" He gasped out, trying to find the strength to say something or at ask one of the millions of questions going through his head. Before he could get anything else out, Nagisa grabbed his wrist, forcing the breathing mask back down.

"You're in the intensive care unit," Kiyoshi explained. Soubi looked over to see him sitting on a chair at the side of the bed, his face a bit bruised and bandaged.

"Yes, you nearly died," Nagisa stated bluntly. She put another vile of something into the IV and tapped it, making it run through the tube into his hand. Soubi noticed that she wasn't wearing one of her ridiculous outfits, and instead just a short black dress with a normal white doctors' coat.

Soubi felt a bit stronger once the liquid started flowing. He hated hospitals. Being treated by doctors made him feel weak. He guessed he needed it though, since he'd obviously been out for a while.

The fight was beginning to come back to him. The reptilian Fighter had had information on Ritsuka…and Soubi had lost control and murdered it. He had been extremely close to the truth and he'd lost his mind.

The thing had changed into Nisei and had been able to mimic the man extremely well. Soubi might have come to his senses before killing it if it hadn't transformed into Ritsuka. That was when Soubi's mind had started to blur the line between real and not. From there, his memories were a mess, but he remembered the face Ritsuka had made, Soubi feeling the throat collapse, and then the humanoid changing first into a revolting monster and then a little girl.

"You lost so much blood we had to give you a transplant during surgery," Nagisa explained.

Soubi stared at her with wide eyes. He sat up before she could stop him and pulled the breathing mask off. "Surgery?" He repeated breathlessly, going into a coughing fit right after.

Nagisa glared at him again, "Your injuries were too severe to self heal. You would've died before they could heal properly. Now, put that mask back on before I shove an oxygen tube down your throat."

"What'd that…thing do to me?" Soubi asked, wheezing a bit. He didn't ignore Nagisa's threat, though, and repositioned the mask back on his face. He glanced around again, noting that he was in a mostly white room with a curtain separating him and some other patient.

"We'll explain when Ritsu gets here," Kiyoshi told him.

He was feeling a bit stronger by now. He could recall almost every detail of the fight. He reached for his sketchbook and pencil, which somebody had brought and had put on the bedside table. He opened to a blank page and attempted to steady his hand, which was shaking uncontrollably, as he began to draw.

Somewhere in the background a door opened and Soubi could hear two pairs of footsteps heading right towards the room. The door to the room opened and Ritsu and Seven walked in, both coming to a stop at Soubi's bed.

The hospital was a part of the academy's campus. It was needed since some of the battles of the older kids got violent. With any school, there was also physical fighting, but it was probably worse here. Soubi's own record was filled with all the physical fights he got in from everyone else taunting him about his well-known sexual relationship with Ritsu. He was familiar with the hospital, since he'd been there for an examination after every fight.

"You got yourself into another fight?" Ritsu accused, an angry expression on his face. It was almost as if he was scolding Soubi after one of his petty fights during school.

Soubi ignored him and continued to draw the gruesome form of the thing he'd fought from memory. He had seen the thing right before blacking out and he could recall it pretty well.

Soubi pulled the mask off again, letting it hang around his neck. He held up his sketch, "This is what attacked me." It had been a horrible looking half human, half reptile. It had a long snout, almost like a snake's, and blood red eyes set far apart. Its skin was made of dark gray scales and its tail was that of a lizard's. Soubi had drawn its 'hands' as he had felt them, and not seen. They had long talon-like thick claws that acted as hands.

Kiyoshi was looking at Soubi like he was insane, "Are you sure that's what you saw?"

Seven was talking to Ritsu in a low voice, probably saying something about the picture.

"Good job, Soubi-kun," Ritsu complimented, to Soubi's surprise. "You've effectively subdued one of the most wanted Fighters in the world."

Soubi narrowed his eyes at him, trying to breathe without the oxygen mask, "What are you talking about? I murdered it. I didn't subdue it."

Ritsuka showered and got dressed, finding a black t-shirt with the name of a singer he liked on it. He was determined, now. He was going to force himself to explore this place. He was going to find a way out of here and find Soubi. He thought of waiting for Nakahira, but decided against it, knowing that he'd probably find him on the way there, anyways.

He brushed through his hair, making it lay neatly on his head and put his fake ears on. He looked longingly at the very attractive, even sexy, picture of Soubi Seimei had brought. He smiled at it thinking, I'm going to find you and tell you how much I love you. After much consideration he put it in the pocket of the sweatshirt he had thrown on over his t-shirt.

He exited the room, facing his fear of the outside of the long hallway. The atrium was bustling with people again. Ritsuka started to shirk backwards towards the hallway but forced himself to keep going. He went towards the wall, pressing his fingertip at where he remembered the pad to be. Confirmation flashed on the screen and the golden doors opened. Ritsuka stepped in. Anxiety started to set in and he suddenly found himself wishing that Nakahira had come with him.

The elevator automatically went down one floor and opened again. Ritsuka felt dizzy as he people spotted him. One woman dressed in a ball gown bowed to him, saying, "Hello, Aoyagi-kun." Ritsuka felt like running back to his room, but when he shoved his hands into the pocket of the sweatshirt, walking on with his head down, he felt the smooth surface of the photo. He stopped suddenly, halfway to the stairs. More people bowed to him, but he didn't care. He had to continue on, for himself and for Soubi.

"Oh!" A voice said in the crowd. Ritsuka spotted Nakahira making a beeline for him through the crowd. "Hello, little one."

Ritsuka smiled, knowing that doing this would be easier with Nakahira. "Will you show me around today?"

Nakahira returned his smile, his voice sounding better when he spoke. "Of course. Just follow me," He rested his hand on Ritsuka's shoulder, guiding him through the crowd to the stairs.

"Shapeless," Ritsu began to explain to Soubi. "Shapeless's true form is the one you drew. The person you fought was the Shapeless Fighter, Hiro, who is androgynous and whose appearance never ages. 'His' Sacrifice was murdered right after birth. The mother went insane. Hiro was never paired up with another Sacrifice. He gained the ability to transform into anything at a very early age, but his true form became hideous. He was extremely violent here at school, to the point where he killed a student while in his true form.

"I was forced to expel him after that. From there he seemingly dropped off the face of the earth. A year ago, though, he began a string of killing Fighters closely connected with Septimal Moon. His signature way of murdering was stabbing his victims with his claws. They go extremely deep and have fast-acting poison in them. His reptilian-like true form is supposedly the only thing his victims see before they die. When he's sent to kill, he usually kills. From what I know, you're the only survivor."

Soubi was still struggling to breathe, and Nagisa was glaring at him again. He still refused to put the breathing mask back on, though, seeing having it on as a sign of weakness. He glanced over at Kiyoshi, a question going through his head. He felt that if he tried to talk he'd pass out again.

"What does that have to do anything with Soubi murdering the thing?" Kiyoshi asked, nodding slightly at Soubi.

Seven glanced at Ritsu before answering herself, "Hiro often kills by transforming into someone that his victim longs for or someone close to them. That way they usually won't attack him. He attacks them and then transforms his hands into his claws."

"When Kiyoshi and the rest of us found you in the woods on that girl," Nagisa continued. "We thought that you had suffered a complete mental breakdown and attacked someone innocent, especially when you went for Kiyoshi."

Soubi looked over at Kiyoshi and his bruised face. The older man only smirked, "You're a hell of a lot stronger than you look."

"It transformed into Ritsuka," Soubi informed them once he had caught his breath.

Ritsu nodded, "That's what we thought had happened once we found the name on Hiro's arm. Apparently, if you kill him, he loses all his power and his ability. We found out that 'he' is really a 'she'. The little girl is still in a coma, but she's alive. Nearly dead, but alive."

"This should add an interesting twist to our story," Kiyoshi commented.

The press conference. The press conference was today. Soubi had lost two full days. That made it twenty days since Ritsuka had disappeared. Two weeks and six days. Over four-hundred and fifty hours Ritsuka had been suffering. He was losing time. Every day that past brought Ritsuka further and further away from him.

After a while Ritsu and Seven left, leaving Nagisa to monitor Soubi. She still seemed annoyed that he wasn't wearing the breathing mask and hat he was now pulling lightly at the IV. He was still having troubles breathing, but he was able to talk, at least.

"How much time until we have to leave?" He asked, coughing a little.

"Five hours," Kiyoshi answered after looking at his watch. "Press conference is at noon. It's seven now."

Nagisa was writing something down on what Soubi assumed to be his chart. She held it out to him, wanting a signature. Soubi read the paper over, looking at his diagnoses. Temporary mental breakdown, asphyxiation, severe puncture wounds, extreme blood loss, extreme amounts of poison injected into bloodstream. Hiro had really screwed Soubi up. Soubi had won, though, and it/she was still alive and could keep their end of the bet. Soubi signed the paper, a thought suddenly going into his head.

He looked up at Nagisa sharply, "Who consented for me?" He was a legal adult, meaning that all consent had to be from himself. He had no living family members, so that was out of the question. Had it been Ritsu?

"Kiyoshi did," She looked over the form, ignoring Soubi's confused expression.

"Ritsu knew that you wouldn't want him to do it, so he left it up to me. I didn't know you were raised by him and you don't have any living family members," Kiyoshi explained.

Nagisa put the papers back on the table, sighing. "You suffered a mental breakdown. It was only temporary, though," She was headed towards the curtain that divided in the room. "I don't think it'll happen again, so I won't give you a calming agent."

"What are you going to do?" Soubi asked, even though he was almost positive that he knew what she was about to do.

Her answer simply confirmed his suspicions, "We're going to wake Hiro."

I had to split this chapter in two, too, since it takes up over ten pages on microsoft word... LOL. I thought about just making this into 2 days, but that wouldn't work.

Anyways, I wanted to talk a bit about pairings here. Soubi and Ritsuka are the primary pairing. I won't stick them with anyone else (well, besides Seimei raping/molesting Ritsuka). Soubi needed a counterpart in this story, so I stuck him with Kiyoshi (not as a pairing, of course) and Ritsuka needed someone to be a 'nicer' older brother, which is why I put Nakahira in this story. I've sort of been thinking about a secondary pairing with some other characters, but I don't know yet.

I was a bit disappointing with the feedback I got for the last chapter, but I got a lot of views for it, so I updated.

Remember to review if you want the next part! Tell me what you think!

~Wolfie