Dlbn: I just now realized that I haven't updated since last CHRISTMAS. Hijo de puta, it's October 2015 already and no updates? And this had already been written who knows when? Bad author! BAD!

Nbld: So to make up for it, here we are with an especially long chapter. Timer to start with the Review Corner! Thank you to I-Love-Trunks1, XxRin-sanxX, and Yoitemichaelis for reviewing! Candy for you all!

I-Love-Trunks1: Thank you so much! I'm sorry it took me so long to update T_T More on the way!

XxRin-sanxX: I'm too lazy to sign in too sometimes ^^" They would have had to either track her down or wait a week XD I get what you mean. That whole chapter was more to move the plot along than anything, I think. It's been forever since I posted it, so I'm not sure what I was feeling about it before ^^"

Yoitemichaelis: That they are! The Kaido family is one of the biggest enigmas in that whole series. Like they don't like men, but don't they realize that if it wasn't for men, none of them would have ever been born? How did that no men tradition start? Damn it Kouga for making us wait D: It's a challenge haha sometimes I forget some characters exist XD

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Loveless or anyone in it. That all belongs to Yun Kouga. I make NO money writing in this category. I do own anyone who isn't canon. I'm too lazy to look for specific names, but if they're not Ritsu and Nana, then I own them.

000

It took half an hour to get to Aido's second floor apartment from the train station, leaving the group a half an hour until his Sacrifice showed up. Ritsu hoped no one noticed how nervous he was starting to get about all of it; the anticipation was driving him insane. They were so close to their ultimate goal, yet still so very far. From what he read, they were good strategists, just not very good as far as battles went; too concerned with one another being hurt to really focus. They would have been a great Unit, probably fighting for the elder Minami instead of the younger, if they had just put their concerns for one another aside for the time it needed to be on the back burner. Still, it was nice to know that there were still units out there that treated one another as equals; not just master and slave.

Aido didn't have a fireplace, but he put on a space heater and turned up the thermostat to keep the room warm. Having so many people in his apartment at once seemed to be overwhelming him, but it kept everyone warm at least. He had been careful to make sure they all had something to drink, and eat if necessary. It seemed like the comfort of his guests was something he took great pride in. Nagisa had offered to help him in the kitchen preparing and serving drinks, but he had declined the assistance; saying it was improper for him to require assistance from a young lady to have to serve his guests. Respect for women definitely ran deep through his veins; whether that came from being paired with Kaido Siren or not.

The door opened as we were finally settling down to relax. There was no knocking, no doorbell ringing; nothing to alert us of a final guest arriving. Aido stood with a snap and took the white raincoat from the girl who had come in. Ritsu almost immediately recognized her face from the file as being Kaido Siren. She looked pretty young for being sixteen, and was a bit on the short side of the spectrum. There was a small smile on her face that appeared to be either plastered on or painful for her. Her mint green hair was cropped to just below her ears, and yellow-orange eyes seemed to be scanning the room to get a feel for everyone there, though she was looking right at Aido and talking with him quietly by the door. Almost as soon as it began to get uncomfortable, she plopped down on the couch; fixing a dark blue pleated skirt around her knees. She crossed her ankles, hands folded in her lap. She looked pretty formal and regal sitting like that, but Ritsu didn't comment.

"It's a pleasure to meet you all." Though her voice was sweet, it was tinged with a layer of hardness and screamed 'practiced' and 'robotic'. "I am Kaido Siren. Aido-kun has told me all about what you are planning."

The silverette paused, unsure of whether it was okay to speak or not. Aido nodded and smiled gently at me from his spot standing behind his Sacrifice as confirmation.

"I'm Minami Ritsu. I'm one of the founders of the group…"

"Aido-kun tells me you're in charge?"

"I guess so…?"

"You do not need to be afraid of me. I understand you know about my family, as does the majority of Japan, but please do not feel hesitant to speak." She smiled sweetly in my direction, cocking her head to the side a bit.

Ritsu was too dumbfounded by this girl to say anything. On one hand, she seemed nice enough. On the other, it seemed like her responses and actions were too well rehearsed; practiced to perfection. Her words and mannerisms were almost robotic-like in nature, and it sent a shiver down the leader's spine.

"We call him our leader mostly because this was his idea. Nothing more." Iyani offered. "I wouldn't read much into it."

"It appears the cat has got your tongue, sir." She giggled at me.

"Sorry…I'm just trying to understand you."

"Understand me?"

"Ritsu…" Nagisa warned.

Siren put her hand up. "Go on. Minami-kun?"

"Um…yes…like Iyani said, this was my idea, so that's the only reason I'm considered the leader, I suppose."

"You are the son of the current Septimal Moon head, no?"

"Unfortunately."

She smiled gently. "My condolences." She stated. "I do have some concerns about this whole plot you are all cooking up, if you don't mind?"

"Go for it." Nana stated. "The more ideas, the better."

Siren nodded. "First off, you do realize this is a suicide mission, correct? Not all, if any of us at all, will make it out alive."

"We've considered that." Iyani stated.

"And you're perfectly okay with risking your own lives?"

"To take down Septimal Moon? Yes." Asitai nodded. "If not us, then who?"

She nodded slowly, seeming to understand. "My second is that if your father gets wind of this, he will come up with a tactic to try and convince you to abandon your allies and join him. Are you prepared for that?"

"My father could never convince me to abandon my friends." I corrected her without doing so directly. "You have nothing to worry about in that department."

"Even if he attempts to use your mother against you?"

Ritsu blinked in confusion. "How did you know…?"

"Almost everyone knows of what happened to your mother. Your father is the principal of the school, after all, and the head of our world. It would be quite odd for no one to know things about him."

"Yes, but I didn't think this was public knowledge." He looked between the others before settling back on her. "None of them knew about that, save Iyani, but she's my Fighter so that's a given."

"A few older students know." Aido piped up at last, resting a hand on his sacrifice's left shoulder. "Your father took time off of school for grieving purposes and the funeral."

"My father never grieved for my mother."

"My condolences, but that is what we were told when the school was shut down."

"Shut down?" Mirai asked, ears perking. "When was this?"

"Probably before your time." Aido stated. "I was an eleventh year, so it was quite some time ago. I don't think any of you were past middle school."

"There are middle schoolers there, aren't there?" Iyani wondered.

"Seven Voices is eighth grade through senior year." Her Sacrifice answered her. "It's technically a high school. Though training people younger would prove to be advantageous."

"Explain?" Siren cocked an eyebrow.

She seemed a little confused, but seemed to understand it at the same time.

"Think about it. If we were trained younger, we'd have more time to learn and practice before Performance Exams, and may not have been kicked out of the school."

But this was no time for theory and possible ideas for changing practices after we took over.

"But that's not the point."

"But you see where I'm going with mine?"

"Hai."

She nodded. "Well, I can't say I don't agree with what you are trying to accomplish." She spoke again after a moment. "I am, however, concerned as well that we may not have the manpower. You realize everyone that you've gathered here are people rejected from the school for failing Performance Exams, no?"

"Yes, but I don't see…"

"Meaning not one of us was good enough to be kept in the Academy?"

"Yes, but…"

"Meaning that there isn't a single team here that can handle themselves against any given member of Septimal Moon."

"We have the advantage of numbers." Nagisa offered. "Don't we?"

"If I am not mistaken, there is only one member of Septimal Moon that does not have a Fighter, that being Ritsu-kun's father. Or am I mistaken?"

Siren's tone practically ordered us not to contradict her regardless. Luckily, she wasn't wrong.

"You're correct." Ritsu nodded. "The other Fighters are still alive."

"So we don't have numbers." Nagisa commented. "Damn…"

"But we do have a strategy, don't we?" Asitai wondered, twirling a piece of hair around his finger.

"I believe it was to separate the Sacrifices and take them out first. The Fighters won't do anything without their Masters to defend." Mirai stated. "With us being expendable, if our Sacrifice is to die, it is essentially our duty to end our own lives in shame. Or live on retired and suffer the humiliation of not being able to protect and serve our masters properly."

"Unfortunately, yes, this is the case. You're planning to force their hands." Aido nodded once.

"You're hoping that by somehow taking down the Sacrifices, the Fighters will do the honorable thing and do away with themselves." Siren parroted, as if to clarify. "Do you not see the error in judgment here?"

"What error?" Katashi questioned.

"I believe she is referring to the honorability of the act." Otorai offered. "Septimal Moon runs by a different code then we do, if you get down to it. Being higher than us, they don't believe they have to abide by the rules that we have to. She is insinuating that despite their Sacrifices falling, they will continue to fight and still pose a viable threat."

Siren nodded, smiling gently and seemingly impressed. "Yes, that's it." She agreed. "How can you be so sure that they will take themselves out afterwards? If you plan on taking down the Sacrifices one at a time, that gives the others time to alert their Fighters and find them. Just like a search and recovery exercise at the Academy."

"We were going to take them down at once." Miya informed her. "Sacrifices cannot do anything on their own, correct? No power, no word spell. If we can attack as one unit against them, they may have time to alert their Fighters, yes, but it doesn't mean it would give them enough time to find us. If we were fighting them together, the Fighters could defend them. But without knowledge of spells of the ability to use them, Sacrifices are essentially useless in battle. No offense to any of you."

Siren cocked her head to the side. "How can you be so sure you can get them separated long enough to attack, let alone take them down? I doubt the Fighters would leave their Sacrifices unattended for long enough. Students and graduates don't have much to fear, besides losing a battle. Septimal Moon, on the other hand, has a lot to lose and a lot of enemies to make them lose it." She sighed gently. "Their Fighters are bound to stick close to them. There have been attempts on their lives while we were students there." She looked up at her faithful servant. "Were there any when you were a student?"

"More often than you would think, yes." He nodded. "Septimal Moon has had many enemies over the years, which I'm sure Ritsu here could attest to, with his father being the head of the organization, after all. A few attempts on their lives have occurred. Not enough to be problematic in any case, but certainly enough to where they're properly prepared to handle such an occurrence."

Why did everyone in this room seem to talk like a lawyer? First Kaido was speaking like one, then Mirai started it-though he very well may have been quoting a Fighter's handbook of some kind-but then Otorai and Miya picked it up, and now her own Fighter was doing it? Either the three of them were used to high society and felt they had to impress everyone and exude superiority over them, or they were falling under an unknown spell that her words were casting. But with her being a Sacrifice and not a Fighter, that was highly unlikely. Unless she somehow managed to stretch her Sacrifice powers to include being able to use word spell. At least Iyani, Copeless, Nagisa, Nana, and Ritsu hadn't been affected yet.

"So how in the world does any one of you think that ambushing and separating them is going to work?" Siren wondered. "Let alone this entire group? You need a new strategy."

"Like what? Taking on units one by one?" Iyani wondered. "That's not going to work, either."

"Why not?"

"Putting all our power into taking down one at a time will take too long, and the others will most certainly catch on." Nana offered for Iyani.

"Why not just attack them one on one?"

"None of us are powerful or trained well enough to take down an entire Unit by ourselves." Iyani butt in. "We need to do it as a group. The only logical way is to separate the ones who can do something to defend them from the ones who can't. In other words, separate the Sacrifices and lave them vulnerable. Then take out the ones that can put up a fight. Simple logic."

"What do you propose we do, then?" Ritsu wondered. "You're supposed to be strategists, are you not?"

"I have never thought to plan something as major as this." Siren informed. "Neither of us has ever worked on something on this massive of a scale before. If we could have some time alone, perhaps we can decide but…"

"Wait a moment." Nagisa butt in, not caring how rude it was. "You haven't even told us if you agree to join us yet. You offered your concerns, and now we're right into talking strategy. How are we to be sure that you're trying to help and not trying to trap us or convince us to back out?"

"Now why on Earth would we do that?" Siren cocked an eyebrow. "You're mighty suspicious of us, and we've done nothing wrong."

"She's just being cautious." Ritsu interjected for her. "She doesn't mean anything by it, I'm sure, but she has a point. Are you on our side?"

"I thought us helping to plan this would hint at an agreement to join you. I was not aware we had to say it word for word. However, I realize my mistake, and I apologize. Yes, we are on your side."

"That's all I was saying." Nagisa huffed.

Siren seemed a bit agitated, and I felt like it was best to end the discussion. We did have an hour commute left, not to mention the half hour it would take to get to the train station to go home.

"Well, we're on the same page now, I think." Their leader said, standing and hoping I didn't sound too rushed. "I'd love for us to stay and talk strategy, but we all have to get home. It's a half hour to the station, then an hour back to Tokyo."

"Oh, shit, I have curfew at six." Aidien looked at his watch. "It's four now."

"Oh, then we better let you go." Siren stated, standing. She smoothed out her skirt. "I apologize for any inconvenience in finding us, but I understand the issue of discussing this kind of thing over the phone. I appreciate you asking us to help, I really do. The tyranny of Septimal Moon has gone on for far too long. It got corrupted somewhere along the way."

"Agreed." Ritsu nodded, bowing. "A pleasure to meet you both.

Aido shook my hand. "You all as well."

"Aido-kun, how many times have I explained to not do that?" She sighed. "A thousand pardons. He's a foreigner…"

"It's quite alright." Her fellow Sacrifice nodded. "No harm done."

She smiled gently. "Thank you for understanding."

"Where are you from originally?" Nagisa asked him.

"Italia." He stated. "Er…Italy, my apologies. I'm Japanese, but my father met my mother there while on vacation, fell in love, and never left. We've only been in this country for seven years or so. I was relatively new to Japan when I began classes at the Academy. They were the ones who convinced my father to move back home."

"Quite an origin story." Ritsu commented.

"I shall tell you more at another time, if you're interested."

"Alright, alright, let's go." Aidien stated. "My parents will ground me if I'm late again."

"You worry too much." Otorai commented, patting his friend on the shoulder as he rolled his eyes. "Learn to relax a little, Aidien, or you'll be an alcoholic before you're his age." He nodded to Aido.

"Farewell, and have a safe ride home. Good luck." Siren handed me a sheet of paper. "Our phone numbers, just in case. Do not call me after seven PM. That is quiet time in my home."

"Arigato." Ritsu bowed.

I let the others go ahead of me. "Kaido-sama?"

"Siren-sama is fine, Ritsu-kun."

"Fine, then Siren-sama. May I ask you a question?"

"Hai?"

"Do you by any chance know any spells of your own? They all…seemed like different people once you arrived…"

She smiled gently. "You're very perceptive." She stated. "Perhaps I shall explain it to you another time. It is not a spell, I merely know how to adjust my words to garner the type of response I deem appropriate."

He nodded. "I see."

She shut the door behind him as he left.

"They're a little weird." Iyani told Ritsu, meeting me halfway down the stairs.

"Yeah, I agree. Did you notice it, too?"

"That everyone slowly adjusted to her way of speaking? Yeah, I didn't think Miya and Mirai were capable of talking that way until today."

"Agreed."

They'd talked mostly like the others did from the moment that they met. Though Asitai could have rubbed off on Mirai and that was why he spoke the way that he did.

"Well, congratulations Mr. Semi-Leader." Otorai greeted Ritsu at the bottom of the stairs. "You have successfully gathered seven completely different units to combat the seven units of Septimal Moon."

"We managed that, but yes. Thank you?" Ritsu was a bit confused.

He nodded, slinging an arm around his shoulders, acting much different now compared to when we first met. "Now, how to organize all seven groups into an effective team and come up with a comprehensive strategy to take down all of Septimal Moon and achieve victory?"

"We'll work on that." He sighed. "All that I know is that we take my father down last."

"Why?" Aidien wondered.

"He has no Fighter. There's no reason to worry about him getting any form of actual protection while we're handling the others. Besides, wouldn't it be more satisfying to force him to watch his entire organization crumble to the ground around him before we take him down as well?"

"You want revenge, don't you? For the humiliation?"

"No…but…well, yes, I want to make him pay. But he's the head of Septimal Moon…don't you guys want him to suffer, too? He made the decision to kick us all out…"

"The same way he made a decision that your mother had to work at the job that got her killed…?" Iyani asked softly, carefully.

Ritsu bit his lip at that. "Yes…but that isn't the point. He…"

"I know where he's going with this." Asitai stood up for the embarrassed silverette. "It's like having a King watch his empire or entire country fall to the hands of invaders. You take the King out last, like in chess, to effectively say 'this land is mine now'. By saving him last, we're making our territory."

"Precisely."

"Whatever your reason, Ritsu, I just hope you're not doing this for the wrong reasons." Nagisa stated. "I want to stop other people from having to go through what we went through in getting kicked out and humiliated like we did. Don't drag us into some convoluted revenge scheme. I don't think any of us want to be involved in that nonsense. Get your priorities in order before we go any further."

"Didn't any of you ever stop to think that maybe he wants to save his father for last because it's the only family he has left and he doesn't want to necessarily kill him, but knows he has to?" Iyani wondered.

The walk to the train station and the consequential ride home were silent and awkward after that. Never was Ritsu so happy to have Iyani as his Fighter, his friend…his partner.

To discover his reasoning for saving his father until last, she hadn't even used their bond.