AN- Just so this is known, it's the last six chapters. XD Since the title 'Withered Heart' would have lost it's meaning.

- I'm tossing around the idea of a sequel to the sequel (sans all drama and more focused on Ryoma).

-Or possibly a prequel(set before Ryoma left the first time, showing the beggining of Ryoma's relationship to Syuu and his growing love for Sei, starting when he was twelve and his first day in Seigaku, leading up to his mothers death).

- I am just tying up loose ends right now, Ryoga being one of them.

Confessions of a Forgotten Past

Omniscient POV

The moment the golden pools were seen, they dissapeared. It was disconcerting to Ryoma but within the room only two knew who that could have been. One being confused and the other insanely furious.

Atobe was a flurry of motion as he ran to the window. Nobody had ever seen the man so murderously angry in his life. In fact if they remembered correctly, he would probably say, 'anger is for the plebians who can't get what they want.', it was ridiculous but true in some ways.

He opened the curtain, lifted the window sill and jumped out onto the roof. His head swiveled back and forth searching the rooftop for the figure he knew would return.

The six body guards ran in at the commotion. Four jumped through the window, and landed lithely beside him. Two stayed in the hallway while the other six of Atobe's men remained unseen.

"Get him now!" Atobe pointed and all four ran after the man that faded into the darkness.

He walked back into the room as everyone stared at him. His eyes were an odd mixture of anger and worry.

"Aniki?" Ryoma looked confused as he stared at the window.

"I'm fine Ryoma." Atobe began patting himself down, removing all excess debri from his clothes. He seemed to bounce back quick.

"Not you." All heads turned to Ryoma, confused by his words. Atobe looked at his brother and ran his fingers through his hair.

"Kei, was that?" He watched silently as Ryoma fumbled for words.

Ryoma couldn't understand.

Those eyes belonged to his father. The only other person besides himself and Ryuuta to have such eyes was...

"Ryoga."

"Aa." Ryoma's eyes snapped to Atobe's passive face.

He found himself getting more and more annoyed. He shoved the blankets off of his body and attempted to stand.

Using the railings of the bed as support he stood, with a concentrated amount of effort.

"Your hiding something from me." Ryoma's face contorted into a knowing look.

"I'm not the only one keeping secrets Ryoma." Kei retorted as a couple jaws dropped at his lack of Ore-sama.

"I wasn't keeping it from you Kei." Ryoma spoke quietly as Kei's face morphed incredulously.

"Really because it must have taken alot of effort to keep it from me."

"What secret?" Eiji jumped into the conversation and shrank beneath the attention of all in the room. The tension between the two men was staggering.

"Nothing." Ryoma moved his head to the side slightly, to give Eiji a reassuring smile, that screamed bull shit. Everyone knew then that Ryoma was lying.

"The hell with nothing, Ryoma. What did he tell you to make you..." Kei's voice trailed off as he noticed two very sadistic auras flaring behind Ryoma. Their eyes were drawn together in confusion, but it was obvious they were catching on to the conversation. As were a couple of the more astute members present.

"Nothing." Ryoma seemed otherwise oblivious to this fact and continued with his abstinate glare and passive response.

"Ryoma, what is Atobe talking about?" Sei's voice was soft and welcoming that Ryoma body instinctively relaxed at the sound.

"Our brother." Kei answered quickly hoping not to anger the two sadists. Since Ryoma seemed incapable of responding.

"Kei." He believed he saved himself from the lesser of two evils.

Hmm... two evil sadists?...Ryoma? Well it was a no brainer really.

"What Ryoma? He is our brother." Kei deadpanned as he finally looked at Ryoma's face.

"It was him?" Ryoma knew his confusion was evident but he couldn't mask his emotions this was just to much to think about.

"You saw him right outside your window." Kei spoke softly as all eyes turned to the change in emotion. He was slowly walking to Ryoma. He seemed incredibly fragile.

He couldn't understand why Kei would react that way to his brother. Or why he would be outside the window for that matter. He remembered a voice in a long forgotten memory and everything started falling into place.

Flashback

"Ne chibisuke, do you want some ice cream?" A young boy stood beside a young man. Both had an unusual emerald haired color, and the same golden eyes. The likeness between the two males was staggering.

"Hai, nii-chan!" The younger cheered happily. The grin on the older male turned feral as he pointed across the busy street.

"Go get it then, here's the money." Ryoma took it from Ryoga's hand and smiled at his brothers 'kindness'.

"Hai!" He stood beside the street and got ready to run across, as cars flew back and forth. Ryoga grinned behind the young man. Ryoma turned to face him with a bright smile.

"Cherry ice cream right nii-chan?" Ryoma looked at his brother with a twinkle in his eye as Ryoga nodded his head numbly. Ryoma took one step into the street when a hand pulled him away from the curb.

"Hai chibisuke ...cherry. Let's find another way around." Ryoma grabbed the olders hand and smiled as Ryoga seemed confused.

End Flashback

"What did he do?" Ryoma moved to the edge of his bed, trying to absorb that memory in a new light.

"Would you mind telling us whatever the hell it is you two are talking about?" Syuu growled in annoyance as he stood.

"Ryoma sit down." Sei spoke quietly. His hands on Ryoma's shoulders pulling him onto the bed.

"I'm fine." Ryoma shrugged the hands off of him.

"Your not, sit down." Both Syuu and Sei spoke this time. A hand on each shoulder. It seemed to snap Ryoma out of his daze. He stared up at his two lovers as they stared intently at him. Their gazes smoldered him and he blushed.

"Che." He hoped into the bed and pulled the blankets over his head. Most thought it was done out of annoyance but some smirked as they saw the blush.

The word, 'Obediant.' seemed to be the consensus among their thoughts.

"Now can one of you tell us what's going on." Syuu's eyes snapped to Kei, who sat at the edge of Ryoma's bed. He sighed and looked out the window.

"As you all know Ryoma is Nanjirohs son, I am the son of Kiyano and Ryuuta is the son of them combined." Everyone nodded in understanding.

"Well Nanjiroh had another son. He was two years older than Ryoma, and-"

"Ochibi had a brother?"

"Yes, he was an illigitamate child. He didn't know of Ryoga's existence until Ryoma was born."

"When we were younger, I noticed a resentment towards Ryoma festering in Ryoga. I had confronted him about it after I noticed him seething. The gaze he held was not one of a loving brother." The mass of blankets on the bed curled tighter and Kei reached his hand out and rubbed his back soothingly.

"I had told him if he can't love his brother, that he should just leave. Before he does something he would regret." Everyone's eyes snapped to Kei in confusion. They didn't know what Keigo had seen but if it was enough for him to say that, they began wondering what type of brother Ryoga was.

"Three days later...Ryoga dissappeared." He glanced nervously at Ryoma.

"He was so distraught over his brothers departure, that I tracked Ryoga down and provided him with everything he needed. I paid for everything and kept track of his whereabout's at all time's. I put a tracker in everything I gave him. If only to ease Ryoma's mind." He ran his fingers through his silver hair and sighed.

"Five years ago Ryoga came to Japan. It was the day we had discovered Ryoma's heart condition. We were going to tell the whole family. I thought it would be good to have Ryoga there. He seemed to genuinly miss his family. So I told him where they lived and when we arrived at the house, Rinko was dead. The tracker put him in the house at the time of her death."

"He-" Momo began angrily.

"No he didn't, she died because of a heart condition, it released a blood clot that burst in her br-"

"Kei!" Ryoma whipped the blankets off his face and nearly kicked his brother.

"Shut up!" His eyes were red-rimmed.

"Sorry Ryoma." His eyes twinged in regret as he looked at Ryoma.

"I found Ryoga, and he was confused. He pushed me away from him and told me never to come near him again. He blamed himself for her death." Ryoma sat up on the bed as Kei spoke all eyes drawn to the two brothers.

"I told Ryoma about Ryoga and why he left, and he was..well he was..." Kei hesitated as his eyes whipped around the room.

"Weak." Ryoma's soft, hoarse voice was loud. Syuu and Sei shifted closer to Ryoma.

"No you weren't Ryoma." Kei stared at hi brother with a fervent determination.

"When I had gotten the U.S. Open invitation, it was my excuse to leave. But when I went to America, I couldn't really think, or function even. I was weak." He turned pleading eyes to all around.

"I looked for Ryoga for two years, everytime...I thought I was so close, but he would just slip away." He hunched forward, fisting his hands in his hair, his eyes wide in thought.

"On the my third year away. I decided to actually do what I went to America for and do the U.S. Open. I figured if I was so busy than I could..." He looked up sheepishly.

"Hide, from the mistakes I made. When I came back after I heard about Syuu. I was ready to put the past behind me, and that past included my mother and brother. My heart condition was getting worse and I only had two years left to live without a transplant." He looked at the wall beside his bed as he tried to steady his breathing, lost in the memories.

"I was supposed to get a heart two weeks after I came to Japan, but the transplant fell through. I had to go back on a waitlist. I began to wonder if I should even..." He looked into the eyes of his lovers as his weariness showed.

"I didn't want to hurt you." He looked away from the cerulean and violet orbs and frowned at his thoughts.

"When, I saw, what I thought was.."

"Fuji breaking up with you." Kirihara's voice was quiet and muted but it was still heard, and all eyes shifted from Ryoma to Kirihara.

"I know because I saw the same thing. Fuji kissing someone. It was too dark to see who it was." Ryoma nodded his head absently.

"It was the perfect escape... You didn't love me and I needed to go away for treatment. My heart was getting worse." He spoke hallowly as everyone listened intently.

"I left because I was weak...not just physically but mentally. I couldn't find the strength to fight for you, because I truly believed that I would.."

"Die." Ryoma's eyes looked into pained blue and Kei seemed at a loss of what to say.

"When I found you, I just couldn't see you in pain. Our parents had just left. When I called the plane to leave. It was raining and I got a phone call from my company saying that the tracker I had placed in a car for Ryoga's use whenever he comes to Japan, it was in motion. So I had them send his movements to my phone." He looked at Ryoma wary since this would be the first time he has heard this.

"I saw him by our house, leaving it a couple minutes before Kevin called me saying our parents had left for the press conference. I assumed he went with them. So we went back to the house since it was raining so much we couldn't take off anyway." He ran his fingers through his hair in a quick fluid motion.

"My cellphone beeped when his car stopped ...at a ravine for about a minute, before he took off full speed. He-"

"No."

"Ryoma."

"Yo- You can't be serious Kei." Ryoma swallowed quickly trying to force down the bile that threatened to come up.

"An hour later, our parent's car was being pulled out of a ravine, and Ryoga dissappeared."

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you Ryoma. I believe he was trying to kill you and Ryuuta. So you left for specialized care in a maximum security treatment center with Ryuuta. It was the only way to insure your safety. I've been searching for Ryoga for the past two years."

"Damnit Kei!" Ryoma clenched his fists at his ignorance.

"Ryoma had gotten a call the day of the press conference, and he didn't tell me. What did he say?"

"I didn't recognize the caller. He called when I went to the bathroom. He said 'How was your lovers?'. I thought it was just a prank call. So I smirked and said, 'Wouldn't you like to know?'. He threatened to tell the press, but I couldn't care less about that. I had began wondering how he knew that I had just come from your room. I said, 'I don't care if they know what I do in my personal life.' it never really occured to me you know, that." Ryoma looked up with watered eyes.

"He said, 'Your so much like him, do you want to die like him too? That bastard son of his should've died in that car crash.'. He chuckled, and I panicked. I couldn't think. I couldnt speak. He said, 'What, Karu got your tongue? Heh, I can't wait to finish what I started. Hope you enjoy your lovers, Ryoma.'. I knew it wasn't an empty threat. I just didn't know who it was. But he knew everything about me." He looked down as he felt the heated glares.

"I called my company and had them track the call, and see if they could find out who he was."

"And you didn't tell me." Kei's voice repeated this time in sync with everyone else in the room.

"I didn't tell you...any of you, because I didn't want any of you to worry, I didn't think it was anyone we would have to worry about."

"Well you're wrong. When your surgery was done I had recieved the phone call from your company and the call was made in Todai, so he was probably watching you. I went out of the hospital to call for round the clock protection for you."

"I don't need protection." Ryoma spoke stubbornly.

"Yes you do!" Everyone in the room nearly screeeched, jumping to their feet.

"Don't treat me like a child." Ryoma stressed as he stared at Kei.

"You are not a child Ryoma but you are my brother!" Kei's anger towards the situation rose, at his brothers insistence.

"Someone called your cellphone while I was outside on the phone with my company! He said, 'Well if it isn't Mr. Prowess himself. Maybe you should put security around yourself too.' and I recognized the voice immediately. Ryoga was the one who called me and most likely you."

He looked up at his brother silently pleading with him to lie. To tell him his brother didn't do this.

"I'm serious Ryoma. Your not safe, and I don't know what I can do." Kei slumped to the floor.

"Nothing." All eyes snapped to Ryoma as he stared passively out the window.

A/N- And the new story is called, 'Home'. So far I have two chapters posted, and I'll post another today, since my sister is hooked on it...honestly write the words ot6 and spy and she's all ears. XD R&R