Disclaimer: I so want to own Soubi and Ritsuka, yet I can't. Too bad for me since they belong to Yun Koga.

A/N: More confusion . . . I suppose. And my version of Seimei is probably different. Wait. Scratch that. He is different from his manga counterpart. This is solely my fault though, because I have never read the manga, and I believe I have mentioned this pertaining to Nana's characterization as well.

Yakusoku
Chapter 35: At Every Corner Of My Mind

The breeze was really cold; yeah, that was what Yuzuna thought when she felt the wind bite at her cheeks. The school bell rung several minutes ago, and she was now standing outside by the school gate waiting for someone. She wasn't worried that he might be late or flirting with some girl somewhere - he wasn't like that. Yuzuna knew him best.

"Looks like I made it this time."

Yuzuna's eyes lighted up at the sight of him. His short red hair swayed in the wind, and his bright brown eyes sparkled with life. "It wouldn't have mattered anyway, Isoshi. I could have waited several more hours before you showed up, and I still would have greeted you with a warm smile instead of an angry glare."

"Ahahahaha, you're too kind, you know that?" he told her. "Besides, it's pretty cold today. It'd be bad if you caught a cold because you were standing out here too long. Come on, let's go."

Yuzuna complied as she walked towards Isoshi. "By the way, did Seimei get mad again?"

"Huh?"

"His Fighter . . ."

"Oh, that." Isoshi was now giving her an uneasy look - perhaps he didn't want to talk about it? Just when Yuzuna thought he wasn't going to say something, he said, "yeah, he's mad again. Makes me wonder how Soubi can be so reckless all the time. Seimei and I may be the best of buds, but sometimes I feel like I don't understand him as much as I should or thought I should be. Maybe Miro doesn't know him as well as I also thought. Yet, Miro is a Fighter and not a Sacrifice, so I can see the differences between them. "

"Would it help if I talked to Soubi?" Yuzuna asked.

"Nah, they'll deal with this issue on their own. There's no point in us butting in."

". . . True."

-----

"Soubi, does it make you feel superior to them or something?" The blonde shrugged. "If you're not going to answer my question, then I don't see the point of you remaining with me when all you do is make me mad."

"I'm your Fighter, so it can't be helped."

Seimei scoffed. "A lone, distressed cat like me is not suited to putting up with reckless behavior like yours. Even a simpleton would know when to give up or retreat when it is necessary."

"I hardly lose. Why become so concerned over such a petty matter?" Soubi asked.

"Hiding you from my little brother is a lot harder than I make it out to be." Soubi gave him an inquiringly look because of the sudden change in subject. "You were bleeding blood on my bedroom carpet. After you departed, my little brother came inside my room and saw the little mess you left . . . He asked me if it was mine . . ."

"And that bothers you?"

Seimei sighed at the uncanny knack for Soubi's insensitivity. It made him wonder about Isoshi's Fighter - together, they were so different than he and Soubi - problems never constantly popped up for them. He envied his friend for that. He could only guess why Soubi approached him that one quiet day so long ago . . . Why did he accept his fate so easily?

-----

"Hey."

Black cat ears perked up at the greeting before the head they belonged to looked up. Brown clashed with blue, as a blonde-haired man gazed down at a disoriented high school boy. The boy's long, dark bangs hid most of his eyes as they continued to stare at one another.

"Yes?" was his reply.

The blonde noticed that he was sitting among a tight group of friends, and they were all giving him wary glances. It was to be expected though - he was a complete stranger - walking up to this high school boy and greeting him so casually was oddly strange.

"May I talk to you for a second?"

"Who are you?" one of the other boys asked.

"What do you want with our friend?" another one added.

"Seimei," from the now scared look on the midnight-haired boy's face, he knew that he had found his target, "I would like to talk to you for a minute, if you don't mind."

Unsure of what he meant to the man, Seimei nodded and stood up. His ring of friends gasped at his sudden willingness to comply to the blonde-haired man's wishes, but he didn't care. On the outside he was completely likeable, yet they knew nothing of the real him on the inside. There was something dark that he was keeping from them.

"All right." Seimei turned to face his supposed friends. "I'll be back shortly."

"Wait, Seimei, you don't even know this guy. Are you sure it's okay to go somewhere with him to talk?" one of his friends asked. "What if he has a hidden agenda? How does he know your name?"

"Do not worry, Seimei's friends, I am simply going to have a talk with him, nothing more. You'll all see him in one piece. I promise."

"I trust his word on that, guys, so don't worry," Seimei said.

From a distance he could hear his friends saying things like:

"If he does something funny, simply shout for help!"

"Don't go somewhere too secluded!"

"Aim for the you-know-what for self-defense, got it?"

"My, what nice friends you have," the blonde commented.

"Good friends they are, indeed. Since you know my name . . . I have come to wonder what yours is."

"Soubi. Agatsuma Soubi."

"Soubi, eh?" Seimei didn't seem to be as nervous as he was before, now that he knew the blonde-haired man's name. "You know, approaching a stranger and saying you want to talk to them is not considered normal."

"I've come to realize that."

"So, Soubi, what did you want to talk to me about . . .?"

"I've come to tell you that you are my Master."

"What . . .?"

"I am your Fighter."

"Fighter?" Seimei frowned. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"Your true name is Beloved, and it is from that word alone that we are bound to one another." Soubi pulled down his turtleneck and exposed his neck to the boy. "This word that is etched upon my skin is proof enough that I belong to you."

"This is crazy! Someone can't belong to me! You're a person, not an animal!"

"Accept your destiny and I shall become all yours. For the sake of the ones you love, it'd be best if you agree to this, Seimei, no, rather I call you Beloved. Beloved, my master."

"No . . . I won't. You're just some psycho who's picked off from the streets, and you're trying to lure unsuspecting teens like me into some sort of trap. Tough luck, because I'm not falling for it, you hear?"

-----

"You're making me angry all over again. Please stop asking me annoying questions such as that," Seimei said. He placed one hand to his forehead out of frustration. "I'm still puzzled as to why I ever agreed to being your Master in the first place."

"You were rather reluctant - that I remember clearly, but everything else seemed to pass by me in a haze." Seimei's eyes narrowed at the sound of that. He couldn't see how the blonde could forget such an event. "What matters now is that we're together."

"I'm tired. It'd be best if you leave because I have a feeling my mother's going to go into one of her tantrums again." Soubi merely smiled before he walked towards Seimei's bedroom window. "Protecting my brother is not as easy as I make it out to be, either. I wonder though . . . If I somehow died . . . How would Ritsuka manage without me there by his side whenever he'd need a shoulder to cry upon?"

"That choice is up to him, Seimei."

Yeah, I guess you're right, Soubi. Would things become more worse if I was to be gone? I wonder . . .

-----

Brown eyes slowly opened as they roused themselves from sleep; Yuzuna was leaning her head in her arms while she was sitting on her office chair. Her computer monitor blared with light, and it hurt when she looked at it. She had the strangest dream, or rather it wasn't really a dream, but a remnant of a past event she wasn't aware of remembering.

"Ouch."

Yuzuna winced when she felt a sharp jabbing pain on her right shoulder - this was what she got for sleeping so stiffly at her desk for such a long period of time. Sitting up straight she focused on her computer monitor some more to realize that she was reading over notes she typed in about Ritsuka a while back. They were merely snippets of what she and the boy had talked about for the durations of their time spent together.

-----

"Sensei, I've always wondered why you chose to do this sort of job."

"Ahahaha, is it that strange to you, Ritsuka?"

"I guess so."

"Well, let me tell you a little something; I do this because I enjoy it." Ritsuka looked at her stupidly. "In other words, I enjoy helping other people cope with their problems, and it's at times like these that I feel I am doing my best at anything, really."

"I see."

-----

"She's done it again?" Yuzuna was obviously getting really worried about this problem of his.

"Yeah, but it's not as bad as last time."

"Whether it was more bad or not as bad, it doesn't matter about that as long as she's still beating you." Ritsuka bowed his head in shame. He felt like hiding away in some corner where he could be invisible. "Not getting to the root of the problem will never solve anything."

"I understand that, but I'm afraid to ask."

"Afraid?"

"I know why she hurts me, and at the same time I feel as if I really don't know, Sensei. Is there something wrong with me that she can see, but I cannot? Do you see that flaw within me, as well?"

"No, Ritsuka," Yuzuna patted the boy on his left shoulder, "there is nothing wrong with you."

-----

"Sometimes, I feel like I want to be a part of the clouds way above my head," Ritsuka said. "Sometimes, I wish I was born normal."

Chapter 35: END