How to Lose Your Ears in Ten Days

Day 2

By YaoiKitten

For Rahzel, for everything you've done for me and being a sweetheart about it.

Soubi, much to his credit, was moving up in the world. He was no longer hanging around elementary schools anymore, but got to stand in front of a large, expansive high school gate. It was nice. He could blend in easier, not get so many strange looks from women walking by. As Ritsuka got older, he had even managed to shake off the stigma of 'pedophile.' Standing in front of the high school was almost like something tangible to prove it. Ritsuka was all grown up now, mostly at least, and Soubi could finally not feel like a pervert.

Not that he ever did really feel like a pervert. Just as a person's self-concept is shaped by the concepts that others have of them, Soubi was beginning to vicariously believe that maybe he was a pedophile. Only he didn't like younger kids in general, he just liked Ritsuka. Maybe a better term to describe him would have been 'Ritsukaphile.'

Soubi snorted. He always thought of the silliest things while waiting for the younger boy to get out of school.

He pulled out his pack of cigarettes and thumped them absentmindedly against the palm of his hand. A slender, white stick popped out and his long fingers pulled it from the pack. He placed it between his lips and fished around for his lighter, finding it in his coat pocket and lighting up the cigarette. The smoke filled his lungs when he inhaled, and he let out the warm, chalky smoke from between slack lips.

He really was trying to quit. It was just times like this, when he was waiting or didn't have anything else better to do, that he liked to smoke. He didn't smoke at home when he was painting or hanging out with Kio. He managed to refrain from smoking when he was teaching classes all day at University. He even purposefully stayed inside instead of going out with the other students who smoked so he wouldn't have the temptation. He never smoked when he went out with Ritsuka in the evenings, or when they went out on weekends. The only time he ever smoked was in the afternoon when he was waiting. He had been working on the same pack for almost a week now, so he thought he was doing pretty good.

Of course, he liked it when Ritsuka came out of school and glared at him, tearing the lit cigarette from his fingers and stomping it into the ground in a huff. Ritsuka always looked so cute when his nostrils flared and the color came to his cheeks when he was angry. He would yell at him and order him to stop. Soubi loved that.

There was a lot to love about Ritsuka, and Soubi felt his words becoming truer and truer with each passing day. It was no longer a spell to form a bond when he said 'I love you'- It was coming from the depths of himself now, from everything that he was.

That was one thing that Soubi had done for himself, without any orders from anyone. He had, of his own free will, fallen in love with Ritsuka. He had never expected to, but he couldn't help it.

Ritsuka had originally been his only reason for living from the beginning, the promise that he had made to Seimei prevented him from joining him after his 'death.' No, he couldn't die until he had taken care of Ritsuka in his brother's stead. Ritsuka, though, was the only reason why he KEPT on living.

They were fighter and sacrifice now. They were together. They were lovers.

No, they weren't lovers. Not physically, at least.

There really wasn't a need to be. As they got to know each other better, as they had gone through everything together over the course of the years - all the fights, all the personal issues, all the drama - there became less and less need to form the bond physically when so many others were being formed socially, emotionally, and psychologically. He and Ritsuka had reached a level where a physical connection paled in comparison to what they already had, so physical affection had naturally become a frivolous luxury to him.

It was a frivolous luxury that was driving him crazy.

While he had managed to back off, to give Ritsuka the space he seemed to so desperately need, it had not lessened his desire any for the boy. He worked hard to be satisfied with just holding hands and snuggling and occasional kissing. He didn't want to pressure Ritsuka at all, to scare the boy with any new physical sensations to confuse his already hyper-active and frazzled emotional senses.

Satisfied but never satiated.

Until yesterday. Until that kiss.

Soubi exhaled and a warm shiver ran through his body when he remembered the feel of Ritsuka's silky kitty-tongue sliding into his mouth of its own volition. Soubi had been so surprised, so startled, that he had almost bit the poor little thing off. It was completely and totally unexpected coming from Ritsuka.

He hadn't expected his desires to hit him as abruptly as they did yesterday. He had been patient. He had been kind about it. One little kiss, however, sent him over the edge. He had squelched all those feelings down when Ritsuka was still just a kid, barely on the cusp of puberty. He had suffered through the boy's growth support, not really trying to pay attention to Ritsuka getting taller, the voice getting deeper, the body becoming more muscular and toned. He had ignored the way that with each passing day he was becoming more and more like Seimei.

No, not like Seimei. Never like Seimei. Ritsuka was Ritsuka, and he never forgot that.

The hairs on the back of his neck stood up when he heard the bell ring to signal the end of the school day. He looked at his cigarette, half-gone, and debated if he should light another one before the boy could get outside and see him not smoking.

No need, there he is.

Ritsuka's cheeks were flushed as he came running out of the gate and skidded to a stop when he saw him. Soubi smiled and took another drag, letting the smoke fill his lungs and warm him from the inside.

No matter how old Ritsuka got, he still remained adorable. His hair was loose and constantly flying around his face and there was something still unkempt and slouchy about his clothes. He was beautiful without any effort, and as he walked over to Soubi, his coat thrown on haphazardly over his sweater and jeans and his messenger bag slung over his body, he looked positively lovable.

Soubi pulled him into an embrace as soon as he was in reach and gave him a solid hug.

"Hey, not in front of school!" Ritsuka protested, looking around at his fellow classmates looking back at him.

"I couldn't help it, you're just too cute." Soubi refused to let him go.

"You're still smoking," Ritsuka pointed out. He eyed the cigarette dangling from Soubi's fingers. He leaned over and Soubi thought he was going surprise him by taking a drag, but instead Ritsuka bit his index finger hard enough to leave marks.

Soubi yelped and dropped the cigarette. He let go of Ritsuka and brought his hand to his lips, nursing the little wound.

Ritsuka smirked and ground the flame into the concrete with his sneaker.

"Soubi-san, are you okay?" Yayoi asked as he and Yuiko joined them.

"What happened, Soubi-san?" Yuiko asked, trying to get a look at his hand.

"Ritsuka bit me," he said indignantly. He looked directly at the culprit. "The little fink."

Ritsuka smiled unremorsefully. "When we get to your place I'll make it all better."

Soubi raised an eyebrow at this but let his lover take him by the arm and lead him down the street, out of the flow of human traffic.

"You don't have to work tonight, right?"

"No, my classes end early on Tuesdays."

"Lovely."

Soubi allowed Ritsuka to tug him along while Yuiko chatted amiably beside him. "So what are you guys going to do at your house, Soubi?"

Soubi thought he saw Ritsuka's face redden out of the corner of his eye. "I'm not sure. Probably just make something to eat and relax."

"Oh, can Yayoi and I come too? I love your cooking, Soubi-san!"

"Yuiko, didn't you promise Yayoi that you would go to the arcade with him after school during lunch?" Ritsuka interjected.

Yuiko stopped in the middle of the sidewalk and Yayoi practically ran into her. She looked back at him. "Did I?"

"Yuiko-san! You don't remember?" he whined. The hurt expression on his face was enough to make Ritsuka roll his eyes. Soubi caught it and smirked.

"You did," Ritsuka said.

"I forgot."

"Yuiko-san!"

"Ritsuka and Soubi should come too!" Yuiko exclaimed. "We can all go and have fun!"

Ritsuka's eyes were hidden by his bangs, but Soubi still picked up on the annoyed twitching that his ears did. "Ritsuka, are you not feeling well?"

Ritsuka turned to look at him. He blinked.

Soubi leaned forward and pressed his forehead against Ritsuka's to check his temperature. "He seems a bit hot, I should probably just take him home."

"Ritsuka-kun, are you all right?" Yayoi asked, real concern in his voice.

Ritsuka looked to Soubi. He didn't really want to lie to his friends, but he didn't want to go along with them either.

Soubi smiled and scooped the other boy up into his arms, carrying him like a bride across the threshold. "I'll just take him home and put him to bed." Ritsuka was a lot heavier now, but Soubi was still strong enough to pick him up and carry him for a block or two.

"I can walk!" Ritsuka protested.

Soubi turned and walked down the street in the direction of his apartment. Ritsuka's commands and shrieks of 'I order you to put me down!' faded into the distance.

Yuiko stood in the middle of the sidewalk, still looking after them. "Do you get the feeling that they just blew us off?" she asked.

Yayoi looked at her. "What makes you think that? Ritsuka has been distracted lately, the flu or something would explain his behavior."

Yuiko turned and stuck out her tongue. "Women's intuition!"

Yayoi's eyes went as wide as saucers. "Yuiko-san, you have that?"

"Of course." Yuiko bopped him on the head and ran down the street.

Not seeing much else to do, Yayoi ran after her.

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Soubi pulled the keys to his apartment out of the pocket of his fur and suede coat. Ritsuka stood a little off to the side, waiting to be let in. "You could have let me walk, y'know," he was lecturing. "Especially since you were the one who faked my fever, you should have let me walk."

"I wanted to be convincing." Soubi opened the door and stood back to let Ritsuka in first.

"People were staring. All you did was draw more attention to us."

He pulled the door shut behind him and took off his coat. "They acted like they had never seen two people in love before."

"Well, you usually don't carry your loved one around like that."

Soubi looked at him.

"Er, in public that is," he amended.

Soubi was silently pleased that Ritsuka had not stammered and protested when he mentioned them being 'in love.' Soubi still expected to be reprimanded for any kind of forward behavior like that. He wondered if the reason why Ritsuka had fought his proclamations of love so much was because he had known subconsciously that it was a spell. While Ritsuka still hadn't told Soubi 'I love you' outright, he no longer protested or bristled at the fact. At this point in their relationship, those words had become obsolete. They knew what they meant to each other and didn't need to use spells anymore.

Ritsuka had taken off his coat and shoes and sat on Soubi's bed. The one room apartment was large and spacious, with the bathtub and sink along one side and the toilet tucked away into a little closet that recessed into the wall. Wood paneling encased the loft apartment and made the whole space feel warm and woodsy despite having no privacy. The glass doors that led out onto the balcony offered the room a lot of light. Soubi's kitchenette was along another wall and his bedroom furniture jutted out into the middle of the room from another. He had bought a television set and game console to keep Ritsuka occupied when he was over and various paintings that he was working on were scattered along the edges of the room, leaning up against the walls.

Soubi no longer painted butterflies and flowers. His paintings had turned expressionistic and abstract, a complete one-eighty from the traditional fine art paintings he had learned in college. The splashes of bright colors across the canvas did form butterflies and flowers sometimes, but they were intermixed with figures and places, fire and water.

Soubi's bed was always covered in the finest of linens- pastel blue four-hundred thread-count Egyptian cotton sheets and a silk duvet cover embossed with paisley swirls. Ritsuka fingered the fabric beneath his hands, pinching and pulling at the creases in the silk while he studied the painting that Soubi was currently working on. It was two figures scratched into the setting of an abandoned warehouse. One seemed to be talking on a cell phone while fire seemed to be sprouting from the feet of the other figure and a streak of bright blue seemed to float across the canvas.

Soubi set about to prepare some tea, putting water into the machine and pressing tea leaves into tea balls to seep in the hot liquid put out at the push of a button. He set the teacups on the low table in the kitchen and came to sit beside Ritsuka.

"So what do you want to eat?"

Ritsuka looked up at him, startled, tearing his eyes off the painting. He hadn't even noticed that Soubi had sat down, he was so deep in thought.

"Food?" Ritsuka asked, focusing his eyes on Soubi. He seemed to be staring at his lips.

"What would you like to eat?"

Ritsuka's eyes never left Soubi's lips. "You're the one who's cooking. You decide. Beggars can't be choosers."

"I can make anything you want," Soubi told him.

"Not if you don't have the ingredients."

"If it's for you, I can do it."

There it was. The slight flicker of Ritsuka's eyes up to meet his own. Soubi leaned forward and kissed Ritsuka quickly, soundly on the lips, leaving only a breath of warmth behind. "I can for you."

Before he knew what was happening he found himself flat on his back with his legs dangling over the edge of the bed. Ritsuka was on top of him, half lying on him, and nuzzling into his neck. One fist was clenched into the fabric of Soubi's shirt, the other slipped into his hand and their fingers intertwined.

"Oh, okay," he said. "If you want to cuddle."

Ritsuka bit Soubi on the neck, on the spot of skin just above the bandages he always wore.

Soubi winced inwardly but didn't react. "Would you stop biting me already?"

A moment passed with no reaction. Ritsuka still kept his face buried in Soubi's neck. He soon felt Ritsuka's tongue lapping at the place he had bit.

Soubi clenched his fists tight at his sides. Did the boy honestly not know what this was doing to him? It was getting harder and harder to control himself.

Ritsuka pulled back enough to look Soubi in the eyes. His face was bright red as he leaned down and touched the tip of their noses together. "Soubi, I-"

"SOU-CHAN!"

Ritsuka sat bolt upright. His ears pressed down against his head and he turned to the door. Soubi was surprised he didn't see him hiss.

"Sou-chan, I brought… Oh, 'tsuka-chan is here." Kio stopped in the doorway, a plastic bag in his hand. He was always used to just walking into Soubi's apartment, he never knocked. Part of it was because he was hoping that one of these days he'd catch Soubi changing or taking a shower in the bathtub.

Ritsuka stood up and stalked over to Kio, grabbing the plastic bag from his hand. He peered inside. "Beer? Good. I need one."

Kio watched as Ritsuka popped the top and took a long chug of the frothy liquid. He looked to Soubi, who had sat up and was sitting on the bed. "Did I come at a bad time?"

"We were just about ready to make dinner," Soubi explained, standing up. "I forgot you were coming over."

Ritsuka rolled his eyes and finished off the beer. It tasted like piss in his mouth. He grabbed another.

"Hey, leave some for us!" Kio told him.

"You can always get more."

"Do I have any requests for dinner?" Soubi was already at the sink washing his hands. His sleeves were rolled up and his hair was pulled back from his face into a ponytail.

"Minced chicken and shaved Burdock root pasta."

"Well, aren't we specific," Kio said. He was putting the beer into the refrigerator to keep it cold until dinner and discourage Ritsuka from taking anymore.

"It's been a while since I made that," Soubi said thoughtfully. He dried his hands on a dish towel. "What made you choose that?"

Ritsuka came and put his arms around Soubi's waist from behind. He leaned forward so that he could whisper in his ear.

"I need to train my tongue."

When Soubi turned around to look at him, Ritsuka and Kio were already in the corner hooking the gaming console to the television and arguing over who was going to beat who at what game.

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Author's Note: For those of you who've been wondering what I've been up to lately, I've been working on my own original stories for a while. I'm getting back into fan fiction though, so expect more from me in the future. I do plan on finishing up 'Open Wide' as well. . My original work can be read on my live journal, the link is on my info page. I update there about every two weeks and my readers get new chapters first before they're posted here. Comment and I'll friend you. .