Faithless – Chapter 1

--

Dark eyes opened and ears flicked as the body slowly rose up from the bed.

Ritsuka yawned, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, and looked outside the balcony window, noting that it was still dark at 6 in the morning.

Quickly, he gathered his clothes and headed out to the bathroom to bathe himself before school.

--

Trudging down the hallway, he opened the bathroom door to be greeted with his brother, who was just turning on the water right at that moment.

"Ah, Ritsuka! You woke up really early. You want to take a shower, right?"

The younger Aoyagi merely nodded and his brother replied with a nod of his own, testing the water that started to fill the tub.

"Ah, want to take a bath together then? I'll wash your back for you."

Ritsuka didn't mind, for it was a while since they had bathed together.

He stripped himself of his clothing, and few minutes later, he found himself in the bath together with his brother, in the soothing water.

--

Hazel eyes glistened as he trudged through the street. He hadn't seen Ritsuka for a while, and it was killing him, but it wasn't time yet. He just needed more time before he was able to reunite with Ritsuka once again.

--

The two Aoyagi brothers bathed themselves in the clear water; scrubbing each other's back and talking about things that they had gone through before an uncomfortable silence settled between them.

"Ritsuka, you don't talk as much as you did before. Did something happen that I should know of?"

The aforementioned boy replied with a shake of his head, and continued to relax as his brother rinsed his back of the suds.

And he was surprised when skin met skin as his brother embraced him.

"Ritsuka..." He said in a slurred tone.

"I'm your brother, I'll always be here for you. So if anything is bothering you, please tell me what it is."

Ritsuka bit his lip and he tried to keep back his tears. The brother that had been missing for 5 years had finally come back... The brother that he had thought to be dead has returned.

And he was incredibly happy.

--

Repeated clicks echoed through the empty room as the younger Aoyagi continuously typed away at the computer.

He had entered the game world where he had experienced the pain of losing his friends and family and where he had dreamt of Soubi's betrayal.

He paused in his game and leaned back on his chair, a sigh escaping from his lips.

He had thought that if he entered the world again, there would be some clue given to him.

A clue that would lead him back to the missing fighter.

His ears twitched as the door opened and he turned to see that it was his brother, with a gentle smile on his face.

"Ritsuka, playing games so late at night?"

And Ritsuka couldn't help but smile back, shutting off the monitor and turning his full attention to his brother.

--

"Ne, big brother..?"

"Hm?"

Ritsuka hesitated, afraid that he would be pushing his boundaries because of the question he wanted to ask.

But he needed to know what had happened in that 5 year time period he had been missing.

"Where were you all this time? Why didn't you contact home? We were all so worried about you."

Ritsuka saw his older brother stiffen, a look of fear striking his eyes before he quickly hid the emotion with a smile.

A smile with a purpose to hide.

--

"Ah... I was... in hiding, so to speak. The people who wanted to assassinate me might have tracked me down again, so I had to protect myself.

"For not keeping in contact, if they knew that I had spoken to you or…her, they would've taken you as hostage and sought me out that way."

Seimei watched as his younger brother nodded, contemplating what he had just said, before allowing it to sink in fully.

Ritsuka stared at his brother, whom was currently relaxing as he drank a warm cup of tea, and his mind filled with questions.

His brother was hiding for 5 years from people who wanted to kill him. But why did they want to kill him? It wasn't because of Soubi-

And then Ritsuka had begun to question again.

If Seimei had returned, would he take back Soubi? Would he continue the reputation as a powerful Sacrifice and Fighter?

Would Ritsuka lose both his brother and close friend again?

--

Eyes narrowed as the owner watched the two brothers through the window, and he silently cursed.

Seimei had reached Ritsuka before Soubi could.

Now, things had gotten a lot more complicated.

And Ritsuka was going to suffer a lot more heartbreak because of it.

--

Chibi Chidori's nonsense:

The first, and short, chapter of Loveless. I'm sorry. I had started off the first 3 pages with a really nice idea, but by the time I got to the 4th page (the day after), I forgot what I had been thinking and lost the inspiration.

Well, I'm back with what I need, but. It's more for chapter 2 then for chapter 1.

And things don't make a lot of sense. Oh, and for those who think there way a typo in the years, no, Seimei was 'dead' for 5 years. Ritsuka is 16 now, right? He was 12 when he met Soubi (so that's 4 years.) It is 5 because in the anime, Ritsuka states that he saw his brother's corpse in his seat the year before.

So nyah, go do the math.

AND THANK YOU TO MY BETA READER, QIAN YUN!

Reviews:

RubyMoon17: Yes, I seem to understand what you mean. The others just seem wrong.

Yvonne: Hehehe...Are you Korean? Anyway, thanks for reading my fic. The next chapter is here!

spiritelement: Here's the next chapter, and thank you for reading my fic!

KittyElric: not much of a prologue, but thank you for reading!