Disclaimer: I do not own Loveless, no matter how much I wish I did. Also, I am not a psychologist and all psychological information for this fic comes solely from one Wikipedia article.
Chapter Two: Motherless
"Here's your house, Ritsuka." The two boys stopped in front of a fairly normal-looking house in the middle of a row of them.
Ritsuka studied the place. Nothing about it was familiar. Not the shape of the windows or the gate. Nothing.
If five years had really passed- and Ritsuka was beginning to believe they had- then he had a lot of adjusting to do.
"Do you want us to go in with you?" Youji-san asked.
Ritsuka frowned at the blue-haired boy. "Why?" he asked.
Natsuo-san and Youji-san exchanged a look. They seemed to do that a lot, as if they were on a wavelength that enabled silent communication between the two of them. "If something goes wrong…" Natsuo-san trailed off. He shrugged. "Whatever. We'll just go in with you, Ritsuka-kun."
"Whatever." He assumed the two boys had been to his house before. They seemed to him fairly well, after all.
Without hesitation, Ritsuka opened the gate and let himself into yard. The walk to the house was short and Ritsuka pushed the door open. It was unlocked. His mother must not have left to do the day's shopping yet.
"Tadaima!" Ritsuka walked into the door and slipped his shoes off at the entrance. He noticed that Youji-san and Natsuo-san hung back by the doorway. They seemed to be waiting for something.
"Is that my Ritsuka?" Ritsuka's mother appeared in the doorway to the kitchen. She looked much older than Ritsuka remembered. Her hair was lank and hung down her face. There was nothing of the bright, happy woman, Ritsuka remembered.
Something was definitely off.
"Yes, Mother," Ritsuka said. He stepped into the house and went to give his mother an embrace.
She stepped back out of his reach. Ritsuka noticed how much taller he had gotten. He was nearly his mother's height now.
"My Ritsuka would never skip his curfew!" his mother hissed at him. She grabbed a vase from a table nearby and threw it at him.
Instincts Ritsuka didn't know he had snapped into action and he ducked out of the way. The vase shattered on the floor. Ritsuka was about to explain, but his mother was already launching the wooden spoon she had been carrying in her hand at him. Ritsuka dodged into the kitchen.
"Gomenassai, Mother!" Ritsuka said. His breath was coming heavily. His mother followed him into the kitchen. She grabbed a plate that had been sitting on the table. She launched it at Ritsuka. Ritsuka dodged but not in time to avoid the splinters of porcelain. One of them cut Ritsuka across the arm.
"You're not my Ritsuka! Imposter!" With each word more porcelain flew across the kitchen aimed at Ritsuka.
His mother was screaming incoherently. Ritsuka felt more porcelain hit his face, his arms. Eventually, once his mother had exhausted the dishes she had out on the table, his mother collapsed crying onto the table, her head in her arms.
"Mother…" Ritsuka took a hesitant step towards the woman at the table. What the hell was going on?
"Get out of here, Imposter! You're not my Ritsuka!" The woman's head snapped up and she seemed on the verge of finding something else to throw. Her eyes suddenly widened. "Your ears!" Her voice was a hysterical shriek. "Traitor! How dare you pretend to be my Ritsuka! He would never ever do something so horrible!"
Ritsuka felt his eyes water and he took a step away from his mother, towards the door. When his mother's hand moved to the glass cup on the table, he turned and fled, his legs carrying as if out of habit up the wooden stairs in the hallway.
It was only when he had reached an unfamiliar door and had let himself in that he realized he wasn't even sure of where he was.
Ritsuka figured the room must be his, after all, his gut reaction had been to run here, to safety.
The room had a large window on one end, opposite the bed. A computer and a desk stood by the window. There was really almost nothing else in the room.
Except, a cork board with a ton of pictures on it. Curious, Ritsuka walked up to the pictures. He hated cameras and pictures. He always thought he looked funny in pictures.
Apparently, something had changed in his missing five years, because there were close to a hundred pictures on the board.
Pictures of the blond man- Soubi-san, of Ritsuka, of a pink-haired girl and a black- haired boy. Natsuo-san and Youji-san. A second blond man with many piercing. An older woman without ears and one with.
Apparently, he did know them all.
He also had his ears in every picture. So this new, earless, state, had to be new.
The blond. Soubi-san.
Ritsuka thought back to the man's blue eyes when he had insisted on the title 'san'. They had seemed almost dead, as if the man had no hope left.
Ritsuka felt sick. Obviously, he and the man were close. Even though he couldn't remember anything about them.
The Soubi-san in the pictures was smiling, happy.
Why did he even care about this other person?
"Yo, Ritsuka!"
Ritsuka jumped and whirled to see Youji-san and Natsuo-san standing behind him in the doorway.
"What do you want?" he asked them. He deliberately turned away from his pictures.
"You wanna hang out here or you wanna go somewhere else?" Natsuo-san asked. "I'd leave if I were you. Unless you want that woman coming up here after you."
Ritsuka just stared at the two boys.
"You're bleeding, Ritsuka," Youji-san said. He pointed to Ritsuka's arm. "Why don't we take you out for breakfast, patch you up, and explain some things to you. That is, if you believe that its been five years." He held out his hand towards Ritsuka.
Ritsuka blinked at the two of them. Why were they doing this?
Because they were his friends, of course. Even if he didn't remember them.
With a deep sigh, Ritsuka took Youji-san's hand. It was time he actually listen to the explanations he had been offered. Maybe something would make some sort of sense then.
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A/N: Yeah, I realized after re-watching the last episode, they kind of imply that Ritsuka's memories will never return, but I'm thinking Seimei made that up just to mess with Ritsuka- either that or he was just wrong. Either way, I'm keeping the story.
Macmac: Yeah, I thought about making Ritsuka badass for the last battle, but no matter how I thought about it in my mind, I just couldn't see an nearly-untrained and completely unpracticed Ritsuka beating Beloved. And Soubi didn't stab himself in the neck- he just gave himself a long scar across the word Beloved- though I may not have mentioned that.
Little Angel's Perk: Ritsuka says 'fuck' and that's that. End of argument :-P.
Luthi585: Glad you like the story! Hopefully Ritsuka's mother lived up to expectations.
Lyerial: I feel so bad for Soubi. Every time I add the 'san' to his name it makes me want to cry. I suppose I'm too attached to the story for my own good.
Kimper: I think there may be a chapter or two from Soubi's point of view, but I haven't figured out when or how yet.
Kaina Hyngdou: Glad you liked the chapter!
Noone: Yeah…Ritsuka's mom isn't normal. And I do promise a happy ending.
Anonymous Bluesilver: They say in the anime that Ritsuka's other personality was outgoing, so yeah, he's a bit more like a normal 15 year old (his age now) than he was before. And yeah, I thought the idea was interesting too, and even possible given the nature of Ritsuka's amnesia.
-Phaenilix RM-: No, my bf did come up, but he didn't have time to burn it off for me and the college connection is too slow for it to transfer in a civilized amount of time. But I'll see it soon. Glad you like the story!