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Nameless

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"Your symbol is becoming more prominent."

Ritsuka peered up at Soubi as the fighter's fingers lightly trailed over the broken heart peeking through his bandages.

"Yeah, I was expecting to see a name like yours form somewhere…." Ritsuka murmured, recalling the sacrifice of the female zero explaining to him that she had asked him where his name might have shown up. But it didn't show up back then. Why did it show up now?

Soubi frowned a little upon mentioning of a name found somewhere…it was a reminder of the fact that his name was still the same. However, now was not the time to tell Ritsuka about that detail, for now he was eyeing the bandages that Ritsuka had wrapped about him, only allowing his symbol to peer through the white strips.

"Ritsuka, how did you get hurt?" he asked, carefully laying his palm flat over the Sacrifice's stomach, cautious in case the wound in question was anywhere near where his hand lay.

The Sacrifice swallowed; cautiously propping himself up on his elbows, the dull sensation in his side managed a sharp jolt through his nerves before he managed to relax a bit. Thankfully the pain was ruled out from…earlier experiences…that left him feeling tired and rather numb with relaxation. A relaxation that was in question once Soubi had asked about his bandages.

"I was clumsy when I was coming down the stairs at school." He said, trying to come up with a good explanation, "I landed on the stairs funny and now I have a large bruise on my side."

He waited, alert and ready for the moment when the Sacrifice would reveal if he believed him or not.

Pushing himself up on one elbow, lying on his stomach still, Soubi lightly ran his knuckles down the side of Ritsuka's face and the Sacrifice felt himself blush a bit as memories of their previous actions came rushing back at full force.

"That's why you kept pushing my hands away earlier…" the Sentouki said; his voice quiet and carrying on a slight husky tone.

"It hurts when it's touched." Ritsuka said, averting his eyes.

Looking at Agatsuma was becoming hard to do. The Fighter may not have realized it as greatly as the Sacrifice did, but both of the males were still lying on Soubi's bed, their only cover being Soubi's sheet since the comforter had been unconsciously kicked away earlier. And now as they lay there, Ritsuka still on his back, propped up on his elbows, Soubi on his stomach, one arm folded and propping himself up enough to peer up at Aoyagi. Both still laying there…the teen unable to look at the adult.

Soubi might not have been aware of it, but he was looking rather tempting—in a fan girl's imagination mostly—with his lengthy hair tousled, strands slinking over his broad shoulders as the sheet was pulled down a bit by gravity so that, if he looked again, Ritsuka would have been able to see the man's lean muscles and see traces of the lash marks that had managed to peek over his shoulders and trace pale lines in cross hatching over his back.

"Hm? Ritsuka?" Soubi blank, tilting his head a bit as he noticed that the Sacrifice was looking away and blushing.

"I-I need to get going. My mother's expecting me to be home on time today and I can't make up the excuse that I'm staying over at Yayoi's house ag—"

The Sentouki had reached over and curved his fingers about the back of the teens head, craning his own neck so that he could reach the slightly parted lips. Any more words that were going to come from this mid-sentence forming mouth were gone as Soubi pressed his own lips over Ritsuka's again. Neither of them could keep count of how often this occurred even if they wanted too…but no matter how many times it happened…it still made Ritsuka's heart skip a beat.

Parting a bit, still so close that his breath still caressed Ritsuka's mouth, Soubi caught a firm hold on the Sacrifice's eyes with his own.

"Is there something…you want to tell me, Ritsuka?" he whispered.

"W-What do you mean?"

Soubi touched Ritsuka's bottom lip gently, trailing it down to his chin and then down his neck…over the bandages until he reached the teen's side in question.

"About this…" he said, lightly pressing his fingers down on it and the teen winced before the pressure eased again and he saw the Sentouki's fingers again. "…and the fact that it is not a bruise."

A crimson smudge covered the man's fingertips…blood…Ritsuka's blood…

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Zipping up his jacket, Ritsuka sighed, leaning back against the door to the Fighter's apartment.

He had left in a hurry again…but not before telling the fighter the truth behind the bandages.

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"Your mother?"

"Yes…she wasn't happy about my ears missing so suddenly." He said, lowering his eyes, "She doesn't trust me anymore…"

She never trusted him in the first place…not since the real Ritsuka had vanished.

"Why didn't you come to me?" Soubi asked; puzzled by the fact that his assumptions had been true all these years but the Sacrifice had never told him, nor had he commanded him to do anything about it.

"I have to go home now." The teen said, turning and heading for the door as he pulled on his jacket.

A hand touched his shoulder, "Ritsuka…do you want me to stop her? I can stop her if you want…I will even kill her if that is what will make it all stop…"

"Shut up!" he shouted, "Don't ever say anything about killing Seimei and my own mother! Never say that again!"

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He had left in a hurry after that moment. The moment he shouted at his lover, he ran for the door and now here he was…standing in the cold winter air; the Sentouki's final words echoing in his head.

He didn't confirm his command.

He didn't say that he loved him.

For the first time he could recall, the man's words did not come to make his stomach lurch or his chest tighten with the pains of submittance to the intoxicating melody of his voice. The letters did not leave his lips, those final syllables that would have made everything alright between them again. Soubi's words were spells and they always cast well on Ritsuka, just one confirmation of his order, a single word from his mouth would have made him stay for all eternity, his offer forgotten.

Hugging himself, clinging to his arms, Ritsuka wanted to forget the man that had been wrapped all about him only an hour ago. He wanted the touches and caressing hands to disappear, freeze away in the wintry atmosphere and never be felt again.

"You could have fixed it." He said weakly as he descended the stairs down to the sidewalk.

On the pavement he cast a glare up towards the Sentouki's door.

"YOU COULD HAVE FIXED IT!" he shouted, clenching his fists and squeezing his eyes shut so tightly that two tears managed to make a damp trail each down his cheeks.

His feet propelled him forward and he was flung into a sprint up the sidewalk, his body wanting to put the apartment as far behind him as possible at that moment. But his heart was still there…still on the doorstep with one little message left over from his brain, a thought that didn't reach him mentally but stabbed right into his heart like a pushpin posting up a notice on a bulletin board.

It's almost as if…he wants me to be mad at him…

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"Ritsuka, will you be eating with us tonight?"

The teen paused at the second stair, peering over at his father; who was standing in the entrance of the kitchen with a hand on the doorframe and watching his son with a rather cold stare in spite of his seemingly normal question.

"I'm not hungry right now. I'm going to go study for a test I have tomorrow. Please tell Mother that I'm sorry." He said, dropping his hand from the railing and silently ascending the stairs to his room.

In the time it took him to run from Soubi's apartment to his front door, the teen had to take even longer to regain his composure before he even dared to enter the house.

Within these walls he had to be as similar to the real Ritsuka as he could, even though he preferred to stay the way he was now. The real Ritsuka could sleep forever for all he cared, as long as he was certain that he wasn't about to loose the one person he managed to tell he loved. He didn't want four years of struggle to confirm the emotion and finally express it to all be in vain and the real Ritsuka would destroy all of his efforts after one day.

Making sure his door was locked, the teen retreated to the edge of his bed, preparing to sit upon it…but he stopped himself and stared down upon the sheets. The sheets reminded him of what he had been doing in the last two hours…

He moved away from the bed, sitting on the floor and pressing his back against the glass of the sliding door leading out to the tiny balcony. The same balcony that Soubi had entered and exited through so often in the past days when he was only a child and the man was still just in college.

It was better then remembering sex.

Drawing up his knees, Ritsuka nestled his forehead against them and wrapped his arms tightly about his legs, shrinking into a lump against the glass as his hair tickled his face. His hands were trembling again…he wasn't sure if it was anger that Soubi had offered to kill his mother or if it was the thought that made him wonder if Soubi had intentionally angered him.

If he did it purposefully…why did he?

A familiar ringing in his pocket made him explode from the compact ball he had made himself into, his hands digging into his pockets feverishly until he managed to withdraw the cell phone and flip it open.

"Soubi!" he clung to the phone, waiting for the Fighter to speak.

"Ritsuka…you left so quickly…"

There was something wrong. Soubi sounded like he was saying something against his will.

"Are you alright?"

"Don't worry."

"I AM WORRIED!"

He heard a soft chuckle but it didn't last long.

"Ritsuka…you left before I could bring myself to say it."

"Say what?" Ritsuka tensed up, the phone creaked in his tight grip and he tried to relax his fingers but they only began to tremble, forcing him to tighten them again so that he could hold the phone steady.

A sigh was breathed into the phone and Ritsuka pressed it closer to his ear.

The Fighter finally spoke again.

"I had…ulterior motives for sleeping with you."

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A/N:

Well, he told him...

I started working on the next chapter already so maybe you won't have to wait very long for the next one. I can't make any promises though so all I ask is that you please continue reading my fan fiction until the end. Even if the characters begin to sound...unlike themselves.

I hope no one minded the fact that they slept together again so soon, I just wanted to make Soubi have a bigger hole dug for himself when he told Ritsuka his secret. It makes things more dramatic and, hopefully, a better fan fic.

Please review.