Back again from yet another hiatus! Maybe one day ill get it together. Writing style change/update again, so apologies for being inconsistent with the rest of the story. Please enjoy and forgive the unreasonable time between updates. I just suck. IMPORTANT NOTE: i decided to go in a different direction with this, so the last two chapters have been DELETED and are no longer part of the story. This chapter fully replaces the last two story wise. Sorry about that.

"Yamato! Wh-what are you saying?! That I can't trust Soubi?!"

Ritsuka was now in a full blown panic as the mere thought of such a thing sent his mind reeling and his heart aching. He had never thought, even for a second, that Soubi would ever be someone he couldn't trust.

"Yes, Ritsuka. I know you may not want to believe it, and it may not even be Soubi's fault, but you don't understand all that Ritsu has done to him." Yamato replied as sympathetically as she could; knowing how hard it must be to hear these things for the poor boy.

"I won't believe it! Soubi would never do anything to hurt me...I know it."

" Maybe we should at least hear her out Ritsuka…"

"No! I won't listen!" Ritsuka blurted out as he somewhat childishly clamped his hands over his ears, as if that would make all of this just go away.

The boy's outbursts were starting to cause a scene however, and it was clear to both Kouya and Yamato that other patrons at the cafe were starting to stare and whisper. Kouya knew that doing all of this in public wouldn't help things, so she casually cleared her throat and gave a little gesture with her head towards Yamato, signaling that it was time to go.

"Ritsuka, why don't you come back to our place for a little while and we can talk about this. You shouldn't rush off into things blindly."

Ritsuka barely heard Yamato's words as his mind continued to reel in complete panic. Once it registered what she said, he suddenly looked at her and shook his head violently.

"No, I have to go and find Soubi. I don't trust Youji and Natsuo alone with him." He replied firmly with new resolve, just before grabbing his bag and turning to walk away. It was then that he heard Yamato let out a long and troubled sigh.

"Come on Kouya...let's go home. Get Ritsuka." The blonde commented casually, and before Ritsuka could even turn around to face them, everything went black as he was once again, rendered unconscious.

When Ritsuka woke, the first thing he noticed was that he was actually fairly comfortable in a bed; not his of course, but it was still not the worst place he had come around in. He then noticed that there was a window just to his right, and he could see that it was very dark out now; most likely late evening. This realization made him suddenly shoot up to a seat with a start, knowing that it meant he had been gones for hours and no one knew where he was; himself included.

"Riku? Are you there?" He asked inside his own head for once; having recently gotten better at speaking to his other half internally as opposed to seemingly talking to himself out loud all the time.

" Yeah. Im here. Did Kouya really knock us out? What the hell?"

"I guess so. I don't know what that means though...do you think we can't trust them?"

" Don't know. I think we will have to play it by ear."

Ritsuka simply nodded in reply, pointless as it was, and finally shifted in the bed so that his legs hung over the edge and he could set his feet on the ground. He tried to stand, but quickly found he was still a bit too light headed for that, and immediately sat back down on the edge of the bed. His head was a little groggy after whatever had happened to knock him out, but he was relieved to find that he at least remembered everything just fine. He was just about to try and start thinking of a plan, when there was a soft knock at the bedroom door that sent him into high alert.

"Ritsuka? Are you awake?" Yamato's soft and gentle voice called through the door before she slowly opened it and peeked her head inside. "Oh good. How are you feeling?" She asked as she flicked on the light and stepped through the door. Ritsuka eyed her suspiciously and looked her up and down to make sure she didn't have any weapons or anything like that; no longer knowing what to expect from anyone.

"Not great. Being knocked out isn't exactly a great feeling."

"We really are sorry about that, but you weren't thinking clearly and we were worried you were going to rush off and get yourself hurt or killed. You need to stay calm and listen to what we have to say. Then you can do whatever it is you really want." She explained calmly, which only made it hard for Ritsuka to keep up his passive aggressive attitude. He stared at her for a long moment, really thinking on how he should proceed, and finally let out a sigh when he realized he didn't really have another option. He knew full well that he couldn't take on the Zero girls all on his own if it came down to it.

"Fine. I'll hear what you have to say...but then i'm going to find Soubi."

"If that's what you really want when we are done, then we won't stop you. So take a second to find your feet, then come meet us in the kitchen. We have tea brewing for you, to help with the headache."

Yamato then left the room to let Ritsuka collect himself. Once they were alone again, Ritsuka fell back onto his back on the bed and took a few deep breaths to try and fully clear and calm his mind. He hated that he was so anxious to hear what the Zeroes had to say, but nothing he did seemed to help. His heart was screaming at him that Soubi would never betray him, but no matter how hard he tried to fight it, his head was telling him that he really DIDN'T know exactly what Ritsu had done to him over the years. The thought that Soubi could somehow turn against him, was enough to make him want to break down and cry.

"Hey...just relax. They may know more about his past, but they don't know him like we do. Don't freak out just yet. Lets just hear what they have to say and get the hell out of here, ok?"

"Yeah...i'll try."

He took another minute or two to clear his head, and then finally got onto his feet, once the room stopped spinning. He meandered his way out of the room and followed the hallway towards the light in the kitchen, where he found Kouya and Yamato sitting calmly at the small table at the edge of the room. He made his way over and pulled out the chair across from the two women, and took a seat just as Kouya reached over to fill an empty glass with the steaming tea. She slid the glass over before relaxing back into her seat with her own glass; clearly intending to let Yamato do most of the talking, as usual. Ritsuka was still a little reluctant to fully trust the two again, so only eyed his glass a moment before deciding it was unlikely that it was poisoned or anything. He began to sip the warm liquid and was relieved that it did quickly start to make him feel a little better.

"So. Why do you think i can't trust Soubi? My own Sentouki...after everything we have been through." He asked in a slightly snarky tone that made Riku proud; making it clear that he was not at all happy to be entertaining this. Yamato sighed heavily and shook her head.

"That's the main problem, Ritsuka. He wasn't always YOUR Sentouki, and he was never meant to be yours."

"I know that. I don't think Seimei planned on dying and leaving him to me, but he is still mine all the same."

"No, you don't understand. Seimei knew he was very likely to get killed, and had made plans for it just in case; but his plan wasn't supposed to be to leave Soubi to you. He was supposed to, and originally planned, to give him back to Ritsu. Soubi was never even meant to stay with Seimei. He was always meant to go back to Ritsu."

Ritsuka couldn't help but let his surprise show a little on his face when he heard that. He had known that Ritsu trained and groomed Soubi to be the perfect Sentouki, but he had no idea that he had planned to get him back one day. It also shocked him to hear of Seimei's original plans; that alone was enough to make his heart sink.

"Then...why did Ritsu give Soubi to Seimei in the first place? Why didn't Seimei give him back to Ritsu when he died if that was his plan? None of this makes any sense."

"Well, Ritsu wanted to train Soubi to start with, but that bastard couldn't be bothered to hone his skills in the field. So, he made someone else do it. Someone who would be as strict and as cruel in their training as Ritsu was; and someone that Ritsu could trust. Seimei was the only one that Ritsu thought could do it; and he wasn't wrong really. As for why he suddenly left Soubi to you...Kouya and I have been trying to figure that out ever since we heard about it. It had to have been to spite Ritsu for some reason, but we can't figure out what that reason is."

"Not that he needs any other reason besides being a sadistic psychopath." Kouya chimed in with her two cents between sips of her tea and harsh glances over the rim of her glasses.

"No, you know Seimei had reasons for everything; even if his reasons were usually twisted." Her lover retorted thoughtfully. Ritsuka meanwhile, didn't like the sound of any of this, and always hated to be reminded of all the suffering Soubi endured at the hands of his brother; so didn't want to linger on the subject. He was sure to keep his resolve though, and put on a stoic expression as he replied.

"Well still, none of that explains why you think i can't trust Soubi now. We are bonded now, he takes my orders, and he only answers to me. He told Ritsu that himself when we were at the academy." The women exchanged a nervous glance back and forth at that.

"He may have said that then, when you were there to hear, but you don't know what was going through his head, and you don't know how deeply Ritsu ingrained himself in Soubi. Did you know that one time, when Soubi was only ten, Ritsu made him stand outside in the courtyard in the middle of winter for three whole days? Even the new students at the academy these days know the story. He wasn't allowed to move a muscle, or eat or drink anything. The whole school was ordered to carry on like normal, like he wasn't even there. So people just passed him by all day and pretended like they couldn't even see him." Ritsuka's heart did break to hear that, but it still hadn't changed his mind on anything.

"That's...really awful."

"Yes, but that's not the worst part. What's worse is that Ritsu was going to let him stay out there for two more days, but at the end of the third day when the nurse was walking by him, she noticed he was barely breathing and all his fingers were getting frostbite. She tried to help him and get him inside, but he refused. He told her that Ritsu said he had to stay there no matter what, even if he died, to prove that he loved him like he said he did. Even at ten, Soubi was ready to die just to get Ritsu's approval. Ritsu only even let the nurse bring him in because she was able to convince him that Soubi was no good to him dead; But think about what kind of adoration that takes...and he had that adoration reinforced for seven more years after that. There is no telling how much of that is still left in him...but i'm willing to bet at least some of it is still there." That was finally enough to get both Riku and Ritsuka's attention, and they could only stare at Yamato in silence for a long moment as they tried to process it.

"You...really think that even after all this time away from him, Ritsu could have a hold over Soubi?" He asked with a shaky voice, being terrified of what he knew she would say.

"I do. We both do; and it only makes matters worse that he went to see Youji and Natsuo. Our contacts at the academy confirmed that they are both still leashed by Nagisa. So they still do her bidding; and her bidding is Ritsu's bidding. If he wants Soubi back, those two boys would be the easiest way for him to bring him back."

All of this startling information was rushing around Ritsuka's mind like a whirlwind, and the real gravity of it was only just now starting to really sink in and send him back into a panic. It only took a second for it all to be too much for him, and he suddenly shot up from his seat and slammed his hands down onto the table.

"Then i have to go find him right now before they can do anything to him! I can't just abandon him and let Ritsu get him back!"

"I gotta agree with you this time; we can't waste any time and risk them getting their shitty hands on Soubi. There is no telling what Ritsu will do to him after what happened at the academy."

Kouya grimaced at the boy's sudden determination, and gave Yamato an obvious look of prodding her to continue.

"Ritsuka...try to stay calm. We didn't want to say anything before because, honestly, i didn't think you would still want to go after him but…" She paused to grumble slightly; clearly not even liking herself, what she was about to say.

"But what Yamato?! Tell me!"

"We got word from a friend of ours about an hour ago...Soubi is already back at the academy. They said he came back alone, of his own accord. Ritsu has him back. It's too late Ritsuka."

TBC