Another one...R&R :D

"Soubi, this is my brother Seimei."

For whatever reason, Seimei had decided that it was time to introduce his Fighter to his precious little brother. It wasn't really that he wanted to share the mirth of being able to spend time with Ritsuka, or even know him, but more that he wanted his brother protected if anything was to happen to him and the smaller Aoyagi boy was left to fend for himself. Soubi would make sure he was alright until he took his very last breath, because his Sacrifice told him to do so. He reached out with one hand to stroke Ritsuka's soft ear, marvelling still at how small and soft it was.

"Would you like to go buy an ice cream?" he asked, handing his brother a five dollar bill. A little hand reached out to grab it and he ran off, tail perking at the thought of a frozen treat. When he was far enough, the eldest Aoyagi boy turned back to his Fighter.

"If I was ever to go away for a while - or indefinately -, you will stay with him and take care of him. Do whatever he asks you to do as if he were me. But don't touch him - never touch him. Even if he asks. Remember that I'll always be there to punsih you if you misbehave...regardless of what common sense tells you," he whispered like a ghost, brushing a strand of hair away from his face.

His timing was always accurate, and his brother came back just as he was done talking, dripping chocolate ice cream in hand. He was smiling, waving the cone blindly in his hand until Seimei cautiously grabbed his hand and stilled it.

"Be careful or you'll drop it," he scolded softly, kneeling down on one knee and leaning forward to lick a drop of chocolate off the pale skin of his brother's hand. Ritsuka giggled and tugged his hand free to lick his ice cream.

He stood up once more, aware of Soubi's eyes glued to the back of his skull. It was a bit amusing, really; no matter how he hurt Soubi, how cruely he talked to him and tortured him, the tall man couldn't help but love him in a sick, dark way. He survived off his master's approval, lived off his praise, loved to do Seimei's bidding. It suited him perfectly, really. Soubi was the kind of person who's personality fit the job.

"Do you...always touch your brother like that?" came the most certainly unexpected, hesitant question. Seimei turned with dangerous speed, his ears standing up and his tail bristling.

"Does it bother you, Soubi? Would you like to do something about it? Call the police? Will you stand up and defend a small child in his best interest?" he teased harshly, nearly spitting in his anger. Of course, that would have been utterly unbecoming. Soubi seemed to thoroughly regret his question and had shrunk back, trying to make himself as small as possible. His master liked it when people were smaller than his, so he tried to get him to cool down that way.

"No, I didn't mean to sound accusing, Please forgive me, Seimei," he breathed softly. His old wounds itched as if warning him of future wounds.

Luckily for him, Ritsuka, who had uptil them been running after some pigeons, came back and pulled on his brother's tail. Seimei threw Soubi one last warning glance before turning to his little brother with a soft smile that was a very rare occurence in Soubi's mind. It only seemed to show itself when Ritsuka was around to coax it out of him. He had to admit that he very jealous of the attention and love this little boy recieved, even though he never did Seimei any services or took care of him. It was, in fact, he who seemed to take care of his brother. Soubi had never had a brother, so he couldn't understand his master's fierce desire to protect and support his little near-twin. He hadn't even fathomed the thought of Seimei cooking until he'd witnessed the eldest making spaghetti in a large pot, a spoon in one hand, smiling as he listened to his brother talk about his apparently boring day. What was so interesting about a boy's daily antics?

"I want to go on the swings. Push me!" Ritsuka ordered, raising one gummy fist in the air. Seimei just chuckled softly and followed him to the swings.

He took orders from the youngest brother, too. He didn't even seem to mind it, at all. His reaction to it was different from Soubi's: when Soubi made his master happy, he felt a large part of satisfaction, a little bit of anguish and a little bit of happiness. When Seimei did something for his brother, he seemed relaxed, content and...dare he say happy? No, not happy. Seimei didn't have emotions like everyone else did. He had moods. He was free from the prison that was the emotional cycle of a human, a sad little cage designed to imprison humans in a small frame of lifestyle. They could try all they wanted, they couldn't really stray from the path carved out for them. Seimei was free of all that; he could walk where he wished on Destiny, say what he wanted and feel as he wished, even wipe people out completely off from the face if the Earth. He was a God, and Soubi was lucky enough to have a small part in God's scheme, however minuscule.

"Don't fall off," Seimei warned, making his pushes smaller ever so slightly. The smaller boy was, in fact, going rather high. If he let go he would fly through the air and land quite a ways off, probably hurting himself in the process. And it had...crossed Seimei's mind too. He was worried.

"I won't!" Ritsuka whined indignantly. His tail was curled around the chain, his hair flying about his face wildly. His eyes were smiling even more than his mouth, and although there was nothing more than a small pull on Seimei's lips, Soubi knew they shared a similar feeling.

Ritsuka wasn't a human by Seimei's standards, really. He had emotions, just like anyone else, and his mind worked in simple ways. He was just another person, someone Seimei wouldn't look at twice if they weren't related. What was the difference then...? Was it the DNA they shared? Was being related to God enough to elevate a person to God status? No. Seimei despised his parents, didn't consider them human either. There was something about the little, giggly boy that Soubi couldn't see but that was painfully clear for Seimei to see. He wanted to find out, and maybe...was he jealous of Seimei's brother? Yes. That was it. He frowned, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his neck.

"Soubi, come here," he heard Seimei order as he slowly allowed Ritsuka to stop. The little boy jumped off the swing and ran towards the jungle gym, sand flying from under his shoes.

"Seimei?"

"I need to make a call. Please take care of Ritsuka for me while I do," he stated blandly before walking off, elegantly taking his phone out of his pocket.

The fact that Seimei had asked him - using the word please - to do this pointed out that the boy really was special. He was not an objet Soubi had to handle, or destroy.

He walked over to the jungle gym, a bit unsure of himself. Handling children was not something he usually had to do, so his first order of business was to climb up the slippery ladder and pull himself up to the narrow bridge that led to another plastic island where Ritsuka was staring down a slide fearfully. He glanced back at his temporary babysitter and frowned in discontempt.

"Where's Seimei? I wanna play with Seimei, not you!" he yelled. Oh, there was the brotherly ressemblance. An uncanny love for ordering people around.

"He's busy for the moment," he paused, "But I would like to play with you, if you would have me."

Ritsuka frowned and his ears turned sideays in thought. Soubi knew because his master did the same thing. The little boy nibbled on his lower lip before nodding slowly and sitting down at the top of the slide. He patted the spot behind him with one hand.

"Slide down with me!"

Soubi crossed the bridge slowly and kneeled down behind the boy, his mind drawing blanks at what to do. His master's orders were interfeering with one another for the first time and his brain was overheating trying to find a solution. He was supposed to give into the little boy's every whim but he could not touch him. That much was clear. What to do, then...?

He looked in between the plastic poles and spied Seimei talking on the phone some ways off, ear glued to the small device, his back to the pair. He wouldn't see them. Maybe this would all be okay, but he had to do it quickly. He sat down behind Ritsuka, settling the boy in between his spread legs, and propelled them forward. They slid down at medium speed, but still Ritsuka squeaked, his tail curling around Soubi's leg and his hands gripping the man's thighs tightly. When they landed at the bottom, Soubi quickly removed the boy from his lap and sat up straight, smoothing down his jeans and wiping off some sand. Seimei hated it when he looked crumpled or unclean. Ritsuka shot up immediately and went to play on the monkey bars, giggling as he swung his legs around.

"Isn't he warm? He's soft, too, isn't he? You just want to touch him more...don't you, Soubi?"

And Soubi knew he was in for it. He hadn't enjoyed touching the smallest Aoyagi boy or anything, nor did he have any desire to touch him further. Displeasing his master was much of a turn off, and as far as he knew he wasn't a pedophile. He loved nothing except his master.

"He asked me to slide with him," he defended himself weakly. Afterwards he remembered that the worst thing he could possibly do was try to elevate himself to a status that deserved to be forgiven. No...it was the wrong thing to say. Seimei actually turned a little red in the face.

"Did he? And what did I tell you?" he snarled.

"Not to touch him."

"And what did you do?"

"I touched him."

"Next time you do it I'll cut off your gubby fingers. The only reason they're still attached to you is because my brother is present." And then he was off, grabbing Ritsuka as the little boy dropped from the monkey bars and fell into his arms bridal style. He laughed and decided to hide behind his brother's back, trying to hide his laughter and moving whenever Seimei turned around, trying to stay out of sight. Seimei humoured him, wondering out loud where he'd gone...

"I'm tired," Ritsuka announced suddenly, stopping the little game of hide-and-seek.

"I guess we'll be going, then. Goodbye Soubi," he said coldly, never even looking at the man. Ritsuka, however, did look up once and when their eyes met, he gave the Fighter a little smile.

"Thanks for playing with me," he gurgled happily, grabbing onto his brother's hand as they walked off. He was six at the time.

"Can I play with Soubi again?"

Seimei sighed, buttonning up his brother's flanel pyjama top. He was having a harder time than usual to ignore the milky white skin that writhed underneath him on the bed, giggling and squirming. More than once he slid his hands up his brother's torso, shivering as he did so. He had a hard time imagining himself living like this much longer...at the least the pants were on now, and securely fastened to his waist. His brother was in too much of a playful mood to notice anything out of the ordinary going on, and this was Seimei's favorite mood for that very reason.

"Maybe when you're a little older," he said sternly.

Ritsuka lifted his legs to try and push against his brother's chest, and for all Seimei had patience with his little brother, his hormones were getting the best of him and it was unnerving to him. He took one leg in each hand to try and push them off and ended up placing them on either side of his hips.

Why do these things keep happenning? Only you can make me...feel. Like this.

"Calm down, please?" he asked, the strain showing in his voice.

"Noooooo," Ritsuka argued playfully.

He thrashed some more, squeezing his brother's hips with his legs, shrugging his shirt off once more. Seimei groaned - this was the fourth time he got it off. He took the shirt and threw it across the room after a bit of thought.

"You'll be cold," Seimei warned. Ritsuka seemed to think it over for a second before he giggled and stretched out like a lazy cat.

"Nope."

His brother had no real baby fat. He had a cute roundness associated with young children, but it was nowhere near chubby. His skin was so smooth that it should be illegal. His tail had snuck up from behind him and wormed around on its owner's chest before lying down near his belly button. Seimei picked it up and kissed the tip, replacing it with his own tail. His longer, finer hair tickled his brother's chest and he began to laugh again, trying to grab the tail in his hand, but it kept getting away from his little fingers. He yelled a little, angry that he couldn't get what he wanted. The taller boy sniggered and let his tail get trapped withing ten warm fingers.

"Boys? Are you alright?"

Seimei cranned his neck to stare at the door angrily. Why did their mother insist on interrupting them all the time?

"We're fine, mother," he answered evenly. She waited around the door for a while before going back to her room uneasily. Of course she knew how her eldest was behaving. But there was nothing she could do about it.

"Why'd she ask that?" Ritsuka piped up.

"Maybe she thought I was hurting you," he laughed softly.

"Why would she think that?" he whispered indignantly, ears plastered to the top of his head. "It's stupid."

"I don't know. You're right, it is stupid. Because..."

He leaned down, pressing himself to Ritsuka, feeling his control slip some more at feeling their bodies pressed so close together. He rubbed his nose against Ritsuka's before kissing his ear.

"I love you," he whispered.

"Love you too..." he slurred.

When Seimei backed away, he was excited but surprised to see that Ritsuka had fallen asleep, shirtless. He muttered darkly to himself before getting off the bed to pick up the offending shirt that so rudely messed up his ordely room. He folded it neatly and put it on his desk, then returned to the bed to pull the covers over his brother and tucking him in.

He imagined Soubi touching him, his greedy hands brushing against Rituka's hip, rubbing against his legs, ghosting over his chest. He should have tortured his Fighter, made him pay for doing such a silly thing as touching what was his and his alone.

And he hissed at the thought of leaving Ritsuka with this man...