The Sound of a Beating Heart
Chapter three: Your Song

Disclaimer: I do not own Loveless, any other characters are purely fictional. The song 'Your Song' belongs to Elton John.
Just thought I'd clear that up.

A/N: This is an original AU fic. More A/N after the chapter.

Yuiko held her basket lazily, while dragging her feet in the dirt. It wasn't that she dragged her feet because she was sad, she drug them because they were tired from a long day of scrubbing the okiya spotless. Ritsuka wasn't really on her mind, tonight's supper was. Kio had told her a tiny bit of a fib, that Ritsuka wasn't in any danger. He had told her a week before that Ritsuka had taken a trip to Okinawa to visit his estranged brother. At first she was thrilled to learn that he had a brother and begged to meet him, but Kio dulled down her eagerness. "Ritsuka didn't want any of us to meet him," Kio had told her. "His brother is ailing and that is the only reason why Ritsuka agreed to go see him, and he definitely doesn't want us to see his brother like that." Yuiko had cried, worried over Ritsuka's poor sick brother and how Ritsuka must feel. "He isn't dying or anything! Just sick!" Kio exclaimed. He hated lying to his special girl but how would Yuiko have acted, if she learned he'd been carried off in the middle of the night and shipped away to wherever the hell France was? Yuiko's head sank back and she moaned.

"I hate making small dinners!" she complained. Kio cocked an eyebrow.

"Since when? I thought you didn't even like cooking!"

"Liking cooking and being good at it are two different things," Yuiko smiled wide. That smile was the first reason why Kio was so profoundly attracted to the maid. No matter what the situation she remained bubbly and happy.

"Well miss lady the difference between the two clearly different things is as easy to see as," he paused to lift a fruit out of her basket, "this fruit!" He opened wide like he was going to take a juicy bite and Yuiko jumped. "No, no! That was expensive and it's for dessert!" She reached up to take it but the mop-haired man simply lifted it up out of her reach. "I was only playing, i'm not going to eat it right here, not after what we paid for it. I think I'll play catch with it instead." He smiled and began to toss it in to the air. Yuiko's face dropped and her eyes bulged, "No!"

Kio caught it casually. "Don't worry I'm not going to let it fall. I'll stop putting it in danger if you give me a kiss."

Yuiko smiled again and placed a shy little peck on Kio's lips, snatched the fruit and put it back in her basket.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Charlotte lay the small bouquet of lilies on the top of her cheap bureau. She eyed it as one of the pink petals fell from a flower to rest on the bureau. A small smile spread on her lips and she felt light and giddy. This was one Semei couldn't take from her, one he couldn't break. If she kept Alexandre a secret there would be no problem. What Semei didn't know about he couldn't stop. Charlotte stood there, staring at the flowers, replaying every moment with him in her mind. Every moment of his emerald eyes boring in to hers, every moment that he'd tuck his auburn hair behind his ears to flash her a dazzling smile. She soaked it all up like a sponge, and a very happy sponge at that.

She took off her coat and plopped down on her bed, still wearing her dress and boots. Alexandre was a young gentleman that came in to the Danseur that night. He couldn't have been more than eightteen and it was clearly his first time there. They met when he came up and introduced himself, then she danced with him for hours until her feet had blisters. As she began to fiddle with her fingers, off in dreamland, she fell back to lay down. The stars twinkled far away outside of her tiny window, and sighed a happy sigh. Usually this was a not so happy sigh, and she'd envy the stars for their freedom. But not tonight.

Semei's form slid into the room. He could see her mind was obviously many miles away, and for a while he just hung back in the shadows eyeing her. After watching what Charlotte must have thought were private giggles and feet kickings he interrupted. "Pretty girls like you should keep their heads on their shoulders, if they want to keep safe at least."

Charlotte jumped and stared him in the face like she'd been caught with something. Semei crossed his arms. "A client wants to see you."

Her eyebrows knitted together. "But it's past my hours..." her shoulders slumped, suddenly heavy from her days work. "I'm so tired." Her blisters had started to bleed.

"Don't complain. Some big spender offered to pay extra for your time. You'd like some money to spend on food tomorrow wouldn't you?"

"I already have enough money for that."

"You won't if you ignore my orders."

Charlotte sighed, she knew she couldn't go against anything Semei wanted her to do. "Agreed Monsieur I'll meet with the client right away."

Semei smiled a fake smile. "That's a good girl. Now hurry." He scowled, and walked away. She waited a moment as his steps faded down the hallway. Surely he was returning to his own estate in another richer district of Paris for the evening. His 'pets' as Charlotte begrudgingly called them stayed here in a small almost hostel like building. Of course the building was heavily guarded so none of them could leave without Semei giving his permission. Forget that client. Charlotte thought. I'm tired.

She went to stand on her bed, and then very quietly she opened her window. It was just big enough for her petite frame to squeeze through it with a bit of elbow grease. She left it open and then put her coat back on. She skipped outside, nodding to the guards. "I won't be back until late, this one is a big spender!" she said to them. She turned the corner at the end of the street. She contemplated running, far far away. But she knew that no matter how far she ran that she would always be found. Deciding not to be a runaway for the moment she circled around the block, to the side of the building where her tiny window was open. She cleverly positioned some refuse bins and old food crates so she could climb them to reach the window. After a few scrapes and cuts she made it back in. Now, the guards thought she was out doing her job and she was free to do what she wanted. She decided to take a shower.

The showers in the building were not very private, just on open room with shower faucets sticking out of the walls. But since Charlotte was the only female Semei owned it was all hers. The steam in the shower hovered about a foot off of the floor like a wayward cloud. Her wild curls were soaked and matted with water. Charlotte adored long showers, they gave her heat, peace, quiet, and most of all privacy. She stood there mindlessly tracing shapes on the tiled wall in front of her, letting her thoughts drift to wherever they wanted to be. Much to her surprise the shower room door opened. She froze in fear, was Semei back? He'd only been gone for some thirty minutes! Was it the client who didn't get the service he wanted? No one was supposed to be in here but her.

"Are you Charlotte?" an immature voice rang behind her.

...A kid? "Why are you in here?!" She covered her unmentionables and turned around to face her intruder. Some naked teenage boy was standing in her shower room!

"Well," Ritsuka said demurely, "I heard a lot about you from Semei. He said to stay away from you."

Charlotte completely ignored his shy rambling. "Why are you in my shower?"

Ritsuka looked confused. Her shower? She didn't own it. There were faucets enough for seven people to shower in there.

"Well?"

"I want a shower too..."

"Why don't you go to the boys shower?"

"Everyone bathes together in Japan, everybody... is France different?"

Charlotte looked on in disbelief. This was the delicate flower Ritsu was talking about, and he was from wherever the hell Japan was. "Well, kind of."

Ritsuka turned to leave, but Charlotte stopped him. He was just a kid to her anyway, and she wasn't a modest person. "You can stay, you just startled me. You must be the new victim."

Ritsuka's brows knotted in confusion, "victim?"

"Don't worry about it." She waved him over, he had no clue what life would be like here for him. "I'll shampoo your hair for you."

Ritsuka smiled and went to sit down next to her. "Semei told me to stay away from you because you were a bad influence. He told me to stay in my room until he could make one for me at his estate."

His estate?! Charlotte's eyebrows shot up but Ritsuka couldn't see, he was facing away while Charlotte applied shampoo to his silky locks. "Then why are you here, not in your room, with me, who your not supposed to be with?"

"I don't like Semei. I was just sold to him like a pet or something." His voice strength was waning.

"That's okay kid I don't need to know. My story about getting here isn't pretty either. No ones is."

"Thank you." Ritsuka didn't know why he couldn't keep his mouth shut. Perhaps it was the prospect of a friend in this foreign place. Someone who didnt know him.

"I wish my hair was this tame." She envied it as she washed it.

Ritsuka shrugged. He stared at the floor quietly for a while. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"Washing my hair."

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Ritsu sat at a western style desk in a lavishly decorated study room. His tucked away pocket watch ticked away every second. Before him was a former entertainer, someone he'd bought kimono and kanzashi. Someone with whom he used to share a special relationship with. It was the one person he loved to abuse openly. That one person who used to love him now stood before him with hate in his eyes.

"How are you enjoying the weather today?" Soubi asked.

Ritsu's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "What?"

"The weather, how it is outside. I'm sure it's rainy and cloudy here like it always is. What do you think it is like in Paris?"

"I find the weather in Paris to be rather captive. It keeps you indoors, but let's hope Ritsuka isn't the type to get worn out. I mean, staying inside all day is tiring isn't it?"

Soubi frowned, Ritsu had turned his smart ass conversation against him. "You still haven't told me why you wanted Ritsuka in Paris in the first place. I know Semei wanted to see him but what is he staying so long for and why would you have gone so far as to hurt him?"

"I needed him there."

"You did?"

Soubi got a scornful look from Ritsu, the one that usually meant some form of torture was coming. The man didn't like to be messed with, especially not with sarcastic conversation. "Semei wants to see him for personal reasons..."

Soubi remained quiet, the scars on his back from previous lashings beckoned him to stay that way.

"... and myself? Well let us just say that he will be a great source of monetary gain for me, which translates to expensive gifts for you. Much like the okiya."

Soubi's heart skipped a beat. Monetary gain. What did he have Ritsuka doing? It wasn't selling newspapers, that was for sure. It was always something more terribly sinister with this man. Unconsciously Soubi's fists balled up and his face reddened. Ritsu saw this in him and felt a sick sense of accomplishment. He knew he'd rattled something inside of Soubi.

"What has you looking so riled my dear?"

"What do you mean?"

Ritsu smiled sweetly, "by what?"

"Monetary gain. Is he being forced in to slave work? How is he generating more money there than he could here? He is famous in Gion, one of the most well known geisha besides Natsuo and Youji."

"Natsu and Youji do indeed bring in plenty of money. But they lost the one thing that I would have taken them for, their ears. They've already used each other and for the purpose of my side business they are useless."

Soubi didn't know about any side business. "You have some other business in Paris?"

"Yes I do. You see it is so much different in Paris. They don't care about reputations or grace or true beauty. Those disgusting pigs are concerned with nothing more than their own physical pleasure and they will throw their life savings away to attain it. Imagine how much money I can get, selling off Ritsuka's virgin ears to some man who'd throw all of his money away for it?"

Soubi's once reddened face turned pale and colder than ice. Ritsu wanted to sell Ritsuka's virginity to the highest French bidder. He knew he couldn't become violent with Ritsu, he was much weaker than the older man. In a desperate attempt he scrambled for any piece of 'logic' he could find to bring Ritsuka back home. "But you could have sold his virginity here in Gion, it happens all the time. Men will pay weeks worth of hard earned yen to buy that from a geisha. Why in France?"

"Men in France have more money. Francs are worth far more than our yen. Men here would never pay if they thought that the geisha was not in good standing but Parisians don't care about that, as long as the ears are still on his head when they pay the money."

Soubi's heart dropped and he felt he might cry if it weren't for him being gripped by fear.

Ristu smiled a sly grin. "Besides, who did you think would buy his ears here? Perhaps you had hoped that it would have been you?" The man stood up from his desk and strode over to Soubi, whose head did not turn to follow him. "I know far more about your relationship with precious Ritsuka than you know." He almost whispered. He ran his long icy finger down one of Soubi's cheeks. "And it's carried on for far to long. You won't see him again. I need you for myself, but don't you worry. Ritsuka will be safe with Semei." That was a lie. Seimei was more dangerous than Ritsu was. He gripped the frozen mans face as he often liked to do. "Your fear and hatred, it's almost tangible." Ritsu's tongue snaked across Soubi's lower lip. "I can taste it."

Soubi simply collapsed.

O !! Yeah I wrote a chapter. I got a moment to breath in my busy life and used it to write. Feel free to send suggestions comments etc. as I no longer write chapters months ahead. Does anybody still read this? Let me hear from you if you do!!! Much love ~Katie

PS. Anyone notice all of my chapter titles are songs?