Disclaimer: I do not own Loveless, Kouga Yun does.

Hey everybody! Sorry for the delay, school's had me swamped and I couldn't get this chapter to my liking so I had to redo it a few times.

Thanks once again to my amazing reviewers, promocat, Vampirelle, xXMewzikLuverXx, EmoFreak, and klagana1!

Promocat – Actually, it hadn't even occurred to me that Halloween was near when I wrote this, I sorta had the storyline planned and that was the week that chapter got written. Go figure!

Make sure you go to my profile and take the poll! The fate of Soubi and Ritsuka winning or losing the exam is at hand!

Ch. 7: Her Favorite Toy

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The Loveless team, as well as the other competitors had spread out throughout the mansion fairly quickly; everyone wanting to find a scroll and leave the building as soon as possible.

Ritsuka and Soubi were currently on the fourth floor, just beginning their search, and Ritsuka was already sick of it. The three flights of creaking, flimsy stairs were just enough to scare the boy into clutching Soubi's arm tightly as a sense of comfort.

"Ritsuka?" the adult asked, unsure of the current feelings of his sacrifice.

"Hmm?" the boy responded with uneasiness.

"Command me." was all the fighter replied.

"Huh? Soubi, I'm not going to treat you like a pet or a weapon, I've already told you that!" Ritsuka stated angrily, slightly breaking away from his terrified outer shell.

When the fighter simply looked down at his sacrifice in silence, the younger one sighed and went on, " I want to find a scroll as soon as possible…this place is giving me the creeps…"

Soubi nodded and opened his mouth to speak , but another scream, extremely close and similar to the one they had heard when the participants first split up, had cut him off.

Ritsuka cringed closer to his fighter for a moment, then dashed down the hall to see where it came from, Soubi following him in concern.

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Ritsuka soon reached the door where the horrific noise had previously come from but as his hand hovered above the knob, he froze.

"What am I doing? Shouldn't Soubi and I be avoiding other teams and looking for a scroll? But what if someone's hurt?" Ritsuka contemplated as his hand wavered above the knob.

Ritsuka jumped when a hand covered his, only to calm down when he realized it was Soubi. He looked up to see his fighter in concern.

"Soubi, I'm fine, I'm sorry. It's just…" Ritsuka allowed his sentence to run off. He couldn't really put his feelings into words, but he hoped Soubi would understand.

The raven-haired boy then felt strong arms wrap around him tightly, "Ritsuka, I understand, and I'm here. I love you Ritsuka."

Ritsuka raised his hands and clasped them on top of his fighter's, "Thank you Soubi."

Before the adult could respond, another loud scream came from the other side of the door, and this time the pair didn't hesitate to rush inside.

They both pushed the door open together swiftly to find the Breathless pair on the ground. Midori was a bloodied mess, while Ai held him gently in her arms as she wept for him.

"Ai!" Ritsuka cried as he dashed over to where the pair was.

The girl looked up for a moment, tears streaming violently and nonstop down her face, and continued to snivel.

"Ai, what happened?"

The girl could no longer hold in her emotions in front of the other two, and without giving an answer, broke down into a fit of hysterics. Ritsuka took a step forward in an attempt to comfort her, but was stopped by Soubi.

Ritsuka turned to face the older man, "Soubi, what are you…"

A finger placed itself on the younger boy's lips to silence him, and then Soubi did something, well, very un-Soubi like. He walked over to the weeping girl, gave her a few words of comfort, pulled a small first aid kit out of the long purple jacket he was wearing, and began treating Midori's wounds.

While Soubi did this, Ai seemed to fully calm down, and Ritsuka hesitantly asked his question once more, "Ai…what happened?"

"The story…" Ai replied in a monotone, as she stared at the floor.

"Story?" Ritsuka inquired, extremely confused.

"The girl…" she replied with the same emptiness in her voice.

Ritsuka then remembered the story Leiko had mentioned earlier, "A few centuries back, a girl was completely and utterly destroyed in this residence. She is said to haunt the halls and kill anyone who dares to enter the estate…"

"You don't mean…"

Ai nodded her head slowly.

"It was most likely another fighting unit. Don't concern yourself with anything Leiko announces; it's usually a lie." Soubi added as he finished caring for Midori's injuries.

"It wasn't. There weren't two people. Just a little girl. Every time we attacked, it would go right through her, as if she wasn't really there." Ai slowly articulated, she still seemed shaken up, but at least coherent.

Ritsuka looked at his fighter, willing some comforting response, though one never came.

"Um…Ai…where did she go, we came through the only door." Ritsuka gulped, not really wanting an answer.

"After you came through the door…she…she…went through the floor…" the girl spoke nervously, as if there were a chance this girl would come back.

"She what?"

"She went through the floor!" Ai screamed at him as tears began to flow from her cheeks once more, "She left Midori like this and went through the floor! I wasn't able to defend him!"

"Ai, it's okay, it wasn't your fault." Ritsuka assured as he went over to comfort her.

The girl clung to Ritsuka's small frame, sobbing uncontrollably. Ritsuka glanced over at Soubi, who looked blankly back. The two stayed like this until Ai had cried herself to sleep. Afterwards, Ritsuka placed her down softly beside Midori and stood up.

"Ritsuka, we need to continue."

"Huh? We can't just leave them here Soubi." Ritsuka replied, slightly irritated.

"Ritsuka, this is a competition, we must do what is necessary to complete our goal, as do they. We have done all possible, now the rest is up to them."

"I suppose so…but…what if they get attacked…"

"Then they will have to withdraw themselves from the competition."

Ritsuka stood there in his thoughts, staring down at the Breathless pair. He felt horrible, knowing what might happen to them. They had given him so much good advice in the past, and though he didn't know them very well, he did like them. Ritsuka felt a new form of determination now, not just to win for his and Soubi's sake, but also for the Breathless pair. A fire formed in Ritsuka's eyes and he promptly gripped Soubi's hand and trudged towards the door.

Ritsuka approached the knob, placed his hand on it, and attempted to open the door, but it refused to move.

"Ritsuka?" the blonde adult questioned.

"It won't open." The younger one replied, eyes wide.

At that moment, the lights flickered and an evil cackle could be heard echoing through the room. The Loveless pair turned around, scanning the room with concern, when suddenly, ripples could be seen from the ground, and a figure rose from the floor.

This figure continued to giggle, until it had completely risen. Ritsuka and Soubi left in confusion and terror.

The figure was extremely small, about the height of Ritsuka, and very young, about the age of 8 or 9. It was female, with long, straight, blonde hair that skimmed the floor in length. It was placed in two high ponytails and had ribbons attached, which added to her youth. She had piercing, light green eyes and a childish face. Her clothes were very lose on her, almost sliding off, and were old and raggedy. The most shocking trait this mystery girl contained though, was that her cat-like appendages, that all young children have; the representations of innocence, were missing.

Minutes passed in silence, Loveless confused, and the girl with a smile plastered to her face, cryptic, terrifying. Soon enough, she broke the silence with a kind greeting, "Hello…" she giggled.

Ritsuka was hesitant at first, but answered back, "Hello."

"Who are you?" she asked happily.

Soubi stepped in front of Ritsuka, blocking him from this child, and answered for his sacrifice.

"We are Loveless."

"Loveless. Will you play a game with me?" she asked.

"What kind of game?" the neko boy asked from around Soubi.

The little girl giggled again and happily replied, "The same kind of game I played with them." She stated as she pointed at the Breathless pair.

"You did that to them? Who are you? Who do you think you are? What did you do with them?" Ritsuka questioned outraged.

The giggles continued, "In order. Mhm, I did. I'm Tsuihousha(it means outcast), and this is my house. All I did was play with them."

"You call that playing?" Ritsuka shouted incredulously.

"They weren't very fun. Maybe you'll be more exciting."

Once she said that, the solid ground seemed to ripple, and darkness covered the area. The grin on her face never left, but continued to grow to startling proportions.

Ritsuka noticed then, that the Breathless pair was being engulfed into the abyss of black, and ran to comfort them, only to be stopped my Soubi grip once again.

" Soubi! Let me go! They…they.."

"They aren't gone Ritsuka, just for the battle." The fighter replied, then directed his next phrase at the girl, "We declare a battle of words."

"Haha, okay!"

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Leiko plodded through the thick forest, toward the final destination of the second portion of the exam, deep in thought over what Ritsu could have possibly have meant.

"Why would he want to watch out for the Loveless sacrifice if he only cares about Soubi. Make sure he's treating him right? No, he doesn't care that much."

Thoughts like these racked her brain for a good while as she continued through the forest, until she was abruptly taken out of her daze by another subject entirely. She looked around the brush that encircled her and became extremely agree at herself, "Damn it!" she sunk to the ground, "I'm lost."

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The battle between this mystery girl and the Loveless pair began.

"Night, ever cryptic, be diminished by the light." Soubi called, lightning coming down onto this young girl.

Unbelievably though, the attack did nothing to her, she continued her high pitched giggle, completely unscathed.

"How did you do that?" What's going on?" Ritsuka asked, now scared that what Ai said was definitely true.

"Hehe, I died a long time ago, I don't exist, you attack won't do anything."

"Wait, you…died?"

" I came here to get stronger, they were mean though. They hurt me, and did bad things to me. I was left alone here to die, while they continued living like the pigs they were." She muttered, more to herself than anyone else.

"Tsuihousha. Why are you doing this to people? You may have gone through these horrible experiences, but…everyone has a tough past. Maybe if you left here, you would be happier." Ritsuka silently suggested.

"You don't understand. No one understands. All people are the same. They turned me into nothing." she cried to herself in a complete change of attitude, "AND NOW YOU'LL TURN INTO NOTHING TOO!" she yelled.

No physical attack came, but Soubi remained on his guard. When nothing came at all, he spoke, "Ritsuka, give me an order."

No answer.

Soubi turned back to see to see his sacrifice, and was shocked. Ritsuka was still, extremely so. His skin was paled, and his eyes were extremely glazed.

"Ritsuka?" the golden-haired adult shook him, concern rising in his voice.

No response once again.

Tsuihousha giggled, "Now he's mine. I'm going to make him better."

"What did you do to Ritsuka?" Soubi questioned, a murderous glare on his face.

"His mind is nothing, his body is nothing, now he is mine, to remold, to make better." She declared another spell, ignoring Soubi's question.

Tentacles came up from the dark surroundings of the battlefield and latched on to the nonresponsive Ritsuka. The wrapped themselves around the boy, and drew him closer to Tsuihousha. Soubi, desperate, and contained by the tentacles as well, threw out multiple spells in any attempt to regain his sacrifice, but all, like the first, went through her.

Once Ritsuka was close to the girl, she stop the tentacles movement, but kept them locked on the boy. She circled him once, then reached up and began playing with a lock of his hair.

"You'll make a fun toy. I'll fix you so you won't say rude things ever again, and we can play games all the time." She giggle again, though by now it seemed to be more of a cackle.

Then, she allowed the tentacles to retreat back into the darkness they came, and wrapped her arms around Ritsuka's waist. Darkness covered their presence, enveloping them completely, and then the both of them were lowered through the floor, as the girl had originally come.

The battle field was gone, the old, weary room had returned to being the scenery, the only difference is that the Breathless pair was missing, leaving Soubi alone. He fell to the floor, on his hands and knees, and sobbed, repeating one word over and over, "Ritsuka…Ritsuka…Ritsuka…"

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Hey guys! Once again, sorry for the wait! This chapter didn't like me, no matter what I did, I couldn't get it to phrase itself right, but anyway, I hope you like it.

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And lastly, please review.