Mist, Act 5

"Souuubi!" called a cheerful voice.

"Psst, Soubi!"

A poke at his face.

"You guys are soooo mature, heehee, sleeping together."

"Sly!"

Soubi opened his eyes, not to Ritsuka, but to two little demons. He blinked twice... nope, they were still there. Soubi turned his head to the side to look at Ritsuka. He was wide awake, and already looking back at him.

"Mornin' Soubi." He greeted.

Soubi mumbled a greeting back with a small smile, and turned to the two ...noisy ones.

"Natsuo, Youji, It's not polite to disrupt someone's sleep." Soubi lectured.

"Awh.. But Soubi, didn't you miss us!"

"Nope." It was the truth, with all that happened the Zeros hadn't crossed his mind, it's not like he thought about them often anyway. The two had gone off to the school for a few days to visit Nagisa-sensei, since the elementary school was on a vacation break. Ungrateful brats. "You're back early, get kicked out?" The comment sent the Zeros into frenzy.

"Nagisa-sensei would never do that."

"Nope, nope." Then with pouting faces they quickly changed the topic.

Soubi wrenched himself from the bed and got up, reveling his boxer and sleep-shirt clad body to the younger occupants of the room.

"Ooooh!" The twins cheered as Soubi pulled on pants. "Soubi couldn't keep his pants on, it's a wonder Ricchan still has his ears! Hehe maybe they're fakes!" The twins teased and pulled at Ritsuka's ears as he scowled and blushed, swatting their hands away.

Soubi went to the kitchen as the boys continued teasing.

"Ritsukaaa.. Let me take 'um!" Youji playfully whined, it was a not so innocent game that the brothers loved.

"Eh! No fair Youji, plus Soubi'll totally kill you."

Youji climbed up onto the bed where Ritsuka was lying and kneeled over top of him. "Gimme, Gimme! Ehehe!" He tugged at Ritsuka's ears. "Eh, then I get the tail hahaha!" Natsuo joined in and tugged at the little tail peeking out from under the covers. Ritsuka feebly tried to fight them off, but it was no use. He didn't mind their teasing but sometimes the twins were just too much.

Soubi looked over, the game met its demise the instant Soubi saw just how far they were taking it.

Suddenly Youji was being pulled off of poor Ritsuka. Soubi picked up the boy by his waist and ignored his whining and protesting.

"Don't touch him." Soubi growled, he glared at the kid with a momentary hatred.

Youji quickly grabbed onto the sheet covering Ritsuka as an anchor to try and evade being thrown around. But Soubi already had him, and he threw Youji off of Ritsuka and onto Youji and Natsuo's bed, at the same time he kicked Natsuo away. Sadly, the effect of all this was less then desirable for everyone in the room. When Youji was thrown off of the bed he still was grasping Ritsuka's sheet, and it billowed in the air following his fall, leaving Ritsuka fully exposed.

Natsuo immediately ran over to Ritsuka's bed when he saw then shape his friend was in, his twin followed close behind.

"Stay away." Soubi put out an arm to stop them and got in front of their views as he swiftly pulled out another blanket and covered Ritsuka back up. His face held a deeply stony expression. The Zeros just stood there, their mouths agape. Neither of them knew what was going on or what to do, and the atmosphere said not to ask. They both turned to each other looking for answers, but both had blank expressions.

"Oh Youji dear, you look famished…" Natsuo exclaimed, his acting below par. They just wanted to get out. Now. Before Soubi wrung their necks or something.

"Oh... hmmm. Can't have that can we…" The twins sentences trailed off and they turned and headed toward the kitchen area.

As they arrived away from the bed, they started whispering. Of course, they weren't exactly hidden, there was no way to get an ounce of privacy in Soubi's apartment.

Over by the bed, Soubi was apologizing and Ritsuka was trying to comfort him. He tucked the blanket around the boy closely like hiding him in it would heal him.

Youji and Natsuo turned to each other anxiously, "What happened?..."

"Where was Soubi…?"

"That bastard can't even protect the kid..."

"Poor Ritsuka… I wonder what it feels like..."

"I'm glad we can't feel it…"

"Yeah, I don't want you to be in that state too..."

The boys found themselves worrying about Ritsuka much more than they would like to admit.

Soubi was stunned when he saw Ritsuka's torso again. It was in very bad shape for having only been a night. Blood was infused into the bandages. Blood. "I'm sorry... I'm sorry..."

"Soubi, do you ever listen! It's fine. No big deal."

Soubi didn't seem convinced but there was no point in constantly arguing about it.

"Let me…" He reached out his hand brushing along Ritsuka's wrapped body.

"No! Soubi, I'm just fine! As long as I don't move much… Just wait a little while longer." Ritsuka didn't want Soubi taking his time to rebandage him, he didn't want his friends to see how helpless he was, he didn't want Soubi to even see the cuts ever again.

Soubi wasn't very convinced but when he began to ask again, Ritsuka grew bristly and asked him to go away. Soubi complied, he didn't want to exhaust Ritsuka arguing about it, he knew once the boy got something in his head he wasn't going to go back on it so simply. "Let me take a look at it later tonight…" Soubi figured it would just have to wait. He tried to tell himself that the boy was fine but he knew he was only lying to himself. He let thoughts of fixing the boy up drift through his head, he watched images of the blood play through his mind.

He headed to the kitchen to begin making lunch, he had to distract himself and try to keep things running like normal the best he could. The Zeros were there, quite obviously not preparing food.

"I thought you two were 'famished'?"

The Zeros jumped. 'Soubi always appears out of nowhere. It's creepy.' Hurriedly they tried to make some excused but Soubi just brushed it off. It didn't really matter anyway. He knew they were there talking. And he knew what they were talking about. He didn't need to hear the conversation to know, of course they would be curious, and he couldn't blame them for that. However there was a large list of things he could blame them for, but that might upset Ritsuka, so he just handed them some knives and vegetables and warned them not to spill any blood on his floor.

Soubi hadn't wanted to see Ritsuka's body as much as he hadn't wanted the Zeros to see it. But of course if they were here they would find out sometime, wouldn't they? He couldn't avoid it just because he was ashamed of himself.

Soubi didn't even want to cook, he wanted to turn back around and tend to Ritsuka. After contemplating for a short while and forcing himself to put some pots of food on the oven Ritsuka interrupted Soubi's thoughts.

"Uhhhmm... Soubi?"

"Yes Ritsuka, are you ok?" Soubi inquired. He nearly jumped up wondering if Ritsuka had changed his mind. He knew Ritsuka wasn't mad at him, he hadn't really been angry when he told Soubi to go away.

"Well.. that is… am I allowed to get up?"

"Huh? What for?"

Ritsuka blushed and fiddled with the edge of his blanket nervously. "Toilet..."

'Great,' He thought, 'this is so embarrassing. I can't even pee on my own. I bet if Youji and Natsuo didn't see me covered in blood they would be laughing their heads off. I wouldn't be surprised if Soubi laughed at me as well.'

But Soubi didn't laugh, instead some sort of grimace crossed his face as he turned off his cooking and hurried over to Ritsuka. Once again he kept apologizing. Soubi scooped up his blood-crusted Sacrifice bridal style, and managed not to move the boy's torso around too much at the same time. Ritsuka felt like he was drifting through the room, Soubi's precarious hold was cautious and elegant. He carried him over to the small bathroom and Soubi kicked the door open. Ritsuka was set down, standing upright, and Soubi left the small space.

"Call me when you are done, don't move your upper-body around too much. The cuts will open.. I'll change the bandages after we eat." Ritsuka nodded and Soubi stood outside of the door, leaving it cracked open, just in case something bad was to happen.

"…Soubi…" Ritsuka called. This whole situation just got weirder and weirder. Was he so dependent on this man? Why? 'Is it possible for me to survive without him, or would I be better off without his confusing words binding me?'

Soubi opened the door and lifted Ritsuka back up and carefully placed him on the bed. He drew a cover over the boy and planted a kiss on his forehead before heading back to finish cooking.

Once the food was prepared, Soubi and Ritsuka learned the real reason for the Zeros to come home early…

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A/n:

*Edited 10/4- Grammar

*Edited 2/25/12- Writing