Mist 21
"Huh?" Soubi questioned as he emerged from his coma-like sleep.
And then he remembered. Or remembered what he could.
He sat up in bed fast. 'No! I actually passed out! I need to stop wasting time.'
"Ritsuka!" He cried to himself.
He was surprised to the notice that, in fact, Ritsuka was right next to him. Actually, Ritsuka was clinging to Soubi's chest from having been thrown in the air, and out of sleep, when Soubi abruptly sat up.
"Soubi! Jeeze, lay down, you moron."
Soubi's other memories rushed in with Ritsuka's appearance.
/-/ "You're completely daft aren't you!
"How could you do this!
"You didn't what, Soubi! You didn't mean to! You didn't think I'd be mad! What is it! Goddamn, I don't care which it is.
"Shut up! Get out!
"I don't want to hear your goddamn voice until you put her back to normal." /-/
Ritsuka hated him.
'Ritsuka?' Soubi wondered. He couldn't remember anything that happened after he passed out. How had he gotten home, even, he wondered? 'What is Ritsuka doing here?'
Soubi stuttered at the boy, unsure of how to act. Ritsuka pushed him back against the bed and settled between Soubi's arm and body once again.
"Ritsuka.. What are you..?"
Ritsuka scowled and pulled the blanket over his and Soubi's shoulders. "You're hurt!"
"I.. yes.. but.." Soubi was confused. He hadn't felt so scatterbrained in quite some time. Leave it to Ritsuka to change that as well, he supposed. "I'm sorry, Ritsuka. I need to go, I need to find him."
"No, Soubi! Why on earth do you need to go finding someone now! And who? Right now what you need to do is rest!"
Soubi tried his best to answer. "For the spell.." The fogginess in his mind left him without his typical ability to choose the exact words necessary for the situation.
"Sp-spell..?" Ritsuka questioned. He was questioning the meaning of Soubi's words as well as the pending explosion of his own temper.
Soubi then noticed all the scrapes and bruises marring Ritsuka's face. He immediately wondered if they plagued the rest of his body as well, and, why were they there? Why was Ritsuka's beautiful face so hurt? Why? He asked as much. "Ritsuka! What happened to you!"
Ritsuka looked down at the sheets. "What... What happened to me..?" He whispered. Then yelled, "You want to know what happened to me Soubi! What do you think happened? My mother! My mother happened. She changed completely, Soubi. You couldn't even manage to mess up properly! She kicked me out!"
Soubi frowned greatly. Cautiously, he rubbed his thumb along the bruised flesh of Ritsuka's cheek. "Haaah..." Soubi slowly released the air pent up in his lungs. "I'm sorry, Ritsuka. I should've tried harder to stop him. I failed. If you want it reversed, I should go find him now."
"Huh? Who are you talking about? Release Mother from the spell yourself! But not now! You're ill, doing anything right now is just going to harm the both of you further."
"Ritsuka, I can't reverse it myself, only the one who said it, for that kind of mind-control spell, can release the victim. That's why I need to find him." And then as an afterthought he remembered to answer Ritsuka's original question. "Nisei."
Ritsuka gaped. His mind struggled to comprehend the words. 'Soubi... didn't do it..? Nisei..?'
"Huh?"
Ritsuka and Soubi both looked up. Kio had questioned it.
Ohh.. they, they had forgotten. They weren't alone.
Kio had been awake long enough to be thoroughly confused. He had groggily tried to decipher his friend's conversation but even in his most sober state he probably wouldn't be able to comprehend it. "What the hell are you going on about? SPELLS! Are you a fucking wizard, Soubi!"
Ritsuka paled.
"Kio," Soubi responded. "watch your language."
"Souuu-channn! Don't ignore me!" Kio cried desperately.
But Soubi did.
x
The Zeros and Kio had gone out to get some things for dinner and, what lately Soubi's household never seemed to have enough of, bandages.
"Ritsuka, what's wrong? Are you worried about your mother?" Soubi asked. He rolled over in bed to face Ritsuka, who was sitting next to him. Ritsuka wore a solemn expression.
Ritsuka frowned disagreeably. "No!"
Soubi looked at him, puzzled.
"I mean, no, Soubi, I'm worried about you!" Ritsuka turned his head away. "I'm sorry, Soubi. I shouldn't have just yelled at you like that before, or at my house..."
Soubi reached a hand over and turned Ritsuka's head back to face his. "Ritsuka, please don't worry about me like that."
'I fully deserved it.' Soubi thought.
"Soubi.." Ritsuka whimpered and buried his head in the man's neck.
Soubi wrapped his arm around the boy. "It'll be okay." He whispered.
x
"Ritsuka." Soubi tried nudging the boy awake. He hated to wake him, but.. "Ritsuka, please wake up.. Your injuries... they need to be treated properly."
Ritsuka moaned and flicked his eyes open. He had fallen asleep to the smells of Soubi's neck. Possibly, he hadn't smelled the greatest at the time (for many reasons) but he smelled like Soubi nonetheless and it was comforting enough to put Ritsuka to his dreams.
Soubi kissed his cheek. Ritsuka pushed him away gently. "What is it with you..?" He said so, fairly non-offensively.
Soubi chuckled through his breath and lifted the boy up to sitting position. On his lap. Treating the child like a sleepy kitten.
"Doctor Kio?" Soubi asked across the room jokingly. "May I have the bandages?"
They had come back from the store with supplies, which is why Soubi had chosen then to wake Ritsuka up.
"Soubi," Ritsuka protested. "need I be in your lap?"
Soubi nodded quickly and Kio, who couldn't hear Ritsuka's comment from where he was, responded to Soubi. "No Doctor Sou-chan. Get it yourself." He was tired, confused, and still a bit irked that he had no clue what was going on. The spell conversation had only made it worse for Kio.
Soubi sighed and squeezed the boy in his lap. He tried his next option. "Youji..? Natsuo..?"
Youji and Natsuo appeared at the bedside, grinning and holding the supplies. "That's Nurses Youji and Natsuo." Youji replied, handing the kit and a shopping bag over. They were all game to play along. They knelt by the edge of the bed and smiled up at Ritsuka. "Hey, Ricchan! Howya doing?"
Ritsuka rolled his eyes. "Tired."
Soubi whispered in his ear, "Would you like to be kissed awake?"
Ritsuka pawed him away in grumpiness. "No you pervert."
"Eh?" Youji and Natsuo questioned, feeling left out. "Kiooo! Soubi's doing something perverted!" They rattled playfully.
Kio groaned.
"I'm doing nothing of the sort." Soubi proclaimed as he lifted Ritsuka off his lap and laid him flat on the bed.
"...Soubi, what are you doing?" Ritsuka felt much too vulnerable in the position he was in.
"You didn't want to be on my lap, did you?" Soubi leaned his head down and his hair draped either side of his face. He faced Ritsuka and they were hidden by a screen of golden hair.
Ritsuka frowned curiously but stared at Soubi. "Soubi.." He whispered. "I'm glad you're okay."
A sultry look overtook Soubi's eyes before he leaned farther down to kiss the boy and did so.
"Soubi," Ritsuka whispered, with an innocent sexiness of his own, "doctors don't do that."
Soubi laughed lightly. "I should hope not." He responded. "I would prefer that no one but I do that to you."
Ritsuka secretly agreed, he responded by blush.
"Sooubi!" Kio reprimanded.
Soubi was yanked up by his collar and emitted a small choking noise. The veil of hair shrouding Ritsuka and Soubi was lifted up, along with Soubi, and the hairs tickled at Ritsuka's face.
"Don't choke him, Kio!" Ritsuka protested.
Soubi was let go, now sitting upright with a slight grin of triumph.
"Kid, you shouldn't side with that guy. He's dangerous. I don't even want to know what he did to you in a position like that." Kio lectured.
Ritsuka blushed and the Zeros taunted with an "Eeew!"
"I'm not dangerous." Soubi protested, his general stoic expression back intact.
Kio walked back to the couch mumbling about how, if he had been awake then Soubi would surely be half way to-
"Okay, Ritsuka." Soubi smiled at him.
Ritsuka groaned back. "Soubi, why are you doing this, you're hurt."
"I feel fine." Soubi turned to Natsuo. "Cotton swab please."
Natsuo fished one out and handed it to Soubi as Soubi asked Youji for some peroxide.
Soubi started dabbing at the scrapes on Ritsuka's face. "I'm sorry, this will sting." The cuts looked peculiar compared to the rest of Ritsuka's injuries. "How did this happen, Ritsuka?"
Ritsuka mumbled back. "I.. tripped."
Soubi cocked his head curiously and Ritsuka's kitten ears twitched nervously downward.
"How?" Soubi asked. In general, Ritsuka wasn't a very clumsy person.
Ritsuka didn't respond.
"What did you trip over?" Soubi pressed.
Ritsuka frowned. "You." He barely whispered.
"What?" Soubi asked. It didn't make sense.
"That's how I found you, idiot! I tripped over your hulking body, lying in the shitty street!" Ritsuka burst.
Soubi looked a little alarmed. "Ah, Kitten, I'm sorry I hurt you." He frowned unhappy with himself despite not having been able to control the situation. He figured Ritsuka must have been mad that Soubi accidentally tripped him.
"No! You! ..." Ritsuka found himself frustrated with his intentions clearly not reciprocating. "I'm not... mad." He huffed.
"Huh?"
"J-just finish, Soubi."
Soubi complied, and with the help of his assistants began applying bandages to Ritsuka's face. He hoped the bruise would fade quickly.
"Ritsuka," Soubi said, looking down at the boy with concern. "where else does it hurt?"
"My hands.." Ritsuka held out his hand that was less injured first. The palm was red and blood stained from falling on the ground. He had tried to catch his fall with his hands and knees but ended up on his face anyway. The result was being cut up from the rough asphalt all over.
Soubi frowned and began cleaning off the hand. 'I should have caught him before he fell.' But he knew it was as impossible if a dead man had wanted to catch Ritsuka. Soubi had had no control over the situation.
Soubi finished wrapping the hand and asked about Ritsuka's other hand. When he saw it, he almost gasped. Aside from the expected scrapes on his palm, Ritsuka's whole hand was fairly off in color. A bruise marred the back, Soubi thought it was a strange place to bruise. But worse of all, the edge of his hand an inch or so down from the bottom of his pinky there was a ..chunk of skin missing. Soubi held the small hand carefully. He knew it must hurt very, very much but yet Ritsuka was still more concerned about Soubi. "...Ritsuka." He breathed the name.
Ritsuka winced.
The injury emitted liquids that signified a possible infection and quite a few layers had been cut through. Soubi had to soak Ritsuka's whole hand in medicine and watch as the boy's face contorted with the pain of stinging chemicals. He drained as much of the pus from it as he could and rubbed and ointment over it that immediately mollified the injury. As he bandaged it Soubi placed kisses between each wrap of bandage.
"S-S-Soubi.." Ritsuka wanted the comfort. He felt so ashamed but he wanted to be held like a child and savor Soubi's warm feelings. He didn't care that Kio and the Zeros would see. Ritsuka latched onto Soubi, fitting his head in the crook of Soubi's neck, wrapping his arms over the broad shoulders, curling his fingers into the worn shirt, and pressing his body close.
Soubi's breathing steadied and he let out a wink of a smile. He wrapped his arms around the boy, pulling him closer. Closer.
No one interrupted and Natsuo could be seen, caught up in the moment, playfully, lovingly wresting his brother to the ground in a hug. Kio sighed and poured another coffee. He contemplated if he ought to add in some gin.
x
Later on, Soubi had to make a troublesome phone call.
"Hello!" Shinonome cheerfully greeted to her phone receiver. She sat at her desk, sorting through some class assignments for the week.
The response on the other end of the phone caused her to leap out of her chair in surprise. "A-A-Agatsuma..-san?"
The other teachers in the office turned to see what was going on but were fairly used to Shinonome's outbreaks and what not by now.
She carefully sat back down. "Uh.. uh.. What are you calling here for, Agatsuma-san?"
Soubi sighed, it wouldn't be an easy thing to explain what was going on. "I'm calling about Ritsuka." Soubi had never needed to call into school about Ritsuka, as since they had become closer the boy hadn't gotten sick or anything. Soubi planned to keep Ritsuka in his care for a while. It wasn't as though Misaki was capable of caring for him in her state of mind. Soubi didn't think she had ever been capable of caring for Ritsuka.
"A-Aoyagi-kun?"
"Yes, Sensei."
"Is it about an absence? Sh-shouldn't his mother be calling?"
Soubi tried to be patient. "I've told you about his mother in the past, haven't I Sensei?"
"Did she do something bad, Agatsuma-san? Is Aoyagi-kun ok? Should we call someone.. the police or something?"
"For his sake, I think it would be best not to allow the police to deal with his mother quite yet." Soubi wished they could just throw the woman in jail, but then Ritsuka may end up in uncomfortable foster homes and away from Soubi's side.
Shinonome didn't know how to react to what Soubi was saying. "So, is he hurt?"
"Yes, he- he's injured. Ritsuka will need to take the next two days off." He was somewhat glad Ritsuka had already had vacation from school the week they started being attacked, he didn't have to miss any lessons then.
"Wah! I-is that okay? Shouldn't he go to a hospital?"
"No, Sensei, please don't worry. It isn't that bad."
"A-aokay.. what about hi-"
Soubi interrupted her. "Good day." He hung up while she was still fumbling with her words on the other end.
Soubi looked over to the couch where Kio and Ritsuka were, they had both fallen asleep at separate ends. The twins snoozed beneath them on the floor.
Soubi would've loved for it to be like this all the time. Living with the people he loved the most. In the past he never would've had such feelings but since meeting Ritsuka that's how he started to feel. Despite the sparse furnishings of his apartment it was actually quite a large space. With the Zeros here as well as Kio sometimes staying over tonight, Soubi would ask Kio to bring some spare futons over so there were enough beds. Ritsuka enjoyed spending time with Soubi, but also his friends- Youji and Natsuo.
Youji and Natsuo were actually under Soubi's care now. Even though they were science projects, raised in a laboratory, they were still people. Soubi had no clue how they come into Nagisa's care. 'Hell,' he thought, 'maybe they're actually her children.' Who would be the father? Nagisa's beloved Ritsu? Creepily that might explain a lot.
Nagisa was parentally in charge of the two but paid much more attention to her work then to them. Unlike Yamato and Kouya, the original Zeros, Youji and Natsuo didn't have foster parents. Or real ones for that matter. When the twins, who Soubi suspected weren't biologically even related, asked to come back to Soubi's, they had to go to a school. Since that would mean no longer attending Seven Voices as they had been right before Seimei's appearance. So Soubi became in charge of them. Luckily, he wasn't something like a legal father. That might be weird. He enjoyed being around the two though, they were more mature than many kids, except Ritsuka who was much more mature than even them, and polite enough when they weren't playing pranks.
Ritsuka liked them too, that was what was most important. They hadn't gotten along at first but slowly they were.
Soubi loved Ritsuka, loved him more than could be possible for anyone else. Love was something that once he really felt it he realized it was completely new to him. If he had ever loved his parents he couldn't remember it. But he did remember thinking he loved Ritsu and Seimei. He hadn't. Not like he loved Ritsuka. He wanted love from Ritsu and Seimei, he wanted to love them. They were all he had at the time. But they had never given him much more real attention than being abusive. Soubi savored the abuse, the only contact he received. But he was abandoned by both Ritsu and Seimei. Ritsuka would never do that, he proved it time and time again. Ritsuka took care of Soubi and loved him even when he made mistakes. He hugged Soubi and talked with him, gave him attention, held his hand. Ritsuka slept with him at night and kept bad dreams away. Soubi loved the boy.
He hated Misaki who abused her son. He hated Ritsuka's dad who was never home often enough for Ritsuka to barely even mention him. He wanted Ritsuka to live with him where the boy could be loved and have more of a childhood. He thought that Misaki and her husband should be grateful to still have their lives, and have the ability to care for such a wonderful son, but they took it for granted.
Soubi would keep in mind to ask Ritsuka about it again but right now he was in too fragile of a state. Misaki had badly hurt him mentally and physically.