The Color of Chinese Bellflowers
Chapter six: Saved by an angel
Disclaimer: I do not own Loveless.
A/N: This is an original AU fic. I've tried my best to keep everyone in character.
I know Ritsuka was born in January and Soubi in September but I couldn't find out what month Kio was born in, so I just chose October. In this story it's late October of 1922, the year of the Dog. This chapter actually continues off about an hour after the last one ended.
WARNING: This chapter contains almost lemoness but not really. It's not that kind of fic, gomen.
Three figures stood in one of the hallways of Soubi's new okiya. "Meet our maid, Kio." Soubi held his hand out gesturing towards the lanky teen.
"Ey!' So you're the Ritsuka kid Soubi's been talking about. To tell you the truth I thought you'd be a little bit older." Kio leaned down a slightly to take a better look at him. Kio couldn't have been but maybe 20, although Soubi said they were the same age. Maybe Kio just looked younger than that, Ritsuka thought. If it weren't for his towering height he would think Kio was his age, save for the more defined angles of his face. And they weren't even that defined. His hair was a rugged mess, of an almost greenish color. His eyes were large and round, which is the main reason as to why he looked so young.
Ritsuka frowned, "I'm not a kid. I've seen thirteen summers, and I was born in the month of January."
"Which means," Soubi interrupted, "that you're birthday is in 3 months. And that you are a year of the Rooster."
Nodding, he asked "what year are you, Kio?"
"Me?" he put his fists to his hips, pushing those hips out to the side. "I'm a year of the Tiger. Being born in October, I'm a month younger than Soubi here."
"If you're a year of the tiger then you must have been born in 1902." That made sense, they were 20. Kio looked a little younger than that but that's not bad. But wait ... Soubi? "Soubi, you're 20?!" He'd just remembered that Soubi told him that the first night they met.
He was confused. "Yes, is there something wrong with that?"
"I thought you were older! Maybe-" he was cut off when Kio began to bust out laughing.
"Hah, he thought you were an older man!" he tried in vain to stifle his laughs but the harder he tried the more he laughed. "I told you its that frowning you're always doing it makes you look older!"
Soubi gave Kio a look that Ritsuka had never seen him make. He couldn't tell if it was embarrassment or what, but when his voice came out it's intention was clear. "Kio, I believe the breakfast dishes are still dirty. Go wash them, twice over to make sure their clean. Actually now that I think about it wash them three times to ensure it."
Kio's mouth feel open. "B-but!"
"Now now," Soubi's slender hand pushed out and closed Kio's jaw. "The sooner you get started the sooner you will finish."
The maid pouted, and stomped off mumbling obscenities under his breath.
"Soubi? I need to talk to you, privately. Can we um, find someplace quieter?" One of Ritsuka's small hands reached up to rub his arm nervously, his eyes downcast at the floor. This shy demure side of him made Soubi wonder. "Sure, we'll go to my work room." He placed a hand on the boys back, leading him to a room at the end of the polished hallway. Opening the door, Ritsuka saw that the walls were lined with shelves, and a small table rested in the center of the room. He took a seat on one side, Soubi on the other. There was a long silence, as Ritsuka found the courage so say what was on his mind. A window on the eastern wall sat open, allowing the moonlight to shine in. A symphony of crickets celebrated the night in the medium sized court yard beyond the window. That eclectic mix of silence and the gentle hum of insect life put Ritsuka's nerves a little more at ease. His heart thumped irregularly when Soubi broke the silence. "Whatever you have to say, it must be important. I don't mind the wait Ritsuka. Tell me whenever you feel you can." The thumping of Ristuka's wild heart was loud and ringing in his ears, he could have sworn it was loud enough for Soubi to hear. Was the cotton of his kimono over his chest beating along with it? He couldn't tell, but it felt so strong he wouldn't be surprised if it was. "Why did you buy me?" the question came out quickly, like the words burned his tongue. Eyes focused on the fingers fiddling in his lap, he couldn't bring himself to look up.
"A new okiya needs geisha or else it isn't an okiya at all." Soubi stated it like it was plain as day.
"Is that the only reason?" his tone was sad.
"What do you want me to say, Ritsuka?"
"Why then?! Why did you get to know me first, to understand me if it was only a deal for you to make money? Clearly you already have a pile of it! So then what was the point?" the beating of his heart sped so fast it almost hurt. Tears gathered at the brim of his eyes.
"I do want to understand you Ritsuka. I wanted to get to know you better, and I still have a long way to go. But that is unrelated as to why I bought you."
"Unrelated?!" His eyes squeezed shut, he couldn't stand to see that face he had longed for. "Liar! You're just like Mieko ... you only want money and you want me to be an obedient China doll to make it easier for you." Why? he thought. Why is my heart breaking like this? Abruptly he stood from the table, and his shaking legs made their way to the door. His hand reached out for the door, when Soubi's larger hand grabbed his wrists.
"Ritsuka." Soubi's arms encircled his small, petite shoulders. "Please don't jump to conclusions. I can't stand to see you torn up like this." Gently he turned the smaller boy around to face him. Ritsuka's eyes were puffy and red, tears slid down from them across his cheeks. Soubi's thumbs rubbed underneath the cat boy's eyes, stopping the crystalline tears from flowing. "When you cry, it makes me very sad. I thought if I bought you I could get to know you the best out of anyone in your life. That is what I want."
Surprisingly, Ritsuka's heart stilled. His mind was numb, he didn't know what to do with himself. So he simply stared into Soubi's piercing eyes, trying his best to find any hint of insincerity in the beautifully healing words Soubi used on him. He could find none, but the doubt in his heart still remained. Choosing not to ask the millions of questions flying past his mind he smiled a small and shy smile, "thank you."
Soubi smiled, "no need to thank me." Using his long delicate fingers, he spread the fringe over Ritsuka's forehead. Leaning in, he placed a ghost of a kiss on the tanned skin. "Now hurry to the kitchen, Kio should have made dinner by now."
Speechlessly he nodded, running off to the kitchen.
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
It had been two weeks since Ritsuka came to Soubi's okiya. To his surprise, he was never pestered about keeping every single body part perfectly scrubbed. He still couldn't put on his kimono by himself but it was OK. Mainly because, after the first under robe was put on Soubi would come in and sit beside the body length mirror Ritsuka stood in front of while Kio dressed him. No matter what he always smiled about it. Surprisingly, Soubi had a good stock of kimono. Not just any kimono though, beautiful kimono that looked way too expensive for a geisha of Ristuka's status to wear. But that was changing, under Soubi's direction he had become much more popular. It's how he found himself sitting where he was now, in a teahouse entertaining with two geisha he had heard a lot about.
"Come on, you want to play too right Ritsuka?" Youji smiled as he poured sake for the dark eared cat boy.
"Sure sure. Hm, what's long hard and dangerous?"
The men seated around the table laughed, perverse visions danced through their minds. Ritsuka rolled his eyes as Youji carried on. "Uwahhh! Ristuka's a nasty guy!"
"No I'm not!!!" Ritsuka blushed, although it was too weak to break through the makeup. "I was talking about a sword!" The men of the room laughed again, this time harder at Youji's mock face of shock. Natsuo's mouth formed into an 'o' shape.
Later on that night, Ritsuka found Youji, Natsuo, and himself lazily wandering the streets of Gion. Their geta clunked in an offbeat tune, as their soft voices and boyish laughed floated through the air. Ritsuka envied how they both were so able to put on brand new personalities while entertaining. As he soon learned, their geisha faces were completely different than the faces they wore while being themselves. Natsuo was actually kind of shy, Youji was still just as loud but he talked differently, with no manners whatsoever and not a clean thought to cross his mind. He could tell though on the occasions where Natsuo would speak up that he was exactly the same. Really, he began to like them. He felt they weren't as judging, they didn't care whether or not he was perfect. Actually, he was sure they liked him for himself. Where had these people been all of his life? People like Soubi, Kio, Yuiko, and now these two were people he only dreamed existed. As they passed by various teahouses, the sounds of muffled laughing and petite voices echoed out and onto the streets. "So, that was your only place for tonight? I'm surprised, you both are very popular."
Natsuo's ears flattened down as he looked away, Youji being braver spoke up. "Well, I mean haven't you noticed something strange about us?"
Eyes empty, Ristuka shook his head in a silent 'no.'
"Let me make it easier for you. See this?" Youji grabbed the russet haired boys hand, intertwining their slender fingers. Stopping their walk, he turned slightly to the side so Ritsuka could see.
Realization dawned on him, and a Ritsuka's cheeks blushed crimson. "O-Oh I'm sorry, I'm not too good on picking up on those things."
Youji smiled, releasing his other halves hand. "It's ok. But other people have started to. And our okiya owner Nagisa recently found out. She wasn't too happy about that."
He frowned, "I'm sorry. But at least you still get to entertain at all right?" smiling half heartedly, Ritsuka surprised himself. It wasn't like him to look on the bright side.
"Actually, no we can't." It was Natsuo's turn to speak. Ritsuka's jaw went slack, his eyes widened just so. "Close your mouth or you'll catch a fly! Anyway, Nagisa told us if we could only get one teahouse a night ten times in a row, she'd disown us. Tonight was that tenth night. It's costing her more money to keep us than we are making for her."
A thought was suddenly in the back of Ristuka's head. No matter how much he tried to suppress it it always rose to the top of his brain like an air bubble in the water. "I might have the solution to your problems! You're names are Youji and Natsuo, right?"
Completely confused, they both nodded.
"Okay, that's great! I'll see you both again soon. I have to get back to my okiya now, bye!" He turned on his heel, running away into the night leaving behind two completely bewildered cat boys. Ritsuka rushed back to his okiya, hastily throwing open the front door and for once remembering to slip off his shoes at the doorway. His footsteps echoed lightly down the hallway despite the harsh and rushed steps he was taking, Ritsuka didn't weigh much. As he made his way down the hallway, those steps slowed. Strange noises echoed from Soubi's room. They were noises he had heard many times in the dead of night emanating from Yamato's room, but he never understood them. He didn't dare to find out either. But this was different. It was Soubi's room. Shyly, he used his pinky finger to slide open the door the tiniest fraction he could manage. Slitted yet rounded eyes looked into the dimly lit room, it was hard to make out the shapes.
It would have been harder though if he were not as familiar with the layout of his owners room. Straining, he managed to see the spot on the floor were the futon was supposed to be, and there it was. But instead of being neatly kept and empty like it always was - Ritsuka wasn't even sure that Soubi slept- it was bulging with a figure. No, two figures. With the dim help of candle and moonlight, Ritsuka managed to tell them apart. Something inside of him released, a bad feeling of remorse. Curiosity killed the cat they say. In the dim light he made out the shape of Soubi's bare back, muscles moving and contracting under the sweaty skin. Beneath him lay a woman, Ritsuka didn't have a clue as to who she was. He did know however that she was just as bare as Soubi was. He realized what they were doing, and felt a strange breakage in his chest. The feeling rose into his throat and choked him. Ritsuka was secretly trying so hard to get close to Soubi and here some stranger of a wanton woman was performing the most sacred of dances with him. A fire of strange determination ignited inside of him.
If he can go off with other women so can I!
After a few minutes Ritsuka had taken off his makeup and taken his hair down, and exchanged the kimono colored with rich oranges and yellows for a plain cotton one, in a more masculine pattern of dark blue and grey pinstripes. It was about ten o'clock when he stepped out of the front door of the okiya. Kio had given him a confused face and asked him why he was leaving, to which Ritsuka puffed his chest slightly and responded, "I need to find a woman." Amidst a sea of gut grabbing laughter courtesy of Kio Ritsuka left. Why was he acting this way? He asked himself. Seeing Soubi with a woman had set off something inside of him. Something that hurt. Wandering the streets, he came across a small alleyway where a familiar giggling reverberated off of the walls. Turning into it, he found it was deeper in. He turned left as the alleyway did, where he found Yuiko holding golden autumn leaves up to her lips and blowing them high into the air, watching them float downward.
"Yuiko," Ritsuka knelt in front of her, taking a hold of her shoulders and looking straight into her eyes.
"Ritsuka?" She sounded surprised, and she had every right to be. She would have asked him what he was doing in an alleyway by her okiya this late at night, that is if his lips hadn't come crashing down on hers. It was an awkward kiss, they both fumbled not knowing what to do. The knowledge of their bodies soon took over however, when Yuiko began to knot her fingers into the silken hairs of Ritsuka's head. The gentle moan that escaped his lips surprised him, it encouraged something inside of him to go on. While Yuiko's hands were focused in his hair, Ritsuka's hands wandered aimlessly. Until they came across her ample bosom, then his hands dove in with full force squeezing and massaging the precious mounds of flesh. Their lips moved in a shaky unison, the adrenaline of the moment causing them both to tremble. Suddenly, like she had just remembered something important Yuiko's hands found their way back to Ritsuka's chest and she pushed him away, standing up. "I shouldn't be doing this! I-I'm sorry!" she bowed deeply. Ritsuka stood too, panting and still trembling. "I need to go." Yuiko's words came out choked, then she turned her back to him and ran.
As her back disappeared into the night, the feeling hit Ritsuka like a train. What have I done?
DUN DUN DUNNN:O Thank you again to all who review, I need to make you guys cookies some time.
PREVIEW FOR CHAPTER 7 - November 9th, 2007
He didn't know Soubi as well as he should, but also he didn't think that Soubi would go out and take in two former geisha without a second thought using the reasoning 'because Ritsuka wanted me to.' Maybe it was to make it up for the other woman? And then again, why would Soubi feel the need to make up for something like that?