The Color of Chinese Bellflowers
Chapter ten: Come here, boy
Disclaimer: Loveless is property of Yun Kouga. The song 'Come here, boy' is by Immogen Heap.
A/N: This is an original AU fic. Our little minors have a bit of a drink in this chapter, so if that bothers you then don't read. If you like missing major plot advances that is XD
Ritsuka didn't know what it was building inside of him. It felt almost like anger, but that wasn't quite right. Soubi had said those strange three words, 'I love you.' Not one month ago had Yuiko told him the same thing. Ever since he was young the cat boy was lead to believe those words were sacred, almost dirty. None the less he knew they were words that he as a geisha could not say. And normally an owner would enforce that ideal but there Soubi had been telling him those dirty words like he was saying something as simple as, 'good morning!' He had even gone so far as to kiss him, thinking about it subconsciously Ritsuka's finger tips rested on his lips remembering the feel of it. Soubi interrupted his thoughts with a soft chuckle. "I think I can guess pretty well what you're thinking about."
After the kiss Ritsuka hadn't said a word, continuing on to finish his food. Leaving the restaurant the two had gone walking, which is were they found themselves now. Ritsuka wasn't familiar with this area of the district, so he couldn't tell where they were. His fingers fell from his mouth when Soubi embarrassed him out of his thoughts. "Why would you say something like that?"
Soubi already knew what the young geisha meant. "Because I meant it, I do love you Ritsuka."
"Yeah and Yuiko said that too." Those words seemed to peek an interest in the twenty year old. Disguising it by casually pushing his glasses further up the bridge of his nose he asked, "and what did you tell her?"
"I told her I didn't know if I could say the same thing back. And it's just the same with you Soubi, I don't know if I can give that back to you. Do you even know what love is?"
Soubi laughed lightly, "don't forget that I'm older than you. Although I doubt Yuiko knew the depth to what she was saying."
Ritsuka's eyes darted over Soubi's head, to where his cat ears would have been. "Oh yeah, you don't have your ears anymore. I guess you would know then wouldn't you."
"I knew that anyway but loving someone and giving up your ears are two completely different things."
"They have to be related in some way right?" his young voice had somewhat of a tense sound to it. "You have to love someone to loose your ears to them!" A blush tinged his cheeks, this wasn't exactly the most appropriate topic of conversation.
"You can love them, but it isn't a rule. I myself did not." upon finishing the sentence he pulled out a fresh smoke, lit it and inhaled deeply.
A small silence seemed to widen the space between the two. Ritsuka's unsure voice broke through. "Why did you give them to that person then?"
"He wanted to take them, and so I let him."
That statement should have shocked Ritsuka, but a sudden wave of sleepiness hit him hard. He yawned deeply, they had been out for a few hours and normally he'd have been sleeping by now. Ritsuka had been fighting off the fatigue since dinner. Soubi took notice of this, and scooped the young teen into his arms.
"Soubi what are you doing? Put me down." Ritsuka's weak protest wasn't very convincing.
Wordlessly, the blonde man ghosted a kiss onto the cat boy's forehead. Almost like he had cast a spell, Ritsuka's eyelids became too much to hold up. "I'll carry you home so don't worry, just sleep for now my dear Ritsuka."
Mumbling an m-hm, he drifted off into the most peaceful sleep he'd had since he could remember.
He's even more adorable when he's fast asleep, Soubi thought. Trying his best not to wake Ritsuka he had made it back to the okiya and up the stairs to the geisha's room without him stirring, even through Kio's taunts and snickering. Now, the older man sat by Ritsuka as he lay in his futon fast asleep. Soubi did not smoke in this room, because even though he'd never heard it from him directly Soubi knew that Ritsuka hated the smell of that aromatic tobacco. If the younger boy wanted him to, Soubi knew there was nothing he could do but give smoking up completely. Hell, if Ritsuka wanted him to set himself on fire he would if it made him happy.
But now, enjoying the silence of the night sitting here by the sleeping form was enough for him. Even if the cat boy could never love him back it was the moments like this that healed Soubi's soul. Unfortunately that silence was broken by the thumps and muffled voices coming from the room next door. Curiously Soubi left the room and snuck a peak into the room beside Ritsuka's. That room belonged to Natsuo and Youji. When he looked in he couldn't help but giggle to himself as the two bare torsoed teens enjoyed a sweaty moment together before Youji shoved Natsuo away for one reason or another, it was too dark for Soubi to tell why. Shaking his head slowly he went back into Ritsuka's room. At least Youji had enough self control to stop before they lost their ears, he thought.
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
Two weeks had passed since Soubi 's love confession to Ritsuka. He hadn't spoken about it with either of them, or with anyone for that matter. As far as he could tell both confessors Soubi and Yuiko were acting like it had never happened. It made him a little sad, when it came to Soubi. Yuiko still caught his eye but whenever Soubi smiled it made him feel good inside. Early in the morning he would go into the kitchen to see what Kio and Yuiko were making for breakfast and Soubi would be there always, waiting for him. It was the morning routine. Ritsuka would come in and Soubi would say, "good morning, I hope you slept well." Ritsuka would assure him that he did and would then take his seat at the table. And while they waited for their meals Soubi would tell him about the stories from the newspaper, occasionally teaching him new kanji as they read the articles together.
Ritsuka liked reading and learning, and intellectual things in general. So this happening with Soubi every morning made him very happy. Around the older man his heart would seem at ease, like he had found his way home after being long lost. It was different however, once he donned the face of a geisha. His heart fluttered at every glance from the blonde and he worried over if he looked pretty, if his kimono complemented him or if his makeup was perfect. Every time the thought entered his mind - the thought of how Soubi made him feel - he shook it out of his head. Those feelings were out of the question.
Ritsuka sat in his room, doing his best to ignore the loud noises coming from the room below him. Strangely enough, that was a spare lounging room they hardly ever used. Trying to keep his mind on the novel Soubi had bought him recently, he blocked it out. Or at least he tried. Yuiko's loud laughter broke through.
What in the hell were they doing?
A knock on the door sounded. Ritsuka sighed, giving up on his book and closing it. "Who is it?"
Without any introduction Kio slid open the door, "we're having a party downstairs!"
"I can hear that! But what are you guys celebrating anyway?" Ritsuka hated it when people stated the obvious.
"Check it out, look out of your window!" he smiled brightly. Ritsuka opened his window and peered out. It was snowing! "No wonder I was so cold. What's so great about that though?"
Kio rolled his eyes, "it's the first snow of winter, so we wanted to celebrate. You should come down too! Soubi's there."
He blushed, "what does Soubi have to do with anything? I'll come though." His tail twitched in defeat.
The mop headed youth grinned toothily. "That's the spirit!" Roughly, Kio dragged Ritsuka by the wrist downstairs to the party.
The sight before him was priceless, Soubi and Yuiko watched Youji do a strange and quite frankly embarrassing dance. Ritsuka sat in the floor next to Natsuo and whispered to him, "is that the dance he did to try and make that kid stop crying?"
Natsuo's head tilted in Ritsuka's direction. With a giggle he nodded "yessit'is." The smell on his breath made it obvious, he was drinking. Ritsuka looked closely at the faces of everyone in the room, each of them either blushing or shouting at Youji in funny sounding slurs. Everyone had been drinking!
Kio clumsily stumbled over to Ritsuka handing him a full cup of sake. "Come on, join us!"
Ritsuka looked at the cup warily, in the alcoholic drink he saw his reflection. Something he'd come to dislike lately, the face of someone with uncontrollable feelings. Reluctantly he downed the whole cup. The liquid burned down his throat.
"Wow!" Kio shouted. "He drank the whole thing in one go, you must be thirsty. Here!" He poured the under aged teen another cup. With a little less reluctance Ritsuka drank that one too. He noticed Soubi staring at him from the corner of his vision, and for some reason ignored him completely. Youji finished his dance, stumbling forward and landing on top of Natsuo. The redhead growled, "you're drunk!"
Youji shook his head slowly. "N-I'mnot."
"Get offa me then!" Natsuo pushed Youji off. Meanwhile Kio had found Ritsuka's samisen and was trying his best to play. For the first time Ritsuka saw Soubi laugh, really really hard. Snapping out of his lazy stupor, he felt a hand on his. Looking over he found himself staring into the face of Yuiko.
"Ritsuka, come with me." Without waiting for his answer she pulled him up by the hand, sneaking them through the doorway without being noticed which wasn't very hard at all. She pushed the both of them into the roomy hall closet, and shut the door.
"Why're we in the closet, Yuiko?" His mind was too buzzed from the sake to recognize this as a potentially dangerous situation.
"I can't take it anymore Ritsuka, I know you told me you couldn't say that you love me back but I love you a whole whole lot!"
Again with this love stuff, despite the influence of alcohol Ritsuka still had a distaste for it. "Yuiko you don't even know what love is, you still have your ears."
"Don't say that, I love you."
"Yuiko look I-" The cat boy's protest was cut off by the awkward pressure of Yuiko's lips against his. His eyes widened, only to see that hers were closed. He tried shoving her away, and then regretted the last few cups of sake he'd drank while watching Kio defile his Samisen. The alcohol pushing through his bloodstream seemed to have weakened his muscles and he lacked the strength to push the taller girl off of him, or was that his lack of willpower? Mumbling, "stoppit," didn't seem to help either. Yuiko's hands were wandering, taking in the newly developing muscles of his arms and chest. This was completely unlike the Yuiko he knew existed. Reminder to self, he noted. Never let Yuiko have alcohol.
With a previously unfounded confidence Yuiko pushed her tongue forward to glaze Ritsuka's lips. He gasped, absent mindedly allowing her tongue inside to dance with his. That action made him give up control entirely, his hands finding their way up to her full head of soft and delicate hair. Knotting his fingers in her hair, he massaged her scalp earning a pleased sigh from her. Suddenly he wanted more of a reaction out of her.
He loved the feeling of the other slippery wet muscle mingling with his, and that slightly metallic taste that was Yuiko. The heat between their bodies grew, when Ritsuka took the initiative to lay her on her back in the floor. He did his best not to look at her eyes during their short break from kissing. On his hands and knees on top of her, he barely noticed as his right knee slid it's way between her legs. Just how many cups of sake did he have again? He couldn't count. Yuiko pulled him by his collar down closer to her, and their lips met again.
Ritsuka took a daring step. His strangely steady hands dragged lightly down her throat, and over her shoulders. Sliding the kimono off of her shoulders, he had exposed her torso to the cold air. "R-Ritsuka!" Yuiko's eyes were wide, and the cat boy whispered a comforting "Shh." Again their tongues danced, the insides of their mouths enjoying the comforting warmth against the brisk air in the okiya.
Clack
What was that? Ritsuka wondered, his mind processing the new noise slowly.
The door had been opened.
That's what it was, he thought. Looking up lazily his heart stopped. His eyes stared up in to the piercing gaze that belonged to none other than Soubi. "S-Soubi!" Ritsuka jumped up, and Yuiko immediately fixed her kimono. Like he had just stepped into an icy cold bath a sobering feeling spread over the teen. "It's not, well um. Oh no ..." He tried his best to come up with an explanation. With no reply, Soubi turned his back to them to take a step to the side, standing against the wall next to the door. Yuiko darted around Ritsuka, and down the hallway to her room. Ritsuka slowly stepped out of the closet. In slow motion he looked up and over at Soubi, who did nothing but exhale a breath of smoke. "I'm sorry." He said simply. Tears gathered in his eyelids threatening to fall.
"I love you, Ritsuka."
He snapped. He couldn't take those three words anymore. "Liar!" He shouted. "You're a liar! Yuiko is too!"
Soubi somehow knew that it had been a cruel thing to say, strangely. Although he felt the need to be cruel. "By the looks of it, Yuiko loves you too. And you must love her a lot, too."
Those words tortured him, and his tears spilled over. "I hate you Soubi." He mumbled. Turning his back on the blonde Ritsuka threw open the front door and ran out into the snowy evening.
:x This chappy got posted a little early for people in other timezones (where I am it's been Friday the 21st for 34 minutes) so if that happened to you congrats :D
PREVIEW FOR CHAPTER ELEVEN - January 4th, 2008
"I'm sick of your complaining." Using a strength no one knew Kio had he grabbed Soubi's wrists and pinned them to the floor over his head. "So why don't you shut up." Throwing his weight over the blonde he straddled Soubi's hips, careful not to push any two certain organs together. Soubi's face drew in mild confusion, as Kio gently leaned over and kissed him.