Author's Note :: Wow! I'm still getting tons of people begging for updates, I'm surprised at this. So, I'm bringing up another chapter just for you guys. : Granted this one might get a little more dramatic than the last two chapters, but it just makes it better right? So read on and review please, darlings. 333

Still don't own Loveless.

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Staircases and Blood Stains

Morning was there before either of them knew it, and it wasn't supposed to be that way at all. Ritsuka was the first one to be awake and blinked his heavy eye lids a couple of times before yawning. It was light outside so he thought it was still the afternoon and he'd only slept for maybe an hour. He looked up at a sleeping Soubi and smiled, trying to slip away from him without disturbing him.

Of course he didn't succeed at all.

"Ritsuka…why are you getting up?" Soubi sounded adorable when he was just waking up, the sound of his voice made the boy smile even brighter.

"Because…" He stretched out and moved to the edge of the bed before staring at the clock. It read 9:00 am.

Wait.

Nine o' clock!?

He gasped and quickly jumped up and nearly stepped on Natsuo and Yoji who were curled up together on the floor with a blanket and a couple of pillows. "Oh my god! Soubi! We slept the whole night! It's nine o' clock I'm already late for school!" He scrambled around to grab his book bag and sling it over his shoulder in a hurried manner, going towards the bedroom door to leave. And then the thought hit him.

He'd never went home last night. Mother would be furious, especially when she would find out that he hadn't been there by morning either. How was he going to face her rage once he got back home? What was he going to do? He was frozen with his hand on the doorknob as he was thinking all of this. What would she do to him? How angry would she be? The "real" Ritsuka would have never done anything like this at all.

Soubi was by his side in no time and opening the door for him, reaching down to his hand and dragging him throughout the apartment. Ritsuka was still in a bit of a trance because he couldn't believe they hadn't woken up from their nap. It was so easy to get comfortable in a bed with Soubi. To get all curled up and warm, he had never gotten any better sleep in his life until he started spending the night with him. Or vice versa.

"What am I going to do? I never went home last night! Mother will be worried!" The boy exclaimed as he stepped outside the apartment and looked up to Soubi for answers. He was hoping the man had some extravagant advice that would make all of this better. Somehow he would fix this and everything would be perfect again. Or near it. Soubi was always fighting for him and fixing things, couldn't he fix this?

"Calm down, Ritsuka." Soubi said simply as he started to walk him to school, hands held even though Ritsuka's was shaky from his own worry. The boy overreacted too much, however right now was a pretty good reason to, but still. Especially considering that Soubi couldn't really figure out a way to fix this…at least not yet. He could easily get by Sensei and make up an excuse or something for Ritsuka and get her to not talk to his mother about this. That would be easy enough. It was just the boy's mother he would have trouble with. Ritsuka loved her even though she treated him horribly, even though Soubi was sure it wasn't entirely her own fault. Things were bad considering Seimei being gone and Ritsuka "changing".

Soon enough they were there and inside the school, walking towards Ritsuka's classroom. He stepped inside, Soubi still behind him and motioning the sensei out into the hallway. She quieted the class and dropped the lesson completely to go out into the hallway to speak with Soubi.

Ritsuka took his usual seat with a sigh and tried to avoid contact with the students, including his friends. Yuiko had that usual look of confusion and concern on her face. And Yayoi just looked puzzled all together. Soon enough Sensei was back into the room and Ritsuka raised his head from his desk, looking towards the hallway. Soubi was gone though, and he didn't even get the chance to hear him say 'I love you' today. Now he just felt weird, kind of incomplete.

The lesson continued on without any further questions towards the boy. He was very thankful, but he wanted this school day to last forever as compared to yesterday. He was too worried about going home this afternoon.

…

That afternoon Ritsuka trudged out of the school slowly and avoided any questions from his friends. Mainly Yuiko, because she would be full of them. The boy found his fighter unit outside waiting for him in no time and immediately moved close to him in an embrace. At first Soubi seemed surprised, but he knew the boy was having a terrible day. He encircled his arms around Ritsuka slowly to comfort him, his fingers running through his dark hair. As Yuiko and Yayoi approached them, Soubi waved them off before grabbing one of Ritsuka's hands and leading him off.

"You don't have to go home right away if you don't want to…" He told him gently as they walked towards the home anyway, even though Soubi didn't want to leave him there. Though, he knew Ritsuka was strong and he'd been dealing with this abuse for a while now, but he didn't want to see him later tonight or tomorrow with many bruises or injuries. He might just come unglued if he saw anything like that.

"No…mother is worried and I need to be there with her…" Ritsuka murmured as he saw his house in the distance. He was predicting in his mind what was about to take place, and it wasn't anything good.

"Call me anytime, no matter how late it is. I'll come stay with you or get you if you need me to." Soubi told him as they inched nearer and nearer down the sidewalk. Ritsuka just squeezed the other's hand as his answer before letting go and looking up at him.

"I have to go."

Soubi sighed and nodded, leaning down to bring Ritsuka into a soft kiss before pulling away. "I love you, Ritsuka." He mumbled and offered him a sweet smile before raising back up completely. Right now, the younger boy couldn't return the smiling favor and just turned to walk towards his house. He knew that Soubi would either be nearby or right there where he left him. Ritsuka just knew these things, and he was certainly sure that Soubi wouldn't be going back to his apartment unless he was going with him tonight.

…

"Ritsuka? Is that you? Are you okay?" The boy's mother had a sheer look of worry over her face as she embraced her son. He knew this was just an act, this concerned side of her wouldn't last long at all. She was just setting up a trap for him, he knew it.

"I'm fine." The boy stood there, arms firmly against his sides as his mother squeezed him in a hug.

"I knew when you would come back you'd be the real Ritsuka. I didn't even care that you were gone, because I knew when you were back, you'd be yourself again. Isn't that right? You're my Ritsuka now, right?" She pulled back and looked at him in the face, a smile fading as she narrowed her eyes at him, waiting for an answer. The bad thing was, Ritsuka wasn't sure how to answer her. There were many going through his head and he just couldn't pick one that sounded right and he would get by with and she-

And then he felt a sharp blow to the side of his face. She had hit him, and he wasn't even ready for it that time, usually he could predict it, but not now. As he was caught off guard he tried to catch his breath, putting his hand to his cheek for a moment. No, that's what she wanted, was to see him looking scared. And he wasn't going to look scared.

"I knew it wasn't you! You're not my son at all! And you never will be!" She threw the nearest thing that she had with her, which was just a thin paperback book and it was easy to dodge.

"Mother I-"

"Shut up!" She threw a vase at him next and it broke on the wall behind him as he tried to make way towards the stairs. If he got up to his room and locked the door he would be fine. And then maybe go out onto the balcony, and he'd be safe. Then again he knew he shouldn't move, he should just stand there until she wore herself out and walked away like it usually happened. But this time her voice had a certain edge to it, she was more angry than usual.

"Who's going to save you? Nobody is here but me! And you can't stop me!" She was going on a rage, knocking things off of shelves in Ritsuka's direction. He ran his way towards the staircase, but she caught him in time before he could get too far.

"Why won't you change back!" She screamed at him, enraged as she slapped him hard to where he fell onto the staircase, hitting his head hard. He saw nothing but black for a couple of seconds and couldn't regain balance to get up the stairs.

"I hate you! Nobody is going to save you from me!" Now she was just yelling and Ritsuka curled up in a defensive ball for a while and listened to her screams. Eventually she stomped off and he heard her bedroom door slam. He crawled up the stairs as best as he could and got into his own room, locking the door. He was still seeing black and couldn't stand without being dizzy. His head had really hit those stairs pretty roughly.

After about ten minutes of lying on the floor, he tried to stand with support from the wall. He reached into his pocket for his cell phone and dialed Soubi. He didn't want to be here. Mother would think that he was just sitting up in his room not answering her if she came to check on him.

"Ritsuka? Are you alright?" Soubi's voice was immediately found on the other line. The boy winced as he put his hand to his forehead.

"I'm…fine. Can you come get me in my room?" He mumbled and his words kind of slurred a little bit because he still wasn't really all there yet.

"I'll be right there." Soubi answered before the phone was hung up and Ritsuka put his hand down to see a good amount of blood on it. Great. He sighed and walked towards the glass door, but didn't quiet making it that far. Before he knew it he had blacked out and hit the floor instantly.

…

About an hour later Ritsuka blinked his eyes open and sighed when he felt pain rush towards his head. He wanted to get back to sleep immediately, but he saw Soubi there standing over him. Where was he? Certainly not in his own bedroom…no, he was in Soubi's apartment. Well, he'd much rather be here anyway.

"What happened?" He said, trying to speak but it was a little bit quieter than that.

"I came up to your room and apparently you had blacked out on the floor and left a pretty good blood stain there, but I cleaned it up." Soubi leaned over and kissed the boy's cheek gently, his hand covering one of Ritsuka's. Just so the boy wouldn't feel like he was alone right now.

"It hurts…" The younger one complained slightly before sighing and trying to sit up, but Soubi placed a hand to his chest to keep him from it.

"No, stay laying down. What do you need?" He asked as if he was playing nurse or something. He might as well have been.

"Nothing." He murmured back to him and rubbed one of his eyes slightly, and dropping his hand, looking a little frustrated. "I don't want to go back there…what would happen if I never went back, Soubi?"

"I'm pretty sure she would call authorities, but even then you could report her for the abuse…but then they'll just put you in a foster home or something." Soubi didn't like the sound of that at all, it would be too difficult. But there wasn't any way the boy could live with him and get away with it. Ritsuka didn't have any choice but to go back there. Although, he didn't want him going tonight, he had a slight plan for Ritsuka being able to stay with him for the night and him not getting in trouble for it. At least not much trouble. "Call your mother, tell her you're staying over at a friend's house for a school project. That way you can stay with me tonight."

Ritsuka sighed and nodded, but regretted that nod since it had hurt his head even further. "I will…in a bit." This time he sat up and put his hand out so that Soubi wouldn't stop him. Of course Soubi was there in no time propping the boy up with a couple of pillows behind his back. "I'm sorry you have to do this…"

"Why? I want to protect you and take care of you, Ritsuka." Soubi told him softly and he took the younger's hand once again and laced their fingers. "I love you, Ritsuka…I'll always take care of you." He whispered before leaning up to kiss him, as if to make his promises seem more real.

Ritsuka held this kiss, surprisingly, wanting to share it with him right now. Soon he felt Soubi's tongue reaching his own bottom lip, as if asking for the entrance. The boy allowed it and parted his lips for the older male as they deepened the kiss even further. It was exciting for the boy, maybe too much since all his rushing thoughts were placing a strain on his head injury right now. Yet right as he thought this, Soubi had parted with him, pecking his lips once more before leaning back to his previous position.

"You need some rest." He informed him as he stood and Ritsuka reached for him, not wanting him to leave his side just yet, or at all really.

"No, I want to stay awake." He frowned slightly as he started to move out of bed and stand up, beginning to walk. But he didn't succeed and it was good thing Soubi was there to catch him.

"Come on, then." The fighter picked up the boy and then sat in bed, letting Ritsuka curl up with him as he liked. And in no time the younger had settled on Soubi's lap, his head rested against his chest and arms encircling his waist. And his cat tail, which had wrapped itself around one of Soubi's thighs out of habit.

Soubi just smiled to himself, raising one hand to run his fingers across one of Ritsuka's cat ears to soothe him to sleep. And it had worked.

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So this one was a little bit shorter, and if it's demanded again, I can think up something else for another chapter. I suppose I have sort of an idea for a new chapter…if I get some more encouraging reviews! Thanks to everyone who already has!