Dlbn: Hey everyone! Welcome back! So glad this fic is getting positive response from people. I'm working really hard on it. I wrote two of the major parts of it last night at work and I'm excited to continue going.

Nbld: Updates will be every few days since Halloween is closer than anyone would like to admit.

Dlbn: Not liking to admit it cuz the sooner it gets here, the sooner it's over. Not like I can enjoy it anyway, I work 3:30-midnight on Saturdays and Sundays. So now Halloween and no post-Halloween 50% off sales for me.

Nbld: Well no more whining. Time for the Review Corner! Thank you to Promocat for reviewing! Candy for you!

Promocat: Thank you!

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Loveless or anyone in it. It all belongs to Yun Kouga. I make NO money off of writing this story.

Disclaimer 2: I do NOT own the song *** by ***, which this fic is based off of. I make NO money out of referencing it.

000

Café Lazuli was vibrant and full of life when Ritsuka finally found it five or six minutes after the paranoid couple's departing. To think that people would actually believe a house was haunted or cursed just because of a few stories that had most likely been spread to keep children from leaving the village at night. He approached the counter and ordered a blueberry muffin and a cup of warm tea. The young neko turned to take the items back to his table and bumped into a taller man with blonde hair and glasses. His tea spilled on the man's suit coat.

"Gomen!" Ritsuka apologized, offering napkins. "I didn't see you there. God, I didn't mean that. I'll pay for it, promise!"

The attractive blonde chuckled, wiping off the tea. "It's quite alright. It didn't burn, and a stain can be taken care of. I should have excused myself before walking." He replied. "My apologies."

"Oh…um…it's okay. I turned fast." Ritsuka rubbed the back of his neck.

"Here, let me get you a new tea. Hitomi-chan! Warm tea, please!"

"With milk!" Ritsuka added out of habit.

The brunette behind the counter flushed and made the drink, handing it to the blonde.

"You didn't have to do that." Ritsuka stated. "Let me pay to get that cleaned…"

"No worries. My roommate runs the Laundromat. He'll do it for me for free." The man offered. "I was in a rush this morning. I have a meeting in an hour and I didn't think I had enough time to get to the office before the guy I'm meeting for the walkthrough got there."

"Walkthrough?" Ritsuka's ears perked. "Oh! Are you a real estate agent?"

"I am. Well done." He nodded.

"Well, you're in luck. I'm Aoyagi Ritsuka." The neko led him out of the crowd to get to a table. "I'm the one you're meeting today."

"Well, what a lucky day for me." The blonde chuckled. "Pleased to meet you. I'm Agatsuma Soubi."

"A pleasure to meet you as well." Ritsuka bowed. "If you need to go to the office, I can wait for you. I have no other plans."

"You're more than welcome to go to the real estate office with me, if you'd like. The file I need to get is on the home I'm showing you."

"The one on the hill, right?" Ritsuka asked. "I'm wondering because some locals were trying to convince me that the place is haunted and to stay away."

"It's most definitely not haunted." Soubi froze as if he hardly believed his own words. "I think you'll like it."

"I figured it wasn't haunted. Just thought I should say something. They tried to warn me away."

"Children, hm?" Soubi chuckled. "What would you do without them?"

"They were around my age, actually."

Soubi frowned but covered it up quickly. "Such vivid imaginations for adults. So, where are you staying? The Inn?"

"I am, actually." It was the only place in town for visiting persons to stay. "It's a nice hotel. I met the man at the front desk. He's pretty nice."

"Glad to hear it. Akame-san can be…abrasive sometimes."

"Oh, he was very pleasant."

Soubi smiled as if that meant something important to him. "Excellent. So I trust your stay here has been well so far?"

Ritsuka nodded. "It has been. Other than spilling my tea on you."

Soubi chuckled. "If that was the low point of your trip, I'd say it's a rather accomplished one."

"As would I."

Soubi smiled. "I'm glad. We don't get guests here much. It's just so far out of the way."

"I like the tranquility of it." Ritsuka replied. "I'm from Kyoto, but my family moved to Tokyo when I was ten, after my memory loss."

"Memory loss? My apologies."

"It's alright. Can't help it, I guess." Ritsuka shrugged. "Things happen, really."

Soubi nodded. "I imagine the countryside is a lot different than the city."

"You can say that again." Ritsuka chuckled.

It seemed like it was going to be a good trip after all, even with the words of the young couple ringing in the back of his mind.

000

"So, as you can see, it's a two-story, one bedroom home. It still has its structure and fixtures from the decade it was built, but it's been kept up to date with modern appliances and changes to the infrastructure as needed." Soubi prattled on.

Ritsuka was seated on a chair in the man's office at the real estate office, flipping through the file on his possible new home.

"It's real nice." The neko offered, looking through some photos of the different rooms.

He saw one picture of a door that was a little strange. The door itself was fine, but the fact that someone had taken a picture of a door was weird. There was no following picture to show the inside of the room that the door went to.

"What's with the door?" Ritsuka wondered.

"Ah, it's an old escape route from war times." Soubi stated. "It's been long since sealed off, but the door was left there to keep the history of the home alive. A lot of famous revolutionaries lived there throughout the centuries, and it would be a shame to completely destroy evidence of their time spent here, would it not?"

"Yeah, it would be. I just thought it was weird you showed me a picture of a door but no photographs of what's behind it."

When Ritsuka looked back down at the file in front of him, Soubi frowned. The kid was asking too many questions, but he suppose he should have expected that. He wouldn't have included the door if it wasn't for his friend insisting it was an essential and important piece of the home and simply couldn't be ignored. Though, honestly, if he had known the intentions of that 'friend' back then, he never would have helped him.

"I probably should have mentioned that." Soubi chuckled. "What do you think? Want to go take a look?"

"I don't know if I need to take a look." Ritsuka shook his head, smiling up at the real estate agent. "I'm pretty certain I'm going to take it."

"You are?" Soubi sounded surprised. "I mean, that's great. You just made your decision so quickly…"

"It's a nice home, and I honestly don't have anywhere else to go."

Soubi frowned. "This may be a little forward, but if you want more time to think about it but don't want to have to pay for the hotel, you're more than welcome to…uh…stay at my place…I have a spare room…"

"Oh!" Ritsuka flushed. "Yes, that's a little forward…but…I'm flattered."

The blonde flushed as well.

"But I think I'm going to take the house, no further questions asked on my end."

"Really? Well, you're rather easy to please. No offense." Soubi chuckled. "Well, let's draw up the paperwork, fill it out, and then I'll take you to your new home. Sound good?"

"Sounds like the way to do things, yes." Ritsuka smiled gently.

Soubi pulled paperwork out of his desk and began to work. Beside himself, Ritsuka bounced on his toes in his seat. Finally, he was going to have a permanent place to call home.

000

Ritsuka opened the front door of his new home with the brass key Soubi had given him that had his house's address number etched into the metal. The blonde stood behind him, smiling sadly as the boy bounced on his toes again. He was happy to have made a sale and had made the orphan happy, but he knew what would befall the boy later and wasn't proud to be a part of it. But when his friends wanted something, they tended to get it. Ritsuka opened the door and flipped on a light, hoping there was some kind of electricity inside. Luckily for him, the lights turned on almost automatically.

"It has electric already?" He wondered.

"Of course." Soubi nodded. "The houses and buildings here in town are all on the town's electric system. The town taxes go into funding the electricity. It's a rather efficient way of doing things around here."

"That explains why almost every building was pitch-black when I got in last night."

Soubi nodded. "Certain buildings have light twenty-four seven. Like the hotel, and town hall."

"Makes sense, I guess. Though from what you and Akame-san have said, there aren't many visitors to this town."

"You're right." Soubi nodded. "But the hotel is open twenty-four seven just in case."

"It's good to be prepared."

Soubi nodded. "Now, how about the grand tour?"

"I'd like that, Soubi, thank you."

Soubi nodded, leading Ritsuka by the wrist to a room to the left. "This here is the kitchen. As I said, everything is up to date in the appliance department." He began talking. "Through here we have the main hallway, which leads to the downstairs bathroom, pantry, closet, and the living and sitting rooms."

Ritsuka followed the man all throughout the first and second floors, listening to him excitedly go on and on about the features in each room and what was best about them. The bedroom was small but not too small, and the bathroom contained a rather impressive shower. Everything else didn't really matter to him, as long as electricity and heating worked, and he had a bed to sleep in and a place to sit downstairs, he was happy. It wasn't like he had many possessions. Even the amount of clothing he had was minimal at this point in time. Maybe eventually he'd have more, but not now. He had to focus on getting a job in town and making money from said job first. It wasn't that he was money hungry, he just didn't want to be caught off guard I a situation where he needed money and didn't have access to any. It would be awkward to bother his friends back in Tokyo for money. Even though they were more than willing to help out when he needed help, he wasn't going to take their money. He knew they'd never make him pay them back, but he'd feel terrible borrowing money and not returning it. He was strange that way, really.

"I think that's everything." Soubi stated as they stood at the top of the stairwell. "Anything I'm missing?"

"You skipped right over that." Ritsuka nodded towards the door that led to nowhere.

"Ah, right. Well, this is the infamous door to nothing." Soubi stated, seeming a bit nervous to be talking about it.

"Oh, come on. Don't tell me you believe the stories from town. I thought you were smarter than that."

"You thought I'm smart?"

"Well, you got me to buy this place just by showing me a folder. Either you're a genius or you can control minds."

Soubi chuckled. "Perhaps it's both."

"Maybe so."

Soubi smiled at the slightly shorter ravenette.

"Say…um…I don't really know anyone in town…so…um…would you like to…I don't know…christen my new house?"

"I'm flattered that you would invite me to something like that." Soubi smiled gently. "To be honest, I don't have many friends here, either. My friend who owns the Laundromat, Kio, is really the only friend I have around here."

Ritsuka smiled gently. "I know how hard it can be not having friends or people to hang out with where you live. I never stayed in a foster home long enough to make friends. Until the last one. I made tons of friends out in Gora."

"Gora, hum?" Soubi wondered. "You don't say. I used to live there."

"Oh really? Small world."

"Yeah, my parents died in a car accident, and my mother's…um…best friend…took me in."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"Thank you. I was eight."

"I was fifteen when my mother killed herself and my father in a fire in a psychotic rage while I was in school."

"That's awful. To come home to that…"

"They pulled me out of school, actually. I went into foster care that same day."

"That had to be hard to handle. My apologies."

This kid's back story was getting more and more depressing as they spoke.

"It's alright. It's been years since then." Ritsuka shrugged.

"I suppose." Soubi replied. "Well, I'll let you get settled in. I'll come by tonight around six?"

"Sounds good. Thank you."

"You're welcome." Soubi placed a light kiss on the neko's head before leaving.

Ritsuka flushed, surprised at the action. But he didn't have time to worry or think about that. For now, he had to go get his stuff from the hotel and get some stuff for Soubi coming over later. The thought almost made him giddy. Sure, he barely knew the man, but he was the only person around he'd consider a friend…other than Akame from the hotel, but he didn't feel like inviting him as well. As Ritsuka slammed the door behind him to leave for the hotel, a rattling noise began coming from behind the door that led to nowhere.