Dlbn: I put the second chapter into the document manager to upload as a new chapter…AND FORGOT! Due to this terrible error, I'm going to post two chapters in one day. To resume a semi-normal schedule and be on time for Halloween in two weeks, I'll post the fourth chapter on Monday. I was wondering why I hadn't gotten any reviews or new hits (people viewing) on this story and why the live preview only showed chapter one…
Nbld: Idiot so because of the two chapter thing, no Review Corner today. We'll just do a double Review Corner on Monday with chapter four.
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
It was a little awkward having Soubi over for dinner so suddenly, Ritsuka noted as he cleaned the plates off the kitchen table. Sure, the blonde was nice and rather attractive, but he was his real estate agent. Surely Soubi thought it was strange that the neko had invited him over for dinner to celebrate his new home. It wasn't like his previous foster family could or would travel out that far to see his new house, and he knew his former roommates and older friends didn't have the funds to get there, and he didn't really have many friends outside of them to come and see him. His entire family was gone, so he couldn't invite any of them either. Well, he had extended family like his aunt and uncle and their spoiled daughter, but they didn't really like him and he didn't really like them. They could have taken him in, as they were family and rich family at that, but they didn't want him around; forever branding him as the strange only child of his deranged mother and absentee father. He didn't care. His cousin always rubbed him the wrong way. She was always bragging about the things her family was doing and tossing in an 'it's too bad you'll never be able to afford to do that!' in with it. Her parents knew how she was, but never said anything. She'd even acted up at the funeral, but no one had done anything to stop it even though Ritsuka had desperately tried to throw her out.
"I brought dessert. Hope you don't mind." Soubi announced.
Ritsuka snapped from his thoughts and smiled gently at the blonde. "Oh, you didn't mention that before." He stated. "That's…er…rather nice of you."
He could have bought a dessert, but he had tried to make one on his own instead and burnt it beyond recognition after falling asleep in the living room while it was cooking. It felt and sounded crazy, but he could have sworn a voice had startled him awake to bring his attention to his almost burning his new home down. But he had to have been imaging it…right…? There was no way voices woke him up. He'd be crazy to believe that. Sure, he came from crazy, unstable DNA, but that didn't mean he would be crazy too.
Soubi smiled gently. "A surprise. I hope you didn't make something already."
"Oh, no, I burnt it."
Soubi laughed. "Well, then I guess it's me to the rescue, hm?"
He opened the bag of plastic silverware Ritsuka had bought and pulled a tray containing a little cake off of the floor to set it on the table. It read 'welcome home' in blue icing on the top.
"That's sweet." Ritsuka smiled gently. "And it looks adorable."
Soubi blushed. "Thanks."
He cut off two slices and put each slice on a paper plate. They each took one and dug into the dessert.
"I hope tonight wasn't too awkward for you." Soubi stated. "I'd hate to offend a friend."
"Oh, there's no offense at all." Ritsuka waved him off. "It was a little awkward, I admit. Um…was it okay for you…?"
"Fine by me." He handed Ritsuka a card. "From my roommate."
Ritsuka opened the envelope to find a card reading 'welcome to the neighborhood' written on it in gold calligraphy on a dark blue-grey background. Inside there was a note welcome him and telling him he 'better not break Soubi's heart' or he'd 'be in big trouble'. Ritsuka laughed.
"Break your heart? What does he mean by that?"
Soubi sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "God damn it, Kio." He stated. "I…er…may have told him…I don't know…that you were cute or…or something…"
Ritsuka blushed. "R-really…?" He wondered, receiving a nod in reply. "Well…erm…you are…too…you know…"
"T-thank you."
Soubi bowed his head to hide the grin stretching over his face. It quickly faded away to a tiny smile that may as well have not been there.
"So…er…what do we do about that…?" Soubi wondered.
Ritsuka choked on his cake. "E-Excuse me?" He wondered once he finally managed to stop coughing.
"What?" Soubi shrugged. "Sorry. This whole…flirting…thing…isn't really my style."
"Then stick to your 'style' or I may choke to death."
"Well, that wouldn't be good."
Ritsuka looked away, flushing. "Unless…you want me to…"
"Choke?"
"Yeah."
"Why would I want that?"
"Not on food…"
Soubi blinked. "Oh…"
"Yeah, one of my friends tried a line like that on a girl once. It…didn't go over well…"
Soubi chuckled. "Well, it's going over fine with me." He stood, offering Ritsuka a hand.
Ritsuka smiled gently and took it, allowing Soubi to pull him off towards the bedroom upstairs. As they passed the door that led to nothing, Ritsuka felt a chill in the air. Either from anticipation or from…he wasn't sure what.
000
Ritsuka straightened his tie as he sat in front of the editor for the local newspaper the next afternoon. They were hiring for a full time photographer. He had printed off some photographs that he had taken a while ago at the local library to use as a portfolio of his work and applied for the job. The secretary was pretty nice, if not a little rushed to get everything over with. He felt a little weird not having ears anymore, but it wasn't something he was completely worried about. He looked…older…without ears. The night before had started off awkward, got more awkward, and then suddenly turned into pure bliss. He blushed as he shook the memories out of his head. Metaphorically speaking, anyway. Doing so in front of his potential new boss would be horrifying and maybe even cost him the job.
The man behind the desk seemed rather interested in Ritsuka's photographs. He spent a good five minutes looking at one in particular before closing the portfolio.
"I don't need to see any more." He smiled. "You've got the job."
"I do?" Ritsuka perked up. "T-Thank you so much!"
The man chuckled. "You're welcome, kid. How does fifteen bucks an hour sound? You can get a raise to eighteen bucks an hour after 30 days. We don't offer many benefits, but our health insurance does cover medical expenses up to three hundred a month. Anything over that is negotiable." He prattled on. "Sound good to you?"
"Sounds great! Thank you!"
"Great. Can you start tomorrow night? There's the town parade I need photographs of. It's Founder's day tomorrow."
"I can start whenever you need me."
"Great, be here at eight PM for a briefing. The parade starts at nine, but I want to get photographs from before it begins as well. I'll see you later, kid."
They both stood and bowed.
"Thank you. You won't regret this." Ritsuka grinned.
As soon as he was let out of the room, Ritsuka briskly walked outside and booked it downtown to the real estate office. Soubi wouldn't believe this.
000
Soubi groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose as he listened to the man on the other end of the line scream obscenities at him.
"He's getting impatient!" The other male chirped. "And instead of doing what you're supposed to and getting the hell out of there, you go and not only have dinner with the guy…but sleep with him? Agatsuma Soubi, where the hell is your head?!"
"Would you shut up?" Soubi wondered. "There's no rule saying I can't sleep with someone just because he marked him."
"That's because only an idiot would do it!"
"Why do you even need me to help anyway? Just use your friend like you did before I came around."
"Mimuro skipped town and vowed that he would not only refuse to return here, but he'd also never help me again!" The other voice snarled. "I don't have a choice presently but to use you. So quit fucking up!"
"Unless he complains, I'm not listening to this. You just like the sound of your own voice."
The chime on the door dinged.
"I gotta go." Soubi hung up while the other man shouted at him.
The blonde was about to give his usual greeting, but was greeted by the sight of an earless, grinning Ritsuka.
"Hey, what are you doing here?" Soubi wondered.
"I got a photography job at the newspaper." Ritsuka grinned, bouncing on the balls of his feet.
"Oh? Ritsuka, that's wonderful." Soubi pulled him close to put a brief, chaste kiss on the younger male's lips. "Congratulations."
"Thank you." Ritsuka grinned. "Now I can afford furniture…and better food…"
Soubi chuckled. "Why, yes you can."
Ritsuka smiled. "Never thought things would be so easy just from making one simple move…"
"There aren't many people around here who even know how to operate a camera, let alone how to do it well. Besides, I had no doubts that you wouldn't get the job." He tapped Ritsuka on the nose. "I'm stuck here until seven, so why don't you go out and celebrate. Or go home and lay down a bit. With all the excitement, you may run yourself into the ground if you're not careful."
"Yeah, I'll try." Ritsuka stated.
The phone on the desk began to ring.
"My job is never done." Soubi chuckled, kissing Ritsuka on the nose. "Go, have fun, relax."
Ritsuka chuckled. "Okay, okay. Don't work yourself too hard. You're going to need a lot of energy for later."
Soubi just stared in surprise as Ritsuka left, laughing. The phone began ringing again and he picked it up.
"Realty office. This is Agatsuma Soubi." He greeted.
"I know who it is, you idiot." The voice of the annoyed man from earlier quipped at him. I'm the one who called you."
Soubi groaned.
000
Later that night, after Soubi's roommate had called and begged him to come home to kill a 'huge freaking spider' and the blonde had left to handle the situation, Ritsuka lay in his new bed, staring up at the ceiling. He couldn't believe it. Within a few short days of living in the new town, he already had a nice house, what he guessed he'd consider a boyfriend, and was starting a nice new job with good pay in the morning. And people back home had told him not to leave, and that couple from the other day had warned him that the house was haunted and bad news. Ritsuka couldn't help but laugh as he ground the palms of his hands into his eyes. They were all foolish. Sure, he'd been nervous when he first decided to move, but he was fine now. Everything was going great. Ritsuka rolled to his side and closed his eyes as he got comfortable. He was almost asleep when a loud banging sound down the hall startled him up into a seated position. Had he stupidly left an upstairs window open, though the crisp fall air was beginning to settle in around town? He tossed aside the covers and grabbed a flashlight to go see what all the noise was about. Maybe Soubi had come back and had tripped in the dark.
Ritsuka turned on the flashlight and made his way down the hall. As soon as he set foot outside of his bedroom, he heard the pounding again. That couldn't have been Soubi tripping again. He would have seen him this time. Ritsuka passed the door that led to nowhere and put one foot on the top step of his stairs. As soon as he did so, the thump came again from behind him. He turned to spot nothing but the nowhere door. It wasn't possible that the door was slamming open and shut from the wind, since Soubi said those escape tunnels had been sealed off some time ago. But the thumping was definitely coming from behind the door, louder this time. With a shaky hand, Ritsuka gripped the doorknob.
It leads to nowhere. Soubi wouldn't lie to me. It leads to nowhere. It leads to nowhere. Ritsuka repeated the thoughts in his head like a mantra.
Still, he turned the doorknob and slightly pushed on it. The door opened with a 'click' of a disengaging lock. Ritsuka was confused. Soubi said this doorway led to nowhere, but yet it was opening and leading to somewhere, and that somewhere had noises coming from it. Why would Soubi lie? Maybe he didn't know? Ritsuka pushed the door open more and shone the flashlight into the room. It looked like some kind of closet storage area. There were a few boxes and a couple other things he didn't really care about, but nothing in there that could have made the noise. He heard a rustling and shown the flashlight in that direction. Something moved near the outside of the flashlight and Ritsuka moved his flashlight to see what it was. Not seeing anything, he moved the flashlight away, only to more it back again when he heard more shuffling. This time, he was greeted by a little doll, about a foot tall, staring up at him. It had to have fallen out of its box. Upon closer inspection, he noted that it was a raven haired neko doll with one open plum eye, and one closed one. Strangely enough, it looked a little like him, but with neko ears that Ritsuka no longer had. It wore a long tattered green raincoat buttoned over a shirt and ripped pants, but it was barefoot.
"Huh…must have fallen out of a box." Ritsuka muttered.
The doll's closed eye open and shut as if it blinked. Ritsuka took a bit of a step back. There was no way the doll had just blinked at him. It had to be hundreds of years old and couldn't be working or battery operated, for that matter.
"Greetings." The doll spoke, breaking into a wide grin that showed off its teeth; some missing. "I am Seimei. Who are you?"
Ritsuka screamed and fell back on his rear end. "You…you talk…?" He wondered.
The doll took a few stiff steps forward, not bending at the knees like a person would. "Of course I talk. You're not hearing voices, you know." It let out a sinister sounding laugh but quickly broke back into a big grin.
"But…doll…dolls don't…"
Seimei blinked. "Don't what? Talk? Walk?" He turned himself in a circle. "Dance?"
Ritsuka pushed himself away. What kind of nonsense was this? "This has to be a prank…right…?" he wondered. "Did…did Soubi put you up to this? Or those kids from the square who said this place was haunted?"
This 'doll' had to be a little person or a child, not an actual doll. That's the only way any of this made sense. Soubi and his friend or the young couple in the town square had paid him to do this.
"Soubi?" Seimei laughed. "No, no, he's not paying me to do this. If that's what you're thinking."
"You can't be a doll."
Seimei lifted up his coat and showed Ritsuka what was underneath. Flesh colored material became black on the bottom to be pants.
"You…you are a doll…a living…talking…doll!"
"Yes, I am. Now you get it!" Seimei grinned.
"I…no…this can't be happening. Those people weren't right. There's no such thing as a haunted house."
"Or talking, walking, living, breathing dolls?" Seimei wondered. "Then I wonder where I did come from?"
"How should I know?" Ritsuka wondered. "Wait, what am I doing?" He grabbed the flashlight as he scrambled to get to his feet. "This is…this is insane…there isn't supposed to be anything back here. Soubi told me it was an old escape route that was sealed off. He told me…and he wouldn't lie to me…"
"Apparently he'd lie with you, though. You had ears when you first came here, and I heard you screaming last night…"
Ritsuka paled. "You've been here since last night…?"
Seimei nodded, his neck stiff. "I've been here a lot longer." He stated. "See, I belonged to the last owners of this house. But they left me here all alone."
"You poor thing…"
"Oh, don't worry about me, Ritsuka." Seimei grinned. "After all, they left because I killed them."
Ritsuka couldn't take it anymore. Before Seimei could say or do anything, Ritsuka bolted. He shut and locked the door that was supposed to lead to nothing and ran back to his bedroom. Shutting the door, he locked it and flicked off the light switch, crawling into bed.
"Just a dream…this is all a dream. When I wake up, it will be the same as before. No creepy dolls, no doors that are supposed to lead to nowhere somehow leading mysteriously to somewhere…just me and my big, empty house with barely any furniture and food that you have to heat up." Ritsuka muttered to himself, covering his head with the blankets. "It's just a dream. Just a dream…just a dream…"
About an hour of restless tossing and turning and nagging thoughts later, Ritsuka was finally able to slip into a semi-restless sleep. Back behind the door that leads to nothing, Seimei tapped his fingers on the floor next to him.
"He'll come back…they always come back…"