Chapter ten

X

When Soubi woke up, dawn was breaking, filtering in through the windows. What's happening to me? He was sweating and hot as hell. The dream had been so vivid, he could almost still feel the woman's arms around him, could almost hear the melody she'd been singing.

There were a few moments of blankness before Soubi remembered what had happened with Ritsuka. Why the hell did he actually tell him about Seimei's dying wish? Some genius I am, Soubi thought angrily to himself. He had been angered by the memory of that last day, the day that Seimei had messed with him. Soubi reached up and traced the faint scars on his neck usually hidden by the collar of his shirt. Obviously something had been done to him on that day that was making him so sick now.

I have to make up with Ritsuka before I can deal with anything else. But how? For the first time in a long while, Soubi's head didn't feel fogged them. He could think faster and figure things out better with a clear mind. Ritsuka needed therapy, just not the kind Soubi usually gave to patients. He thought it was his fault that his mother constantly beat him. He needed to realize that she was insane.

The truth was that in the past few days, Soubi had grown to like Ritsuka. It wasn't because of what Seimei had said. He actually cared for the teen. He had to make it up to him. But first he needed to get himself out of this damn infirmary.

Ritsuka was distracted the entire time Yuiko showed him around the campus. His thoughts kept drifting back to Soubi and what had been said. It stung to know that Soubi didn't even care. How could he believe that liar or anything he said? Some things didn't add up, though.

If he really didn't care then why did he save him from his mother? Why would he risk his license just to keep Ritsuka away from her? If Ritsuka meant absolutely nothing to him, then why was there so much passion in that kiss in the alleyway? Nothing was making sense anymore…

Ritsuka was exhausted from the long day and flopped down on his bed as soon as he got to his dorm room. He closed his eyes, not even wanting to think of anything. There was a soft knock at the balcony doors. Ritsuka didn't look up, thinking he was hearing things.

"Can I come in?" in a deep voice asked quietly. The person outside slid the door open and stepped inside. It was Soubi. Of course, it was the person he wanted to see the least. Or… was it the person he wanted to see the most?

Ritsuka burrowed his head under his pillow with a growl of, "No."

He heard Soubi move across the room and felt the bed dip under his weight as he sat on it. "Can we talk?" He asked as he rubbed Ritsuka's back in slow motions.

"No," Ritsuka muttered. "Please, just go away. I want to be alone now."

"At least you didn't tell me to go to hell this time," Soubi said thoughtfully.

Ritsuka pulled his head out from under the pillow, seeing Soubi for the first time since running out of the hospital. He looked a lot better. His skin was still pale, but a healthier shade. He still had bandages on his face, except that didn't matter since they were from the fight he'd been in. His eyes had returned to their normal shade, too. He looked into those deep blue eyes, wishing that he had been less nasty to him

isnt"Ritsuka I'm sorry that I didn't explain earlier," Soubi frowned and glanced away for a second. He looked sad, as if he wanted to take it all back. "There's been a lot going on involving Seimei lately. A lot of it has affected me. I just sort of took it out on you."

"But it's true," Ritsuka tried to keep from snapping at him again. "You don't care about me at all. No one does. I have no friends. I'm not even Ritsuka. I probably deserve to get beaten like I do."

"Ritsuka," Soubi's gaze turned intense and his tone was serious and truthful. "I care about you. I've been abused all my life. I have no idea what love is. But I do know I care about you like I care about Kio or Chouma, probably more. I'll be here for you. I'm not doing this because I was told to anymore. I was at first, but not anymore, so please, do not say I don't care. And you do have other people who care about you. Chouma's really taken a liking to you. And there's that girl, Yuiko, weren't you just out with her?"

Ritsuka could hear the truth in Soubi's words. How can someone care about me? He wondered. "But I'm still not Ritsuka," He stated unhappily.

"You are, Ritsuka. You don't deserve what she does to you. You need to realize that there's nothing wrong with you. She's the insane one, not you."

"Don't talk about her like that!" Ritsuka cried, meaning it to sound angrier than it was. He glared at the doctor in rage, still hung over what Soubi told him earlier.

"Ritsuka," Soubi said his name softly after a moment. "I know you're still mad. I don't blame you. It's to be expected. Please listen to me though. Your mother hallucinates. She delusional and psychotic. I can diagnose her off of what you and Chouma told me. It's not that hard to see."

Ritsuka buried his face in his pillow again, not wanting to hear it. How could he believe anything Soubi said, anyway? He felt like crying, but refused to. No. Not in front of him.

He felt Soubi's arms wrap around his body, pulling him into a sitting position. Ritsuka still refused to even look at the doctor. Without any warning, Soubi leaned down, shocking Ritsuka when his lips met Ritsuka's. His eyes flew open at the sudden contact.

"Why do you do that?" Ritsuka demanded as Soubi broke it off before Ritsuka could push him away. Why, why, why did Soubi show him so much affection? Ritsuka pushed away the nagging notion that maybe he liked that. "It's illegal!"

"Because, Ritsuka," Soubi leaned in close again. "I like you," He whispered into his cat ear.

Ritsuka felt himself blushing and cursed his reaction. It wasn't just Soubi he pushed away whenever he closed the physical gap. He never let anyone get close to him. It was safer that way. If no one was close to him, Ritsuka wouldn't be hurt.

"I almost forgot," Soubi said after a moment, taking something out of his coat pocket. 'Take this," He pressed the object into Ritsuka's hands. Was it… a phone? Why, of all things, was he giving Ritsuka a phone? "It's a big campus," Soubi said sincerely. "And there's been some stuff going on lately that, out of all students, could very well affect you. If anything ever happens, call me. My number is the first number programmed in. It's also the first on speed dial. I put a tracker in it so I'll always be able to know where you are."

Ritsuka's mind generated about a thousand questions. "What could be happening that could be so dangerous that you'd have to know where I am?" He asked franticly as Soubi got up, probably to leave.

Soubi turned back around, his expression suddenly dark, "Oh, Ritsuka, you have no idea."

"Wa-wait! Tell me!" Ritsuka grabbed his wrist, anxiously trying to make him tell him.

Soubi tilted Ritsuka's chin upwards, forcing him to look into his dark blue eyes, "It's better for you not to know. I'll tell you when the time is right." Soubi cringed abruptly, stepping back. "I'll see you tomorrow," He told him, quickly leaving.

Soubi stumbled into Chouma's unkempt underground office. He could feel it this time, feel it coming on. Chouma was sorting through what looked to be a six foot pile of papers. She had her floor cluttered with paper all over the place, piles here and there, some tall, other not. She glanced up at him, surprised.

"Drugs," Soubi breathed, unable to form correct sentences. "I need pain meds. I'm having another… attack."

Without a word, Chouma got up, racing to the bathroom, sending the stack of papers tumbling to the ground in the process. Soubi slumped against the door.

My plans have begun, Soubi. I have complete control over you and I'm implanting my own board. There is nothing you can do to stop me.

Own…board? Seimei's messages were becoming longer. What was different? It was beginning to hurt. Soubi's headache was quickly turning into a migraine. Chouma needed to hurry up.

"This is going to hurt," Chouma warned as she rushed back to him. "I need to hit a vein quickly." Soubi held out his hand, watching through half-closed eyes as she stabbed the back of his hand.

If you let her do anything to your head I will-

Seimei's voice cut off as the medication started to work. Soubi's head began to clear again, just as it had that morning. Soubi briefly wondered what sort of medication Chouma was using and why it worked so well.

"You're staying here tonight," Chouma ordered, reaching up and locking the door. "Unfortunately if I move you, I risk the IV coming out, so you're sleeping on the ground tonight, too. I'll be right back."

Ritsuka was fast asleep when he heard the soft knocking at his door. …Soubi? He wondered if it was momentarily before a woman's voice softly called out his name, "Ritsuka? Open the door. Something's happened."

"Mom?" He guessed out of confusion. He was still half awake and unable to identify the voice. It was coming from the front door of his room, not from the balcony.

"No Ritsuka. Open the door," Ritsuka tiredly got up and unlocked the door, finding Chouma and Kio.

"What are you-?"

"Hush!" Chouma hissed, grabbing his wrist and pulling him down the hallway. "We aren't even supposed to be here." She ran down the hallway, her brother at her side, pulling Ritsuka behind her. She halted abruptly, whispering so quietly only Ritsuka could hear, "Get up against the wall and make it look real."

"…Kaidou-Sensei!" A man said from around the corner. It was the guard of the second floor. Ritsuka didn't know which sibling he was talking to, or how they were going to get out of this.

"Eh, hello," Kio responded. He had probably gone on ahead to confront the guard. "There seems to be a patient escaped from ward C here to see who he believes to be his girlfriend."

"What?" The guard responded, sounding shocked and scared. "Ward C? Holy shit!"

"Sir, if you would please refrain from cursing around here, please," Kio told him calmly. Ritsuka felt his hands being pulled behind his back by Chouma and something cold and mental being put on them. Handcuffs? He was their escaped patient?

"Yes, Kaidou-Sensei, I apologize for my lack of control. I may say that you look a little weak to apprehend a ward C patient."

"It is not me doing it," Kio sounded a little annoyed. "Agatsuma-Sensei has already apprehended the criminal. We have apprehended the one who helped the escapee."

"That's our cue," Chouma whispered, pulling him away from the wall and giving him a gentle shove around the corner. 'I'm taking him in for questioning, come on Kio," Chouma growled, playing the part perfectly. Ritsuka decided to go along with it, too, and dragged his feat, shooting a glare and baring his teeth at the guard. He backed away, looking slightly afraid and allowed them to pass.

They passed by the first floor guards in the same way. Chouma finally took the handcuffs off when they were outside the building.

"What's going-!" Ritsuka started to ask, only to be interrupted by Chouma pulling on him again.

"Hurry up!" She called, running towards the main building. In the darkness Ritsuka could see nothing, due to the fact that there was no moon to light the sky. He could only pray Chouma wasn't going to let him run into anything. What the hell is going on? It had to be something important if it would cause Chouma and Kio to steal him away in the middle of the night.

"Hey!" A voice called. Chouma and Kio stopped, causing Ritsuka to trip and fall to the ground. Two flashlights appeared through the darkness, held by a teal haired boy and a crimson haired one.

"Oh," The crimson haired one, Natsou, said upon seeing who it was.

"What an odd combination," Youji commented with a laugh. "What are the three of you doing out here this late?"

"Aren't you two supposed to be under protection?" Kio countered. "Soubi ordered someone to be with you at all times."

Youji pouted, "Midori was with us but he had to go scare off a boy and a girl he found sneaking out together."

"We're on Septimal Moon business," Chouma said, casting a glance at the not far away main building. "We have to hurry." They were off again. They reached the main building soon, just when Ritsuka thought he was going to puke from running too much.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Kio asked, blocking Chouma from going through the doors.
"Yes!" She snapped. Her tone softened as she spoke again, "He deserves to know the truth."

"The…truth…?" Ritsuka didn't know what else to say about that. What truth? What the fuck was going on?

"Come on," Kio went in first and lead Ritsuka down the hallway and up to the seventh floor. He stopped again at two large oak doors. Chouma went ahead in. Ritsuka could hear her shout something that sounded like "I told you not to come!" to someone inside.

"We brought you to a Septimal Moon meeting," Kio informed him. "What you're going to hear in there is the truth and is probably something you don't want to hear, but it's all true."

"Goddammit!" Seimei yelled, slamming his hands on the control board. A large pair of headphones rested on his ears, transmitting from the Septimal Moon meeting. Nisei was wearing both an audio and a visual bug, but he wasn't able to talk directly to him in the meeting. Static blared from the speakers on the control board and three out of the five screens weren't transmitting anything and a red light on the panel blinked on and off franticly.

"What is it, Seimei?" Nakahira asked from him. The caretaker stood a safe distance away from him. I've never seen him like this… Nakahira stepped back, in case Seimei decided to rage at him.

Seimei abruptly turned around, his violet eyes almost black and glaring at him. Instead of speaking to Nakahira, he spoke into the microphone attached to the headset, "That bitch gave Soubi something that disables the transmitter and reader!"

"What does that mean?" Nakahira calmly requested his mind working. Now was the time. Seimei was weak now and wouldn't see it coming. He had to execute the plan now, or never. This was going to be his first and last chance. He closed his eyes, recalling the map from his photographic memory, remembering every label on the underground system.

Seimei was glaring at him still, and took a step towards him. "It means," He growled. "That Chouma knows and she's going to do everything she can to stop it. Nisei," He spoke into the microphone again. "I want you to find whatever she gave him and I want you to destroy every bit of it. You," He turned back to Nakahira. "Get the hell out of here."

"Yes, Seimei," Nakahira obeyed, praying it'd be last time he would have to say those words to him like some sort of dog. He headed out the door, taking the route that he had followed many times further underground into the tunnels.

"I told you not to come!" Chouma yelled at Soubi as she entered the conference room. "You idiot!"

"I came anyways," Soubi growled. Chouma had told him not to even try to come to the meeting, but Soubi, being his stubborn self, had refused to be absent without leave. He knew what they were going to be discussing, it was no surprise for him, and he needed to be there for it.

Everyone else except for Kio and Ritsu were already. It came as a completely shock when Kio walked through the door with a nervous looking Ritsuka at his side.

"What the hell is he doing here?" Soubi yelled at Kio and Chouma, the two who he was sure were responsible for it.

"He needs to know the truth!" Chouma barked back at him angrily.

The truth? Ritsuka needs to know that his own brother was a manipulative, murdering sadist? "He can't handle the truth!" Soubi yelled back at her. He honestly didn't think Ritsuka would be able to take the truth of his brother. From what he knew, Seimei was loving and caring towards Ritsuka. "As his doctor I am telling you he'll break if he hears this!"

"Don't talk about me like I'm not here!" Ritsuka shouted suddenly, silencing Soubi and Chouma's angry argument. "This is obviously something that has to do with me," He continued. "And I need to hear it, since I apparently don't already know the 'truth'."

"We need him, anyways," A voice said from behind them. Ritsu came in; locking the doors behind him, and carry a large stack of files. A man was behind him, a man Soubi knew he should recognize but didn't.

"Who are you?" Ritsuka asked Ritsu.

"And who is that?" Chouma stared at the tall soft-faced black haired man behind Ritsu. He smiled at her and waved a little.

Where do I know him from? Soubi wondered to himself. He tried again and again to remember but felt like he was hitting a road block every time. I know he's not as innocent as he looks…

"This is Aoyagi Ritsuka?" Ritsu questioned, glancing down at Ritsuka, who stood directly in front of him. "He looks like his brother…"

"You knew Seimei?" Ritsuka's voice seemed unusually high compared to everyone else's.

Ritsu smiled solemnly at him, "Everyone here did, little one. Except, of course, our newest member." Soubi had the urge to reach out and pull Ritsuka away from preying Ritsu.

"Member?" Chouma repeated. "You mean…him?" She pointed to the familiar man.

"Yes," Ritsu answered, taking his seat at the head of the table. "Everyone, this is Akame Nisei. He is taking Aoyagi Seimei's place as the psychosurgeon on the board. Since we do almost no psychosurgeries here, he is also going to be working in ward C to come up with new programs to heal and discipline. We have already done his tests and he proves to have adequate intelligence. His initiation is complete. Please take your seat, Nisei-kun."

Nisei sat in the empty chair next to Soubi and caught his eyes for a moment, flashing him a dark half-smile. Something about him made Soubi suddenly want to kill him on the spot.

Ritsuka stood beside Soubi still looking nervous, but more anxious now. He kept fidgeting with his hands, his violet eyes clouded over.

"We are here to talk about Aoyagi Seimei," Ritsu announced, picking up a file out of the stack and opening it to flip through it. "Ritsuka-kun, would you care to tell us about what you and your brother did?"

"Ritsu-sensei," Seven said calmly. "It's my job to ask Ritsuka the questions."

"Yes, it is," Ritsu agreed. "Go on."

"I'm Seven," She told Ritsuka. "Our job is to gather information about Seimei. We need to know about everything you and Seimei did."

"Is this a trick question? Don't you already know about Seimei?" Ritsuka asked curiously. Without waiting for an answer, he went on, "I-I hardly ever saw him asleep. He always woke up before me and went to bed right after me. Seimei did everything my mother wouldn't. Anything I didn't know, he taught me. He woke me up in the mornings, walked me to school, made meals for me, and protected me.

"Seimei's hands were large and warm. It was a little embarrassing for me, but he liked to hold my hand when we walked. He wasn't like other kids' brothers. He always played with me, no matter what.

"We had separate rooms, but we were always together. I always slept in Seimei's bed. He always was busy during the night time, but he always found the time to kiss me goodnight and tuck me in. He slept with me; I could feel him there during the night. Mother was much better when Seimei was around. He always protected me from her.

"He'd take me to the hospital when she beat me badly enough, but usually he'd just bandage me himself. He always told me to run to him if she started up again. I was much better when Seimei was around. I was never lonely. He was always there for me. That is, until he got his job here."

Ritsuka's Seimei…was a caring older brother. Seimei wasn't just one person. He had many different personalities. The one Soubi saw was different from the one the other council members or Ritsuka saw. The Seimei the other council members saw was different from the one Soubi or Ritsuka saw.

"No," Seven shook her head. "That wasn't Seimei. He was extremely obsessive compulsive. He wouldn't let anyone touch him, let alone sleep in the same bed as someone. He wouldn't even eat in the same room as any of us. He was calm and gentle, sure, but that isn't normal either. If you asked Soubi his Seimei would be different, too." Ritsuka looked at Soubi, probably wondering who 'his Seimei' was.

"So which one?" Nagisa added from beside her. "Which one is the real Seimei?"

"Why are you asking me this?" Ritsuka demanded from them, sounding desperate. "Seimei's dead. Isn't he?" No one said anything, causing Ritsuka to get even more desperate. "Isn't he?"

"No Ritsuka," Kio finally answered him, trying not to hurt Ritsuka. "Seimei is most certainly not dead."

"Wh-what?" Ritsuka breathed hard. Soubi wanted to find a way to comfort him, but couldn't. Kio and Chouma were right, Ritsuka needed to hear this. "I went to the funeral! It had to be Seimei! It-it had to be! If he wasn't dead, why hasn't he come back yet?"

"We were going to arrest him," Ritsu said coldly. "He was doing things he shouldn't have. He was our head psychosurgeon. Many of his patients died. He murdered them, Ritsuka. He experimented on them. He murdered others, too, the ones that found out. We never figured out it was him until recently."

Ritsuka was shaking again, having bad tremors. "Ritsuka," Soubi murmured.

"Seimei would never hurt anybody!" Ritsuka yelled, on the verge of tears. "He would never do that stuff!"

"You want pictures?" Ritsu reached into the file in front of him, pulling out photos and slid them across the table to Ritsuka. They were the crime scene photos, ones of the bodies bloodied and mutilated. "Your brother did those. He's alive. He faked his death and he's been kidnapping and killing students from here. And from what we've gathered from what you told us, his final target is you. Face it-!"

"Stop it!" Ritsuka screamed, plugging his ears. "Shut the hell up!"

"Face it, Ritsuka, he's alive. Do you remember Ai? Midori came straight to me with the story of what happened. You saw what happened to her. She was here originally because her parents abused her. She was perfectly fine. Then she was taken by Seimei and she came back with her brain screwed up. Nobody can figure out what's wrong with her."

Soubi had had enough. He reached out, taking Ritsuka protectively in his arms. He glared at Ritsu, "You've gone to far this time." He walked out of a meeting for the first time since being electing on the council, a sobbing Ritsuka at his side.

Another chapter~!

I love writing this! Thank you for all the wonderful reviews!

Oh most of what Ritsuka said in the meeting is taken directly from his thoughts and dialouge in the fifth volume of the manga. I tried to re-word it to make it less confusing and relate it to this story.

Review if you like it and want more!

~Wolfie