Ritsuka woke up from the light shining through the curtains. Groaning, he pulled the blanket over his head and stuffed his head in the pillow, hoping for more sleep.

The previous memories of last night came back like a slap in the back of head with a pan. He shot up off the bed, panicking. 'Where am I? What's going on? What happened? Where are they?'

Ritsuka's eye were wide with panic as he looked around the room. It wasn't his.

He screamed.

He heard foot steps coming at a fast speed towards the room he was in. Jumping off the bed he ran to the balcony doors only to find them locked. Pulling frantically he began to hyperventilate. It was no use. The wouldn't budge.

He heard the handle of the door turning. Scared out of his mind, Ritsuka threw himself into a corner and buried his head in his knees.

The foot steps approached him and he let out a strangled cry when a hand came to rest on his arm.

"No! Don't touch me! Please let me go! Please! Don't touch me!" He yanked his arm back and tried to merge into the wall. He was sobbing loudly.

"Ritsuka..."

It was like an electric shot. He stilled in shock, his sobs silenced. He raised his head slowly out of the safety of his arms. There crouched Yuki, looking at him with a great amount of concern in his eyes.

"Y-Yuki?" That's when the last part of his last night came flashing into his mind. Yuki had come, he had saved him. "Yuki!" He broke into knew sobs, throwing his arms around the man's neck, finding safety in the warmth that he supplied. The sobs held no tears. They were just broken breaths together. A half hyperventilating, half screaming kind of action.

Yuki was surprised at the touch to say the least, but hugged the boy back none the less.

They sat on the floor like that for a while, until Ritsuka's sobs slowed and quieted. "Where am I?" He asked after a minute.

"Your at my house. You passed out."

"Oh." Ritsuka shuddered as the memories rose in his mind. He pushed them back and asked, "What happened to them?"

Yuki hesitated. He knew that his sacrifice didn't like violence.

Wanting the answer, Ritsuka did something he usually never did. "Answer me." He ordered.

Sighing, Yuki said, "I killed them."

There was a silence. Then, "Oh."

The boy relaxed against the wall. "Thank you." was all he said after a while.

Yuki's eyes widened. 'He's...He's not mad?'

Ritsuka saw the looked and turned his head to the side. "Now I'm safe. I just hope it's enough to keep away the nightmares."

Observing his sacrifice, the fighter noticed the change in the boy's voice. Not just his voice...Ritsuka himself. He wasn't stuttering, or shaking. He was taking this with a great amount of maturity.

Then he asked a question that mad Yuki's blood boil. "Soubi didn't come for me, did he?"

"No."

Still looking off, Ritsuka nodded. His face was scrunched up in a deep pain, seemingly both physical and emotional. "I see."

The man just watched the boy. 'He should be broken...Not just from the experience, but from...Soubi.'

"Where is the bathroom?" He asked suddenly.

Surprised, Yuki pointed to a door opposite them. The only other doors was the door that led out into the rest of the house and the balcony doors.

He stood up. "Thank you. I'm going to take a shower...I want them off of me."

He didn't have to explain anything else. Yuki knew what he meant. So he let the boy go and clean himself off.

When the door closed Yuki stood up with a sigh. He wanted to kill those bastards one thousand times over. Shaking it off as much as he could, he walked over to his balcony door and looked out.

It had snowed last night and now there was fresh fluffy snow covering the ground. In his observation though, he noticed to foot prints embedded in it. Opening the door, he took a closer look.

He glared at the marks. Someone had been there. Someone had watched Ritsuka. Yuki growled, low in his throat. They were going to die, who ever they were.

Ritsuka looked at himself in the mirror. Being absolutely truthful, "I look like shit."

His hair was sticking out in places, cloths crumpled, face completely blotchy with red spots. His eyes looked tired and...old. They didn't look like they had yesterday.

Sighing he turned to the shower, turning the water to warm. As he began taking off his cloths he looked back at his reflection. There were so many scars on his body. His mother had made sure of that. Cuts along his chest from a carving knife, small holes from stabs with a fork, his pencils being dragged across his back, nail marks along his arms, and scraped on his legs.

After a long look he glared at himself. "No wonder no one can truly love me. I'm hideous. No one will ever love me. You were right mother."

Suddenly he turned back to the shower and with a fast flick of the wrist he turned the water to scolding hot.

He got in and had to bite his lip against the searing pain.

'You deserve this! You took my Ritsuka away from me! Bring him back to me!' His mother's voice entered his thoughts against his will.

"No...I am Ritsuka..." He answered her in the smallest of whispers.

'You are ugly! No one could love you, especially not me! Your nothing!'

"No, please...stop. I love you!"

'Shut up! Your horrid. Seimei hated you to, that's why he left!'

"Stop, please, stop this!" His voice grew a little in volume.

'You stupid beast! One day you will get even more of what you deserve, and I will not stop them. Soon, someone will come. Soon. And they will kill you!'

"No! Stop this!" He began to shake.

'You bastard! Why wont you die and leave me in piece? Your shit! Useless!'

"NO!" Ritsuka yelled out as his fist slammed out into the wall.

His breathing was labored, head cast down under the burning water, fist still against the wall. Blood began to spill from against his hand.

He looked up slowly. At first you would have thought that the wall was bleeding, but then on closer inspection, you would have realized that it was in fact the boy's hand. It was bleeding at the knuckles.

He looked at his hand strangely before flexing it. Pain shot up his hand, up his arm and through his spine. 'It...it...it feels weird.'

Then Soubi's voice came up. 'Ritsuka, why didn't you tell me your mother was hurting you? I care about you. It hurts me that your in pain.'

Ritsuka laughed harshly. "Yeah, right. Thanks for all the help. Your always there for me." His voice was sarcastic. "You don't even love me for real." Thinking about Soubi hurt...It hurt deep. He glared down at his hand as Soubi's face came into his mind. He grit his teeth and flexed both of his hands to keep in the pain that seeing him caused. Pain shot threw him again from his left hand and Soubi's face disappeared. It paled in comparison to the current pain.

He looked at his hand in wonder, like it held all the answers in the world. When he glanced up, he saw a razor out of the corner of his eyes.

He gave it a measurable glance before picking it up with his right hand. He hesitated, thinking that this was stupid.

Then Soubi's face came into his mind again. 'I love you, Ritsuka.'

"No...no you don't." The razor dug into the skin at his wrist. "You never really loved me."