As Ritsuka approached he was greeted by Soubi’s usual smile. They engaged in the usual banter, Ritsuka insisting that he was old enough to walk home on his own and Soubi responding with “If Ritsuka doesn’t want me to come anymore, all he has to do is order me.”
But despite the boy’s insistence that he didn’t have to come he never did order Soubi to stay away so the fighter assumed it was fine. He suspected the sacrifice even liked it, after all he was always a bit testy whenever Soubi didn’t show up. It seemed Ritsuka had got more comfortable with having Soubi around, even allowing him to inspect the aftermath of his mother’s abuse.
Ritsuka didn’t waste much time with small talk, which he had never been wont to do anyway. Instead he turned on his heels and led the way to his house.
“You know, Ritsuka,” he started after they had been walking for a few minutes, his tone of voice noncommittal, “If you got locked out you would be more than welcome to stay at my apartment”. Ritsuka had on occasion spent the night, but that had been in the past, when Ritsuka had been still new to spell battles and would tire quickly after one. So the idea certainly wasn’t a new one but Soubi liked to repeat his invitation whenever he had the chance, in the hope that maybe Ritsuka would take him up on the offer.
Apart from that they didn’t talk much, they never did. Ritsuka always seemed to be in deep thoughts when they walked home, most likely already worrying about his mother.
Soubi didn’t mind the silence so he never tried to initiate conversation between them. It was easier to pretend to be his usual nonchalant self when he was silent, even though the closer they got to Ritsuka’s home the harder it was to keep the half-smile on his face.
He dreaded every step they took and all his fighter senses in him screamed at him to protect Ritsuka, to take him somewhere safe instead of letting him walk right into the lion’s den. Every time he allowed himself to think about it he could feel a sharp pain from the letters on his neck. Allowing Ritsuka to go to his mother went against Seimei’s order to protect him, but at the same time he was ordered to obey Ritsuka. Two conflicting orders didn’t make this a very easy situation for him.
As he always did when he was nervous he wanted to light a cigarette but he had tried not to smoke in front of Ritsuka so much. Not only because the boy disliked it (although he had never ordered him not to smoke) but also because Kio had drilled the fact into him that it might be bad for the boy’s health to be constantly surrounded by cigarette smoke. No use damaging both their health.
So he let his gaze wandered until it rested back on his sacrifice, walking ahead of him as if he was a general leading an army to war. Although Ritsuka had grown Soubi was still a head taller than him. Of course he had noticed how much he had started to resemble his older brother, it was hard not to see it. He even had some of the habits Seimei had back when they had met for the first time, when Seimei had been 14. From behind he did remind Soubi a lot of the boy he had met back at Seven Voices, when Ritsu had announced to him that Seimei would become his sacrifice. Back then Seimei was far more expressive with his ears and tail and Ritsuka was the same way. But beyond some superficial similarities the two were very different from one another.
They were brothers but still very distinct personalities. In the past, Soubi had often wondered about the old Ritsuka and whether he had been more like Seimei but nowadays he noticed that he didn’t miss Seimei as much (did he even miss him at all? It was a question he was loathe to answer, even in his own head) so he found that he no longer thought about that or even cared to know the answer. He figured he really did like the current Ritsuka and wouldn’t want to trade him for anyone else.
At least now that he was growing older Kio’s comments about him being a pervert became less and less frequent. They still happened, especially when the man was in the same room whenever Soubi kissed Ritsuka but they seemed less serious than before. Soubi was glad.
Time seemed to pass quickly as they walked and they soon came to a halt in front of the Aoyagi residence.
Soubi watched as Ritsuka stepped forward and opened the door, disappearing inside before closing the door with a far too loud thud that pierced the silence. Of course, Misaki would freak out if she saw Ritsuka being accompanied by a strange man, so he wasn’t allowed to follow him. For a second, Soubi was frozen on the spot, muscles tense as he strained to listen to the muffled noises from indoors.
After a violent scream from Misaki he forced himself to turn around and circle the house until he stood under Ritsuka’s balcony. He hadn’t been told to go home so he took the opportunity to wait for Ritsuka. He quickly climbed up the rain drain and was relieved to see that Ritsuka hadn’t locked the door to the balcony, only closed it so he could wait inside the sacrifice’s room.
Now that he was alone, he lit a cigarette, surprised and a bit worried at the silence from downstairs. It always made him more nervous than the screams because he could usually figure out what was happening whenever Misaki screamed but when she was quiet he had no idea what she was planning. But it didn’t take long until the noises continued, rising in volume as Misaki worked herself into a frenzy. Misaki’s screaming was loud enough for the neighbours to hear, so it was a miracle no one had ever called the police on her. Most likely, people didn’t want to get involved in a stranger’s business, it didn’t matter that she had an underage son who was in danger.
Soubi sat and listened, one hand curled into a fist on his thighs, the cigarette forgotten between his fingers. He really wanted to help Ritsuka but he knew disobeying an order was something he couldn’t even imagine doing. The name on his neck pulsated with pain, a sharp reminder for him to do something.
More than the pain from his old bond with Seimei the noises of pain he could hear from downstairs hurt him. Just thinking about what that poor excuse of a mother was doing was enough to make his stomach churn.
He couldn’t intervene. But there had to be a way to get Ritsuka out of that house? If only Soubi could tell someone, but he had been ordered not to even mention it to Kio. Not that his friend needed Soubi to tell him in order to figure out that Ritsuka was abused. For all his usual ditzy behavior the blond was very
So his only chance of making Ritsuka leave would be by making sure his mother was cared for and well, which he couldn’t do because he couldn’t allow the police.
Just then the door opened and Ritsuka entered. It seemed he had managed to ward off his mother for the time being. Soubi wasn’t sure how much time had passed while he had waited upstairs but he could tell that Misaki had managed to injure her son quite badly.
The boy didn’t seem to notice him at first as he slid down the door and onto the floor. Soubi inspected him from his own position on the floor. Seeing the blood on Ritsuka’s clothes made his anger for the woman flare up again. But instead of saying what he really wanted to say about that useless mother he wordlessly got up and went into the bathroom to get the first aid kit.
The sight of blood usually didn’t bother him and even seeing it on Ritsuka was something he had got more or less used to over the years but he still felt slightly nauseous as he approached the sacrifice and could see just how bad his injuries were.
He knelt beside Ritsuka. “Could you lift up your shirt?” he asked, trying to sound as calming as was possible at the moment.
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