The Great Escape
Theme #1 - Getaway
"Is she asleep?"
A head of shiny black hair, topped by two flitting cat ears, peeked around the doorframe of Seimei's room. The older boy put a finger to his smiling lips and nodded, motioning Ritsuka to come in.
The child did so happily, flopping stomach-down onto Seimei's bed, where his brother also lay, reading. The book was in English -- one of Seimei's hobbies. "Nee-et-zuh-cheh?" Ritsuka read off the cover, struggling with the foreign characters and the strange way their pronunciation sat on his tongue. "What's that?"
Seimei laughed softly, wrapping an arm around Ritsuka's narrow shoulders. "Nee-chuh," he corrected gently, allowing for his natural Japanese accent so that Ritsuka could hear and emulate it. "He wrote about what's in people's minds. But you aren't interested in that, are you?"
Gleefully, Ritsuka shook his head, and Seimei shut the book. It was rare to see him so happy and excited; there was a great ammount of satisfaction in knowing that only he, Seimei, could bring that out. It was a huge power. And Ritsuka gave it over to him so easily, so trustingly. There was a child inside the frightened, cold shell that was the Ritsuka of late, and Seimei revelled in it even as he wondered how destroying it would feel.
"What do you want to do?"
"We're going out, remember?"
Of course Seimei remembered, but he liked to hear Ritsuka say it -- when the boy asked for something, it was like Seimei was granting a wish.
Like he was granting a prayer.
"Seimei?"
"Of course, Ritsuka. Just you and me. Our day out on the town." A new smile birthed itself on Seimei's pale, handsome face, and Ritsuka launched into hugging him.
"Yay!"
"Shh. Keep your voice down." Seimei lowered his mouth to Ritsuka's ear conspiratorily, voice dropping to a whisper. "We have to be stealthy!"
"Right!" Ritsuka sobered. "Or she might wake up."
Keeping one hand on Ritsuka's shoulder, Seimei guided him, tiptoeing, through the house to the front door. He pulled on a coat and slipped one onto Ritsuka, who grinned up at him. The door opened without a squeak and then they were outside, unconscious of everything but each other as they walked together to the bus stop.
Seimei held Ritsuka's hand, stroking the bony fingers slightly, and Ritsuka didn't seem to notice. For now, that was good.