Day 001

Seimei's plans were not over. They were just starting. It had all began when Seimei faked his death, leaving his beloved baby brother in the hands of Soubi while Seimei himself dropped off the face of the earth, unheard of for over a year. He put his plans into full action, then, coming back into Ritsuka's life abruptly and devastating him and Soubi both. The two had had another few months of bliss before a big fight between Soubi and Ritsuka had given Seimei the perfect opportunity to kidnap Ritsuka and tear him away from Soubi, the person he loved.

It all starts with this.

Seimei was going to try to kill everyone, Ritsuka realized as he stood just beyond the rubble behind his devastated Fighter. He stared at the ground, thinking how just inches from where he stood on the ironically green, flush grass, was a school that had been blown up by his own brother. He fought down his fear and looked up, his eyes growing wide as he took in the remains of the school once more.

Soubi had said that this school was twenty floors high at its highest and housed and educated nearly eight-hundred kids in six buildings. Ritsuka could barely believe that, looking at the ruins. The school had been built off of a highway where a semi-circle of trees surrounded it. Ritsuka hadn't noticed this before, since the school had not been burnt to multiple piles of rubble when he had visited.

Some walls still stood, though they looked like they could fall at any moment. Tons of bricks and other debris were laying around, the lighter things blowing in the wind. Shards of glass were all over. The explosion must've been huge to cause this much damage to such a well-protected, big school. A fire still raged to Ritsuka's left, a small blaze where a building had once been.

Ritsuka pulled Soubi down towards him again for another kiss as soon as he was off the phone, not even paying attention to the horrified, distressed expression Soubi was wearing.

Ritsuka's eyes fell on Soubi, who hadn't said a word since he had first seen the remains of where he spent his entire childhood.

"No!" Soubi pulled back abruptly, getting off a very agitated and aroused Ritsuka. Ritsuka sawed the strained, angry look on his face before the older man darted away, throwing an angry punch at the wall, putting a gaping hole in the thing with a strangled yell.

Soubi had his back to Ritsuka and he was further in the rubble, looking out at the single wall still standing of the main, tallest building. He had something in his hand, a clear, translucent glass ball Soubi had picked up on his rushed way from the street to the ruins. He had ran for the ruins as soon as they had gotten in clear sight of the remains of the former school, jumping out of the moving vehicle and running towards where he stood now, where he had just stopped. Ritsuka had gone after him as soon as his father had screeched to a stop in surprise at having Soubi jump out of the car.

Annoyed and both scared and anxious, Ritsuka sat up. Soubi had a hand against the wall he had just hit, right next to hole. His head was down and he was breathing hard, immediately making Ritsuka worry. "Soubi? What's wrong?" He asked quietly, not wanting to startle Soubi.

Ritsuka had cast his gaze down again, but a sudden movement made him glance back up. Soubi had thrown the glass ball hard and it soared up, shattering one of the amazingly still intact high-up windows on the single wall in front of them. Ritsuka jumped, startled at the sudden sound the breaking made and how it pierced through the air. It had been one of the only sounds made the entire time since they had arrived here late in the night.

"Is everything okay?" Ritsuka started to get a little more panicky. Just minutes before, they had been getting intimate in the bedroom of the hotel they had been living at for a week. Ritsuka reasoned that not much could make Soubi reject direct affection and make him stop in his advances.

Soubi glanced back at him, and the expression on his face simply scared Ritsuka to death. For the first time, Soubi looked absolutely terrified and more furious than ever. Ritsuka had never been scared Soubi was going to hurt him, but this was the first time he had ever come close to the feeling.

Soubi's voice was a small whisper, "He's back."

Ritsuka loved Soubi. Soubi had rescued him from Seimei after being kidnapped and held hostage by him for over a month. In that month, Ritsuka had come to hate his brother. Seimei had raped him and molested him multiple times. Ritsuka had been lied to in that period of time more than ever before. He had missed Soubi excessively during that month, but he had come to realize that he loved him. Soubi had rescued him in an attack aimed with the intent of getting Ritsuka.

They had one week. One week of peace with each other. They grew extremely close in that week, but now their relationship was going to be put to the test. Soubi was already mad as hell and hadn't calmed down from the time they left the hotel to now.

"He's back, goddammit!" Soubi yelled, repeating himself and making another bigger, angry hole in the wall. Ritsuka shrunk back against the headboard of the bed, drawing his knees to his chest in a semi-conscious defensive mode. Something was horribly wrong. It was hard to snap Soubi like this, to make him so angry that he would actually get physically violent. Ritsuka wasn't sure if he was afraid that he was going to hurt him, or if it was just a natural reaction of the angry tone of yelling, since that was how Misaki used to yell at him before beating him. Either way, something bad had set Soubi off.

When they had first gotten to the blown-up school, Ritsuka hadn't understood why Soubi reacted so strongly to the remains of it. Then he had seen the pained, disbelieving expression on his face when he had finally caught up to the Fighter, and he had realized the reason why. Soubi never had any parents. He had spent his childhood here because he had no other place to go. He had no records other than a birth certificate, both his parents were dead, and he had no known relatives. Nobody would take him in, not even the state. This had been his home, the place where he spent over thirteen years of his life, and it all had been destroyed in an explosion by somebody who knew how important this place was to Soubi.

Ritsuka hadn't realized that he had closed his eyes and covered his ears until Soubi sat on the bed, pulling Ritsuka into a tight, crushing hug. He opened his eyes, barely able to breathe with Soubi's arms so tightly around him.

"Soubi," He gasped out. "You're hurting me. Please let go…" Ritsuka felt Soubi shaking, violently, almost. He shut up, ignoring how hard it was to breathe. Soubi's heartbeat was erratic, and Ritsuka could feel it since they were pressed close together. Soubi's button-up shirt was still open from when Ritsuka had been unbuttoning it just minutes before.

Soubi's face was pressed into Ritsuka shoulder and neck and he clung onto Ritsuka desperately, as if the world was ending.

The warning signs of dawn were beginning to show in the sky. Light pinks and blues and yellows tinged the sky and light was rising over the treetops. It wouldn't be long until the sun rose on the first day of the war.

"Ritsuka…" Ritsuka could barely hear Soubi say his name. "Him…he…he bombed the school. Almost all the students are dead…hundreds of them…"

Ritsuka froze. He knew who the 'he' was. No explanation was needed, not after the terrible things 'he' had done. 'He' didn't even deserve a damn name. Now there was another thing to add to the list of the things that 'he' had done. Ritsuka had known that 'he' was a murderer, but he hadn't thought 'he' would go as far as to kill the hundreds of students and staff at Seven Voices Academy.

Soubi pushed his face harder into Ritsuka's neck, his warm breath tickling the skin there. Ritsuka took comfort in that and ran his fingers through Soubi's hair. Then came the words that he didn't want to hear.

"…Ritsuka…there's more…"

Ritsuka didn't say anything, though he was gasping for air by then. Soubi seemed to get the message and loosened his hold a little. He didn't raise his head though, and Ritsuka assumed that he was probably crying. Ritsuka had only seen him do that once before, but he didn't think Soubi was weak because of it. Everyone had to cry sometimes. This was just one of those times.

Soubi went on after a while, "He's declared war."

Soubi had held Ritsuka for a very, very long time after that. Ritsuka had cried hard, knowing his brother was going to stop at nothing to get all the power he wanted. Ritsuka finally understood. Seimei's motive was not to have Ritsuka at his side just because he wanted him. There was a much larger reason.

Seimei had taken Ritsuka because he needed him safe and out of the way of his plans. This war…it hadn't been started because Soubi took Ritsuka back; it had been planned all along. Soubi rescuing Ritsuka was just a minor setback. Seimei wanted power, control over everything. He had already gained control over all the students he taught, the ones he brainwashed to hate Septimal Moon. He had others, too, other followers that he forced to stay, and others that came and went as they wished. He had people that would drop everything and fight for him, whether he was right or not.

Ritsuka shook all those thoughts from his head, glancing behind him to see that his dad had already gone to the mysterious safe house they were told to meet at. Ritsuka and his father, Kiyoshi, had reconciled after Ritsuka found out that Kiyoshi had gone through hell with Soubi to find him. The thought of his father and Soubi working together still amused him quite a bit, since they had slightly similar personalities and clashed quite a bit. Kiyoshi seemed to think of Soubi as his equal, though he was at least twenty years Soubi's senior. The two had become almost like 'friends', which was the only word Ritsuka could really think of to describe the two men's strange, strange relationship.

Ritsuka took a step forward into the rubble, debating on whether or not to go talk to Soubi. Soubi didn't seem to want to be talked to.

Soubi had been brooding and fuming the entire way to the remains of the Academy. He had been spiteful for the plane ride, snapping at Kiyoshi and anyone else who tried to talk to him, with the exception of Ritsuka. Soubi kept everyone else in the dark, not saying a word about the school's blowing up, nor the starting war. Ritsuka thought the others may have suspected something because of the way Soubi was acting and because air traffic was shut down a few minutes before they arrived at the airport and all planes were grounded. Not one of the citizens/commoners knew why and they were all complaining about it since some had to stay overnight at the airport.

Ritsu had apparently got them on a flight that was somehow still clear to take off, though. It hadn't been a very full flight, mostly filled with important people who needed to get back home. The flight seemed to make them all more irritable. Soubi nearly punched a man when he made a sexually comment directed towards Ritsuka.

Kio kept telling Soubi that he shouldn't be acting the way he was and that it was childish, but, for once, Ritsuka didn't agree. Soubi had every right to act the way he was. After all, everything in his and Ritsuka's world had been upturned by just one phone call. One phone call that had happened just hours previous to coming to the ruins. Kio would probably take it back once he learned of everything that had happened…

"What's your problem today, Soubi?" Kio all but yelled right after Ritsuka had narrowly stopped his Fighter from beating up a man who had said something about Ritsuka's ass.

"…Problem?" Soubi growled, turning to his friend and using his height advantage to loom over Kio. Ritsuka wondered if he was going to have to break up a fight between these two, too.

"You've been acting like this all day!" If Kio was scared that Soubi was going to get violent with him, he sure didn't show it. Ritsuka pulled at Soubi's jacket, trying to stop this fight before it began. Kio just yelled on and Soubi didn't seem to notice Ritsuka. "First, you tell us to that we have to leave immediately without even giving an explanation, and then you feel the need to shout at anyone who talks to you? Hey! Don't leave while I'm talking to you!"

Soubi had grabbed Ritsuka by the wrist and pulled him back to their seats without a single word.

"Fuck you!" Kio yelled at Soubi, not bothering to follow.

They hit a particularly bad bout of turbulence and Ritsuka was thrust partially into Soubi's lap. He glanced up at the older man and saw his gaze soften quite a bit. Ritsuka sat up, moving into the seat next to Soubi and sat close to him, placing his head on his chest and grasping his hand softly.

"Ritsuka…" Soubi hadn't spoken directly to him since take-off. His voice was soft, unlike the tone he'd been using towards everyone else that day. "Whatever happens…" Soubi didn't finish his sentence.

"What's going to happen?"

"I…I honestly don't know."

Ritsuka was terrified like never before. His brother not only wanted to tear him and Soubi apart, but he wanted control over everything. He was going to cleanse the world of everything dirty, as Seimei had told Ritsuka. He was going to kill everyone not with him, take over governments, and become a modern-day dictator. Seimei had big dreams that would sound childish for anyone else. For him, though, they were entirely possible.

Ritsuka glanced up again, noting the changing colors of the sky and how one side was dark and the other was light with the approaching dawn. How appropriate, he thought. A light side and a dark side. A good side and a bad side, just like in fairytales.

Quietly, Ritsuka walked forward until he was standing next to Soubi. He turned his gaze up at the older man, meeting his blue eyes and holding that exchange for a few seconds. Something was passed between them, an understanding that things would never be the same again, that this was change. Ritsuka reached for Soubi's hand and Soubi met him halfway, their fingers intertwining in the space between them. Ritsuka turned his eyes back to the sky and together they watched the sun break above the trees, the first sunrise of change and war.

I finally put it up!

I hope I haven't disappointed at all.

Please review for moar chapters!

~Wolfie

BTW I tried to include enough info in case there is anyone who decided to read the sequel without reading the first one.