First Loveless fic. Because Ritsuka and Soubi are meant to be, and no one can convince me otherwise.

Enjoy!

A faint monologue of two voices in conversation into the late hours of the night drew out and broke the calming silence. They spoke in low, hushed murmurs as though afraid of awakening the city inhabitants all at once. The sound echoed quietly off the tiny radio's speakers and filled the two occupants' ears under the blankets of the bed across the room, filling their minds with a brief peace and contentment. Almost half an hour prior, the silence had been nothing but the sound of Ritsuka's protests on his fighter's firm decision to stay by his side, but Soubi calmly explained that it was to ease the feeling of stress and anxiousness for one another's well-being in the most ungodly hours of the night. It didn't take long to convince Ritsuka that it wasn't a bad idea after that statement, because he knew it to be true. More often than not these days, the boy would jolt awake and catch his tears clinging to his lashes and the rims of his eyes, and his hands would be trembling violently, clutching the soft cloth of his pajama top in a frightened display after yet another excruciatingly painful nightmare of Soubi dying before his eyes by the hands of a silhouetted figure. Ritsuka easily recognized the long, slender hands, but refused to associate them with the name of the person that so constantly plagued his thoughts and—nowadays—dreams; always there to make his emotions spiral negatively beyond his own control.

Ritsuka often wondered if Soubi experienced the same things he did, that feeling of utter restlessness. But he guessed as much, considering the fact that when Ritsuka would hesitantly call Soubi's cell phone at two or three in the morning, the man would readily answer after one, single beep. His voice was never edged with sleepiness or grogginess, as though Soubi had been waiting; anticipating a call from him, needing the reassurance that was Ritsuka's voice on the other line.

Ritsuka knew, Soubi had never even bothered to try to sleep on his own anymore. What with Natsuo and Youji gone from his apartment, Soubi had never felt so lonely. But it was a strange concept, loneliness. Soubi had always been alone; long before he met the Zero pair, long before he met Ritsuka, long before Kio. He'd never felt the need to rely on anyone to keep him company for any great lengths of time, because he was so used to being isolated from the world in the past. It was what Seimei had never hesitated to order him to have to endure. "Now go home. Go home to your tiny apartment, and sleep alone!"

But Soubi couldn't deny that it was something he never wished to experience again. While he had constantly been told by his superiors that he was born to be alone, he couldn't ever seem to fathom it. So many times, he'd come close to convincing himself of it, and in turn had started to become less and less human. But after meeting Kio… after meeting Ritsuka… he no longer whispered to himself like a mantra at night the painful words that Ritsu and Seimei used to whisper to him with feigned kindness: "You were born to end up alone, Soubi."

Being together, being so physically present and close to one another like this—grudgingly, the cat-eared boy would admit—was probably in their best interest right now, at least while Seimei was still running loose somewhere, lurking out there in the dark night; waiting for the right moment when he could break Ritsuka's heart all over again with a few simple words, a grim reminder: "Soubi belongs to me"—and do that sentence justice.

Ritsuka unconsciously tightened his arms around his fighter's neck, burrowing his face further in the man's broad shoulder. Even now, sleep seemed to extract such pleasure from evading them. Seimei was controlling them, having them feel the need to be alert through every waking moment. After their encounter with him at Goura… ever since that day… he'd chained them with invisible restraints without having to utter a single syllable of a spell.

"Ritsuka… you should try to sleep," Soubi's soft voice murmured in his ear. The boy felt his fighter's lips then come to rest upon his black bangs. His longer arms wound around and embraced Ritsuka's thinner frame so warmly and insistently; a plea in of itself.

"Not until you do first," Ritsuka retorted, though in an equally quiet voice, nuzzling his face into Soubi's perfectly-sculpted chest. A few strands of ebony-black hair parted slightly by the force of Soubi's tired, forlorn sigh. Ritsuka felt the warmth of Soubi's breath momentarily brush his forehead.

"So stubborn… my Ritsuka…" Soubi replied, but with very present fondness within his tone, a soft smile lighting his face as he stroked the preteen's midnight-colored strands, coiling the silky ends around his index finger. Ritsuka chose not to answer, the faintest pink roses leaving their traces along his cheeks as Soubi closed his eyes and took in a deep breath, his nose pressed to his head. The static radio talk continued to drone on across the room, filling in the space of silence that fell. Ritsuka felt his fighter's strong hand brush over his back and rest on a shoulder blade, the other landing gently along his hip bone.

"Suki-dayo… Ritsuka…" He whispered into his sacrifice's ear. The light blush Ritsuka wore instantly warmed further. He didn't bother to respond to Soubi's words of affection with casual insults or stubbornness anymore, because at this point… well, his affections were clearly no longer one-sided. Those words Soubi spoke were truer than anything he had ever said to his sacrifice in the last few months. That was evident.

However, even to this day, Ritsuka never did grace Soubi's ears with those very words returned. At least Soubi felt satisfied—for now—that Ritsuka did not mutter a cold "baka…" and instead took his affection in silent acceptance. If Ritsuka did ever say anything in response to that, now it was always, "I know." While many would consider that hurtful, Soubi's heart would soar to the heavens, because Ritsuka no longer denied it. He no longer accused Soubi of lying. There was nothing that ever made his chest or his throat to tighten more than those days that Ritsuka would completely demolish the meaning behind those words. It took so much time before he discovered how truthful Soubi had been. Maybe not at first—at first, it was a mere order being carried out from Seimei, like the loyal fighter Soubi was for Beloved. But that order quickly reached new heights once he got to know Ritsuka. When he said he loved him, it was not a movement of lips, but a feeling of the heart, as well. And finally, Ritsuka knew that.

"What will we do if mother comes in tomorrow morning and sees you?" the smaller asked as he propped himself up on an elbow to look down upon his fighter's moon-lit face, his cat-ears flattening against his head at the thought. "You know she will completely freak…"

"It won't come to that," Soubi smiled, stroking his hand up to run down the length of Ritsuka's small back under the thick blankets. "I'll be gone before the sun comes up. I promise."

Ritsuka's face fell a little and his ears drooped in the way they did when he was sad about something, and Soubi blinked once, not clear on the reason. Wasn't that supposed to reassure him? Why did he look so crestfallen? It couldn't be that…

"I…" the boy trailed off, the rest of his sentence coming out as a small sigh as he leaned back down to rest the side of his face against Soubi's shoulder, their bodies pressing together warmly, legs intertwined.

"What's the matter?" Soubi asked, unable to conceal the smug look that arose.

"Nothing," Ritsuka grumbled, clenching Soubi's nightshirt in his fist and burying his face further into his shoulder.

Soubi parted his lips to comment, but was interrupted by a pounding downfall of ice against the house roof, drowning out the sound of the radio. He hummed, and Ritsuka secretly smiled, enjoying how the man's chest would vibrate soothingly against his ear when he did that or so much as spoke or chuckled. "It's hailing." He announced, smiling down on his sacrifice and tugging his arms a little tighter around his lithe body. "Which means it's quite chilly out there."

He felt the rise and fall of Ritsuka's chest while he heaved a long, heavy sigh. "As I recall, yet again you didn't bring an umbrella when you came in, even though it was raining. Are you really an idiot?" He hissed.

"You're right. I didn't bring an umbrella. In fact, I don't think I even own one, come to think…"

"Well, why not? I can't keep giving you mine. I have to use it sometimes, too. Just buy your own."

"Yes, sir," Soubi grinned, the lighthearted bickering leaving him feeling strangely aflutter. He chuckled once, twice, and pulled Ritsuka closer against him, turning his head and leaning in.

"What are you—" Ritsuka's question cut short at the feeling of Soubi's warm lips brushing unabashedly passionate against his sacrifice's, prying the younger's lips apart to lick his tongue along his bottom lip, painfully slowly, before nipping it gently. Ritsuka blushed fiercely. Soubi didn't use his tongue often, but the little times that he did, the smaller was always reminded of that stupid conversation…

"Why would anyone bite a tongue? That's gross."

"You think so? If you ask me, I'd say that it feels kind of nice…"

Ritsuka shuddered involuntarily at the sensation and the heat this kiss was bringing him, and while the more rational and stubborn aspect of his mind was trying to push this away, his body did another thing entirely. Soubi's hands wandered and innocently brushed the smooth skin of Ritsuka's hip under his pajama shirt, slightly digging his nails in the spot as Ritsuka responded with unexpectedly mutual emotion, tangling his slender fingers in the pale strands of the blond, tilting his head to deepen the kiss as much as he would dare to allow himself to. Ritsuka was still a child, but he was not naïve. He was not ignorant of the fact that they could go much farther with this if they really wanted to…

…If he really wanted to give his mother a heart attack the next morning, that is.

Ritsuka disconnected their lips, panting lightly, his blush a little out of control and clearly visible even amongst the darkness that surrounded them. He raised a hand to touch Soubi's cheek and said man, in turn, did not make a move to protest their severed kiss. He flashed a sweet smile to his Ritsuka propped above him, and for once, the boy smiled back, taking both of Soubi's cheeks within his palms and touching their faces close together, shielding their moment in a protective curtain of his ebony hair. Soubi grinned, closing his eyes with a hint of amusement at the way Ritsuka shyly cuddled back into him. It was perfectly charming and fitting, really, for his young sacrifice to crave the smaller, more endearing gestures out of their relationship more than anything else. After a few moments, they both calmed again and held one another, just as before, with Soubi sighing through his nose and twirling Ritsuka's black locks again. His gaze fell on the shaded ceiling. Ritsuka's gaze fell on the hand that had entwined with his own atop Soubi's chest.

"I don't want to leave tomorrow. It's been so quiet and empty at the apartment with those brats gone." Soubi mumbled, smiling as their fingers lovingly played together.

"What about Kio? He comes to visit you often, right?"

"He's been so caught up in art lately. Besides, I don't know how I feel about him arriving at my apartment just to drink four cans of beer and try to come onto me," a snicker.

Ritsuka flushed with jealousy at the last part, but casually tried to ignore it, holding Soubi tighter. "Well, you're right, you can't stay here until morning… but… if you can meet with me after school tomorrow…" Ritsuka swallowed, pouting deeply. "Then… I guess you're welcome to."

"You guess?" Soubi smirked.

"Whatever. Just come. If you want to. But if you have more pressing things to attend to, then don't you dare meet me. Get those out of the way first."

"Is that an order?"

"Yes, yes, an order…" Ritsuka sighed exasperatingly. He hated giving orders.

"Very well then." Soubi chuckled. He caressed Ritsuka's hair a little more, then paused. "Ah, the hail has stopped."

"Good. It's quiet enough for you to go to sleep, then."

"And you."

"You first." Ritsuka hissed.

"Ritsuka…"

"Hush, Soubi! Just go to sleep now. Don't think you can hide the fact that you haven't been sleeping the last few nights from me."

"And how would you know that?"

"You look tired these days. And when I call you in the middle of the night, you pick up right away. You never sound sleepy. People always sound sleepy on the phone when they're called in the middle of the night."

"Is that a fact?" Soubi teased.

"Hush. Sleep now, Soubi," Ritsuka urged, letting out a breath to release his frustration and raising his head to kiss the man's cheek, "Do it for me."

"Very well. Oyasumi, Ritsuka." Soubi whispered, craning his neck to kiss Ritsuka's lips. It came as no surprise when the smaller pulled away just moments later out of his usual stubbornness.

"Yeah, yeah, oyasumi…"

You were born to end up alone, Soubi.

Go home! Go home to your tiny apartment, and sleep alone!

You were born to end up alone…

A brush of Ritsuka's lips against his a few minutes later for a tiny goodnight kiss spoke otherwise. He would not end up alone. He was loved, by the one called Loveless, who desired no more than what Soubi did. The entire world could abandon them without thought. Nothing else could ever exist on this planet, and Soubi would be happy as could be, as long as Loveless… his Ritsuka… was in his arms for beyond an eternity.

R&R!