"Ritsuka, your hair is so soft~"

"Ritsuka, I brought you some tea~"

Both statements were spoken at the same time, though the person they were both talking to heard and understood. "Thank you, Youji, Natsuo." Aoyagi Ritsuka said softly to teal-haired Sagan Youji, who was gently brushing his shoulder-length black hair, and to auburn haired Sagan Natsuo who came in the room carrying a tray laden with freshly brewed tea.

The two of them had inadvertently become his attendants as well as his bodyguards, but neither of them seemed to mind it, so Ritsuka said nothing about it, and let them do as they pleased. They liked taking care of him, so he let them. They'd become his dearest friends as well as his crutch when his 'invincible' mask crumbled on those rare days when it did. They were pretty much the only ones who addressed him without honorifics, something he knew bothered other members of the organization, but he'd given them permission to long ago, and besides, they were pretty much the only friends he had now.

Youji still kept his hair long, usually wearing it over his shoulder in a neatly groomed ponytail. He was as slender and lean as ever, but his thin frame hid hard muscles under his pale skin. Natsuo had cut his hair, and it now framed his face in slight waves, ending just below his chin, with his long bangs falling over the right side of his face, mostly hiding the black leather eye-patch he wore. He was tanner than he had been when they were younger, and his form was toned and sleek. Both had lost their ears several years earlier, of course, to one another, and still didn't care a single bit about what anyone thought about them, except Ritsuka.

It was strange in a sense, looking at himself now, compared to how he'd been eight years ago; an ignorant child who blindly sought out answers to questions better left unasked. He was twenty years old now, the leader of a powerful organization that existed in the shadows, fighting a war that people didn't even know about.

His mother was no longer an issue, as she'd been hospitalized after causing a huge ruckus just after he'd left home for good when he was fourteen. He'd heard about it on the news, and had felt strangely apathetic about the whole thing. He had agents check up on her every now and then, but thus far, her condition hadn't changed. She remained mostly unresponsive, with occasional bouts of frenzied hysteria about how she had had two sons, then one, then none.

He hadn't spoken to Yuiko or Yayoi in years, wanting to keep them out of this world he was embedded in as much as possible. He wondered if they'd gotten married, like Yayoi had always wanted, or if Yuiko still pined after him, or if they'd gone their separate ways after all. They'd called and messaged him incessantly after he'd first left, but he never answered, and after some time, they stopped trying altogether. It was then that he finally felt okay with changing his number and getting a new phone, seeing as how his phone had, at least at one point, been tapped by his brother's psychotic Sentouki. He'd never answered any calls on it, but had sat there and watched it ring, a familiar name on the screen, being unable, and unwilling, to answer it.

Joining Septimal Moon was something he'd never imagined himself doing, especially where he'd spent so long thinking they were the enemy, the faceless entity that had killed his beloved older brother. Who would have thought that here he would sit, years later, leader of that very same organization, who had welcomed him with open arms, embraced his desires, nurtured his hatred, and gave him the means of fighting back. Soon enough, he had the whole thing bowing down at his feet, acknowledging him, and when they'd asked him to become the Septimal Moon, he'd accepted, without hesitation. That had been three years ago.

He now lived in a large traditional Japanese-style house, built next to Seven Moons Academy, which he also ruled over, seeing as it was a training ground for his army. The house was only really occupied by Youji, Natsuo, and himself, and occasionally Moonless, when they weren't out on a mission, or Ritsu or Nagisa when they came to give a report or something, and ended up staying later than expected. It was staffed by a fleet of servants, most of whom Ritsuka rarely saw, but the ones he did see, the ones he interacted with on a regular basis, he knew by name.

There was Shibata Aiko , a petite woman with pale blonde hair and startlingly bright green eyes, who was in charge of their meals and their presentation. There was Nagakura Takumi, a tall, quiet male with dark brown hair and hazel eyes who cared for the rooms, and made sure the house stayed clean and orderly. And there was Ryuuzaki Haruna and Yuzuke, cousins, one male, one female, both with black hair, while Haruna, the girl, had chocolate brown eyes and was in charge of the security of the house's interior, and Yuzuke, had blue eyes and was over the house's exterior. The two of them were also a pair, with the name Deathless.

His life here had been peaceful for the past few years, with only a few major events, and Ritsuka could honestly say that he liked it here, in this house, with his two companions, where nothing was expected of him, and no one treated him as though he were anything other than himself. Outside the house, where everyone looked up to him as the Septimal Moon, however, was a different story altogether.

Natsuo set the tray on the low table in front of Ritsuka, and then went into the room behind his boss and his partner, emerging a few minutes later with a dark blue and black yukata slung over his arm. "You should wear this one to tonight's meeting, Ritsuka. It'll look good on you." He said, holding it up for inspection.

Ritsuka smiled a bit, "I'll wear it. Thank you again, Natsuo."

Youji and Natsuo knew that the Ritsuka in front of them was the 'home' Ritsuka, soft spoken and polite, agreeable, and at times, he was playful and sweet. The 'outside' Ritsuka was cool and calculating, clever and sharp, almost cruel, but devastatingly intelligent, a figure that demanded respect and obedience, the second Aoyagi Seimei, they whispered, but never when Ritsuka was within earshot. But something both sides of Ritsuka had in common was something only a few people could see; that he was tired. His two bodyguard/attendants knew that part of that was because the dark haired male could achieve restful sleep only rarely nowadays, and refused to take any sort of medication for it, something that stemmed from his time living with his psychotic mother. The other part . . . went much, much deeper than that, down into the depths of Ritsuka's soul.

They worried and fussed over him, but in the end, Ritsuka was just as stubborn as he'd always been. He was determined to accomplish his goals, and nothing would distract him, even at the cost of his own health or sanity.

"Welcome, everyone. I trust everything has gone smoothly since we last met."

There was no denying that the young man sitting at the head of the low table looked as though he belonged there, radiating power and authority, his silvery-violet eyes icy and commanding. His black cat ears were pricked, listening for any sort of sound that was out of the ordinary, his tail flicking back and forth across the glossy hardwood floor thoughtfully. His yukata was the same one Natsuo had picked out for him, navy blue in color that gently faded into pitch black as it went down, tied at the waist with a dark silver obi. Underneath his yukata was a black shirt that had a high-necked collar and sleeves that ended at the tips of his thumbs. He appeared elegant, yet intimidating in a simple, straightforward sort of way.

The highest ranking members of Septimal Moon were assembled in the conference hall, excluding the few who were absent for either security, mission-related, or personal reasons. It was a routine meeting they had every month, to go over progress in the past month, as well as to bring up any issues that might have occurred, and to make any necessary changes to staff, or process, or anything else.

"Ritsu-sensei, your report on the Academy's progress, please." Ritsuka said, his eyes drifting over to the principal of Seven Moons Academy.

The silver haired man with the hard, dark eyes bowed his head slightly from where he sat, two seats down on the left from their leader. "Hai, Ritsuka-sama," he acknowledged. (Ritsuka had forbidden anyone to call him 'Aoyagi-sama', insisting that if they had to address him with that title, to use his given name.) He sorted through the papers in front of him, looking for one in particular, "In the past month, there have been three pairs who have completed their training and passed their final examination. They are Sightless, Colorless, and Lightless. Of the three, it's Sightless who shows the most potential." He paused, pushing a folded down the table to his leader, "The Sentouki is named Tsutsuba Satemei, and the Sacrifice is named Makoto Anju. I recommend we promote them to the elite tier, and further their training. The other two, with some more intensive instruction, could most likely be included in the high tier. There are six pairs scheduled to take their final exam this month, so we'll have to see who fails and who passes. Other than that, everything is going smoothly and nothing else has occurred that requires discussion."

Ritsuka nodded, looking over the profile pages of the three pairs, "Have the three of them report to me tomorrow morning. I'll look them over, and keep in mind your recommendation, Ritsu-sensei."

"Understood. I'll make sure they're there on time. Oh, and there's one more thing, Ritsuka-sama, concerning Sightless that might interest you, but it can be discussed at a later date." Which meant it was something of a sensitive nature, and Ritsu had become notorious for his paranoia about who he trusted. It was exasperating at times, but he had every reason to be suspicious of all but a few people. They didn't doubt Seimei had eyes and ears inside Seven Moons Academy, and perhaps even inside Septimal Moon itself. To the retired Sacrifice, there was no such thing as being 'too careful'.

"Seven, has there been any news in the cyber world about our target?"

The woman with ash blonde hair looked as though she'd just rolled out of bed, her hair was in a messy bun, and her clothes were somewhat rumpled, but nobody really minded, this was how Seven was. She was a recluse by nature, and spent most of her time eating candy and snacks while keeping an eye on things through her computers. She had auto searches looking for anything that had to do with a certain subject or containing a certain phrase or words, she then went through them to see if she could glean any information about Seimei and his followers from the entries. Often times it yielded little, but every now and then someone on the opposing side got careless and they were able to intercept their activities.

From behind her glasses, Seven's large, dark, almost panda-like eyes gleamed, "Nothing to report this time around, Ritsuka-sama. It's been relatively quiet over the past few months." She called out, pulling one of her legs close to her chest so she could drape herself over it, resting her head on her knee.

Ritsuka nodded again, but his ears tilted back ever so slightly, a sign of his discontent. It had been quiet, too quiet, and it was making him nervous as to what his brother might be planning. His frustration had been growing over the weeks of silence. He intended to get in touch with some of his field agents soon, to see if they had any more information.

"I'll expand my search parameters again, and I'll include the names of the new pairs that we've confirmed are working for Beloved this time." The resident hermit technical genius of Septimal Moon added, never taking her gaze off their leader.

"Please do," Ritsuka replied firmly, before moving on, anxious to be able to do his own sort of investigating, "Nagisa-sensei, how goes your research?"

The meeting continued without interruption, and other than adding a few things to his agenda, nothing changed for the twenty year old head of Septimal Moon. No news about his brother, or his followers, no indication of where they were or what they were planning. It wasn't that uncommon, but it also wasn't comforting. No one understood his brother's mind as well as Ritsuka had come to after learning everything that there was to know about what had passed between his organization, and the man known as Aoyagi Seimei, and he dreaded what the former member of said group was plotting.

He was left alone as the other members of Septimal Moon filed out of the room, all but Youji and Natsuo, who almost never left his side. He had a slight frown on his face, one that he wore when he was deep in thought. He stayed like that, quiet and focused for a good long while, the two Zeros watching him, waiting until he'd finished whatever mental puzzle he was trying to put together. Eventually, probably about fifteen minutes later, he let out a long sigh and slowly rose to his feet, Youji and Natsuo mirroring him.

"What now, Ritsuka?" Youji asked as they began walking, one of them on each of his sides.

"I want you two to get in touch with Moonless, and see if they've found anything out. Last I heard, they were in Nagoya, investigating one of Seimei's safe houses. After that, check in with the Sentinels, I want to be doubly sure that there's no weak points in our defense circle. And lastly… I want to do another sweep of the students and staff. Random inspections, background checks, polygraph tests, everything. Get that set up with Ritsu-sensei and Seven. Get Three involved as well, if you can. I want this done in no longer than four days."

"Alright, we can do that, but… what are you going to do in the meantime?" Natsuo said, though his gaze seemed knowing, as though he wasn't really seeking an answer to his question.

Ritsuka glanced over his shoulder back at the auburn haired male, a plethora of emotions flickering in their depths briefly, before disappearing behind his guarded expression. He didn't offer any sort of answer other than that.

Natsuo smiled faintly, a faint, knowing expression, his curiosity satisfied, even though he didn't get an actual reply from his leader, "Hyuuu. Alright. Come on, Youji, we've suddenly got a lot to do." He purred, offering his hand to Youji. They had learned not to question Ritsuka's actions, so Youji nodded and took the hand held out by his other half, and together they turned around and walked off in the opposite direction.

Ritsuka watched them go, before turning back and heading back towards his original destination. 'It won't be long… I swear it. I will not allow this to go on much longer.' He grit his teeth, and his ears pressed flat against his skull, 'I can't last for too long anyways….'