Chapter 7

Kio's smirk was glued to his face as he made his way back home. His plan had worked out better than he'd thought….much better….so much better that now he needed to plan ahead. With Soubi staying with him and all, he needed to make sure that nothing went wrong. The last thing he wanted was for Soubi to start missing Ritsuka. His eagerness to get home was obvious; he had many things to do before Soubi got there.

Flashback

"Maybe you're right" replied Soubi. "Only for a day or two…"

Kio smirked. "Will do."

"But I need to talk to Ritsuka before I leave…" Soubi's expression showed visible pain. His inability to comfort Ritsuka bothered him. Ritsuka was in so much pain, and he wasn't there to make it better….even worse, he hadn't been there to protect him.

Ritsuka…..

Kio sighed, "Soubi, I don't think it's a good idea. The kid doesn't even want to see you, he said he h-"

"I have to. I can't leave him like this. He needs to know where I'll be. He will have a choice to come see me if he wishes" Soubi stood up and began to walk towards the room. Kio shook his head in disapproval but Soubi wasn't interested in what Kio thought.

Knock

Youji's expression turned into a glare as Soubi came into the room followed by Natsuo. Natsuo was worried that whatever confrontation they were about to get into would affect Ritsuka. That's the last thing Ritsuka needed at the moment. Then again, Youji's temperament when angered wasn't pretty, and he wasn't about to let Youji start something in a hospital…for his sake.

Natsuo was surprised, however, that the first to get upset wasn't Youji, but Ritsuka.

"I told you I didn't want to see you. GET OUT!" he was almost hyperventilating. Soubi's eyes widened in shock, but he was quick to regain his composure. It wasn't like he was expecting anything less.

"Ritsuka, I—"

"You heard him," started Youji. His expression was more than satisfied, but his eyes still stared at Soubi with unbelievable hatred. "leave. I don't think there's a need for him to repeat himself." Youji stood up without taking his eyes off his new enemy.

"Na, Youji" Natsuo began, his hands in front of him "no need to get so defensive, Soubi's leaving.."

Youji's glared was re-directed towards Natsuo, who wasn't taken back by it.

"He just wanted to let Ritsuka know that he was going to stay with Kio for a bit."

"Ha…"

Everyone turned towards the source of the sound. Ritsuka had his arms crossed and was looking away. "Figures you would go with him." His voice broke and he stopped talking.

Soubi felt the instinctual urge to run to him, to tell him that everything he thinks happened never did. To tell him that he was his whole world; but he resisted the urge, he had heard enough.

"Hmm, that was fast. For a second there, I thought I was going to go home alone"

"Kio, I'm going home"

Kio's mouth fell open "Wait, wha-?"

"I need to pack some stuff before I head over"

Kio smirked; that was more like it. "Sure Sou-chan! I'll be waiting for you!"

Soubi grabbed his stuff and headed out.

/flashback

"Sensei, the only place let to check is-" Yuiko stopped short of finishing the sentence. Hospital seemed like such a bad word to mention. But they were out of options. Not only were they looking for Soubi and Ritsuka, but now they had a third missing person, Kio.

"…." Hitomi said nothing, she didn't want to scare Yuiko, but she knew that if there was any place left they hadn't checked, it was the hospital. They looked at each other and nodded, then began their way into the hospital.

"Can I help you?"

Hitomi stuttered her way through the words "Is A-ao-aoyagi Rit-suka he-ere?"

The nurse looked away and began typing away in a computer. "Yes" she answered, still looking at the machine "Looks like he's in the Intensive Care unit, room 16"

There was a small gasp that came from Yuiko, who was already tearing up. Hitomi's face went blank for a split second before regaining composure. She placed her hand on Yuiko's shoulder to comfort her. It was her turn to be mature, for Yuiko's sake.

"Come one, Yuiko-chan!" she said with a soft smile on her face.

Yuiko followed her without saying a word while wiping the tears away from her face.

Hitomi walked ahead, bracing herself for what she was about to encounter.

14….15…..16….

She placed her hand around the door knob and stood still for a second while she prepared, maybe if she looked through the small glass window on the door…..

She looked back briefly; Yuiko was still walking towards her, her face buried in her hands. Hitomi took a deep breath and gathered the strength to look through the window.

Her heart skipped a beat….she gasped. Her face was full of fear.

Those are the two guys that hurt Soubi.

She recalled the first and only time she encountered Youji and Natsuo…back in the park a while ago where they had done serious damage to Soubi. And now they were here with Ritsuka!

But there was no way that Hitomi was going to allow something else to happen to Ritsuka. Without waiting for Yuiko to get there, she stormed in the room, fists held up in a fighting position.

"GET AWAY FROM AOYAGI-SAN!" she screamed, nervous.

The conversation that had been going on between the three suddenly stopped as they turned to look at the cause of the ruckus.

"Ehhh?" Natsuo started. Why was she here?

"Neesan?" Youji questioned, a little confused.

"…Sensei…?" Ritsuka asked.

Both Natsuo and Youji turned to look at Ritsuka….that's right, that was his teacher. They both stood up, prepared to confront the very nervous teacher. At that same moment, Yuiko turned into the room, her eyes wide and full of tears.

"Ritsuka-kun!" she cried as she ran towards the boy, completely ignoring the audience. She went up to his bed and gave him a huge, wet hug. Ritsuka blinked from the pain but didn't say anything, Yuiko was crying uncontrollably.

"Yuiko…I'm fine….don't cry…"

"R-ritsuka-kuuun! I was s-s-so worr—ied!" she managed to say through her sobs.

Hitomi, lowered her hands, she looked towards the two boys and then back at Ritsuka. If Ritsuka was so calm, then there was nothing to worry about.

As soon as Yuiko calmed down a bit, Ritsuka began to talk.

"Thank you for coming to visit, I didn't want to worry you. These two are Natsuo, and Youji" he said as he pointed to each of them.

"Ehh? We already met" Youji smiled as he remembered the encounter.

"Hm!" Hitomi started "I don't know how you can be friends with such rude people Ritsuka-kun" she said as she crossed her arms across her chest.

"Ehh?" both Youji and Natsuo began complaining.

As the three of them began their little rant, Ritsuka looked away, concentrating. He had a hard time believing that Soubi was actually going to stay with Kio….

Kio….

/

"Well then, please make sure you get plenty of rest Aoyagi-san"

Ritsuka smiled at the nurse. "hai"

Youji and Natsuo helped him out. Ritsuka needed to go home and gather all his stuff…he was weary…that meant that it was time to go home….time to face his mom.

-/-/-

Hey guys! So, for those who read my profile, I'm back! :D Please, please, pleaaaaaaaaase RXR! It is very important for me to receive the RXR so I can go onto the next chapter, which has already been started ;). Thank you guys for reading, and hope you enjoyed!