Disclaimer; I don't own any of it, none whatsoever

Too late...

Ritsuka listened intently to the voices below him. They were shouting again and it was still about him. Normally he wouldn't have listened but today was different. It was the anniversary of his brother, Seimei's, death. Seimei was one of the few things Ritsuka could remember anything about before his amnesia. The conversation downstairs indicated his mother was taking the anniversary rather badly. To tell the truth Ritsuka was scared out of his mind.

Every time his parents had an argument like this his father would leave for a day so, as to not lose his temper but his mother did no such thing and Ritsuka was who she took her frustrations out on. She would be screaming, mostly, that he wasn't 'her' Ritsuka.

The argument had escalated. It was worse than any Ritsuka had ever heard before, his mother was screaming and there seemed to be a lot of china being broken.

Suddenly there was the slam of the door as his father left the house. Ritsuka started to tremble in fear; it was only a matter of time before his mother came upstairs. He listened for more breaking of plates, as she took out the worst of her anger, but it never came. The silence frightened him more than anything else in the world at that moment. If the brunt of her anger was not taken out on the plates he didn't know if he would survive this encounter.

Ritsuka was more scared than he had ever been in his entire life, he needed Soubi. Hadn't Soubi said to call and he would always pick up? Not that he had always in the past mind you. Risuka realized suddenly that he hadn't been listening for his mother and felt his heart accelerate as he heard her on the stairs. Frantically he picked up his cell and hit the speed dial for Soubi.

'Ring ringring ring ringring' for an instant he was scared that Soubi wouldn't pick up but...

"Hello"

Ritsuka heart exploded in relief, Soubi would save him, he was an adult. His mother began to pound on his door.

"Soubi, please I need your help"

"Kinda busy right now Ritty do it urself"

'what was this? Soubi using slang and slurring? It just wasn't him.' Thought Ritsuka. The pounding on the door increased

"Please Soubi; please I need you to help me please. She'll kill me, please!!" Ritsuka begged his fighter,

"Nah do it yerrself. Don't wanna help, go 'way" and with that the line went dead. Horror crashed in waves around Ritsuka's heart. Soubi had hung up on him, he didn't want to help, he didn't care if Ritsukawas killed.

The door finally gave way to the most terrifying thing he had ever seen. It was his mother but she was smiling at him, not a warm kind-hearted smile but a smile that told him he was going to die very soon.

Survival instincts kicked in at that moment; if Soubi wasn't going to help him he was going to help himself. Ritsuka lunged for the window but it was too far for him to reach. His mother caught him round the waist and pinned him down. Catching his arms she tied them to the bedpost so he was pulled into as upright position, all the time babbling to his mother to stop.

"Please mum please! You don't need to do this. This isn't right, please, stop it!"

"You deserve this!" his mother uttered harshly, "I want my Ritsuka back"

As he continued to beg her she turned away from him and spotted the phone on the floor. Picking it up she turned to him and said,

"Trying to call for help were you? It's pointless you know. No one cares enough to come and save you."

Ritsuka hung his head, not denying the truth in the statement because Soubi, for all his promises of love and affection, didn't really care. He wouldn't save him when he needed it most.

"Let's see who you were calling and give them one last chance to save you, not that they will."

Hope sprang in Ritsuka's heart again. Maybe this time Soubi would save him. Maybe this time he would care.

Ritsukas mother pressed redial on his cell reading who it was calling. Ritsuka prayed that Soubi would pick up and come and save him.

"You have been redirected to the messaging service for..." Ritsukas' hope smashed into tiny pieces.

"Hmmm seems your savior doesn't even want to speak to you, well how about we leave him a message".

If Ritsuka had been scared before, he was petrified now. His mother had finally gone over the edge, she was insane and she was going to kill him. He tuned back into what she was saying past the thumping of his heart and the roaring in his ears.

"Hello soubi, I take it that you do not like Ritsuka very much as you aren't picking up so you will understand what I am about to do" she had moved whist she was talking to pickup one of the kitchen knives she had brought upstairs with her. He hadn't even seen them before! How long had she been planning to kill him? Ritsuka started to hyperventilate. Too afraid to scream for help. He was going to die today by the hand that had raised him, even if he couldn't remember it. She approached him with the knife whist continuing to speak to Soubi's messaging service.

"I thought that as someone who hated him you would appreciate hearing this as he obviously called for help that you were unwilling to give".

'She was right,' he thought "nobody cared and Soubi, who said that he loved him, who he had fought people from Seven Moons with, who he was sure he had fallen for, didn't care." At that moment Ritsuka accepted his fate. All Soubi words of 'believe in me' and 'don't worry' were washed from his mind as he accepted death.

"And now we get to hear him scream" his mothers words came to him as he, pulled from his thoughts to remember the situation, saw her above him. The knife, in her left hand, plunged forward slicing his flesh as easily as it would warm butter. The pain was all consuming as he opened his mouth as screamed, a bloodcurdling scream. His mother dragged the knife in his lower abdomen across and upwards as blood gushed out over her hand and onto the previously white carpet. Ritsuka felt nothing but pain. Before a minute had passed he felt his heart begin to slow, unable to deal with the massive shock to his system. He heard one last thing from his mother addressed at him rather than the phone in her hand.

"You see Ritsuka no one cares for you, no one loves you, you have lived alone and you die as such".

Then Ritsuka knew no more as his heart finally stopped.

Soubi held back a groan as he lifted his head. His brain felt like it was trying to escape his skull. He staggered to the bathroom and dry swallowed some painkillers, trying to recall anything about night before. Suddenly it came to him, the reason he had practically inhaled a bottle of vodka, it was the anniversary of Seimei's death yesterday. He wondered how Ritsuka was taking it. The name triggered something in his memory.

'Ritsuka! He had called!' Soubi tried to remember what he said to the young boy, but it evaded him. He looked for his phone deciding to call Ritsuka back. Soubi glanced down at his phone to see that he had a message from his beloved. Dialing the messaging service he waited for the message...

'Call received at 8; 26pm transferred to voicemail' Soubi cringed, he had virtually hung up on Ritsuka. This was not good, he had promised he would always pick up and now he hadn't, deliberately. Ritsuka was not going to be pleased.

"Hello Soubi," .

'what this wasn't Ritsuka!' he thought, in sounded vaguely familiar though. Soubi wondered how they knew his name but then reminded himself that this was Ritsukas phone so it would have come up at the beginning of the call. Soubi continued to listen to the message.

"I take it that you do not like ritsuka very much"

'what where was this woman getting her facts' Soubi exclaimed in his head, 'I love Ritsuka more than because I have been ordered to' . Soubi had fallen in love with the active teen. Why would this person think he didn't like him? Something bad was going on he could feel it.

"As you aren't picking up" aah so that was why they though he disliked Ritsuka

"So you will understand what in am about to do". Fear cascaded around him with that one statement. What was this woman about to do?? What had they done with his love, his Ritsuka?

"I thought that as someone who hated him you would appreciate hearing this as he obviously called for help that you were unwilling to give" WHAT?! That was what Ritsuka had called about? He had refused to help. Soubi couldn't believe it, he had promised! Frantically he searched his brain to place the voice, then it hit like a ton of bricks Ritsukas mother. The fear inside him tripled, what had happened to Ritsuka? Soubi knew that his mother didn't think he was her real son but surely nothing that bad could have happened, could it?

"And now we get to hear him scream" Soubi heart dropped out at that moment the horror of the situation setting in. Questions ran through his mind what had she done to Ritsuka, where was he, and lastly, was he even alive?

The next sound that came out of the phone was the most horrific and terrible sound he had ever heard. It was a scream, and not just any scream it was an ear-piercing, blood-curling scream and worst of all it was Ritsuka.

Soubi heard the final sentence directed at ritsuka and broke down. His beautiful Ritsuka thought that no one cared and had died thinking that. Undiluted fear and emotional pain ran through Soubi's body he had been trained to handle physical pain but emotionally? He was weak and this was killing him. The last thing on the end of the message was the slow breathing of who he knew to be Ritsuka before it finally stopped.

A/n; I have had some complaints about the grammar, so I went back over this. I was slightly horrified at how poor some parts of it were, so this is the grammatically correct, slightly better version. Thanks to all who reviewed. I have taken your comments onboard.

Please review. If you think its good I'll write more. If not, constructive criticism is always welcome.