AIM LOG [Complete]

[sleeping-memory.livejournal.com]

Who: belovdsacrifice (Seimei) & sleeping_memory (Ritsuka)
Where Hallway. Ritsuka's room.
When: Tonight.
Rating: G
Summary: The Aoyagi Brothers reunite!
the Story:

Ritsuka was on his way to the lady that had made him the photo album. He had never thanked her properly for it, in fact, he made her leave it right by the door. That was the day after the incident in the chapel. Ritsuka never went back there, not after that woman found it a mess. Although, Ritsuka still kept the picture, he had put it in the plastic sleeve in front of the album. The album he kept in a special spot. Under his pillow it stayed until bedtime when he placed it in the draw hidden under a cloth. Now his pictures would never get ruined. There was no one in the hallway, perhaps Ritsuka had woken up too early. He hoped that Celine wouldn't be sleeping, he had come all the way here.

A dark figure walked slowly along the edge of the halls. Disoriented and, quite frankly, very angry, he grumbled about how things went so right, how could this have happened.

The jacket pulled tight to his body, his hands stuffed deep in the pockets. He didn't want to be here.

Ears flicked back and tail stood erect when Ritsuka heard shuffling in the distant of the dark hallway. He noticed a dark figure who seemed to be lost. Taking a brave step forward, Ritsuka called out, "Who's there? Show yourself!"

The figure grunted and kept walking away. There was some people here. However, the voice sounded that of a child. A child would be of no use to him. He needed some adult, someone who would be able to help.

"Hey! I said to show yourself!" Ritsuka's clenched his small fists together and began racing towards the figure. All thought on Celine and the album was now directed to the suspicous figure in the darkness. He reached the man, he had his back to Ritsuka as he still walked on. "I said HEY!"

Annoyed, the figure turned. "What do you want?!" he yelled, not able to see the boy approaching him.

Ritsuka gasped. His tail and ears dropped when he saw the face of the man. No..It..It couldn't be! Ritsuka rubbed his eyes and opened them again, just to make sure he wasn't dreaming. "S-seimei?" Stuttering nervously, his voice was barely above a whisper. Was he seeing things again? Was this an illusion or some mean trick the mansion was playing on him again?

Seimei stood there, blinking. How could this be? He watched Ritsuka cry out. He watched Ritsuka, watch helplessly as he "died". He was confused. "Wha... Where?"

"Ritsuka?" he said, straining to see his little brother. Could he possibly not even be awake? Maybe he did get to the Seven Moons, and fall asleep? He was at a loss

This man had Seimei's voice, his features, everything. He was even wearing the same clothes, but they weren't burned. Maybe the mansion returned them it their original state as it did with Seimei's body. when Ritsuka regained his voice back he opened his mouth again to speak, "Is that..really you?" His eyes were glistening with tears now. He had hoped and searched for so long, had the mansion finally listened to him? Or was it the statue of the Virgin Mary? Whatever it was..Ritsuka didn't need to search anymore- that is, if this man really was Seimei.

Crestfallen, he had thought he was away from Ritsuka's clingingness. However, his little brother seemed happy, no. Grateful to see him. Feigning happiness, he moved toward the boy.

"Where are we?" he asked, his tone more accomidating to what Ritsuka was used to.

Ritsuka looked up at Seimei, still staring at him somewhat in awe. Ritsuka could tell by his eyes, this was Seimei. No..is Seimei. Seimei exists again. "The mansion..it lets people who died live here.."

"Died? You're dead?" he was confused.

Ritsuka shook his head, "No. I just ended up here in the courtyard. But there's other people and they were once dead but now they're in the mansion. I met a few and I asked how they got here, they couldn't tell me but I searched for you. It must have been the lady in the chapel. I asked her to help me find you.." Ritsuka was rambling by this point, but he couldn't help it, he hadn't spoken to Seimei in years and just seeing him again made his spirit lift.

So, Ritsuka still believed he was dead. Seimei wondered how long... No. It couldn't be that. He had just seen him moments ago.

"Lady in a chapel? There are other dead people here?" He was unnerved by this statement, especially since, well. He wasn't dead.

"How... how long have I been... dead?" He said, wrapping his arm around his little brother.

Ritsuka's eyes followed Seimei. Seimei was acting like his old self again. Ritsuka let out a small smile, it was almost like Seimei never left- almost..two years certainly was a long time, "It's almost been three years now," Ritsuka's voice dropped. "But..It' doesn't matter anymore, you're back!"

Three years? How is that even possible?? It happened just a few moments ago! he ran his hand through his hair.

"Three years huh? How long have you been here? How are you??" he asked

"I've been here for a month, I think. I haven't really thought about how long..I'm better now," Ritsuka stepped closer to Seimei. He didn't feel warm anymore. Frowning, Ritsuka looked up at him. "You're cold..." Seimei was always someone Ritsuka could rely on and turn to. He wanted to help him as much as he could.

"It's cold outside." He laughed a little. He looke down. "How was... mom after I... died?" he bit his lip. It sounded so awkward saying that. Considering that... he was alive and all.

Ritsuka looked down at the floor, he was a bit hestiant to answer, but he did eventually, "She..she still..I don't need the bandages anymore though. I gave them to someone who needed them here." His mother missed Seimei. Ritsuka believed that she liked Seimei better, but that didn't really bother Ritsuka. It was the beatings he took that scared him, Seimei was always there to protect him or to heal his wounds.

He hugged Ritsuka. "Did they ever find... the people who... uh... Killed me?"

"I'm sorry for leaving you with Mom..." he said, silently telling himself to shut up.

Ritsuka closed his eyes, tears fell down his cheek. Small fingers grasped onto the shirt on Seimei's back, afraid that he might slip away from him. He buried his face into Seimei's shirt, trying to stifle the tears, "Soubi found me and I read your will..and he never wanted to tell me anything important. Sometimes he would.But I know it had something to do with Seven Moons. .Its..okay, she's not here, and I have you. She can't hurt me anymore."

He rubbed the boy's head. "Seven Moons huh?" he said, deep in thought.

"Is Soubi here too?"

Ritsuka nodded, "Yes, but I dont think they've come here. And Soubi is here somewhere, but he won't come find me. He said he would, but I don't know where he is anymore and I lost the phone he gave me.."

He nodded. Part of him wanted to see Soubi again. However, he was glad he wasn't available. He knew that Soubi would be a distraction, not only to himself, but to ritsuka. He doubted if he would make it easy to manipulate Ritsuka. For what, he was still uncertain of at this point.

"Have you found a room yet?" Ritsuka asked Seimei, finally wiping the tears away so that he could look up at his brother and not feel foolish for crying.

He shook his head. He kissed his brothers forehead and smiled. "Do you have room for me?"

Ritsuka's cheeks reddened, "You can share mine. Everyone else has a roommate."

He laughed "Why are you blushing?" he hip bumped Ritsuka. "Well.. where is your room? I could use a shower." He wondered if he smelled like burnt skin...

Which only made Ritsuka's blush deepend, "I wasn't..." he smiled, perhaps even almost let out a soft laugh, and took Seimei's hand. "I'll show you! it's just this way and there's also a bathroom inside!" He lead Seimei quickly to his room, his feet carrying him fast- he was excited to have his big brother back. Back to stay.

As he was being pulled by the little boy, Seimei rolled his eyes. His eagerness to please Seimei always irritated him. Of course he'd never let Ritsuka know.

"I'm glad you're okay Ritsuka." he feigned a smile, while thinking to himself, how to work this to his advantage... Or the very least, get back on track with plans

He opened the door to his room and closed it behind him when he and Seimei entered, he began to show him the tour, although, it was a small one, his room wasn't that big and didn't have anything in it really- the essentials and a computer. "And there's the bathroom. Do you want me to get you a fresh towel? The closet leaves stuff for us."

He pulled off his shirt and folded it on the corner of the bed. "The closet leaves stuff for us?" he ruffled his hair and stretched.

"What exactly is this place?"

"Yea," Ritsuka headed over to the closet, sliding it open. There were fresh folded blankets and now two changes of clothes and a pair of robes, "see, look." He took the longer robe and walked over to Seimei presenting him it.

He held out the robe, inspected it thoroughly. It looked clean, a little worn, but consideirng the circumstances, it would have to do.

"Seems like the place expected me to come..." he said absentmindedly. Maybe the Seven Moons intended on him coming here, and not the main building... Odd..

"I didn't think you were going to.." Ritsuka's eyes darted over to the wall, "I was losing hope that I'd find you..but Saix did this Tarot card reading and it said to stay hopeful and I also lit a candle for you too in the chapel..Maybe it helped to bring you back."

"Saix?" he said, grabbing ritsuka's hand and pulling him into the bathroom with him. They are brothers after all. "Talk to me while I shower. This place makes me nervous... Tell me all that you know Ritsuka." He said as he undressed, turning on the water

Ritsuka let himself be pulled by his brother, he was always candid with him. Seimei asked him to stay with him in the bathroom before so he didn't find anything wrong with it. "Nervous? The mansion..I don't know about it, just the people here. Like Saix. He's my friend. But he says he doesn't have a heart. Theres a few people like that and they're part of this organization and Saix was once dead, but now hes alive." Ritsuka grabbed the vanity chair and sat atop of it, indian style.

The hot water poured over Seimei. He scrubbed his skin until it was an angry shade of red. "This organization... Do you think it's the Seven Moons?" He made a mental note to contact one of these people...

"If the mansion brings living and the dead together, it cannot be for simple kindness. There is some other reason for it. There has to be." He opened his mouth and let the scouring hot water fill his mouth

Ritsuka shook his head, "No. that's what I thought at first to. I even investigated myself. But they're just looking for this thing called Kingdom Hearts." He frowned when he saw Seimei had rubbed his skin raw. He grabbed the soft loofah that was hanging on the handle of the tub. "Use this instead. that washcloth is making your skin red..I don't know..There's a library, but it doesn't really give you any answers. I met this one person there who said that bringing the dead back to life is bad. But I just think they're crazy."

He took the loofa and felt it. It was even rougher than the washcloth. He smiled and used it just as hard as the cloth.

"Well, if you've looked into it..." He still didn't understand the time difference. How was that explained?

"Did everyone die at the same time? I don't understand this Ritsuka." He said, washing the soap from him. He still felt dirty, but if he scrubbed anymore, surely he would start bleeding.

Turning off the water, he stepped out of the shower. Seeing Ritsuka sitting there, just like he always had, he couldn't resist it. He shook his head, getting Ritsuka wet, and he hugged him, getting him in a wet bear hug.

Ritsuka shrugged, "I don't know. There's people from different worlds. No one has ears or tails like we do.." Ritsuka never really thought about people's times of death and how long it took them to get here. "...where were you..before this? Do you remember?"

He paused a moment. He was walking out of the school after watching Ritsuka watch him "die". Though, he couldn't tell him that.

"I... I don't know." He sat down on the edge of the tub, the towel covering him haphazardly. "I think... I" he strained, trying to come up with a plausible lie. "I watched you cry... I remember seeing fire... you crying..." he shook his head.

It was the truth, for the most part anyway.

"Er.." Ritsuka felt a small chill go down his spine. He remember that day quite well. "..Yes..I found you.." his voice dropped and his skin felt calmmy just thinking about it.

He reached out and took hold of his brothers hand. "Well. I'm here now. So... Just... Forget about that day, okay?" he smiled at him reassuringly.

He looked down at Seimei's hand. Seimei was right. It didn't matter, not anymore now that he was back. "Okay." He gave him a small smile back.

He stood and wrapped the towel around him. "Now... We have a robe that fit, wonder if there are any clothes that will fit too... What do you think?"

"I think there will be now," back to the closet Ritsuka went and came back with folded pajamas for Seimei. "It's kind of like old times. When we used to have sleepovers in my room." Whenever Ritsuka felt afraid to sleep alone at night when Seimei was still alive, he would ask Seimei to stay with him until he wasn't scared anymore.

He nodded "It is. Though you don't have to be afraid anymore." he smiled and sat down on the edge of the bed. "Nor will we have to mend any wounds." he leaned back and closed his eyes. His mind at unrest.

"Yea.." Seimei looked tired. He must have been on a long journey. It had been almost three years after all..Maybe he was just stuck wandering. Ritsuka climbed on top of the bed and took the photo album out from under the pillow and placed it in the drawer. "Here, you can have my pillow I can find another one tomorrow."

He moved closer to the wall. Using the pillow, he layed there. With his eyes closed, he pulled his brother down beside him. "We can share." he yawned.

Ritsuka didn't bother to change, Seimei smelled nice from the soap he used in the shower. He turned into Seimei's side, making himself comfortable between his arm and body. he closed his eyes, he felt like he wasn't going to have a hard time falling asleep anymore. "I missed you..Seimei.." He put an arm around Seimei's chest, giving him a hug before falling into a deep sleep. He hoped he'd still be here when he woke up..

He inhaled deeply. Ritsuka clung to him, just like usual. He was looking forward to a night of sleeping alone, but consideirng the change of events, it didn't seem like it would be happening anytime soon.

Still, he was in an unfamiliar place, and at least Ritsuka was here to help him along the way. Apparently some sort of contact is better than wandering blind.

He hugged the little boy, slowly falling asleep. The image of a burning corpse emblazoned in his mind. Howerver, he found a little piece in this, because, he was not the one in the blaze.