Sacrifice or Fighter?

Soubi stopped suddenly having just picked up Azumi from work and they were walking to the small apartment where they now lived. Azumi's face went pale and she looked at Soubi. Both of them felt empty as though part of their very being was suddenly ripped away from them. Soubi heard a slight whisper in his mind; 'Soubi . . .' recognizing it to be Ritsuka but not as strong or powerful of a call as it always was. Azumi heard the faint whisper as well but she couldn't suppress the uneasiness she felt upon hearing the voice. She looked at Soubi and said with a remotely calm voice, 'Soubi, Ritsuka . . . '
Soubi nodded and they both ran back to the car, Soubi instictively driving towards Ritsuka's house not knowing he had stayed late to study at the university . . .

He snapped back to Ryoko upon feeling his hand grab his still wounded wrist. Ritsuka felt himself being pulled out of the light letting go of his backpack unknowingly. He saw a blur and then felt a pain in his back as Ryoko thrust him into the building only feet from where they stood to the right. Ritsuka winced upon the pain in his head and back from the force he had been pushed against the wall. He instinctively reached up with his other hand only to have it seized as well.
Ryoko's face was only centimeters from Ristuka's as he held him firmly against the wall. Ritsuka hissed when he struggled in vain due to Ryoko's strength. Ritsuka turned his head when Ryoko's closed the distance in between them, Ryoko's breath on his neck sent shivers through him. Ritsuka hissed in disgust to his physical reaction.
Ryoko flared at the stubborness Ritsuka had with him, he licked his neck loving the soft skin under his toung, the taste of clovers that perfumed his skin naturally. It was a sweet after taste, he whispered into his neck, 'I wonder what your blood would taste like.'
Ritsuka's blood ran cold, his body stiffened and then, before he could react . . .
Ryoko bit sharply into his neck drawing blood with his filed teeth. He had always kept his teeth strong and sharp longing for the taste of blood. He enjoyed the painful, partially muffled screams of Ritsuka. His cries of pain was melodious to his ears, the soft, gentle voice laced with anger and agony. His blood was sweeter than the clover after taste of his skin, it was metallic, but it held a taste of honey and clover as well.
Ritsuka turned and twisted trying to break free. He felt something rough catch his wrists and realized that his hands were being tied. How, where did he get the rope, and when did he close his eyes? Why did this man he had only met once have so much power over him?
Ryoko continued to work with Ritsuka's mind keeping him from physically fighting him even though he still fought him mentally. He tied his hands tightly with rope and they were tied above his head and Ryoko then summoned a thick, strong nail and nailed the middle of the rope into the wall.
Ritsuka's body no longer listened to him as he tried to fight back, his body wouldn't obey his commands to kick and punch, to twist and turn. His voice wouldn't allow him to scream or shout for help or in anger. Ryoko could read the anger, the fear, the complete disgust and confusion in Ritsuka's eyes, 'Your eyes give away as much as your ears and tail once did. But unlike Ritsu, I don't like a fighter or fighting. I just like to cause pain, draw blood, torture, and have my way without any struggle. Struggling is a waist of time and it breaks my victim so much faster when they have no control over their own body.'
Ritsuka heard his words but couldn't form his own or make his body fight back. He felt Ryoko's hand reach up under his shirt the cold of steel sending a chill up his spine. Ritsuka felt the sharp object lightly cut his abdomen, but found that again he could nothing about it. He felt the pain grow rapidly and felt his body jerk as the blade bit into him. A gasp couldn't escape his lips, a scream, a cry, only tears because he was rendered helpless. His tears feel from his eyes and he closed them to try and shut it out, to make it go away. But the blade embedded inside him twisted and thrust deeper making a bile, metallic taste rise into his throat and the warmth of his own blood slid outside his lips.
He closed his mouth tightly slowly regaining control over his body. He moved his fingers feeling them move, he moved his ankle and then summoning all of his strength he brought up his leg and kicked Ryoko away from him forcing him to rip the blade out. Ritsuka yelled in pain, a yell laced with anger, frustration, and agony that echoed throughout the empty courtyard.

Soubi heard his scream and he and Azumi ran in the direction of the scream.

Ryoko hissed as he moved forward throwing the knife at Ritsuka's leg and silencing him with his spells. But Ritsuka still kicked at him and Ryoko was forced to stay back. Ryoko sighed, 'Alright then Loveless.'
Ritsuka's legs suddenly stopped moving, incapable of doing so and he looked at Ryoko in anger and hatred. Ryoko's face curled into a vicious smile. He walked over to Ritsuka and stroked his cheek with his right hand, but Ritsuka couldn't control his body once again or turn his face away. He then gripped his chin harshly and pulled it towards his own face and said coldly, 'You will never again belong to anyone other than me Loveless. Ritsu and Seime were my students and I know they have tasted you before, so has Soubi. But I will know you inside and out and own you just the same. How long does it take I wonder for someone your age to recover from a severe head trauma?'
Ritsuka's eyes went wide with fear and then Ryoko slammed his head back against the wall rendering him unconcious and with a busted head. Ritsuka's body went completely limp and with the wave of his hand Ryoko released him from his binds and watched him fall to the ground in a heap. Blood under his head making a puddle in the grass along with the deep stab wound.
Ryoko then disappeared deep into the night . . .

Soubi stopped having felt another fighters' energy, but then it was gone. Soubi looked around and his eyes fell to a heap on the ground only ten feet away lying in the grass. Soubi's heart stopped, his body filling with dread, pain, anger, fear and then it went numb upon seeing the dark puddle by his head and abdomen.
Azumi looked in the direction Soubi looked in and cried out, 'Ritsuka'
She ran to him falling to her knees next to him, 'Ritsuka, Ritsuka wake up please . . . '
Soubi stood next to her and looked at him taking out his cell phone. He fell to his knees as he said to his phone, 'University of Chicago outside the library. Victim is Ritsuka Aoyagi, age nineteen. He has a deep stab wound and laceration on his abdomen and a severe head trauma. It looks as though he was a victim of assault maybe attempted manslaughter, medical attention needed immediately.'
Azumi sat there with Ritsuka, Soubi having instructed her not to move him so she only sat there holding his hand and talking to him.
When the paramedics arrived only ten minutes later Soubi told them what they needed to know and sent Azumi with him to the hospital while he gave the police what he knew. It took an hour to complete the paper work and file a report before Soubi was allowed to leave calling Azumi to ask which hospital he had been taken to.
He walked into the E.R. and found Azumi sitting close to the receptionist desk waiting for any news as to what was going on. Soubi knew that if anything needed to be consented for Ritsuka that he alone was capable of doing so.
Two hours into waiting a nurse came over to them and politely said, 'Jackson 1234'
Soubi nodded having recognized the code name for Ritsuka from what the police had told him. He stood up and grasping his sisters' hand followed the nurse to a small, private, green room with a couch and four chairs seated around the room against the walls. Soubi and Azumi sat there for only ten minutes when three surgeons came into the room. Soubi stood up and nodded in acknowledgement. Two of the surgeons looked Japanese and stood as tall as Soubi, the other was an american with mouse brown hair who stood at five foot seven.
The male surgeon with black hair nodded, 'I am Dr. Belax, this is Dr. Ross, and Dr. Finigan;' He had motioned to the male surgeon first and then the female.
Dr. Belax motioned for Soubi to sit down and did the same after he did. The doctor looked at Soubi, 'He did suffer severe head trauma, his head was shoved into a wall. It created blood clots in the back of his head and brusing within his brain as well. We currently have him stablized, but as he is nineteen and currently unable to give us consent we found that you have rights to him.'
Soubi nodded and took a stack of papers which the surgeon explained gave them rights to do whatever necissary to save Ritsuka's life. The surgeon also explained that Ritsuka would need a organ transplant and blood transfusion. Soubi didn't know how he was holding himself together and the surgeon told him that they had donors for Ritsuka and only needed the signed consent forms to perform the operation. They were going to do the blood tranfusion and brain surgery today, but they would have to wait to do the organ transplant because they didn't want to stress his heart too much at once and cause a stroke. Soubi led Azumi out of the green room and then out of the E.R.
It would take up to four hours or more to perform the needed operation and there was a risk that he could die, brain surgery was risky and deadly.
Soubi stood just outside and leaned back against the wall while Azumi slumped down on her knees next to him in tears. Soubi held strong believing with all his heart and soul that Ritsuka would live through this, he would be strong, his drive to live would pull him through this . . .

Seven hours later . . .

Soubi and Azumi were led to the ICU waiting room on the other end of the hospital and met with the same surgeons inside a green room in the ICU waiting room. The surgeons delivered good news first then Dr. Belax looked at them silently and explained.
'There is a risk that he may have brain damage, memory loss, and a change in personality. He survived the brain surgery and only had a dangerously low heartbeat when he removed the blood clot on the back right side of his brain. He is stable, but he is in a deep coma. We have him on oxygen tubes and had to remove the back part of his skull. We had to cut off his hair to due so, but depending on how long it takes for him to regain conciousness we do not know the full extent of what the blood clots and bruising have done to Mr. Aoyagi.'
The female surgeon looked at them and said, 'This young man is remarkably strong, not many have lived through an operation such as his. We had to perform the organ transplant due to internal bleeding. But his heart held strong through that, he has to lie on his front in a bed designed to do so due to where the bruising and blood clots were. You can go see him now, the receptionist can show you to where he is.'
The other surgeon took a deep breath and said directly to Soubi, 'He will look different and it will be hard to see him. We already ran an MRI and found that whoever attacked him also sexually assaulted him. There were lacerations and bruising on his wrists showing he was bound. His muscles were strained as well indicating someone holding him down or forcing him to stay still.'
Soubi nodded and stood thanking the doctors with a hand shake. Once they left the room he looked to Azumi noticing that she wads no longer crying, but her eyes were filled with fear, pain, confusion, and stress. Soubi once again with a calm demeanor walked out of the room holding his sisters hand and led her to the receptionist. She took out a peice of paper, two blue tags to be pinned to their clothes and explained that they had to remain calm and not become hysterical while they were upstairs and that visitors had to sign a paper before going up to see them everyday. She also stated that they would have to scrub down and wear gloves and gowns before seeing him. Soubi and Azumi signed the paper and followed her as she led them up the staircase to the ICU on the second floor. She led them into the room three doors down the hall. There were at least ten other patients and once they were scrubbed, gloved, and wearing gowns, a nurse led them to the fourth bed on their left.

He lay there in a hospital gown, machines beeping and moving to breath for him. Soubi looked at the machines, they were stable. He walked over to the bed and knelt down beside it, Ritsuka looked so helpless, his hair gone, the tubes shoved into his mouth and down his throat. Soubi felt the tears well up but wouldn't allow one to fall as he looked at his sacrifice, Azumi also managed to keep her tears from falling, but was unable to say anything.
Soubi reached up and stroked Ritsuka's face and whispered to him, 'I love you Ritsuka-chan.'
Soubi felt Ritsuka's hand grip his own for a moment, but then it fell limp. Soubi sighed, brought Ritsuka's hnd to his lips and kissed it lightly, 'I should go, you sleep and get better Ritsuka.'
I couldn't bring myself to touch him, the shock I was going through wouldn't allow my mind and body to coexist as they normally did. I longed to touch him and let him know, even subconciously, but my mind was numb. I felt numb, the fatigue from a full day and a late night didn't register, the hunger from eating only one meal didn't come to me. My eyes were glued to him and I didn't even notice that Soubi had moved to my side and was gripping my wrist until he said, 'Let's go back down Azumi.'
I looked at him after moments passed and allowed him to lead me over to the sink where we stripped our gloves and scrubs and then washed our hands again. As he led me out of ICU and then down the stairs to the waiting room I still couldn't manage to say anything.
Soubi walked me down the hall and towards a smoking area then he took out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. He sat me down on a nearby bench next to him and I continued watching him as his shaking hands brought a cigarette to his lips and he lit the cigarette with an unsteady hand.
I took the lighter from him and then his pack and lit my own cigarette. I continued to watch him as I smoked my cigarette. He was slowly falling apart, the shockk was setting in, the sorrow, the trauma of seeing Ritsuka before and after the hospital. He said under his breath only so that I could hear, 'I didn't feel it at all, I felt the severing at our connection, but that has happened before. The bond between the two of us is stronger than that of a fighter and sacrifice. How could I not . . . '
I stopped him finally finding my voice and startled at how steady and calm it was, 'I didn't feel it either, and I am his sacrifice. I love him as well and we share so much. Our lives were so similar, our souls much the same . . . but I didn't feel it either . . . '
I stopped tasting a metallic, warm liquid in my mouth, I moved my free hand to wipe it from my mouth to find that it was blood. I looked at my own blood on my hand and felt a horrible pain in my abdomen, then it grew until my head was throbbing prefusely. I grabbed my stomach and then my hand dropping my cigarette and then falling to my knees on the ground shaking the bench. Soubi knelt down next to me, 'Azumi, Azumi, what's wrong . . . ' his voice faded as I lost conciousness . . .

Soubi caught Azumi as she fell unconcious, three nurses and two doctors ran over to him and Azumi having been outside for a smoke break. Soubi let her be taken into the arms of a doctor only a few years older than himself. He had golden brown eyes, pale skin, and golden blond hair. The other doctor was also pale skinned and had night blue eyes, bright yellow, blond hair, and said to the first doctor, 'Edward, she has internal injuries,' she looked to a nurse in blue scrubs; he had slightly tanned skin, brownish blong hair, light brown eyes that held a gentle-hearted kindness in them.
She said with authority and known leadership, 'Get a gurney and the nerology team and let them know we have a femal patient, aproximately five foot, two inches, weight is about one hundred and fifteen pounds.'
She then looked at Soubi, 'How old is she, what is her name'
Soubi looked at her, his voice shaky and broken, 'Azumi, she's seventeen, my little sister.'
She nodded, 'Alright, contact your parents . . . '
He cut her off, 'She is the only family I have left . . . first Ritsuka and then my own little sister.'
Edward looked at the woman, 'Ritsuka Aoyagi, it is possible she had just developed the same injuries as him. She may be his sacrifice. I believe this Soubi Agatsuma, his fighter . . . '
The nurse the woman had addressed had returned with a group of three and then Azumi was moved to a gurney. The neurologist team immediately began examining her and Edward and the doctor with the blond hair stood with Soubi and the nurse she had addressed. The woman coaxed Soubi onto the bench and took his hand in hers, 'Alright Soubi, please tell us the extent of young Ritsuka's injuries.'
Soubi looked at her, his brillant blue eyes drained of color and emotion. He was silent for a moment before he met her eyes and said with a calm, yet emotionless tone; 'He suffered massive head trauma, and internal injuries requiring a organ transplant, was sexually assaulted, and had bruising and lacerations onhis wrists. He also had to have a blood tranfusion and had blood clots and bruising to his brain in the back and right side of his brain . . . '
Soubi's voice failed him then and he couldn't find the will to continue. The woman held his hand tightly and asked, 'Is there anyone that we should call and explain this to that isn't already here'
Soubi nodded and managed, 'Michael, Ritsuka's roomate and class mate, and Jason and Halani, Azumi's friends, her teachers, our scitzophrentic mother, Ritsuka's teachers . . . '
She nodded, 'Alright, I will take care of that for you,' she then looked to Edward, 'Ed, could you give me . . . ' Soubi then pulled out his phone and handed it to her while whispering, 'Their numbers . . .'
Winry looked at his phone and took it from his shaking hands and handed it to Ed, 'Could you tell them, I am sure their numbers are on his phone. Al, get some sedatives, I don't want to admit the only one that can sign consent forms for the two patients he knows here.'
Ed nodded and pulled up the contacts dialing the number for Michael. Then he stepped out of their hearing range as Al ran off to get sedatives and the woman continued to try and keep the obviously shocked and broken Soubi. She simply looked at Ed and said within his mind, 'He may begin to hyperventilate. His sister and that young man are his entire life. He just reunited with his sister and Ritsuka and him have just recently consimated their relationship.'
Ed's soft spoken, and understanding voice do to be a doctor for five years said to her, 'Try to keep him calm until Al returns, he is much more experienced with soothing and calming people.'
Her voice came sharply, 'What is that supposed to mean'
His laugh came to her filling her with the warmth she had just noticed had drained from her body; 'Nothing, he is just the better consultant and the understanding voice.'
She shook her head and said softly to Soubi, 'I am sure that they will both pull out of this Soubi. They are young and strong, you have to be strong for them while they are healing.'