Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Broken ❯ Broken - Chapter 1 ( Chapter 1 )

A/N: Hey everyone who is actually reading this.

Kathrine: We know you're were waiting for a while, but we LOTS of other stories we're working on and we sort of pulled the nerves in our one hand so we couldn't really write for a while without hurting ourselves worse.
JC: That what we got for putting in a steel fence.

Kathrine: Anyway, we know a lot of you are confused by the Prologue, but this chapter clears some of it up for ya.

JC: We hope you like it, we made it some what long to make up for the short Prologue.

Kathrine: There's fluff in here that Jennifer just had to put in so I couldn't do anything about it.

JC: Jen did a good job, fluff is needed to keep the reader's happy. Besides, you both fucked with 'Kura and Jou so you can stuff it. Anyway, read on!

Disclaimer: We do not own YGO because if we did we wouldn't censor the Shounen ai content. And Anzu would actually have a better personality.

Warnings: Implied Abuse (not really implied though is it?), YAOI/Shounen Ai, Dark themes, and Blood. Constructive criticism is accept and flames will be retaliated against.

Broken

By Jennifer and Kathrine

Chapter 1

Jounouchi ran down the back alleys, not wanting people to see him with his shirt missing, coat hanging open and obviously bleeding from the stickiness he could feeling all over his back and even the backs of his thighs. The jacket was beginning to stick to his back from the blood and he knew he had to get it off soon before it became extremely difficult. He turned down another back street, his feet going at their own accord and his mind in turmoil. He didn't even realize when he reached the backdoor of the one place he always believed to be his sanctuary. If he had he would have never collapsed against the wall of the porch, sliding down to the ground.

He saw a light click on from behind him and the sound of voices that he couldn't make out. The door was opened and he heard a cry let out, " Jounouchi-kun!" Yugi was there, staring at him with wide worried eyes. " What happened?! Are you all right?!"

Yami moved around his hikari and kneeled next to the taller boy. " Jounouchi?" he called out to him. The blonde's hearing was hazy, he could hear voice, but not the words it was saying. He turned his head a little and could see two figures, one very close. The voice said something again, but he didn't comprehend it. Then he felt himself being pulled to his feet and his arms going around two different shoulders.

" Just try to stay awake Jounouchi," Yami told the blonde as he and Yugi led him into the house and forcefully pulled him up the stairs to the apartment above the game shop. They directed him into Yugi's room where he collapsed again on the bed, still not fully aware. He didn't even realize when consciousness was completely lost to him.

" Jou?" Yugi touched his shoulder, but the blonde flinched in pain from his touch though he seemed to be out like a light. He expression was one of confusion, but he noticed the red the seeped through the back of the taller boy's jacket. " Yami, I think he's bleeding!"

The spirit of the puzzle grabbed the boy's arm and lifted him into a sitting position so that he could remove the coat from his body, already realizing there wasn't anything underneath it. He slowly pulled it off in case his hikari's assumption was correct (which he feared it was) and the coat was stuck. It came off with little difficulty and he hissed at the sight of the bleeding gashes in the blonde's back. They were dark red and overlapped scars and non-bleeding lashes also apparent on the boy's pale skin.

" Yami…" Yugi's eyes were filled with horrified tears. " Who did this to him? Why would someone want to hurt Jounouchi-kun?"

" Get the first-aid kit from the bathroom," Yami ignored his questions. " We need to bandage his back before it gets worse. They could be infected already." The small boy nodded quickly and rushed off, thankful for a way to help. The spirit stared at the unconscious boy quietly.

Truthfully, he didn't know who would do this to the blonde, but he knew a list of people that were the blonde's enemies. The question was which one of them was sadistic enough to hurt him like this, the gashes were so deep that he knew they would take a long while to heal though they probably wouldn't need stitches. It was fortunate that Yugi's grandfather had gone to Tokyo that afternoon to personally get the new shipment of rare Duel Monsters cards that he'd ordered. He was stopping off to visit with an old friend and wouldn't be back until late the next night.

" We'll find out who did this and they'll pay," Yami promised the hurt boy, though he knew he couldn't hear him. " They'll pay dearly."

*****

He felt control being relinquished over to him finally and the door to his soul room no longer being locked. He pushed it open and could finally see through his own eyes though with a strange detachment. He could tell that something was wrong with his other self, but he didn't know what. Strange emotions were warring through him and he was staring intently at the coffee table a few feet way.

Suddenly, his darker half was in his own soul room and slammed the door shut, preventing him from delving further. Even so, he was grateful to have full control of his own body once again. There was a scent in the air that he could smell, but not identify. He stood shakily, trying to regain his bearings and took a few steps, only to fall against the coffee table when he tried to move around it. There was something sticky under his hand and he lifted it up and stared at it.

He stared at the red substance for a moment before his body began to shake with realization. It was blood. There was blood on the table, smeared across most of the top area. He fell back and scooted away from. Oh God, what happened?! he thought frantically. What did he do?! He checked his own body and couldn't find one new scratch, let alone a deep cut would have bled so much.

D-did h-he hurt someone? He thought fearfully. But now that he thought it, he knew it to be true. The question was, whom had he harmed and what was he himself going to do to repent for it. That's when he noticed something under the table that was darker than the pale blue carpet. He crawled over towards the table warily, not really wanting to be too close to it, too close to the blood that covered it.

It was a card, a Duel Monsters card. He extended his hand and grabbed it. He didn't remember even bringing his cards out of his room. But then he saw that there was blood on the back of the card. Could this belong to whoever was here? he wondered. Turning it over his eyes widened with clarity. He knew now whom his other had harmed and even why he had done it. " Oh God no, please no," he prayed though he knew it was no use. Only one person he knew had this card, the Red Eyes Black Dragon.

*****

Light hit his face from the window and the clenched his eyelids down tighter. He was too tired to get up. His arms felt like lead, too heavy to even be lifted. He realized he was lying on his stomach, a position he didn't sleep in very often, barely at all actually. He wanted to move, but his legs and back felt completely numb as if they weren't there at all. Something in the back of his mind told him that this wasn't right, that something was different.

He then recalled that his room didn't have a window facing the sunrise and it felt too early to be sunset. As he was slowly becoming more coherent, he also noticed the feeling warmth at his side and remembered that his cat had been dead for three months, his father having used it as a target for his drunken rage when he wasn't home to protect it. But why was everything so backwards? He could tell he was on a bed, but it wasn't his own, he was in someone's room, but not his own, and he couldn't even remember how he'd gotten there.

" I see your awake," a voice stated that made everything clear. He jumped up, gasping at the pain in his back and falling back onto the bed face first. He opened his eyes a little and turned his head to stare into ruby eyes that were boring into him.

" Yami?" he whispered.

" I'd be careful, Yugi is asleep right behind you and it wouldn't help you to hurt yourself further," the spirit told him.

Jounouchi stared at him in confusion. How did I get to Yugi's? he wondered. His mind was still fuzzy as he tried to sort through everything. He could remember being at home and getting ready for bed, but then he'd gotten a phone call. Bakura… Everything came back to him with that one name. Bakura had called him, like he did whenever he wanted his 'slave'. He'd gone over to Ryou's home and had been prepared for the beating, but not what had followed.

Why did he try to…? he didn't understand. Nothing had ever gone that far before. But he was even more confused as to what had stopped him from going all the way with his sick punishment. Why had he told him to leave just like that? His eyes, he thought. They seemed so…different. Why?

" Jounouchi?" Yami's voice brought him out of his thoughts. " What's wrong? Who did this to you?"

" No one important," the blonde answered automatically. " Just got into a fight I couldn't win. Not like it hasn't happened before."

" And I didn't believe it then and I don't believe it now," the tri-color-haired boy replied. " You've tried that one too many times lately and as much as I love my hikari, he is naïve to believe such a thing."

Jou knew the spirit wasn't an idiot, so he said nothing. He sure as hell wasn't going to tell Yami it had been Bakura because he didn't like the former tomb robber as it was and would definitely send him to the Shadow Realm again. And that would mean that he would only be really pissed off when he got back and would take it out on Ryou. He knew the white-haired boy was stronger than most thought, but his strength wasn't enough to deal with a vengeful, sadistic ancient spirit.

" Jounouchi?" Yami called to him again. He could tell by the other's tone that he was more than a little concerned as to why he continued to lose himself in thought.

" Not now Yami, at least not while Yugi's still in the room," he whispered this time, not wanting to awaken his best friend. He wasn't ready to talk about it period, but definitely not when the innocent boy was sleeping right next to him. He didn't want the smaller boy to worry about him, though he knew now that it was inevitable. He knew Yugi had seen how fucked up he was, even though he didn't remember how he got there, and would undoubtedly want to make sure he was okay.

" He will want to know," Yami told him sternly. " He will be upset because you're hiding something from him and have been for a while now. It was just every once and a while before, but for the past two weeks in gotten progressively worse. You're very important to us Jounouchi and we worry about you."

" Us huh?" Jounouchi cracked a small grin, even with the situation at hand.

Yami blinked in confusion before allowing himself a little smile and a nod, " Yes, US. Please Jounouchi, let us help you. You don't have to face anything alone, no matter how insignificant you believe it is." Then he got a angry look in his eyes. " Jounouchi, did you father do this to you?"

" What?" Jou's eyes widened. " No! Man, he's been better since then. He doesn't do this kinda stuff any more. I wouldn't let him anyway." The blonde sighed, knowing that he wasn't going to get out of this easily. Either he actually told Yami something or, by some miracle, Divine Intervention would actually see fit to help him. And to make matters worse…

" If you don't, I can always asked Seto to find out," he reminded him. " He many resources to do so."

He right then decided that Divine Intervention was a bunch of bullshit. " Yami, please…don't do this," Jounouchi practically begged him. " I'm not the only one in this all right. I'm not saying anything because I'm not gonna put someone else in danger to save my own ass. Can you please respect that? I know you're worried, but I promise to tell you when it's all over." That is, if it ever ends… he thought.

Yami's eyes widened for a moment. He's protecting someone else, he took in. He's letting himself be hurt to protect someone. Gods, they could easily enough kill him and whomever it is that he's protecting. But he knew that if someone else were also in danger, the blonde would never do anything that could cause him or her harm. He'd rather take all the pain and suffering upon him, just like he was doing now.

" I understand Jounouchi," Yami conceded reluctantly. " But what will you tell Yugi? My hikari will, without a doubt, want to know how this happened."

The blonde was quite, not knowing what to say or even how to say. How had this all happened? He didn't really understand himself now he had gotten into the mess. But he also couldn't say he regretted getting into it. He was protecting Ryou. He wasn't about to back down. He had made a promise that day only two weeks ago and he never broke a promise.

*****Flashback*****

Jounouchi watched as everyone filed out of the school building. It was summer vacation now and everyone was ready to have great times with the family and friends. He had been in gym class, easy to get cleaned up and out of there in a few short minutes. He was outside before the final bell had even rung seeing as the teacher let them out early to get cleaned up and dressed.

It was then that he noticed a crop of snowy hair heading down the street. He knew immediately that it was Ryou, the white-haired boy having been in his last class with him. But the other boy had brought in a note and been excused form class that day. And from what he was seeing the other had a careful way of carrying his bag over his right shoulder though the blonde knew he was left handed. It was a way of doing things that was very familiar to him.

Come to think of it, Ryou hadn't spent time with their little group for over a month and a half. He and the other boy would talk during the classes they held together, which strangely were most of them, but he was always withdrawn as if he wasn't supposed to be talking to him, but was doing it anyway. He never came to eat lunch with them, never tried to walk home with them, and pretty much kept to himself as much as he could. Gods, the only person I've seen him talk to for a while is me, he realized.

" Hey Jou!" he turned to see Honda, Anzu, and Yugi heading towards him from the school. " Ready to go?"

" Guys, hate to break it to ya, but I can't hang out tonight," he told them, trying to keep his attention on them and not to quickly disappearing figure down the street. " I got a lot of cleaning to do to keep the house in shape before the social worker comes over." They all knew that he had a social worker, real kind woman, that checked up on him occasionally since his father had gotten out of rehab for drug abuse two years before. " Me and Dad wanted to do something together tonight anyway." Yeah, me and the pops, he almost choked on his own lie from sarcasm. Unless it has alcohol and or porn he wouldn't give a shit.

" Oh, okay," Yugi seemed a little down by his inability to join them. " Oh well, we'll talk tomorrow, all right?"

" Got it!" Jounouchi smiled at them before racing off down the street the way Ryou had gone. He almost sighed as he rounded a corner, away from his friends. They thought everything had gotten a lot better after his dad had gone to rehab. They all believed they wouldn't have to see him with bruises and the like. Well, they wouldn't because he wouldn't let them see them.

Sure his dad didn't beat the living daylights out of him like he had done before, but that didn't mean he didn't smack him around a little every once in a while when they actually were together in that little apartment. He spent most of his time with Yugi and the didn't really see his father anymore, save when he didn't go to work or when they had to fake a normal life for the social worker. He knew his dad couldn't survive on his own, he had to stay around a keep him alive. He made sure he went to work enough so he wouldn't get fired and kept the house clean so it didn't smell like vomit and alcohol. His father needed him too much for him to walk out on him.

His was grateful for the reprieve from his own thoughts by the sighting of who'd he'd been after. Contrary to popular belief, he did think, quite often unfortunately. It was the main reason why he daydreamed in school, when he wasn't sleeping anyway. He ran a little faster calling out as he did so, " Ryou! Hey, wait up!"

The white-haired boy spun around in surprise, seeming shocked that someone was actually following him. He waited as the blonde caught up with him, chest heaving to catch his breath. " Man you know you walk really fast," he told him. " I was almost thinkin' you'd make it home before I'd get to ya."

" Do you need something, Jounouchi?" the other boy asked in his usual calm, polite tone.

" I just wanted to walk home with ya," he explained. " We don't get to spend enough time together, just as friends, ya know?"

" But you're in five of my classes, including free class," Ryou pointed out.

" Well, we still don't do nothing together," Jou replied. " You should hang out with us. We're all your friends."

" I guess," Ryou agreed. Jou walked beside him down the street, taking glances at him every few seconds. They were quiet, not actually talking, just spending time with one another. He never really felt like he needed to talk around Ryou. Usually he talked because he couldn't stand the silence, couldn't stand being left to his own thoughts. But not with Ryou, it was like he didn't need to worry about all the sad a depressing things that his mind could come up with. The white-haired boy just seemed to radiate a silent comfort that needed quiet to take effect. It kept him calm.

That was something else he enjoyed about spending time alone with Ryou. He never felt the need to have to prove himself or try to act like he was some tough street punk who was ready for a fight. Ryou never cared to judge him, never looked at him differently and didn't try to get into his life if he didn't want to open up. Even when he was around Yugi and Yami, though love them like brothers he might, he always felt as if he wasn't really good enough to be around them. They didn't judge him, but it was how everyone else would look to them. Really didn't help that they were somewhat 'involved' with the one and only Kaiba Seto. He didn't hate the guy, but the brunette always seemed to act like he was some sort of pest that bothered his Yugi and Yami.

" A lot on your mind," Ryou finally spoke, breaking the silence when he could tell that Jou was thinking too much.

" Yeah, guess you could say that," the blonde agreed. " Just been thinking about a lot of things lately. Ya know, the time where you start to really look at how you live your life and all things in your life itself."

" I understand what you're talking about," Ryou replied. Jou turned towards him again, watching the way the sun's rays glistened on the other's hair, making it seem a near pale gold instead of snowy white. His chocolate eyes were staring straight a head, keep his split between Jou and the direction to his home. The blonde couldn't help but think of how forlorn he looked for moment and that saddened him.

Okay so he had a crush on Ryou. Well, maybe it was more than a crush, A LOT more. But that didn't mean he would do anything about it. Unlike most people, he didn't think Ryou was gay or even swung that way in the first place. He also had seen how most relationships in his family went. His two aunts were both divorced, one having been so three times, his uncle had been sent to jail for spouse abuse, and his grandmother had no idea where his grandfather could be seeing as he'd run out when his mother was a child. Both his father's parents had died so he wouldn't know how their marriage went. All he really knew was that relationships in his family, even temporary ones, didn't go well and he would rather not bring the curse upon himself and Ryou. Even so, he still liked to fantasize about it once in a while.

" Jou?" Ryou stopped on the empty sidewalk, staring down at the ground for a moment. They were in front of his house, but the white-haired boy didn't seem willing to go in right just then. " Have you ever liked someone, but didn't know how to tell them?"

Oh shit, the blond thought sadly. He knew then that he couldn't have Ryou know matter what because he already had his mind set on someone else. At least I can help him with get who he wants. He gave him a smile. " Yeah, I guess I've had that problem before," he then answered.

" Really?" Ryou asked, a note of something in his voice that Jou couldn't quite pinpoint. " Well what do you do? Do you tell them?"

" If you care about them then, yeah," Jou told him. " You shouldn't lie to her."

" Her?" Ryou eyes were confused for a moment, before realization set in and he gave an embarrassed cough.

" So I take it she's really a 'he'," Jounouchi caught on, his sadness setting in a little further. At least he could deal with never getting a chance because the white-haired boy was straight, but now he had to deal with that he just wanted someone else and not Jou himself. He could still deal with it, it didn't hurt that much. It wasn't like he was in love with him. But why did he feel like he wanted to crawl under a rock and die?

" Yes," Ryou nodded. " That doesn't disgust you, does it?"

" Why would it?" the blonde questioned, understandably confused. "Yugi and Yami have been together for awhile now and they even got Kaiba as part of their relationship. I've known for weeks that Honda's got a crush on Otogi and Anzu always gets this really light blush whenever Mai's around. Everyone else we know is gay or something like it, why wouldn't I like you being gay?"

" I don't know," Ryou still refused to look him in the eye. He then looked about and began to walk up the walkway to him front door. " I better get inside, talk to you later on Jounouchi."

" Hey wait," Jou caught him before he opened his door. He sat him down on the steps and sat next him. " C'mon, don't worry so much," he assured him. " Any girl, or guy, would be lucky t have ya. All ya have to do is just tell them how you feel. If they aren't into like that, then someone else probably is." But that doesn't mean you're into that person either, he added to himself.

" But I don't know HOW to tell him," Ryou said in an almost defeated tone.

" Then show him," he replied. " Do something that lets him know how you feel, but doesn't go all out that it might make him feel pressured."

" Where do you get all of this?" Ryou asked in a curious tone. " The way you act around everyone else, you act like you are just some kid off the street. But you're actually really intelligent and understanding."

" Thanks," Jou almost blushed himself from the praise. It felt good to hear the white-haired boy say so many nice things about him. " Just don't tell anyone, heh? Gotta keep up my reputation."

" All right," Ryou gave a small smile.

The blonde was very irritated that the other boy wouldn't him in the face. He was the shy type, but he still looked at him directly sometimes when they were in school. Right now, it was like he was worried about something. He lightly lifted up the other boy's chin with his hand and stared right into his chocolate pools that were unsure about his advice. " You need to have some more confidence in yourself," Jounouchi told him. " Go for it, don't worry about the consequences until afterwards. If you always worry than you'll never get what you want because you'll be too afraid."

Why don't I ever take my own advice? He wondered for a moment. I just told him to do everything that I won't do because I keep thinking about the consequences. That was when he felt a pair of soft, silky lips pressed gently against his own. His eyes went wide for a moment before he let go and gave in, kissing back with a passion he had tried to ignore. Ryou was the first to pull away, face completely flushed and breathed slightly uneven.

" What was that for?" Jounouchi asked instantly. Ryou's blush deepened and he realized exactly who the 'he' the other boy had been talking about was. " Oh…"

" I'm sorry!" Ryou jumped up. " I shouldn't have done that, but you told me to show the person I cared about how I felt and…" He was silence when the blonde initiated a kiss of his own that startled the white-haired boy. Then he kissed him back with a fiery passion that no one would have expected from the usually quiet and shy boy. Jou pulled and from him with a smile on his face.

" At least I know how to calm you down," Jounouchi smirked. " I didn't mean to startle ya, I just ain't used to be kissing me. Well, no one's ever kissed me, but that's beside the point. I didn't think it was me you were talking about. I didn't think you were interested in me."

" Why not?" Ryou wondered. " You're perfectly intelligent, even though you act like you're not and you actually seemed to enjoy being around me."

" Of course, who wouldn't?" the blonde replied. " You're a great guy."

" So you're actually interested in me, too?" the white-haired boy asked hopefully. " Because it's all right if you're not. I mean…" Jounouchi kissed him again, effectively silencing him nervous babbling. They remained like that, not too intimate, just the their lips and against each other like a loving caress. When they back away from each other both boys were blushing brightly.

" You need to stop that," Ryou told him.

" You need to raise you self esteem," Jounouchi replied with a growing smile on his face. " I wouldn't have done that if I was interested. Guess you just admitted it before I did. Kinda strange, isn't it?"

A rejoicing smile covered Ryou's features as he jumped into the blonde's arms, wrapping his arms around his neck and hugging him tightly. Jou was startled by it, but then returned the happy embrace. " This is wonderful!" Ryou exclaimed. Then he realized that they had been doing all of this in public, in front of his house. The blush quickly returned and he pulled away just as fast.

" Sorry about that,' he apologized. "I know you have a rep to protect."

"Right about now, I say fuck the rep," Jou grinned. " But I do have to get home."

" Oh right," he nodded, somewhat saddened, but then the smile returned. " I'll just have to call you tonight then."

" Great!" Jou beamed. He knew his old man wouldn't be around that night so he wouldn't have to worry about him answering the phone, even though he didn't anyway. And he really did need to cleanup the house anyway so he could do that while waiting for him to call. " Well, I'll be waiting."

" All right," Ryou nodded, watching the other heading backward down his walk. " Bye!" He waved to him enthusiastically. Jou watched him enter his home, shutting the door lightly behind him. The blonde then jumped into the air, fist high.

" Yeah!" he shouted, just then noticing the strange looks he was receiving. " Stare all yall want, I don't care." His grin widened and we almost headed down the street happily, a bounce in his step. Everything had gone better than he would have ever imagined. He was over a block away when he realized something that left him feeling like a complete idiot.

" Ryou doesn't have my number," he thought out loud. " We were so caught up that he didn't ask me for it!" He almost smacked his for head at how different they had acted. I have to admit, Ryou is one helluva kisser, he smiled just at the thought. I guess I better go back and give it to him so he doesn't have to hunt people down for it. And I can get another kiss. He turned around then and began to jog back down the street.

When he reached the street and noticed that people seemed to be peeking from the windows and or doors. What's up? he wondered. That's when he heard the sound of glass, or something like it, shattering against something hard. He looked towards where the sound originated from and realized that it was Ryou's house. What the hell is going on? The sound of something else breaking sounded through the strange silence and he rushed up to the house, not even bothering to knock, and opened the door immediately.

" Ryou!" he called out, but didn't get an answer. He turned the first corner and his heart came to a stop for a moment. The white-haired boy was lying on the ground unconscious, a bleeding cut above his eye and bruises becoming apparent on his face. He kneeled down instantly and rolled the hurt boy completely onto his back.

" Ry, who did this to you?" he asked to no one. Suddenly, he felt as if he was being watched, like eyes boring into the back of his head. He spun his head around and stared into cold dark eyes that seemed so familiar. White mane jagged and untamed, fists clenched, and a snarl on his lips, he knew no other that it could be. " Yami Bakura…" he gasped.

" You brought this upon him," the spirit of the Siennen Ring declared in a low dark voice. " I told him to stay away from you."

"You did this to him?!" Jounouchi eyes went wide before cutting into angry slits. " How could you hurt him?! He's never done anything to you!"

" You caused this," the dark boy repeated. He stepped closer to them and Jounouchi stood up, ready to fight to protect both Ryou and himself. " If he had just stayed away from all of you like I told him, I wouldn't have had to punish him. He knows better than to disobey me."

" Look if you're pissed off at me than fine," he told him. " Just leave Ryou alone! Do what ya want to me but leave him outta this!"

A look of curiosity came over the spirit's face right then at the blonde's words. " Are you serious?" he questioned. " You're willing to protect him with yourself?"

" Of course!" he exclaimed.

The spirit stared at him for a moment, but the gave a strange smirk than gave Jou the chills. " Accepted then," he agreed. He raised his hand towards where Ryou was lying and the white-haired boy disappeared from sight. Jou watched him fade in shock.

" What the hell did you do to him?!"

" I just sent him to his soul room," the other replied, still smirking. " Now the real fun can begin."

" What are you talking about?" Jounouchi's eyes were wary with suspicion.

" Why the fun between you and me," he stated. " You did just trade yourself for Ryou after all."

" What?!" Jou was more confused than ever. He thought over what he'd said just a short while before and realized that the spirit was right. He had just agreed to take on this psycho in return for Ryou's safety. I didn't mean to, he told himself. But…gods, if it will keep him from hurting Ryou. He still as the spirit walked up to him.

" Ryou better be okay," he warned.

" The weakling will be fine," the white-haired spirit waved off the warning. " He been through worse and it's not like you could actually do something to me, anyway." He got closer, only a few inches apart and Jounouchi almost backed away form him. " Are you trying to back out?" the yami inquired.

" N-no," Jou shook his head. " As long as Ryou is left alone, you can't hurt him. And he doesn't find out about this."

" Don't worry, he'll be left in the dark as usual." The spirit's assurance did very little to comfort him as the first fist came flying at him. He didn't try to stop it and allowed himself to take the beating. It wasn't as if he was not used to it already.

*****Flashback Ended*****

" Jounouchi?" Yami's voice brought him back from the memory. He turned his attention to him and away from his inner thoughts. " What are you going to do about work today? You have to be in at nine."

" I'll just go like I usually do," he replied. " No biggie."

" But…" Yami was trying to get him to see reason. He was hurt and he didn't need to make it worse by going to work and being on his feet all day. He'd be ready to collapse in pain by the end of the day. He needed to go to the hospital and make sure that none of the long gashes on his back were infected. He was worried about his friend not trying to do anything to help himself like usual.

He wasn't stupid. He knew that Jounouchi liked to hide things and act like nothing was wrong. It that aspect he reminded him of Seto Kaiba. The two would deny 'til their deaths how alike they actually were. He knew that something had happened to his brunette lover to force him to create the cold mask he showed the world, just as something had forced Jounouchi to create his clown mask. I will ask Seto for help, he then decided. He will fuss, but he'll do it. I just have to ask him to be discrete and to not take action when he does find something out.

A/N: How was that for yall? Hope that it cleared some things up so that you're not as confused.

Kathrine: Yes, there is more than one threesome in this fic. Does it matter, not really.

JC: It's mainly about B/J/R anyway. The other's are just there to but in and screw with things for us.

Kathrine: Next chapter will come out as soon as we get to a few other stories that need updating. FwtF is coming along as well so don't worry. And there will be plenty of Seto/Jou in it, just not as a couple. ^_~ Can't have 'em going to fast. They still don't like each other.

JC: Please excuse the grammar and spelling errors are hands hurt and it's 4:30 in the morning. We'll edit and re-post later. Well, bye and please review!