Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Broken ❯ Broken - Chapter 2 ( Chapter 2 )

A/N: Hey people! We're actually updating!

Kathrine: This would have came a LOT faster if not for the four blackouts we had last week.

JC: Two due to whatever happened at Niagara Falls or whatever. The thing that caused at least North Eastern US to lose electricity.

Kathrine: The other was due to really kick ass thunder storm we had two days later and the other was due to a blown fuse at our house.

JC: We were real pissed because they caused three of our stories to lose all the work we had put into them and all on separate days. (Sighs sadly) And we were working so hard to get the next chapter of FwtF out!

Kathrine: Anyway, this part delves deeper into the minds of Ryou and Bakura than anyone else. Jou's not even in it.

JC: But Kat and Jen make up for that next chapter.

Kathrine: Read on and enjoy! We hope the wait was worth it.

Disclaimer: If we owned YUGIOH, it would definitely NOT be a show for little kids, Anzu would have a less friendship-obsessed personality, and YAOI would reign supreme over all! Mwuahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We'll stop now.

Warnings: Yaoi/Shounen Ai, Dark themes, Kura Angst, Implied Sex scene that we can't show on FFNet and can't really write anyway.

/ Ryou to Kura /

// Kura to Ryou //

\ Yugi to Yami \

\\ Yami to Yugi \\

Broken

By Jennifer and Kathrine

Chapter 2

Yugi yawned tiredly, still feeling drained even though he had just awakened. Violet eyes finally registered that he was alone in his room, but something seemed wrong about that. That's when the events of last night came back to him and he jumped up, looking over at his clock immediately. 11:50!! He gasped, throwing the covers off of himself and rushing to the door.

He threw it open and looked about the hall, not seeing anyone. \ Yami! \ he yelled out in his mind. He ran out of the room and to the living room, still not finding anyone. " YAMI!" he yelled again, this time out loud, the echo ringing through the hall.

Loud steps could be heard rushing up the stairs from the shop below and his other self appeared. " What is it Aibou?" he asked in concern. " Are you all right?"

" Where is Jounouchi-kun?!" he demanded. " Is he okay? Is he downstairs in the shop? He shouldn't be moving around with his back hurt like that!"

" The pup is gone," the small duelist finally realized the presence of his other boyfriend at the top of the stairs.

" Nani?!" Yugi's eyes widened in disbelief at Seto's words. " Why?! Where is he?!"

" He went to work Hikari," Yami told him in a calm yet blunt tone. " He had to report in almost three hours ago."

" Why is he at work?!" Yugi wanted to know. " How could you let him go Yami?! You saw how hurt he was! He couldn't even stand up on his own last night! Why Yami?!"

The spirit didn't know what to tell his other. He'd purposely let the boy sleep in instead of waking like usual so that Jounouchi himself wouldn't have to deal with the questions. He seemed so lost and defeated as it was without having to try and lie to his best friend. He didn't want to make things worse for the boy. As it was, he was already going behind his back and asking Seto for help in finding out who had hurt him and why.

" Yami? Why didn't you make him stay?" Yugi asked in a worried and soft tone. " What if someone bumps into him or hits his back against something? He shouldn't have gone!"

" No one can stop the m-pup from doing whatever he wants," Seto told him so that the pressure on Yami would be eased, almost slipping with his usual name-calling. He had already learned that he wasn't allowed to refer to the blonde as 'mutt' or 'mongrel' when around Yugi because it only upset him and led to the brunette being chastised. " He wanted to go to work so he did, not even Yami could have stopped him."

" You didn't see him last night Seto-kun," Yugi sighed sadly. " Someone hurt him badly. I'm surprised he could actually stand, but I guess that Jounouchi-kun wouldn't stay so he could heal anyway." That's when he realized something. " Did you come to visit during your lunch break, Seto-koi?"

" Actually no," the brunette replied.

" I called him here," Yami explained. " He's agreed to help us find out who hurt Jounouchi."

" Really?" Yugi's eyes brightened at the thought of being able to find whoever had harmed his best friend. He leaped at Seto and wrapped his arms around his waist gratefully. " Arigato, arigato, arigato!"

The brunette gave a small smile to his smallest lover. " If it makes you happy then I'll help," he told him. " But you'll have to tell me what's going on." He lightly removed the other boy's arm from around him and led him back into his bedroom where the three sat down on the bed. Yugi climbed into Seto's lap and sighed sadly before thinking back to how things had been getting.

" He's been getting into trouble more often lately," Yugi explained. " Like last week when he came to school with a black eye and his shoulder hurt so bad he could barely even move it. Teacher sent him home first period."

" The pup is always getting into fights," Seto stated. " Why is this so different."

" I didn't get a chance to tell you everything," Yami replied. " There's more to it."

" He SAYS that it's all been from fighting," Yugi confirmed, " but I don't think it all is. He's never come out of a fight as hurt as he's been in these past two weeks. He's a good fighter, whether or not you think so Seto-kun. And then last night his entire back was covered in bloody gashes like someone was beating him with a thin stick or something like one repeatedly." Those words caused tears to come to the small boy's eyes and Seto wrapped his arm around him, soothing his pain slightly.

" I'm just so worried because he's hiding this all from us," Yugi told him in a near sob. " Last time it was because of his dad and he'd been hiding it for years. What if he doesn't say anything like back then? The only reason why anyone found out was because I asked Honda to drop off the notes I had borrowed from when I was sick."

Seto could tell that his lover was indeed worried about his best friend. He wasn't even nice to Yugi, Yami, and their friends two years before (though he's still not really nice to their friends), but had heard the gossip around school about the mutt's father being sent off to a rehab for drug abuse. There had also been the rumors about the blonde being abused, but he'd thought as much from the start. It takes one to know one as they say.

" We're worried that he's not going to ask for help," Yami finally finished for him. " We want to be able to help him, but we don't even know the situation."

" What if his dad is hurting him again?" Yugi finally spoke the worry that had been eating at Yami himself earlier that morning. But for some strange reason he actually believed Jounouchi when he'd said that it wasn't his father that had hurt him so badly. But that doesn't mean he hasn't hurt him recently, he thought.

" Why would the courts allow the pup to return to his father when he's abused him before?" the brunette had to ask. He knew that normally a person would be in jail for child abuse, so why wasn't the mutt's father? That's when he saw the guilty downcast look in both Yugi and Yami's eyes.

" The courts don't know," Yami admitted. " They just chalked up Jounouchi's injuries to fighting seeing as he told them that whenever he's angry he's goes off and picks a fight with someone. He made us swear not to tell anyone because then they'd never let him go back to live with his father again."

He really is like a dog if he takes all that punishment and keeps going back, was the first thought in Kaiba's mind. What he actually said was, " Why?"

" No matter what he cares about that no good bastard and believed that things would be different after his father got out of rehab," Yami replied. " It's what he wanted to believed and we couldn't change his mind about that. He promised that if his father even raised his hand to him again he would tell us."

" We believed him because Jounouchi-kun always keeps his promises," Yugi added.

" Except about this," Seto understood.

" You have to help us Seto-kun," Yugi's eyes were wide and tears were slowly trekking down his cheeks. " I couldn't bare the thought of something happening to him. What if whoever hurt him decides to do it again? Or if they decide to…" The tri-color-haired boy couldn't even finishing the thought. He was so worried that the next time he would see Jounouchi would be on a table in the cold morgue.

" Don't worry," Seto assured him, understanding what he'd left unsaid. " I'll put people on it and tell you everything that I find out."

" Thank you," Yami smiled at him and Yugi just hugged him tighter.

" I think I need a shower," Yugi said tiredly. " Thankfully, Grandpa said we could leave the shop closed until he gets back. I don't think I could run it all day." He slowly removed himself from his boyfriend's lap and stood, wiping the tears from his face.

" Take as long a shower as you want Aibou," Yami told him. " Everything will be fine. We'll make sure of it."

Yugi nodded with a weak smile on his lips. He then kissed Yami gently on the lips before hugging Seto again, kissing him as well. " Thanks Seto-koi," he told him again. " I know you don't have to help."

" Don't worry," the brunette told him. The small boy's eyes brightened up before leaving the room to go to the bathroom for his shower.

As soon as he was gone they waited and listened. When they finally heard the sound of water running Seto gave his other lover a knowing look. " There's more to this, isn't there?" he inquired, though it was more like a statement the question it was intended to be. " Something you don't want Yugi to know."

" I talked to Jounouchi when he woke up this morning," Yami explained. " Pretty much the only thing he would tell me is that someone else is at risk as well. I don't want this other person to get hurt because of us. That's why I don't want you to do anything if you do find out something important. Just come tell us, please."

" Fine," Kaiba agreed. Yami smiled at him before leaning towards him. Seto took the invitation and pulled the spirit towards him, kissing him passionately. Their lips messed together tongues dueling playfully. Finally Yami pulled away before sighing.

" Domo arigato," Yami told him again. " I know you don't like Jounouchi very much and you don't have to help us."

" This is very important to both you and Yugi," Seto replied then smirked. " The pup might not be part of my top ten favorite's list, but you and Yugi are number two."

" Two?" Yami frowned.

"Of course, Mokuba is always number one," Seto told him. " Wait, my computers do come next and then my company. Would you settle for being part of the top five?"

Yami growled playfully at him before pouncing, sending them both down onto the bed. " I'll show you what I think about being in the top five," he smirked at him. " And besides, you don't have to be back at work for another half hour."

" What about Yugi?" Seto inquired.

" What about Yugi?" Yami's smirk deepened before he motioned towards the door. In the entrance, standing soaking wet in all his birthday suit glory was their smallest lover, smiling at them both. (A/N: We just HAD to write it! ^_~)

"I can't even take a shower without you two acting up, can I?" the violet-eyed boy shook his head, a look in his eyes that the other saw very often though no one else would believe it was there. " Oh well, guess we better not waste your time, eh Seto-koi?" The brunette gave him a look that agreed wholeheartedly. He knew both of his lovers needed this, to forget their fear, concern, and questions in the passion that they created together. He would start his investigation when he got back to work. He'd find out who was hurting the mutt, for his lovers' sake anyway.

*****

He sat in shock on the couch on inches away from the table that had been covered in blood only a few hours before. He'd finally taken in everything completely and didn't know what to do or what could be done. All the evidence pointed to the same thing. There was blood on his table and pieces of a torn white shirt on the floor, also covered in blood. There was a rare Duel Monsters card left on his floor, Red Eyes Black Dragon, a card that only one person he knew possessed, also with blood on it. He couldn't contact Jounouchi and his other half refused to remove the lock on the door to his soul room to allow him entry.

He'd tried calling the blonde through the cell-phone he'd given him as a present a week before, but couldn't. It was a way that the two could talk to each other whenever they wanted and allowed Jounouchi to call his sister seeing as he didn't have long distance, but the operator said the phone had been turned off. He'd called the blonde's job around eight, hoping he had work that day, but the manager had told him that Jou wasn't to be in until later on. He was secretly relieved that he hadn't been there. He didn't know what he would say if he had to talk to him, but at least he knew where he would be.

But what if he doesn't go to work? He thought worriedly. What if he's so hurt he can't even move? Bakura… How could you hurt him? All he ever did was love me like you said no one ever could. Why did you hurt him? Please Jou be okay. He had taken Red Eyes and cleaned it lightly, removing the blood from the back, and then put it in a white envelope with the blonde's name on the front. He had to return it, but couldn't, couldn't face Jounouchi knowing that Bakura had harmed him.

What did he do to you, Koi? He wondered. Are you all right? Or did he hurt you so badly that you can't even open you eyes? He had been tempted repeated that morning to go to Yugi's and tell him everything, tell him that he and Jounouchi were a couple, that his darker half had returned and that said half had hurt said blonde. But he couldn't. He couldn't face the small cherubic teen and tell him that his best friend could be lying in a gutter somewhere bleeding to death. Just the thought of confessing to Yugi scared him almost as much as the thought of Jou lying in the gutter bleeding to death.

What kind of lover am I if I'm too afraid to even find out if he's all right? he berated himself. I should be looking for him, not here wondering whether or not he's all right! But he couldn't move. The fear was too great. He couldn't move knowing that he might very well come across the body of his honey-eyed lover somewhere along the way. He couldn't move knowing that Jounouchi might never speak to him again or might be unable to do so because of his yami harming him beyond recovery.

This is ALL my fault! He yelled in his mind. If I had just done as Bakura said, if I had just stayed away from him…Why didn't I obey? Why did I have to tell him how I feel? Why did he have to feel the same way? Why couldn't he have just been disgusted with me and never want to look at me again? Why did he have to love me in return? This is my fault, I did this to him.

He finally closed his eyes, unshed tears quickly running down his cheeks at the movement. He let his body fall away as the Siennen Ring around his began to glow dimly against his chest. When he 'opened' them again he found himself within the dark corridors of the mystical Item. He ignored all other doors and followed the path to the end, stopping at the door whose owner he was searching for.

/ Bakura! / he shouted, pounding his fist against the door. / Open the door now! / He'd done this earlier, tried to get answers from his yami so that he would at least know whether or not his love was alive. / Bakura! Please! He didn't do anything wrong! Why couldn't you just take it out on me?! What did I do to cause you to hurt him?! / Still he received no answer from the other side of the door. He felt like crying all over again, not knowing what he should do.

I have to find him, no matter what, he resolved. I have to know that he is all right. He gave one last pain-filled glance at the door before leaving the confines Siennen Item. He couldn't stay there, hoping, demanding answers he knew he'd never get. He had a lover that needed him. And he had to push away his fears if he wanted to find him. It didn't matter if the blonde never wanted to even look at him again as long as he knew he was still alive.

*****

He felt it when he lighter half finally gave up and departed from the Siennen Ring. The white-haired boy had repeated attempted to contact him early that morning after he'd returned control of their body to him, but he refused to acknowledge his demands. He didn't have to talk to the young boy and he didn't want to, although he'd never admit that part of the reason was that he was too afraid to. Then the boy had gone into was seemed like shock after cleaning up the mess he'd left behind, the detachment causing him to feel something he didn't want to feel.

Ever since the incident with Jounouchi late the previous night he was feeling things he didn't understand and didn't want to. It was like the events had broken open the sturdy casing he'd locked all of his emotions and memories from the past in. Images were randomly coming to him, thoughts and pictures that he just now recognized as his own. But he'd purposely forgotten all of them, locked them away due to the pain they'd caused him, a pain he refused to accept.

// The light flashed in the sky, shooting up into the heavens brighter than even the rays of Ra. He stared in confusion from the side of the hill where he long been tending the sheep his father owned. He climbed farther and stood at the peak of the hill, unable to deny the sight before him. His entire village was blanketed in a golden brilliance. It was unbelievably bright, and yet didn't hurt his eyes.

Suddenly, the light vanished and everything was dark, not even the torches burning to light street paths. Fear ripped at him and he ran, forgetting the flock in his hurry to get home. He reached the village, but that did nothing to ease his fear and apprehension. He stood at the edge of town, looking about frantically. He heard nothing, the entire village was dead silent.

" Hello?" he wandered deeper into quiet, hoping to find someone to explain what had happened. He turned, thinking he'd heard something, but ended up tripping over whatever had been lying in the path. Wincing at the contact of his ass to the ground, he realized that it was actually a person lying face down on the ground that he had tripped on. And from the looks it was a little girl.

" Are you all right?" he asked her, crawling so that he could check her over. Grabbing his shoulder he turned her onto her back so he could see her face. Gasping, he found her eyes to be wide open, face a look of complete shock and disbelief and her eyes clouded over with a white sheet. What shocked him even more was that he knew the girl, his sister. " Sekh?" he whispered in confusion. " Sekh this isn't funny. Get up before I call Father."

But still the girl didn't move, her chest for she was not breathing and her face still the same mask of shock. " Sekh…" his voice was beginning to break. He couldn't look into her eyes any longer, couldn't see the hidden fear that shouldn't be on her young delicate face. She was only four summers, much younger than his manly eight, and such a look on her didn't seem possible even if only as a joke for her older brother.

" Someone help me!" he shouted. " I need help! Sekh's hurt! Someone please help me, help her! Somebody! Anybody!" But no one came to help, the silence remained in the village, only broken by the soft echoing of his pain-filled pleas. He laid the young body of his sister back on the ground, noticing that the evening sand was actually warmer than her skin. That realization only served to increase his shock.

" I'll be right back," he told her. " I'll go get Father, he'll know how to help you." He stood instantly, his hands shaking from holding the cold form of his younger sibling. He couldn't even bear to look at her as he took off towards the center of the village where his family's hut was seeing as his father was leader of their town.

" Father!" he shouted. " Sekh ne-!" He's words halted at the sight of more people lying at the ground, the very same look he found on his sister on their features, including the fear that not all of them hid. He was frozen staring at the forms littering the miniature market. It was as if something had come and taken everyone away.

" Ra no, please no…" He took a step closer staring at the body of his best friend who was no different from the rest. He dropped to the ground and reached out to touch the other, reached out to touch the tan face that he'd seen smiling only earlier that afternoon, but couldn't. He backed away from the body, scooting fearfully until his hand touched something that burned.

Jumping in frantic shock, he turned and stared at the scarred sand in the center, the very heart, of the village. It was an eye, curved delicately and large enough to be seen from the top of the farthest hut. He knew that eye very well seeing as all children were taught it. The Eye of Horus was easy to decipher from any other. " Oh Ra what has happened?" he questioned. " What have we done to deserve this? What have I done to deserve to be left behind?"

He continued to stare in disbelief at the symbol, everything becoming too much for his poor child mind to comprehend. He slowly reached out, touching the symbol once again. The burn came back, the feeling of fire in his veins, but he couldn't understand why. His head throbbed and he felt as if he was going to pass out from the experience. He watched in shock as his dark tanned skin was brightened, becoming pale and white like the cloth he wore, almost has white as the hair upon his head. That's when his eyes slowly rolled into the back of his head and everything went black… //

He closed his eyes, forcing the memory away. That had been the second worse day of his life. He remembered it all so clearly now that his resistance was gone, but with the memory came the pain. He remember his sister, remembered the pain of finding her lying dead on the ground like that even though at his young age he truly didn't understand. He remembered staring at the inert form of his best friend, Neqda, and unable to even touch his cooling corpse.

But he couldn't decide which day was worse than that though he was sure it was between two. The day he was discovered in the dead village by the slave traders or the day said slave traders sold him to the Pharaoh, the very same person who had sacrificed the lives and souls of his entire village to create seven mystical items? Both days seemed to have sealed his fate in the world, but all three showed him that Ra was false, that no true god existed if they would use one lowly sheep-herding child for their sick amusement.

But the thoughts slowly turned to the blonde he'd used for his own sick amusement for the past two weeks. He could still see the look of complete fear in his eyes as he forced himself upon him. But now the thought made him sick, even though as a spirit that shouldn't be possible. Why do I feel this way? He wondered. Why can't I just forget and move on like I've always done before? Why has he brought back all these thoughts, these memories, these feelings? He shook his head to rid himself of what he refused to believe was regret.

Why should I care about hurting him? He's nothing but a weak sniveling dog that always comes back for more punishment from his master. It's easy to see why that idiot Kaiba always calls him so. But then the feeling returned. He jumped up in a rage, grabbing the nearest piece of furniture, which happened to be a small cup filled with wine, all threw it as hard as he could across the room, feeling the satisfaction of it shattering against the wall of his Soul Room.

He dropped to his knees, no longer full of the strength he'd driven himself on all his life. It was just too much to remember all the horrors that he had pushed away for so long. He didn't want to remember, he didn't want to feel, but it seemed that once again Ra and all other Gods were against him.

A/N: Was that good enough for ya? Maybe now you all will understand my Kura a little better.

JC: As you can see Ryou is near complete emotional breakdown and Yugi and Yami are worried.

Kathrine: But Seto can easily calm them down. ^_~

JC: This is pretty much the only story we're working on the hasn't been killed yet by the evil electric delete monster. So it's going faster than the others.

Kathrine: We'll try to get more done, but we've got stories for other Fandoms to work on.

JC: Plus we have a new project we're doing and school starts next week. So review and tell us what yall think okay.

Kathrine: We're not sure that the title really fits the story so tells us if we're right or not. Ja!