Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Identity ❯ A Different Aspect ( Chapter 9 )

Identity

Disclaimer: I don't own YGO

Summary: Secrets are dangerous things, especially if you're dealing with a false identity. All has gone well for Bakura Ryou, until Kaiba Seto comes into his life. A sort of medieval/Chinese setting. Slash warning Seto/Ryou, a little Yami/Ryou.

Pairings: Seto/Ryou, Anzu/Honda, Jou/Mai, Shizuka/Yugi

Chapter Title: A Different Aspect

Author's Notes: MORE REVIEWS! Arigatou gozaimasu minna! I love you all! Sorry for the late update!

Oh yeah, I will be using Japanese honorifics from now on, partly because I want to and they sound better than `lord' and `lady' blah, blah. And Ryou will continued to be addressed in male terms until the secret is made public (in the story).

ENJOY!

---- A Different Aspect ----

Meet me by the stream in two hours. I need your help.

This was the message sent to Honda by Miho the next morning while he was coming out of the gates of the Bakura household. Worried, he made sure to finish his tasks early so that he could take time off to attend to the appointment. Unbeknownst to him and Miho, Anzu was following close behind.

"Miho-san?"

"Honda!" Miho ran to him, clutching his hand in both hers. "You have to help me, please!"

"What's wrong? What happened?"

Miho's eyes filled with tears and she wept over his hand.

"My father is forcing me to marry Marik Ishtar!" she cried. "Everyone knows that he is a horrible person and - and I'll suffer if I marry into his house! Please, Honda, you have to help me! If you don't, then no one will, please!"

Honda hesitated. He knew, yes, how horrible Marik and his younger Malik could be. But what could he, a servant, do against a noble like him? The Ishtars had power way beyond his and Bakura-sama couldn't always protect him from punishment, especially when he had purposely broken the law and customs of their society. Miho's eyes, however, melted him.

"I'll try my best, Miho-san," he promised. "Granted, I may not be able to do much."

"Just you agreeing is enough," Miho assured him, "because I've already made a plan for the two of us. We can elope! There's a ferry today that leaves Domino pier at sunset. If we catch it, then we can start a new life somewhere else!"

"Miho-san . . ."

"Please, Honda," she begged. "Do this for me?"

At this point, Anzu was seething with jealousy. Honda had no immunity to Miho's 'charms', thus making him completely vulnerable to her pleas and helpless expressions. She knew he would do anything for the tailor's daughter and this was sure to lead him into trouble. This was the sort of trouble she had almost always suspected.

"We don't have much time," Miho sobbed.

"Miho-san . . ." Honda crumbled. "All right."

--------

Marik grinned. He gulped down some wine and continued to grin. Somehow, he just couldn't stop grinning like an idiot. Maybe it was the liquor retarding his mind, but he preferred to say it was 'releasing it from burdens', or it maybe it was just because he had scored some valuable blackmail against his nemesis.

"You'll kill yourself with the drink, brother."

"As long as I know Bakura will fall at my hands, I will die happily."

His younger brother sighed in exasperation and tested the weight of his sword by swinging it. Malik enjoyed using swords and he enjoyed collecting them too. So far, he had twenty of the twenty-five most prized swords in the kingdom. He only needed the Bakura house sword, the White Dragon sword, Prince Regent Yami's Dark sword and two others before he had completed his collection. The two others in question were already within grasp and the Bakura house sword was going to be his very soon.

"Are your spies reliable?"

"Do you doubt me, Malik?" Marik asked, eyeing him.

"You, yes," Malik replied immediately. "Your spies, however . . . they're very efficient."

"So you may rest assured that the news they bring is true."

"Who would have thought . . ." Malik murmured, tracing the pattern on the rim of his cup, deep in thought. " . . .For fifteen years, none of us have ever noticed. How could we have let this valuable information escape us?"

"He is efficient also in hiding things," Marik pointed out.

"We will have our revenge," his brother vowed. "For these past fifteen years, he's degraded us and made us disgraceful to the eyes of our fellow nobles. He will pay and he will pay dearly. What better way to pay than disgracing him in their eyes? What say you, brother?"

"Hear, hear."

Marik raised his cup in a toast, grinning wickedly. Malik returned the grin and drank deeply, savouring his victory against his nemesis and overlord.

"Rishid's next target will be Bakura Ryou," he said gleefully. "Let us drink to his memory."

--------

Kaiba accompanied Crown Prince Yugi, Prince Regent Yami, Duke Jounouchi and the ladies Mai and Shizuka as they rode to Tomoeda. He was the head of their entourage, in charge of their safety, or at least the safety of the two ladies. It was a dangerous time in Tomoeda and Kaiba had been summoned back to aid the investigation. Yami, Yugi, Jounouchi, Mai and Shizuka had just tagged along.

"We'll be there in a few hours," Kaiba reported, bowing slightly to Yami.

"What are the roads like ahead?" Mai asked.

"Relatively flat," Jounouchi supplied, to everyone's surprise. "It's not used much, so there's basically just us on the road. The highway leading to Tomoeda is the longest and widest and there are small by-roads stemming from it."

"How did you know that?" Yugi asked, wide-eyed.

"I get around," Jounouchi shrugged.

The conversation dwindled there and Jounouchi fiddled with the saddle on his stallion. Mai was watching him with a curious expression, not the arrogant look she usually had when regarding him, but one that seemed as if she were seeing him in a new light. They were the same age, she might have been a few months older, give or take, but she had always treated him like a boy.

He isn't too bad when he's serious, she thought.

"I guess we should set off," Yami announced. "It's getting late and we want to get there before the sun sets. Come on, Yugi, Jounouchi-kun."

"Yes, Yami-kun," Jounouchi mumbled.

Jounouchi wasn't as close to Yami as he was to Yugi, so he referred to him with an honorific, as Yami did with him. They helped the ladies onto their saddles, Yugi assisting Shizuka while Jounouchi wordlessly went to help Mai, who regarded it as if it were nothing special. For some reason, Jounouchi wasn't feeling up to arguing with Mai today.

"Are you ill, Jounouchi?" Yugi asked worriedly as they rode.

"No, why would you say that, Yugi?"

"You're not acting yourself around Mai," the smaller man said. "Usually, you'd be biting each other's heads off by now. What happened? Was it something at home?"

"Yugi -" Jounouchi stared straight ahead at the road. "My father's seriously ill, from the drink he's been consuming. He keeps coughing up blood and losing sleep. I'm worried about him, even though he's a heartless bastard. He's my father after all."

Jounouchi's father, the present Duke, was Yugi's uncle from his mother's side. The Crown Prince didn't have many fond memories of the alcohol-consuming man, only that he had been the one to take them on their first hunting trip when they were ten. That was before he started drinking heavily, gambling recklessly and beating his first lady, Jou's mother.

Of course, Duke Jounouchi had always been rather harsh to his son, beating him when he didn't learn lessons properly, punishing him and starving him days on end, and making a fool out of him in public places. Jou rarely found anything good to say about him, but when it did matter, he was the first to jump in and help his father.

"Is he bedridden?"

"Yes." Jou's expression darkened. "I don't know when he started, but he's addicted to opium too. It seems the recent decline in our treasury was his purchase of the opium. I found the packets when I was taking care of him yesterday."

"What are you planning to do about it?"

"I don't know. I really, really don't know."

Unbeknownst to both of them, Mai was listening to their conversation. She felt sorry for Jou, something she would have been surprised about a few days ago. He was in such a bad situation now, and he still tried to keep up appearances, though failing utterly. Perhaps she should lay off the teasing for a while, try to help him and cheer him up. Her lips were set into a determined line.

Yes, she would help him.

--------

Rishid landed softly in the centre of the study, black cloak falling neatly behind him. Almost immediately, Ryou grabbed his sword and stood, setting aside his scrolls. There would be time for that later. Right now, he had an intruder to take care of.

"You are the murderer of all those innocent families."

"They deserved what they received, Bakura-sama."

"That I should command the respect of an assassin," Ryou said coldly. "If I do not take you down now, how many more lives are you going to take?"

"Bakura-sama should be worrying about his own life," Rishid said flatly.

"Take this outside."

--------

"It's a nice day, isn't it, Honda?"

Anzu sat down beside a brooding Honda, acting as if nothing were wrong. He was deep in thought, not seeming to have heard her greeting. She didn't want him to know she had followed him to meet Miho because he would just get angry, but she also couldn't just sit around and do nothing while he was about to make the biggest mistake of his life.

"We've been here in Domino a long time, haven't we?"

"Yeah . . ."

"Sometimes Bakura-sama tells me that it's time I married into someone's family. I told him that, if I did, it meant that I had to leave his house. I don't want that because I grew up in this house and I'll miss it."

Honda nodded a little and turned to her.

"Thanks, Anzu. Just remember, our futures are for us to plan, so you go with what you feel is right. Don't let others persuade you to do otherwise. Don't be like me."

"Honda . . . "

He stood and turned around. She had never felt more distraught in her life. He had obviously gotten the message she was trying to give, but he wasn't taking the advice within. She knew he was going to ruin his own life with this decision. She had to do something.

"Honda Hiroto, if you take another step I'll hate you forever." He faced her, surprised. "You're making a mistake. Miho-san's just using you, she just wants you to give her an excuse to get out of her marriage to Marik Ishtar. When the two of you get out of here, how long will it be until she finds someone else who can get her to where she wants to go? Or perhaps the two of you will be caught and you will be the one blamed."

"I promised her. I never break promises."

"There's a first time for everything," she snapped. "Do the right thing, Honda."

"Leave me alone. You don't have the right to tell me what to do."

"No, I don't." She drew a deep breath. "But I do have the right to care about you. Whether as a fellow servant, a friend or maybe something more than that, I don't know, but I do care about you. I don't want to see you hurt - and I know Miho-san will eventually break your heart."

"Anzu . . ."

"Stay with me, Honda. Please, don't go with her."

--------

Kaiba felt a sense of dread fill the pit of his stomach. Someone was in danger. It couldn't be Mokuba, he was too well guarded, back at the Bakura house. The ladies he was accompanying weren't either, with Yami, Jounouchi and Yugi with them. Then who else was it?

"There's a sword fight going on!"

"Where?"

"In the field on the outskirts of town! People say it's the serial murderer and he's fighting Bakura-sama. Let's go watch!"

They were riding into the town of Tomoeda when Kaiba heard that snatch of conversation. His heart pounded and the dread grew. Ryou was duelling the murderer they had been trying to track down. The one who killed without sound or bloodshed. The silent one. Without warning, Kaiba urged Senkou to a gallop and sped off in the direction the two conversers were heading.

Yami hesitated only a moment before galloping after him, concerned about Ryou's wellbeing. That left Jounouchi and Yugi behind to take care of the two ladies.

"Kaiba!" Yami shouted. "I'm sure Ryou will be all right. He isn't Domino's most accomplished swordsman for nothing."

Kaiba saw the reasoning behind that and how foolish he was being, but that didn't slow him down. In fact, if anything, he went even faster, spurring Senkou onwards. The black stallion, feeling the urgency in his master's actions, complied, hooves pounding in the dirt. Even Yami had difficulty keeping up.

Please let him be safe.

They reached the field in a matter of minutes. A crowd had gathered there, mainly young men and other swordsmen. Ryou was in guard position and seemed fairly calm and relatively unscathed. His opponent was a tall, broad-shouldered man dressed in a black cloak. They were facing each other, unmoving, swords poised for battle.

"Is he the famed Bakura Ryou? He's different to what I imagined."

"Looks young."

"Younger than you any day."

Yami and Kaiba paid no attention to the snippets of conversation around them. Most of the people hadn't seen Ryou before, only heard about him from other people. They were probably disappointed with his appearance. But the two were focused on Ryou.

"Ryou's opponent -"

"The serial murderer," Kaiba said, eyes never leaving Ryou.

"No, he works for the Ishtars," Yami corrected. "I've seen him coming and going when they think no one notices. I think he directly serves Malik Ishtar, the younger brother. If he's the serial murderer, then we will possibly have a blood feud on our hands."

As they were talking, Kaiba was unconsciously holding his breath as Ryou's opponent struck. Ryou, not being one to be caught off guard, twisted to his right nimbly and the sword sliced the air next to him. He blocked the side swing that came immediately afterwards, launching himself above the other and on his other side. Almost as soon as he landed, he struck again, leaving barely enough room for the other to block.

This style . . . it seems so familiar.

They parried, Ryou changing from offensive to defensive with every second stroke. It veiled his true intentions and strategies. The style was unique. (A/N: now would be a good time to tell you all that I have no knowledge, whatsoever, of sword fighting. I just watch a lot of Chinese shows. Also, assume that they all use broad swords).

Then Ryou started moving quickly, so quickly in fact, that his physical appearance gave off the illusion of a veil to the naked untrained eye. His sword was a silver beam cutting through the air and it was all Rishid could do not to get sliced. Even that he had difficulty doing.

His style . . . hidden . . . veiled . . .

Veiled.

--------

The young lord's onslaught overwhelmed Rishid. The dark man could barely manage to keep himself out of danger with the cold ferocity he was being shown. Ryou was not someone to be looked down upon. If it weren't for the fact that he owed his life to the Ishtars, Rishid wouldn't have chosen this path.

He was a simple man, one with a simple man's fears. He didn't want to die, he didn't want to have to kill and he certainly didn't want to be captured. Yet at this rate, he was really choosing death road. What could he do?

It was then he saw Ryou's weakness. It wasn't a flaw within his technique, like he had originally thought. No, he had been foolish to think that Domino's best swordsman would have a flaw in their technique. Ryou's weakness was those around him. He wanted to protect them. If Rishid could use this to his advantage . . .

Kaiba Seto was standing in the crowd, along with Mutou Yami. He couldn't use them, they were able swordsmen themselves. He needed someone less accomplished and that Ryou would feel obliged to protect. Obliged to protect . . . the codes of chivalry any man held in this society stated clearly that men were supposed to protect women. But he wasn't just any man . . . he was an assassin and a slave for the Ishtars. The code didn't apply to him.

He turned around and dived into the crowd of spectators, who screamed and fled. Right at the back of these spectators was people mounted on horses. Nobles. Two ladies were with them, looking all helpless. He made for the younger of the two, a brunette with bright hazel eyes. She screamed and cowered when he attacked.

"Pick your fights with men," her male companion hissed, blocking him. "You dare strike a woman? Have you no shame? What kind of a man are you?"

"One who will do anything to win," Rishid hissed back.

"Well, you'll have to get through me first."

Rishid recognised this person. He was young and slender, looking as if he were a twig. But his violet eyes were hard and angry. This was Mutou Yugi, the Crown Prince. He leapt back a safe distance. If he were to attack the Crown Prince, then even if he won Ryou, he would have the whole nation against him. The lady was now obviously the Prince's fiancee.

So he went for the next best target. Kujyaku Mai backed away, having not armed herself previously and was not skilled in hand-to-hand combat. Ryou, Kaiba, Yami and Yugi were either too far away to do anything or were currently distracted. That left only one person who could protect Mai. That said person drew his sword and charged at Rishid, knocking him to the ground.

"You never touch her, understand?" Jounouchi growled. "I'm in a bad mood already, so you'll do good just to surrender and be taken back for a trial. Otherwise I'll kill you."

He had Rishid at sword point and the other man was half-raised off the ground, propped up on his elbows. The sword came dangerously close to his neck. Jounouchi looked up at Ryou, who had managed to run over during some point of Rishid's disarming.

"Bakura-san," he said with a nod. "He is the murderer?"

"Yes, he is," Ryou replied. "My thanks."

"It was my duty." Jounouchi nudged Rishid's rib with his foot. "Here, you can take him back."

Ryou nodded, motioning for several guards, who had followed him there, to drag Rishid away. He watched them go, sheathing his sword, before noticing the newcomers.

"Yami? Yugi-sama? Mai-san? Shizuka-san?"

"You'd better get that arm of yours checked," Yami noted, nodding towards the gash on Ryou's left arm, which was bleeding heavily. "We accompanied Kaiba here when he rode out to meet your summons."

"Ah, Kaiba-kun." Ryou motioned for them to follow him. "I need to take care of a few things before I attend to any wounds. If you will all follow me back to the town."

---- End of Chapter Nine ----

A/N: crappy ending, I know.

I had to get this done before I forgot and began to write the next chapter for 'Judgement'. Once I get into that, I'll forget to write this chapter. It's happened before.

Oh yeah, another note. Ryou and Yami's relationship is almost like brothers and they're a bit like Yugi and Jounouchi. So Ryou address Yami directly while Yugi, who is Crown Prince and at a higher status than he, is addressed with the honorific '-sama' for respect. Yami addresses Ryou directly as well, because they are close, but the others call him 'Bakura-san' (Yugi and Jounouchi) or Bakura (the Ishtars, who hold no respect for him, call him that in private) or Bakura-sama (Kaiba, Mai, Shizuka and all the other people who aren't nobles).

Hope that cleared up a few things about the way they addressed each other!

Relinquished