Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Judgement ❯ No Reason to Look Back pt1 ( Chapter 3 )

Judgement

Disclaimer: Well, this is a FAN fic right?

Summary: Seto, Ryou and Ryuuji are TC's Elite and their job is to exterminate all Otherworldly beings from the real world. But real judgement is yet to come, what with the Chimera Brigade on the loose . . .

Warnings: Semi-Alternate Universe, OOC (on some parts, not all), yaoi/shounen-ai (I still can't tell the difference, gomen), angst, murder, rape, little fluffs now and then, depression, suicide and . . . I think that covers it for the moment. If you don't like, DON'T READ! Sheesh, don't come complaining to ME if you get scared easily or can't take this kind of stuff. I did my job and warned you about it.

Author's Notes: I'm a bit upset as to the lack of reviews for this fic. Though I suppose I should be used to it by now. 'Identity' was the same, ne? Maybe I should change the summary, to make it more interesting. I do work hard!

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Chapter Three: No Reason to Look Back

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Ryuuji opened his eyes and groaned. Another day of school ahead for himself and his new partners. It wasn't that he didn't like spending time with them, or in Domino, it was more that the bed was so warm and so comfortable . . . he just didn't want to leave it.

The alarm clock on his bedside table began ringing noisily - rather, it was making a very annoying beeping noise. Irritated, he reached over and switched it off, deciding to bury himself, once again, under the covers. A moment later, there was a knocking on his door.

"Ryuuji?" Ryou's voice came through the door. "Are you awake?"

"Go 'way!" he called sleepily.

"You're the morning person around here, Ryuuji," Ryou growled, starting to get annoyed. "Now go be that morning person so I can grouch off. It's not easy being nice in the morning you know."

The albino's words made him grin despite himself. Ryou was rather amusing when he was angry. His logic went all funny and he said things he normally wouldn't if he had been calm. Words like 'grouch off' were not usually in his vocabulary. It was kind of fun seeing Ryou like this. He decided not to push it, however, and swung himself out of bed.

"Hai, hai," he sighed.

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Breakfast Table - Kaiba Mansion

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Once again, Seto found himself looking up from a document at his two companions as they walked in. He would always be the earliest, even if he weren't the nicest first thing in the morning. Ryuuji looked bright and cheerful again, while Ryou looked sleepy - again.

"This is role reversal," Ryuuji commented brightly. "When Ryou came to wake me up this morning, I was the sleepy one. Now he's about to drop off!"

"I told you I was a grouch in the mornings," Ryou bit out.

"Ouch, that hurt."

"Piss off."

"Kami-sama, Ryou cussed!"

"Are you going to sit down and eat, or am I going to have to tie you down to the chair and get my staff to force the food down your throat?" Seto barked.

Ryuuji grinned good-naturedly at the CEO and sat down, immediately gorging himself on the food in front of him. In a more mannerly fashion, Ryou sat down as well, selecting a piece of toast from the large stack and buttering it only minimally. He ate quietly and drank a glass of orange juice.

"Is that all you're going to eat Ryou?"

"Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, remember," Ryuuji sang out, waving his cereal spoon in the air. "You'll get most of your energy for the day from your breakfast!"

"Wakatta, Ryuuji," Ryou replied, exasperated. "I don't have a metabolism as high as you do. I don't need large amounts of food at a time."

Seto filed away his documents again, snapped his briefcase shut, and drained away the last of his coffee. It was the same every morning. He stood, and Ryou followed suit, dabbing lightly on his lips with a napkin. Ryuuji gulped down the last of his food and chugged down his drink before wiping his mouth on the back of his hand. Ryou rolled his eyes at the game creator's lack of manners.

"Use a napkin," he told him, throwing one at his face.

"Nah, can't be bothered," Ryuuji said lazily, standing up.

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Kaiba's Limousine

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This harmless bickering would go on until they reached the school, continuing in the limo and would just die out when they reached the school. Today was no different. Ryou left the argument first, after Ryuuji had underhandedly placed an arm around his waist and professed, in a stage voice, his undying love for him.

"Baka," the albino sniffed.

"Demo, Ryou . . ." Ryuuji whined. "You know you love me."

Ryou made a gagging noise from the back of his throat, turning away with a smirk despite himself. The other grinned and they rode the rest of the way in silence. Seto watched this interaction with interest. So far, they were the only two people he had actually known personally - besides Mokuba, of course. It was rather fascinating to have two entirely different people living with him.

"Kaiba-sama, we've arrived."

"Oi, Seto," Ryuuji said suddenly. "You guys can go back before me after school today. I'm gonna go for a walk. There's something I have to do."

"Hn, as you please."

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Classroom 2-B - Domino High

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Ryuuji sat at his desk, doodling on a piece of scrap paper as the teacher talked about the Second World War. He knew this stuff anyway. So instead of paying attention, his mind wandered to what he was going to do after he got himself away from this place.

First of all, he would go to the arcade, play a few games and beat the high scores. Then he would re-familiarise himself with the downtown neighbourhood. After all, he had practically grown up on the streets of Domino, before he was recruited into TC and sent over to America. He would find some of his old friends, like Satoshi and they could hang out a bit and reminisce about old times.

Something like that.

He really wanted to get out of here now. Thinking about what he was going to do after he got out of this hellhole wasn't making his situation any better. The teacher was now giving a monotonous lecture about Hitler and the Nazis.

"Psst," someone hissed in his ear. "Oi, Otogi."

A note was shoved rudely into his hands. He looked around a little for any sign of who the note was from, but couldn't tell. Finally, he looked at the little slip of paper. It was pink and it smelled distinctly of strawberries. He grimaced. It must have been from a girl - and he had a very good idea who the girl was.

Otogi-kun,

Meet me at the park today, after school, by the fountain.

Lots of love,

Miho

He noted, with disgust, that she had dotted her 'I's with little love hearts. The 'o's were love hearts too and she had drawn a little smiley face in front of his name. This girl just didn't take a hint. He scrunched up the note and shoved it into his pocket, ignoring the wounded look Miho gave him from four seats away.

Ryou jabbed him in the back with the top of his pencil. Ryuuji turned around slightly to look at him. The albino leaned over.

"If you wanna get out of here, fake sickness or something," he whispered.

"Huh?"

"Look, Seto and I can both tell you want out. We'll cover for you."

He was smiling and urging him to go. From the seat next to Ryou, Seto just raised an eyebrow at him and shrugged. This was his way of saying 'go for it'. Or, perhaps, 'I don't give a (insert profanity) about what you do'. For some reason, Ryuuji found that the second thought fitted better.

"Sensei," Ryou called suddenly, raising his hand. "Aiwa-sensei!"

"Hai, Bakura-san?" the teacher looked up.

"Sensei, Ryuuji-kun doesn't feel well," Ryou said, giving Ryuuji a thumbs-up sign. "I think he should see the nurse."

"Hontou ka, Otogi-san?"

"Hai, sensei," Ryuuji agreed, raising a hand to his forehead. "I've got a headache and my stomach hurts."

"All right, you may go see the nurse," the teacher relented.

"We'll go with him," Ryou volunteered, nudging Seto.

"Come back when you're sure he's all right."

Ryuuji grabbed his things, shoving them into his bag and hoisting it over his shoulder. Ryou and Seto followed him, the former pretending to be worried. They left their bags, however. All eyes in the classroom followed them until the door slid shut.

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Corridor - Domino High

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"All right, we'll have to get going," Seto said, stopping at the top of the stairs. "We'll tell sensei that you had to go home and I rang my chauffeur to take you."

"Great, arigatou minna," Ryuuji said gratefully.

"Just remember," Ryou added, "next time, set up a block on your thoughts. It was really distracting hearing about your past in Domino."

"Gomen, I forgot."

Ryou patted him on the shoulder with a smile, while Seto just folded his arms. Then they turned back around and headed back down along the corridor towards the classroom, leaving Ryuuji by himself at the top of the stairs. He saw them talk a little, then Ryou put a hand on Seto's arm, before walking ahead of him.

"Well, I guess I should be going then," he sighed. "Why waste such a good opportunity to get out of school?"

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Downtown Cemetery - Domino

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There was row upon row of tombstones, some recent and others ancient and moss-covered. The newer ones had flowers and other little signs of visitors. Ryuuji picked his way through the older ones, about five or so years old. Finally, he came across a particularly neglected one next to a mossy one with overgrowth all over it.

This tombstone was barely visible under all the weeds that had, somehow, stretched themselves over the front of it, in front of it, and around it. Sighing, Ryuuji set his bag and other things down and proceeded to tidy up the place a little. He disposed of the weeds, pulling them out and throwing them aside, and dusted off the dirt and grit that had collected on the front of the tombstone. With this done, he settled himself in front of the tombstone.

"Oi, Satoshi-kun," he said casually. "How have things been?"

The photograph on the tombstone just smiled back at him toothily, the last picture that had ever been taken of his downtown, street kid friend. He remembered the guy well. Kobayashi Satoshi was a really reckless kind of person, wild and daring, and also confident. His passion was for skateboarding and, when he could afford it, war games.

Ryuuji had been moved to America around seven years ago, which was two years before Satoshi died. He had heard, from one of the gangsters in Satoshi's old area that the guy had died from a war game accident, where the gun was loaded with a real bullet. He had been shot through the stomach.

"I'm back from America," Ryuuji continued. "Dunno how long I'll be staying here for, though. Possibly a long time and I'll come visit you every week. Shame that you've got no family, ne? I'll take care of you from now on."

The two of them had run away from home, Satoshi having escaped and come all the way from Tokyo. Ryuuji - well, his father didn't appreciate having him around, especially since he didn't want to succeed the family business. There was no home for the both of them to go to, so they just got through life on the streets, the occasional odd job wherever they could. It was life like this that hardened both of them. Of course, Ryuuji had been discovered to be a quite a person with computers and gaming simulators, so Gaea had recruited him.

Satoshi was a different matter. He had no patience, no intellectual interests of any sort and certainly no sense of obeying orders. They had both been 'tested' by Gaea through the computers at the Internet café and only Ryuuji had passed. Though Satoshi was physically gifted, it was people like Ryuuji who Gaea wanted.

"It's not fair, really, huh?" Ryuuji spoke with a slight American lilt. "We were both in the same predicament, but I had to get the better hand. If I could choose, I'd reverse the roles. You were always a better person.

"I mean, come on. You're the one who really saved my butt all those times we were faced with those gangsters. If it weren't for you, I'd probably be in juvenile jail by now. Thanks man."

/ Ryuuji-kun . . ./

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Lockers - Domino High

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Seto started slightly, gripping the door of his locker until his knuckles turned white. He'd felt something from the telepathic bond he shared with Ryuuji. There was an oppressing feeling, like someone or something was shrouding Ryuuji from him. It was much like the time when the spectre took over Ryou's body, only that this being was not as densely evil as the spectre had been.

"Seto, daijoubu ka?"

"E - Ee," he replied, giving himself a mental shake. "It's nothing."

"Uso," Ryou reprimanded.

"Ryou . . ." Seto sighed. "All right, I'll show you what's wrong."

He placed his hand over Ryou's third eye area and felt Ryou latch onto his sixth sense with his own powers. It was an ability all empaths learnt, because their powers were closely connected to emotions. Ryou had the ability to use others' emotions as mediums and channel their powers through this medium. He used it now, with Seto as a guide, to understand Seto's concern.

They felt their way along the bond to Ryuuji, with Seto's worry increasing to huge levels. Ryou gradually felt the oppression and shrank back slightly, withdrawing his power. Seto gripped him tightly and helped him further along, until they had reached the part where they couldn't see anymore.

"This darkness . . . it's what I'm worried about."

"It feels so much like that time," Ryou whispered, shaken. "Don't tell me it's going to happen to Ryuuji as well."

"No, it's different." Seto removed his hand. "Not in as low a level of density as a spectre. The same element, I suppose, but not as bad."

According to their lessons, the 'parasite' elements included spectre (with the highest density), spirit and ghoul. The element taking over Ryuuji's mind was not dense enough to be a spectre, but too dense to be a ghoul. Therefore, it had to be a spirit. But whose spirit . . .?

Spirits could only invade a person they had been close to, a close friend, family or relative. Close friend . . .

"Satoshi," they both exclaimed.

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End Chapter Three

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Author's notes:

Phew, another chapter! I made up that stuff about the density of the elements and all. It's not recorded in any facts I've read. And the empath thing, where Ryou can channel another's power? I got that from Charmed. Great show, that one. Not that I watch it as often any more.

The name 'Satoshi' I got from Pokemon. As for 'Kobayashi', I found it in my Japanese textbook. Hehe, so I don't own any of them, got it? Oh yeah, the sensei's name, Aiwa? I got that from a Japanese visitor-student to our school last year. It was her surname, and I used it.

Anyway, REVIEW!

Relinquished