Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Judgement ❯ A Love That Haunts ( Chapter 6 )

Judgement

Disclaimer: I don't own Yugioh, otherwise . . . you get the picture

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). In this chapter there will be angst and lots of it!

Responses to Reviews/Author's Notes:

Maruken: A Marik/Ryou pairing? As in Yami Malik or Malik? I've honestly never written that pairing before (both Marik/Ryou and Malik/Ryou). I've read a couple though. I'm more of a Seto/Ryou or a Ryuuji/Ryou writer, but I guess I could fit in a little Marik/Ryou (or Malik/Ryou, depending).

Ril: yeah, Ryou's being strong now, ne? I like Ryou being emotionally strong, though he is physically weak. Well, not really, but you get the picture. Besides, he needs to be, seeing as he is plagued with not only his own emotions, but with others as well. A pretty tough job for our bishie, ne?

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Chapter Six: A Love that Haunts

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Mokuba was dying.

His only remaining family member was dying.

Seto buried his face in his hands, sitting next to the head of Mokuba's bed. The boy lay there, pale and unmoving, not seeming to notice his brother's distress. Seto was too tired to think of anything past the fact that Mokuba had been poisoned and he didn't know whether he could be saved or not.

What was it with him?

Unbidden, a haunting image rose up in his mind's eye. There was fire and lots of it, burning and searing through flesh and bone. Three gigantic crosses, blood, nails, torn flesh and soulless eyes. Mokuba stared at him and yet did not acknowledge him, cracked, dry lips parted as the fire burned. Blood ran freely, everywhere, unchecked.

All he could do was scream.

He screamed.

It'd been years since he'd last screamed. Ten long years since he'd actually screamed for anything. Not from anger and not from fear, but from intense, burning pain that gripped his entire being. Pain from losing his parents, from being cheated of his childhood, his innocence and now his brother.

And so he screamed, tearing at his hair, blindly clawing at his face in an irrational attempt to soothe the pain. It only made it worse. So he kept screaming, tears mingling with sweat, blocking out all rational thoughts other than the fact that he was going to lose Mokuba. His voice rang out into the quiet night, startling many from their slumber as they heard the anguished cry from a broken CEO.

Everything in this world would, one day, fade and his voice did so. When it did, he fell to his knees by Mokuba's bed, hands fisted in the sheets as he began to cry. His sobs racked his tall frame, wrenching from his throat and crumbling his guise as a composed and icy corporate executive.

Ryou watched all of this from the doorway, tears coursing silently down his own face as his heart fell to pieces, feeling the extremities of Seto's pain. An arm found its way around his shoulders and he looked up to see a very haggard and drawn Ryuuji looking down at him, offering comfort. He buried his face in the other's shoulder and gripped his shirt tightly.

And the rain fell.

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Domino Pier

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This place was a hellhole. Not only was it dark and abandoned, it was filthy and swarming with rats and insects. Especially where Ishizu lived.

She made her way down a hidden flight of stairs, barely acknowledging the damp and mouldy ground she was stepping on. It grew darker and darker as she descended and the atmosphere was cold and damp, with a strange, putrid smell. She had become all too familiar with these surroundings. It would horrify her parents, if they were still alive, to see her so accustomed to such horrible conditions.

"Neesan? Is that you?"

"Malik."

Her platinum blonde brother was sitting atop a pile of crates at the far end of the room she had just entered. At the centre of the room was a dim light, enough for them to make out each other's faces and not enough to blind them. Being damned creatures of eternal darkness, they were not accustomed to large quantities of light at a time. It had been several centuries since she and her brothers had been under direct sunlight.

"Is it done?"

"Hai, it's all over."

"Kaiba Mokuba is dead."

"Poisoned, on the brink of death," Ishizu corrected softly.

"Niisan will give them the antidote."

"You are forgetting, Malik, that this is part of our plan."

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Domino High

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It had been three days since Seto, Ryou and Ryuuji attended school. When they finally did, Yugi and Jounouchi were surprised to see that only the latter two had arrived and that the CEO had taken ill. Ryou and Ryuuji sat at their desks - rather, Ryuuji had moved to Seto's desk beside Ryou and the two of them were silent.

"I wonder what's wrong." Yugi whispered to Jounouchi.

They approached the desks in concern. Ryuuji had his face buried in his arms on the table while Ryou had pulled his chair so they were sitting at the same table. They were talking in low voices, almost as if they didn't want others to intrude on their conversation.

". . . it shouldn't be that bad, Ryuuji."

"Ryou . . . you're both very important to me," Ryuuji murmured, voice muffled by his arms, though he had turned his head to face the albino. "I don't want anything to happen to either of you."

"Don't be so stubborn, Ryuuji," Ryou whispered fiercely.

"I'm telling you I'm fine!"

Jounouchi cleared his throat and they both whipped around to look at him. Ryuuji looked tired and worn out while Ryou seemed to have been crying previously. His eyes were red and damp, but they had an angry fire in their depths. In fact, they had such a cold fury to them that the blonde shrunk back slightly.

"Sumimasen," Yugi apologised.

"Iie," Ryuuji replied, looking at the shorter boy. "Nani?"

"We were wondering if Kaiba-kun was all right."

"He's ill," Ryou said shortly. "He'll be back soon, after he recovers. We're trying to have a conversation here. Please."

"Gomen nasai," Yugi apologised."

Ryou then seemed to realise how he'd just acted. Looking mortified, he apologised profusely and stood up to go.

"Don't leave," Yugi protested.

"Gomen, I don't know what got into me."

He sat down again and twisted his hands in lap, looking decidedly uncomfortable with his surroundings. Ryuuji patted his arm reassuringly and rubbed sleep from his eyes. It was a free period, so the teacher wasn't in to check on them. Finally, Yugi and Jounouchi returned to their little `group' and left them in peace. Ryuuji yawned.

"You're not fine," Ryou muttered angrily.

"Chill," the game creator said in English. "I'm fine, just a bit tired."

"Don't lie to me." His voice was snappish. "I can tell you're more than just tired."

The temperature in the room heated up suddenly. People around them began to complain of the heat and opened windows to let fresh air in. Ryuuji felt the heat radiating from Ryou's form, rippling angrily. He realised the cause of the sudden heat and lifted the albino to his feet, leading him outside quickly.

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School Yard - Domino High

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"Dame yo, Ryou."

Ryuuji had him by the shoulders and was shaking him. He was unresponsive, lost in his anger. The game creator was startled at how high his body temperature had increased, affecting the air around them as well. His eyes were burning with a dull fire, the fire being his suppressed emotions.

"Wake up," Ryuuji ordered. "Ryou, listen to me!"

"I . . . I'm a freak," Ryou whispered, seeming not to hear him. "Whenever I'm angry, something bad always happens. That's how . . . my family died . . . I killed them . . . caused an earthquake . . . killed them . . ."

"Ryou . . ."

"I'm a murderer!" he cried. "I'll end up killing everyone in the school if I stay here! I can't get attached to anyone . . . when they die . . . it'll be my fault . . . I hurt others when I'm hurt . . . Mokuba's dying . . ."

Just like the night before, rain started to fall as Ryou's tears did. Seto's trauma had affected him the most. On top of Ryuuji's own traumatic experience with Satoshi, and the worry he felt, Ryou was feeling triple the pain of ordinary people. It was a hard burden to bear, being able to feel what others were. It was a miracle Ryou had survived so long without professional counselling. If Ryuuji were to take his place, he was sure that he'd be in a mental hospital before the first day was over.

"You can get attached to me," he joked weakly, lifting Ryou's face and brushing the damp hair away from his face. "I don't die easily, so you'll have a hard time getting rid of me."

"I've never found someone outside him who could understand me," Ryou said shakily, rain mixing into his tears. "He was always there, he always understood me."

"He?"

"I met him two years ago, in Britain . . ."

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Flashback - Two Years Ago

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Ryou dragged himself into an alleyway, clutching his wounded side tightly in a futile attempt to stop the bleeding. He had gotten rid of the harpy that had been terrorising the alleyway behind a popular club. He had let the other TC agents erase the people's memories as he himself stumbled away, seeking medical attention.

His legs gave way and he slid down onto the cold ground, leaning against the wall heavily. If he didn't stop the flow soon, he would die from blood loss. But he couldn't move . . .

"Hey, don't stress it," a soothing male voice murmured.

"Who - are you?" Ryou hissed.

"I'm here to help. Let me see your wound."

Cool hands helped him remove his shirt and the newcomer inspected his wound. Before long, Ryou found he was able to get up without pain. He turned to the shadowy figure in surprise.

"How did you do that?"

"I'm - gifted," the man admitted. "I can do things like this all the time, so it scares other people off. They think I'm a freak because I'm different."

"M-Me too," Ryou said, before he could stop himself.

"Really?" the man stepped a little into the light so that Ryou could see he had blonde hair and dark eyes. "My name's Namu, what's yours?"

"Ryou."

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Present Time - Domino High

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"I only saw him at night. We talked about almost everything - except, of course, our jobs. He didn't go to school, so I supposed he was a high school dropout. We grew really close, but he left Britain suddenly, after a year. I never saw him again.

"But he did teach me how to heal certain wounds. That's how I was able to clean out and heal Mokuba's puncture wounds. But he never taught me how to remove poison. I could guess, but I'd probably just end up putting Mokuba in a worse situation. Seto's stressed enough as it is."

Ryuuji listened to Ryou tell his tale of his friend Namu. The albino's eyes lit up with a wistful glow when he recalled how they met and what they did. Namu was very important to him. But there was also the despair he held in his eyes when he told how Namu left him and how he couldn't save Mokuba.

"Maybe we should go back inside," Ryuuji suggested. "You're going to catch a cold if you stay out here any longer."

"You can go back," Ryou sniffled. "I'll go wash my face first. Ja ne."

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Bathroom - Domino High

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Ryou wiped the water from his face with a handkerchief, wringing his hair dry as well. He hated getting his hair wet. It was hard to untangle and he hated struggling with it. But he didn't want to cut it either. Namu frequently told him he liked how long his hair was.

"That's the past," he whispered to himself. "Forget him, Ryou, move on."

He struggled a little more with his hair, noticing that the rain was thinning out as his emotions settled back to normal. Finally giving up, he walked outside. There, wedged between the bars of the gate in front of the bathroom, was a letter. Curious, he pried it out.

To: Bakura Ryou

From: Namu

He froze. Namu? There couldn't have been that much of a coincidence for him to have brought up Namu after a year of trying to forget and then having a letter addressed to him from Namu ten minutes later. There wasn't any chance of such a coincidental event. Besides, he couldn't possibly find Namu again, in Domino, Japan, when they had met in Britain. But here it was.

He tore open the letter.

Dear Ryou,

I'm glad you haven't forgotten me. I've never forgotten you, either.

If you want to save your friend's brother, bring him to Domino Pier tonight at midnight, sharp. I will send people to meet you there and bring you to a safe place where I can heal him.

Until tonight then.

Love always,

Namu.

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Midnight - Domino City

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He was afraid to close his eyes. If he did, then he would see those images again. Mokuba and Ryuuji dead, Ryou barely alive. It was too horrifying to comprehend. So Seto sat at his desk, working on the latest paperwork from KaibaCorp. He supposed Ryuuji was asleep and Mokuba was still in his coma.

But Ryou . . . he couldn't sense Ryou's placid, peaceful mind. When humans slept, their energy waves were gentle and calm, a bit like Ryou's on a normal basis. But when the energy waves fluctuated and changed, it meant they were awake. And right now, Ryou was awake.

He was curious to know why Ryou was awake at this time of night.

* Ryou? *

/ S-Seto? /

* What are you doing up at midnight? *

/ Nothing. You should be asleep /

The albino was hiding something. Then again, he was hiding a lot from them. It was too bad Ryuuji was asleep, otherwise they would be able to break through Ryou's mental defences.

He got up from his desk at the sound of a door closing. It came from the same corridor, so he expected it to be from one of their rooms. He was betting that Ryou was going out. There was school tomorrow, not that he was planning to go, so he had no reason to be going out at this time of night.

Deciding that Ryou was acting suspicious, Seto followed him as he snuck into the small garage near the back gates. A moment later, Ryou was riding away on a white motorcycle, one that he had bought a few days ago. Seto followed close behind on his own. They had decided to each buy one so they could get places easily. Each was installed with tracking and tracing systems, along with a communication panel. They were also able to access the TC network.

"I wonder where he's going at this time of night."

He made some wild turns and sped up in some places, finally taking a deserted highway to . . .

Domino Pier.

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Domino Pier

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Marik watched from the shadows as a motorcycle rode into view, headlights flashing bright. He was still unaccustomed to the bright lights, though artificial ones didn't affect him as badly as sunlight did. A smirk tugged at his lips as he watched Ryou park the bike and take off the helmet he was wearing.

He had good taste.

Ryou got off the bike and looked around. It was time for him to make his move.

"Ryou!"

The albino turned around. Marik jogged up to him, putting on a mask of relief and joy at seeing him. No, Ryou hadn't changed much since the last time they saw each other. Maybe he looked a bit more drawn and careworn and a bit more sophisticated, older and definitely maturer.

"Namu," he greeted with a nod. "It's good to see you again."

"Likewise." Marik cupped Ryou's face in his hands. "I missed you."

"Then why did you leave?"

"I had no choice. It was leave or die."

He seemed to accept this explanation. Marik could see it in his dark eyes. There was a flicker of hope from behind the icy barrier, a soft edge to the way his mouth was set. Marik took this chance to lean in and kiss him softly, glad that he didn't pull away, but also a little confused as to why he didn't respond either.

There was no denying it. Ryou had missed his touch and it was all that he could do not to give in and melt into his arms. But he had a job to do and a mission to accomplish. There was no time for pleasantries now. Mokuba's life was at stake.

"Namu." He broke away from the other.

"Where is the younger Kaiba?"

"How did you know about him?"

"I've been tracking you down for a while now," Marik explained. "I know Kaiba Mokuba's in danger. Where is he? I need to give him this antidote."

Ryou was suspicious, that was to say. He wanted so badly to trust his former lover, but somehow he just couldn't find it inside him to do so. But if he really had the antidote, the way to restore Mokuba's health . . . he would have to go against his gut feeling. Anything, just to rescue Mokuba.

"Give me the antidote," he said softly. "Seto will not let anyone touch his otouto. I will administer the antidote."

"You do not know how," Marik protested.

"Teach me then," Ryou said stubbornly. "I will administer the antidote."

Marik pressed a package into his hands.

"There is the antidote here. In this package there is a packet of herbs. You must boil these in four cups of water until there is only half the amount left. Then sift the contents until you separate the herbs from the liquid. Let Mokuba drink the liquid - all of it, mind - and apply the herbs to his wound."

"That's all?"

"Yes." Marik's eyes held his. He touched their foreheads together. "Come back tomorrow, same time. I want to see you again."

This time, Ryou lost himself and his common sense as soon as Marik's breath hit his face. Marik could tell by the way his eyes just glazed over and closed when their lips touched. This was only a moment for feelings.

Seto bit his lip and turned away, unable to watch.

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End Chapter Six

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Author's Notes:

The Marik/Ryou was unexpected, but I hoped you guys liked! This is my first time writing something other than Seto/Ryou or partial Ryuuji/Ryou, so bear with me! Originally this chapter was meant to be Seto-centric, but I guess I'll make up for it next chapter.

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