Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Naming the Flame ❯ Bishounen Elitists, Meet Riku ( Chapter 4 )

Naming the Flame

Trei

Chapter Four

Malik drew his diamond-haired koibito into his arms, lifting the nearly weightless body from the concrete. Behind him, Ryuuji and Kaiba had separated vastly in the moments following the Egyptian's cry, leaving a substantial gap that only Jounouchi filled. The blond, as would be expected in a situation of that sort, didn't appear to be too thrilled about the arrangement. He kept this awareness alive by occasionally scowling at Kaiba and edging closer to Ryuuji. As if it was any doubt among the spectators now whose puppy he was.

The crowd was pushing and shoving now to get a glimpse of what had caused the din to break. Assuming the horde would dismiss Ryou and himself as bystanders and move onto the two previously brawling teens, Malik subtly clutched Ryou closer to his chest and searched for a way out. Oh, lovely. Trapped in a mosh pit with an unconscious kojika.

From somewhere in the crowd, a voice yelled, "Hey! That's that Egyptian asshole that tried to kill Yugi Motou!"

Malik resisted the urge to sigh exasperatedly as the masses began to hiss and chatter rabidly. Oh, right. Remember all the negative things I've done. Don't remember that I willingly gave Yugi my god cards and the Rod. Don't remember that I saved Ryou from wearing white after Labor Day…. Don't remember that I defended the name of organized teenagers worldwide by banishing Honda to the Shadow Realm for an hour for calling me a "neat freak"….

Back in the world of sanity, Jounouchi, who had, admittedly, never been a fan of Malik's, stepped up to the Egyptian's side and frowned out at the crowd. And when wonders threatened to cease, Ryuuji took up Malik's other side, folding his arms challengingly. Malik would have fainted if Ryou wasn't tucked so securely into his arms. Otogi Ryuuji and Jounouchi Katsuya helping him? …He hadn't given them any drugs tonight, had he?

The grumbling in the mob began to rise in volume and despite himself, Malik felt nervous. Sure, he could have easily taken any one of them down with little more than a toothpick, but even Kaiba couldn't have taken the twenty plus angry teenagers. Not to mention the fact that Kaiba had already conveniently made his exit.

It was a stalemate. No one breathed or moved for concern of beginning an all out crusade against evil blonds. Malik, in one of his stupider moments, backed up a step to shift his weight to the opposite leg, making it look as though he were planning to bolt. Ryou's head dipped dangerously over Malik's arm, his arm dropping lifelessly at the ground. Obviously, this didn't make a good impression on the Anti-Malik Assembly.

"He's killed that boy!" someone shouted.

Malik scowled. Now that was the stupidest thing he'd heard all night outside of Jounouchi feigning tears to weasel out of an argument with Ryuuji. Kill Ryou? What, just because the Rod's spirit routinely massacred people, it made Malik the villainous asshole? …Right, no one knew about the Sennen Rod's spirit except Yugi's friends and Malik's undersized family. Press conference, please?

Most likely by accident (a very idiotic accident), a girl near the frontlines began choking violently on a kernel of popcorn. Now, because Malik had once long ago owned an Item that contained the power of possession, the kernel choking was obviously his fault. So, drawing enough evidence from this, the pack of enraged teenagers stampeded at the four teenagers, their blood-thirsty eyes trained solely on Malik, disregarding or maybe not even noticing the ivory treasure in his arms.

Malik followed animal instinct and pitched out of the way, careful to keep Ryou from hitting the ground. As a result, the pavement did a fairly painful dance routine on the bare skin of Malik's arms. Jounouchi and Ryuuji held off as many as they could, but the masses were fixed on tearing Malik apart, unconcerned with what or who they had to push aside to do it.

A rather muscular teen around eighteen broke through Jounouchi's restraining grasp and dove straight at the sprawled Egyptian. His eyes were manic with an animal instinct Malik recognized as bloodthirst. …Greaaat.

However, the Egyptian's attacker never got close enough to even breathe the same air as Malik. Moments before he touched ground, another figure, lither and smaller, darted from the mob and tackled the older teen to the pavement, landing a crunching smack on the attacker's skull. The guy blinked hazily and dropped back onto the concrete, clutching his head.

Malik's savior climbed to his feet deftly and reached a hand in Malik's direction. The Egyptian was stunned by how alike the boy and Ryou were in appearance. The only major differences were height and the piercing oceanic gaze of this one. Malik had forgotten Ryou wasn't the only gorgeous boy in the universe (some would define that as Chronically Whipped).

Suddenly quite conscious of the onslaught of infuriated teens, Malik grabbed the outstretched hand and was pulled with surprising strength to his feet. Without a word to his savior, Malik reached to the ground and hoisted Ryou into the comfortable sanctuary of his arms. Lucky baka. He got to be carried. Malik started at the sudden spitefulness and looked around suspiciously for any waxy accessories.

"Riku!"

Malik's white-haired savior jerked his head up, sending tendrils of diamond whipping through a sudden breeze as he looked raptly through the many faces. After a moment with no luck, he turned to Malik and said, "You had better hurry. Your friends won't be able to hold them off for much longer."

Malik nodded and followed the agile boy's lead through the swarm, ducking periodically to avoid grasping hands and the like. I fuck up once and I'm branded for life! Malik thought with an edge of annoyance, kicking a random ankle for revenge.

Once they were through the barrier of people, the boy - Riku, Malik assumed - snagged a sharp hold of Malik's shoulder and twisted into a watery crevice between An'ya's and Eien's legs. A few - dozen - people sped by and Malik got a closer look at his savior.

"Thank you," he said breathlessly, shifting Ryou's weight awkwardly in his arms.

Riku regarded Malik curiously before smiling vaguely. "You're welcome," he replied simply.

"Riku!"

The ivory-haired boy who looked so like Ryou it was alarming (who knew Ryou wasn't the only teenager in the world with naturally white hair?) glanced up and groaned. "Sora," he muttered, mostly, Malik assumed, to himself. "I shouldn't have left him…."

Malik, genuinely curious, inquired, "Sora?"

Riku nodded, distracted by scouring the scattered teenagers outside for "Sora" (1). "He's never been to a club before. I thought I could…introduce…this kind of place to him while we're visiting my uncle. I'm hoping to undo the rest of his childish naivety." Grinning, Riku returned to his detailed search, though worry was apparent in his stunningly bright azure eyes.

Malik brushed an absent hand through Ryou's hair, commenting, "I know. I have the same problem with this one." He jostled Ryou's lifeless body gently as emphasis to whom he was teasing.

Riku tore his eyes from the outside and analyzed Ryou diligently. At length, he smiled in that vague way he seemed to be fond of and nodded his agreement. "He looks the type," he said thoughtfully.

"Riku! RIKU!"

Now biting his lip, Riku shifted his weight to his front arms, making the dullest of splashes as he rose to his feet. "I have to find him," he said to Malik, still staring into the quad. Glancing at the Egyptian and Ryou, he said, "It would be safer if you stayed here. But…you look capable of taking care of yourself."

Malik grinned, taking a liking and respect to the other boy, and nodded. "Yes. Thank you for your help."

Riku smiled and nodded, vanishing into the light to search for Sora.

Once the boy had left, Malik dipped his hand into the water at his feet and gently ran his damp palm over Ryou's forehead. "Ryou," he whispered, kissing his kojika's forehead, "wake up. Come on, least you can do after all that is open your eyes. …A kiss would be better though…."

In response, Ryou groaned and stretched haphazardly, accidentally whacking Malik across the face in the process. The Egyptian jerked back and winced. "Or you could hit me."

Groggily making his way to the surface of consciousness, Ryou mumbled, "Malik? What…." He groaned. "Never mind. I remembered."

Deciding this was one of those "Honey, we need to talk" moments of their relationship, Malik settled back against An'ya's hoof and said, "Honey, we need to talk."

Ryou's eyebrows lifted at the endearment at just about the same second Malik realized he'd used his sarcasm outside of his own mind. Coughing brusquely, the Egyptian amended, "Why did you pass out?"

Ryou recovered fairly slowly from his koibito's peculiarity in speech and returned the favor by shocking the pupils out of Malik's eyes with his answer.

Malik jerked back, almost forgetting Ryou was still half lying in the fountain and using his lap for an armrest. He gaped like a carp (2) at his beautiful koibito and cried, "He said what!?"

Reaching up to toy anxiously with Malik's hair, Ryou averted his eyes and replied softly, "That's what he told me. The spirit of the Sennen Rod is alive again. And not just alive. Human. Mortal, I mean."

"I think you could have stopped at the first 'alive', kichou," Malik teased, fighting to vanquish the panic building in his stomach. The spirit of the Sennen Rod back to haunt him. Inwardly, the Egyptian sighed loudly and desecrated a few mentally expensive objects. Just when things were starting to grow normal. Well…all right, so dating a partly possessed member of the same sex and being periodically chased by rabid anti-Malik advocates wasn't exactly Webster's definition of "normal". …But who judges normality, anyway? Weird people in denial. Right? Of course right. (3)

Ryou shifted his weight against Malik's leg and as a result threw a few waves with his erratic movements. Just before Malik could warn his koibito that he was halfway to pneumonia by lying in the cold water, a dangerously close geyser beat him to it. Which is the back story several people pondered over later following the scream that echoed through the courtyard of Eien An'ya.

Standing rigid and thoroughly soaked from the tips of his hair to his sneakers, Ryou heaved in elusive breaths, eyes wider than was previously assumed possible for his face. If one were to dunk a Persian cat into a vat of water, it would have garnered the same result. Complete with hysterical laughter-stricken Egyptian. …Soon-to-be suffering Egyptian. (4)

THWACK.

"Ow! What!?"

**

Ryuuji and Jounouchi escaped from the bloodthirsty crowd as soon as Ryuuji saw someone guide Malik to safety. Now, like Ryou and said Egyptian, the Dungeon Dice creator and his koibito were waiting out the thunderous mob in a darkened passage. Namely under the curved and clawed foot of Eien.

The sable-haired teen was leaning against the ball of the dragon's foot, crossly repositioning his torn shirt. "Damned Malik," he grumbled. "Damned Kaiba. Damned world."

Jounouchi, peering clandestinely through giant claws, commented, "You including me in that?"

Ryuuji rolled his eyes and retorted, "Yes, Jou, you too."

"Figures." The blond shot a grin over his shoulder and said cheekily, "Well, if your fans were afraid of you before, they're going to be swamping you now." He lifted the torn fabric at Ryuuji's shoulder, revealing several inches of bronzed skin.

The younger boy made a face and returned to his futile mission, more to occupy his hands than to fix the rip. "Damned fans," he grumbled.

"I'm sure they love you, too."

"Hmph."

Grinning, Jounouchi returned to combing the lingering horde with narrowed amber eyes. He could understand the people's fury at Malik, but they were directing it at entirely the wrong party. If only they, like Jounouchi and his friends, knew of the spirit of the Rod and how he had manipulated Malik's mind to corruption, they wouldn't have such a fiery hating passion against the young Egyptian. If Jounouchi could deal with it, they could too. Hell, if Ryou could date him, they could at least tolerate him.

In the spirit of random interrogations (and following his reputation for unfounded timing), Jounouchi inquired lightly, "So why the attack on the dragon's slut?"

Ryuuji snickered at the slur and abandoned his shirt. The tear was sexy, even if it did ruin one of his favorite outfits. "I made fun of the 'Sacred Lockets of the Brothers Kaiba'," the younger teen snickered together with finger-imitated quotation marks.

Jounouchi glanced over his shoulder, gaping in disbelief. "You didn't," he said flatly.

"I did," Ryuuji affirmed proudly, folding his arms over his chest in a manner that purely mocked said CEO.

"And you're still breathing?!"

Ryuuji smiled sweetly, leaning his elbows forward on his folded legs to rest his chin on the back of his hands. "Alive and well, suki (5)," he hummed melodically. Then with a teasing leer, Ryuuji said, "Care to test it?"

Jounouchi repressed a grin and cuffed the other's shoulder. "Don't be such a hentai (6)," he laughed. A moment's hesitation, then…. "Not in public, anyway," he amended.

"But public is the best place - "

Jounouchi's hand smothered the rest of Ryuuji's purred reply.

"Mmmff fmph!" Ryuuji protested with a hand-masked scowl.

With his free hand, Jounouchi slapped Ryuuji upside the head and in the same motion gestured frantically toward the silent courtyard a few meters away. Ryuuji followed his koibito's arm and the subsequent line it drew until his eyes met….

Holy shit, what were those things?

Slinking through Eien An'ya's courtyard were legions of the ugliest black creatures either Jounouchi or Ryuuji had ever seen. They illustrated the worst stages of hideousness and silhouetted the bleakest of auras on the concrete buildings surrounding them. And prowling above the front lines was a dark Egyptian with an apocalyptic smirk.

Ryuuji, to help avoid the thrumming horror in his stomach, hummed the funeral march.

**

Malik drew his motorcycle to the curb a block away from Ryou's house, noting that if said boy's father caught his son not only out of bed but on a motorcycle with a previously dubbed hentai, cataclysmic incidences would follow for all parties involved. Plus, Ryou was nearly asleep; his grip around Malik's chest was dangerously loose.

From his vantage point, Malik could make out the absolute blackness emanating from his kichou's house. Well, at least one thing had gone right tonight. So much for instituting Ryou's nightclub education. Not even a dance in Eien to go away with. Or a make out session in the folds of An'ya's wings. Oh, well. Vacation wasn't over yet.

Malik turned his head to wake Ryou only to find that his kojika had pressed his forehead into his shoulder and was now dozing lightly, breathing softly against Malik's neck. The Egyptian smiled and resisted the urge to start singing, "My koibito's a live tenshi chibi! My koibito's a live tenshi chibi!"

Settling for a kiss to his saiai's fringe-tapered forehead, Malik whispered, "Wake up, koi, we're here. You've been asleep longer than you've been awake tonight, you know." He paused, receiving no reaction at all from the stationary tenshi leaning into his back rapturously. "Ryou, you're home!"

"I know," a sleepy voice answered. The arms around his chest tightened possessively.

Reddening slightly, Malik cleared his throat sharply. "No, not…. I mean your home. House. Uh…you know, parents? Jacuzzi?"

Ryou's head shot up at the mention of the Jacuzzi. Now fully awake, said teen yelped, "Jacuzzi?! What?!"

Smirking, Malik replied with sarcastic innocuousness, "You planning on going inside or do I have to get your father to come out here?"

Ryou pouted vaguely and nestled his face into the Egyptian's neck, murmuring, "Hanarenai (7)," in a subdued voice.

Now fighting an all-out mortified blush, Malik whined maturely, "Ryou, y-you have to. Unless you want your father chasing you down the street with one of those ancient Egyptian swords he keeps in his study…." He shuddered at the memory. On his way out of the basement he'd had a flashback of those blades. Or more specifically, those blades halfway through his abdomen. It made him more than a little green to think of voluntary acupuncture after that.

"Can't I stay with you tonight?" Ryou's stifled voice asked quietly. "I'll go home in the morning; I promise." As if to seal the pledge, the younger boy squeezed his arms around Malik's torso sleepily.

Well, who in any mind could refuse Ryou? Especially a drowsy Ryou with judgment so poor he couldn't yet pry his eyes open long enough to realize it was nearly past dawn.

Making up his mind in a severed fraction of a second, Malik revved the bike's engine and tore down the street, grinning as he felt Ryou smile against his neck. Whipped? Malik thought. Eh. It's not that bad.

**

The former spirit of the Sennen Rod roved the dawn-lit streets of downtown Osaka, relishing in the feel of wind on his face and through his hair. So long since he'd felt anything like this…so long since he'd felt the sun. Funny that the rise of the sun had always been his favorite heavenly transition. Sunset was clichéd and the rise of the moon wasn't all that exciting. Sunrise, though…sunrise was symbolic.

Plus, it had red in it. And red was good. Red was gory. The spirit of the Sennen Rod liked gore. Thus he liked red. And sunrises.

When the ex-Rod's spirit had first stumbled upon his new minions, he had still been ensnared in the mordant fangs of the Shadow Realm (a summer getaway it was not). They called themselves the Heartless, he learned, and had been destroyed by a handful of children not so many years before. Now, apparently, they desired revenge on the traitorous white-haired teenager and the spry brunet that had ruined them.

Viewing possibility in these mindless creatures, the spirit had organized a deal with these fairly stupid fiends. He told them he knew the whereabouts of the white-haired one (even if the spirit had known it wasn't Ryou they were after, it probably wouldn't have mattered), but that tracking down the brunet would be a little more difficult. The fiends would aid the spirit in his bidding and the spirit would bestow upon them Shadow Powers and the two boys they wished to macerate. And as soon as the spirit of the Ring had been properly manipulated into releasing him, the Rod's former guardian had his initial tools for world domin - wait, wrong plan…. What was the spirit supposed to be doing, anyway?

Other than having no idea what they were to do for the Egyptian spirit, life was good amongst the Heartless and their new similarly merciless ruler.

Suddenly, a new object hurtled itself into the spirit's path, but before the Egyptian could sigh with annoyance and banish its soul to the Shadow Realm, it rasped, "I have come upon the white-haired bishie boy! I have come upon the bishie!" in the voice the spirit had gifted to all the Heartless, guttural and hoarse.

The dark Egyptian lifted an arm and halted the hordes behind him with a quick scissor stroke of his hand. "His condition?" he asked quietly.

The demon pulled webbed hands up to its chest and began scratching the backs with ebony needle-like claws. "It is alive, Master, it is alive. But it is wounded, Master. Wounded. It is wounded."

Cutting into a growled sigh, the spirit questioned, "Did you follow where he went?"

The scratching paused. "Ehm - no. No, Master, I did not. Not all the way. The way. Way not all. Saw him leave Taki Hi. Taki. Taki. TakiTakiTakiTakiTakiTaki. Was with another child. Chiii…ld. Luh. Duh. Ch…ch…eye…luh…duh. Cheyeluhduh!"

The spirit massaged his temples. He was beginning to wonder if giving speech to these idiots was really necessary. They enjoyed speaking too much to be of much threat. Oh, well. The spirit's goal this time around was of a more trivial nature, but not at all easier to claim. It wouldn't matter if the Heartless could talk if they could fight. And with Shadow Powers, even the most adorable of babies is terrifying.

"I return back to the front lines, Master. Mah. Star. Meh. Star. Meh…mah…my…. My star! I am hungry, my star, hungry. I am hungry."

"You may find food in the city," said the spirit dismissively, beginning the walk again. My star? …Drooling, mindless…. Hm. Stars were made of gas. Gas burned. Burns crack. And wounds spill blood. Blood. Red…sunrises….

The demon spurted joyously and scampered off to scour out an innocent heart to consume.

And people called the yamis strange for enjoying blood.

**

Malik awoke the following morning (or afternoon, judging by one's opinion of two o'clock) with a tiny panging ache in his arm. In fact, it was a fairly large ache, now that he had gained enough consciousness to feel correctly. OW! Shit! Big pain! Giza pyramid pain!

Oh. That's why. Ryou had made a rather comfortable bed out of Malik's chest and was using the Egyptian's collarbone as a pillow…but that didn't explain the pain in his arm. OUCH. Oh. Ryou's Ring. And with the Sennen Item crushing into Malik's still-present gauntlets, the Egyptian was moderately certain he wouldn't have any arm left to amputate soon.

It took a few minutes for Malik to work out why they were sprawled on the couch, let alone fully clothed. Then it broke through his sleep-hazed memory. Ryou had come down with a fleeting virus due to the unscheduled meeting with Eien An'ya's fountain jets and the motorcycle ride that followed. In truth, Malik held himself responsible, but Ryou had been adamant in defending him - through fits of sneezes and with a voice so nasal he'd given up trying to argue after Malik fell off of the couch laughing at him.

Despite the touch of annoyance he felt afterward toward his koibito for pissing him off, Ryou allowed Malik to compensate. Naturally, that task removed the want for sleep for a few hours and clocked them both with identical wallops of fatigue. And now they were paying for it - or, at least, Malik was.

Agh! I have to get him off. He's sweet and I love him but if he doesn't get off in ten seconds I'm going to push him off.

From his unperturbed station on Malik's chest, Ryou drank in sound breaths through his koi's sweatshirt. His line of thought ran a little shallower than Malik's.

Ugh. The sun's in my eyes….

This inspired Ryou to turn his head away from the sunlight, thus jerking the Ring deeper into Malik's arm.

"Aghh, that's it!"

Tearing out a startled yelp, Ryou was eradicated from his position of luxury and hit the floor flat on his back. The sunlight tickled his face mockingly. He groaned, "What was that for?"

Malik turned onto his side lazily, massaging his sore arm. "For unconsciously trying to impale me with a should-be rusted, circular, golden sewer pipe."

Ryou grimaced against the menacing sunlight. Shielding his eyes with the knife of his hand, he deadpanned, "I appreciate the visual. Don't make me list what yours looked like."

Malik's eyebrows vanished underneath the tassel of golden fringe. "Are you always this cranky or am I exclusively privy?"

"You get exclusive privileges to everything else," grumbled the younger boy, rubbing his back cringingly.

Before Ryou could even move to sit up, however, he was trapped to the floor by an unrelenting force. Well. Hello, Malik.

The Egyptian kissed his koibito promptly and teased, "Almost everything else." He emphasized this point by crossing his arms over Ryou's collarbone and leaning seductively close to the other boy's lips.

Ryou blushed fiercely and stammered, "Y-you…I - Malik!"

"Yes?"

"Get off!"

Malik sulked visibly. "Why?"

"Because I can't breathe!"

The pressure on his chest lessened immediately, the Egyptian's petulance vanishing in favor of concern. "Sorry," he apologized sheepishly.

Which garnered a sharp belt upside the head from Ryou. "First you get me sick, then you break my back and now you're trying to suffocate me! No wonder you stay with me! Anybody else would kill you!"

"…Aishiteru (8)?"

Ryou rolled his eyes. "You're scandalously lucky I'm too tired to hurt you."

"You already did," sniffed the Egyptian, clutching at his chest dramatically.

Ryou leveled him with a sarcastic look.

"…You're not a morning person, are you, tenshi?"

THWACK.

Malik shielded his head from further attack and whined exaggeratedly. "Agh! Twice in less than twelve hours! You'd think I did something!"

"…Shut up, saiai."

**

After Malik dropped him off a block from his house, Ryou snuck into the backyard and scaled the drainpipe. All the while he prayed under his breath to any god from any religion that no one caught him this time. He may have successfully ran away, but Fate didn't often let him get away with being childishly nefarious. Fate was a little exclusive in her good graces. Damned elitist.

The first thing Ryou did after climbing into his room was remove the Ring from his neck. He was absolutely sick of the Sennen Items and the calamity they wrought into their holders' lives. Nothing against his own spirit, but if the Sennen guardians had their way, the world would be a wrinkled black crisp while their immortal souls soaked up the aftereffects of their total destruction. …Now that he thought about it, Ryou concluded that as weird and sadistic as the spirits were, they were no better than Fate. Elitists; all elitists!

Grumbling, Ryou stashed the Ring in the lowest drawer of his bureau, glad to be rid of it. Maybe if he ignored it long enough, the spirit inside would grow so angry the thing would just melt. That could be nice…if Ryou's school uniform hadn't been in that drawer. …School was elitist, too. He didn't know exactly why yet, but it seemed to be the insult du jour.

Ryou changed swiftly and lifted a comb from his bedside to impatiently tease the snarls from his hair. Damned elitist motorcycle.

Suddenly, he heard voices in the hall outside. Or at least he hoped they were outside. The last thing he needed was another voice inside his head.

"You didn't tell me you were hurt!"

"You expect me to?"

"Not anymore, I don't. Let me see."

"It's fine, bijin (9)."

"No, it's - Riku!"

"Sora, get off."

"What did that?!"

"A Heartless."

"When?!"

"…When…I was looking for you. I ran into a dozen or so of those things. But never mind."

"No, what happened?"

A sigh. "It's not important."

"Then tell me."

"You're not easily dissuaded, you know that? It's just…. They're not average Heartless. They're…indestructible. One alone nearly killed me."

"You?"

"Yeah. Something's different about them, Sora. I couldn't get a single hit off any of them."

"But…how?"

"…I don't know. Steroids?"

"Funny. Riku, you twit, you're bleeding."

"Hm? Oh, yeah."

"'Oh, yeah?' That's your big reaction?"

"Pretty much. Why? Screaming work better for you?"

"Not at the moment…."

A chuckle. "You're such a closet hentai, bijin."

"You never complain."

"I don't, do I?"

"C'mon, we need to stop the bleeding before you get anemia or something."

Stillness once again reigned the hallway, the only distant sound being footsteps descending the stairs. Ryou towed his door open a crack and scoured the hallway. There was a suspicious crimson stain on the carpet. …That would be Hell to clean…. Ryou wrinkled his nose. Not even six months together and already he was getting neurotic about tidiness. Damned elitist Malik.

Overview: I've dated Malik too long, the Ring spirit remains unbalanced, there are two anonymous people in my house that are neither my father nor poltergeists, the spirit of the Sennen Rod is human and scores of monsters called the 'Heartless' are tormenting the city. Well, isn't this a tidy Thriller meets The Mummy? I should have just stayed in the Jacuzzi.

Sighing at his poor judgment, Ryou silently stole down the staircase. Won't trip - won't make noise - won't sneeze - won't cough - won't…. Oh. Floor. Niiice floor. Pausing just outside the living room, Ryou glimpsed the sources of the previous conversation.

One, a boy with feathered ivory hair, sat on the couch, leaning his arms forward on his thighs. He was patiently biting his tongue while another, a young-looking brunet kneeling on the floor, cleaned the stream of scarlet coming from his saiai's shoulder with an already steeped cloth.

Ryou watched as the white-haired teen winced harshly and said sarcastically, "You know, if you doused my arm in kerosene you could set it on fire?" A hiss. "It would hurt less," he grumbled, his surreally bright aqua eyes looking desperate to wrench his arm out of the smaller boy's grasp.

The brunet merely smirked and continued daubing his koibito's shoulder with a cloth supposedly soaked in the alcohol sitting beside the brunet's feet. "Don't tempt me," he threatened impishly, grinning.

The other rolled his eyes flagrantly and strained to keep his arm from jolting.

"Ryou! You're finally awake!"

Throwing out a yelp through his lips, Ryou jumped and spun around in panic. Uh oh! Father! Be calm, Ryou - scratch that. Going onto plan B…. …Didn't plan that far ahead. Um…pretend to be invisible…pretend to be invisible….

"Ryou?"

Okay…plan C anybody?

His father stood in the kitchen doorway, smiling tensely at his son. Ryou restrained himself from blushing. Great. Now whenever his father looked at him, it would be with that expression of discomfort and uncertainty. All for making out in a Jacuzzi. With his boyfriend. All right, so he didn't exactly have the right of way this time, but it still humiliated him to be scrutinized that way. It wasn't like he scratched the basin or anything.

A noise in the living room drew both Ryou's and his father's eyes to the two boys Ryou had never met before. The white-haired teen and the brunet were both gazing curiously at him. For his part, Ryou's father recovered his social graces and stepped up behind Ryou, hesitantly dropping his hand on his son's shoulder. "Sora, Riku, this is my son, Ryou. Ryou, Riku and Sora."

The brunet, who his father had pointed out as Sora, smiled and nodded amicably. Riku merely tilted his head to the side, his vivid sapphire eyes examining the younger boy with an inquiring grin, as though he knew something Ryou did not. Well, gee, what else is new?

"Ryou," said his father edgily, "Riku and Sora just arrived this morning." When this garnered no reaction, he added, "Riku is your mother's nephew."

Ryou started in astonishment, but Riku merely smiled smugly, his assumptions certified. For his part, Sora gazed between Riku and Ryou quickly and laughed, "Riku, you idiot. Say something!"

Riku cast a wry grin at his newly confirmed cousin and asked, "Bet you've never seen a Keyblade (10) before, hm?"

Apparently at some inside joke, Sora and Riku burst into tolls of laughter. Ryou stared, raising an eyebrow at his father. Said adult shrugged with a warm smile. Apparently, he was fond of his wife's nephew. Oh, lovely. Competition.

When their laughter melted away, Riku and Sora exchanged a fleeting smile. It wasn't held or doting, but it was affectionate enough to send off warning bells in Ryou's head. So they were dating. Probably concealing their relationship from the public eye - which unquestionably included Ryou and his father. They were following Malik and Ryou's former plan of action. Ryou would have to warn them later that the Jacuzzi was cursed and haunted.

After all, he could only pity his father now that he gave more thought to the situation. If Ryou ever walked in on his father in that condition, he would burn his eyes out and drench his tongue in arsenic. His father…with a woman…with anyone. Eeeeeeeeugh!

While Ryou mentally twitched, the flap of Riku's pack fluttered open in the breeze the air conditioner offered. And there in the middle compartment swooned a smooth vanilla candle, whose internal cry of "kawaii! shounen-ai! (11)" left no doubt that the entire Bakura family tree, not just the Jacuzzi, was cursed.

To be Continued…

1 - Hehe, if you haven't guessed by now or haven't played the game, Sora and Riku are from the PS2 game Kingdom Hearts. Riku, I believe, is unjustly beautiful and looks surprisingly like Ryou. That's a matter of opinion, though. =) (The links didn't work in the preview, so just eliminate the spaces you see.)

http:// kaldea.org /riku/ gallery/official/17.jpg. That's Riku *swoon* and this:

http:// www.rpgdreamer.com/ rpgworld/ kh/kh-97.jpg is Sora. *Sigh* Aren't they beautiful? (Hehe, open them into separate windows and put them next to each other - isn't that adorable?)

2 - That was for Pepper Breath, hehe!

3 - Fiddler on the Roof reference. =) I'll give you a hint…. Ever since my husband died, I've been a poor widow. No one to talk to, nothing to say to anybody…. *Giggle* I love Yente.

4 - Based on a true story. Not mine, though. *Clears throat*

5 - Suki (love)

6 - Hentai (pervert)

7 - Hanarenai (I can't leave you)

8 - Aishiteru (I love you)

9 - Bijin (beautiful one)

10 - Keyblade - a weapon in Kingdom Hearts. More information on that in future chapters.

11 - Kawaii (cute) shounen-ai (boy love)