Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Opal ❯ Escape ( Chapter 5 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

By: Itavita

EDITED: This chapter has been edited slightly. If any new (or old) readers see any mistakes, please email me and tell me about them so they can be fixed. Thanks.

Thanks so much for all your lovely reviews. I really appreciate hearing you guy's feedback.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Yu-gi-oh or any of its characters and I make no profit from this story.

Now, on to chapter 5! Are you excited? You are? THEN GET READING, YOU FOOL!

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Ryou was frozen to the spot, caught between wanting to flee and wanting to remain by his father's side. The Kaitsune, meanwhile, was drawing nearer, picking its way through the mass of bodies.

As it passed under the light, Ryou could make out pale skin, dark red hair which hung straight and fell to about the creature's shoulders, and a pair of stern, emerald eyes. It wore a long dark cloak, flared open to allow a view of its black shirt and pants, along with the muscular chest, legs, and tail beneath. Gold glinted from the creature's ears, neck, wrists and upper arms and when it spoke again he heard the distinct, masculine tone of its voice.

“I'm surprised that I missed you during my first sweep, boy. We Kaitsunes are usually very thorough in our work, especially when it deals with slitting the throats of such filthy beings as humans.” He gave a sinister smirk. “No matter, once I take care of you my job will be done and I can report to my commanding officer a job well done.”

Ryou, wiping the crystalline tears from his cheeks on his sleeve, removed his hands from his father's chest and rose shakily to his feet.

“You…you're the one who did this? You're the one who - who killed my father, my friends, my colleagues? It was you?”

The Kaitsune drug his tongue across his upper lips as he started fixedly into the smaller boy's face, pausing his steady approach mere yards from Ryou.

“Yes, it was me. Destroying everyone in this wing of the ship was my assignment and I was more than happy to complete it.” He shifted, giving another malicious grin. “Nothing like the flesh of humans under your nails, eh, little one?” He lifted his hand to his face, giving Ryou a view of the blood and tissue caked beneath the claws, before licking the mess from them, savoring the look of horror and disgust on the human's face.

Moving forward, the Kaitsune tensed. “Enough talk. It's time I finish what I started.”

Squeaking, Ryou turned and fled, jumping over bodies and racing back the way he had come, the other's laughter echoing off the walls as he gave chase.

Ryou skidded sharply around a corner and threw out a hand to grasp the wall, anchoring himself and pushing off, giving him an extra burst of speed.

He heard loud thumping in his ears and wasn't sure if it was the Kaitsune behind him or his own beating heart. Knowing he could never outrun such a creature, Ryou prepared himself for the difficult task of outmaneuvering him. Thinking quickly, he came up with a plan.

The Opal may have had a magnificent maze of walkways resting within it, but is also contained an impressive air duct system connecting each level of the ship. If he could climb into one of the vents leading into these ducts before the Kaitsune caught up to him, he would be able to escape the larger male and descend through the tunnels, hopefully coming across Bakura on one of the lower levels. He figured Bakura would be his best bet at safety, seeing as how the port was most likely swarming with Kaitsunes by now. It would be a near impossible feat to make it to a deserted ship and escape in one piece.

Scanning his path, Ryou spotted the cover of a vent up ahead. Reaching it, he slipped his thin fingers into the grill and yanked with all his might. Adrenaline lending him strength, he heard the bolts give way and threw the cover to the side, quickly ducking his head and crawling into the tight space.

Ryou had barely squeezed his way in when he felt something grab his ankle and pull roughly. He yelped and looked over his shoulder to see the Kaitsune snarling, his eyes flashing with rage. Ryou was rolled onto his back as he felt the strong tug again and threw out his elbows, lower arms and palms sliding against the smooth sides of the air duct.

“Let go!” he demanded, and without thinking he raised his other foot as high as he could before slamming it down into the Kaitsune's face.

“Ouch!” he cried, and his grip on Ryou's ankle faltered. The boy used this to his advantage, sliding away and kicking both feet furiously, satisfied as he felt them connect with his target.

Having successfully freed himself, Ryou turned over onto his belly and continued on, the sounds of angry swearing trailing behind him.

Traveling as quietly as he could so as not to draw attention to himself, Ryou climbed through the ship's ventilation system. Aside from the thuds of his knees against metal it was deathly quiet and he could feel himself beginning to feel claustrophobic. It didn't help that he couldn't see a foot in front of his face, either.

Minutes seemed to drag into hours, the twists and turns never ending. With a grunt, Ryou lowered himself down yet another shaft, landing with a thump at the bottom. He felt around blindly, discerning that he had fallen into another vent. Sighing, he lay down for a rest.

His body screamed for fresh air and light, but he had no idea in which direction to go to find either of them. He was positive there were grates that led into the hallways of the ship's lower levels somewhere in here, so where the hell were they? Judging by the amount of times he had slid down tunnels, he estimated he was on the fifth or sixth floor and should have come across one by now.

Picking himself up, Ryou turned and started forward. Maybe if he continued in this direction, he'd get lucky. It was worth a shot, right?

Several more agonizing minutes of crawling later and Ryou saw a small rectangle of light out of the corner of his eye. He turned, smiling, and hurried over to it. The grate was below him on the bottom of the vent. Looking through it he could see the floor of one of the ship's hallways bathed in red light. Taking in a deep breath of the fresh air he listened intently for sounds of life below.

There was nothing at first, but just as his heart fluttered with the idea of getting out of this god-forsaken airway, he heard the voices of two men coming closer. Ryou lay on his stomach, waiting with bated breath, hoping he wouldn't be found.

“-boy just slipped away from me! I shouldn't have given him a chance to run. Now Commander Loki is going to be pissed off and that's the last thing I need. I'm on thin ice with him as it is!” Eyes widening, Ryou recognized the voice as the Kaitsune from earlier.

“Don't worry too much about it, Alister. We found Bakura and that's what's important.” The second voice was low and soothing, something the boy hadn't been expecting. `Damn! They already rescued Bakura from the holding bay! Now how am I going to make it out of here?' He pushed his ear closer as a third voice rang out. From the tones, Ryou guessed the owner to be a woman.

“Yeah! The Commander won't mind. What's one little human compared to the hundred or so you did manage kill?”

“Tell me, Alister.” the second voice spoke up again, “How exactly did the human escape your first sweep?”

“Hmph.” The first voice, Alister, answered, “He must have been hiding in one of the more isolated areas of the ship's northern wing. I went for the large human groups first before walking from room to room to pick off stragglers.”

Ryou heard the three Kaitsunes stop and, to his dismay, several other voices joined them from the opposite side of the corridor.

`Oh God, I'll never get out of here at this rate!' he fumed. His mental tirade was cut short, however, as a faint groan sounded under his hands. Mouth falling open and eyes widening, he slowly looked down. The vent he was laying in gave a small jolt, falling a few millimeters. `Oh no. Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no, please not NOW!' He rose gently to his hands and knees, trying to back away before the inevitable happened.

Ryou's attempts were too little too late, and he yelped as another louder groan sounded and the metal finally gave way beneath him, sending him sprawling to the floor with a crash.

Curling into a protective ball, he covered his head as large ceiling panels fell around him, followed immediately by huge amounts of soot. The air was filled with dust and dirt and he coughed, rising to his knees and rubbing his lower back. His collision with the floor must have bruised something.

Ryou raised his head and gulped. There were Kaitsunes everywhere! They stood in a circle around him, some staring with surprise and others with amusement as they took in the site of the young human covered in soot and grime. He recognized the Kaitsune who had chased him into the air vent and took in the sight of his two companions whom he had been talking to moments before.

The owner of the soothing voice looked short for a Kaitsune. He had sharp violet eyes and tri-colored hair which, unlike Alister, spiked up and out at strange angles.

The female was only a few inches higher than the previous man, with shoulder length brown hair and deep blue eyes.

The group behind him parted, and an older Kaitsune male appeared. He had deep black eyes, jet black hair pulled taunt in a small ponytail, and black scales, darker than any other Kaitsune he'd seen thus far, covering his legs and tail. His face was pulled into a scowl.

“What is this? One human remains when I specifically said to leave none alive?”

He turned and glared at those around him, his eyes narrowing as they shuffled their feet and attempted to look innocent.

Sighing, Alister stepped forward. “It was my fault, Commander. I missed him during my cleanup of the west wing. I was going to finish him off earlier, but he escaped into the airway systems.”

Commander Loki growled low and stepped up to Alister, Ryou surprised to see how much taller he was. In fact, the older Kaitsune towered above all the rest. `Must be one reason he's a Commander.' Ryou thought distractedly.

“Well, Alister, it's a good thing the human decided to come back or else you'd have to be punished. Now then, someone finish it off and we can leave this ship behind.”

The others bowed, turning their feral gazes upon Ryou. He ducked and threw his arms over his head, seeing his short life flash before his eyes as he awaited the pain of claws and teeth tearing into his flesh.

A scream was torn from his throat as he felt a strong tail wrap around his waist and lift him into the air. He fought against it, putting all his strength into prying the appendage from him.

“Now, now, little one, is that any way to act? I thought you'd be happy to see me.” a familiar voice whispered into his ear and his head whipped back, staring wide eyed in the tanned face of none other than Bakura.

“Bakura!” relief flooded his mind and he ceased his squirming.

“What's going on here, Bakura?” Commander Loki gave the white haired Kaitsune a stern look. “He's one of your captors, is he not? Slit his throat and be done with it!”

Bakura crossed his arms and tightened his tail around Ryou's waist, bringing him closer to his chest. “Actually Commander, I have an idea as to how to put this boy to good use. I'll explain it to the council once we get back to the ship. I assure you, they'll agree this boy is worth more to us alive.”

Loki's eyes narrowed and his frown deepened. “I tire of your games, Bakura.” His lip curled and he thought for a moment longer. “Fine, we will take the worthless human with us and once the council decides to kill him, I'll give you the honor of performing the execution.” He turned and stalked down the corridor, barking orders at those he passed to get moving.

Bakura raised Ryou into his arms, unwinding his tail from the boy in the process, and carried him bridal style, following the other Kaitsunes.

The boy gazed at the older man and asked in a low whisper, “How are we going to get up to the port from here? The power is out and the elevators are offline, aren't they?”

Red eyes glanced down at him. “That problem is easy enough to get around.” he answered. “We simply force the doors open, climb through the ceiling into the elevator shaft and then up the support cables.”

“Oh.” Ryou couldn't think of a better answer at the moment. As they reached the elevator doors, he wrapped his arms around Bakura's neck and held tight.

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“Stand up, human!”

Ryou pushed himself from his chair and faced the council looming above him. He was in the council chambers, a large room set deep within the Kaitsune's ship, Morhir. This room's main use was that of a courtroom, a place for the High Council to question and sentence criminals. The room was mostly hidden in shadow, though Ryou could see murals on the walls, depicting what he expected were epic battles the Kaitsunes had fought. It was also currently filled to the brim with spectators come to watch the questioning.

In the front of the room stood the bench, where the seven members of the council currently sat. Each member held high military status among their people and their arrogance in their position showed.

Ryou shivered with both fear and cold, sparing a glance to his left and saw Bakura standing tall beside him. Throughout the walk back to the port and into the Kaitsune's ship, Bakura had held Ryou close to his chest, offering him comfort with his presence. Ryou was extremely thankful that Bakura stood by him now, sharing the spotlight and easing the boy's nerves. Scooting closer to his tanned companion, Ryou silently hoped Bakura was able to convince his superiors to keep him alive.

The council head, a tall man whose face was mostly hidden in shadow, addressed Bakura.

“Bakura Yuudai, you stand before us with a young human, one of those who took you from us, your kin, and held you captive. You protect this human, who according to our laws and ways deserves death, from his punishment. Explain yourself.”

Bakura bowed his head in respect. “Council, it is true this boy was one of those who imprisoned me within their ship. However, he aided me greatly during this time and showed an immense knowledge of the universe and its inhabitants and because of this I believe this boy would prove useful in our future endeavors. I would train him myself in the art of stealth of thievery, and with these skills he would be able to walk among our enemy undetected and unchallenged, gathering important and useful information for our people. He holds great potential and it would be a great waste to destroy him.”

The council members leaned in, discussing silently with one another. After a short wait, the head councilman spoke again.

“How do we know we can trust this boy to do as you say? He could accept your training and use it to make his escape, returning to his people and using his knowledge against us.”

Bakura raised his head, holding his chin high. In a firm voice he said, “I would trust this boy with my own life. I do not question his loyalty.”

Murmurs filled the room as those watching put their heads together and whispered quietly. The council, too, was deep in conversation.

Ryou felt a tail wrap loosely about his waist and looked up to see Bakura watching him out of the corner of his eye.

The council brought the room's attention back to themselves and the head councilman spoke.

“In a vote of four to three, we rule in favor of allowing the human to live, under the strict condition that he remain in the sight and presence of Bakura Yuudai at all times. We are making him your responsibility, Bakura.”

The bystanders broke out into another round of heated whispering as Bakura nodded and took Ryou into his arms once again, carrying him from the room. They were both aware of quite a few hateful looks the boy received as they left.

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Ryou remained silent as Bakura carried him through the Morhir's halls. This ship, he observed, was quite different from The Opal. It had few, if any windows offering a view of the outside, and the lights were low, setting a gloomy atmosphere. He detested this ship and the chills it sent down his spine.

Bakura was silent as his armored feet carried them down darkened corridors of sheeted panels, past several doors and Kaitsunes alike, finally stopping in front of a large door located far from the council chambers.

Setting Ryou down, Bakura turned to a key pad and typed in what the boy suspected was a password. Green letters appeared on the small screen in a language Ryou did not understand and the door opened a moment later to reveal a small bedroom of sorts.

“Come little human.” Ryou followed Bakura through the door, turning his head as he entered to study the room. It was brighter than the halls outside, with a bathroom off to the side, a chest of drawers pushed against the opposite wall and what appeared to be a hammock hanging in the corner. He could find nothing else in the room to hint that someone lived within its walls.

“This is my own personal room. No need to worry, you will be safe here with me.”

Ryou nodded, padding over to inspect the underside of the hammock. The Kaitsune scrutinized the boy, taking in his grimy appearance. The human was still covered in soot from his trip through The Opal's ventilation shafts, his hair now greasy and grey with dust. His clothing appeared dirty in the light and his shirt had a rip at the shoulder.

Ryou looked back and caught Bakura staring. “What?” he asked.

Bakura chuckled, making his way over to Ryou and lifted his hand, running his index finger over the boy's cheek.

“Before you do anything else, I suggest you get cleaned up. You're a mess.”

With a blush, Ryou allowed Bakura to steer him into the bathroom.

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While Ryou cleaned himself, Bakura reclined in the netted cloth hung in the corner. His tail swung lazily below him while his head lay back in his hands.

`I'm going to have one hell of a time keeping that human safe. Why am I trying so hard, anyway? He's just a human, I shouldn't care so much. Pfft. I must be going soft.'

Hearing the bathroom door open, he lifted his head to see Ryou patting his hair dry and dressed in his white shorts (made relatively clean when the boy had shook them out earlier, ridding them of most of the dust) and one of Bakura's black shirts. The shirt was much too big for him, the collar slipping down to his shoulder, offering the Kaitsune a glance of Ryou's pale, creamy skin.

The human ran the towel through his hair once more before passing it quickly across his eyes. It was then Bakura noticed he was crying.

Bakura sat up on his elbows, motioning for Ryou to come closer. He complied, sniffing when Bakura wrapped his tail around his middle and lifted him from the floor. Ryou hovered a foot or two above the Kaitsune, his hands over the other's tail.

He felt his tears gathering in the corners of his eyes, and watched blearily as they fell, hitting Bakura's cheek below, only to be wiped away soon after by one of his large tanned hands. Ryou swallowed and he heard Bakura sigh.

“I'm…sorry about what happened to you, but what's done can't be undone. I wish you had been saved some pain by not seeing Alister's work, and I also wish I had the power to bring your friends back to you, but I don't.”

Ryou gave another sniffle, before answering. “I grieve for my friends, yes. Yet most of my tears fall for my Father.”

A look of confusion passed over Bakura's face. “Your father? Your father was on the ship?”

Ryou hiccupped and nodded, his tears falling faster as the image of his father lying dead in the main entrance of The Opal flashed through his mind. He closed his eyes, desperately trying to push the image from his thoughts, when he felt something brush across his face.

He was silent as Bakura's thumb rubbed across his eyelids, leaving a wet patch in its wake.

When the Kaitsune spoke next, his tone was soft and comforting.

“Don't cry, little one.”

Ryou was brought down to lay on Bakura's chest, strong arms holding him close.

He clung to the shirt beneath his hands, the room filled with the sound of his wretched sobs.

TBC

PHEW! Finished with chapter 5.

Sorry about the wait, but school is taking up a ton of my time. Maybe over the weekend I can try to write a bit for chapter 6.

Speaking of chapter 6, I'm kind of at a standstill with it. I'm not sure how I'm going to start it. Or finish it. Or what I'm going to put in the middle… o.o; Heh, I might have to ask some author friends for help now.

Oh, and sorry about my lack of details on the Morhir. It's just…really hard to explain. If you've ever seen the Alien movies, the ships on there (after the power is kicked off and it gets spooky) are what I'm basing Morhir from. Haven't seen the movies? Rent them! They're goooood. xD

If you enjoyed this chapter (and I hope you did), please review and tell me so!