Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Seraph ❯ Chapter 12

Warning: Tendershipping with Ryou seme

 

This is AU, seriously so

 

:blah: = hikari to yami telepathy

 

-blah- = yami to hikari telepathy

 

Yugi found it hard to believe that on the walk into school Bakura had enough trouble with the same measure he'd told Yugi to take to stumble when he was usually so graceful, even when he'd been under the influence of the drugs Solar gave him. And it was even harder to believe that Ryou had half expected him to stumble and that was why they'd walked in to school with Yugi and his other friends, especially since Bakura was moving as smoothly as ever by the end of school.

 

“You've adapted pretty quickly Bakura.” Jounouchi seemed equally suspicious.

 

“Not well enough to roofhop yet I don't think. Seraph-sama, I think tonight I should mostly do some mid-air work and some more practice on how to fall, since that would require more balance adjustments than working on the ground.” Bakura sounded weirdly uncertain about his suggestion and tried to hide his face behind his hair as he spoke.

 

“Well thought Shadow. I'll put the katas I wanted you to do off until tomorrow and select your katas by the criteria you suggested.” Ryou hesitated before turning to speak to Yugi. “I'd rather not have my Consort try to roofhop this week. Would you mind walking with us tomorrow and Saturday?”

 

-Interesting assumption there, accurate, but still interesting.- Yugi jumped a bit as Yami contacted him.

 

:What assumption?: Then he answered Ryou's question without waiting for Yami's answer. “If you think you need it sure, we'll meet you tomorrow then...” He trailed off, waiting for confirmation, from the way they'd been speaking Yugi expected them to spend the rest of the day training.

 

“Thank you. Are you going to start to work with the training dummy we provided today, or wait for him to `heal'?” Ryou's question was a pretty heavy hint about what he wanted the answer to be, so...

 

“Of course I'll start practising with Solar. And he can tell me about that cover story you won't talk about.”

 

“If you want. I only refused to tell you anything so that you'd react naturally to whatever your mother told you about him.” Then why didn't Ryou tell him now?

 

“All she said was that he'd be living with us for a while.” Yugi knew he sounded bitter, and he was looking forward to interrogating Solar. :You never answered my question Yami.:

 

“Well, you can ask him now. We'll need to figure out an excuse for when you're tired of him, but that can come later. See you all tomorrow.” Bakura made his farewells as they turned off to their house and Yami finally answered Yugi.

 

-I'm sorry, I was waiting for you to finish your conversation with Seraph.- That bugged Yugi just a bit, that Yami would always call Ryou `Seraph', and never by his real name, but he'd given up objecting. -Seraph assumed that you were the leader of the group, you are, but no one else ever acknowledged it, even implicitly the way he just did.-

 

:Oh.: That gave him something to think about. Yugi'd never thought of himself as a leader, but Yami, and apparently others saw him that way. Were they wrong, or was he? He kept on thinking about that until he got home and went looking for Solar.

 

“I need to practise my nerve pinches now. And I want to know about the story you cooked up to explain why you're staying here.”

 

“Perform each nerve pinch on me once, then I'll tell you while I'm recovering, Yugi-san.” Solar's voice sounded a bit uncertain, but Yugi dismissed that and agreed to his suggestion, trying each nerve pinch he could find. A couple of times he needed to check his chart, or repeat the pinches to get them in the right place but Solar didn't complain.

 

“Well?” It had taken him ten minutes to go through all of the pinches, now he was demanding answers.

 

“It will take me half an hour to recover from this, I'll tell you what you want to know, then you could do another practice session like this with Yami-san and then practise again on me before we go down for dinner. That would help me remember to move a bit stiffly, since I'm almost healed and your mother cannot be allowed to know this.” Yugi'd got used to that, keeping secrets, even if he didn't like it that much.

 

“Go on, tell me then.”

 

“As far as your mother knows I've just escaped from an abusive relationship, oh, and by the way my `lover' supported me, so I have no money of my own and I'm dependent on my `cousin's' charity.” He sounded bitter, but he'd told Yugi more than enough and he just nodded and mumbled something about working with Yami now.

 

--0--

 

Bakura wanted to curse as he tried to jump straight up onto the roof of their house...he'd forgotten how demanding Seraph was, he shouldn't have but he had. And he'd also forgot that Seraph considered knowing how to fall to mean `knowing how to fall off the top of a building'. It could be worse, he knew that for a fact. He'd seen the way one Adept trained, fastening twenty pound weights to the inside of his coat, letting them swing freely and hit him as he trained, that had to be even worse for the balance than these weights were. He'd spent the last two hours jumping, leaping and twisting to avoid balls being thrown at him while he was in mid-air, not to mention being tossed from the roof, trees and walls. And this time he just didn't have the energy to jump high enough, falling just a little short and pushing himself away from the wall. But at least he managed to land safely, evidence that he'd relearned how to fall properly with the weights on his wrists and ankles.

 

“Enough. You're getting too tired to be any good at this. We'll try again an hour after we've finished eating.” Then Seraph lifted his head and sniffed. “And I think Rukaiya's almost finished cooking anyway.” Bakura followed his lead, scenting the air, he could smell the bread she'd obviously just taken out of the oven, made from the dough he'd prepared.

 

“Not quite I don't think, Seraph-sama, but nearly.” Seraph had been working out as well, Bakura hadn't had time to throw anything at him so he'd recruited Red Archer Girl to shoot at Seraph when he was jumping and everything else he did at twice the speed Bakura did, so he had time to monitor Bakura's training.

 

“Rukaiya, do we have enough time to get a shower before you need to dish out?”

 

“If you're quick, Seraph-sama.” She frowned, obviously unhappy to have to say the next part. “But you won't have time to have sex I'm afraid.”

 

“We can do that afterwards can't we Shadow?” There was a note of lust in Seraph's voice, as he guided Bakura from the kitchen, but somehow he was sure that this time he was being offered a genuine choice, that he really did have the option of saying no. The only problem was that he was certain saying `no' would mean going into training straight from dinner, and he didn't want that; besides it wasn't as if Seraph ever hurt him.

 

“Of course. Shall we share a shower?” Seraph usually couldn't keep his hands off him when they shared a shower, unless he was cleaning Bakura up after sex, but...

 

“Let's avoid temptation. You go first...and feel free to primp while I'm in.” Bakura bit his lip, nodding to acknowledge the thinly veiled order. His clothes were disgusting, they went straight down the laundry chute, but he had another two school uniforms kept in the house anyway. He scrubbed himself clean in a few minutes then wrapped himself in the red yukata and left the bathroom for Seraph. No point in lipstick, it wore off too quickly, but he lined his eyes with frankincense and smeared just a little bit of myrrh just above his groin. Then he pulled on a pair of black leather pants and a simple, but tight red cotton T-shirt, practical if Seraph insisted on him doing some more training, but it would appeal to his master enough to possibly distract him.

 

Rukaiya'd prepared a venison and rabbit stew and set a loaf of bread out for each of them, Bakura couldn't help but think that he'd have done better, even though he was relieved not to have to do all the cooking anymore. As he ate he was careful to do things that he knew turned Seraph on, but things that wouldn't give his plan away, like letting a bit of sauce drip onto his hand and licking it away.

 

“Shadow, there's another aspect of your skills that might have got rusty. And I can't test you on that myself.” Seraph sounded a bit rueful about that, and Bakura could see the slight signs of shock on Rukaiya's face at such an admission. But Bakura knew precisely what he was talking about.

 

“So, what do you want me to steal and who from?”

 

“Kaiba, the elder Kaiba, and anything from his home, but preferably information from his computer system, as well protected as you can get. But I'll settle for an ornament that could only come from there.” Bakura bit his lip at that, thinking about it.

 

“I'll need some time to figure out how to do this, there's a lot of research that goes into planning a proper theft, even more now than in my first life.”

 

“You have a week.” Nowhere near enough time, not even with the use of duel monsters to gather information, but all that meant was that Bakura'd have to improvise a bit. Seraph did grant him some leniency, and Bakura knew his horror at the idea had to have shown on his face, as well as his determination to try anyway. “But I'll only expect two hours of katas from you daily until you've completed the theft.”

 

“I'll do my best Seraph-sama.”

 

--0--

 

Yami was grateful for Solar's advice to Yugi about how to practise his nerve pinches, even if he didn't like the Adept himself. He'd had time to recover between the pinches, and it hadn't hurt for anywhere near as long. Yugi'd spent the time while he was recovering and while Solar was recovering on his homework last night, and he'd just had time for a practice session with each of them this morning. He was getting faster and better at locating the nerve points and by now he didn't bother consulting the chart Shadow'd given him or need to repeat when he made mistakes. Yami hoped that Shadow would decide to test Yugi the next time he had a lesson with him, so he wouldn't have to play practice dummy anymore, but he didn't really expect it.

 

He didn't bother trying to encourage Yugi to get off to school on time any more; he'd never done that as more than part of his duty, and he'd lost so much influence over Yugi since Seraph had told them what he was that Yami was determined to keep what little influence he had left for important things. Yami dismissed that line of thought, focusing on watching through Yugi's eyes as Shadow and Seraph joined them for the walk to school.

 

-Shadow looks tired.- He couldn't help but pass the observation on to Yugi, as his aibou seemed to ignore the way his feet dragged ever so slightly and the slightly paler tint to his skin.

 

:What do you want me to do about it?: But Yugi did listen to what Yami said, and he actually looked at Shadow before speaking to him. “Bakura, are you all right?”

 

“Oh!” He looked up and at Yugi with a startled expression. “Yes, I'm fine Yugi-dono. Why wouldn't I be?” Seraph frowned at that and Shadow noticed, even with how faint the frown was. He blushed slightly, dropping his eyes submissively. “I'm sorry. I shouldn't question you. I appreciate your concern Yugi-dono.”

 

“He just didn't get much sleep last night Yugi.” There was a smirk on Seraph's lips as he pulled Shadow into his arms, kissing his lover, hands wandering over his body. Shadow blushed even more, hiding his face against Seraph's shoulder.

 

“Shouldn't we get moving?” Shadow gave a grateful glance to Jounouchi at that comment, and Yami watched from behind Yugi's eyes as they began walking to school again.

 

“Yugi-dono, do you intend to wear your weights for your lesson with me on Sunday?”

 

“What? No, I wore them from Tuesday without taking them off.” That had been his own idea, one Yami'd been worried about, but admired him for. “I'll be taking them off tonight.” He'd said it was easier not to have to remember to put the weights on, or take them off except for at the beginning and end of the four days. Seraph looked half approving, and half disappointed to hear that.

 

“The longer you wear them for and the more you do while you're wearing them the faster you'll get stronger.” Then he shrugged, almost carelessly. “It's lucky for you that my Shadow's the one stuck wasting his time training a child who can't be bothered to do the simplest of tasks on a daily basis. I'd demand you wear those constantly, and if I caught you without them I'd use magic to keep them on your wrists and ankles.”

 

Shadow looked slightly distressed by that, and Yami could feel Yugi's shock, but he knew that his aibou wasn't going to just yield to Seraph, not now.

 

-Aibou, you do realise that if Seraph tells Shadow not to teach you he won't. And I don't think Jou or Honda could teach you properly.-

 

:I know that, mou hitori no boku.: Yugi's response was exaggeratedly patient, but at least he wasn't snapping at Seraph.

 

“I suggested a minimum time per week. But if you wanted to wear the weights for longer it would work even better. Or you could take them off tonight and wear them from Sunday to Wednesday.” Yugi seemed taken aback by Shadow's quiet suggestion, Yami wasn't quite sure why.

 

“I...I'll think about it.” But Yami could tell that his aibou didn't want to increase the time he spent wearing those wrist and ankle bands, and he couldn't blame him. They didn't have the chance to talk much longer anyway as they arrived at school before anyone could say anything more.

 

--0--

 

Ryou was a bit worried about Shadow; his Consort needed to get stronger, strong enough to live up to his ranking and he'd neglected his skills as a thief over the past year or so. At least the spells on his anklets and bracelets would help him get stronger all the time, so it wasn't too bad that his active training was cut down to just two hours a day. Ryou had tried to help Shadow prepare for the theft he'd decided on as a `safe' test of his skills by cutting down on his demands for Shadow's attention. He hadn't insisted on Shadow spending most of his time in at least the same room as him, or on knowing where Shadow was when he wasn't near Ryou, instead leaving him to his own devices. But Shadow didn't seem to want to take advantage of that, and he couldn't quite figure out why. He'd expected Shadow to do everything he needed to do in preparation for his theft alone, to keep his secrets from Ryou as much as possible. But what happened was that Shadow spent most of his time curled at Ryou's feet, reading through the information he'd collected and writing down preliminary plans or doing his homework. The only times Shadow wasn't around Ryou were when they needed to go to the toilet or when he needed to talk to the duel monsters he'd set to spy on Kaiba.

 

And he was getting jumpy, partly, Ryou thought because he hadn't demanded his rights to Shadow's body more than twice a day, once when they went to bed and once when they woke up. He normally made a point of taking Shadow at various times between those two as well and of petting his Consort whenever he had the chance, but now he was trying not to distract Shadow from his assignment. And there was something about the way he reacted whenever Rukaiya was in the same room, Ryou was pretty sure that his Shadow didn't focus on what he was doing then. He got tired of the way Shadow was acting shortly after they'd eaten on Saturday evening.

 

“Rukaiya, leave us for a while. Go do the laundry or something.” She didn't say anything, just bowed her head and obeyed. He hoped there was something she could do to keep herself occupied, but he didn't care, as long as she was out of the way for a while. Then Ryou turned to Shadow, twining a hand in his hair to get his attention.

 

“Seraph-sama?” His Consort's response was instant, all Shadow's attention trained purely on him.

 

“What's going on?” Ryou knew his voice was accusing, and that it wasn't the right tone to take with his Consort even as he said it, something that was only confirmed when Shadow tried to cringe under his gaze. Ryou took a deep breath and consciously softened his voice, making sure he sounded calm, soothing, and that there was nothing in his voice that could be mistaken for anger. “Shadow, I thought you'd want to have more free time to plan your theft, you were upset at the time limit, so I decided not to make my usual demands on your time. So why have you been clinging to me and watching Rukaiya the way you have?”

 

“I...I didn't know that.” He tried to bow his head, hide the tears welling in his eyes, but Ryou pulled on his hair just hard enough to keep watching his face, the play of emotions fascinating. “I...you didn't say you were just giving me some more free time. I...I thought you were getting tired of me or something, tired of having to train me because I'm an obligation you took on five years ago. Or you wanted a change of pace and that you were planning to enjoy Rukaiya, to make her your concubine or something.”

 

Ryou blinked, letting go of Shadow's hair, not even really noticing when he buried his face in his hands. Rukaiya was a servant, and she technically belonged to Shadow at that. He didn't want someone that weak in his bed - he'd have to hold back so much that it wouldn't be any fun, that or spend more time healing her than fucking her. What gave Shadow the idea that he'd want a woman? If he ever did it would be a woman who could fight at least as well as Shadow could, not someone like Rukaiya, even if she had some spirit and could defend herself against normal people she seemed more like a doll than a person to him. He sighed and pulled Shadow up into his lap.

 

“Do you really believe that I'd ever give you up?” He wrapped his hand around Shadow's throat to encourage the correct answer.

 

“N-no Seraph-sama.” Shadow's voice was choked by tears and Ryou threw him to the floor, joining him there and pulling his clothes off, preparing him roughly before taking him.

 

--0--

 

Yugi was not going to wear those weights while he was training, even if Bakura did think it would help. The thief'd worked him to collapse last Sunday and he wasn't going to make it any easier for him to do the same thing today. And he wasn't going to give up the Shadow Magic protections Yami gave him, not yet anyway.

 

He let Yami take over their body to set up the traps while he got a bit of a nap in his soul room once he reached the gym Bakura was teaching him in, but Yami called him back when Bakura arrived - alone for a change. He looked over Yugi's body, apparently noting everything about him with a faint air of disappointment.

 

“We can start by testing you on what you learned from Rukaiya.” Then Bakura grabbed him by the wrist, and Yugi tried to get him to let go the way Rukaiya'd shown him. “No, that wasn't quite right.” He proceeded to test Yugi by trying to bring out the counters Rukaiya'd taught him, and correcting the mistakes Yugi made, except for the one case where he pulled it off perfectly, forcing Bakura to let go of his wrist.

 

“Well done. Did you practise that one more than the others?”

 

“No.” Yugi'd practised on each technique for the same amount of time, with Yami and with Solar. He hadn't expected Yami to know what he was doing well enough to correct him when he went wrong, but he'd thought Solar would tell him if he was messing up.

 

“Let's try another technique.” There was a faint tone of hope in Bakura's voice now, and it bugged Yugi, but he didn't protest. Bakura didn't really react when he screwed up the next technique was tested on, just frowned faintly and corrected him again, but when he'd tested everything Rukaiya'd taught him Bakura ran Yugi through them again.

 

“I'll test you on these again at the end of today's lesson. But now I want you to warm up, you know how, and then do ten laps of the gym, as fat as you can, followed by fifty each of sit-ups and push-ups. Then I'll show you how to punch properly.”

 

Yugi frowned, but he still obeyed, surprised at how light a workout it was compared to what Bakura'd demanded the first time. Bakura seemed to notice this, because he stopped Yugi after he'd done the warm up Bakura'd shown him last time.

 

“You're surprised that I'm not going to work you to collapse today. I should explain. There wouldn't be any point exhausting you at the moment, now would there? You know how to access your ki, and if you're exhausted when you learn to do something like this you're more likely to learn it wrong and instil habits that will be hard to break later.” He frowned faintly then, somehow making it look good. “You can still remember how to access your ki, can't you? Demonstrate for me before you get a start on your laps.”

 

Yugi bit his lip - he hadn't done this since Monday, and he wasn't sure he still could - but he did manage to find his ki, eventually, and it was a bit larger than it had been before, not much, but he did notice it.

 

“You found that harder than it should have been Yugi-dono. I want you to repeat that exercise daily. Now, pull yourself together and start running.” Yugi knew he was flushing faintly, but he went back to the laps he was supposed to be running.

 

“I'd suggest a minimum of twenty each sit-ups and push-ups a day, or ten if that's all you're willing to do. And I'd prefer it if you ran to school on the mornings, instead of walking.” Yugi scowled at the idea as he did his tenth sit-up. The sit-ups and push-ups weren't a bad idea by themselves, but running to school instead of walking? Bakura seemed to sense that, and reduced his demands. “Or at least run for two or three blocks, your school bag will work nicely as an additional weight to build up your strength then.”

 

“Okay.” He still didn't like it, but if it would make him less helpless...

 

The next lesson was more to his taste. Bakura demonstrated precisely how to throw a punch with his right arm, then had Yugi try to replicate that, correcting him as he needed, even going so far as to take hold of Yugi's hand and arm and move them into a better position himself at times.

 

“Good. Try throwing ten punches like that now. If your form stays good,” And he'd know because the punching bag was spelled to glow when he got the punch right. “you can try with your other arm.”

 

Yugi went home carrying the punching bag, with instructions to try to do at least five punches on each hand a day, only of the sort Bakura'd taught, in addition to his physical conditioning and nerve pinch practice.

 

--0--