This is an extra scene for my 'Yu-Gi-Oh!' fanfiction story "the Queen of Games." It started off as a random little Tendershipping thing and was only supposed to be for practice, but I ended up integrating it into my story.

Ah, and if you haven't read tQoG yet (since I haven't finished it yet at this date), the idea is that Yugi, Ryou (Hikari Bakura), and Mariku (Hikari Marik) are all girls, while their yami sides (Atemu, Bakura, and Malik) are all still male, and they are all separate characters.

Ryou let out a sharp cry as the strange man slammed her against a wall. She had left the camp site late at night to go for a walk since it was such a beautiful night, and now this stranger felt that he could have his way with her.

"I would prefer that you didn't scream," the man hissed, pressing his body up against hers, ignoring her hands as they beat at him. "But if you must, my name is PaniK. Try not to forget it."

Bakura slunk through the shadows, moving not unlike a fish through water. He had told Ryou not go off on her own, but what had the silly little girl gone and done?

He couldn't help but smile to himself; not so silly. It wasn't like she was a total airhead or anything. She'd been able to defeat that Bonz creep in a duel, and she really did have a good head on her shoulders.

The Egyptian just hoped it stayed there.

It wasn't like he could blame Ryou for wandering off. It really was a beautiful night, with a full moon above and the stars glittering, lighting up the night sky in a glorious fashion. Bakura could imagine the dreamy little romantic that was Ryou staring up at the stars in her precious way and thinking about an imaginary lover. The mere thought of it actually brought a hint of a smile to Bakura's lips.

A sharp cry pierced the air, and Bakura's ears perked as he recognized the voice.

Worried that the little angel who had captured his interest was in some sort of peril, the Egyptian turned and ran towards the sound of the voice.

Bakura saw Ryou pinned against a wall, squirming in the grip of a rather large man. The man's lips were pressed against hers harshly, and one of his hands was crawling around underneath her shirt. The other hand was clasped around her wrists, holding her arms high above her head in a vulnerable position. Tears were streaming down her face as the man laughed cruelly.

Bakura saw red. Drawing his knife, he let out a war cry, causing the man to release Ryou's lips for a moment and turn to him.

"You will get off of her right this instant." Bakura whispered, his voice deadly.

The man laughed, drawing a much larger knife from his belt, his other hand still holding Ryou by her wrists.

Ryou gagged and spat, trying to get the man's horrible taste out of her mouth – she could still feel his tongue in her throat and it was disgusting.

"So," PaniK asked, his voice mocking. "You think you're going to be the knight in shining armor? You think the girl should belong to you, instead?"

He laughed and, with a quick twist of his arm, embedded his knife in Ryou's leg.

Bakura heard Ryou's cry of pain that split the air, and he felt something slam into his heart.

"You will pay for that," he growled, attacking the man with all his ferocity.

With an agitated howl, he began to stab wildly at the man, so angry that he was barely aware of where his fists or his knife or his feet were landing. He had the distinct feeling that he was probably getting much worse than he was giving, but he kept taking it and dishing it out without even pausing for a breath.

He blindly reached out and gripped at his opponent, fingers curling around something long and greasy.

Hair.

With an almost inhuman shriek, his fingers followed the lock of hair up to the head, locating the scalp and burying his knife up to the hilt in it.

He heard the man in his grip cry out as he began to thrash and dole out injuries with the last of his strength, and Bakura felt the blade of his opponent's knife embed itself in many places over his legs, arms, and abdomen.

It hurt like heck, but he wasn't going to let this monster get away with what he'd done.

PaniK kicked and screamed and tried to pull the knife out of his brains, but he'd soon breathed his last.

Bakura stood over the body, swaying slightly, letting his blood-lust wash away. He had no more use for it, no more need. Let it wash away...

"... 'Kura..." A weak voice captured his attention and held it fast.

He rushed over to Ryou, who was curled into a ball on the ground. Her hands clutched at her bleeding leg, and tears fell freely down her face.

"... It hurts..."

Bakura removed his shirt, using his knife to cut it into long ribbons. He wrapped the make-shift bandages around her leg, binding the injury to prevent further blood loss.

"I'm sorry, Ry..." He whispered. His voice sounded completely drained and exhausted. "I can't do any more."

He fell forward, his head landing against her chest. Ryou pulled the unconscious boy closer, laying her head on top of his.

"I found them!" Otogi called. Honda quickly raced over.

The two boys stared at the mutilated body of PaniK on the ground, torn to shreds and coated over with blood, a gaping hole in the side of his head.

"Looks like they had fun," Honda muttered before turning his attention to their missing friends.

Bakura and Ryou were both leaned against a wall, curled against one another and clutching each other tightly. Bakura was missing his shirt, but it was fairly obvious what had happened to it, the boys realized when they saw the blood-stained wrapping on Ryou's thigh. The leg injury seemed to be Ryou's only injury, however Bakura's entire torso was decorated with deep cuts and bruises, most of them pretty bad.

"Ry's probably alright, but I'm surprised that Bakura hasn't died from blood-loss already."

"He's probably only still alive due to sheer willpower," Otogi whispered, shrugging halfheartedly.

Honda glanced over to his raven haired friend. "You get Ryou, I'll get Bakura."

"Right."

Working together, the two boys managed to pry the Egyptian and the silver-haired girl away from one another. Gaining a sliver of consciousness, Bakura began to fight their grips, clutching Ryou even tighter.

"It's alright, Bakura," Honda addressed him. "It's just Otogi and Honda, man. We're not going to hurt Ryou, we're just going to get you two some medical help."

Bakura relaxed, slipping back into his unconscious state.

Otogi got under one of the Egyptian's arms and pushed up, only letting go when he was certain that Honda could balance with the half-dead man on his shoulder. Upon knowing that Honda had a good grip on Bakura, the smaller of the two rescuers reached for the silver-haired girl that still lay on the ground.

Ryou's eyes fluttered open when Otogi lifted her. "... 'Kura...?"

"You're okay, Ryou," Otogi whispered to her gently. "We're gonna find you a doctor, and everything's gonna be alright."

She whimpered a little, but she didn't fight as her friend carried her off.

Otogi and Honda looked at one another worriedly, taking guesses as to what exactly had happened, and they headed straight for Pegasus's castle. They knew that there was bound to be medical equipment in there, and, since Bakura was a duelist, Pegasus's staff would be obligated to take care of the injured pair.

"I'll call Yugi and tell her what happened just as soon as we get there," Otogi said softly, keeping his voice low so that he would wake either of their wounded friends.

Honda nodded curtly and kept walking. You'd better not die on me, Bakura. If you do, I'll have to face the wraths of Ryou, Yami, and Yugi.

"-Kura! Bakura!"

The Egyptian shot up like a rocket when he heard his name being called. He was vaguely aware that he was in a hospital room and wearing a gown, and he thought that an IV may have been attached to his arm before he yanked it away, but that didn't really matter to him right now.

He heard Ryou calling his name.

She was in the bed next to his, and he dove into the bed with her, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close.

"What is it, Ry?"

She wailed and clung to him. "I thought you were dead!"

"No... Ssssh, ssh, little angel... don't cry, Ry-tenshi..." He hugged her and stroked her pretty silver hair, trying to soothe her. "I'm alright, I'm right here, ssh..."

"Well, you're not one-hundred percent, but you'll live."

Turning, Bakura realized that Malik and Atemu had entered the room. Yugi poked her spiky head out from behind Atemu, as if to make sure that she wasn't going to regret looking.

He looked at his partner and his king each, a small smirk playing on his lips. "Were you two worried about me?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I was worried," Malik admitted. "I was worried that you'd never get better, and that I'd have to start doing some work rather than slack off and let you do everything."

Atemu smirked as well. "I'm just here because little Yugi-chan wanted to see how her stepsister was doing."

Ryou peered out from behind the safety of Bakura's arms, smiling when she saw Yugi. She freaked out though when she saw Malik, and dove back into the safety of Bakura's embrace with a frightened squeak.

"What's with her?" Malik asked.

Bakura glared at him. "You were looking at her the same way that idiot from last night was, you rapist!"

His friend looked puzzled, never once realizing that there might be something wrong with the perverted way he tended to look at people. "And that's... bad?"

Bakura growled lowly, trying very hard to prevent himself from jumping and tearing Malik to shreds. "Don't you have some silly little 'kitten' to molest or something?"

The psycho visibly brightened and fled the room, calling in a disturbed sounding sing-song voice. "Ooooh, Mar-iiiiiii-KU!~"

Atemu frowned. "Was that wise, Bakura? You know how he is, especially with something or someone that he wants... Like her."

Bakura shrugged. "I've seen her in action. Mariku can take care of herself. And if she can't, I'm pretty sure Miss Anzu could take that moronic oaf down a notch or two."

Yugi stepped forward, looking at her stepsister with wide eyes. "Is it true, Ry? Did that... man... really... take advantage of you? I mean, that's just what everyone guessed happened..."

Ryou was quiet for a moment, then nodded.

"Did... did he hurt you bad?"

"He... he kissed me in a way I didn't want to be kissed," the silver-haired girl whispered, her lips trembling at the memories. "And he touched me in ways that I didn't want to be touched. He wrenched my arms both out of their sockets, and he stabbed me in the leg."

"You got off easy," Bakura muttered.

Ryou and Yugi both looked at him, an unspoken question resting in their eyes.

He sighed. "When I was a child, there was this man, named Akunadin. He came through my home village with a group of soldiers, and they all killed everyone in the town... except me."

Atemu looked away, his face pointed at the floor, as if trying to will himself not to hear the story. Bakura knew that his tale caused great pain to the ruler of Egypt, as well as High Priest Seth, but he couldn't change his story, he couldn't deny what had happened, no matter how much it hurt everyone.

"Akunadin was secretly a pedophile, and he took his pleasure from innocent little children. I... was a very innocent child at the time, and I was weak in every way. And appealing, I suppose. Akunadin struck me with his sword, but not in a fatal way... only to prevent me from escaping. He took me back to a house that he owned in secret, one that his family did not know about, and he kept me there. Sometimes in a cage, sometimes chained to a wall with a gag around my mouth. He... took me... at least once a week. Sometimes more, depending on his mood."

He fingered the scar on his cheek, tracing the unique shape. "He branded me, saying that I was his property. Like a cow or a horse. And when I disobeyed him, if I fought him and refused to let him have his way with me, he would concoct terrible punishments for me. Much worse than anything you could ever imagine."

Ryou stifled a whimper and latched onto him, her eyes filled with hate for the man who would harm her protector.

It amused him for a moment, to see that spark of anger in her face. Would she have killed Akunadin the way he had killed PaniK? It was an interesting prospect.

"This had been going on for twelve years before we found out what was happening," Atemu spoke up, his eyes still pointing at the floor. "Akunadin was found guilty on all counts for a good many crimes that no one had known about, and he was executed. Bakura came to live with me and my family, and, eventually, he learned to trust people again."

The girls looked at him for a minute, clearly wondering what was so special about Atemu and why he had been so involved with a case of child molesting.

Atemu looked up at them, then looked away again, turning and leaving the room. The girls had to strain their ears to hear the words he whispered on his way out. "... Akunadin was my uncle."

Yugi paused for a moment, frozen in time, her eyes darting between Ryou, Bakura, and the door. She seemed uncertain what to do.

Bakura solved the problem for her by looking at her pointedly and jerking his thumb at the door. She scampered off immediately, probably going after Atemu.

Ryou stared up at the man who lay next to her, her chocolate brown eyes wide and tearful. "Oh, 'Kura-"

"Save it," he told her, pressing his index finger to her lips. "It was... a very long time ago." He didn't feel like explaining how all that could have happened over five thousand years ago. "I don't need your pity or your sympathy. I'd rather just forget it and move on with my life, so just save it."

She nodded, pressing her trembling lips into a thin line.

"'Kura?" She whispered after a few minutes.

"Yes?"

She smiled up at him, hugging him again and leaning against him. "Thank you. For what you did last night."

The Egyptian stared down at her in shock for a moment, then slowly wrapped his arms around her, stroking her hair again. "No problem, tenshi. No problem."

Meanwhile, out in the hallway...

"Come on, Mariku," Malik whispered, singing the girl's name softly. "It's just a little kiss..."

She glared at him boldly, fingers curled around the hilt of her knife. "Listen to me very closely, Malik Ishtar: I don't like you, I'm never going to like you, I don't want to kiss you or have anything to do with you, and I'm never going to kiss you or have anything to do with you!"

She stalked off, growling under her breath. She'd only come to see how Ryou was doing, but then there was this psycho that felt the need to stalk her or something.

Weirdo.

The End.

Story continues in "the Queen of Games."