Ryo heard the door to his soul room open, heard the soft padding footsteps of his yami striding over to him. Heard the hunger in the voice that accompanied the hand petting his hair, asking "Do you have a moment?" It wasn't a gesture of courtesy. It was code, one that Ryo knew quite well. He turned and closed his eyes as he met his yami in a kiss. Tongues tangling, they fell to the floor, tossing and turning into a labyrinth of pale limbs and white hair. As clothes fled, it was almost impossible to find where hikari ended and yami began until the kiss broke.
"I've been waiting for this all day," Bakura whispered, caressing his host's back and pressing him into his chest. "Let me take you..."
Ryo met his eyes, so very like his own, save for the hint of malice that remained there even as Ryo brought his yami's hand to his own cheek. "I'm yours," he said, kissing the hand. "I always will be."
Bakura smiled, almost genuinely, arranging his hikari on his back and kissing the soft skin of his neck. His hands skimmed along the boy's body, nails drawing ever so lightly over his chest and making him shudder.
"Do you like that?" he asked, drawing a pattern around Ryo's nipple with a careful fingernail. Ryo nodded, not trusting his lips to speak. His heart was throbbing fearfully in his chest right below his yami's hand...would he notice? Would he know?
"Landlord," Bakura whispered, dipping his fingers in the bottle beside the table. "You're trembling...are you that anxious for me to be inside you?"
Another nod. He grasped at the carpet, letting out a cry as those two fingers disappeared, stretching and soothing the muscles they found. "Hold on," Bakura said, pulling out and tipping his host's hips upward. Ryo steeled himself as the same process as every time before. The first, slow penetration, his breath catching in his throat as he tried to hold back a scream. Thrusts, slow at first but picking up speed, rocking and driving shudders through his entire body. Groans of pleasure met tiny, involuntary mewls, as Ryo reached up to stroke himself.
"Bakura..." he panted, a taut tightness rising and ringing through him. "Please, touch me."
Bakura merely groaned in reply, his thrusts quickening as the same tension expanded in his chest. "Wait," he whispered, pulling Ryo's hand to the ground and pinning it there. Ryo's face fell, the ache of not being attended to spreading. Please...hurry...he thought, wincing.
With a sudden cry, as if in surprise, Bakura stopped, spilling over as warmth flooded his body. He pulled away, his eyes closed as he enjoyed the short lived gratification.
"Yami?" Ryo asked tentatively, shifting under Bakura's hands. "Please?"
Bakura leaned over him, giving him a cold, wet kiss. "Very well, landlord..." He started gently stroking him, his eyes never leaving Ryo's. The hikari tried to meet his gaze, sinking into the mahogany irises as pleasure took over. Those eyes...I could never escape...he thought hazily as his own eyes closed, his back arching, breath held.
"It's alright," Bakura's voice said quietly, almost tenderly. "You can come...Go on..."
Ryo's mouth opened, a soundless scream echoing into the darker corners of their soul rooms as a stunted pleasure exploded through him.
Bakura sat back on his haunches, wiping his hand on the rug. "Is that good enough for you?" he asked, standing, his voice regaining its usual condescending tone.
Ryo sat up dazedly, nodding. "Are you going back then?"
"No," Bakura answered lazily, re-clothing himself and taking Ryo's seat. "I'm done for now...you have work to do, do you not?"
"Yeah...I've got an essay to write." Ryo said, his shirt sleeves sliding over his arms.
Bakura sniffed. "Make it good. I don't want my host to appear as useless as he is."
Ryo nodded, closing his eyes as the insult tore at him. When he opened them again, he was in his apartment. He sighed, trying to blink back the tears in his eyes. Bakura doesn't mean to be mean, he thought to himself, wandering out to the kitchen to make himself a cup of tea. After five-thousand years in the millennium ring, and what he's been through, the little I know of it...Unkindness is all he knows. He sat down at the kitchen table, his chin in his hands. If I could only help him, he thought, staring at the tea kettle. I would. I love him...my yami. His heart struggled, because it knew.
Ryo was frowning at his essay the next day, rereading it before class started. I hope it'll impress the teacher...then maybe Bakura will be pro-
"Bakura!" His head snapped up to see Yugi waving a piece of paper in his face.
"What is it?" Ryo asked, accepting the paper. There was a ribbon-bedecked candy cane taped to the back of the green and red flyer, clearly celebrating the upcoming holiday.
"We're having a Christmas party at the game shop tomorrow, and I'm inviting you," Yugi said, beaming. "I'd really like you to come!"
"I-" Ryo smiled, heartened by his friend's enthusiasm. 'Yugi, I'd love to...I'll have to get back to you though, I'm not sure what my schedule is..."
"Alright," Yugi said, his face falling slightly. "Please let me know as soon as you find out. Because you know something?"
Bakura looked up again to see Yugi's eyes wide and honest. "What, Yugi?"
"We never get to see you outside of school...very rarely, at least. And that needs to change." He took Ryo's hand briefly, earnestly. "You spend too much time alone in your apartment, Bakura...I don't want you to feel like you need an invitation to hang with us. I don't want you to be lonely."
"I'm not, I-" he stopped, remembering that Yugi didn't know that he had regained the ring, and the spirit inhabiting it, since Battle City. "I just have a lot of work to do..." Yugi's smile was fading fast, Ryo noticed, panicking. "But I'll definitely try to make it to your party, Yugi. I promise!"
The happiness returned to the spiky-haired boy's face. "Thanks Bakura, hope to see you there!"
"Hope so..." Ryo echoed, hope fading. If Bakura will let me...
He deliberated for the next day and a half, finally deciding to ask only an hour before the party. "Yami?" he called cautiously as he returned to his soul room. "You...do you have plans for us tonight?"
Bakura looked up from his book and sniffed. "I thought you had a party to go to?"
Ryo balked. "I-I thought I'd check with you first, to make sure you're okay with me going..."
"Why wouldn't I be?" Bakura asked. "You've been good, you deserve to have a good time. But you should be getting ready now, shouldn't you?" He took Ryo's hand, returning them to Ryo's bedroom in the apartment. His shadowy form folded itself on the bed as Ryo crossed to the closet and started rifling through his shirts.
"What about this one?" Ryo asked, holding up a plain white button down.
His yami hissed disdainfully in response. "Shouldn't you go for a little bit more festive?" he asked, pointing to a scarlet shirt hiding in the back corner of the closet. He watched hungrily as Ryo took off his school uniform and tried it on.
"Still fits," Ryo said, smiling up at his counterpart. "Thanks Bakura!"
He crossed to the closet and came up behind him, hands over his as they buttoned up the buttons. "After tonight," he murmured, toying with one of the top buttons as Ryo worked his way up, "Would you have a moment for me?"
"Of course," Ryo smiled slightly in the mirror at his yami. "I'll do anything you want me to."
Bakura smiled, almost genuinely. "That's my landlord...also, take this," he commanded, pointing to the pocket knife sitting on the dresser. "I need to be able to protect you if any thing happens," he explained quietly, playing with his hikari's hair as he slipped it on his belt. "Now get going, don't want you to be too late..."
"Yug' when are we going to open presents?" Joey demanded, fingers itching to tear at the paper in his hands. "The suspense is killin' me!"
Yugi sighed defeatedly. "I wanted to wait for Bakura, but I guess he-"
The door to the game shop chimed and Yugi turned, a smile breaking out across his face. "Bakura, you made it!" he cried, running to the door and hugging him.
"Yeah, sorry I'm a bit late, I got held up in, er, traffic." Ryo said, shaking out the snow that had camoflauged itself in his hair. "With the snow and everything it's unsurpri-"
"This is for you," Yugi said giddily, holding out a rather lumpy looking gift. "I made it myself!"
Ryo stopped, a dull flush tinting his cheeks. "You didn't have to get me anything," he said gently. "I didn't know we were giving presents, I would have gotten something for everyone."
Yugi pulled him over to the couch with the others. "Your being here is enough," he said, beaming. "And yes Joey, now you can open them."
"AHYEAH!"
Ryo chuckled as the paper went flying from the various gifts.
"Aw, thanks, Yugi!" Téa gushed, holding up a braided bracelet with her name beaded into it. Similar, though more manly reactions came from Joey and Tristan's end of the couch as clay figures of a Red-Eyes Black Dragon and a motorcycle, respectively, revealed themselves. Ryo looked down and quickly unwrapped a heart shaped pillow, hand-sewn and made of felt. Half of it was a darker red than the other, with the words 'CHANGE OF HEART' written in careful script along the top. An almost childish gift, but Ryo still felt gratitude swelling and swirling inside. "Thank you, Yugi," he said softly, hugging it to his chest. "I love it."
Yugi couldn't look happier. "I'm glad," he said, grinning.
"Yuuuugi? Go get your grandpa another drink!" A slurred voice yelled out of the game shop, where the sounds of another, slightly more wild party was happening.
"You don't need another drink, grandpa!" Yugi retorted loudly. "He bought eggnog," he explained to his friends. "Lots of eggnog."
They chuckled as Yugi stomped off to go try to convince his grandpa that they were out of the festive beverage, but the laughter was soon replaced by an awkward silence. The four of them sat on the couch, three of them unsure about what to discuss with the last until their mutual friend returned.
"So, think we'll have a white Christmas?" Ryo asked, trying to make conversation as he hugged the pillow closer to his chest.
Shrugs, replies of 'yeah maybe?' Ryo sighed. It was how he had expected it to be. When Yugi wasn't around, the others just sort of ignored him...and it was about to get worse. For he was saved from the awkward conversation, by the arrival of Mai. Joey immediately ran over as if magnetized to her side, leaning over to give her a peck on the cheek. Ryo scooted over to let them back on the couch, and was successfully shut out of the conversation.
Maybe I should have stayed home, Ryo thought with a sigh, resting his chin on his pillow...At least Yugi was nice enough to give me this...I have him as a friend, if no one else in this room.
Yugi returned, glasses of sparkling grape juice in his hands. "Oh, hi Mai!" he said, grabbing another wrapped box similar to Téa's gift. "Does someone want to help me get the rest of the snacks?"
Ryo jumped to his feet, not wanting to be left alone with the gang again. Yugi grinned. "Knew you would, Bakura," he said, leading him down the hall to the kitchen. "I was actually hoping it'd be you..."
"Oh?" Ryo asked, accepting a tray of cheese and crackers. "Why's that?"
Yugi sighed. "It's kind of hard to explain...it's been something I've been trying to figure out for a really long time."
Ryo looked at him concernedly. "Is something wrong, Yugi? Because I can try to help, no matter what it is...you've been here for me all this time, I don't want you to feel like that's not returned..."
"I-It's just-" Yugi bit his lip, flushing. "I really like you, Ryo..."
Ryo froze. Yugi's tone, the fact that he had used his first name, the heart-shaped pillow...it all fell into place. "R-really?" Ryo stammered, his own heart doing back-flips. "I-"
"You don't have to answer right away," Yugi said, pouring another round of grape juice into glasses. "You don't even have to feel the same way I do...I just wanted you to know."
Ryo's heart was practically trying to escape from his chest, beating furiously as Yugi's words echoed around his head, beating furiously because it knew. Knew what Ryo had been trying to deny and conceal for so long, since the first stages of Battle City, things he had decided while lying dazedly in his hospital bed after his Yami's duel with Yugi.
I don't love Bakura.
He sunk to the floor, still clutching the snack plate. "That's not it," he said, his voice sounding strange in his own head.
"What's not?" Yugi asked, turning around and gasping, dropping to Ryo's side. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah..."Ryo said dazedly, his voice still sounding distant. "Yugi, I do like you, maybe even in that way-"
"You do?"
Ryo nodded, biting his lip. He couldn't tell him about his Yami...he stood, heading out of the kitchen. "I like you, Yugi...you've been the best friend I could ask for, but-I just can't-"
"-Wait," Yugi said, catching up to him in the doorway. "Just wait..." He stood up on his tiptoes, reaching up to grab Ryo by the collar and pull him into a kiss.
Ryo froze, unsure of what to do. It was unlike anything he had ever received from Bakura, whose kisses were merely lust delivered through the mouth. This was different...a soft, gentle, longing in Yugi's touch. Not breaking the kiss, Ryo set the tray down on the counter, bringing his hands up to cup Yugi's chin as mouths slipped open, the kiss deepening. Every part of his body was cheering and chanting that this was right, that this was what a kiss should feel like...save one. One tiny little thought in his brain that gloomily repeated its mantra. Bakura will be furious. Bakura will be furious. The more he tried to brush this thought away, the louder it became, until he finally pulled away, tears threatening at his eyes.
"I-I can't," he stammered softly, pulling out of Yugi's arms and running for the back door.
"Bakura, wait!" Yugi yelled, dashing into the living room and grabbing the pillow and his coat from the couch.
"Yug', where ya-"
"It's all my fault, I have to go after him," Yugi murmured, pulling his coat over his arms.
Joey jumped to his feet. "We'll help ya Yug-"
Yugi looked up, teary-eyed himself. "No Joey...please let me do this..."
Joey sighed, seeing the desperation in his friend's gaze. "Alright. We'll stay here, hold down the fort."
"Make sure Grandpa doesn't drink too much more," Yugi said with a gracious smile. "Thanks guys!" The door slammed, and he was off down the street.
"RYO?" He yelled as he veered into the maze of alleyways behind his house, skidding on the snow. "WHERE ARE YOU?"
"Yugi," A warning voice said as the young king of games ran towards what he hoped was the right direction to Bakura's house. The boy's yami appeared beside him, effortlessly keeping pace. "I know I said I'd let you take care of this on your own...but that was back at the house, where if something went wrong, there'd be people who could help-"
Yugi glanced up at his counterpart, pleadingly. "You told me you'd understand, Yami...I need you on my side for this."
The Pharaoh sighed exasperatedly. "I am on your side Yugi. I just don't want you getting hurt, you know that."
"I do," Yugi whimpered, tears starting to streak down his face. "I just...I can't let Ryo go...not after that...I want to know what I did wrong..."
Yami melted, caressing his hikari's cheek. "I don't think you did anything wrong Aibou...Here, switch places with me...I'll find him."
Yugi stopped, smiling. "Thank you, other me..." he whispered, letting Yami take control of their body. Please let him find Ryo, he thought as they ran. Please...
Panting, Ryo stumbled into a deserted side alley, collapsing against a pile of snow-covered crates. "I shouldn't...have done it," he whimpered to himself, curling up as he caught his breath. Please let him not have seen, he thought desperately, burying his face in his hands. Please...
"Ryo?" The boy's head snapped up to see Yugi standing in the middle of the alley way, his face still tear-stained red.
"Yugi," Ryo stammered, his heart pounding again. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't ha-"
Yugi caught him in a hug, pressing the heart-pillow into his hands. "I'm sorry too," he said. "I shouldn't have sprung something like that on you out of complete nowhere."
"I-I didn't mind," Ryo said, blushing. "It's really not you, Yugi, it's just that I really can't-"
"Can't what?" Yugi asked pulling back. "If you like me the way I like you, what's keeping us apart?"
"It's...It's complicated...really complicated..."
"What's so complicated about this?" Yugi asked, leaning forward to kiss him again. As he did so, Ryo felt himself jolting backwards, landing hard on his backside. Looking around, Ryo's veins froze as the realization hit. He was in his soul room. Bakura was now in control of his body...a body that was about to kiss Yugi...
"NO!" He screamed, running to the door. It was locked, of course. "BAKURA, PLEASE! DON'T!"
From the bars on the door he could see Bakura raise a finger to Yugi's lips, stopping him. "I would very much like to kiss you again," Bakura said in a perfect imitation of Ryo's hesitant voice, "But we should wait, shouldn't we?"
"Why?" Yugi asked, tilting his head like a confused puppy. "What's to wait for, Christmas is already here."
"Yugi," The Pharaoh said cautiously from over his shoulder. Doesn't something seem a little off to you?"
Yami please, Yugi thought. You promised...
"YAMI PLEASE!" Ryo screamed from his soul room, hammering on the door."I'M SORRY!"
"Hmm, perhaps you're right," Bakura said, drawing the boy closer with a hand around the back of his neck. He set the pillow down in the snow, simultaneously reaching for his knife and pulling Yugi into a kiss. Ryo's voice was cracking from screaming as he watched, horrified, as his yami fiddled with the clasp of the puzzle's chain.
"Aibou, Look ou-!"
Yugi jerked back, his yami's voice suddenly gone. The puzzle fell to the ground between his feet with a muffled thunk and Yugi looked up into Bakura's eyes, narrowed in triumphant hatred. "Wha-" And then his breath hitched, a sharp pain slicing through his chest.
"You thought you could love my landlord better than I could?" Bakura snapped, hot breath hitting Yugi's face as he drove the knife deeper still, laughing at the tiny cries of pain slipping from the boy's mouth. The bloodied blade reappeared for a moment before stabbing again, to the dual cries of the hikaris. "You thought you had permission to touch him?"
Yugi gasped."I-lov-"
"You don't deserve to love him," Bakura hissed, the blade twisting in the young boy's chest. "You'll never touch him again." He let Yugi fall to the ground, sneering down at the boy. "Love," he sneered. "See what your love has done, boy? You've let the pharaoh down...and that's only icing on the cake for me..."
"No," Ryo whispered, rattling the door handle. "NO!" To his surprise it opened, returning him to the real world. He was surrounded by blood covered snow, steaming as it melted. He looked down, feeling his heart jump into his throat. Yugi was sobbing, trying in vain to reach the puzzle.
"Yugi," He cried, falling to his knees. "Yugi, I'm sorry-"
Yugi looked up into Ryo's chocolaty gaze.. "Please," he croaked, his voice cracking painfully. "I need-apologize."
Ryo nodded, tears trickling down his cheek as he crawled over to retrieve the puzzle. He handed it wordlessly to Yugi, who clutched it to his chest, the blood smearing against the gold.
"I'm sorry pharaoh," Yugi sobbed. "I didn't mean-let you down-should have listened-"
His yami shook his head tearfully. "It was I who let you down Aibou-I should have stepped in and saved you, I have failed as your protector..."
"Don't blame-self, other me..." Yugi said, wincing as he raised his hand to his shadow's face. "I-my fault-"
"Yugi, it wasn't your fault," Ryo and the Pharaoh said in chorus, kneeling on either side of him. "I'm sor-" But Yugi fell back on the snow, his hand slipping and hitting the ground with a dull smack.
"Yugi?" Ryo asked, panic rising in his throat. The pharaoh's face merely darkened; unseen or unheard by the white-haired boy, he let out an unearthly wail and faded from the world. Ryo's breath caught in his throat as he leaned over the body of the king of games, choking on his own sobs. "I'm sorry," he murmured over and over again, cradling Yugi's hand in his own. "I'm sorry."
"It was for the best, landlord," Bakura said quietly, his shadowy form leaning on the stack of milk crates.
Ryo's head jerked up, tears mingling with the snowflakes. "How do...you figure that?" he spat.
Bakura knelt down next to his hikari, his arm draped around his shoulders. "He was a threat to us, landlord...I couldn't have you giving in to that kind of temptation. I saw the way he looked at you, and I knew I had to do something, otherwise I'd lose you forever..."
"You saw-" Ryo said, turning to his yami. "How long?"
Bakura sniffed. "He's been lusting after you at least since I returned after Battle City," he said distainfully. "Stupid bastard should have known..."
"Don't," Ryo snapped dully, looking down at Yugi's sad smile, his eyes staring at the spot where his yami had been. That whole time...I could have been with him... he realized, reaching over and lovingly closing Yugi's eyes. I'm sorry...
"Are you even listening to me?" Bakura asked, grabbing Ryo's chin and pulling him over into a kiss. Ryo let him, passively accepting it as his mind whirled. His yami pulled back, smiling. "Come on, landlord," he said, a familiar, dark smile on his face, his hands petting Ryo's hair gently. "Let's go home. There's no one to bother us now...after all, I've won. After all, we have another five thousand years before we have to deal with the pharaoh again."
Ryo's mouth fell slightly open as his yami's words slammed into him. Another five thousand years...With Bakura...
"I want to spend forever with you, landlord...just you and me, tied to the millennium ring..."
Forever. With Bakura...Forever with Yugi's blood on my hands...Forever without hope of escape...
"Won't that be wonderful?"
"Yeah, Yami..." Ryo whispered, his hands tangling in the cord around his neck. "Wonderful." He reached for the knife, bringing it up slowly.
Bakura glanced down, seeing the knife in his hands. "What are you doing? WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE-"
With a slice it was done, the cord snapped, the ring clattering to the ground. Bakura's charging form disappeared, the wind howling around Ryo as he threw his millennium item as hard as he could. "You're right, Bakura..." he whispered as it flew over a rickety fence. "I am useless to you...I won't let you use me again." He crawled over and retrieved the pillow where Bakura had dropped it before returning to Yugi's side. Gently lifting up the boy's head, he slid it underneath. He then leaned over and kissed Yugi on the forehead, folding his arms over his chest. Satisfied he sat back, the knife trembling in his hands. As long as I live, Bakura will find me, he thought numbly, looking up to the snow strewn grey skies. But if the pharaoh has to wait another five thousand years for another host, then I guess that's what Bakura will have to do too.
He closed his eyes, and drew the knife down the length of his arm. His breathing shallow, he curled up next to Yugi, interlacing the boy's cold fingers with his own. I'm sorry, Bakura, he thought to himself, trying to take his mind off the throbbing pain of his arm, so much like that of Battle City. I've let you down again...I'm sorry father, I've left you alone...I'm sorry Joey...and Tristan...and ...Téa...and Mai...and Mr. Mutou...I let him take Yugi from you...I'm sorry pharaoh, for stranding you here without your hikari...I'm sorry Yugi...I'm so sorry...Yugi...
It's okay Ryo, Yugi's voice whispered to him in the darkness, a hand lightly grasping his. I forgive you.