Warning: Graphic gore. Sexual content. May be troubling to some. Uses Manga Canon. But still AU.
I could feel the wind rushing passed my ears. Chilling them. The coils of a ear ache started to rouse. Thought about covering my ears but I had more important things on my mind. Tilting my body forward slightly I could see Hirutani's body lie motionless on the pavement below.
Yugi's footsteps could be heard behind me. Knew it was him because of this weird double scuff he did with his right foot. For a moment I wondered if he was there the entire time. Probably.
"Jonouchi..."
I looked over my shoulder to see him, a bit beaten up from the other members. Impressed but not completely surprised that he was able to handle himself against those guys. My fingers gestured for Yugi to come over.
Yugi slowly walked right by my side. Saw that the color had washed away from his face. "What is...Oh my God. Did... did you do this, Jou?"
I nodded. Knowing this somehow made the colors dim. Sun had faded. Clouds had rolled in, but it didn't rain. The humidity rose and it became harder to breath. However, a subconscious realization occurred to me that day: The idea that I might have killed him excited me. Wiped him out. Played God. Freeing, the thought of never having to worry about Hirutani's revenge thrilled me. How he would never hurt Yugi or any of my other friends again made me happy.
"We should check to make sure," I said, lightly hitting Yugi's shoulder with the back of my hand.
"Gosh, I hope he's OK." Yugi sounded so worried over someone who just tried to kill him. Eliminate. Exterminate. As terrible as it was, I hoped for the opposite.
We walked down two flights of stairs, me in the lead and Yugi taking up the rear. I was focused on getting to the body so the next move could be hashed out. Think Yugi would have preferred that the walk to the body last forever. That we might never get there and find out whether or not we had actually killed someone. He didn't have the stomach to actually kill someone. Never did.
When we approached the ally I could feel Yugi's nerves emanating off of him. I was in wild man mode and he was throwing everything off. Almost wanted to punch him for being a pussy just like the olden days.
"Jonouchi?"
"What?"
"What... if he's dead?" Yugi looked up at me, wide eyed. A tear suddenly fell down his cheek.
"He's dead."
Yugi looked at me in stunned disbelief. "But the cops. We gotta tell somebody. His family..."
Honestly, I couldn't believe Yugi of all people would be saying this. He burned a man alive right in front of the cops and he knows the cops did squat. Why? Because there are people in this world that don't deserve to live. On top of that this man, this thing, just tried to kill him. How can he possibly be so sympathetic? He has seen what this man is capable of...
"We need him to be dead." I said it so easily. Didn't even want to see how Yugi facially reacted to that. So I kept my horse blinders on and moved forward toward Hirutani's motionless body.
"Jou, did you just say-" Yugi stopped himself. Probably because he didn't want to hear my answer. I was done with this. Done running from my past.
Before I checked to see if he was dead, we stood over his body for what felt like a long time. My mind flashed me an image of him waking up and him grabbing my ankle, knocking me on my ass. Thankfully this wasn't a horror movie. The act of standing over the bad guy wasn't a bad thing. A part of me prayed for him to be alive. That maybe I could chicken out on this entire idea. It wasn't too late. Me and Yugi could just hightail it. Turn around never come back. But to reach my hand out and feel that man's pulse still going, lit a fire in me.
Anger. Should have known it would take more than a simple fall off the roof to take him out. He was just knocked out.
"Shit."
"He's dead..." Yugi said softly.
"No. Worse."
"What's worse than dead?"
"Alive."
I pulled out my yo-yo. It had been so gracious as to knock him out with the only trick I know how to do. Now, it was going to help me again. I put the yo-yo back in my pocket. I grabbed his arms and dragged him to a more convenient place to tie him up.
"J-Jou...what are you doing?" Yugi stammered as I pulled him along the concrete ground.
"We. What we're doing, Yugi," I corrected as turned my head to look around. One of the two walls that made up the alley they were in was created by the side of a large, dilapidated building. "This warehouse'll do."
"Jou, we're in for it as it is. M-maybe we could still...oh...oh god..." Yugi suddenly bent over and stuck his head between his legs, trying to take in deep breaths.
"Yugi, stop that." I purposefully pulled Hirutani through a dirty puddle of water. "I need you to be rational if we're going to get through this."
"Oh...oh my god...I'm gonna go to jail...and my parents are gonna kill me...and Anzu will never go out with me...and I'm gonna have a criminal record, and...oh god! My life is over!" Yugi suddenly stood up, hands up to his head, grabbing at his hair. "I'm done! My life-"
"Yugi, you've killed someone before. What's so different now?" I grunted.
"...I've never killed anyone!" Yugi screamed. "I'll never last in jail!"
"We all saw it Yugi. You were right in front of the cops. And they didn't care. Chill out." I used my left hand to twist the doorknob behind me, gaining entrance to the warehouse.
"I didn't kill anyone Jounouchi! You gotta believe me!"
"I watched you kill him. Saw it, just like a whole lot of other people saw it. But you know what? This world is better off without a guy like him. And it'll be better off without this guy. You killed before, now you gotta kill again if you wanna make it."
"I've been having black outs... Is that what I... And what do you mean make it?"
"This guy will stop at nothing but to ruin both our lives. He'll just keep coming and keep coming. If it isn't him it'll be his goons. We'll never be safe."
Felt myself well up with emotion. I reached out and embraced Yugi. Squeezed him tight.
"I never want anyone to hurt you again, you understand?"
"You're crying..."
He was right. I was.
"Yugi. Let's make sure this never happens to you again. You don't have to help me much. After he's tied up I'm pretty sure I can handle it by myself."
I let go of Yugi. He looked down at the ground firmly. "Ok..."
Yugi helped me tie him up using rope to secure his hands and chains to secure his feet. Lucky my old gang is so sloppy, leaving their tools here like this. My, my what a predicament Hirutani was in now. Can't help but think about if Hirutani felt as powerful as I do now when he tied me up and shocked the living shit out of me. Ah. And I remember how he ordered to have ME killed. Too bad he didn't do it sooner. Too bad. Because now I have him. Now he must deal with me.
Though he considered me his number two, we were equals in a way. We would fight till we were tired in middle school. Neither would win. Even match. But his ability to manipulate a young mind was far greater than mine. He enforced his power onto others more often. One could hardly call me subservient. Just a bystander I suppose.
In middle school being in a gang seems like a dream. Maybe a bigger dream than ruling the lawful by being Prime Minister. Ruling the underground certainly had more power, more money as it included the corrupt, the lawful, and everyone in between. Enough power in a gang could ensure a great number of things. The ability to protect myself and my family seemed so assured by joining a gang. Being a paperboy didn't pay as much as I needed to put a financial band-aid on just what my father would spend in a casino.
With the things me and Hirutani ended up doing, it just all seemed like this giant game. I watched Hirutani torture many people in my time hanging with him. At the time it didn't seem like it was such a bad thing. It all seemed normal to me. Just something we did.
I see the error in that thinking now. Evolved so to speak. However, inside I can tell that Hirutani will not stop. It is a drug to him. The thrill to hurt another person just because they walked down the wrong street at the wrong time. Looking at this man now, I wonder how he could have ever led me astray. The best answer is that I was already lost. Being twelve is confusing. My mother had just abandoned me two years before and nothing was right about that. Nothing was right about me.
Looked to see Yugi shrinking against the wall. Trying to be there for me and protect himself from guilt at the same time. Hm. Maybe he really does black out. Wish he would have told me sooner.
I undid Hirutani's belt.
"Jonouchi! What're you doing!" Yugi yelled at me.
"Just removing any weapons he might have." I could tell by the look on Yugi's face he thought I meant more than tasers and knives. "Not that, Yugi." I waited a few moments before adding, "Sicko."
Erection while sleeping. Typical. Only three years ago, we compared. Didn't seem so gay back then. He was always bigger back then. Maybe I can... that is gross. Whatever.
I remember back when this tall fucker used to be shorter than me. I think most twelve year olds are about the same size. His growth spurt came first. And looking at how big he is now, it looks as though it never really stopped.
Found a tantou on his thigh. Chick move. I ripped off the duct tape that secured it to his leg. Pulled his pants back up. Lifted the pant legs over his knee. Found plain old knives on his right leg. I removed them all. Such a coward he had turned into. No need for any of this. Real men fight with their fists.
I pulled the tantou from the shaft. I remember it. How Hirutani would lick the blade before torture. Small cuts. Small cuts. Said he licked it because it scared the victim and he could taste the last scared soul that was cut by his blade. I remember him trailing it down my thigh. The small danger sensation it made. My excitement.
"Jonouchi?"
"What?" I looked over at Yugi who was now standing. His knees were shaking. I could taste the fear from him.
"There are e-easier ways to do this..." he stuttered. "Why are you doing..."
"It this way? Because of what he does. I'm gonna take him out... the way he takes other people out. Only I'm not entirely positive I'm going to have a friend help me like he had."
My eyes focused on the blade. The shine. It felt good to know that I still had my eyesight. A blessing. The Goddess of Luck was on my side then. She stands by me now and assures this kill is right. She wouldn't have let me do my trick right if she felt otherwise.
"Wouldn't that make you as bad as him?"
Yugi's logic. I couldn't help but let out a little chuckle. "No Yugi. It doesn't. Because you see, I would never do this to someone that's my friend. I would never do this to my friend's friends. I reserve this only for him and the people like him."
Buttons pop off so easily. The smell... he is still the same. I took the blade and placed it on his skin. I dragged it down taking off only the top layer, leaving a irritated red scratch. I moved back up to the top and dragged it down adding a bit more pressure than the first time. Parts surfaced with blood this time.
I began to wonder if he would ever wake up. If he wakes up, he will know who killed him. He would know it was me.
I retraced my previous line. Blood.
"J-Jonouchi?"
My eyes darted to quickly look at Yugi but then back to the blood. It was dripping so slowly. If only there was more.
"Do..."
"What, Yugi?"
"Do you want me to help?"
I smiled. I couldn't help it. My buddy Yugi wanted to join in the eradication of this slime of a human being. "Didn't figure you would be into this. You did say that you never killed anyone, even though I saw you do it."
Yugi timidly walked towards me. I pointed to the array of knives I had removed from Hirutani's body. "I didn't say I was... but friends stick together no matter what."
I nodded at him. Couldn't help feeling an overwhelming sense of happiness knowing my buddy was willing to help me through this.
Yugi made his first cut. His nerves seemed to disappear as he went from one end of his pecs to the other. He cut deeper toward the end. Blood dripped.
Hirutani woke up and screamed. Wisely, Yugi jumped back away from Hirutani. Hirutani tried to escape but it was futile. He'd taught me all I needed to know about how to restrain strong men. His screaming rattled my ears so I plugged my ears.
It took a while before he settled down. I simply watched him suffer. Amazing how little you have to do to a human being before they act like this. Once he settled, he began asking questions.
"Why are you doing this?"
"Why? Why you mother fucking asshole! You ask me that question?"
Hirutani was crying. Blubbering about some shit. "Shut the fuck up. You didn't see me blubbering like that when you shocked me tortured me just the same. Made me watch as you hurt my friend. You tried to kill my friend too." Then my voice went into a little sing song mode. "Do on to others as you would have them do onto you." I found myself pacing away from him suddenly. "This leads me to believe one thing- You wanted death. You waited for it to graciously accept you with open arms. Now look at me buddy," I threw out my arms wide. "Meet your killer."
"No. No. Please don't kill me Jonouchi. I-I just missed..."
"You missed that lesson or you missed me? Either way you're a dead man."
"Just let me go...and I swear..."
"Oh shut your hole. I know what you'll do. You'll rally your cronies against me or my buddies and wipe us out."
I swung forward with his right fist, putting my full weight and momentum behind the punch. It landed right into his right ribcage. Sharp cracks on impact. It felt extremely satisfying. The groan from Hirutani felt even better. Before my former boss could recover, I wound my right arm up again and this time aimed lower. A gut-shot. No crack this time, just a dull thud and a loud 'oof' from Hirutani.
I was in boxing mode now. My surroundings didn't matter; it was just me and Hirutani. My fists lashed out at him, just like they would at a typical gym punching bag. Every punch caused another satisfying crack, or enjoyable grunt, and the next one would come so fast there was no opportunity for my victim to defend or prepare for what I delivered. Sometimes I went up to the face. Nothing could compare to the feeling of pushing Hirutani's nose right back into his face, drawing blood in a stream down his neck as it broke. Dimly, I was aware of Yugi watching me, not yet participating in the fun, watching me work more than anything. Good for him. Maybe he'd learn something.
Some minutes later, I was satisfied, and the punches stopped. Every rib in his body, cracked. His face, hardly recognizable. Any strength he might have had, long drained by all the vicious body blows. He was in no position to put up any kind of fight when me and my best friend got into the...more subtle aspects of causing pain.
"I think you knocked him out," Yugi said breathlessly. My eyes scaled him up. He was panting. Letting out tiny whimpers of pleasure. I stepped closer to him. Put my hand on his small frame. His eyes looked wild as I'm sure my own did as well. Suddenly, something snapped in my head. My lips were on his and he, he pushed his tongue at the outside of my mouth. I opened mine and let him in. The tips of Yugi's fingers were cold. His body was hot and heaving. He wanted more of me.
Eyes flashed back to Hirutani. His body so bruised and bloodied. Yugi waved a knife in front of me playfully. The older wounds were starting to look rather sticky and unappealing. I stepped aside and watched as Yugi cut into his flesh. Not very deep but just enough to draw blood from him. I stepped behind Yugi and placed my hand on his. Yugi dropped the knife and together we smeared blood all over his chest.
He recoiled his hand, turned and nuzzled my chest. His hands intertwined with my own. I could feel the blood dry up and rub off into little beads. Yugi pulled on the collar of my shirt. My mind swam as we sank to the floor. Nipped his ear. Ran my hand over one of the spikes in his hair. So hard. I was so hard. Was it so wrong to feel this intense? My nose dragged up Yugi's shirt. My tongue trailed behind. Yugi moaned for me. I pressed myself against his leather pants and he let out another pleasurable sound.
I looked over my shoulder at Hirutani, just dangling there. His body called to me. I was torn. I wanted to finish... and I wanted to finish.
"Yugi. Do you want more?" I cocked my head to point at Hirutani.
Yugi smirked. "More."
We got up. My hand wondered to my erection, wanting to give it some relief. It calmed a bit. Found myself encircling Hirutani his tantou in hand.
Kneeling down I took a look at his shoes. Took them off. No socks. The smell, enough to gag me. Yugi licked my ear.
"Lets wake him up," he purred into my ear. He lightly dragged the knife over all of Hirutani's toes. He then took off Hirutani's other shoe.
With that, Yugi emphatically pushed the knife into the top of Hirutani's foot. He yelled, now wide awake and focused, just like we needed. A quick burst of blood was followed by a steady flow from the newest injury.
I quickly backed up. Yugi followed. We needed to find something a little more... blunt. This was a abandoned warehouse after all, there should be something. That something turned out to be just what I was thinking. I found a hammer in the far corner. We headed back over to Hirutani, who's cries were dropping a little too much for my liking by now. I wanted more.
"Does it hurt, cupcake?"
"You monster!" He was crying like a little bitch.
"Awww don't say that! It isn't my fault after all!"
"Who mmm mm," Hirutani tried to hold in the cries.
"Yours of course."
This caused Hirutani to cry more. Yugi wrapped his arms around me, nuzzling me.
"Ahhh, our past, my dear cupcake. You taught me to do this. You taught me just how to tie up a man. How to be ruthless and vicious. But I bet you never supposed that I would one day surpass you..." I intentionally gave Hirutani a wicked look. I wanted him to see the monster he saw in me. The monster he had created. Well, I don't want to give him all the credit now. Yugi certainly inspired me further down this path. Knowing I wouldn't be alone on this seemingly lonely, lonely path made it all the better. Definitely humor myself to be a people person.
"Yugi, be a doll and remove that knife."
I walked to see Yugi in profile taking out the knife. Penetration, pulling out- so human of us. Yugi side stepped towards Hirutani. He tried to kick at Yugi but he was weak. Probably dizzy from pain and blood loss by now. Then, something shocking happened. With a quick jerk Yugi twisted it. He laughed to hear Hirutani's cries for help. No one would help him now. Yugi yanked out the knife.
The blood pooled on the floor. Yugi grasped the little toe. Excitement welled up with-in me. Everything inside chanted for Yugi to do exactly what I thought he was going to do. He cut it off. Blood squirted on his school uniform.
Next thing I knew I was panting. Wanted Yugi now more than ever. This... this is what we're about. Taking out the bad guy. Cleaning up the scum. Hirutani squirmed and yelled, trying to break free. He stopped again and just cried.
I jaunted up to Yugi and kissed him. Please do more.
"Jonouchi, I... lo...loved...you..." Hirutani said weakly.
I suddenly felt sick. I'd been prepared for him to say a lot of things. People say a lot of things when they think they're about to die. Mostly things that don't mean anything. But, truth be told...I wouldn't have been surprised if Hirutani really did mean that. And I wasn't ready for it.
For the shortest of split-seconds, I wanted to go back in time about half an hour. Erase all of this. Go about my life as usual, find some other way of getting beyond my past. How could I do all this to this man? After all we had been through...
Memories rushed through my head. He wasn't such an asshole back then.
We spent a lot of time together just hanging out. Doing stuff together. Having fun. Setting poop on fire. Fighting each other then breathless making out.
Was he really a good guy? No. No. No.
I remember his large meaty hands tightly gripping my head. Taking him into my mouth and telling me it was something that we would just do together. Gagging as he came in the back of my throat every time. Refusing to pull it out before then... Going to the hospital to get rid of god knows what... Back to him. I love you. At the time I didn't know what any of that meant. And he kept giving it to me. Over and over. Not giving a damn.
"You know what, cupcake? I don't believe you."
And then I killed him. The yo-yo hath judged you unworthy.
**Fixed POV errors July 1st- Thanks Demonomania. I don't know how you found them, but my betas or I did not.**
Special thanks to Ziven and Yllimilly for inspiring me to write this fic.
