This is my third entry for the YGO fanfiction contest. This time, the pairing is Protectshipping, also known as Hiroto Honda x Ryou Bakura. Please enjoy. If you'd like some hints or insight into the story, please scroll down to the bottom and read the notes there. They don't spoil the story, I promise.

Tego Texi Tectum

His was the last face that Ryou was expecting to see on a late, Saturday night. His eyes widened and spread like dinner plates before he caught himself—that was the old Ryou, and he was the new. There was no time for this, for surprise or fear or anything that would make him weak. Not when the poor and defenseless were out there, suffering and dying and killing to live.

"Hiroto Honda." His name was called, and the apprehended man had his photos taken. Ryou kept his head down as the lights flashed in the corner of his eyes; he didn't want Honda to see him until he was ready for it, and besides, he wasn't supposed to be working today. On the other hand, he didn't think that he could stand an old friend of his asking if he could be done a favor—he had always been told by newbies and oldies alike that old friends and acquaintances, once they saw that you were certified, asked all sorts of questions and favors. He was working on another case, anyway. If any gods that existed pitied him he wouldn't have to worry about Honda.

The Gods, unfortunately, never pitied him—he had learned that from Bakura, when he was weak and cowering—and that at least had proven true: Honda's case was on his desk that evening, stamp of approval from the police department red and shining in the light. Ryou nodded, accepting his fate, something that he now had the courage to do. He moved himself to the break room to get himself a cup of coffee and wash down the sense of disappointment before going to the file. There were pictures of him, Honda, from when they'd been in school clipped on the cover of the folder, which brought back a lot of old memories. One of the pictures featured Yuugi and some of the old gang; none of them featured himself, something that he knew had led his boss to believe that he was capable of doing an unbiased job. He was and he would; after all, he wasn't like the others.

No one remembered him from the old dueling tournaments, and he hadn't been invited to a new one or challenged in more than a decade. He felt a small pang in his heart, and he wondered—what on earth had happened? He still saw everyone now and then, when he had the time, and although the group saw Honda even less than anyone else, he had never had the impression that Honda was in the deep end.

Ryou opened the folder, the name that had been called outside typed in neat characters across the top of the folder, expecting something unacceptable as the charge—murder, manslaughter, drunk driving, selling illegal substances—his heart pumping loudly in his ears as he took two seconds to turn to the first leaf of paper.

Being charged with: Defacing of public property, breaking and entering.

…that was it? Great, his boss had a sense of humor. Two weeks of domestic violence, prostitution and indecent exposure charges and now he got stuck with this? Well, he supposed that it was a bit more easy to handle than the case that he was closing up, and considering that it was for a distant friend, it might not be as bad as it seemed. He sipped at his coffee and prepared for the long haul.

He didn't see Honda the day after; according to the charges he broke into a friend's apartment—some kid named Katsuro—and left. There had been a charge for kidnapping, it seemed, but those were dropped when the kid was found with Honda not two blocks away, with empty spray cans; they had obviously been painting something. Nothing major. However, the boy's father ran his own small business, and he was ranting and raving about Honda being a bad influence for the boy and some other such things, according to the report. They were checking into whether or not anything had been stolen from the house, but that seemed rather unlikely. Honda's bail was pretty low—fifty thousand yen—but at the most he was going to be detained for a week. Ryou shouldn't have been so taken by his friend coming in—he was going to visit the Katsuro boy and see how that was going on, too.

It was obvious his parents weren't going to be fair when it came to Honda; not two hours after they'd been brought in the kid's bail had been paid.

Ryou's first course of action was to pay Yuugi a call instead and tell him the news, as he was sure that the police had done their job and already notified his relatives. "In jail? What? Hold on." Ryou could hear Yuugi's high voice, calling out to tell whoever else was there where Honda was. A few minutes of rustling and he was back. "Ryou—what did he do? I knew you worked in defense, but…is there anything that you can do?"

Ryou sighed. "Not unless he has an alibi. He was picked up early this morning, slept in a cell while office hours were closed and then put in line for record updating. He's already got a history."

Yuugi seemed a bit outraged. "But he did all of those things in high school! It wasn't serious—just things like painting on the buildings and skipping class and a few fights—it's not the same thing!"

"Calm down, Yuugi. If he's innocent, I'm going to do everything that I can to get him out, okay?" Ryou took a breath. "The fact of the matter is that I haven't spoken to him yet. I wanted to see if he has an alibi before I do. Do you know where he was yesterday? Did you see him at all? Ask everyone else who might be there, too—it's very important that I get as many details as possible."

Yuugi's voice drooped, sounding a bit wilted and sad. "…no, I didn't see him at all last night. He was supposed to meet up at my house for a small party—the same one I invited you to, Ryou, but he didn't show up…" There was more shuffling about, so much that Ryou had to hold the phone away, and he assumed that Yuugi was inquiring with the group about Honda's whereabouts.

Jounouchi's voice was on the phone next. "I saw him yesterday, but it was in the afternoon."

Ryou frowned from his end of the phone, and he knew it was apparent in his voice. "I'm afraid that won't help, considering that he was picked up very early in the morning. But was there anything unusual about him? Did he talk to you about anything in particular?"

"He was normal. I neva though he'd be doin' somethin' to get his ass in jail! It's fuckin' Sunday!"

"Well, he is in jail," Ryou said, "and I'm trying to get him out. Do you know anything?" But of course he didn't. Honda hadn't seemed out of the ordinary at all. Ryou let them know that the bail was fifty-thousand yen, and that they could pay it any time during the week. Now he had to see the suspect himself.

Ryou didn't want to believe that his friend—or former, whatever—was guilty, and he wanted to take the time and effort to look at things objectively. He knew that his training thus far would advise him to hand over the case to another attorney, but he wasn't sure if he could force himself to do it. Something stirred within him, and he took a deep breath. He knew what it felt like to have no one believe in you under the accusation of being a terrible person—a person who did horrifying things to others, things that caused nightmares every night, things that would drive a man insane—when things got so bad that even your companions doubted your sincerity. Like—

The white-haired man shook his head to rid himself of his thoughts, his hands straying beneath his desk to a drawer that he opened slowly. A sigh escaped unconsciously from his lips as he glimpsed the white bottle, knowing what was inside.

"Ryou, what are you doing here?" Honda looked surprised, shocked, sitting up from the small cot that he was allowed in his cell.

"…"

"Are Yuugi and the others with you? How did you find out I was here? Did my family tell you?"

"It's just me," Ryou said simply, stepping inside as the cell door was unlocked by an officer. His leather coat brushed against one of the bars as he entered, and his hands were tucked neatly inside his flesh-colored trousers. "And I'm your defense attorney, assigned by the city." He paused, expecting Honda to reply but he did not. "…unless you have already contacted another lawyer and you would like me to transfer the case details."

"Ha!" Honda began just as Ryou had finished. "As though I could afford a lawyer." He sat up now, making sure that he was facing Ryou. "So this is what you do? You're assigned cases?"

"Yes."

"…guess it would have been better for me to find out under different conditions, right?" Ryou didn't reply, merely studied him. He didn't seem nervous at all—had this been a more violent case he would have said Honda was calm as a killer—but it wasn't. He was thinking of the other him, long ago, and those thoughts had no place here. Honda sighed and continued. "What are they charging me with?"

"You were being charged with kidnapping, but that's been done away with on account of the boy refusing to cooperate with the lawyer. Honda, you are almost thirty. What the hell are you doing going to sneak off with barely legal boys to write on buildings during the night? They have the empty paint cans you dropped."

The brunette looked down, his face suddenly sullen. "It…was a special favor."

"Right. A favor that's got you facing a breaking-and-entering charge from that kid's parents because he doesn't live alone and a charge of defacing public property from the city—"

Honda shook his head. "No no—that's not true."

"Oh?" Ryou questioned. "It isn't?" He turned around, motioning for an officer. When one came forward, Ryou said, "I would like a meeting room, private." Ryou was pretty well known because of his longevity at this particular institution, and so there was no need to specify that Honda was his client. Soon enough, they were out of the cell and somewhere much neater—too neat, if you asked Ryou, but that was another matter—and Honda was very avidly eating his lunch for the day and washing it down with water; Ryou had a coffee. He even gave Honda time to finish eating before asking him to elaborate.

"Look," Honda said, "I'm quite a lot of things, but not stupid. The building—it hadn't been defaulted to the city yet. I did the research. No one owns it right now."

"So you're telling me that your crimes were premeditated."

"You're making everything sound so much worse!" Honda declared loudly. "I know we haven't been the closest over the years but you don't have to fucking treat me like trash!"

"I have to assume the worst, Honda," Ryou answered, "so that I can argue against it. It's my job. Thinking the best of you won't help me do that well." Then Honda fell silent, taking another gulp of water. After a few moments without speech, Ryou realized that he was going to have to pry the answers out of him. "So who is this Katsuro? How do you know him? Why would he ask you for a favor that could end you up in detainment?"

"He—he's just an old friend. He used to run in a small gang in high school some years ago. He didn't go to Domino, though—it was an inter-city thing." Honda leaned forward, pushing his empty plate away as he held his head in his hands. "He had the typical, 'rebel rich boy' story. If you already know about him, then you know his parents run their own business. I picked him up off of the street one day while he was planning to break into my parents' salvage yard, tried to set him straight."

"So you were fraternizing with a minor at some point?"

"That's disgusting, Bakura; fuck you."

Being called 'Bakura' took Ryou back farther into the past than he'd wanted to be taken, and Ryou grit his teeth against lashing back. Familiar or not, he was a client. A client who had seen the worst of him—and the other him—but a client nonetheless. "Please," he said, voice strained, "call me Ryou."

Honda said nothing to him before continuing. "I didn't want him to waste all the time in the streets that Jou and I did; it doesn't get you anywhere in the long run, you know? And he has such a good background…" he trailed off for a moment. "But that's part of the problem—his parents are so overbearing. He's their only son, so he's taking the company. They've planned everything for him. He doesn't get to make any of his own decisions, and it's only worse now that he's older. Of course, his parents don't think I'm a good influence, since my family isn't like theirs…"

"I see," Ryou said. "It explains why they were so quick to pay his bail. So, what did you actually do that night?"

"…I…" Honda was hesitant. "…I painted a mural."

This shocked Ryou more than anything else he'd heard. "Excuse me?"

"That was my favor to him. I painted on the building for him."

Ryou's mind flashed back to the file, and he recalled there not being a picture of the defaced property. "Where is the building you painted?"

"…I can't tell. They'll white-wash it."

"Honda, without the location of the building to check availability against, the city can claim you defaced public property. What if Katsuro tells them where it is? It makes you look worse for not speaking about it."

"If he tells them, that's his business. It was his favor—but I know he wouldn't. I won't."

"Honda, you're not helping at all, You're looking at two different trials and two different sentences."

"I'm not trying to hide," Honda replied. "I plan on pleading guilty. B&E isn't so bad," Honda admitted, shrugging. "Prove I didn't have malicious intent toward Katsuro, and I get house arrest, right?"

Ryou wasn't happy with this at all, even though it would make the paperwork a bit easier. "And what about defacing of property?"

"Community Service—I'll take it." Honda said, looking rather indignant. "I'm sorry if this makes things harder for you—but it was a big favor. I can't…I can't ruin it. It took seven hours to paint. He—he lost his grandmother last year, Ryou. I know that's not the same as your mother or Amane, but please try to understand." When Ryou looked up, eyes widening at the mention of the two women from his past, Honda smiled weakly. "Look, I know that we don't talk that much anymore…" Honda's hand reached slowly toward the center of the table, "but I remember when we used to talk. I never forgot, Ryou." He bowed his head until it was touching the table. "I'm sorry I'm being so difficult, Ryou-sensei."

The white haired attorney wasn't sure how to react. It was unfair, bringing up Amane and his mother that way, but even without them being in the picture he knew that he could empathize. Honda had always been a nice person—rough around the edges, but kindhearted—and Ryou, now that he had heard a story that coincided with the facts he had gathered—wanted to help him. Unfortunately, it seemed that the only way to do that was to allow himself to be convicted.

"Have you spoken to your family?" Ryou asked. For the third time, silence had fallen over them.

"They're not paying bail. When's the arraignment?"

"You're a bit too familiar with the justice system for my liking, Honda."

"I assumed that you had a chance to look at my record." Ryou nodded. "Jou's is worse."

The attorney nodded again with a smirk. "I believe you."

Honda's proceedings were the following week, after he served his jail time. Normally a sentence for something so minor wouldn't be as long, but time had been added to his sentence when he didn't give up the location of the building he'd painted; obstruction of justice and all. Despite there being more paperwork to catch up on—there was always more paperwork—Ryou found himself visiting Honda during the slow hours.

It was very strange; as though they hadn't been estranged for a number of years, their camaraderie flourished again and they began to talk a little. It was mostly Honda, explaining things about his life. Where he worked, for example: he still worked with his parents even though he was on his own, because he was good with cars and bikes. He had always been good at it, he'd told Ryou, and he wouldn't trade all that he had learned about them for any degree in the world. His family, to that end, seemed uninterested in helping him with his temporary sentence. Not being financially well off, Ryou could understand that—what bothered him, however, was the fact that no one had bothered to bring him clothes or food—and Ryou knew that a jail was no place of decadence. The white hair man took it upon himself to bring Honda lunch when he could during the week; if he was in Honda's position, he would have liked avoiding cold, tasteless meat.

Yuugi, Jounouchi and Anzu dropped by the jail to visit, bringing a warm change of clothing and supporting hugs with them. The sight made Ryou smile, to know that they were a help in that way. It was strange how this scenario had just fallen into his lap, and how almost every moment reminded him of something in his own past, or lack thereof. He almost wished he still smoked; he could have used a square for all of the inward reflection he was doing. Ryou hung about the entrance of the cell as Honda spoke, saying nothing himself. The brunette was very straightforward in letting his friends know that he hadn't done anything 'serious' and that he'd probably be back to normal in a few months when he paid the fines. They all seemed to know who the Katsuro kid was, and to that affect Jounouchi became rather enraged.

"So da pipsqueak is just sittin' lofty in his home while you suffer?"

It was then that Ryou voiced himself, when Honda had no rebuttal. "Quite the opposite. His own case is up tomorrow at noon. Although he isn't being charged for breaking and entering, he's also guilty of helping you deface a building, Honda. I imagine that with such a wealthy family his parents will encourage him to fight it."

"Knowin' fucked up system he'll walk," Jou growled, and Ryou thought it funny; he couldn't imagine the blond being so riled up over such a minor incident.

"Don't say that too loudly, Jounouchi. Your record isn't flawless, either."

"I hope he can get out of it," Honda whispered, and Anzu slowly rubbed his shoulders.

"'S not the end of da world," Jou said. "Bit of time at home and some service won't hurt'cha." Honda nodded, smiling with a bit of mischief twinkling in his eyes. It was nice to see those eyes live, Ryou thought, having noticed that his client's mood had sunk when Katsuro had been mentioned. And over the past few days, Honda had been looking more and more worried.

So his friends had come and gone, and Honda became a bit more resilient. Ryou did a short report with a summary of Honda's legal decision and how they were going to plead as of that date before going home—his job was done for the day.

Ryou watched the next day, Friday, as the Katsuro boy pleaded not guilty to the charge of defacing property. His defense attorney was asking if the jury would consider him as an accomplice, something that would earn him only a small but bit of severity off of the ruling. Both he and Honda would most likely still earn the same sentence, the only difference being that Katsuro could probably get it wiped from his record. Ryou knew that his parents had to be responsible for using such a small measure just to save face, if what Honda had told him about the boy had been true. He sat at the back of the courtroom, observing that Katsuro hadn't said a single thing during the entire proceeding, and declined to speak when the judge inquired into whether or not there was any additional information to be brought forward. After the refusal, the issue of the defaced building's location came up and as Honda assured him, Katsuro refused to speak, even after being cautioned that he risked losing the credibility for his plea. Ryou had to admit that the kid had balls—he could see how he would have fit into one of the inter-city gangs.

When the court dismissed and concluded the proceedings, they issued another day for a hearing and the judge mentioned that the other individual (Honda) was having his arraignment on Monday, considering that the courts would be closed over the weekend. Ryou hadn't realized Honda would be in for an extra day and night.

Honda wasn't happy to be reminded of it when Ryou went back to visit him, either. "I…I was only sentenced to a week," he said, sighing. "But yea, I know about the weekends. I should've thought ahead." They'd moved to the meeting room again; Ryou had figured it would be a nice change of place from the plain cell. He supposed that there was no difference between one monochrome room and the next, but Honda seemed to appreciate the change in venue. "I guess I'll have to see you Monday, then."

"I'll just see you tomorrow," Ryou said, trying to sound a bit more nonchalant than he felt. "I've always got work to catch up on—it wouldn't be the first Saturday I worked without pay." He didn't bother to mention that it was an early Sunday morning they'd brought him in and that he'd been there to see it.

"Don't stretch yourself for me. It's not necessary."

"It's not a favor," Ryou said. "It's a gift. So it's not optional. I'll bring you something I made instead of something bought."

"Okay," Honda conceded."

"On one condition," Ryou added.

"Honda met his eyes as he asked, "What?"

"Your hearing is on Monday at three. I want you to show me the mural before you plead guilty."

The brunette looked every reluctant. "I don't know."

"Why not? It's not as though I can try to use it against you for not telling the court. I work for you, remember?" The white haired male chuckled, sipping from the mug of coffee he had on the table.

"Yes…yeah, sure," Honda slowly agreed. He sounded a bit downhearted. Then a moment later, he perked up, asking, "Ryou, why did you become a DA? What made you want to push through something like law school?"

Slender hands ran themselves through white hair. Ryou could feel himself beginning to break down—he wanted to talk to Honda about it, and that was the scary part. The last person he had spoken to of his troubles was Malik, who had suffered much the same way, but that boy had been in Egypt and out of mind for a long time now. It was different, talking to an outsider in this way, and he wasn't sure how much he would feel pressed to say. But something about Honda had reached him—something about a man who didn't mind risking his integrity for a friend who wanted to make a memorial to his late grandmother—it had touched him.

"I wanted to help protect others," Ryou began by saying. It was always that reason, he realized, and he felt a bit like a character out of a book or a movie. "After the Ceremonial Duel, Honda, I had my life back. You don't know what that means—you don't know what it meant to me." The white haired attorney felt the urge to pull himself back, and he decided that instant that he wasn't going to reveal much more. "You all cried because the Pharaoh was gone—I cried in joy because the Thief was gone, too. Even from where I was, distant but connected, I felt myself being freed. And I decided that I would go into law; to see the truth, the lies and to learn for myself how to discern when one was pretending to be the other."

Honda seemed to get the hint, because he didn't ask any questions about Bakura at all. Instead, he said, "Do you still talk to your father?"

It was an odd question in the sequence of it all, but its meaning didn't escape the man who answered. "Occasionally. He's doing well, before you ask."

Before their conversation had the chance to become either more or less awkward, they were interrupted—another attorney needed to use the meeting room.

The weekend went by quickly for Ryou—but perhaps that was because of his anticipation for Monday. He was allowed inside to speak with his client—but only because he happened to work in the building and the cops there knew him. Visiting was normally closed on weekends for detainment, as it wasn't a large scale prison and no one was expected to be in for long.

Honda seemed to enjoy his lunch Saturday: shrimp dumplings and assorted tempura with udon noodles and Ryou's homemade broth. Honda praised Ryou for his cooking skills and so the white-haired man made the same for the next day. They'd made small talk during the hour or so that Ryou was there, and there were no complaints from Honda when he didn't stay for hours on end. It wasn't as though Ryou had too much else to do that weekend—nothing exciting outside of errands, some small cleaning and a bit of reading for himself that was not work-related; but all the same, he still felt a bit unsettled by how comfortable he'd gotten with Honda over such a short period of time.

There were no words for Monday.

Honda was released that morning, and Ryou got the morning out-of-the-office in preparation for the proceedings that afternoon. It was a courtesy, really, as arraignments were hardly anything to sweat over if your client was cooperative.

He really wanted to see what Honda had painted. Honda managed to scrape up half of what was needed to get his bike out of the impound lot, and Ryou in his eagerness threw in the other. It was a decision that he knew he was going to doubt later, but he shrugged it off. He'd never ridden on a bike before, and it was rather exciting—a bit too exciting. The wind rushing towards him was overwhelming and for several moments of the ride he felt breathless in a way that he couldn't explain; it reminded him of Bakura's clutches. He held onto Honda's waist a bit tighter than he'd meant to, his breathing quickening as he felt a shiver going down his spine. He closed his eyes and pushed himself into Honda's back, knowing that he was going to need the sleeping pills this night. He felt Honda look back, and he said nothing to explain himself.

Ryou recognized the part of town that they ended up in, but he couldn't say how they'd gotten there. Things seemed entirely too familiar but distant at the same time, and he felt as though his past was hiding behind every corner. He'd spent too long dragging himself up from the dregs of respite into the neutrality that he had reached—he didn't want to be pulled back down by memories.

"…it's this way," Honda said, and as they hopped off of his bike, the brunette took Ryou's hand, clasping it and leading him along. It surprised Ryou how comforting a gesture it was, and he clasped back despite himself.

The street was full of abandoned shops—a lot of them had foreclosure signs pasted on their doors. Ryou had to admit—Honda had chosen well; a neighborhood that the city owned most of already would probably be overlooked by anyone searching, particularly in the case that someone found out it wasn't a building the city owned.

"How far away were you where you were picked up?" Ryou asked. He had read the streets in the initial report, but his mind was foggy now and he couldn't remember to save his life.

"Two or three miles," Honda said. "I don't remember the crossroads. We were stopped by a patrol, and they saw the paint on our hands and the canisters. Probable cause at 2 in the morning. But I wasn't going to not confess—I knew my crime had to be accounted for, and I honestly think Katsuro wanted to upset his parents by being locked up. Again."

"You two…told the police what you'd done?" Ryou had figured that the information had been confessed later, rather than near the scene of the crime.

"They asked and we didn't lie. The paint was evidence enough. My arms and legs were aching." The two rounded the end of a corner, Honda stepping ahead for a few feet and then stopping in front of a small building. "There it is."

Ryou didn't reply—the painting, when his eyes landed on it, took his breath away.

The mural was beautiful. An angel, pale and translucent, was flying into an incredibly detailed sunset, painted with red, orange, yellow and golden hues. The world below displayed a daunting play of light and dark, the shadow of the clouds contrasting with the light cast by the angel above. In the lower right corner sat a small boy, praying at an old style altar, complete with candles and a Buddha figure at his side, his parents standing behind him. Ryou couldn't see their faces, as they were down from a bird's eye view, but he knew that it was Katsuro and his family. Underneath the angel, however, was a living city, buildings lit with lights for the evening and small, miniscule people. It was a work of art, truly, if Ryou had even seen any.

"It was supposed to go on his car," Honda said as Ryou continued to gape at the work. "That's what I do on the side. I paint cars—but Katsuro's parents wouldn't let him. It was supposed to help the both of us out—I'd get some extra money for the job and he's get a car that was a tribute to his grandmother…but now…" Honda looked down, and then at the brick wall he'd painted. "It's not my favorite, but…I didn't want it to be white-washed this soon. I couldn't take a picture while it was drying, and I didn't have a camera anyway; but I would like one."

"I…" It took effort for Ryou to shift his mind away from the mural, so that he could say something that made sense. "I'm going to try to get your house arrest waived and assign you a probationary officer with a fine instead. You'll probably get it, especially when I stress that you have a job to help cover the fine. Is that alright with you?"

"Of course it is."

Ryou turned to look Honda in the eyes, and he asked seriously, "…you really painted this?"

"Yes," Honda said, smiling, and Ryou very suddenly realized that they were still holding hands. "…is it really that great?"

His words seemed to be failing him—there was only so much that he could express. Looking at this painting made something move within him. There were very few things that made a positive impact in his life these days, but Ryou felt as though a small weight was being lifted from his shoulders as his eyes once again landed on the bold colors. He took a deep breath, and closed his eyes as a warm sensation washed over him. For those few moments, he felt normal. No inner angst—no daymares, no nightmares, no memories. Just peace. It was beautiful, the reds and the golds showing themselves in his mind's eyes, the angel floating across his vision. He sighed happily, taking another deep breath before looking at Honda again. "Honda," he asked, "may I buy you lunch?"

The hearing went along swimmingly. Ryou, on Honda's behalf, pled guilty to both charges with the request that he suffered a fine as opposed to house arrest. He also insisted that there was no malicious intent as far as entering the home, and he cited Friday's proceedings as proof that there was no harm; nothing had been stolen from the household and the boy was safe and could verify the lack of intent. The judge replied that Honda made enough money working, and that disqualified himself from house arrest anyway, so Ryou attempted to not look as though he was embarrassed about not having checked his client's income before making that plea. The B&E charge was dropped entirely, by the end of the hearing, although the charge was added for obstructing justice by withholding the location of the defaced property. After a brief discussion with Honda, he pled guilty and yielded to pay the fines for that offense as well as serve community service and the case was dismissed. A case summary and copies of all paperwork were on his boss's desk at the end of the day. Honda's fines were nothing to scoff at, but the brunette said that he would manage, and he was honestly just glad to be able to go home after having to sign and initial so much paperwork. He asked Ryou to follow him, to repay his kindness, and the defense attorney thought it would be nice to have an evening without paying for or making anything himself.

When they first arrived at his apartment, Honda got a call from Jounouchi, asking how things had gone from the sound of it. Ryou took the extra time to take in the finer details of Honda's apartment. The den was furnished with some (fake, he could tell) leather couches, and there was a book shelf in one corner and a tall lamp in another. The wall was non-existent behind the couches and opened up to the rest of the home. The expected that there was a kitchen of decent size and maybe even a spare room toward the back. He lived on the second floor, in a neighborhood not too far from where Jounouchi had been staying when they were in high school, Ryou noticed. He'd seen the address on the case file.

Does Jounouchi still live at his old place? He wondered. He suddenly was aware that he felt as though he'd been moving in slow motion, and Honda had broken whatever spell he'd been under. Things seemed to be changing so quickly for him now. He hadn't bothered to wonder, until then, how much everyone could have changed as well. He hadn't even bothered to ask Yuugi and the others how they'd been doing when he'd spoken to them earlier in the week—

"Sorry about that," Honda said, making his way back into the den, a hand in his pocket and another closing his phone. "You know how Jounouchi is; he's coming over later, if you wanted to stay that long." Ryou blinked, just being brought back to reality, and Honda continued awkwardly at the lack of response. "Look, I…wanted to repay you for what you've done. I know that I have court fees and taxes to pay for your services, but it's just not the same—I know you, so…" Ryou stood, facing Honda just as he pulled a small clip of yen from his pocket. "It's not all I have, so don't feel guilty, but I feel like I have to give you something. You did a lot for me, and I know that I was difficult."

"No no no. I can't take that," Ryou shook his head, stepping closer and pushing Honda's hand away. "Please, Honda, don't insult me. I don't do this to get paid. There are rarely DA's for the police department who do this to be paid anymore. It's a hard job, but it's worth it. Really."

"I want to. Please, take it."

"I can't."

"You will."

"I can't," Ryou repeated. "Seeing the mural was enough, Honda. It was beautiful." There was a sudden warmth against the palm of his hand, and he realized for the second time that they were still touching. He pulled his hand away and put it in his pocket, looking up to the brunette. "I'm telling you, I won't let you pay me. That painting was beautiful. I haven't seen anything that inspiring in a long time." His breaths were coming quicker, and his words were beginning to catch in his throat again, just thinking about that sunset.

Honda put the money in his pocket, and moved toward the bookcase. He reached behind it, and Ryou heard scuffling on the floor. When he turned, Honda was standing next to a canvas. "I'll paint you something, then," Honda said. "And you can't stop me from doing that."

The smile was easy, and endearing, and Ryou couldn't keep still. He clenched his fists, and tried to look anywhere but at Honda. "…you don't have to." But he wanted him to.

"What do you want me to paint for you, Ryou?" Honda left the canvas and was back in front of Ryou, taking his fists, and smoothing them out between his own hands. "I know you've gone through a lot, and I haven't really been there to help you out. But you did help me, a lot, and you saw the mural and didn't tell anyone about it. I really appreciate that. I'm in your debt much more than you know. I'll paint anything."

Ryou still couldn't meet his eyes. He felt like he was asking for too much. He wasn't supposed to want anything in return for his job. Honda getting the verdict that he wanted was supposed to be enough. And yet and still, when his lips parted, he said, "…a sunset…"

Honda laughed, still holding the white haired man's hands, and he said, "So you liked the one in the mural? I'll do it. Is that it? Is that all you want?" Ryou didn't like feeling this way, small and tiny and not strong, like he had worked hard to be. He nodded his agreement. "Thank you, Ryou," Honda said, raising his hands, Ryou's with them, and kissing the top of the pale skin on the shorter man's wrist. "Thank you." Ryou wasn't sure how to feel about that—he was more bothered and confused and warm and embarrassed than ever, not sure what it all meant.

But before he could figure it out, a moment had passed between them, moving too fast, and Honda was leaning closer and closer; and then it was his lips leaning by themselves and Ryou didn't know if he wanted to get out of the way. The kiss was sudden, and brief—there was a flutter—and then it was over and the warmth in his hands had spread to his whole body, warm like that sunset. Honda's eyes were watching for Ryou's reaction and he still wasn't sure what to say, and in the silence Honda repeated again, "Thank you."

It wasn't until that third 'thank you' that Ryou realized that things should have been reversed—he should have been thanking Honda.

{FIN}

Edited: 6/5/11

My Misguided Fairytale - I hadn't finished going over it yet! I guess I'll let the errors I hadn't corrected alone, though—I want to be fair to the other contestants...

A/N:The title of this piece means "Cover, Protect and Shield," a Latin phrase used in the military.

Wow. There are a lot of things to discuss here. First of all, I changed my format a bit for this round—for the contest I experimented with the horizontal lines as breaks for scenes, but after the last round when people were telling me that it had been difficult to tell when the story had ended and they'd reached the author's notes I decided to go back to my old format with the parentheses. I hope that it worked out better.

Second—while I know a bit of how the legal system works, I'm pretty sure that there may be some discrepancies with terminology and exact details, so please be a bit merciful as far as that. There's a mix of Western and Eastern culture elements in here as well, and I'm sure that you'll spot them if you pay attention.

This was a whopper of a story, something that I passed up two separate story ideas to go with. It was inspired by something a friend, xanderpeacecraft, had been discussing with me about the contest. I hadn't wanted to do it at first, but I thought that it fit in with the "protect" theme of the pairing name. My creative writing professor always told me it's the last idea that you should do, because it will be the most challenging, and yes, it was. This took forever to write, and I only had a few days—but typing it was worse. XD

As far as the characters, there are some obvious liberties in this story, including the removal of Millennium items and the Yami(s) at some point, the time skip (it's not directly stated, but Honda and Ryou are approximately twenty-eight in this story), and the OC. I wanted to have more insight to Honda and Katsuro's interaction, but I felt that it unnecessarily elongated the story, and you can see that I don't need any of that, considering how long it already is.

I think that this Ryou is a bit reminiscent of what you usually see from him in fanfiction—with lots of inner angst in his past and whatnot—but Honda here is much more interesting. I know that he works with cars and bikes a lot in the (English) show—and there are some hints in the manga as well, actually—so I used that as a platform to branch out some of his interests. I also referenced his and Jou's pasts as bullies and troublemakers here, so I also thought that was a nice way of keeping the characters familiar.

I don't really have time to comb thoroughly through this for errors, because I really want to make the contest deadline, so please, let me have all the errors that you can find, other contestants! With quotes if possible. I appreciate it.