A Warm Heart in a Cold Desert
Disclaimer: *Sits there with a sign saying 'Will Give Pocky For Ownage of YGO'*
Pairings: Bakura/Ryou, maybe some side Marik/Malik
Warnings/Other: Yaoi (don't like? Don't read.), death, angst, wierdness. Some splashes of humor here and there. All mentions of the words "hot dog" are meant in the literal sense, like the kind you buy at carnivals. No hentainess here. Oh, and I don't like the American Government too much. Expect mild government-bashing.
Summary: -AU- Bakura, an Egyptian prison escapee. Ryou, a contradictory teenager sick of the family life. After Ryou is dragged along on his family trip to desert, he finds Bakura in the back of his car, and decides to run away with him. There's only one problem. The police are after them both, and they're in the middle of a desert with no idea where civilization is. YAOI BxR
-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-
The refridgerator door slammed shut with extreme force after the boy extracted a canned fruit drink. "Mom, I told you already! I don't want to go on this stupid trip!"
Ryou sighed and stared pleadingly into his mother's matching chocolate eyes. The only difference between the two sets of orbs was that one was annoyed, while the other was reaching enraged. "Ryou, you know how much this means to your grandfather. Can't you be civil just this once?" She said, exasperatedly. She knew that bringing the silver-haired youth along on the family trip to the desert was by far not the best of ideas, but at the same time, she didn't want to leave him alone for two or three weeks. Pulling back a lock of her own pale blonde hair, she sighed in half-defeat. "Alright, Ryou. You still have to come on the trip, but you don't have to do anything else you don't want to, including sitting at the table with us. Is that fair enough?"
Feeling his anger dissapating, Ryou remained silent as he sipped his fruit punch. "Alright, alright..." He turned away from his mother, he felt immense guilt starting to wash over him. He sighed a second time, his back still towards her. "I'm sorry." Apologized the boy, before running into the living room and up the stairs, skipping each second step in an attempt at reaching his room faster.
"Don't worry about it, dear. Just don't forget to pack." Sighed the slender woman softly as her teenaged son was heard closing the door to his room upstairs.
.
Ryou sighed and flopped backwards onto his old mattress. He had had the thing since he was born, and couldn't find it in his heart to get rid of it and replace it with a newer mattress, though why he was so sentimental he didn't know. Because his mattress was so old, it was also very bouncy, and because it was very bouncy, he bounced up and down with his arms folded neatly behind his head until the bed decided he had enough bouncing for one life time.
His thoughts were jumbled and quite incoherent as he lay on his bed, staring up at the painted stars on the ceiling. He remembered the first night he went to sleep underneath those stars. It was when he was about seven years old, and at the time he had a fascination with astronomy. His mother had allowed him to paint stars on his ceiling, and he had yet to paint over them. He shoved all thoughts of stars out of his mind, and went back to sorting out his other thoughts.
One part of him felt extremely annoyed at merely having to leave the house for over half a month out of his summer vacation. Another part of him was glad to escape the lonley silence of his room, and to finally see a part of nature he had never really seen before. And yet another part of him knew nothing about what emotion to feel, and only knew that it was tired, and wanted more sleep. At this realization, Ryou turned onto his side and gazed at the neon green numbers displaying the time on his alarm-clock. The numbers proved it to be 11:05am. Ryou frowned. "No normal human should be awake this early in the morning during summer vacation." He muttered into his pillow as he turned on to his stomach. "Then again..." he thought aloud, "since when am I normal?" With a kind smirk and light laugh, Ryou closed his eyes and allowed sleep to claim him until he was to be awakened a second time that day.
//
"Law enforcers are the root of all Satanic influences," Decided the sixteen- year-old as he dug a hand-made skeleton key out of his pocket. Carefully inching towards the iron bars that held him prisoner, he slid a thin hand through the man-made evils known as jail cell bars, and turned the miniscule lock around, so that it was facing him. Luckily, he had escaped from a similar situation back in Egypt, and he had experience in breaking out of jail. However, his luck had run out upon a poorly planned attempt at sneaking into the United States of America. Not like that could keep the infamous Bakura down for long, though. Returning his thoughts back to the task at hand, Bakura quickly picked the lock and held the heavy metal object in his hand for a moment before throwing it inside his small pouch. Now that he had broken free of his pathetic little jail cell, only two things remained to be done: Get out of the perimeter of the prison, and not get caught again. Though he wasn't too sure about how he was going to follow the latter, he knew just how he was going to escape. Silently he thanked his years on the streets in Egypt.
Pausing for just the briefest of moments to check his watch, he found it to be 11:05am. He rolled his eyes. `Most normal people are doing something productive right now.` A smirk crossed his face. `Then again, most normal people aren't attempting to escape from prison.`
He slinked along the wall nearest the door to the outisde, bending low enough so that he could run without making noise, but not so low that he couldn't keep a clear image of his surroundings. Eventually, after what seemed like individual eternities, the white-haired prisoner reached the heavy metal door, the one thing keeping him from freedom. Silently, so as not to wake the other prisoners (although Bakura couldn't understand why they were still sleeping when it was almost noon), he brought out his skeleton key and picked at the lock. Of course, he knew he was picking the lock from the wrong side of the door, but he didn't really care. Where there's a will, there's a way, thought Bakura as the door clicked open. Something similar to a mix between a smirk and a grin crossed his harsh features for a fraction of a second, before he slipped outside, closing the door behind him without a sound at all.
Now that he was out in the open, he was faced with another problem. There was about a hundred yards between where he was standing, and a large, iron gate. He noted the gate was open, a foolish mistake on the police's part. `Of course, I can't really call these amatures police if they can't keep their prisoners from escaping.` Glancing upwards, he saw a satanically placed video camera, monitoring the field that Bakura had to run through if he were to complete his escape. With the video camera and hundred yards of grass in mind, Bakura could only think one thing: Damn government.
//
"Ryou?" Asked Ryou's mother as she knocked on the door to her fifteen-year- old son's bedroom. "Ryou, honey, we're getting ready to go. Are you awake?" She twisted the doorknob back and forth, frowning upon the realization that the door was locked.
"Yes, Mother." Came the reply though a yawn. "Gimme just a few more minutes..." Ryou pulled the blanket further over his head and groaned, he had just gotten to sleep. Glancing at his alarm clock with a glaring brown eye, the numbers glared back a formidable '12:20pm'. Ryou and the alarm clock promptly engaged themselves in an all-out glare war, until eventually nature took its course, and Ryou had to blink. `Damn government.` He heard a sigh from the other side of the door, and buried his head in his pillow.
"Ryou, please open the door. You can sleep in the car as much as you like..."
He dug his face further into the pillow. "Just please let me sleep, Mom..." Ryou's body started moving against his will as he flung his pale legs over the edge of the bed, pulling down the fabric on his basketball shorts. He had never actually played basketball, but the shorts were comfortable, so he decided to put them to use and wear them as pajama bottoms. He shivered into his loose-fitting sweatshirt. It was too cold to move, even though it was in the middle of the summer. Forcing himself to move, he shuffled over to his dresser and pulled out a neatly packed suitcase of clothing. Luckily, he had packed the night before out of pure boredom. With a sigh, he slipped into a pair of sneakers and unlocked his door.
Instantly, his mother was upon him in a one-armed embrace, her deep earth- coloured eyes crinkling in a smile. "It'll only be a few minutes before we get there. It shouldn't take long at all."
.
"Only a few minutes?" Ryou sighed, leaning his head on the window of his family's dark green Ford Explorer. They had been on the road for ages, and all the lithe boy wanted to do was sleep. However, sleep was impossible with the loud music blaring from the speakers on each side of the car. Suddenly, he was lurched forward as his mother steered into a dilapidated looking gas station with a mini-mart in back. As hungry as he was, Ryou's urge to sleep overpowered him, and he clicked open his seat belt, lying down gratefully and taking up the entire back seat. He had just managed to close his eyes when his mother opened the driver's side door and stepped out. He shrugged. Sleep was the only thing on his mind right about now.
//
Bakura sighed. It was way past one in the afternoon. He wasn't quite sure how he had done it, but he had managed to escape past the gate without being caught, and, furthermore, he had made it to an old, run down gas station with a single car parked near the gasing pumps. He watched as a tall, pale, blonde woman stepped from the vehicle and opened the trunk. With his expert gaze, Bakura noted that when the trunk had been closed, she had forgotten to lock it. He grinned. Now or never, he thought. Making sure she wasn't going to return to the car any time soon, Bakura crawled over to the trunk, and hopped in the back without disturbing the many suitcases in the hatch.
Carefully, so as not to be spotted, he peered over the back seat to see if anyone else was in the car. To his relief, he saw nothing but a sleeping look-a-like of himself. He turned around and covered himself with thin blankets he had stolen from the prison before escaping. A few moments passed by before his eyes shot open, and he sat up, shrugging the blankets off. `He looks just like me...` Bakura realized, arching a thin eyebrow.
His sudden motions caused the younger of the two to awaken, and Ryou sat up, blinking in confusion until his own chocolate eyes met ones so similar to his own that he had to do a double take. Once he was sure there was no mirror inexplicably placed in the back hatch, Ryou parted his lips to speak. "Uhm... who are you, and what are you doing in the back of my car?"
Bakura instantly placed his hand over Ryou's mouth, silencing him. "Listen, kid. I can't tell you who I am just yet. I'll tell you later. For now, act as if you don't know I'm back here. If you're quiet, I'll be quiet too. Agreed?" He spoke harshly, trying to get his point across without having to worry about betrayal.
Nodding quickly, Ryou was relieved when the stranger removed their hand from his mouth. Although he was somewhat hesitant, he laid back down and shifted his position a few times until he fit snugly into the curves of the car. All thoughts of his strange look-a-like chased from his head by exhaustion, he closed his eyes and fell asleep just as his mother returned to the car with a small soft drink and hot dog in her hands.
.
"Ryou? Ryou, wake up, I got some food for you." She cooed, shaking her son's shoulder gently. Upon seeing his tired eyes open, she smiled and waited for him to sit up before she handed him the soda and hot dog. "I'll be right back. I need a couple more dollars to get myself something to eat."
Nodding, Ryou took a sip of the soda, finding it to be 7-Up, his favorite. He waited until his mother had reentered the mini-mart before tearing the hot dog in half and taking another sip of his soda. Turning towards the back of the car, he called out softly.
"Hey, you want some of my lunch?"
Bakura blinked and pulled the blanket back, revealing a sharp brown eye. "I thought I told you to keep quiet about me."
Shaking his head, Ryou replied, "My mom went back in the mini-mart. I'm not really that hungry, but you look starved... Here." He handed Bakura the rest of the soda and other half of the hot dog. "You can have it... I'll eat something later on."
The older of the two narrowed his eyes suspiciously as he glared into the other's eyes. The innocent and gentle expression proclaimed no wickedness at all. Softening his gaze on the smaller boy, he nodded. "Appreciated." With that, he quickly ate his half of the hot dog and drank the remainder of the soda, silently grateful for Ryou's kindness. He made a mental note to thank the boy one way or another, even though he didn't like the idea of being so social. He covered himself with the blanket once again, and dissapeared into silence.
Ryou's smile was warm and gentle as it spread across his face. He decided he liked the stranger, as rough as he appeared to be. And once he reached his grandfather's house on the borderline of the Mojave desert, he was going to run away with this other boy. `Anything is better than two weeks of eating ice-cold oatmeal and having to listen to hour-long rants about the damn government and its hipocracy.` Thought Ryou as he, too, allowed sleep to cover him until awakening was necessary. And this time, he wasn't at all frightened of the stranger sleeping in the back hatch as his mother returned to the car and started the engine.
`Yeah,` he decided, `I'm going to like this trip after all.`
-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-
Well, there's the first chapter! I hope you like it!
You + Reviews = Happy Authoress = Faster Updates = Happier You!
Ja ne!
~Shori Musei~
Disclaimer: *Sits there with a sign saying 'Will Give Pocky For Ownage of YGO'*
Pairings: Bakura/Ryou, maybe some side Marik/Malik
Warnings/Other: Yaoi (don't like? Don't read.), death, angst, wierdness. Some splashes of humor here and there. All mentions of the words "hot dog" are meant in the literal sense, like the kind you buy at carnivals. No hentainess here. Oh, and I don't like the American Government too much. Expect mild government-bashing.
Summary: -AU- Bakura, an Egyptian prison escapee. Ryou, a contradictory teenager sick of the family life. After Ryou is dragged along on his family trip to desert, he finds Bakura in the back of his car, and decides to run away with him. There's only one problem. The police are after them both, and they're in the middle of a desert with no idea where civilization is. YAOI BxR
-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-
The refridgerator door slammed shut with extreme force after the boy extracted a canned fruit drink. "Mom, I told you already! I don't want to go on this stupid trip!"
Ryou sighed and stared pleadingly into his mother's matching chocolate eyes. The only difference between the two sets of orbs was that one was annoyed, while the other was reaching enraged. "Ryou, you know how much this means to your grandfather. Can't you be civil just this once?" She said, exasperatedly. She knew that bringing the silver-haired youth along on the family trip to the desert was by far not the best of ideas, but at the same time, she didn't want to leave him alone for two or three weeks. Pulling back a lock of her own pale blonde hair, she sighed in half-defeat. "Alright, Ryou. You still have to come on the trip, but you don't have to do anything else you don't want to, including sitting at the table with us. Is that fair enough?"
Feeling his anger dissapating, Ryou remained silent as he sipped his fruit punch. "Alright, alright..." He turned away from his mother, he felt immense guilt starting to wash over him. He sighed a second time, his back still towards her. "I'm sorry." Apologized the boy, before running into the living room and up the stairs, skipping each second step in an attempt at reaching his room faster.
"Don't worry about it, dear. Just don't forget to pack." Sighed the slender woman softly as her teenaged son was heard closing the door to his room upstairs.
.
Ryou sighed and flopped backwards onto his old mattress. He had had the thing since he was born, and couldn't find it in his heart to get rid of it and replace it with a newer mattress, though why he was so sentimental he didn't know. Because his mattress was so old, it was also very bouncy, and because it was very bouncy, he bounced up and down with his arms folded neatly behind his head until the bed decided he had enough bouncing for one life time.
His thoughts were jumbled and quite incoherent as he lay on his bed, staring up at the painted stars on the ceiling. He remembered the first night he went to sleep underneath those stars. It was when he was about seven years old, and at the time he had a fascination with astronomy. His mother had allowed him to paint stars on his ceiling, and he had yet to paint over them. He shoved all thoughts of stars out of his mind, and went back to sorting out his other thoughts.
One part of him felt extremely annoyed at merely having to leave the house for over half a month out of his summer vacation. Another part of him was glad to escape the lonley silence of his room, and to finally see a part of nature he had never really seen before. And yet another part of him knew nothing about what emotion to feel, and only knew that it was tired, and wanted more sleep. At this realization, Ryou turned onto his side and gazed at the neon green numbers displaying the time on his alarm-clock. The numbers proved it to be 11:05am. Ryou frowned. "No normal human should be awake this early in the morning during summer vacation." He muttered into his pillow as he turned on to his stomach. "Then again..." he thought aloud, "since when am I normal?" With a kind smirk and light laugh, Ryou closed his eyes and allowed sleep to claim him until he was to be awakened a second time that day.
//
"Law enforcers are the root of all Satanic influences," Decided the sixteen- year-old as he dug a hand-made skeleton key out of his pocket. Carefully inching towards the iron bars that held him prisoner, he slid a thin hand through the man-made evils known as jail cell bars, and turned the miniscule lock around, so that it was facing him. Luckily, he had escaped from a similar situation back in Egypt, and he had experience in breaking out of jail. However, his luck had run out upon a poorly planned attempt at sneaking into the United States of America. Not like that could keep the infamous Bakura down for long, though. Returning his thoughts back to the task at hand, Bakura quickly picked the lock and held the heavy metal object in his hand for a moment before throwing it inside his small pouch. Now that he had broken free of his pathetic little jail cell, only two things remained to be done: Get out of the perimeter of the prison, and not get caught again. Though he wasn't too sure about how he was going to follow the latter, he knew just how he was going to escape. Silently he thanked his years on the streets in Egypt.
Pausing for just the briefest of moments to check his watch, he found it to be 11:05am. He rolled his eyes. `Most normal people are doing something productive right now.` A smirk crossed his face. `Then again, most normal people aren't attempting to escape from prison.`
He slinked along the wall nearest the door to the outisde, bending low enough so that he could run without making noise, but not so low that he couldn't keep a clear image of his surroundings. Eventually, after what seemed like individual eternities, the white-haired prisoner reached the heavy metal door, the one thing keeping him from freedom. Silently, so as not to wake the other prisoners (although Bakura couldn't understand why they were still sleeping when it was almost noon), he brought out his skeleton key and picked at the lock. Of course, he knew he was picking the lock from the wrong side of the door, but he didn't really care. Where there's a will, there's a way, thought Bakura as the door clicked open. Something similar to a mix between a smirk and a grin crossed his harsh features for a fraction of a second, before he slipped outside, closing the door behind him without a sound at all.
Now that he was out in the open, he was faced with another problem. There was about a hundred yards between where he was standing, and a large, iron gate. He noted the gate was open, a foolish mistake on the police's part. `Of course, I can't really call these amatures police if they can't keep their prisoners from escaping.` Glancing upwards, he saw a satanically placed video camera, monitoring the field that Bakura had to run through if he were to complete his escape. With the video camera and hundred yards of grass in mind, Bakura could only think one thing: Damn government.
//
"Ryou?" Asked Ryou's mother as she knocked on the door to her fifteen-year- old son's bedroom. "Ryou, honey, we're getting ready to go. Are you awake?" She twisted the doorknob back and forth, frowning upon the realization that the door was locked.
"Yes, Mother." Came the reply though a yawn. "Gimme just a few more minutes..." Ryou pulled the blanket further over his head and groaned, he had just gotten to sleep. Glancing at his alarm clock with a glaring brown eye, the numbers glared back a formidable '12:20pm'. Ryou and the alarm clock promptly engaged themselves in an all-out glare war, until eventually nature took its course, and Ryou had to blink. `Damn government.` He heard a sigh from the other side of the door, and buried his head in his pillow.
"Ryou, please open the door. You can sleep in the car as much as you like..."
He dug his face further into the pillow. "Just please let me sleep, Mom..." Ryou's body started moving against his will as he flung his pale legs over the edge of the bed, pulling down the fabric on his basketball shorts. He had never actually played basketball, but the shorts were comfortable, so he decided to put them to use and wear them as pajama bottoms. He shivered into his loose-fitting sweatshirt. It was too cold to move, even though it was in the middle of the summer. Forcing himself to move, he shuffled over to his dresser and pulled out a neatly packed suitcase of clothing. Luckily, he had packed the night before out of pure boredom. With a sigh, he slipped into a pair of sneakers and unlocked his door.
Instantly, his mother was upon him in a one-armed embrace, her deep earth- coloured eyes crinkling in a smile. "It'll only be a few minutes before we get there. It shouldn't take long at all."
.
"Only a few minutes?" Ryou sighed, leaning his head on the window of his family's dark green Ford Explorer. They had been on the road for ages, and all the lithe boy wanted to do was sleep. However, sleep was impossible with the loud music blaring from the speakers on each side of the car. Suddenly, he was lurched forward as his mother steered into a dilapidated looking gas station with a mini-mart in back. As hungry as he was, Ryou's urge to sleep overpowered him, and he clicked open his seat belt, lying down gratefully and taking up the entire back seat. He had just managed to close his eyes when his mother opened the driver's side door and stepped out. He shrugged. Sleep was the only thing on his mind right about now.
//
Bakura sighed. It was way past one in the afternoon. He wasn't quite sure how he had done it, but he had managed to escape past the gate without being caught, and, furthermore, he had made it to an old, run down gas station with a single car parked near the gasing pumps. He watched as a tall, pale, blonde woman stepped from the vehicle and opened the trunk. With his expert gaze, Bakura noted that when the trunk had been closed, she had forgotten to lock it. He grinned. Now or never, he thought. Making sure she wasn't going to return to the car any time soon, Bakura crawled over to the trunk, and hopped in the back without disturbing the many suitcases in the hatch.
Carefully, so as not to be spotted, he peered over the back seat to see if anyone else was in the car. To his relief, he saw nothing but a sleeping look-a-like of himself. He turned around and covered himself with thin blankets he had stolen from the prison before escaping. A few moments passed by before his eyes shot open, and he sat up, shrugging the blankets off. `He looks just like me...` Bakura realized, arching a thin eyebrow.
His sudden motions caused the younger of the two to awaken, and Ryou sat up, blinking in confusion until his own chocolate eyes met ones so similar to his own that he had to do a double take. Once he was sure there was no mirror inexplicably placed in the back hatch, Ryou parted his lips to speak. "Uhm... who are you, and what are you doing in the back of my car?"
Bakura instantly placed his hand over Ryou's mouth, silencing him. "Listen, kid. I can't tell you who I am just yet. I'll tell you later. For now, act as if you don't know I'm back here. If you're quiet, I'll be quiet too. Agreed?" He spoke harshly, trying to get his point across without having to worry about betrayal.
Nodding quickly, Ryou was relieved when the stranger removed their hand from his mouth. Although he was somewhat hesitant, he laid back down and shifted his position a few times until he fit snugly into the curves of the car. All thoughts of his strange look-a-like chased from his head by exhaustion, he closed his eyes and fell asleep just as his mother returned to the car with a small soft drink and hot dog in her hands.
.
"Ryou? Ryou, wake up, I got some food for you." She cooed, shaking her son's shoulder gently. Upon seeing his tired eyes open, she smiled and waited for him to sit up before she handed him the soda and hot dog. "I'll be right back. I need a couple more dollars to get myself something to eat."
Nodding, Ryou took a sip of the soda, finding it to be 7-Up, his favorite. He waited until his mother had reentered the mini-mart before tearing the hot dog in half and taking another sip of his soda. Turning towards the back of the car, he called out softly.
"Hey, you want some of my lunch?"
Bakura blinked and pulled the blanket back, revealing a sharp brown eye. "I thought I told you to keep quiet about me."
Shaking his head, Ryou replied, "My mom went back in the mini-mart. I'm not really that hungry, but you look starved... Here." He handed Bakura the rest of the soda and other half of the hot dog. "You can have it... I'll eat something later on."
The older of the two narrowed his eyes suspiciously as he glared into the other's eyes. The innocent and gentle expression proclaimed no wickedness at all. Softening his gaze on the smaller boy, he nodded. "Appreciated." With that, he quickly ate his half of the hot dog and drank the remainder of the soda, silently grateful for Ryou's kindness. He made a mental note to thank the boy one way or another, even though he didn't like the idea of being so social. He covered himself with the blanket once again, and dissapeared into silence.
Ryou's smile was warm and gentle as it spread across his face. He decided he liked the stranger, as rough as he appeared to be. And once he reached his grandfather's house on the borderline of the Mojave desert, he was going to run away with this other boy. `Anything is better than two weeks of eating ice-cold oatmeal and having to listen to hour-long rants about the damn government and its hipocracy.` Thought Ryou as he, too, allowed sleep to cover him until awakening was necessary. And this time, he wasn't at all frightened of the stranger sleeping in the back hatch as his mother returned to the car and started the engine.
`Yeah,` he decided, `I'm going to like this trip after all.`
-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-
Well, there's the first chapter! I hope you like it!
You + Reviews = Happy Authoress = Faster Updates = Happier You!
Ja ne!
~Shori Musei~