Disclaimer: Don't own a bit of it... except everything besides the Yu-gi-oh based characters. (Isn't AU great? ;p)
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His eyes fluttered open and he stared at the fan circling above him. Ryou moaned. His head and leg throbbed.
He blinked as he tried to remember the events of the previous night. They were fuzzy. He remembered running… and being caught. He'd thought he was a goner, but then that man had appeared. What had they said his name was, again…? Ryou couldn't remember. That last image that flashed across his mind was his body falling toward the ground before his rescuer had caught him.
Ryou slowly turned his head to the side. His eyes widened when he realized he was lying on a couch in what appeared to be the living room of a small apartment. A few chairs and a coffee table occupied the rest of the front room before it merged with the dining room and kitchen. Ryou shifted, pushing aside the thin blanket draped over him.
As he sat up, his injured leg brushed the cushions, and Ryou cringed. He reached down to the wound to see that it was wrapped tightly in white bandages. A dark red splotch stained the spot under which his gash presumably still bled. Had… had that man cleaned his cut?
It was then that he noticed there was a square pad of gauze taped to his cheek and two more on his neck. Ryou smiled wryly. He must look like he had just emerged from a hospital.
There was a click, like a key being inserted into a lock, and the knob to the front door turned. Ryou straightened as a tall, white-haired man walked in, a plastic bag swung over his shoulder. He locked the door behind him and ambled into the kitchen. Glancing toward the living room, the man raised an eyebrow at Ryou.
"Oh, you woke up."
He then directed his attention to his bag. Ryou watched in silence as the man put away various groceries in the cupboards and the refrigerator. He examined his savior a second time, taking in his unruly white hair and ghastly pale skin, both near exact imitations of his own appearance. The man's eyes surprised Ryou. They didn't appear nearly as crimson or sinister as they had the night before. Perhaps it had been an illusion of the moonlight.
"Arigatoh…" Ryou whispered.
The man looked up.
"For bandaging my leg… for saving me."
Shrugging, the young man closed the refrigerator. "You fainted on me. What was I supposed to do?"
Ryou wasn't sure how to respond. His rescuer plopped down in the chair across from him and bit into an apple in his hand. "You got a name, kid?"
Ryou nodded meekly. "Hai. Boku no namae wa Ryou desu."
"Ryou." He repeated. "Is there a last name with that?"
Ryou frowned. "Iie."
The man corked an eyebrow, but did not dig deeper.
"Do you have a name?"
The young man was silent for a minute. Ryou fidgeted under his steady gaze. Finally, he answered, "Bakura."
Ryou gave a start, his eyes snapping wide. Bakura? Yes, he remembered the men calling him that the previous night. In his weakened state, he hadn't realized its significance.
An amused smirk adorned Bakura's face. "Is there something wrong with that?"
Ryou shook his head. "I-Iie!" He looked down. "I've just… heard it before."
Bakura retained a skeptical expression, but again, didn't dig. He only tossed a second red apple to Ryou, which he fumbled with before grasping firmly between his hands. Ryou stared at the fruit. He couldn't remember the last time he'd eaten fresh fruit. He looked up at Bakura questioningly.
"You should probably eat that before it rots in your palms."
Ryou's eyes widened. "I… I can eat it?"
"Well, I guess you could wear it as a pendant… It wouldn't serve very well as a hat. The sun would boil it quicker than an egg in a pot."
Ryou giggled, then bit gratefully into the juicy fruit. Bakura stared blankly. He obviously had not intended to comment to be comical.
After nearly shaving his apple to the core, Ryou looked up. "How old are you, Bakura-sama?"
He had shed his shy demeanor. Bakura didn't seem like he could be anything those men had described him as.
"Nineteen." He replied flatly.
Ryou wrinkled his nose. "You're old."
Bakura smirked. "And I suppose you are nothing more than a toddler?"
Ryou pouted. "Iie!" Then he corrected proudly. "I'm eleven!"
Bakura nodded. "Why is it bad that I'm 'old', as you say?"
Ryou took another bite of his apple. "Adults are no fun."
Bakura chuckled, rising. "Is that so?"
The man walked over to a hall closet and opened the door partway, though not enough so that Ryou could see inside. A minute later, he closed the door and strode back into the living room, holding another blanket in one hand and a box in the other. Bakura placed them on the coffee table and sat down beside them. He then took Ryou's injured leg and propped it up on his knee.
"The bandage needs changing."
Ryou nodded, and Bakura unwound the strips of cloth. When his leg was again exposed, Ryou grimaced. A bleeding and pussing gash stretched across half his calf. Bakura reached into the box and extracted a small jar.
"You won't be able to walk on this for a few days, and after that it will be at least a week until you can move around much. The guy that attacked you was an idiot, but he had good aim. The muscle is cut deep."
Ryou nodded silently, staring at the ugly lesion. It would leave on heck of a scar.
"You can sleep on the couch."
Head snapping up, Ryou's eyes widened. "Y… You mean, I can stay…?"
Bakura looked up, then frowned. "Don't get me wrong, kid. As soon as you can move around properly, you're out, understand? I'll give you money and make sure you get on your way safely, but I can't afford to have a kid around."
Ryou's face fell. Looking down, he nodded mutely. Neither spoke as Bakura cleaned the wound. When he was finished, the man grabbed the jar, then began to spread an ointment on the wound. Ryou did his best not to react to the pain.
"What is that?"
"A special salve I made. It will help the blood to clot and decrease the risk of infection."
Ryou blinked in amazement. "Were you a doctor or something?"
Bakura smiled wryly, but didn't look up. "Let's just say I've had my fair share of injuries."
"Then you must be a genius."
He shifted his gaze to Ryou's with an amused smirk. "Why is that?"
"Only really smart people invent medicines."
Bakura returned the jar to the box and grabbed a wad of clean bandages. "You're an interesting kid. What'd you ever do to set those cowards after you?"
Ryou shrugged. "I don't know. I guess I was on their territory or something… I didn't see a sign that said their name on it."
Bakura shook his head. "Petty squalls over the assumed ownership of land are for the weak-minded."
Ryou corked his head to the side, but didn't respond. He stared as Bakura deftly wrapped the cloths around his leg.
"Bakura-sama?"
"Don't call me that, kid."
"Why not?"
Bakura did not meet his gaze. "I'm not someone to respect."
He cut the cloth, secured it with medical tape, then stood to return the box to its place in the closet.
"I respect you…"
Bakura paused, back to the boy, and stared into space. "You're mistaken."
After closing the the closet doors, he walked back to the kitchen and took a glass from the cupboard. Pressing back a lever on the outside of the refrigerator, he filled it with water.
"What do you do?"
Bakura looked back at him. "Nani?"
"Where do you work? What kind of work do you do?"
"Just odd jobs."
"Like what?"
He looked straight into Ryou's brown eyes. "Nothing you need to concern yourself with."
Ryou drew back. Something sparked in Bakura's eyes that almost seemed… menacing. He shook the feeling away and asked, "Why do you live alone?"
Bakura sighed. "You ask a lot of questions, kid. How 'bout I ask you one: where are you parents?"
Ryou looked down. He didn't want to answer. Yet, it only seemed fair…
"You see?" Bakura spoke up before he was forced to reply. "There are some things people don't want to talk about, so let's stop the interrogation."
Ryou nodded, not lifting his eyes from the ground. He had been stupid to think this man would let him stay. About two weeks… then he would be thrust back onto the streets, alone, prey for the desperate.
He was drawn out of his thoughts when a glass was set on his lap. He looked up at Bakura.
"Drink. You'll get a nasty headache if you don't keep yourself hydrated."
Ryou stared into the man's brown eyes. They mirrored his own… but Bakura's were so veiled. He was kind to Ryou, yet also rejecting him.
"Kid."
"Oh…" Ryou wrapped his fingers around the cup, then sipped at the cool liquid. "Arigatoh."
Bakura grabbed the blanket from the table and shook it out before draping it over the end of the couch. He took the glass from Ryou, after he had drained it, and set it on the table.
"You've lost a fair amount of blood. You need to rest."
Ryou lay down, again, stretching his tiny body across the couch. His large orbs never left Bakura as the man spread the two blankets across him. He smiled gratefully, then snuggled into the cushions.
Bakura took the empty glass and placed it on the counter, then walked toward the hall. His hand straying on the light switch, the man surveyed Ryou once more.
"Oyasumi nasai, Bakura-sama." Ryou said with the upmost politeness.
"Kid-"
"Hai, hai…" Ryou closed his eyes and smiled. "Oyasumi, Bakura-san."
There was a pause, then a somewhat reluctant "Oyasumi" before the room grew dark, and Ryou slipped into a restful sleep.
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Author's Note: Yippee! This chapter was longer than the last. They will all probably be so from now on, but I'm sure none of you mind. Much Bakura-Ryou cuteness will be witnessed in the next chapter!
Translator's Note: 'Arigatoh' is 'thank-you', 'hai' means 'yes', boku no namae wa Ryou desu' means 'My name is Ryou ', 'iie' is 'no', 'nani' means 'what?', 'oyasumi nasai' means 'good night', and 'oyasumi' is just a less formal way of saying the same.
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