NOTE: Before we come to the climatic chapter, I just want to say beforehand that Yugi and Ryou are lovers, not fighters. (No, not like that. Get your mind out of the gutter). Also, no, they do not do any serious butt-kicking. (Sorry to disappoint you). I wrote this fic because, well, I've read a ton where Yugi and Ryou are portrayed as cry-babies who always run away…actually, I might even be guilty of writing them like that myself at times. Here, in this fic, their brave act was instead of running, they turned and fought.
They might not be the toughest; the bullies are bigger, badder and meaner than them. But they still fought. That's the spirit I was trying to capture here. That the odds were stacked against them, yet they still fought. They didn't cower and runaway. That's what I was trying to go for here. I think that standing up for yourself, going in to battle when the enemy has nearly every advantage- takes A LOT more courage than two equally matched fighters going at it. It's easy for a bull to fight another bull. But it takes all the courage in the little rabbit's heart to face swooping hawk. Does that analogy help any?
So, keeping that in mind, enjoy the next to last chappie!
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The other three girls continued to pound on Yami, while Yugi and Ryou got pounded. Yami fared the worst. Ryou and Yugi so far had only received a few minor bruises and scrapes from being hit and shoved to the ground. They, too, would have been turned into bloody pulps had it not been for two golden haired Egyptian boys playing hooki.
Merik, Malik, and Bakura walked towards Starbucks from PacSun, where Malik had bought a new pair of Etnies sneakers. The day was just too gorgeous to waste in school. The Ishtar boys had discarded their bookbags, uniform ties and jackets, shoving them into the saddle bags on their motorcycles. They enjoyed walking around the Waterfront shopping complex; it was a weekday, and before noon, so the place was practically empty.
Bakura's eyes narrowed when he saw fat old Kina. He didn't care who she was beating up; he just enjoyed toying with her, seeing the look of fear in her eyes. She went from big, bad pitbull to timid, quaking puppy wetting herself when someone bigger and badder came along. He turned to Merik, seeing if the other delinquent wanted to go mess with her, but Merik was staring in shock, his golden hands fisting. Bakura stared, too. "That fat bitch!" He snarled when he realized just WHO Kina was beating up.
The solitary girls were painfully yanked by their hair off Kina. They snarled, ready to fight, until they saw Merik and Malik. Yugi whimpered and scooted away, rubbing his bruised cheek. Ryou trembled, his heart skipping a beat when he looked up and saw Malik. Malik gave him a wink, then motioned with his head for Ryou to go join his fellow hikari. The girls twisted and turned, but the Ishtar's grips only tightened more painfully.
Three of the girls were yanked off of Yami and thrown onto the cement. Bakura grabbed Kina by her hair, one arm twisted painfully behind her back. She snarled. "Get off of me! I'll-"
"You'll what?" Bakura spoke in a deadly calm, velvety smooth voice laced with poison. Kina's beady eyes widened when she recognized him. She whimpered. "I'm not happy, Kina. First, your ball-less little bitch, Ushio, was messing with my hikari and his friends. Second, he gets me expelled. Now I find you messing with them."
Kina trembled, all her rolls jiggling like jello. "You can't hit me! I'm a girl!" Bakura's hand tightened in her hair, ready to yank her head off.
"No, Bakura can't. But I sure as hell can!" Mai had followed from PacSun, where she worked. Seeing what was going on, and since she was a manager, she decided to take her break early. "I'll take it from here" Mai had already stepped on the three girls, the heels on her boots pressing into their hands, her pointed toes kicking them and breaking their ribs.
Mai fisted her hands in Kina's hair. "You're going to pay. Bakura told me what you and Ushio've been up to. Perhaps you've forgotten the meaning of fear?" Mai was in college; she was three years older than Kina, and when they had gone to school together, Mai had bullied and picked on Kina every chance she got. Kina whimpered again.
Before he pulled away entirely, Bakura whispered in a low and dangerous, silken voice in Kina's ear. "Tell Ushio when he gets out of the hospital, I'll be waiting for him." He smirked like the devil and patted her pudgy cheek.
Ryou and Yugi watched with terrified, wide eyes, then began checking each other's wounds. They wanted to get to Yami, who sat on the ground bleeding, but Bakura and Mai, with Kina, stood between them. And with Bakura's deadly temper on full flare, neither one wanted to risk interrupting and accidentally getting in the way.
Bakura bent to help Yami up, but Yami was already up. The slender, bleeding boy watched with grim satisfaction as Mai beat the hell out of three of Kina's girls. They had tried to charge at her, as they had done to him, but Mai, while not fat, had curves and weighed more than he did. Plus, she was an experienced fighter; she'd taken the three out in no time. Then Mai and Bakura had taken care of Kina.
But Yami was still angry at Kina and her gang, and angry at himself for being so weak. That's when he spotted Merik and Malik, still holding the struggling girls. The Ishtar boys desperately wanted to hit those two bullies; Yami could see it in their eyes. With an enraged scream, Yami rushed over, punching first one girl then the other. His nails scratched their cheeks. One growled and kneed him in the stomach. Yami doubled over in pain, but Bakura caught him before he could fall. Malik, seeing his chance, kicked the girl in the back of her knee, causing her to crumple to the ground. He smirked and Merik shot him a jealous glance.
After Mai finished with Kina, she was a bloodier mess than Yami. They let the other girls go. After seeing their leader in such a mangled mess, the girls scattered, leaving Kina to limp home alone. Bakura made Yami sit down, so he could check over Yami's wounds, while Merik and Malik checked over the hikaris.
"I got a first aid kit back in the store." Mai said, wiping Kina's blood off on the cement.
Yami stubbornly shook his head. Neither Bakura nor Merik ever had medical attention after a fight. Those two yamis would just shrug it off and say it was only a few minor scrapes and scratches. "I-I'm okay; just a few bumps." He went cross eyes as his vision swam. "I just wanna go home."
"We're okay, too. Just a few bruises." Yugi spoke up, feeling too sore to move. Home sounded good about now, and so did a hot bath and some hot chocolate, with whipped cream.
"I'll take Ryou home and get him cleaned up." Bakura took Ryou's soft, smaller hand in his own and helped his hikari up. Ryou was too busy trying to discreetly stare at Merik's hikari, and blushing every time Malik looked his way.
"I'll take Ryou home." Malik offered; Ryou smiled, looked down at his toes, and blushed. "Bakura, you left your car here when we met here earlier. And Yami's not in any condition to ride a motorcycle. Besides, it'd probably scare Yugi half to death."
"Hey." Yami glared, and so did Yugi. "I'm fine."
"And I'm not scared!"
Merik lightly grabbed Yugi by his sides, and the small boy jumped and "eeped". Merik only smirked at the cute, violet eyed glare.
Bakura thought for a moment. "Yami, you're bleeding." Yami bit his lip; he couldn't argue that. Ryou looked pleadingly up at Bakura with puppy eyes. "Alright, Malik takes Ryou home, Yami and Yugi go with me and Merik, then I'll drop Merik back off here to get his motorcycle."
TBC…
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Well, next chapter isn't so much of a "to be continued" as an epilogue….
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