"You really are good for this, kid, I can't believe your daddy never made a fortune off you"

Blain re-buckled his belt and jerked up the zipper on his jeans, a broad smirk across his face. At his feet lay Malik, once more reduced to a sobbing and bleeding mess. He slid a foot under the boy and kicked him over, onto his back, suddenly looking irritated.

"How long are you gonna keep that up? You've gotten it, what, six times this week already? Stop fucking bawling every time, it's starting to piss me off"

He turned and strolled towards the door, his footsteps slightly heavier than needed. He spun back around once more just as he reached the door.

"If you do that next Saturday again, I'll go twice as hard on you. Got it? Screaming's all well and good, but crying like a baby is just fucking annoying"

He reached out for the handle, but halted, something snapping to his attention. He crossed the room once again, and removed the handcuffs and gags from Yami and Yuugi. Neither of them made any sound or movement of their own.

Blain returned to the door, this time opening it and disappearing from view. The sharp snap of a lock rang throughout the room briefly, before it fell into silence.

Saturday. They had been prisoners for twelve days now, nearly two weeks. The situation had deteriorated faster than any of them could have imagined.

Thursday, they had once again been used as entertainment and relief for Higuchi, and Friday, yet more clients had "required their services". It seemed they were being settled into a never-ending cycle, against their will. One day, Higuchi, the next, some rich man with a fetish, the next, back to Higuchi. It was a brutal circle, and with Blain's weekly visits having now begun, it was only getting worse.

The room was nearly pitch black; the moon was hidden behind thick clouds tonight, only adding to the grim atmosphere. Yami simply sat, staring at his feet, his expression blank. He had said nothing, or rather, not attempted to say anything, during Blain's tormenting of Malik, merely shut his eyes, and tried to block out the screams. He had no idea why.

He supposed it must have been his approach to this whole situation finally taking it's toll on him. He had struggled with his captors, mentally and physically, and had endeavoured to do the same for his friends, but nothing had come of it. They, and he, had still been raped repeatedly, still were trapped here, still in chains. And so he had not tried to protest to Blain's despicable assault on Malik, mere feet from him, he'd sat back and let it happen. Perhaps it was his subconscious trying to tell him to give up, to surrender to this fate.

Did this make him as bad as his captors? That after only twelve days, his spirit was breaking? Did it make him a failure as a friend, and partner? He should be fighting still, not conceding defeat. He'd faced great struggles in his life, and for far longer than twelve days, yet nevertheless had come out on top. Why was this so different? Other struggles had had friend's lives at stake, as did this one, and often evenmore on top of that, so what was breaking him so easily?

Maybe it was because he had absolutely nothing this time, nothing to defend his friends with. This was a fully human situation. He was not facing any primordial evil. There were no ancient gods, no magic, no cards, no weapons he had as a starting point for any resistance. There could be no real resistance, not against these captors. They were just men, taking what they would, there was no great agenda to battle against. He was completely helpless, leashed to a wall like a dog, unable to muster any real defence. The only thing he had done was to not scream, which was merely a personal victory, it didn't truly help him or his friends at all. There seemed to be nothing that could.

He looked to his right, where Malik had fallen silent. The Egyptian was on his side, and facing facing the wall, apparently forcing himself not to cry, although he was still shaking slightly, clearly in great pain.

What could he do? Yami was useless, completely useless. There was nothing he could do that would help Malik, the only thing that would help him would be getting out of here, and that obviously wasn't going to happen.

With a unpleasant lurch, Yami felt frustration beginning to build up inside him, as he realised how pathetic he sounded. "Obviously wasn't going to happen"? He felt like slapping himself. Thinking that was as good as giving up on life itself. He could not just relent like this, he could still help, even if it was just helping his friends survive for now. Escape would come in time, he would make sure of that, somehow, but for now, he would help the others cope.

"Malik?"

He jumped, before spinning around to face Yami, looking quite startled. His eyes were bloodshot, with tears still dripping from them. At the sight of Malik's defeated, despondent expression, Yami felt a great stab of guilt. He couldn't believe he'd let himself just sit there and not even try to show Malik he was still fighting, to give him support.

"Come here"

Blain had left Malik unchained, and the boy seemed to suddenly realise this, as he crawled over quickly, reaching Yami in mere seconds. Yami pulled him into a tight hug, before he reached over to pick up the white clothing Blain had ripped off Malik. He wrapped it around the shivering Egyptian, who lay against him with his arms around Yami's waist, and his eyes shut tight. Slipping his own arms around Malik's shoulders, Yami leaned back against the wall, thinking that a night of this would do Malik a lot of good, before he looked to his right. Another unpleasant jolt of guilt rang through his mind, as he watched Yuugi, curled into a ball once again, facing away from them. Thanks to these damn chains, he wouldn't be able to do the same for Yuugi. The idea of him sitting over there on his own was most painful to Yami, but there was nothing he could do. Hopefully, tomorrow night Higuchi's men would allow them all to go without shackles.

Another thought was quietly working at the back of his mind. Blain had said that he would kill them if they told Higuchi what he was doing every time he came to the mansion. Yami did not doubt for a second he would live up to his word if he could, but he couldn't leave Malik enduring this extra punishment, for no reason. However, telling Higuchi without giving Blain a chance, seemed impossible. If he told him when Blain was not here, he wouldn't be caught, and he could sneak back here to make good on his promise. If he told Higuchi when Blain was here, what was to stop Blain barging into the room and shooting the three of them, before anything was done? How was he to stop this without putting Malik and Yuugi in danger? Once again, the situation seemed to have no solution.

----------------------------------------------------------

Eleven o clock.

The boss was certainly leaving it late. Blain was getting sick of hanging around the mansion, he wanted to get some sleep already. But that wasn't going to happen until he and Carter had their meeting with Higuchi, and the prick seemed be in no rush to call them to his office.

Blain was pacing around in the ground floor lounge, occasionally taking a swig from a bottle of whiskey he'd helped himself to. He'd already had his fun tonight, fucking the Arab kid; he had nothing to do now, and was bored out of his mind.

It wouldn't even be a long meeting, they had nothing to report to the boss. For whatever reason, they'd been put back on scouting duties as normal, even though the public was still going crazy over their last group abduction. He reckoned it would be pretty damn stupid to grab another group with all the media attention. Guess the boss just couldn't help but try and get even more money in.

"Well?"

Blain turned to find Carter standing in the doorway, looking extremely pleased with himself. He'd been partnered with Carter for many years, and by now, he'd consider him a friend. Or at least, friend in that he worked with Blain well in their job, helped him cover his tracks, and was a good drinking buddy to share his nightly pursuits with, that was about it.

"Same as last time, he squealed like a pig, bawled his eyes out, and was the best fuck in years. At this point, I'm glad he kicked me, gave me a good excuse to be rough with him. He's got no fucking backbone, though, no fight in him at all. His ass makes up for it, mind. Yourself? Which one did you pick again?"

Carter dropped down into one of the armchairs, still with a self-satisfied smirk plastered across his face.

"The Kaiba kid, whatever his name is. I'll only say one thing, to sum him up: tightest one ever. Seriously, it was fucking great. Best screw since highschool, easily. Course, he was screeching the whole way through, but he's only young, so I was expecting it. I might bring earmuffs next time, all the same. One thing, though, the other two in the room are fucking crazy. The big blonde one and the blacked haired one with the weird ponytail. I mean, I put all the usual stuff on them, but it was like I hadn't done it at all. Never seen two people that angry over a bit of fucking before, they must have temper problems or something. I'm going straight back there next week, crazies or not, though, that little kid is too good to pass up"

"Certainly sounds it. We really did hit the jackpot with this lot, eh?"

Suddenly, distant footsteps could be heard echoing throughout the main hall, getting louder. Within a few moments, they reached the lounge, the owner revealed to be one of the Higuchi's thugs, that seemed to infest the mansion during sunlight. He simply made a sweeping gesture with his hand before departing again. Clearly, Higuchi was finally ready for them.

Silently, they left the lounge and moved up the stairs to the second floor. Reaching Higuchi's office, they rapped sharply on the door, and received a muffled "Get in here" in return.

Entering, they found a familiar sight for them: Higuchi hunched over his computer, with no light other than the monitor's blue glow. They shut the door behind them and seated themselves in the chairs in front of his desk.

"Well?"

They briefly glanced at each other, both men unsure of how exactly to question their boss's orders without seeming disrespectful. Higuchi took offense quite easily, and punishments were swift.

"Eh...well, so far, we've got nothing, to be honest. It's not even been a week, we're not gonna find a group that fast. Plus any groups are gonna be on alert thanks to all the news channels going on about the ones upstairs. D'you not want us to move onto another city?"

"No, I don't. There's some good news about the investigation into our group's disappearance. The police department that's running it happens to have a chief who uses our services on a regular basis. I've already spoken to him, and he'll be doing his best to hinder it greatly, from behind the scenes. Thanks to this, the case will blow over in a few months, and the public will just forget about the group. Then we can move freely again. That's why I still want you scouting, I want to have groups ready to take in when the public loses interest in missing boys"

He leaned to the side, and opened a drawer, before withdrawing a thick file. He rifled through it for a moment, then paused, and removed a sheet of paper. He slid it across the desk towards the two men.

"Here's the client's information, I want you two to keep in contact with him, and help each other out. It's extremely important that his work goes off without any trouble, so you're to lend a hand to that on top of your scouting, got that? Copy out all that contact information, and make sure you give me back that sheet before you leave tomorrow, I can't afford to lose a client's details like that."

"Sure thing, boss"

Blain slide the sheet inside his jacket, and waited for Higuchi to continue. He hoped he wouldn't have to actually go and meet this client face to face; he hated cops.

"I think that'll be all, you've got your orders. I'll have the client contact you tomorrow evening, and he'll explain anything he needs done. Dismissed"

Blain and Carter rose, wishing only to get some rest. They quickly crossed the room and exited, leaving Higuchi to his night-time dealings.

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Tomorrow it would be two weeks since they had been taken, yet it already felt like months. Yami felt they were settling into routine already. This Sunday had begun exactly as the other days; they were taken out of the room, fed and watered, then pushed into the bath, before being returned to the room. The whole practice was becoming second nature, and Yami hated it.

Now, it was evening. The light streaming through the window was a deep orange, giving the room a sombre mood. Yami sat, in his all too familiar position, slumped against the wall, the cold chain locked once again to his wrist. He was alone, both Malik and Yuugi had been taken away a short while before. Yuugi had obviously been taken for Higuchi to use, but Yami couldn't say what Malik had been brought out for. The men that took him had seemed slightly different, but he couldn't imagine what else they could be doing with him. Higuchi had said Monday, Wednesday and Friday were his "client" days, not Sunday.

He looked up, out the window, watching the light gradually fade away. He was extremely tired, having only fallen asleep the previous night just as the Sun was beginning to rise. He'd had a mere couple of hours sleep, before waking to find Malik still clinging to him tightly, and Higuchi's men ready to take them out of the room.

Not only was it nearly two weeks since they'd been taken, it was almost a week since he'd seen any of the other, apart from Yuugi and Malik. He had only Higuchi's word that they were fine, and considering what Blain was doing to Malik, he still feared that something similar was happening to them. The complete lack of contact with them was truly infuriating.

The door opened, and Malik was returned, the men dropping him onto his mattress, but not attaching the chain to him.

After they had left, Yami immediately looked inquiringly at Malik, who dropped his eyes to the floor, looking somewhat mortified.

"They were...checking me out. From all the bleeding, they were sort of examining me, like doctors. Guess they must think I bleed easily or something. They were touching me all over"

The matter of fact way in which Malik said this, felt like a swift punch to the gut for Yami. It was bad enough that the cycle of events per day was falling into a routine, he couldn't have Malik thinking of being touched against his will as routine, too.

"Malik? Do you want to come over here?"

He raised his eyes up to meet Yami's, before shaking his head.

"No...it's ok"

A flash of that strange expression Yami had seen glimpses of that whole week appeared briefly, before Malik lay down on his back, with his face pointed toward the ceiling.

Feeling slightly perplexed, Yami rested back against the wall. It was odd, why would Malik refuse it so suddenly, after clutching onto Yami all of the previous night. It had seemed to comfort him immensely, but now he didn't want it? Yami didn't understand at all.

He looked up once more at the window. It was almost dark now, the Sun was vanishing beneath the horizon already. He felt himself growing steadily more tired as he sat there, but he refused sleep, he wanted to be awake when Yuugi returned. His Aibou would need comforting, and it was likely they would forgo the chain, leaving them free to embrace each other.

His Aibou. He could imagine how it might have happened had this ordeal not been thrust upon us, how they would have admitted their feelings. Perhaps while sitting casually in their room, or maybe during a friendly duel at the kitchen table, free to take their time in their confession, to savour the moment. He had dreamed of it being one of the crowning moments of his life, but instead, it was a small light, surrounded by all this anguish. How many more of his and his friend's dreams would die here? Malik had told him about his fantasies during his time as head of the Ghouls, those had been shattered brutally. Who else? Mokuba dreamed of building amusement parks globally with his brother; that would be broken too, as long as they were here. All these lives, ruined, and it wasn't just the eight of them, there were far more.

This cycle of kidnapping groups, "training" them, and renting them out to paying customers had been going on for years. What had become of the previous groups? Had they been used until they had all but broken, or they had gotten too old for the client's tastes? Then what? Had they been killed and thrown in a ditch? Sold to other such corporations? Used as labour?

He would be burning in hell before he saw his Aibou and his friends passed around like pieces of meat. He would kill to prevent that.

Feeling his back beginning to ache from lying against the wall so much, Yami slid forward, ending up lying on his back, while staring up at the ceiling. He was still determined to remain awake for his Aibou's return, but the mere couple of hours of sleep he'd gotten could not be ignored. Perhaps if he just rested for a moment, he could regain some alertness.

He closed his eyes, and his thoughts drifted back to the previous groups that had surely occupied this room. How had these people been abducting so many groups of people for so long, without any suspicion? Just how big was this business? And how many clients did it deal with?

A sudden thought occurred to him, that maybe it had remained hidden all these years thanks to its clientele. After all, he'd recognized the man on Wednesday night, a politician. If that was the sort of people this place was attracting, than it had a great deal of friends in high places. Even if they were to escape somehow, they wouldn't be safe from such an organisation. It needed to be shut down. But how to do such a thing was another question entirely.

Suddenly, there was a soft, almost silent scraping across the floor. Yami thought that it sounded like something was sliding across it slowly. Just as he felt something was very close to him, he smelt something sweet and flowery.

Without warning, a pair of soft lips were pressed against his own, and not very lightly. Yami's eyes shot open, and found that Malik was leaning over him, his own eyes shut.

Yami was frozen in shock, almost unable to comprehend the lips pushed against his. He simply could not believe what was happening. Malik was kissing him. Kissing him.

Malik slowly opened his own eyes, without breaking the kiss, but once he'd seen the look of utter disbelief in Yami's eyes, he hastily removed his lips, and moved his head back. His face was already beginning to display a sense of deep shame, adding further to Yami's confusion.

"Wha...what are you...what are you doing?"

Malik buried his face in his hands, his face turning red, even through his tanned skin.

"I'm sorry...I'm so sorry...I just wanted..."

He trailed off, leaving Yami still sitting in the dark. He had never, in all his pondering, expected something like this to happen.

"Malik, why did you just kiss me?"

Malik let his hands drop from his face, gazing directly into Yami's eyes.

"I just...wanted to...just wanted to"

"You wanted to what? Malik, what is going on?"

"I just wanted to kiss you, I just wanted you to kiss me back...I know it's disgusting to do it to you...but they ruined it all...a-all of it...after all the years I was thinking about it, thinking it would be my reward in the end, to just be loved, by someone...they've taken it away...I just wanted you to....to show me it was still there"

"Still there? What do you mean?"

"...Love"

Before Yami could respond, Malik leaned down once again, and kissed Yami briefly, before moving his head further down and kissing Yami's neck. He swung his legs over, so that he was now seated on Yami's hips. His hands immediately began to pull open the front of Yami's clothing.

Yami finally recovered from the sheer shock of the situation, and seized Malik's wrists, holding them up, away from his clothes. Malik lifted his head back up, tears already formed in his violet eyes.

"I'm sorry...I really am, Yami...I just had to...I couldn't stand feeling this way...I'm so sorry"

Yami finally understood what Malik wanted, a lifeline. He should have seen it coming, after Malik's talk of how much excess mental pain his "first time" had given him on top of the physical injuries. He had been waiting for it for so many years, expecting it to be the most wonderful day of his life, as he let go of all his responsibilities and issues, and let someone "love him", as he had said. But now, his first time had been a humiliating rape, by the highest bidder. Not only that, but as though to drive the message of his dreams being destroyed further into him, he had been raped every day after it, twice incredibly brutally.

Yami understood why Malik was attempting this, and why it was important for him, but he couldn't just let him. Malik wanted someone to "love him", to prove it wasn't over for him. He needed that. But how could Yami give that to him? He had his own partner, his own love.

How could he solve this? Malik needed someone to help him, but Yami could not, he had Yuugi already, he couldn't simply betray. Two separate stabs of guilt were piercing Yami's mind now, one for refusing the one thing that could help Malik survive here, and the other for the dreadful thought of betraying his Aibou. What could he do? What!?

Malik leaned down, once more, pressing his lips to Yami's. Yami felt himself react instinctively, and this time, kissed Malik back, but also feeling a deep well of his own shame brewing within him. Malik needed this comfort, but how could he give it to him, without destroying himself in the process?

Abruptly, he realised he had released Malik's arms without even noticing. Malik had wasted no time in pulling the front of his clothing open, and now broke the kiss, shifting down to kiss Yami's chest instead.

Yami had never known how conflicted two feelings could be. He did not love Malik, nor even did he like him in that way, Malik was a friend to him. A close friend, yes, but still only a friend. The only person he had such strong feelings for was his Aibou. Certainly, Malik was attractive, as he had noticed, but Yami had eyes only for Yuugi. Nonetheless, here he was, allowing himself to be kissed by Malik, seated on his hips. What was he supposed to do? He wanted to help Malik, he really did, but this seemed impossible to do without sacrificing his own mind in the process.

Doing the only thing he could do in honour of his Aibou, he grabbed Malik by the shoulders and pushed him up, snapping the boy out of his "work". He looked more upset than ever, tears now dripping down, onto Yami's bare chest. Whatever shame Yami felt in this situation, he knew Malik's must be twice as horrible, at least.

They simply looked at each other, motionless, for a moment, before the loud bang of the door shutting jolted them both back into reality. Malik spun his head around, while Yami raised his so he could see past him.

The door was closed, most likely locked again, and in front of it stood Yuugi, trembling and with a pained expression on his face. It quickly turned to astonishment as he noticed the two of them, in such a compromising position. Malik immediately hauled himself off Yami's pelvis, unceremoniously dropping to the floor beside the mattress.

"Aibou...it's not what it-"

"Yuugi, I'm sorry, I couldn't help myself, it was just me...I'm so sorry"

Yuugi had already looked upset before he had seen them, so it was difficult for Yami to tell if it had upset him further or not. Though it was likely he was, Yuugi's expression hadn't visibly changed.

"Aibou?"

"Yuugi, it was just me, don't..."

Yuugi stood for a moment, before striding purposefully across the room, halting on Yami's left side. He dropped to his knees, and stared into Yami's eyes.

For the second time in five minutes, Yami found himself caught completely off guard, as Yuugi suddenly leaned forward, and kissed Yami himself. Though shocked, he managed to respond, pushing his own lips outward.

It was relatively brief, and Yuugi pulled back, still wearing that distressed expression. Even more unexpectedly, he turned, and leaned over to Malik, before giving him a small kiss on his cheek.

Facing Yami again, he gave a tiny smile, before moving forward, kissing Yami once more. One of his tiny hands reached over to Malik and pulled him over, so that he was yet again pressed against Yami.

Yami was not sure what was going on, but it seemed as though Yuugi both needed comfort himself, and had immediately realized that was what Malik so desperately needed. He could feel Malik once again kissing his chest, at the same time as Yuugi parted his lips, their tongues meeting for the first time.

It was not only for Malik, this need to have someone "love him". In a normal, everyday situation this strange union would never have happened. Yami, and Yuugi would be together, and Malik would be their friend, no more. But this was not a normal situation.

After all the abuse they'd suffered from their captors already, all three needed to prove to themselves and each other that such physical contact was not limited to brutal rape and humiliation. That it could also be love, that it should be love, even if it was a truly unconventional love, brought on by dire circumstances.

Yami had found, or rather been shown, the way to help his companions survive for now, and that was at least something to be grateful for.

------------------------------------------------------------

They'd now made their first mistake, and one of the two he needed them to make before he could get out of here.

After twelve days without food, and only one drink of water a day, yesterday, his captors had relented. At the same time as always, when the person with the water would come, they'd brought what seemed to be small loaves of bread, and fed them to him. As degrading as that was, food was food, and now, it seemed they would feed him daily as well as water. While it was only one meal a day, it would be enough, he would have regained his strength within a few days.

However, until they made the second mistake, Kaiba would remain here. He was still handcuffed to a pipe, sitting against the wall, knowing nothing about the situation.

He knew the time for the daily visits was coming up soon, despite his lack of vision, he had always been a meticulous time keeper, and now it was paying off.

Sure enough, within a few minutes, the door banged open, and his designated watchman entered. As he'd guessed, bread was on the menu today as well. Like always, his guest was silent during the task, but something quite unexpected happened immediately after the "meal".

"You'll never guess what, Kaiba. I'm allowed talk to ya now. Dunno why they didn't want me doing it in the first place but whatever"

The voice was nasal, but definitely male, his first piece of information so far.

"Now you're gonna be here for a long while, so you just keep sitting there, doing nothing, and we'll get along just fine, ok?"

To his disgust, he felt a hand slide down his chest, the fingers probing.

"Very, very fine, got me?"

The hand vanished, and the man's footsteps could be heard moving towards the door. However, they halted, before the door had been closed.

"High and mighty Seto Kaiba, cuffed to a pipe, gagged and blindfolded, pretty fucking pathetic if you ask me. My personal toy the way I see it"

There was a short, scratchy laugh, before the footsteps continued, and the door slammed shut once again.

Toy? Well, they'd have to see about that. On the other hand, the man's actions had confirmed a lurking, and very much disturbing fear Kaiba had been plagued with. He was a prisoner here, and his guard had just made it clear that he very much had a sexual interest in him. He could feel a panicky dread building up within him. If his guard was like that, then there was a high percentage chance that whoever might be guarding Mokuba elsewhere would have the same interest. It was essential he got out of here as fast as he could, he needed to get his little brother away from this place, before they got to him.

But they had not made their second mistake yet, and he had no way of knowing when they would, though he was still certain it was going to happen eventually. The first mistake was feeding him, the second would be to take his blindfold off. Once that was done, he would escape, but until then, he could do nothing but wait, and seethe.

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I did my best to set up the development in Yami, Yuugi and Malik situation in earlier chapters, I hope it didn't seem too jarring to people.

Also apologies if the perspective changes were a bit fast, there won't be so many in one chapter in the future, I don't think.

College work is stepping up next week, but I'm still hoping for the next chapter to be ready next weekend as always.

As always, feel free to tell me what you think feedback is very much appreciated, and thanks for reading.