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--Italicized = Yuugi's separate thoughts.

Run This Town

-Chapter 10-

Seto Kaiba.

He looked like a typical detective. His suit is firmly pressed and his black tie is perfectly in place. He even had a pair of dark shades sticking out of his pants' pocket, right below the holster on his waist, which was currently housing a semi-automatic. He looked like he was right out of Law & Order.

But Yuugi could see a few differences that other people would perhaps overlook. His eyes, for instance. They were a hard sea blue; cold and calculating and perceptive. His mouth was thin and tight, almost as if he hadn't smiled in years. His posture was rigid and stick-straight, bringing him up to his full height as he stood over his desk, palms flat on the wooden surface, staring at him.

Reading him.

"Yuugi Motou," Kaiba said. "You moved here about two months ago, correct?"

You would think he was sitting in a dark interrogation room with one bright, blinding light over his head by Kaiba's tone of voice. "Yes," he said, taking his eyes off of the detective's beautifully-painted office walls and furniture. He looked up at the brunet from his seat across his desk, and it was almost as if the other had grown a few inches in the past five minutes. "What's going on?" Yuugi asked, as he tried to downplay the tremor in his voice. "I know you don't care about how long I've lived here."

The corner of Kaiba's lips lifted minutely. "Okay then. Let's just get to the point. It has come to my attention that since your arrival here, you have 'befriended' a few... delinquents to put it loosely."

Yuugi allowed himself a second to breathe before answering. "Who are you talking about?"

The man's cobalt eyes flashed. "You know who I'm talking about, Yuugi." He leaned back and pulled out his top drawer, picking up several off-white folders. He tossed them directly in front of Yuugi and opened each one, reading out the names respectively. "Malik Ishtar. Katsuya Jounouchi. Bakura Skiizki." He looked up to survey Yuugi's reaction. He briefly noted how Yuugi's face lit up with shock at the last name he read, before looking back down and reading out the final name. "Atem Yamino."

Pearl purple eyes swept over the various mug shots, scanning down the long lists of pety crimes committed by each one. He glanced up to meet Kaiba's gaze. As nervous and terrified as he was, he managed to keep a straight face. "What is this about?" he asked.

Kaiba stood back up straight and looked down at him. "There was a triple murder a few weeks back," he began. "Three men were stabbed to death."

Yuugi held his breath. "What does that have to do with me?" he asked quietly.

The brunet shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know, Yuugi. Why don't you tell me?"

"What do you mean?" Yuugi asked. He hoped that the detective couldn't hear his heart pounding in his chest, but it was so loud that Yuugi wouldn't doubt it if he did.

Kaiba's face twisted in irritation at his question. "Well, where were you? Where were your friends when this happened? Have you heard anything about it?"

Yuugi shook his head quickly, his stomach churning with fear and his hands shaking ever-so-slightly. "I was at home," he said. "As for my friends, you would have to ask them. And no, I didn't hear anything about it."

"Are you positive about that?"

"Yes, I am." Yuugi narrowed his eyes in suspicion. "Did someone tell you I knew something?"

Kaiba laughed and opened his top drawer again to pull out a newspaper. He reached out towards Yuugi and slammed it on the desk. "How about this, Yuugi? Do you know anything about this?" He pointed to the title of the front story. Yuugi hesitantly peered forward to read it.

"The murder of Rebecca Hawkin's killer?" Yuugi looked up at Kaiba, thoroughly confused. "I don't understand what you're getting at," he said quietly. "I--"

"Oh?" Kaiba yanked out another newspaper and dropped it on top of the first one. "How about the double murder that happened the second week after you moved here?"

Yuugi glanced at the second newspaper and shook his head. "I don't understand--"

"What you don't understand are the type of people you're dealing with." Kaiba gave him a look. "I can tell you this much. I know, for a fact, that the same group of people committed all of these murders."

Yuugi's head snapped up so fast, he could have sworn he heard his neck crack. "What?" He slid his gaze from Kaiba's dark eyes to the newspapers, then back to the detective. "What...I don't...I..." Yuugi inhaled a deep breath and shook his head. "No."

"Yes, Yuugi. And there are a lot more more that." Kaiba waited another moment, before sitting down in his chair. He leaned forward and placed his elbows on his desk, his hands folded out in front of him. "This town falls under the radar. It's a town that no department or court wants to deal with. That's one of the reasons they've been getting away with this so long. That, along with a lack of witnesses."

Yuugi looked away from Kaiba, still shaking his head. "And by they, you mean?"

"Atem. Bakura. Katsuya. Malik." The brunet gave a bitter chuckle. "They think they run this town. They think it's theirs, and thus they can protect it anyway they see fit."

Yuugi turned back to glare at the detective, his body filling with heat at the insinuation that Jou would lie to him...that Malik would keep this from him...that Atem had killed before.... "You're wrong," Yuugi said. "They wouldn't do this." -- to me.

"Wouldn't they?" Kaiba leaned back in his seat. "Are you sure about that, Yuugi?"

"You don't know them," Yuugi snapped.

"And you do?"

Yuugi opened his mouth, but couldn't find his words. Did he know them? Did he really? "I want to go now," Yuugi finally said, knowing very well that Kaiba couldn't hold him. If he could, then he wouldn't be in Kaiba's office. He would be in a holding cell.

Kaiba turned his gaze towards his office window and sighed in an exasperated manner. "Alright, Yuugi. The last thing I want to say to you is that if you know anything about any of these murders, it is in your best interest if you tell me now. Do you understand?"

Yuugi nodded stiffly. "I understand...but I don't know anything." He felt bile raise in his throat at the lie that tainted his lips.

Kaiba must have seen his internal struggle through his eyes or written on his face, for he watched him for a minute in silence. Then he raised his hand and gestured towards the door. "Very well. You can leave."

Yuugi glanced outside at the darkness littering the sky. He looked back at Kaiba with a confused expression. "I thought you were going to give me a ride home."

Kaiba smirked. "I was, but I seem to have forgotten where I parked my car. It's only about a fifteen minute walk. I think you can live."

Yuugi's eyes slanted into a glare, but this was one time where Atem's lesson came in handy. It would not do him any good to mouth off to a detective right now. So, biting his bottom lip to keep from saying anything, Yuugi stood up and walked to the door, opening it with a not-to-harsh push.

"Oh, and Yuugi," Kaiba called after him.

The violet-eyed teen looked over his shoulder at Kaiba, waiting for the brunet to continue.

"Tell Atem that he's wanted for questioning," he said.

Yuugi felt his jaw loosen, ready to open and respond. But he didn't. Instead, he just walked away.

----

Yuugi didn't go home.

He had a few stops to make, before he could. Once he left the police station, he walked a few blocks, all the while keeping his hood on. The last thing he needed right now was more problems.

After walking for about ten minutes, he found himself on a familiar doorstep, having visited his friend's house a few times prior. He raised his fist to the middle of the door and hit it so hard it shook under his hand. It hurt, and the bottom of his hand immediately gained a pink hue signaling the first formation of a bruise, but the pain was something that Yuugi needed right now. It took his mind off of more pertinent things.

"Yuugi?" came a surprised voice as someone creaked open the door. Yuugi looked up to stare into bemused coffee brown eyes.

"I need to talk to you," Yuugi said.

Ryou opened the door a little wider. "Uh, sure," he replied hesitantly. He took a step back from the doorway and gestured Yuugi inside. "Come in."

Yuugi glanced once behind his shoulders, his growing paranoia forcing him to do so, before stepping inside the warmth of Ryou's small house. He took a quick look around the small kitchen, marveling for a moment how spotless it was. It almost gave off a sparkly sheen.

"Yuugi, do you want to sit down?" Ryou asked politely. "Or want anything to drink--?"

"What did you tell them about me?"

Ryou paused abruptly. "Who are you talking about?"

"The detective, Ryou," Yuugi said with a sigh. "Seto Kaiba. What did you say to him?"

Something in Ryou's face tightened. He stared at Yuugi for a second in silence and then calmly went to go sit at the table, his eyes urging Yuugi to do the same. "Yuugi," he began once the other settled down in the seat diagonal to him. "You don't understand."

Yuugi shook his head, his shoulders slackening with fatigue. This day was never going to end. "No, what I don't understand is how you could go to the police. I thought we were friends, Ryou."

"We are," he exclaimed softly. "And I didn't go to the police. They came here. They wanted to ask me a few questions about...well, Atem and them...I just said that I didn't know anything...and mentioned that you might because you were friends with them. I'm sorry, Yuugi. I didn't mean to cause any problems for you. I just..."

Yuugi looked up at him and felt some of his anger evaporate. "Why would the police ask you about them?" He already knew the answer. He just wanted to see if Ryou would voluntarily tell him the truth.

Ryou looked away under Yuugi's gaze. "I...um...I guess...I don't know..."

Yuugi gave him a sympathetic look and decided to save his friend from answering. "Because you're his brother."

Ryou let out a startled gasp, his eyes widening. "Wha--?"

"Bakura..." Yuugi looked at him with tired eyes. "That's why you wanted me to stay away from them...'cause you knew what they did."

"How did you know?" Ryou whispered quietly, his face crumbling from his deepest secret being revealed. He gazed down at the floor and tried to hide his face under his white curtain of bangs. "I know Bakura doesn't talk about me..."

"He doesn't," Yuugi answered just as quiet. "When I was at the station, the detective read out their names...you both have the same last name...and you look almost identical. At first, I passed the similarity off as a coincidence...but once I saw the names, I knew."

"Oh," was the only reply he received.

Yuugi felt his heart strings pull at the look on Ryou's face. He reached out and touched the other's hand. "Ryou..." he said softly.

"He wasn't always like this, you know," Ryou murmured. "Before we moved here, he went to school, got good grades. He helped our parents take care of the house...take care of me. He watched out for me...he never let anyone hurt me. We were always together...he was my best friend..." He gave a humorless chuckle. "And then he met Atem...and decided that we weren't good enough for him. He became addicted to the nightlife...the drugs...the drinking. He dug himself so deep that my parents kicked him out...I haven't seen him since that day, six months ago...I lost him." Ryou's eyebrows furrowed as tears pooled at the corners of his eyes. "And I miss him so much," he said so quietly that it was probably only meant for himself.

Yuugi suddenly felt so, so guilty. He could feel his body be weighed down with regret. He shouldn't have come here, but he needed to know. "Is it true?" Yuugi asked, squeezing Ryou's hand a little for comfort. "What the detective told me?"

Ryou glanced up at Yuugi and gave a very tiny nod. "I didn't want you to get involved," he whispered.

Yuugi felt his grasp on Ryou's hand loosen, as he head went back to shaking back and forth all by itself. "Why didn't you tell me?" he said louder than intended, his eyes wide with disbelief.

"I tried, Yuugi!" Ryou said, standing up from his chair. "You didn't want to listen!"

At the truth of Ryou's words, tears stung his own eyes. How could he be so stupid? "Damn it, Ryou, I...I..." He choked on his own words and stood to his feet as well. "I have to go."

"No!" Ryou grabbed his arm and pulled him around to face him. "You can't go back, Yuugi. Bakura left and never came back..." The tears that had been gathering in his eyes finally pooled over and rolled down the sides of his pale-white cheeks in small streams. "I don't want to lose you too...You're the only friend I have left."

"I have to," Yuugi said. He pulled his arm out of Ryou's grasp and took a step away from him.

"Why?" Ryou narrowed his eyes, his eyes filling with more and more tears. "Why can't you just stay here and pretend they never existed. Just forget them."

"I can't just forget them, Ryou!" Yuugi moved towards the door. "I can't let them get away with this! I want to know why they didn't tell me!"

"Yuugi, stay--"

"I'm sorry, Ryou." Yuugi opened the door, giving his friend one more look. "I'm sorry." Then he closed the door behind him and, looking back, he wondered how his life would have turned out if he had chose to stay.

----

Atem growled at Jou's sixth attempt to get him to play a round of pool, causing the latter to shrink back and pout. "Come on, 'Temy. You haven't moved an inch since Yuug' left."

Scarlet eyes narrowed in on Jou's amber ones. "Yeah, you would think that you would get the point," he gritted out.

"Hey!" Jou said, raising his arms in defense. "No need to get nasty wit' me. I was jus' pointin' out the obvious." Jou cautiously took a step towards Atem and grinned. "You like him, dontcha?"

A low growl rumbled in the back of Atem's throat. "You are threading on verythin ice, Katsuya."

Jou shrugged. "Aren't I always?" He offered Atem another smile. "So, just how much do you like Yuug'?"

The color that rose to Atem's face rivaled that of his eyes, which were now dark and glowing with anger. "If you don't walk away this instant, then I will take that pool stick and feed it to you."

Jou frowned, taking a few steps back from the fuming man. "Ya know, you really should take some anger management classes. It'd do you some good, 'Temy."

"Jou," Malik called out from his spot on the couch. "I think it's time that you left Atem alone. He doesn't seem to be enjoying your company right now." He glanced around the room, before looking back at the duo. "By the way, have either of you two seen Bakura?"

"He's in the back," Jou answered, ruffling his own hair. "I think he's sleeping."

"Oh." Malik stretched out his arms and leaned further back into the cushions. "Sleep sounds good right about now."

"I second that," Jou yawned, bending his back to loosen his stiff muscles. He looked at Atem and nodded. "I'm gonna head home. I'll see you--"

Jou nearly jumped out of his skin at the sound of the door slamming open; so hard that the room seemed to vibrate. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Atem reach into his back pocket out of pure instinct, but then stop suddenly.

"Yuugi?" Jou said, surveying his friend's disheveled form. "What's wrong?" he asked a little more urgently didn't make an effort to respond. "What happened?"

But Yuugi didn't pay him any mind, his eyes choosing to lock onto Atem's. The cerise-eyed man scanned over Yuugi's beat-red face, observing the dry tear-streaks that ran down his cheeks. Atem tilted his head as Yuugi approached him, and he opened his mouth to inquire about the boy's state...

...only to feel Yuugi's hand slap against his face so hard, his head and neck twisted to the the right. Keeping his head where it was positioned, he raised a hand up and touched his burning cheek in a semi-shocked state. In the dead silence of the room, his jaw clenched so tightly his teeth grounded together.

He finally turned to pin the deadliest glare on Yuugi's form. "Have you learned nothing?" he hissed, taking a menacing step forward.

Though his head was pounding alongside his heart, and he felt as though he would pass out from exhaustion any moment, Yuugi stood his ground. "You killed them, didn't you?" he said quietly.

Atem faltered in his approach, his eyes narrowing even further. "What the hell are you talking about, Yuugi?"

"You killed those gangbangers? And Rebecca Hawkins murderer?" Yuugi said. "Who else?!" He slid his gaze to Jou and Malik. "Who else have you all killed?"

All three men in the room froze, everything falling perfectly still until the only sound was the winter wind knocking against the windows. Atem was the first to speak. "Who told you?" he asked.

Yuugi looked back at him. "Kaiba."

The name alone made Atem snarl. "Seto, that bastard."

"Why?" Yuugi questioned. "Because he told me the truth and now you all can't string me along anymore?"

"No," Atem growled, taking another step towards Yuugi. He bent down to Yuugi's level and looked him straight in the eyes. "Because he distorted it."

"What are you talking about?"

"Tell me this, Yuugi," Atem said, standing back up straight. "Do you remember hearing about a girl named Lily Misaki?"

Yuugi looked down at the floor and closed his eyes. Lily...The name sounded so familiar. Why? "I don't...wait. That's the girl who was raped the same week I moved here."

Atem nodded. "The two gangbangers we killed were the ones who'd raped her. They had raped five girls before her. They weren't going to stop." Red eyes searched Yuugi's face, gauging his reaction, before continuing. "Everybody in town knew it, but no one could prove it."

"Rebecca Hawkins," Atem continued. "She was ten years old, and that disgusting excuse for a human being kidnapped her from her own bed, raped her for seven days, and then buried her alive. As far as I'm concerned, he got what was coming to him."

Yuugi took a step back from Atem, his body trembling under the brute force of the new knowledge given to him. "So, you think you can just play God? You think you can decide who lives and who dies."

"We protect this town from people lower than scum, Yuugi; people who destroy lives. You may not approve of our methods, but if we didn't do what we do then you probably would have already been killed on these streets."

Yuugi shook his head in a futile attempt to block out Atem's words. He couldn't let them justify what they did. It was wrong to take a human life. Even if it was to protect others...right? "I can't deal with this right now," Yuugi finally said, gazing back at Atem. "I'm going home."

"Yuugi..." Atem said, reaching forward. Yuugi dodged his outstretched hand and made a straight bee-line for the door, walking down the stairs and out of the warehouse as fast as he could. He didn't stop when he heard Jou call out after him, followed by footsteps chasing after him, and when Jou finally caught up with him, he spun around and glared at him, trying his best to keep the onslaught of tears threatening to fill his eyes at bay.

"I understand Bakura," Yuugi said to the blond. "Even Atem, and maybe even Malik...but you, Jou." He bit his bottom lip hard to distract himself from his conflicting emotions. "I at least expected some honesty from you."

"I was honest, Yuug'," Jou responded. "I told ya when we met that we're not monsters. We don't hurt or kill innocents. Hell, we don't even rob from innocent people. Everything we do are to people who don't even deserve to live."

"Everyone deserves to live, Jou," he said. He could feel his will to fight leaving him. He was so tired...and so lonely. He never thought he could feel this alone.

"Please, Yuug'," Jou said softly. "Don't leave us. We do it to protect people like you...like your mom."

Yuugi nearly fell apart at the mention of his mother. God, if anything ever happened to her...he would lose it...so shouldn't he be happy that they were making an effort to protect people like his mother from others who wish them harm? Why was he so Goddamn miserable right now then? "I don't know what I want right now, Jou," Yuugi sighed quietly, his eyes growing heavier by the minute. "I just...I'm so tired. I just want to sleep..." -- forever.

"Can I, at least, walk ya home?" Jou asked him. "It's late, and you're about to pass out."

Jou was right. But he was so hurt. He was so angry with them; all of them. He just needed to get home. He needed to get away from them; he needed to erase the pain-filled face of Ryou right before he left from his memory; he needed to forget how hard it must have been for his mother to deal with his constant absences. He needed to sleep.

"I'll be fine," he said, and it was then that he realized they were already walking. Regardless of what he had just said, Jou continued to walk with him until they got to his house, and he walked in without saying so much as a thanks, because he was already filled with so much pain and guilt that a little bit more couldn't hurt.

Betrayal. It's a phenomenoun that rips your heart open and presses salt into the wound. No matter what you do, your entire body feels like its constantly stinging over and over and over again.

To Be Continued...

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