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Warnings: LEMON, mentions of abuse and rape. Fluff. That's right, I said fluff. So, this is kind of late…sorry! Um, it's longer to make up for the lateness. Um. Don't eat me. Please look at my poll. It's about this story and WILL make a difference.

Disclaimer: I own…hmm…that right, NOTHING.

Chapter Ten

The ending bell rang and the classroom emptied. Yugi and I walked home together, a little ahead of his friends. But today when we said goodbye to Anzu, Yugi came home with me.

"Thanks for having me over, Ryou," he said, smiling. I returned the smile, feeling a lot better than I had in a long time. Bakura was letting me bring a friend home. It was a small step, but it left me thrilled. Maybe if he would let me be happy, even if it was for such a small, short thing, he might stop beating me one day.

"No problem Yugi, I'm glad you could make it." We neared the apartment and Yugi followed me up the flights of stairs.

"So is your dad going to be home?" he asked me. My smile fell a bit at the corners. I missed my father, I hadn't seen him in quite a while, and since he was still in an archeological dig in the middle of Egypt it made phone calls almost impossible.

"No, he's still in Egypt," I told him.

"How long's he been gone now?"

"Almost a year now. He comes home for the holidays though."

"Wow, when's he going to be done there?"

"When they finish digging, that could take anywhere from another year to another four years. We really don't know. But the man funding the dig is paying more than triple the normal rate, so the money is too good to pass up." I was regurgitating the same story my father had told me. It was still strange living on my own. Hell, he had even cleared out his room. Though I appreciated that he didn't try to lie and say that he would be back soon, he realized I was old enough to be told that he wasn't sure when he could come back permanently again.

"That's got to be rough on you," Yugi commented, sounding worried. I flashed my brightest, happiest smile at him.

"Yeah, but I get to play whatever kind of music I want and I can do pretty much whatever I want." Lies, all of it lies. I listened to what Bakura put on, and I came home when Bakura told me too. The only thing I did the way I wanted was clean.

We got to the door, and I was reminded of yesterday, when Bakura had decided to play 'hide and seek'. Subconsciously I brushed my fingertips over the fresh cuts on my chest. Perhaps this was a bad idea.

"Ryou?" My head snapped to Yugi. "Did you lose your keys or something?" I must have spaced out. I laughed, a bit nervously, and jammed my key in the lock. I was being silly. Nothing bad was going it happen.

The hallway lights were on, as was the kitchen light, and the glow of the TV could be seen from the living room.

"Bakura?" I called. I kept walking, so we could go put our bags in my room. He was in the living room, sprawled out on the couch. I swallowed. There was a three inch gap of bare skin between the top of his pants and the hem of his black tank top. Why couldn't I rip my eyes away from that bit of exposed skin?

"Hey." Finally I met his eyes. He hadn't missed my fascination with his naked skin. A blush colored my cheeks.

"Uh- I'm going to start dinner in a few hours. We'll be in my room so we're out of your way, okay?" He nodded and turned his attention back to his show.

Still blushing I led Yugi to my room. He looked around and shook his head at me. I shot him a questioning look.

"Your entire apartment is flawless. If my Grandpa were halfway across the world I'd never clean." I shrugged, smiling.

"I like to clean. It relaxes me." He rolled his eyes and laughed.

"I brought a few games, do you wanna play them?" I nodded and he pulled them out of his bag.

We stayed in my room mostly, coming out briefly to watch a show that Yugi wanted to see, then hastily retreating back to my room when Bakura stopped being patient with his lack of control over the remote. About two hours after we had come home Bakura called me out into the living room.

"Uh…I'll be right back," I told Yugi. He nodded.

"Actually I have to go home, Yami can't cook anything, so I still get stuck doing that…" he smiled. "I'll just get all the games back together and go home."

"Okay. I'm not sure what he wants, but say goodbye before you leave," I told him before walking into the living room.

Bakura was still laying on the couch, but he got up when I came into the room, his shirt stretching up to give me a good look at his naked stomach. I bit my lower lip and averted my eyes. He stood very close to me, his left hand hovering above my upper arm, his right behind his back. Oh gods what was he going to do? Yugi was in the next room!

"Take off your shirt." My stomach dropped as I froze. I turned wide, shocked eyes up to his face.

"Wh-what?" His eyes narrowed, twin vermillion slits topped by closely knit brows.

"You heard me." My eyes flashed to his other hand, still concealed behind his back. "Ryou." I licked my lips and he smirked. This was bad, this was very, very bad. Even knowing this I pulled my shirt over my head, slowly because I really didn't want to do this with Yugi in the apartment. Couldn't he wait for another couple of minutes.

"Please Bakura, Yugi is going to leave in a few minutes…" I began, but he had moved his hand from behind him, and his fingers did not hold the knife I had been expecting, but the tube of scar cream and a roll of bandage. I looked quizzically at him for a few seconds.

"Your bandages need changing, yadonushi. We wouldn't want you getting an infection, now do we?" he chided, though he never lost the smirk. I glanced at the doorway. Yugi was going to come out of my bedroom any moment now. What would he think of this exchange? It looked innocent enough, if you ignored the bruises that decorated my body like an ink blot on ivory paper and the lines of crimson that indicated where I had been cut. I bit my lower lip again as Bakura started to unwind the bandages. He had a point, they needed to be replaced. Some of them were blood stained from where my injuries had opened during the day's activity. "Raise your arms." I obeyed. Honestly what choice did I have?

When he had finished de-mummifying me he started to rub the cream into each individual cut, taking his sweet time. I kept my eyes on the doorway, dreading the moment I would see Yugi walk through it, but Bakura pressed down on one of the abundant bruises that littered my ribcage. I pulled a breath in through my teeth and looked down at him. Which is why I didn't see my friend when he came through the door; but I did hear the gasp. I snapped my head back up to look at him.

"Uh- um…" I trailed off. What was I supposed to say? I was standing half naked, showing every single cut and most of my bruises, while my darkness had his hands all over me.

"Oh my gods Ryou!" Yugi yelled, pressing his hands over his mouth. "What happened to you?" I froze. Obviously he didn't see the handprint shaped marks on my arms and shoulders. Could I lie my way out of this?

"I…went for a walk in the park, and I tripped and fell into a rose bush." There, the thorns could have cut me up and if he asked why there were so many bruises I could say there were rocks on the path or near the rose bush or something. I watched his amethyst eyes rove over my body, then fall to the bandages, and the tube in Bakura's hand. It must have looked like he was helping me, which I suppose he was.

"We have to change his bandages everyday. Sorry, I thought you were going to stay in the next room," Bakura murmured, resting his hand on a mark on my hip. He pressed it subtly, and I had to bite down on my tongue to stop myself from crying out loud. Yugi was shaking his head.

"No, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt. Um, I've got to go home now. Thanks for having me over Ryou." I sighed, and moved forward to walk him to the door. Bakura let me go, but I knew he wasn't finished yet, and the only question in my mind was whether or not he was going add to my injuries before he bandaged me up again.

I said goodbye to Yugi and watched as he walked down the first flight of stairs, only closing the door when he was out of view. I didn't really care that I still didn't have a shirt on. Nobody was going to see me other than Yugi, and the damage had already been done.

Returning to my darkness I wondered if he had done this on purpose. I couldn't really fathom how it would help him, so I was confused as to why he would bother. He was where I had left him. He just kept rubbing the cream into my skin as if nothing had happened.

"Why did you do that?" I asked in a quiet voice. He paused in his ministrations.

"I wanted to see what he would do. I wondered if he would panic, or simply ignore it," he answered, starting up again. "Why did you lie?" That caught me off guard. I looked back at him, as he was behind me now, and blinked.

"What was I supposed to say? 'Bakura beats me and cuts me up on a regular basis, doesn't Yami?'" I couldn't help the sarcasm. Honestly, what the hell was wrong with him?

"Don't mouth off to me…" he scolded, but it had none of the conviction behind it that it usually did. He seemed too preoccupied with the task at hand. When he had given each line a thorough going over he wrapped me back up. "All these bruises…" he said to himself. I blinked. He sounded surprised. "I really roughed you up, didn't I?" I took a step back.

"H-huh?" I stuttered. What the hell was going on? He had the strangest look on his face. Emotions totally alien on his face were now parading across expression. I shook my head.

"You're very pale…they just look worse because you're pale." He was still talking to himself, as if I wasn't right in front of him. I shook my head again. I couldn't deal with this right now.

"I'm going to make dinner." I fled the room before he could say anything else.

He had always been small for his age. And of course he was pale; everything in great contrast with his dark lashes and mocha eyes. He had never grown into his eyes, probably never would. He would forever look like a hunted animal with those big doe eyes. His whole body was just so fragile, though…perhaps that wasn't true. I had pushed that body to the limit on more than one occasion. There had been a time years ago, when I had put him in the hospital for a whole week. He had lied then too. Said he was mugged in a back ally on the way home from school.

He always lied, always faked a smile and pretended that I didn't hurt him. I had seen him do it. When we had been sharing a body I had felt him squash every cringe before it showed on his face, every cry before it left his lips. I forgot that sometimes. How many of those sounds had he been holding in when I beat him?

It couldn't be that many, he always started to cry and whimper when I hit him. Besides, I may have my own body now, but that didn't mean that Ryou's body didn't still belong to me.

Ryou would always be long to me.

Yugi walked home, watching his shoes. He was a little confused. He didn't really believe Ryou when he said he had fallen. It seemed to be too much of a regular occurrence. Besides, those cuts and bruises just didn't look like anything he could have sustained from a simple bush, not unless he had rolled around in it for a while. But he didn't understand why Ryou would lie.

Unless Yami was right. The thought stopped him dead in his tracks. But. Why would Ryou let Bakura touch him if Bakura was beating him? The scene he had walked in had not looked like that of a victim being touched by his attacker. Bakura was trying to heal him.

The light licked his lips. He wasn't an idiot. He knew Ryou was lying, he just didn't understand why.

The game shop was empty when he walked through the door. He was a little later than he had meant to be. Yami must be upstairs.

Yugi went upstairs, calling out that he was home. Yami came out to greet him.

"Did you have fun at Ryou's, aibou?" he asked. Yugi nodded.

"Yeah, we played some games. But right before I left Bakura called Ryou out into the living room and I stayed in the bedroom to get the games together. When I came out I saw Ryou shirtless. He was covered in bruises and cuts and stuff. Bakura was putting something on the cuts and he said they had to bandage Ryou up. I asked Ryou how he got all the cuts and he said it was from falling into a rose bush," Yugi reported quickly. Yami let his hikari finish, not interrupting.

"Every time you ask him about an injury he says he fell, right?" Yugi nodded.

"What are we going to do?" Yami sighed, a world-weary sound.

"I'll go over there tomorrow and get to the bottom of this. Don't worry about it, aibou. But keep a close eye on Ryou. He may need our help." Yugi nodded, looking determined. He would do all in his power to help his friend.

Yami kept his promise, and went over to Bakura's apartment the next day. He ended up leaving a little later than he had wanted to because of the shop. He had to keep this short if he wanted to get home before Yugi.

He knocked on the apartment door and waited for Bakura to open it. When he finally did the thief took one look at him and snarled.

"The fuck do you want? Just because I said Yugi could come here doesn't mean I want you here." A warm welcome as always. Yami rolled his eyes.

"What I've come here to discuss is not a conversation for doorways. May I come in?" he tried to keep his tone as civil as possible. Bakura rolled his eyes.

"What makes you think I want to talk to you?"

"From what my hikari told me I'm not really giving you a choice." The thief king rolled his eyes and walked back inside the apartment, leaving the door open. Yami closed the door behind him.

"What? What do you want?" Bakura threw himself into one of the chairs in the kitchen, crossing his legs and propping his head up on his hand. Yami sat across from him, arms crossed with his back pressed against the chair back.

"Where did Ryou get those marks?" he asked, not bothering with tact. Honestly it was wasted on Bakura. The man across from him shrugged.

"He fell in a bush. He told your light that." Yami nodded.

"He told my light he fell in a bush. He has also told Yugi that he has fallen over rugs, down stairs, and off his bike."

"He's clumsy," Bakura stated, trying to suppress a laugh. Yami groaned and rested his elbows on the table, rubbing his temples.

"Nobody is that clumsy. What are you doing to him?" he demanded. Bakura stood up.

"I'm reminding him who's in charge." Yami's eyes flashed. So he had been right. Bakura was beating his hikari.

"How so?" he asked, cautiously. Bakura shrugged again, leaning against the counter.

"There's more to you than just your pretty face, I'm sure you can figure it out." Yami ignored the comment. He knew that Bakura was more infatuated with Ryou than he was with himself, and he loved Yugi, not this psychopath.

"How could you? You're supposed to protect him. Not hurt him!" Bakura shook his head.

"That has always been your problem, Pharaoh. You're always looking for someone to coddle. Well sometimes they just need to get it beaten into them. Besides, it's fun."

"WHAT?" Bakura smirked, he had finally found the Pharaoh's button.

"You heard me."

"WHAT KIND OF SICK FUCK ARE YOU?"

I climbed the stairs to his apartment. I had had a good day. I had gotten a good test back in several classes, I had been able to finish all my homework, and I had gotten to hang out with Yugi and the rest of my friends during a fire drill. So when I heard a familiar voice yelling from my apartment I really just wanted to run away, not open the door and go in like I did.

"WHAT KIND OF SICK FUCK ARE YOU?" I pushed the door open and walked into the kitchen. Yami was standing up, fists clenched and an upended chair behind him. Bakura seemed oblivious the other man's anger, reclined against the kitchen counter. Both pairs of eyes turned to me when I appeared in the door way.

"Hey Ryou," Bakura greeted me casually, as if this were a regular occurrence.

"Hi…" I said confused. I turned towards Yami in time to see him dart across the floor to my side. He left a good foot of space between us, and his eyes were fixated on the bruise on my cheek.

"Ryou, how did you get that?" he asked, pointing. He was visibly trying to calm himself down. I blinked.

"I uh, tripped on a rug and hit my face on a doorknob," I repeated the lie for what felt like the thousandth time.

"No, how did you really get it?" he asked again. He was calm now, but I wasn't. I looked up from Yami to Bakura. He smiled, as if this was the most amusement he had had all day. Who knows? Maybe it was.

"B-Bakura hit me," I said casting my eyes down. It was stupid but I felt like I was tattling.

"And the marks Yugi saw on you yesterday?" There was a lump forming in my throat. I sniffed and hoped that nobody could see the tears in my eyes.

"Ba-Bakura hit me…and he…c-c-cut me," I answered, my voice becoming quieter with each word. I couldn't bare to look Yami in the eye, let alone Bakura. I felt so small and helpless. How could this be happening? I just wanted to go about my life the way I usually did, without having to confront this.

"How could you do this to him, Bakura? What kind of monster are you?" Yami demanded. Bakura growled.

"Me? You're the one who made him cry? Where the fuck do you get off making my hikari cry?!" he yelled back. The level of hatred and anger in his voice was surprising given the fact that he had made me cry on many occasions.

"I didn't do this, Bakura. You did." Yami turned back to me. "Ryou, come back to the game shop with me. I'll take care of you, I promise," he told me in a soft voice; but I barely heard him over the sound of the blood pumping in my ears.

My head shot up and I felt my hands ball themselves into fists.

"Wh-What?! You can't take me away! I don't want to leave!" I turned my gaze to Bakura. "I-I don't have to leave do I?!" I was panicked, terrified. True, I didn't like getting beaten and raped, but I did love Bakura. I always had and nothing he did could ever change that.

Bakura's eyes were wide in shock. He shook his head and the constricting feeling eased up on my chest. I looked at Yami.

"He's hurting you Ryou, you realize that right?" he asked, as if I didn't understand what was going on. I nodded, the lump still in my throat.

"I do, but…I don't want to leave. I realize that this is a fucked up relationship, and that it's only hurting me. I know that it's not healthy and I should want to run as far away as I possibly can, but I just can't. He's a part of me, and I can't ignore that. I don't want to leave, I don't think I could stand it…" I lost my nerve then. I melted under Yami's confused half-glare and went back to studying my feet. I think Yami might have nodded, but I could barely see the motion out of the corner of my eyes.

"If you change your mind…" He let the offer hang in the air. I nodded, still not looking up.

I was still crying when I heard the front door open and close. Bakura finally took a step closer. He tipped my chin up with his thumb and forefinger.

"Are you okay?" he asked, brushing the tears from my face. I sniffled.

"I thought you were sending me away. I ju-just got so scared…" my voice cracked and I started to cry quietly. He wrapped his arms around me, his face close to my ear.

"Shh, shh. It's okay. I'm not going to send you away. Calm down," he soothed, kissing my cheek. I melted into his embrace, crying into his chest.

"K-Kura…" I whimpered, and felt his arms tighten around me. He kissed my temple.

"I'm right here, aibou. And I always will be." I pulled back so I could see his face. He looked down at me hands on either side of my face, and there was no malice on his face, no anger. I smiled and went on tip-toe to kiss him, surprising us both. He returned my kiss hungrily. A swift movement of tongue and I opened my mouth for him.

I was drowning in his scent, in his being. I was so far gone that I didn't even realize when he picked me up and took me into the bedroom. My bedroom. He placed me on the bed and I finally noticed that we were no longer in the kitchen.

Bakura was pulling off his clothes with a franticness that brought a giggle to my lips. He winked at me.

"You're next, hikari," he warned in a lecherous tone. I made a little eek sound and pulled my shirt and pants off. I was only down to my boxers when he was completely naked. Blushing I looked down at him. Gods he was huge. "You're drooling Ryou," he teased. My head snapped up and I flushed crimson.

"I..uh.." I stuttered. He smiled, leaning down to my boxers. He pulled them off in one swift movement and threw them over his shoulder.

"Shit! Lube…" he cursed, standing and leaving the room. When he came back he had a bottle of clear gel with him. I blushed.

Bakura pinned me to the bed again, the open bottle of lube next to him. He squeezed a bit onto his hand and pressed one finger to my opening. I blushed darker. He chuckled and covered my mouth with his at the same time he pushed inside me. He pumped his finger in and out a few times before he added another one, then the third. I moaned at the feeling, but when he found that spot I screamed out loud. He laughed again, nudging that spot a few more times before he pulled out of me. I whimpered at the loss, almost demanding for it to come back.

He spread some more lube on his….before repositioning his body so he could thrust inside me. He entered me easily, thanks to the preparation, and set the rhythm fast and hard. I groaned with every thrust, every movement. Then he found that spot again, and I screamed his name. He stretched up again so he could kiss me while he brought me to ecstasy. I moaned and panted, kissing him back.

He pulled out nearly to the tip, and pushed back inside me, and I arched my back. He pinned my arms above my head, and honestly I didn't mind. It wasn't scary, just…different. It kind of felt good, secure in a way.

"Gods Ryou…" he hissed in my ear. I think it was the way he said my name, but it brought me, and I burst without him even touching me there. I screamed his name, watching the bright white and silver lights streak across my vision. Bakura came after me, from the clenching of certain muscles. He kissed me again before pulling out and collapsing next to me.

I closed my eyes, snuggling up to his side, perfectly contented. This was the way I had always imagined it. And I was so happy. Bakura kissed my cheek again and I started to fall asleep.

"Love you…Kura," I muttered drowsily before I fell asleep to some of the sweetest dreams I had had in years.

So, this is my version of a cliffhanger. When Ryou fell asleep, Bakura had a little bit to say about what happened. However I will not put that in this chapter. It will be the first thing in the next chapter. And it all depends on what you people want. Cast your vote in my poll, and leave a review! Thank you.