Just Let Me Burn
Chapter 11
Just let me burn, it's what I deserve
Uhh! I LIVE! SCHOOL IS OUT! Sorry this is taking forever I'm dying of TROLOLOLOL illness.
Yugi paced around the living room with a frown. The house was empty and only he was there, he was waiting for Jounouchi to arrive in a few minutes. What bothered him was that they had lost Ryou, when Mai had awoken she told them what had happened when she found Ryou. He couldn't understand why Ryou had chosen Bakura over them.
"Yugi?" there was a click as the door opened and shut behind Jounouchi as he walked into the store and towards the back where the house was.
"Jounouchi, I'm in the living room," Yugi called back as he sat down on the couch.
"Hey man, what's up?" Jou asked as he stepped in the room and flopped down on the armchair opposite to the smaller boy. "You didn't sound great when you called."
"No," Yugi sighed and turned away. "I was just thinking of Ryou."
Jou frowned and crossed his arms. "Forget that ass, Yugi. He betrayed us and we couldn't do anything."
"But I can't understand why he chose them over us," Yugi fussed. "I mean, it's them for crying out loud."
"Listen, I don't get it as much as you do, but we gotta except it," Jounouchi said shrugging his shoulders. "For all we know he was a spy and was playing us for fools."
"Do you think so?" Yugi asked with the tilt of his head. "I never would have thought he'd do that."
"Who knows, evil people are good at acting," Jou said grimacing.
"That's enough," came a deep voice.
The pair turned to fine Yami standing in the doorway looking irked, an impassive Kaiba behind him.
"Yami?" Yugi questioned his lover.
"Don't speak of Ryou like this," Yami said walking forward. "He was a good kid and had no idea of anything that was going on."
Kaiba sat down beside Yugi and Yami sat on the armrest. Yugi and Jounouchi frowned at them and opened their mouths to question.
"Don't you think that Ryou was innocent, Yugi?" Kaiba interrupted, he set his icy blue eyes on Yugi. "You were the one who was with him the most and found him in the Spirit world."
Yugi nodded hesitantly. "Yes, but that doesn't explain why he went with them."
Yami snickered and grinned at his lover. "Yugi, you are oblivious. Ryou is in love with Bakura."
The pair deadpanned…
Yugi froze with his mouth wide open, his knuckles white against the sofa. Jounouchi choked on the air and began blabbering. Yami laughed at the two, watching their comedic reaction. Kaiba managed to flick a small, amused smile that lasted a second.
"How is that possible?" Jou yelled.
Yami snickered. "Apparently Bakura has a split personality," He said grinning. "The asshole we know and the flowery lovey-dovey one Ryou knows."
"That's weird," Yugi mumbled.
"You're weird," Yami teased. "We got together with him," he pointed his thumb at Kaiba.
Kaiba grunted in agreement.
"Yeah, but Kaiba's not a complete asshole," Joey said.
"Says the one who begged us not to go out with him and hates his guts," Yugi mocked.
"Shud up," Jounouchi mumbled and looked away embarrassed.
Malik lay sprawled over on his bed lazily. He turned his head slowly as Mariku crept in quietly and sat down beside him.
"Oi," Mariku said. "You've been laying on that bed for two days now. What's wrong?" He ran a hand through Maliks hair softly.
"Nothing, tired," Malik said.
"Bull, you never just lay in bed knowing you," Mariku frowned.
"I'm fine," Malik sneered rolling away from Mariku. He was pulled back roughly.
Mariku glared down at the smaller blond and move down so he was an inch from Maliks face. "Tell me."
Malik stared into those identical eyes filled with annoyance and concern. He sighed and looked away, "I'm worried for Ryou. We haven't seen him since the fight and I don't want him to think we hate him."
"I've seen him, Malik," Mariku said. "He's not angry with us. It was our fault anyway."
Malik blinked and punched the other in the face. Mariku flailed before falling off the bed. "You went to see him without telling me?"
"Yep," Mariku grinned nursing his swelling check. "Maybe you should go see him if you're worried."
Malik huffed and crossed his arms. "Maybe I will," He said.
Mariku chuckled as the smaller blond stood up from the bed and exited the room.
Malik checked to piece of paper in his hand and looked up at the apartment block and nodded. He'd only been to Bakuras home once, it's not like he'd remember the address. As he walked to the door it opened before he could touch the doorknob. Ryou blinked and Malik stared at the small albino awkwardly.
"Ehhh… Hi" Malik said waving his hand uncomfortably.
"Malik? What are you doing here?" Ryou asked innocently.
"Well," Malik rubbed the back of his head. "I came here to see if you were okay. I haven't seen you since, you know, and I wanted to check on you." He smiled lopsided.
Ryou smiled back. "Thank you, I'm fine. I was going out to get some shopping, would you like to accompany me? We can talk," he asked the awkward blond.
"I would like that."
The two walked silently away from the apartment blocks and headed for the cities main street. It was packed already and would probably be like that for the rest of the day, like usual. Ryou frowned and placed his hands on his hips, thinking he let out a huff and glanced over at Malik, who was waiting for Ryou to lead them. The white head shrugged.
"Hey Malik? Do you want to go to the shopping centre?" Ryou asked. He'd rather go there. It was air-coned and he had to get some more clothes anyway.
"Yes," Malik beamed almost jigging on the spot excitedly. "I love that place."
Malik did love shopping, he thought it was girly himself but he couldn't help but hanging around there and browsing through clothes and other accessories. They exchanged small talk as they walked in the direction of the centre, both self-conscious of the other.
"You know this is pointless," Ryou said, twitching with irritation.
"What is?" Malik asked, he felt the same.
"This awkwardness. We weren't like this before, yes we had a bit of a fall out but I don't care about that now. It's in the pas and I would rather move on and have us all friends again," Ryou said frowning at the ground.
Malik blinked at how serious the small albino could be. He chuckled slightly before bursting out in a fit of laughter. Ryou stared at the illusion spirit in bewilderment.
"What?" he asked, watching as the blond began to calm his laughter.
"Ah ha ha~ You don't suite a face like that, you know?" He giggled. "You should leave the frowns and brooding to Akefia and Bakura."
"Pfft!" Ryou snorted. "You know how to break a mood, Malik. You know that right?"
"Hellz Yeah!" Malik beamed in pride. He grinned and threw his arm around Ryous shoulder walking forward. "You know, I'm glad you're apart of our family," Malik said serenely. "Having someone like you and your personality makes us feel complete."
Ryou was quiet and Malik looked down to see a pair of big teary brown eyes gazing back up at him. "Eh? What?" he chirped. "Silly, don't cry." He chuckled running his thumb across Ryous cheeks to wide away the tears trailing down his face.
"B-but that's the nicest thing you've ever said to me," the small boy sniffed, circling his arms around the blond's waist and buried his face into his chest.
Malik hugged the boy back and smiled. "Come on, shopping."
Ryou nodded and pulled away rubbing his face with the back of his hands. "Yeah," He whispered.
They spent almost three hours buying food and clothes ad browsing. They stood in one of the popular shops. Malik pulled out a blood red shirt and held it up.
"Hey Ryou what do you think?"
Ryou turned and frowned. "Red? And is silk."
"Yeah I was thinking of Akefia," Malik said gazing over it. "He's been such a great help and he doesn't ask for anything, so I thought it would be nice to get him something."
"Okay," Ryou smiled. "Wait when's his birthday?" he'd forgotten to ask anyone.
"Um, I don't know actually. He never did tell us," Malik thought. "What about you?"
The smaller shuffled through some clothes and pulled out a light green tank top. "Me? I was born on the second of September."
"HA! Just like Bakura. How weird," Malik laugh quietly.
"Really?" Ryou wondered. It was odd that his birthday was the same day as Bakuras.
He stepped away from the clothes pile and headed for the front door before glancing over his shoulder. "If you want to buy that for Akefia I'll be waiting at the coffee shop at the other end," He said leaving.
Malik glanced at Ryou as he left and sighed; walking over to the counter he searched for his wallet in his back pocket and pulled out a fifty. Looking up to the clerk, his purple eyes met another purple pair. A minute pasted… then Malik let out a scream and stumbled back.
"THE FUCK?" he cried out. There stood Mariku with the most feral grin he'd ever seen, standing behind the counter oh so casually. "YOU DICKHEAD! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?"
Mariku roared with laughter even when his pretty boy lover smacked him upside the head. "Ohhhh, come on Malik," he snickered. "It's just a bit of fun."
"How do you call scaring the shit out of me fun?" Malik flushed.
The taller blond just smirked.
"Fine," Malik snarled, throwing his hands in the air. "But what are you doing here?"
"I was walking around and saw you guys and thought I'd have some fun, simple as that," he said. "Totally worth it."
Malik blinked, not wanting to deal with this right now. "Can I castrate you now?"
"Why would you do that? How would you have those awesome orgasms with out my balls?" Mariku grinned.
"I wouldn't," Malik said. He pulled Mariku around and stuffed the shirt in his pants and dragged the lunatic out of the shop with him. "I'm still hanging out with Ryou, so you can come have a coffee with us but them you leave. Understood?"
"Yeah sure," Mariku sighed, wrapping his arms around Maliks waist and kissed his cheek before they continued down the hall.
Ryou walked into the coffee shop, it was called Midknight at the Oasis. Ryou strolled up to the counter and fished out some change from his pocket.
"Good day, how may I help you?" came a cheery yet familiar voice of the clerk.
Ryou looked at the woman behind the counter for the first time and froze. Blue eyes narrowed deathly at him.
"You," Anzu hissed, the angry visibly flowing off her. "You BASTURD!" her fist swang around and crashed into Ryous jaw sending his onto his backside. He cried out feeling a pair of arms lift him to his feet.
"How dare you!" came the voice of Mariku. He was leaning over the counter, hand fisted in Anzu's shirt and shouting at her. Ryou turned to see a fuming Malik who's arms were the ones around him.
"How dare I? HOW DARE YOU!" Anzu screamed, socking Mariku in the jaw as well. He flung back but still held onto her shirt and they fell to the floor harshly. As little as Anzu fought when everyone was at it, her punches were the strongest, almost as strong as everyone's combined. They hit the floor heavily; Anzu was picking herself up as Mariku lunged at her. She screamed and raised her arms in defence.
Akefia, Bakura and Malik sat quietly in the city square. It was the beginning of the night and the three were sipping on coffee watching the citizens wondering by, going on dates or just out to party. Akefia was exchanging small talk with his little brother in Egyptian. Malik simply tuned in and out of their conversation and stared at couples and guessing what they were doing or going to do.
"Malik, what did you do today?" Bakura asked still in Egyptian.
Malik cringed slightly and gave Bakura a loop sided grin. "Oh me? I hung out with Ryou is all, ha ha."
Bakura nodded with a grunt and looked around. He stood and stretched. "Well it's getting late and we're done for the day. Shall we head home?"
"I like that idea," Akefia said; with out another work and a crack of smoke he disappeared.
"In public," Bakura grumbled at his brother's recklessness. He turned to Malik, the blond hadn't moved. "What about you, Malik?"
"Oh, um yeah," Malik stood up and grinned awkwardly. "See you later then." He waved and quickly walked away and down the crowded street.
"Weird, he's acting odd," Bakura frowned at the disappearing blond spirit. He shrugged and turned…he and another flinched as they came face to face with the sun spirit himself. Bakura growled and got ready to fight.
"Oh come off it," Yami said, waving a hand angrily. "I'm not going to fight in the middle of so many people-"
"Then lets find somewhere else to-"
"I'm simply here to talk," Yami cut in finishing his sentence.
They stared at one another, one waiting and one untrusting. Bakura growled once more and straightened up. "So, what?"
"I wanted to talk about what happened today, about Anzu and Ryou," Yami said calming as Bakura did… only…
"What happened to Ryou?" Bakura hissed tensing.
Yami blinked surprised. "No one told you? About what happened in the mall? Malik and Mariku were both there."
Bakura Growled.
"I see," Yami nodded. He looked about, wondering what to start with. "Well, you see Anzu works at the cafe Midnight at the Oasis. Ryou had walked in there and … Anzu got out of hand."
"Did she punch him?" Bakura was almost feral.
"I know she has a fist that's rather… murderous, but you must understand-"
"Did. She. Punch. Him?" the white haired had promised death in his eyes.
Yami shivered, "Yes."
Bakura roared in anger and lunged at the sun spirit. "That BITCH! I'll kill her! Now I know where she works I'll come after her!"
Yami dodged the enraged dark spirit and kicked his foot out, sending the other male crashing to the ground. "Calm yourself and listen to the rest!"
Bakura lifted himself on his hands and knees, looking up at Yami with menace.
"When Ryou was hit, the two blonds showed up. She attacked Mariku and they ended up on the floor, but when Mariku went at her…" Yami trailed off. He started at Bakura. Their blood eyes locked with each other.
"What?"
"When he attacked Anzu, Ryou throw himself in between them and took the blow for Anzu, stopping the fight instantly. I …" the tri haired stopped there and broke eyes contact with the white male.
Bakura was shocked and confused. Ryou had done that for that girl who went at him? Mariku punched him? Yami was the first to look away this time?
"I… I –" Bakura was lost for words.
I just realised a mega error in my 3rd chapter that Yami addressed himself as 'Atemu Yami' instead of 'Yami Moto' like he was meant to. :3 I feel like such a loser now… Atemu was meant to be his special secret name that only Yugi and Ryou know… oops.