Chapter 11

The three spies followed the brothers into the penthouse and entered the lounge room. They had all driven back in the same car and the entire journey was silent. It was as if there was an unspoken rule that they wouldn't discuss anything until they had arrived.

As soon as Marik had closed the door, he grabbed Malik's arm and pulled him into his bedroom to talk.

Ryou looked up at Bakura nervously and Bakura coughed and tilted his head towards another bedroom. Ryou nodded silently and the two left the lounge room.

Yugi gulped as he noticed that it was just him and Yami left in the room.

"Take a seat" Yami said and Yugi immediately sat down.

There was a few seconds of silence. Yugi didn't know whether Yami wanted him to start talking or whether he was going to say something first. Yugi was put out of his misery when Yami spoke.

"Yugi, this past week, millions of questions have been going through my head. Why did you do it? How could you lie to me for so long? Is your name even Yugi? Was it worth it?" Yami began and his voice began to rise slowly.

Yugi went to speak but Yami continued. "And you know what the worst part was this entire week? The worst part was wondering if you were all right. Wondering if you were safe. And I hate myself for it. Because you used me. You used me to get access to our company so you could sell the design as your own" Yami ranted.

Yugi didn't know what to feel. He gave Yami a couple of seconds to calm down before he spoke.

"Yami, I'll explain everything from the beginning and hopefully it'll help you understand" Yugi said calmly.

"Malik, Ryou and I work as undercover agents investigating crime. There's been all these disappearances around Domino City and there was a link with the Duel Disk 3000 that we were supposed to chase up. We didn't realise we would get so attached to you three. Usually the people that we deal with are criminals, but you three weren't and we didn't know what to do."

Yugi gave Yami time to absorb the information for a couple of minutes.

Yami was silent. He'd stopped pacing and sat down on the couch across from Yugi.

"Did you ever really like me?" Yami asked softly and Yugi's heart broke at the vulnerability in Yami's voice. Yugi got up quickly and sat down next to Yami, pulling his hands into his own.

"Yami, everything I felt for you was real! I never lied about that! Do you know why Ryou, Malik and I went to the Design room that night? We couldn't bear lying to the three of you anymore. We needed to finish the mission but do it in a way that didn't harm your company. If we hadn't done something soon, our agency was going to come in and take over. Please Yami, you've got to believe me" Yugi begged, tears forming in the corners of his eyes.

Yami looked down at their intertwined hands and then back up at Yugi's eyes. He watched a single tear fall down Yugi's face as it dropped onto Yugi's knee.

"Is that why you said you didn't want to be with me at the amusement park?" Yami questioned, trying to keep any emotion out of his voice.

Yugi nodded. Yami sighed deeply and leaned back into the couch, letting go of Yugi's hands. Yugi immediately felt like a part of him was lost.

"Yugi, I want to forgive you but it may take some time" Yami said and Yugi's heart leapt at the sentence. Yugi did not expect Yami to forgive him at all and Yami's words gave him hope.

"Well I'll be here for you until you can" Yugi smiled, repeating the same line that Yami had said to him at the amusement park.

Yami recognised the line and gave Yugi a small smile in return.

(S)(P)(I)(E)(S)

"That's it, I'm done waiting. Give me the address of Millennium Corp. If we can't get them, I'm going to make them come to us" Noah laughed menacingly.

(S)(P)(I)(E)(S)

Marik always had a crazy look about him and for Malik, that was one of the things that really attracted him to Malik. However right now, Marik's craziness was kind of scary.

Malik sat cross-legged in the middle of the bed as Marik sat in a chair across from the bed. Marik looked at him intensely before speaking.

"I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt for you to explain your story. But, if you lie to me, I won't be this calm" Marik stated and Malik gulped.

"Well we're not really social media representatives" Malik laughed, trying to lighten the mood but Marik did not smile.

Malik coughed nervously. "Okay, here's the deal. The three of us are undercover spies and we were at your company to figure out if you guys had anything to do with the disappearances that have been happening around Domino City."

"And why should I believe that? Marik asked accusingly.

"Well for one, people are disappearing; it's all over the news. And two, do you really think I'd be dumb enough to try lie to you considering I'm in a room by myself with you where you could have weapons anywhere?" Malik asked knowingly.

"True" Marik replied and his lips twitched as if he was holding back a smile.

"But to sum things up, we are really sorry about lying to you guys. All of us didn't realise how, umm, close, we'd get to you" Malik said, blushing slightly as he thought back to their little elevator expedition, just one and a half weeks before.

Marik noticed the slight blush on Malik's cheeks and this time couldn't stop himself from smiling slightly.

"I guess if you were doing it for the greater good, then it's okay" Marik reasoned and Malik's eyes widened in shock.

"Wait, you forgive me?!" Malik exclaimed, pointing to himself.

"Well if what you say is true, then I guess you're not a total bad guy" Marik replied.

Malik couldn't help himself as a full-fledged smile crossed his face. He bounded off the bed and tackled Marik, giving him a big hug.

"Thank you" Malik said into Marik's ear. Marik couldn't help his arms from tightening around the smaller boy; after all, he was his Malik-pretty.

(S)(P)(I)(E)(S)

Joey walked stealthily around the office floor, trying to find out if anyone knew where his three co-workers had gone. Come to think about it, Joey hadn't seen Mana all morning either.

He asked a couple of other co-workers if they'd seen the boys however no one knew anything. Joey walked to an area of the floor he hadn't been to before and rounded a corner but quickly hid back behind the corner so as not to be seen.

Down the corridor was a silver-haired man he hadn't seen before at work. That man was yelling at a worker in front of him and pointing into a room. Joey couldn't quite hear the altercation as they were too far down the corridor however he picked up the words 'energy machine' and 'bullet holes.'

Before Joey could hear anything else, the silver-haired man looked up and turned to the direction of Joey, as if he sensed he was being watched.

Joey quickly took two steps back behind the wall and hoped he hadn't been spotted. He waited a few moments before sticking his head back out again just to see the worker and the silver-haired man walk into the room they had been pointing at.

Joey sighed in relief however his relief was short-lived when a cloth went over his mouth from behind. Joey struggled against the person holding him and swore he saw a flash of blue hair however within seconds he blacked out.

Joey didn't know how long he was out for but when his vision started coming back to him, he could blearily make out Mana's form. Her hands were tied behind her back and she had duct tape across her mouth.

He sat up quickly and noticed that Mana was shaking her head, her eyes wide. Before he could say anything, something hit him on the head from behind and he was knocked out cold once more.

(S)(P)(I)(E)(S)

Ryou followed Bakura into the bedroom and they both sat down on the two recliners in the room. Ryou didn't know what Bakura was thinking. Obviously Bakura had looked distraught after he'd shot him but a week had gone by and Ryou didn't know what Bakura thought now that he'd had time to actually think and process Ryou's role in all of this.

Ryou suddenly remembered back to a moment with Bakura, when they were on the roof of Millennium Corp.

[Flashback]

Ryou blushed at the comment but continued the conversation. "I'm sure people are nicer if you give them the chance."

"Ha! Please. I don't trust easy. The people that work here aren't worth my time" Bakura responded.

[End Flashback]

I don't trust easily, that's what he'd said. And Ryou had known all along, known but still continued. He should have left Millennium Corp long before they did but he had been greedy. He had loved Bakura's presence, loved the feeling of feeling alive and being cared for.

Ryou made eye contact with Bakura and before he knew it the words were pouring out of his mouth. "I'm so sorry Bakura, I shouldn't have lied. I know how hard it is for you to let people in" Ryou apologized. He got down on his knees and bowed his head.

Ryou didn't hear anything for a few moments and lifted his head to look at Bakura. Bakura's face was empty of any emotion and Ryou's heart constricted.

"Ryou, I was the one that shot you. I should be apologizing" Bakura said slowly, looking into Ryou eyes.

"But you didn't know it was me. I knew all along" Ryou replied urgently.

Bakura didn't reply to that. Ryou could see the conflict in his eyes as he looked down at Ryou's arm and then back at Ryou.

"You did know" he stated calmly. "So why didn't you say anything?"

"I couldn't. I work as an undercover agent and we were investigating these disappearances around Domino City. Our whole agency thought that Millennium Corp were behind them and they would have sent other agents in if we had left without disproving anything" Ryou explained.

"You still could have told me though. I wouldn't have told anyone. All you had to do was confide in me" Bakura replied.

"I-" Ryou was at a loss for words. He could have told Bakura. Yes, it would have put the whole mission into jeopardy but still.

"Ryou, I don't usually make the same mistake twice. If I trust you again and you double-cross me, I won't hesitate to even the score. Do you understand? Bakura asked seriously.

Ryou looked at Bakura's eyes. Although they were harsh, Ryou could see the vulnerability deep within them as well. He nodded and got up from his kneeling position.

"Now let's get you some food and water, you're looking paler than usual" Bakura said and wove his arm around Ryou's waist and for the first time in the last week, Ryou smiled.

(S)(P)(I)(E)(S)

The other two pairs joined Yugi and Yami in the longue room just as Yami's phone started ringing.

"Hello?" Yami answered but immediately pulled the phone away from his ear. "Calm down father, what are you talking about?"

Marik and Bakura instantly tuned into the conversation when they heard who was on the other side of the line.

"Bullet holes?" Yami questioned his eyes going wide. Bakura gave him a look that said 'don't say a word.'

"I don't know how they got there … we've been out of the city all week" Yami lied. "Yeah, okay, yeah bye" Yami finished, hanging up the phone.

"What did he want?" Bakura sneered. Ryou had felt him seize up as soon as the word 'father' had left Yami's mouth.

"He said he was just notified that there were bullet holes in the machine at work and he was beyond pissed off. He wanted to know if we knew anything about it" Yami explained.

"Why didn't you say anything to him?" Malik pipped up. The three brothers looked at him in surprise.

"We might be understanding, but our father, not so much" Marik explained. "He would not hesitate to kill you. We can never understand what goes on in his head."

"Ah" Malik replied.

"So what happens now?" Yugi spoke up.

"Yeah, we actually have a slight dilemma. Everyone back at the agency thinks we double-crossed them so now there's a price on our heads" Malik added.

"What?!" the three brothers exclaimed.

"Yeah…" Yugi said.

"Well the three of you can stay here for the night and come with us back to Millennium Corp tomorrow. We'll bring extra security and I doubt they'll think that you'll actually be at the company" Yami said logically.

The three spies looked at each other and nodded. "Sounds like a plan"

A/N: Weww, our couples are on the way to recovery! Finally, that felt like forever.

Just letting everyone know, I'm going to Japan for my birthday for the next couple of weeks (so excited) so I won't be able to update within that time. I'll get straight back into it when I return! See you then x