Chapter 38

Yuugi was rooted to the spot as she stared, unblinking at Yami. He was sitting at a round table, his date by his side, not having noticed his lack of attention. Several seconds went by before she managed to shake herself from her stupor, realizing that she needed to move. She might be seated near the back, but several people were giving her strange looks for standing in the middle of Pegasus's speech.

Yuugi swallowed, before hesitantly mouthing at him. Be right back

He stared for a second, then nodded, and Yuugi's heart relaxed. He was confused, that much was obvious, but at least he hadn't turned away.

She hurried across the floor and through the side door, intending to find Ryuji. Only two turns later she found him, walking slowly through the corridor.

"Ryuji!"

The man glanced over his shoulder then stopped as she approached.

"What is it?" he said.

"Umm."

Now that she was here, she faltered, unsure of what to say. Ryuji kept staring at her, waiting.

"Look." said Yuugi, "I'm not trying to belittle what happened to your sister, nor am I trying to take sides-" Ryuji snorted. "-I just want to believe the best in my friends, both the new and the old. Can't it be possible that there's more to the story than what you know?"

"Not anything good." said Ryuji, folding his arms. "I tried talking to Yami about it once, but he wouldn't say anything. He just shut his mouth and told me to believe what I wanted to. Friends don't stab each other in the back like this."

A laugh rang through the corridor. Marik was walking towards them, a malicious smile spread across his face. The collar of his dress shirt was popped, hands resting in the pockets of his slacks as he strode towards them in a lazy yet deadly gate.

This… was not going to end well.

"No matter how many times I hear it, it still sounds pathetic." Said Marik. "All your belly aching for a sister that abandoned you."

"Shut your mouth if you know what's good for you!" said Ryuji, stiffening.

"Or what? You're going to make up rumors about me? Oooooh, I'm so scared."

Why were those two such idiots? Would it kill Marik not to goad Ryuji into a fight? They could have only been in each other's presence for more than a few seconds and they were already close to blows.

"Guys, you seriously need to stop this." Said Yuugi. Marik turned his attention to her.

"Glad to see you whore." Spat Marik. "You two make a good couple. Looks like Yami managed to dodge that bullet."

"And you're an idiot that doesn't listen." Said Yuugi, rolling her eyes. "Look, me and Ryuji are not dating. I'm here talk to Yami."

"What, so you can hurt him when you question him about the lies Otogi has been feeding you? Yeah, fat chance. You're as much a whore as his sister."

Ryuji came forward, slamming Marik against the wall with an arm. The picture on the wall trembled at the impact, Ryuji's face screwed up in rage.

"Don't you dare." Said Ryuji through clenched teeth. "Don't you dare make light of what happened to my sister. You're as guilty as Yami is."

"Yeah? And how do you figure?" said Marik, looking unconcerned. He was sneering, digging further into Ryuji's wounds with his words. "It's not like you were much help to her either, too caught up in saving the skin of your company to even notice that your sister left. Face it, you're a failure as a brother."

Ryuji's face turned red in rage.

"Guys, cut it out." Said Yuugi, coming forward and trying to pry Ryuji's arm off Marik.

"Stay out of this Yuugi." Said Ryuji.

"But if you'd just listen-"

"No, let the brat have his tantrum-"

There was a scuffle as they battled for dominance. Marik managed pushed Ryuji's arm off of him, leaving the wall and drawing back for a punch.

There was a crunch and pain exploded on Yuugi's face. Marik had drawn his elbow straight into her nose.

Yuugi cried out, more from shock than pain, cupping her hands over her face as blood began to pour from her nose.

"Son of a-"

"What the hell you'd do Marik?"

"I didn't do anything."

Yuugi swore again, the blood quickly staining her hands red. She bent her head forward, wincing when it hurt too much to pinch the bridge of her nose. She felt a hand on her shoulder and someone stuffed a cloth of some sort under her nose.

"Come on Yuugi." Said Ryuji. "Let's get you to-"

The man didn't get to finish. He was shoved away by another person who bent over quickly in front of her. Gentle, firm hands took hold of the cloth, situating it carefully on her face.

"How do you keep finding yourself in the middle of fights?" said a concerned voice. The words were light, obviously meant to sooth her, but she could tell Yami was angry.

"Blame the morons I call friends." choked out Yuugi, her voice distorted from the blood. She tried hard not to concentrate on how close his face was to hers. Especially the part where blood was coming from her nose. Yes, this was definitely the attractive face she wanted to use to win Yami back.

Yami was not amused. He turned to the other two who were still glaring at one another.

"What happened here?" he said, the anger coming out now in his voice.

"The pipsqueak got too close." Said Marik, seemingly unconcerned.

Yami's face darkened. He placed an arm on Yuugi's back, one hand still pressed gently against the handkerchief on her face.

"I'll talk to you after I see to her." Said Yami. He began leading Yuugi away, whose stomach was doing back flips at the proximity. It felt way too good to be this close to him.

"She's my date Yami." She heard Ryuji say, following after them. "I'll take care of her."

"And she's my friend." Said Yami, just as harshly. Yuugi tried to ignore the stab she felt at the word friend. "You two obviously can't be trusted to control your temper."

She heard a snort that had come from Marik. Were they all following?

"I'm not the one that lashed out first."

"Like hell you weren't. You insulted my sister."

The insults and bantering didn't stop as they walked to where Yami was leading her, which turned out to be the men's bathroom. They all entered, their voices ringing in the enclosed space. Yami led her to a sink where he removed the cloth. She quickly placed her hands under the water, washing off what she could of the blood before taking a napkin Yami handed her, placing it against her still bleeding nose.

This wasn't the first time Yami had helped her clean up after being bullied before. She'd gone through more than one bloody nose, but this time she couldn't help feeling self-conscious. It didn't help that all she could do was stand there and hope the bleeding would stop soon since those two were still arguing. It was starting to make her head hurt.

"Guys." Said Yami finally. "You two really need to stop."

"Don't go acting like you care now Yami." Snapped Ryuji, turning his rage to him. "You were the one with the hands off attitude the whole time your family tried to sue mine for slander. Do you have any idea what we went through?"

"Nothing that you didn't deserve I imagine." Said Marik with a sneer. "After all the crap that you said, it's a wonder that the Sennen's didn't win. You should be kissing Yami's feet that he didn't say anything against you."

"Oh, you're right." Said Ryuji, sarcasm dripping from his voice. "Thank you so much for knocking up my sister and tearing apart our family then not admitting to it."

"Ryuji." Said Yami, regret in his eyes. "You have to know, what happened was never my intention-"

"So now you talk?" said Ryuji, who was long gone at this point. He had run a hand through his hair, several strands sticking up and reflecting his haggard state. His green eyes turned to Yami, frustration and grief coloring them. "Marik talks about betrayal and backstabbing, yet you're the one that betrayed me first. You hurt my sister, her honor and then my family, all without dirtying your own hands. I don't know what's worse Yami! What you did, Or the fact that you don't even seem to care!"

The words bounced against the tiles, leaving with it a ringing silence. Marik seemed to has finally realized it was time to shut up as he didn't say anything. Ryuji continued to glare at Yami, breathing hard as if he had run a mile. Yuugi's own heart hurt, listening to Ryuji's agony.

Then there was Yami.

He removed himself from Yuugi, grabbing a napkin from the wall and pulling out a pen. He wrote something on it, then handed the napkin to Ryuji, expression unreadable.

"Here." Said Yami. "I think I've held this secret long enough."

Confusion flashed in Ryuji's eyes as he took the paper, staring at Yami.

"What is this?" he said.

"It's the address to where your sister is living."

Ryuji stiffened in shock, pulling the napkin close to him as if it was precious.

"You knew?" he said. "This whole time you knew where she was?"

"Yes." Said Yami. "I helped hide her."

Ryuji punched Yami, hard in the face.

"Yami!" cried Yuugi, as her friend fell to the ground.

"Screw you!" said Ryuji. He spat at Yami's feet, then stormed out of the bathroom, the door swinging shut behind him.

Thank you my lovelies! Yaminisu, Madolche Anjelly, Guest, ForeverWildfire2.0, AnimaniAshley, Ceasa, Hiei Dragon Girl, catgirl505, V. Copperhex, SkyNakama27, and kaitenzero. You guys are the best!

Yaminisu: It would be cool to see everything from Yami's perspective at this point, but it would also give away all the answers that are still burning inside of you, thus getting rid of the tension and making you less inclined to keep following the story. The answers will come, just not all at once necessarily. (Oh the things we writers do. Anyone else want to chuck things at rooster teeth for the season finale of RWBY? The feels!)