Okay, it all ends here (but it does not end here in the RPG. If you want to follow it, then go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/yamiyugirp and join. We also encourage you to take part in it by choosing a character or making your own.) Thanks to those who have read this far and, thanks to the mod and the players for approval. I just hope I did a good enough job in the proofreading and editing. -- (Mr. Cat)

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FOUR ROUNDS

FOURTH ROUND GONE WRONG: REGRET

By Yami Yugi's RPG Group

Ryuno, on the verge of getting up, turned his head to look at Malik for an instant. He tensed momentarily, his muscles trembling. Then he relaxed, slumping back onto the mattress with a choked sigh.

"Damn you... fucking whore... Why?" he demanded weakly, turning his back on Malik tearfully. "Why won't you hate me?" Ryuno's voice was a whisper, cut off as he shook his head furiously. He didn't understand - had he really been like that too, unable to feel anything but a helpless love for the one who victimized him? True, he hated his father now, but were his feelings different years ago? He couldn't remember.

Malik tried to get to Ryuno, but with difficulty. His whole body hurt from being brutalized. He tried as hard as he could to shift positions and crawl over to Ryuno. Reaching out with one arm, he wrapped it around Ryuno and said softly, his voice soft and weak, "Even Bakura is rough with me. There are times in which he physically hurts me, too. You were provoked, that's why you did this. Please...I'm not blaming you. Please...don't...leave."

Ryuno turned, twisting around to lock his hand firmly over Malik's bruised wrist. "I want you to blame me!" he yelled, tears of anger and confusion pooling at the corners of his eyes. He held Malik's gaze for only a few seconds, though, then looked away. "I try not to do that... my father was like that... and I hate myself when I can see him in me..." He shook his head, releasing Malik and running his fingers through his hair. "Malik, I don't want to go through this... not again.."

"Is that why you won't stay?" Malik asked him, hurt and confused by the whole situation.

Ryuno sighed shakily, steeling himself - he disliked feeling vulnerable, and besides, he didn't want Malik's pity as well as his misplaced forgiveness. "I don't know..." he muttered, closing his eyes and shaking his head. He didn't want to run, as he saw it - but he didn't want to stay. It wasn't that he wanted to avoid injuring the blond boy further; on the contrary, he knew damn well that part of him /wanted/ the hurt Malik, and that part was not in conflict with any greater moral presence. His desire not to imitate his father was a purely selfish one, a need to prove himself superior.

"Please," Malik started, still reaching for Ryuno, "hold me, just now. Then if you want to go, leave." Despite his whole body hurting, he felt that just being held by Ryuno would make him feel better, make him forget the pain he was feeling both inside and out.

"I..." Ryuno still couldn't look at Malik, and he wasn't sure what to say. He still wanted to walk away... but he doubted he could. His hands were shaking, his breaths coming strained and tight. His blue-gray eyes darted up to Malik's face for just an instant, and then Ryuno's body made the decision his mind could not - he pulled Malik into his arms, burying his face in the boy's shoulder. "Please... just tell me you hate me... so I don't have to feel so guilty..."

"I can't," Malik countered, squeezing his eyes shut as the tears came again. "I'd be lying to you and myself if I told you that. However, if it will make you feel better, I'll say it. Is that what you want me to do? Lie to you?" Malik didn't know if he would have to courage to lie to Ryuno just to make him feel better.

Ryuno sniffed, willing himself not to cry - he was too old for tears, and besides, he'd spent enough of his childhood in tears already. "No... no, I don't want that." He swallowed, his grip on Malik loosening a bit as he became aware of it. Gently, he started to rub the boy's shoulders, one of the few places he could touch without worrying about causing pain.

"Then what do you want? Tell me," Malik pleaded tearfully, filled with despair at his inability to get through to Ryuno.


Ryuno was silent, rather startled by the question, and even more surprised that he had no answer for it. "I... don't know," he stated finally, his voice quiet. "But I'll stay for a while, if you want me to."

"That's all I want," Malik said, as he moved closer to Ryuno, just wanting to feel him close, wanting so much to hold him as well, but he was too battered and bruised to attempt any further movement.

Carefully, with none of the callousness or aggression he had displayed only a short while before, Ryuno scooped Malik into his lap, holding him and stroking his back. "Hey... you gonna be alright?" he asked softly, gingerly avoiding the raised welts and rough-edged gashes his belt buckle had caused as he ran slender fingers over Malik's skin. "Shit... I really snapped..."

"Don't worry about it," Malik tried to reassure Ryuno. "As long as you're holding me, I'll be alright." He tried to force a smile, but not without difficulty, since his lip still hurt on one side where he had bitten it in an effort to stifle his own scream. "Just keep me with you like this...don't let me go," he said softly, Ryuno's closeness becoming a source of comfort to him.

Ryuno couldn't think of a reply, but felt the need to do something with his lips - he still felt he might begin sobbing any second. Dipping his head, he laid a soft kiss on Malik's cheek, tasting the salt of dried tears on the warm skin. "You're sure? I... I could take you to the emergency room... you're bleeding..." he suggested nervously, not much liking the thought despite recognizing its sensibility.

Malik shook his head. "No," he replied. "If you did, they'd come after you and separate us. Just hold me..." He grimaced once again as he shifted, his body reminding him that almost all of it was in pain.

"Like I give a damn - the authorities can go to hell," Ryuno muttered bitterly, now smoothing Malik's sweat-dampened hair and cradling him with one arm. "They didn't do shit when I went to the hospital all bruised up..." He shook his head, not interested in continuing that vein of conversation.

"I don't want them coming after you," Malik insisted, his voice still vehement despite it's being soft and weak. "I don't want any restraining orders issued against you. Please... I don't want them to separate us."

Ryuno nodded his agreement. "Fine... but I don't see why you're so concerned about me. I just beat you and raped you, and here you are protecting me like some cliché of a battered wife." He kissed Malik again, assuring him that his words held no contempt - only bemusement.

This time, Malik slipped his tongue out, running it along Ryuno's lips, coaxing them to part. "Please, Ryuno...let me in," he pleaded, begging for entry into the other's mouth, just wanting to feel it locked with his.

Ryuno hesitantly allowed Malik's tongue to slide into his mouth, not sure if he was ready for this level of intimacy so soon - he didn't quite trust himself. His hands were sticky with blood from their explorations of Malik's battered frame. But still... if it would comfort the other boy to share a kiss...

Malik's mouth hurt, his whole body hurt, and yet, just the feel of Ryuno's tongue against his ignited that fire that was just waiting to start inside him. Despite his physical weakness, he knew that something as small as a kiss could wreak havoc with his senses, awakening that sleeping dragon within him, making his whole body ache, not with the pain of his wounds and bruises, but with that ache that he felt in the pit of his stomach, an ache that soon spread throughout his lower body, making it crave fulfillment that could only be reached through an intense physical union.

Tasting blood, Ryuno sought out the cut on Malik's lip with his tongue, soothing it with gentle caresses. His hands did the same, seeking out the sore or tense spots all over the boy's body, rubbing carefully at the contusions he'd caused. He trailed a hand over Malik's stomach, trying to determine how hard he'd struck there - the angry red mark of the riding crop was a slash of fiery heat under his hand.

Moaning into the kiss, Malik moved his mouth aside only once to murmur against the other's lips, "Oh, Ryuno...please...touch me..." Though he could hardly move, the hardened evidence on Malik's lower body told Ryuno that it wanted every part of his body, every inch of it caressed, fondled, touched in any way Ryuno would choose to do so.

Ryuno's hand slid back up Malik's stomach to his chest, and with a start the older boy realized they'd both forgotten the nipple clamps - Malik probably wasn't even feeling them now, at least not as a pain distinct enough to pay specific attention to. He removed the linked clips, rubbing his thumb softly over the firm nubs of flesh apologetically. Ryuno's mouth stayed pressed lightly to Malik's. Now he kissed tenderly, seeking to please rather than wound - and, to his surprise, he found he felt better for it too.

Since Malik could hardly move from the pain in his body, he let Ryuno take the lead. After having experienced Ryuno's skill in the art of pleasure, Malik knew that the Ryuno's skilled hands could work wonders with his body, like it was an instrument to be played only by his hands, a rare gem only he could handle with care.

Ryuno let his hand fall between Malik's legs, supporting the smaller boy with one arm as he teased the hot flesh with the tips of his fingers. He stroked and rubbed slowly, his mouth open for Malik's explorations as his tongue caressed the other's soft lips in return.

With all his senses heightened, Malik could not suppress the little cry that escaped his lips as Ryuno's hand touched his newly awakened body, the tongue that ran along his lips feeding the fire that was already burning within. He could not move, since he was in so much physical pain, but as long as Ryuno was holding him, he knew that he could withstand it.

As he eased Malik back onto the pillows, Ryuno's hand shifted still lower, cradling and applying cautious pressure to the boy's sensitive pouch. Leaning over Malik, he began to kiss his way down the smaller body, his tongue seeking each source of pain and easing it as best he could. The taste of blood was strong in his mouth, but Ryuno ignored it. This was his penance. He was doing the one thing his father had never been able to - he was taking pleasure in giving it.

Malik responded with soft, little cries as each touch brought both the physical pain of each wound and the overwhelming pleasure together, mingling to bring him to that dimension that he was always able to reach whenever Ryuno touched him. It was, in a way, a healing of his internal wounds, which brought him more pain than those wounds that were evident on his body.

Ryuno kept going, his tongue and his hands offering Malik the apology that he could not force out in words. It wasn't fair to have blamed Malik - there was nothing wrong with forgiveness, right? Still, Ryuno wasn't ready just yet to say he was sorry, because he didn't think he could do it without tears. He kissed Malik frequently, imagining that it was one kiss for one bruise.

Malik cried out in pain as he tried to move his legs. He so wanted to wrap his legs around Ryuno, to feel his head tease him at his entrance. He still returned kiss after kiss that Ryuno gave him, a reassurance that he did not hold him responsible for what happened. "Ryuno," he moaned, "have me. Please...take me."

Ryuno pulled back, just enough to give Malik a stern look. "Malik, you can't be serious," he said, glancing guiltily at the blood on the sheets. "You won't be able to sit for a week. Look, I'll get you off - but seeing you like this, it's kind of a turn-off," he admitted. "It's something I regret... I... I'm not ready for that right now. I don't want you to be hurt again."

Malik bit his lower lip once again and nodded, resigned to the fact that he looked absolutely horrible with all his wounds and bruises. He turned his head to the side, muttering, "I know."

"Hey..." Ryuno turned Malik's face back to him, looking into his eyes with unusual concern. "Look, I didn't mean it to sound like that... you're beautiful, Malik, but I... the idea of causing you that much pain... I can't. I'm sick to my stomach thinking about what I did, okay?"

Malik couldn't say anything. He felt just as responsible as Ryuno did for this situation. He nodded again in response, and then just moved closer to Ryuno. "Then please, just stay with me here. We should be asleep at this time, anyway."

"Yeah, I guess we should.. but your bed's a mess," Ryuno replied, cuddling Malik against his chest. He was still basically dressed, but Malik wasn't, and it struck him that the younger boy might be cold. "Hey, Malik, you want a blanket? We could go to my place if you just want to lie down... the bed's the only thing that's ready, everything else is in boxes... but at least we could sleep there..."

Malik nodded against Ryuno's chest, letting the other take charge. He was also feeling very tired from the night's events and from being brutalized, that all he needed to do at that time was rest.

Ryuno carefully got to his feet, managing to zip his pants one-handed as he held Malik in the other arm. He pulled the cleanest blanket from the bed and wrapped the blond boy in it, pulling open a dresser drawer and grabbing a few articles of clothing, so Malik would have something to put on later. Fishing his keys out of his pocket and sweeping up Malik's on his way out, he found the right apartment and opened the door, revealing an impressive pile of boxes and one queen-sized bed. "Well... welcome to my hole in the wall."

Malik smiled faintly, exhaustion finally beginning to take over his body. He just lost himself in the feel of Ryuno holding him close, carrying him inside his apartment. Despite what happened, Ryuno's arms felt so right when they held him. In fact, they felt like home to him, like he always belonged there. His eyes were beginning to get heavy as he surveyed the place, and soon after, they were completely closed as he fell asleep, physically hurt but emotionally relieved.