The Card Sprite ... Chapter Six

Itsu hitatsu no Rei Iku mo Mata Toi ... When a Spirit Goes Too Far

Kioku ran, shoving people, things, and air out of her way. She was blinded by her tears and so was not able to see Bakura well enough to get away from him in time.

Only it wasn't Bakura, it was Ryou. And looking at him then, with her tears wiped from her eyes with his tattered sleeve, she knew something was terribly wrong. His eyes were filled with a fierce longing, and his arms hung uselessly at his sides. His clothes, tattered and bloodstained, fluttered in the soft afternoon breeze, and an ugly mass of bruises was spreading on his pale face. His Sennen Ring was gone.

Kioku stood looking at him, unsure. Why did he come to me for help? He barely knows me. And besides...

Ryou's brown eyes rolled up into his head as she stood thinking. She was quick to catch him when he fell.

O powers that were vested in me, take me to this beating's scene!

She and Ryou were instantly in front of a house that looked as though it had seen better days. The shutters were weather stained and broken, the door hung crazily, half-open on rusty hinges, and the windows were cracked and gaping like the eyes of a soulless being. The houses to the right and left looked as though they'd been picked from a magazine photograph. Kioku wondered if the neighbors knew something she didn't. Ryou was still a broken bundle in her arms, and at last she knew why he'd come to her.

There was no one else.

She nudged the door open, tentatively, her stony eyes searching in vain for Bakura. As her eyes raked the large room, Kioku's nose wrinkled in disgust. Furniture that once had been whole and fairly lovely was reduced to broken piles of cinders and scorched cloth. Some looked as though an enormous animal had ripped them apart with its teeth. Holes big enough for an entire person were found in all the walls. Propping Ryou up against a fairly whole wall, Kioku again surveyed the damage to his frail young form. Perhaps that's how he got so many gashes, Kioku mused. Surprisingly though, nothing's broken.

Ryou came to with a gasp. "Why did you bring me back here?"

Kioku knelt in front of the nearly frantic youth, cupping his cheek in her hand as his wild eyes searched hers. "It's all right," she said soothingly, "I checked. He's gone."

"No," Ryou screamed, panicked, "He's everywhere!"

And he fainted again. Kioku felt a strong push on her mind, and turned just in time to see a frenzied Bakura launch himself at her.

With a motion of her hand, she created a shadow shield around herself and Ryou. The dark spirit of the Ring bounced off, but then he reached at her slower and his strong pale hand grasped her throat.

She staggered back against the wall, his hand cutting off her breath. Ryou had begun crawling towards the door, but had lost consciousness halfway out.

Kioku's eyes snapped up to meet Bakura's; fierce mahogany against cruel chocolate.

She might have asked a question, she might have screamed, she might have hissed a curse into his pale ear.

She might have... but couldn't, for Bakura, still holding her throat, drew close and pressed his lips to hers. He held her against the wall, preventing any struggle. She snapped her fingers together and disappeared, reappearing several feet away. They were both breathing heavily.

A dangerous, seductive glint appeared in his eyes. "If you could do that," he growled with a small smile, "then why are you still here?"

Kioku's eyes cut his cocky attitude to ribbons. "I'm not leaving without Ryou."

A dark eyebrow slid upwards. "You— and my hikari?"

Kioku flipped him a wry half-smile. "Does that bother you?"

Snarling, Bakura turned away and stalked into the bathroom, slamming the door behind him so hard it fell off its hinges.

He cursed and howled, and then decided to do his business anyway. He cackled when Kioku passed the threshold and averted her eyes.

She heard water running in the sink and made quick work of hefting Ryou to her shoulders. Before she could snap them away from that place, Bakura slid a pale, muscular arm around her waist.

His warm lips were moving, his breath steamy, at her ear.

"Let me make myself perfectly clear: you belong to me whether you like it or not."

Ryou was thrown from her shoulders to the floor. Kioku's dress found itself around her ankles before she could draw in breath. She whisked it back up and glared, but not before Bakura's eyes had glazed over.

Bakura caught hold of her arm and drew her close.

"You belong to me... say it... I want to hear you say that you are mine..."

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Ooh... I'm not sure how I should continue this... ideas welcome! ;~)

Flames will be used to burn... uh... who haven't I used?!

Oh, yeh... Kemo. You know, Pegasus' main bodyguard guy? No, not the head of security, that's Croquet. I'll burn him in chapter seven.

Okay... flames will be used to burn Kemo, because I hate his snotty attitude, not to mention his hair! It's like Tristan gone haywire (but Tristan is cool. I'm just giving you an idea).

All: ^_^° *sweatdrop*