Bakura took his duties as a yami very seriously. That is why although he might slap, kick, hit, insult, mutilate or otherwise abuse his hikari, he made sure that nobody else did. Call it a monopoly of abuse, if you will. A phrase that by now has grown so trite that it has almost no real meaning left, but still very applicable to this situation.
Yamis were supposed to protect their hikari's from danger, to guide and shelter them. Bakura did all that, in the manner he best saw fit. Nowhere did it say that the yamis had to carry out the afore-mentioned duties gently, or even in a caring manner. Therefore, Bakura thought himself quite justified in ensuring that Ryou was paying attention to his lessons by making Ryou fear the consequences of not listening. Some people learnt best when threatened with violence, and Bakura couldn't be bothered finding out if Ryou was one of them or not. Besides, it was more fun the other way.
However, apart from the injuries he inflicted on his hikari, he was generally quite careful with Ryou and almost embarrassingly over-protective when it came so certain situations, not that either Bakura or Ryou would ever let anyone know of it. Bakura because it wouldn't help his image, and Ryou because it wouldn't be what Bakura wanted.
This over-protectiveness and inability to allow anyone except himself to touch Ryou, was what started everything. By everything I mean Bakura rolling around on the floor with Kaiba just outside Kaiba's office, one of them yelling incoherently about 'bruises the size of a fucking dinner plate'.
Of course, by now nobody was quite sure who was yelling what, but one could make out that each of them seemed to be accusing the other of being abusive, and judging from the way they were attacking each other, the accusations did not seem unfounded in the least. Some of the bystanders had earlier attempted to break them up, and were now nursing broken limbs as a result of their interference. Then again, not all that many of Kaiba's employees were adverse to the idea of seeing their master being thoroughly pummeled in his own office. Anyway, the white-haired boy had stormed into Kaiba's office too fast to be stopped by any of them so any injuries that Kaiba suffered wouldn't be their fault. That line of reasoning might explain why there was such a large crowd gathered around the two quarreling boys, well that and the fact it was a good excuse to not get their work done.
The fight had been going on for a full quarter of an hour, and though they were both completely disheveled and sweaty, neither of them seemed willing to stop, so when Kaiba finally managed to roll away, get to his feet and drag the smaller boy into his office, everyone fully expected to have them continue in a more private setting.
What they hadn't been expecting was have no sound escape the newly soundproofed room. Disappointed at the lack of action, the crowd dispersed and since they finally left, we can now return to our anti-hero's escapades.
"What the fuck were you thinking being so rough on him?! I told you that you could only go out with him if you didn't upset him, or push him further than he wanted to!" Bakura half-screamed at Kaiba, his voice inching up several octaves til he sounded eerily like Ryou, obscene language excepted of course. Kaiba glared in reply, and took out a stack of photos which Bakura angrily snatched from him.
"Photos of a half-dressed Ryou? Where's the connection between them and you hurting him?" Bakura demanded, riffling through them. Bakura showed no reaction, least of all the shame and fear that Kaiba had been expecting, seeming to be exasperated instead.
'Ignore the fact that he's not fully clothed and look at the bruises on him." Kaiba coolly replied, trying to keep his emotions bottled up the way he usually did. Bakura snorted.
"What bruises? The only ones there are the ones I gave him."
"My point exactly."
"What point?!"
"That you're hurting your hikari unlike the other yamis"
"What are you going to do, report me to the Yesteryear Abusers of Millennium Innocents Society? I can just see the headlines now: 'Famous CEO claims that ancient spirit is terrorizing present boyfriend'. That'll go down well I'm sure."
"No, I'm going to make you stop."
"Who cares about what I do? The reason I came to kill you is that you hurt him."
"I see. I should have realized that it's obviously less painful when you hurt him, since you're supposed to protect him and everything. No emotional pain and feelings of betrayal at all of course."
"Sarcasm is the lowest form of humor Kaiba."
"It got the point across though, didn't it?"
"You still haven't made your point, nor do I care if you do or don't. What I want is for you to explain to me why you thought that you'd get away with hurting my hikari."
"You thought that you'd get away with hurting him."
"That's different, he belongs to me."
"Strange, I thought that since the Ring was his, you belonged to him."
"I'm not anyone's property. Neither is the Ring, or any of the other Millenium items."
"So, you aren't property, but Ryou is. The distinction between the two of you is quite clear to me now."
"Stop harping on that. What matters is why I shouldn't forcibly remove your over-inflated head from your gangly body right now."
"Because I'm not doing anything you haven't done."
"That's different though, I thought that I'd already explained it to you, and that being the pharaoh of a company you'd have grasped the concept."
"CEO, not pharaoh."
"Ra-damned details like that don't matter to me."
"You haven't explained anything to me anyway."
"I hate having to repeat myself."
"I'm sorry, what did you say?"
"Not. Funny. Kaiba."
"I found it hilarious."
"You would."
"Just like you find terrorizing your hikari amusing I suppose."
"Don't act so sanctimonious. He came back with bruises he hadn't had when he set out to meet you."
"And every time he leaves you he had bruises he hadn't had before."
"I said that's different."
"Do as I say and not as I do."
"Since you aren't me, then yes, that is quite right."
"Hypocrisy never dies, does it Bakura? As old as the pyramids themselves…"
"Kaiba, I am thisclose to just ripping your Horus-cursed head off. Don't provoke me."
"You mean the way Ryou provokes you when he begs you to stop, when he lets tears run down his soft cheeks, when he-"
"Shut. Up."
"Did I hit a soft spot there Bakura? Just like you do when you strike him on bruises that were just beginning to fade, making sure that there'll always be a mark on him that you-"
"I'm not warning you again."
"Did you give Ryou any warning at all?"
"Kaiba…" Softer now, less menace and more fatigue as Bakura tired of the verbal fencing.
"What, has the tomb-robber finally repented?"
"I just want to know why in the name of Horus would you hurt Ryou."
"Because I want you to see what he looks like to me. The first time I undressed him, I thought that he had been hit repeatedly by a blunt object. Then he told he had been, and that it was your fist."
"This is none of your business Kaiba."
"It is when it gets to the point that any physical contact between us causes him to wince."
"He's crying because of you."
"And of course you hit him to make him stop."
"Of course."
"See what I mean Bakura?"
"No."
A soft sigh, almost inaudible escaped a pair of swollen lips.
"Hit me." Kaiba suddenly demanded.
"…what?"
"Are you deaf?"
"Are you insane?"
"Hit me."
"I already have. Several times, in fact."
"That was different; we were fighting."
"You've already had me hit you but you still want more?"
"Yes."
"Are you a masochist?"
"No…and neither is Ryou."
"How do you think that me hitting you will solve anything? Unless it'll stop you from hitting Ryou…"
" I won't hit Ryou unless you do."
"How the fuck is that supposed to make anything better? It'll just double the amount of bruises that Ryou has."
"I know."
"So?"
"It'll drive you insane, to see marks on him that aren't yours, to have to live with the knowledge that he prefers another to you, that he'll willingly allow me to do to him what you do as a punishment…to know that your means of administering discipline has been turned into something loving, consensual and kind. It'll ruin the whole point of your little exercises, because Ryou won't dislike it anymore.. Not only that but every time you hurt him, he'll think of me. He'll imagine my fist delivering the blows, my hands wrapping around his slender throat…you'll never be able to hurt him properly again, not now, now that pain is love and love is pain…every time you hurt him he'll see it as an expression of love"
Silence, unbroken by even the sound of breathing.
"That's sick." Bakura finally said.
"So glad you approve."
"How could I not?"
"So I take it that you'll stop?"
"Yes." Unconditionnal surrender on the part of the tomb-robber.
"I thought you would."
"You think like me."
"I know. That's why Ryou loves me."
With that, Kaiba turned and walked out of the office, leaving Bakura slumped in a bleeding, defeated position. If he could have seen himself, he would have thought that he looked very much like Ryou…
Author's Notes: This is just a one-shot fic that I found amusing to write. It's also supposed to be a sop to the people who want me to update my other Yu-Gi-Oh fic, since I'm kind of stuck on the next chapter which is supposed to be citrusy, and I've never written citrus before…
Anyway, I hope that you enjoyed it, and that it didn't twist your mind too badly.