Define 'Cruelty'

By: Neko-chan



A/N: Request fic from Pikachumaniac-san. (Shall shorten to PMS for my fingers' sake. XD) In order to get her "Spring Tulips" finally updated... I had to write this. So blame this ficu on HER. *points*

Note: Takes place on Kaiba's blimp, a little while after Yami no Malik and Mai's Yami no Game. _Should_ take place before Yami no Malik and Yami no Bakura's Yami no Duel, though... It's been a while since I last saw the episodes. ^^;;

WARNING: Yaoi-ish. Yami no Malik/Yami no Yuugi

DISCLAIMER: I am Ore-Sama! And Ore-Sama owns Yu-Gi-Oh!. ... *gets pelted by rotten fruits and vegetables* ... And Ore-Sama dislikes you all. *shakes fist*



***

"How come I must know/Where obsession needs to go?/How come I must know/Where the passion hides its feelings?"--'Obsession,' opening song for .hack//SIGN

***



His reflection was so faint in the dark window--trembling around the edges and fading away when looked at from a certain perspective. Yami no Yuugi stared at his reflection, frowning slightly as the edges of his image blurred even further. He reached out and gently traced the outline of his jaw; up and down, up and down his finger glided against the smooth as silk glass. Yami no Yuugi paused for a brief moment and stared at his reflection's empty eyes.

//Who am I, aibou?//

/...hmmm? What is it, mou hitori no boku?/

//Who _am_ I, aibou? I have no memories of my past, except the small bits and pieces that Isis has revealed to me. I have no idea who I am--the only clue that I have to my past is the stone tablet in the museum. Aibou... truly, who _am_ I???//

The small boy seemed puzzled, sending his confusion and sympathy along the silver thread that bound omote and yami together. Yami no Yuugi's frown deepened and he continued his tracing of his image shown in the opaque window. Up and down, up and down, up and down... a curve for the downwards turn of his lips... and once again--up and down, up and down, up and down.

/Mou hitori no boku?/

//Hmmm?//

/You're my friend. You're my mou hitori no boku. You're my yami. And I am _your_ friend and hitori no ore. I am your omote, your surface 'self'. I always will be. We're bound together, mou hitori no boku. And, since you no longer have your own memories... I give you my own./

"So touching, so sweet, so... sentimental," a harsh voice hissed in Yami no Yuugi's ear. The dark spirit started in surprise and began to turn around to confront the person who had snuck into his and his omote's room, but darkly tanned hands reached up and clasped his neck just under his jaw, efficiently preventing Yami no Yuugi from moving--at all. The hold on his throat was tight enough that he would probably strangle himself if he decided to fight back.

Yami no Malik smiled brightly at Yami no Yuugi, his own image stretching grotesquely in the obsidian-black window. "You and your omote are so, so, so close, Pharaoh. So... very... close..."

The smile widened slightly as the evil yami leaned forward, nuzzling Yami no Yuugi's ear as he continued to whisper dark words and horrific premonitions of what was to come. "What would Pharaoh do if I destroyed his precious omote? How could Pharaoh survive and live on when he failed in his duty to his only... friend?" Yami no Malik chuckled at that and brought his other arm around Yami no Yuugi's torso, slowly tracing circles on the leather-clad spirit's chest. "This world is so different from my own, Pharaoh. I want Darkness."

Yami no Yuugi leaned away from Yami no Malik's touch, putting as much pressure on his throat as he could possibly take to try and get away from the tanned fingers dancing their way across his body. The one-time Pharaoh gasped for breath when the Egyptian's hold tightened even further.

"Ore-Sama... I want a sacrificial lamb to send to the Darkness, Pharaoh."

The other spirit's eyes widened fractionally, shock and horror flitting quickly across his face, only to disappear as quickly as they had come. He paused for a long moment, composing himself, before the spirit of the Sennen Puzzle continued. "...why?"

"Because I do so love the Darkness, Pharaoh," Yami no Malik purred, brushing his lips against Yuugi's Darkness' shelled ear and slowly making his way down--a brush, nip, and lick against Yami no Yuugi's frantically beating pulse, tasting the sweet, sweet flesh of his throat, and harshly punishing the area where shoulder met neck.

Yami no Yuugi shuddered, closing his eyes to keep from watching his and Yami no Malik's reflections in the dark window. His eyes burned fiercely and Yami no Yuugi knew that his aibou could sense and _see_ everything that was being done to his darker half. He clenched his eyes closed even tighter than before and swallowed the urge to start crying.

"Why are you doing this to me?" he whispered softly, eyes still closed tightly and faintly trembling.

"Why does a black hole swallow up everything within its reach? Why do whalers go out upon the sea, killing countless numbers of whales and dolphins, only to leave them dead and dying upon the shore? Why do natural disasters wipe out countless numbers of people every single year? Why does the tiger and the lion stalk its prey?"

"Why?" Yami no Yuugi asked again.

"Why? Why is that? Why? Why is it that every single time I look through my omote's eyes at my own reflection, I see something dead and decaying inside? Why is that?" came the hollowed response.

"...why?"

"People are made up of all the darker emotions, Pharaoh. Your Yuugi, included. We _are_ creatures of Darkness, which is why we revel in pain and suffering and death. You cannot deny it, Pharaoh--I can feel your heart beat all the more faster at the thought of Darkness. And yet... People fear Darkness. Do you fear Darkness, Pharaoh? You, like myself, are made from the Darkness. You and I, Pharaoh, we are Shadows," Yami no Malik breathed upon his skin, still nibbling here and raising---causing---goosebumps to march up and down Yami no Yuugi's body.

Still murmuring words in a language that Yami no Yuugi could not understand--but long ago had been able to--Yami no Malik continued nuzzling the Pharaoh's neck gently, lips brushing against golden skin as softly as butterfly wings against a flower's petal.

Smiling viscously against the bared column of throat, Malik's Darkness bit down hard enough to draw blood.

"Stop it!" Yami no Yuugi cried desperately, fighting tooth and claw against Yami no Malik's hold on him. The Egyptian smiled at bit more broadly at the Pharaoh's attempts to escape and let go of his hold on Yami no Yuugi's neck.

"You cannot deny me, Pharaoh."

"What do you know of me?" the spirit hissed in return. "You know _nothing_ of me! You know nothing _about_ me! I am nothing like you and I shall never become anything remotely akin to you! I am not Darkness and I am not made from it in any way, shape, or form!"

"Yami," Malik's other half smirked.

"...darkness?"

"Yami. No. Yuugi. Deny it all you want, Pharaoh, but you are like me in every respect. You say that you cannot remember your past--I never had one. You say that you do not enjoy banishing others to the Yami no Game, to the Shadow Realm of which we belong. Yet why is it that every single time I mention 'Darkness' your heart leaps in joy and sings within your chest?"

Yami no Yuugi glared defiantly and reached up absently to touch the bloodied teeth marks on his neck. Crimson blood slowly dribbled away from his searching fingers to make its way down his collar bone and slither beneath his thin black tank top. Yami no Malik watched all of this hungrily, red-violet eyes never straying far from its bloodied pathway.

"I am not you," the spirit of the dead Pharaoh bit out furiously, his crimson eyes practically glowing in his fury. He glowered angrily while his fingers still idly--and absently--played with the flesh wound.

"No, you are not," Yami no Malik retorted, smiling beautifully. His Horus eye glowed a little bit brighter, casting his face in shadow and masking the emotions that were traveling across his face like quicksilver. "No, you are not," he repeated. "At least... not yet."

His hand darted out quicker than a rattlesnake's attack, captured Yami no Yuugi once again by the throat. Yami no Malik brought him closer and brutally kissed him, crushing and melding their lips together in a searing kiss that was filled with both yin and yang--the Light and the Darkness of the world and of themselves.

And, just as quickly, Yami no Malik shoved the one-time Pharaoh away, slamming the smaller spirit into the glass window behind the lithe youth.

"You and I both belong to the Darkness, Pharaoh. And you and I shall both find sacrificial lambs to send to the Yami no Game." He chortled happily then, staring at the Pharaoh that was sprawled out upon the floor, and his blood-violet eyes lit with a malevolency Yami no Yuugi had never encountered before.

"Darkness is so beautiful, Pharaoh, much like how you are. So beautiful, so gorgeous, so deadly... And I shall make you one with the Darkness."

That finally said, Yami no Malik once again faded into the night, disappearing as quietly as he had arrived--only his maniacal laughter remained, echoing off of the cabin's walls and haunting Yami no Yuugi and his aibou's dreams and nightmares far into the night.



~Owari~

::End::



A/N: *scans fic* ... Bleeeeeeeech. x.x;;