BlackRose: Well, this'll be my last update for a while.  I'm leaving to go to Japan on the 9th of August and I'm not coming back until the 31st.  ^.^  Hopefully this'll be enough to keep you guys happy til I post again.  Anyways…Malik?

Malik:  ON WITH THE CHAPPIE

 The man is behind me in an instant.  He claps his hand over my mouth and whispers in my ear,

"Please don't scream, my dear, I won't hurt you."  I nod and he takes his hand off, but remains behind me. 

"Who-who are you?"  I could hear his smile as he answered,

"I told you already.  I'm your savior."  I can't help but lean back slightly as he presses his body against mine. 

"Your name…what is your name?" I manage to ask.  Strong arms wrap around my waist and warm lips press against my ear.

"If you must know, my name is Seto, my dear Ryou."  I gasp and turn around. 

"How-how do you know my name?" Seto smirks, revealing sharp canines that brush against full lips.   

"I know many things about you, my beautiful ningen."   I hear Hogo's growl cut short.  Something happened to my cat.  Or so I think.  I hear another voice, harsh and coarse, growl instead, 

"Let go of my charge, Seth."  Seto's smirk remains on his pale face. 

"Bakura, really, you should have turned from the start.  Tsk, tsk.  Sleeping on the job, are we?" 

"Just shut up and let go of him."  I can't see the speaker as I have my back to him, but I can hear the anger in his voice.  I know I ought to agree with the speaker, not to mention be terrified, since I'm being held by a vampire, but…for some reason…I'm at ease in his arms. 

"Did you hear that?  He knows I shan't harm a hair on his head."  The sound of metal scraping is heard and I look up to see the glinting metal of a sword being pointed at Seto's throat. 

"I said let go of him.  Do NOT test me, Seto.  You KNOW I will NOT let our friendship get in the way of my job.  Don't make me kill you."  My savior simply chuckles and releases me.  I can't help but feel a pang of disappointment as he leaves the embrace. 

"Fine.  I see I cannot deter you tonight.  But I will have my time, mark my works, Guardian."  He turns to me and, before I even blink, presses his lips against mine briefly.  I feel a rush of ecstasy as I taste his lips.  Piquant and bitter, yet still sweet.  He pulls away and whispers in my ear, 

"Soon, my Ryou, I shall come for you. Just hold on."  Then he's gone.  I lightly touch my lips in amazement.  I've never tasted anything like this before.  I realize that I want to see him again.  Badly.  The urge is unbearable, even though he's been gone but for a few seconds. 

"Fuck."  The swear jars me out of my thoughts.  I remember the other man in the room and turn around, my breath catching in my throat as I see his features.  He…he looks just like me, if for a few differences.  His white hair is spikier and more tangled, brown eyes so much like mine, yet so incredibly cold, flecked with blood red.  He is clad in leather pants that I would never dare to wear and a black tank top. But the most obvious difference is what's on his back.  Glossy black wings are extended out behind him, making him appear far more threatening as he is still brandishing the sword in my direction.  Silence permeates through the room for an agonizingly long moment, until I finally find my voice and manage to croak out,

"Wha-what the…hell?" 

My winged double looks just as surprised as me, his cold eyes wide with it. 

"I-I…er…oh shit.  Hold on a second."  He folds his wings against his back and walks towards me.  I instinctively back away.  He rolls his eyes and turns, to show me his now bare back.  The only evidence that there were once charcoal wings sprouting out were the two holes in his tank top.  Fear shoots up my spine as he continues to approach me. 

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU?!" 

He grabs my wrist before I can back away anymore. 

"Let me explain."            

I wrench my wrist out of his grasp. 

"GET THE HELL AWAY FROM ME, YOU FREAK!!"

He growls and pulls me back again and shoves me onto my bed, resting his back against my only escape. 

"LISTEN TO ME!" he hisses.  I look at him with wide eyes; eyes that I'm sure revealed my fear, if he hasn't noticed me visibly trembling.  Apparently he notices both, as his eyes soften slightly and he walks forward again, speaking in a gentler tone as he sits on the end of my bed.

"Ryou…do you…believe in Guardian Angels?"  I can't answer at first.  Do I?  No, I've been raised to believe in Buddha.  But, I've always believed there was something else up there, other than Buddha.  But angels?  I can only manage to shake my head slowly.  He sighs. 

"But you've heard of them, right?"  At this, he receives a nod.  He rolls his eyes again and tilts his head slightly to the side as he asks,

"Well, can you do something more than nod or shake your head?" 

"Y-yes," I manage to answer in a small voice. 

"Okay, well…damn, if this isn't the most irritating thing to happen… I was never taught how to handle this kind of situation.  Shit…" His eyes, which had been staring at the wall, snapped back to look at me.  He took a breath and turned his whole body to face me. 

"Well…first off, my name is Bakura.  I'm your Guardian.  I've been responsible for you since your birth." 

"You're a Guardian Angel."  He bites the corner of his lip.   

"Not exactly.  Angels are…different.  I'm just a Guardian, although we're called Angels because of the wings. Angels don't even have wings.  They just…float.  That is, if they can even fly at all." 

"So your just my Guardian?" 

"Yes." 

"And you've been watching over me my whole life?" 

"Yes." 

"Then prove it."  He rolls his eyes again. 

"Fine then, tenshi-chan."  How could he have known that was the nickname my mother gave my sister and myself? 

"When you were five, you and your sister, Amane, snuck out of the house when your mother was cooking dinner and went to the river by your house.  You were jumping along the mossy rocks to get to the other side when your foot slipped and you fell.  Amane tried to grab onto you, but fell in too.  You both were knocked unconscious by a rock.  Do you remember someone with white hair, Ryou?"  I gasps.  Yes, I did in fact remember.  I had thought it was Mother, but now that I recall, our rescuer had had brown and red eyes. Bakura continues on, unfazed by my interruption. 

"Then, a year later, you were in a car with Amane and your mother, on the way to the airport to pick up your father from an archaeological dig in Egypt.  You were sitting behind your mother, and Amane to her left, in the passenger seat.  It was snowing out.  Very badly, as I recall.  I had one hell of a fight with the wind just to keep you in sight.  Anyways, as I said, it was snowing rather hard.  Another car was on the road, and your mother swerved to the left to avoid it, and she did.  But the ice was slick.  The car ran off the road, down the slippery hill and rolled over once, crashing into a dense forest.  Your mother crashed through the window, snapping her neck as she hit a tree.  Amane had a piece of wood the size of a fist embedded into her heart, and you had a minor concussion and a broken wrist.  Not a bad job, if I do say so myself.  If I hadn't saved you then, you'd have been a helluva lot worse."  Anger pinches at my insides, and my blood begins to boil.

"IF YOU SAVED ME, WHY DIDN'T YOU SAVE MY FAMILY?!" 

"Your mother and sister were destined to die that day.  Their Guardians knew this and were reassigned.  There wasn't anything I could do." 

"You could have saved them!  All you had to do was get them out before the damn car crashed!"  Bakura groans.

"It's not that simple, Ryou.  I'm not in charge of any one else except you until you die.  I had no control over Amane and Riuka's deaths."  I sigh sadly, looking at the cream colored bedspread. 

"So there wasn't anything you could do for them?" 

"No.  I had no control over their situation's whatsoever.  I swear if I had, I would have saved them.  You were so miserable for so long after their deaths, Ryou.  It hurt to see my charge in such emotional distress."  I look up. 

"You would?" 

"Yes."  A ghost of a smile made its way across my lips.  A much more comfortable silence than before surrounded us for a few moments, until I speak up again. 

"Why did you stop Seth?"  My heart starts pounding in my chest as I see his image flash before my eyes. God, how I longed to see him again.  Bakura's eyes darken. 

"He wanted your blood," he growls. 

"No he didn't!  He would never do that!" 

"You only just met him! You don't know him like I do!"  

"He would never-" 

"Oh really?  And just how the hell do you know?" 

I stop.  I didn't know exactly.  But I felt so…safe with him.  Like I knew he wouldn't hurt me in any way. 

"I-I just do." 

"I'm not going to let him come back.  I don't really give a shit if you trust him or not, I won't risk another charge on his behalf." 

"You have no right to deprive me of something you know nothing about!"  A growl rises from his throat and he lunges at me, pinning me to the wall by my throat.  His face is inches from mine and I can feel his hot breath on my face. 

"Don't you DARE tell me I know nothing about him!  I've known him for centuries!  It's YOU who knows not a goddamn thing!  Don't you EVER tell ME I don't know him!"  He releases me and rises, walking towards the window, his sleek charcoal wings shooting out of him back again.  He opens the window and steps on the windowsill, boots thudding on the wood.  He is about to leave when he turns around sharply and growls,

"Don't even THINK of seeing him again.  He's not coming back.  I'll make sure of that.  Stay here and pretend NONE of this happened, Ryou.  I swear to God, if you pursue this, I'll make sure to ring much pain to you.  It's for your own good."  Then he leaps out the window, falling down for a few feet, and then gliding back up, wings slicing through the air.  I can only sit back on the bed.  The longing to see Seto hits me with full force and I pull my knees up to my head, eyes overflowing with tears.  My Guardian said I will never see him again.  I have to.  If I don't, I'll surely die. 

BlackRose: Whelp…that's the last chapter for a while.  ^.^  Hopefully this can hold you over until I get back.  Malik?

Malik:  REVIEW PLEASE!