Authors' Note:  Hello!  Yes, it's another update!  We're actually quite proud of ourselves for being so consistent so far!  We had a ton of fun writing this chapter.  Well, heck, we always amuse each other.  And so much fun lies ahead!  Thank you to everyone who read and reviewed.  We really, really appreciate it.  Enjoy the chapter!

Marmalade Girl:  Thanks so much!  Don't worry, plenty of internal Ryou in this chapter and in what lies ahead, too.  Of course, we try to flesh out all four of them as we go, but this chapter in particular has a lot of Ryou.  *grins*  It's fun…

Shamanic Guardian Lena:  Well, don't worry, Seto will hug Ryou for you!  Oh, and if you think Seto's confusion in the last chapter was amusing, just wait until you read this one.  Thank you!

Lavender Sparkle:  Oh, don't worry, Honda will be getting himself into plenty of trouble soon enough.  *grins*  Fun things lie ahead.  Thanks so much for reading!

Ishizu Sango Halliwell:  Yes, poor Ryou.  At the very least, though, look for 'poor Ryou' to start--*covers mouth*  Well, just read the chapter and see!

Nalanzu:  So glad that you enjoyed Seto's willful self-delusion.  Don't worry, it will continue!  I mean, why else would he be comforting Ryou?  It isn't as though he might want to get into Ryou's p--*is rapidly silenced by Seto*  And to think, you could have been reading this right now, if only you didn't have to work.  Well, at the least, you can look forward to beta-ing chapter five, ne?  *glomps*

Wildwolf:  *laughs*  Honda probably could use a good mallet to the head a few times.  Oh, but he will get what's coming to him, I assure you.  That bad tendency of 'open mouth, insert foot' does not serve him well in the upcoming chapters.  And we will keep updating!  Lots of fun stuff ahead.  Thank you so much!

Moonchild:  Well, Honda won't get off too easily for too long.  *grins*  Wait and see…  Thanks so much for reading this!  More fun ahead!

chys lattes:  Thank you!  We definitely will write more soon!

Disclaimer: YGO belongs to the great and glorious Takahashi Kazuki. We bow to his greatness… *grin*

Chapter 4

The Devil's Trap

"And after that, I just went outside for awhile..." Ryou continued. "I don't know how long... and then... class... and seeing both of them..."

As one might have expected, this wound was still too raw for Ryou to manage to tell the story without calling up new tears. His words faded away with a small, choked sound, and now, silent tears continued to trickle down his cheeks. Perhaps it was that Ryou hungered for more physical comfort, or perhaps it was that some part of Ryou just wanted to test whether or not Kaiba Seto was actually comforting him, but in that moment, Ryou simply leaned forward and once again buried his face against the lanky brunette's chest. He hadn't dropped him like a sack of vegetables thus far... so perhaps this would prove to Ryou whether or not he could actually trust in this comfort to be real. Somewhere inside, he desperately wanted to...

Seto had seen the tears that were threatening to resume as Ryou told the story, and in honesty, a few had managed to escape him. Hence, he was almost prepared for Ryou to once again cry in his arms. Absently, Seto embraced the silver-haired boy, doing so far less awkwardly this time, now that his mind was occupied with other thoughts.

Seto could scarcely believe what Ryou was telling him. He'd noticed that there was something going on between him and Honda, but he most certainly hadn't anticipated that it would end like this. Honda always seemed to be so protective of him... I would never have thought him the type... I mean, Otogi is attractive enough, I suppose... but then, so is Bakura... And why would he suddenly leave one for the other...? Unless... Seto frowned at the thought. He could think of one thing that Ryuuji was likely to offer Honda that Ryou quite possibly was not.

It was in that moment that the willowy brunette became all too aware of the fact that he was currently still holding Ryou, and holding him rather tightly, at that. Seto drew back, feeling rather uncomfortable. After all, now Ryou had made this revelation to him, of all people. Seto didn't exactly know what to say... Comforting others was not exactly his thing. "Bakura... I'm sorry that Honda hurt you like that," he said after a long silence. Perhaps the words weren't terribly original, but at the least, they were sincere, and Seto thought that they seemed appropriate. Seto studied the other's features, blue eyes rather intent, as he watched Ryou react.

"Why?"

The question was so softly asked that Seto nearly missed it, but Ryou wasn't even looking at him as he asked it. The white-haired teen didn't even seem to know that he was asking the question, especially since he was staring blankly at the wall opposite the two.

"Why?" Seto couldn't help but echo, his eyebrow raising as he stared at Ryou. What an odd question… especially since he was taking such efforts to be civil. He couldn't help but be slightly annoyed by the complete rejection of his attempts at comfort, especially from Bakura Ryou.

Why did it matter so much that it was Ryou, a part of him wondered. If it was somebody else, would he have cared as much?

Somehow, he doubted that.

Ryou was looking at him now, his brown eyes somewhat confused at everything that was going on. He couldn't figure out why any of this was happening… any of it. In the span of about six hours, everything that he had come to rely on seemed to be unraveling before his eyes. People no longer were who they used to be, and he felt so lost and confused.

He also felt very ugly.

Not ugly in the physical sense of the word, but when describing his personality. A part of him wondered if maybe… maybe he should be happy for Honda and Ryuuji. After all, they were still his friends, right? And he should be pleased that they were together… even if it meant leaving him out of the equation. That was what friends were supposed to do, wasn't it? That was what he had been raised to think… to act.  But if everything was supposed to be bright and sunny, why was any of this happening in the first place?

"Why do you care?"

The words… they really weren't supposed to come out that way. Ryou would have given an arm and leg to rush back in time, grab those words before they could escape, and stuff them in his mouth like a pair of dirty socks. But since reality is rarely that accommodating, what ended up happening was that the words were out, and there was quite honestly nothing he could do to take them back.

That was a rather dangerous question to lay before Kaiba Seto, particularly under these circumstances.  After all, Ryou hadn't given Seto much choice in this matter, as he'd fallen against the brunette and burst into tears without any prompting whatsoever, save the initial accidental collision.  Under most circumstances, Seto might very well be expected to coldly ask Ryou why he assumed that he did care, and thus avoid answering the question altogether. 

Fortunately for Ryou, these circumstances were different.  Seto was bound and determined to do whatever he could to keep Ryou from bursting into tears again, and it was clear to him that a few harsh words might be enough to do just that.  Seto was avoiding thinking about how fragile Ryou seemed at the moment, in fact studiously focusing on avoiding thinking that if he didn't offer the silver-haired boy a little bit of comfort now, the one before him might shatter further, because that would imply that he did indeed care.  Possibly cared a little too much.  And that would leave Seto neatly back at Ryou's question all over again.

"Why do I care...?" Seto repeated softly.  He wore a faint frown as he tried to summon up a logical response to so impossible a question.  Eventually, an answer came to him.  "I care, because I don't think that what they did to you was right," Seto said slowly.  "You all are supposedly friends and all supposedly nice people, and yet, they turn around and do this to you.  Not to mention, do this to you in just about the most painful manner possible, breaking it to you like that at the beginning of the day with Otogi there looking on.  Is it any wonder to you now that I do my best to avoid this type of interaction, particularly where Yuugi-tachi is concerned?  I mean, suppose that it had been me who had done this to someone... people would just think that I was living up to my reputation as a cold-hearted bastard.  With someone like me, you could see it coming.  With Honda... how could you possibly?  I just don't think that's right.  And Otogi?  He did this to you without a second thought... maybe it just doesn't seem fair to me that they would leave you on the outside with nothing."  Seto was speaking quite volubly, which was certainly unlike him.  He trying to give Ryou all the answer that he required so that he wouldn't ask such an uncomfortable question again.  And the words came surprisingly easily to him because they happened to be true... Seto didn't think that this was a fair thing to do.

Ryou, in the meanwhile, could only stare at Seto with complete astonishment in his eyes. Hearing Seto's explanation… he wished that he had never asked for it in the first place and especially that the two had never had the opportunity to even speak to each other.

"No… that's not… not true!" he nearly yelled, startling both Seto and himself. It was hard to tell who was more startled, in fact.

He wasn't that surprised when the tall brunette declined to reply, instead raising an eyebrow, as if inviting him to explain his outburst. Which he didn't really want to, to be truthful, if only because he didn't know why he was acting this way. Didn't know why he was defending Honda and Ryuuji, or how anyone could.

The thoughts going through Ryou's mind greatly resembled the idea of an angel one shoulder and a devil on the other. The angel part… the one that wore a halo and was always good and obedient… thought that it was definitely wrong that Seto was talking about his friends like this. After all, despite everything that had happened, they were still his friends… weren't they?

The devil half, an angry looking fellow that greatly resembled Yami no Bakura, shot back that if they were his friends, they wouldn't have done this. Besides, why should it be his problem anyway? It wasn't as if he owed them anything. He had a right to think about himself, after all. The world wasn't about making sure everybody else was okay. It was about he, himself, and him.

"Isn't it?" Seto's cool voice suddenly swept over him, and he shivered from the coldness radiating from the brunette. It was as if somebody had thrown a bucket of cold water over him, waking him from a pleasant dream and dropping him into a less than friendly reality.

"I… iya," his voice faltered slightly as he spoke the single word, but he tried to remain firm. "They're my friends, Kaiba-kun. I… I would rather you not be talking about them like that."

The devil snorted and rolled his eyes while the angel smiled and nodded approvingly. Ryou tried to ignore both of them.

"But what I said was right, wasn't it?"

Ryou bit his lip as he fought the urge to just start screaming. At least it would block out everything else, and he wouldn't have to wonder about this anymore.

"No, it isn't, Kaiba-kun."

Seto quirked a brow again and gave Ryou a look of intense scrutiny for a long moment, causing him to shift uncomfortably beneath his gaze.  "Hm," he murmured after a long time, the faintest hint of a smirk on his lips.  "Even you don't really believe that I'm wrong.  Deep down inside, you know that what they did to you was unfair, even if you won't admit it to yourself.  I think that if you give it more thought, you'll realize it.  You'll realize that even if you can't help being hurt right now, you should be angry about this, too.  Even if this is one of the reasons people think me harsh, I'm not one to shy away from the truth.  You need to see it, too, Bakura, even if it upsets you, because to be honest with you, I don't think you should just roll over and take it.  It isn't right," Seto added stubbornly, before he began to present his case. 

"You know that they're both expecting you to turn around and forgive them.  No consequences, no trouble from quiet, sweet Bakura Ryou.  Oh, sure, you'll be very sad for a few days, in your quiet unassuming fashion.  Maybe even give them a few pangs of guilt.  Of course, guilt wasn't much of a deterrent in the first place, so maybe not.  Anyway, you'll eventually get less sad, at least, less apparently sad to the point where they can tell themselves that you're over it. And you'll forgive them, or tell them you forgive them, and then their consciences will ease, and the whole thing will be forgotten.  It will be like you were never even involved with Honda at all, just so that all of you can go out together whenever necessary without too much discomfort.  And then, there you'll be, alone and miserable, in the midst of people who all are happy and over it.  It will be then that you begin to realize that somewhere underneath it all, you're rather angry.  You'll see that you don't really like the fact that they did what they did and got away with it without much trouble at all, but since you're Bakura Ryou, you'll just let it eat you alive inwardly without saying a word, unless one day it gets to be too much and you just explode.  I doubt that, though."

Seto paused and drew in a deep breath, before catching Ryou's eye and gazing at him in serious fashion.  "That's why... I think that you shouldn't just let this go.  Instead of doing what you think is right or best for everyone or whatever it is that you usually do, you should do what is best for you, instead.  Getting even a little bit would only be fair, I think..." 

Ryou shook his head desperately, but inside, he was starting to open up to Seto's words. Even though everything the brunette was saying went against what Ryou had believed for so long, a part of him wanted to agree.

He quickly put down that thought… agree with Seto about such horrible things? What was he thinking?! There was no way he could agree with anything that Seto had just said. Especially since it was just wrong. His friends… and that included Honda and Ryuuji, despite everything that had just happened… didn't deserve to have those things being said about them.

The devil scowled again as the angel nodded primly. In the back of the devil's mind, he wondered how nice it would feel to give the angel a kick in the ass. 

But… although Ryou wanted to dismiss everything that had just been said, he really couldn't. Seto had valid points, and something within him was holding onto that knowledge stubbornly. He wondered, vaguely, how Seto could possibly know him this well. And he realized that the question was simply his way of trying to avoid the inevitable.

The point… the point was that he couldn't ignore what Seto had brought up before him. And because he could not ignore it, he could not prove any of what Seto had said wrong.   

But how could Seto be right? All those things he had said… they sounded so cruel and nasty. Yet despite that, they were too reasonable simply to be ignored.

And if what Seto had said was right, wouldn't that imply that he was also right in saying that Ryou should try to get even?

As he contemplated those thoughts, the angel couldn't help but jump up and down in fear of what was about to happen. No, no! Don't even think such nasty thoughts, they aren't right! Just walk away from this mess, Ryou… walk away. Kaiba Seto is just messing with your mind, and you shouldn't listen to him at all.

The devil rolled his eyes and realized that he was going to be sick if he didn't do something very soon. So it was to be of no surprise to anyone (except perhaps the angel), when the before-mentioned angel suddenly found himself tied and gagged.

He was not, to say the least, very pleased with that situation.

That was of no concern to the devil, who was now free to do whatever he pleased.       

And it's about time…

"Bakura?"

Ryou started a bit, shaken out of his internal conflict by the brunette's voice. It was only at this point that he realized that Seto had been staring at him expectantly for a long moment, awaiting some response. "Anou... do you really think that getting even is the right thing to do, Kaiba-kun?" Ryou asked, gazing up at him with wide, chocolate-hued eyes.

After all, bedeviled or not, Ryou was still himself. Not to mention that the devil was somehow already certain that Seto would consistently side with him in this, thereby putting a knife in the last of Ryou's doubts. At least, he sincerely hoped so. And perhaps, just perhaps, Seto could do more than just advise Ryou...

He's listening to me... I think that I finally got through to him, Seto thought. For some reason, he wanted to see Ryou stand up for himself. And no matter how many times Seto told himself that he only wanted to see Honda and Ryuuji get what was coming to them out of a sense of righteousness alone, he somehow couldn't shake the feeling that seeing Ryou prove them wrong would give him a deep sense of satisfaction. Seto nodded in response to Ryou's words. "If there's any part of you that wants to do so, then it is the right thing to do. Standing up for yourself and acting on your own feelings without worrying about anyone else's opinion is the best thing that you can do, especially in this situation. Just for a minute, Bakura, think about what it is that you really want. Honda and Otogi hurt you. What response to that would make you feel the best? You just need to figure out what that is and then make it happen. No regrets, no what if's, just like what they did to you in the first place. You didn't start this. So, don't blame yourself for having the feelings that I know you must be having somewhere inside. Just do what would make you feel best..." Seto urged again, having no idea what exactly Ryou's mind would settle on. Had he known that, he might well have kept his mouth shut.

As all this was going on, the devil was scheming. And to put it simply, the devil scheming was never a good thing for all parties involved.  It wondered deviously (admittedly, there is no other way for a devil to scheme) how Kaiba Seto would feel if he had to eat his own words.

Although one may have the misconception that the devil was as evil as Yami no Bakura, that simply wasn't true. For example, if it had been Yami no Bakura, Seto might never have become involved in the whole mess. After all, Yami no Bakura didn't care what people said about him or his friends, of which there were decidedly few… if any.

Thus, even though the devil was bad, it was still Ryou. And Ryou was simply not the type of person who would let people insult his friends, even if they deserved it.  Even if he was having problems figuring out if they really were his friends.

The devil smiled as he patted himself on the back. If everything went according to plan, it would mean that not only would Ryou be getting back at Honda and Ryuuji, but at Seto, as well. After all, despite what Honda and Ryuuji had done to him, deep down, Ryou didn't really like the fact that Seto was talking about them that way.

So what could be better than solving both problems at the same time?

"Thank you, Kaiba-kun, for your suggestion." Ryou's voice was quiet as he expressed his somewhat confused appreciation for Seto's words. "Demo, would you mind if I asked you for another favor?"

"No," Seto replied easily. He was still somewhat surprised that his words had gotten through to the shy teenager, but he wasn't about to argue.

Inside Ryou, the little devil cackled deviously as he swished his tail. The angel was no longer struggling against his bonds, instead watching the scene in trepid fascination. No longer did he wonder if a great miracle would happen to stop the course of fate; now, he could only hope that whatever happened, it was for the best.

And Seto, who of course had no idea of what he had just gotten himself into, heard somebody scream a vile word when Ryou told him exactly what kind of favor he was requesting.

Clearly, beneath the quiet and gentle exterior, there was more to Bakura Ryou than met the eye.  Seto hadn't had any idea that under that angelic exterior, there was such a devilish ability to scheme.  Of course, it had started out, as all of the best traps do, innocently enough.

"Anou... I should do what makes me feel best, ne, Kaiba-kun?" Ryou began, gazing up at him, as if seeking reassurance.  Seto had nodded silently, almost encouraging the other to go on.  "I suppose... that what would make me feel better is to just know once and for all that this is for the best... or for Honda-kun to see that he made a mistake and regret it.  I don't know what would happen if he did regret his choice... I don't know if I could go back to him... demo, at least then, I wouldn't feel so... unwanted..." Ryou added meekly, sighing at the word.

Seto nodded again.  "That makes sense... demo, I don't quite understand how you mean to accomplish this..."

Ryou flashed Seto a bright little smile.  "I had an idea.  I think it actually might just do both of those things.  You see, if Honda-kun saw that I'd moved on, then he'd get jealous if he still had any feelings for me.  And if he got jealous enough, then he'd try and do something about it.  If he didn't care at all, then I'd know that I could have never competed with Otogi-kun, and I could have some closure.  Either way, I think it would make me feel better..."

Seto frowned a bit.  " 'Moved on'?  As in... with someone else...?"  He suddenly didn't like where this was going. 

Ryou slowly nodded, gazing up at Seto with was decidedly one of his better sweet, pleading expressions.  "Hai.  There's only one small problem... I need there to be a someone else... and it would be even better if it were someone Honda-kun didn't exactly view as trustworthy... someone like... you..." Ryou admitted in a small voice.  Devil or no devil, he was a bit worried about how Seto was going to react to that request.

"Nani?!"  Seto's blue eyes widened in surprised fashion, and he gazed down at Ryou with an intense look.  He'd guessed that Ryou might want his help in finding someone... or something... but this...  "You want me to be with you so that you can make Honda jealous?!" Seto asked, his voice rising a bit. 

"Hai," Ryou said quietly, gazing down at his feet in embarrassed fashion.  He could do this.  Seto hadn't actually walked out yet, after all... he could remind him of his words and talk him into this.  And then he'd for once show everyone else, too...  "I don't think I could explain this to anyone else, Kaiba-kun.  It would be too hard.  And you'd only have to pretend with me for as long as it took for me to feel better about the whole situation.  It couldn't be more than a few weeks..."

Seto's eyes widened once again, if that were even possible, and he quickly shook his head.  "Iie, Bakura.  It's a bad idea... you know that I'm not the type for that sort of a thing.  I hardly have time to even show up at school, and how demonstrative do you really think I'm capable of being?  If you wanted to make Honda jealous, I'm certain that there's a better person for it than me.  I could find someone for you.  Even hire an actor... something... I'm sure that I could.  It's a fine plan, demo, I'm just not the right person for it... So, just let me find someone better for you, okay?"

Ryou gazed up at Seto with the saddest look in his chocolate-hued eyes, even sniffling a bit (which he actually did for effect this time--it seemed that the devil was quite an actor).  The odd thing was that nearly all of the arguments that he'd used before and the ones that he was about to use were completely true.  Ryou just never would have said them, had he not been taking a slightly more assertive approach than usual. 

"Kaiba-kun.." he began quietly.  "I don't want an actor.  I wouldn't feel remotely comfortable like that.  And how could I possibly explain to Honda-kun how I had even met that person?  I don't think it would be quite as convincing... and it would be so embarrassing.  I really don't want anyone else to know about it.  You and I could just pretend to break up at the end.  No one would ever even have to know... And the fact that you're usually so busy and detached would only make it all the more convincing if you suddenly weren't that way with me.  Not to mention that a lot of people in this school seem to have crushes on you...  You're the perfect person to make Honda-kun jealous.  I know that he wouldn't like the idea of you and I being together... onegai... Kaiba-kun.  You told me to do what would make me feel best.  This is what would make me feel best.  Onegai... just for a little while..." Ryou added pleadingly, before his tears started to well up again.  It wasn't entirely by artifice, either.  If Ryou failed in this, he'd be even more miserable than he had been before.  With that, he simply buried his head against Seto's chest, making softly muffled pleas a few times before he once again began sobbing in earnest.

Of course, the fact that Ryou made good arguments helped.  The truth was, though, that those tears were something of a weakness of Seto's--at least, he couldn't stand to have Ryou sobbing up against him any longer.  Even if Ryou didn't know that his tears were the one thing that would ultimately win Seto over, the fact remained that they were .  For a few moments, Seto silently pondered all of his other options, trying to think of any other way out of this that would also stop Ryou's tears.  Nothing came to him.  After all that he'd said about it being a good idea for Ryou to stand up for himself... and after all of the good reasons Ryou had offered for wanting Seto to be the one that he pretended to be involved with, the brunette could think of no way out.  Finally, after several sob-filled seconds had passed, Seto wrapped his arms around Ryou's slender frame loosely.  "Okay, Ryou.  I'll do it..." he whispered soothingly.