Authors' Note: Yes, another update! This fic has really been loads of fun to write. Baka!Honda and Slut!Ryuuji really entertained us greatly in writing this chapter. Well, they invariably entertain us, but then, maybe PM and I are just easily amused. We have so much more fun in store. Look for another update by the weekend sometime, I'd say. Thanks to everyone who reviewed! It really encourages us to keep this up!
Disclaimer: Nope, we don't own anything, except Yuki and Skunkzilla and they're not in this chapter.
Sarith McGregor: Wow, thank you so much! It really means a lot to us to hear that, since it's hard to tell exactly how our writing styles would mesh to the outside observer. And these couplings are definitely two of our favorites! And so glad that you can picture the devil/angel fighting over Ryou's conscience, too! It amuses us greatly.
Wildwolf: Seto says that he'd prefer not to comment on that. And then he curses us for spreading his internal aesthetics to the outside world. He's still in denial. And we will continue to update! Even in PM's absence, since we've got quite a bit more written, the story will get its semi-regular updates. Thanks so much for sticking with us!
Acursed Angel: Thank you! And doesn't everybody have a little bit of a darker side? Even if Ryou's is pretty mild, really. Honda and Ryuuji aren't really mean… just unfortunate? Besides, if Honda wasn't a bit of a tactless baka, then this fic wouldn't be possible. Besides, he and Ryuuji are going to get some comeuppance shortly…
Shamanic Guardian Lena: Hehehe… oh, we always need to know how we're doing! Sorry about the semi-evil ending. It just fell into the natural break. And now you get a whole chapter devoted to just that! Thank you so much for sticking with our fic from the start!
Mikazuki Kagaya: Wow, thank you so much! We really do try hard to keep them in character, so it's nice to know that we haven't let them down! And we hope that your head will recover. Hope you enjoy the chapter!
MarmaladeGirl: Thank you so much! And as requested, here is a fairly quick update! Sorry to keep you guessing, but the chapter break just naturally fell there. Oh, and Ryou's got a lot more confusion in store for him before we're done, I'm afraid! Hang in there!
The Evil Laugh: Well, we're very glad that someone appreciates a good cliffie! ::blush:: Thank you for all of the compliments. We're really glad you're enjoying it. And the updates should be fairly regular for some time. Oh, and we're probably not done with the devil just yet! He's got to have his moments, ne? Thank you!
Chapter 7
A Scene
Of
course, eventually Honda had paused in his glaring at Seto long enough to
realize that Ryuuji was giving him a rather strange look, and it clearly wasn't
a happy one, either. He blinked a few times, trying to clear his head of
all Ryou-related thoughts for the moment. "Gomen ne. You have
to admit that it's something of a shock... seeing Ryou out so soon... and seeing
him out with Kaiba of all people, especially. It just distracted
me..." Honda said, trying to push it off to the side as unimportant, because
he knew that it wasn't really supposed to be.
Ryuuji felt relieved once Honda finally seemed to snap out of it. He
certainly hoped that it was the surprise of it and nothing more.
"It's fine..." he said simply, before smoothly beginning to resume
their conversation from earlier. "So, do you think that you'll want
to--"
"I can't believe that Kaiba," Honda said, interrupting Ryuuji with
quite a bit of anger rising in his voice now, as he caught sight of the
billioinaire taking Ryou's hand. "That bastard... I can't
believe he would just start touching Ryou like that! Doesn't know that
Ryou is shy?! Doesn't he know that you don't just go around doing that to
Ryou on your first date?!" Honda was so focused on that disturbing
sight, particularly on the way Ryou was blushing and gazing at Seto at the
moment, that he wasn't paying any attention to the way that Ryuuji was gazing
at him at the moment. This was decidedly a mistake on his part.
As Honda interrupted him in mid-sentence and once again began to rant about
Seto and Ryou, Ryuuji's eyebrow twitched. He did not like feeling as if
he were invisible, and he did not like being ignored so that Honda could focus
on the minute details of everything that Ryou and Seto were doing. It was
an unfamiliar feeling to Ryuuji, who was almost always the center of attention
when he wanted to be. And it was one that he didn't like at all.
Not to mention... given the way Honda was acting at the moment... this all was
beginning to make Ryuuji a little jealous. Whereas some idiotic fools undoubtedly
would have started yelling at Honda for his obviously tactless behavior,
though, Ryuuji would do no such thing. Instead, he would just have to get
Honda's attention to focus completely on him via other means.
"They're just holding hands, Hiroto... I don't see what the big deal about
that is..." Ryuuji said in a silken tone, grinning at Honda wickedly as he
let his hand find the other's thigh underneath the table and slowly begin to
slide its way up. If this didn't get Honda's attention, then there was just
something wrong with him.
"It's so wrong, becau--" Indeed, Honda's words died in mid-rant
as he felt something warm brush against his thigh. He gulped a bit,
cheeks pinking as he realized that it was Ryuuji's hand.
"R-Ryuuji..." Honda whispered, feeling very grateful that there was a
tablecloth to conceal the other's actions from everyone else in the
restaurant. "What are you doing...?"
"What do you think I'm doing, Hiroto...?" Ryuuji asked archly,
shooting the brunette a suggestive look and letting his hand slide up a bit
further.
Hiroto shook his head blankly, then sighed at the sensations the touch
was sending through his body in spite of himself. His hazel eyes slid
shut for a moment, only to snap open again as he remembered where they
were. Honda slowly opened his eyes to smile across the table at
Ryuuji. And that was when he saw it. The unthinkable. Kaiba
Seto was actually kissing Ryou's hand! That was one step away
from... Honda glared over at them once again, making an angered sound
that was oddly punctuated by a sigh, as the pleasurable sensation of Ryuuji's
touch continued to affect him. "Do you see what you're doing to
me...?" Honda sighed, gazing at Ryuuji with a dazed smile. Then he
shook his head. "Demo, we shouldn't do that now. Ryou needs
help. Did you see what Kaiba just did to him?! Did you?! He
kissed his hand--kissed his hand!!! Somebody needs to put a stop
to this now..." And judging by the look in those hazel eyes of his
at the moment, it was quite possible that by 'somebody,' Honda meant
himself.
Ryuuji, who of course was not
stupid, was less than pleased by this concept as he removed his hand to glare
at Honda before biting out, "You mean somebody like you?"
The words came out harsher than
they should have, but Ryuuji was getting extremely annoyed by his koi. He knew
that Honda was worried about Ryou, as was he… in his own way. Sure, he felt somewhat
guilty about what he had technically done by getting together with Honda, but
at the same time he didn't think it was something to obsess over. Ryou, despite
his innocence, was a big boy and could take care of himself. He didn't quite
understand Honda's need to take care of Ryou, a confusion that translated into
nothing less than an extreme exasperation with the brunette.
"Yes," Honda answered
without thinking. After all, he was too busy seething about what was happening
with Ryou, and thus a little inclined to not listen very carefully… or read the
expression on Ryuuji's face as a warning sign.
"And I suppose you're going to
go up there and tell Kaiba to back off before he ruins Bakura-kun's innocence,
am I correct?" Ryuuji continued, his voice dangerously sarcastic. And, of
course, Honda didn't bother to notice what was happening, as he was too busy
staring at the other couple. It was apparent, to most of the observers (and
there were a few), that Honda was teetering on the edge of a very steep cliff
and if he didn't stop and pay attention soon, he was going to be toppling off
before anybody could blink.
"Yes!" That was
definitely the wrong answer to give, but Honda liked the idea. "That is exactly
what I'm going to do."
Going… going….
"Honda, are you even listening
to me?" the question was asked very softly, but the anger in those few
words was very noticeable. Noticeable to everyone *except* Honda Hiroto, of
course. The brunette didn't even catch the use of his last name, something that
should have set off the warning signals but failed to do so since he was still
too busy watching Seto and Ryou.
Currently, the two were talking in
very low tones, and Ryou's face was a very bright shade of red as he nodded in
quiet agreement with whatever Seto was saying.
Ryuuji's face was a bit red now as
well… although it was red from anger rather than any type of embarrassment.
"He better not be suggesting
anything… bad," Honda continued, oblivious to the fact that his koi was
like a pot of hot water that was about to boil over if somebody didn't do
something very quickly.
Going… going….
"Hon… da…" Ryuuji gritted
out, each syllable now its own separate word as he stood up, the emerald-green
eyes flaring as he glared.
"If he does anything to hurt
him, I'll…"
Gone.
Silence.
"Ryuuji?" Honda's head
snapped over to where his koi had been sitting… and realized very suddenly that
the only thing left was air. A quick glance around the restaurant proved to him
that Ryuuji had not decided to take an impromptu bathroom break; currently, the
black-haired teen was walking out the exit and soon disappeared from sight.
*Oh crap.*
Perhaps if Honda had been thinking
more carefully, he would have run after his koi.
But, as established by his prior
behavior, Honda was not thinking carefully and he didn't go after Ryuuji.
Instead, he just sat there, staring after him as if he expected for Ryuuji to
come back at any moment with a lame excuse about… who knows, maybe he needed to
chase another squirrel or something. After all, those squirrels seemed to be
the basis of a lot of problems for Ryuuji….
A sigh escaped his lips as he
realized that it was very unlikely that Ryuuji would be coming back that night.
Honda was not the only person who
noticed and was affected by Ryuuji's unexpected departure. Several tables away,
both Ryou watched the scene from the corner of his eye. Ryou watched silently
and as inconspicuously as he could as Honda slumped back in his seat, hand
massaging his forehead as he let out a sigh.
Something very much like guilt
began to nibble away at his conscience, and he couldn't get rid of it no matter
how hard he tried. He knew, deep down, that Honda and Ryuuji had gotten what
they deserved… and what he had done to them was really no worse than what they
had done to him. He, at least, was justified in his actions.
They had not been.
Right?
Ryou wasn't blind; he had seen the expression
on Ryuuji's face before the abrupt exit. There had been mostly anger, definitely,
but there had also been a hint of sadness that Ryou couldn't help but recognize
as what he had felt when Honda had broken the news to him. Well, tried to break
the news… he had left before Honda could really finish.
He hadn't meant to hurt them like
this.
Part of him had known, all along,
that something like this was inevitable if he was to continue on with his plan.
And he didn't like that fact, since he hadn't really wanted to deliberately
hurt anybody. He had just wanted to know whether or not the break-up had been a
mistake or something that was really meant to be. He wanted… closure.
Not this.
Seto knew, of course, what the look
on Ryou's face meant. That guilty and regretful little expression was
only too obvious. Especially since Seto had clandestinely been watching
the scene between Honda and Ryuuji play out, and he'd clearly noted the
raven-haired male's exit, it was all too easy to guess what Ryou was
thinking. For his part, Seto was pleased that at the least, things were
going according to the plan. They were making progress. If this
kept up, then eventually Ryou would have his answers or his revenge or whatever
it was that he needed from this. If they continued...
Seto gazed over at Ryou for a long moment, regarding him silently.
"You're blaming yourself. I can tell that you are. Don't be so
self-absorbed, Ryou. Do you think that everything in the world happens
because of the choices that you make? Do you honestly believe that no one
else in this situation other than you made any decisions of their own?"
After his words, Seto's features gentled a bit before he went on.
"Ryou... Honda made his own choices just now. If he'd wanted to, he
could have chosen to ignore the sight of the two of us together, and then I
have no doubt in my mind that he and Otogi would still be on their date.
He could have at least opted to exercise a little self-control and decided not
to stare at us continuously. He didn't do that, either. The only
thing that you should be thinking about right now is why... why did it bother
Honda so much to see us together...?" Seto moved his chair closer,
wrapping an arm around Ryou holding him loosely. It was partially done to
obscure Ryou's expression from Honda, because Seto believed that if the other
brunette took one look at Ryou's face right now, he'd guess something was
up. Ryou just looked too guilty... Something in the back of Seto's
mind pointed out that he didn't need to touch Ryou and that moving his chair
probably would have been sufficient, but the billionaire brushed such thoughts
aside. As the waiter approached them to take their order, Seto dismissed
him with no more than a look. Then he gazed down at Ryou again.
"Is this really so hard for you...?" Seto asked softly.
"Yes," Ryou replied
so bluntly that he surprised Seto and himself. "This is difficult… but
it's too late for me to do anything about it, isn't it?"
"Why would you say that?"
Seto's brow furrowed as he stared at the white-haired teen with the air of
someone who didn't understand the person he was speaking to. Which was exactly
what was happening; he didn't understand Ryou at all. How could he, when they
were so different from one another?
Ryou looked up at him, his face
completely unreadable.
"I've already hurt them."