Bridled Deception

"Jesus, Ryou, get in here! What happened to you?" Yuugi exclaimed worriedly, pulling his school-friend inside and closing the door.

"Yuugi, I. . .I need your help." The white haired teenager followed Yuugi into the living room where Yuugi had him sit on the couch.

Yuugi himself sat across from Ryou on the coffee table, Yami right beside him. Ryou's brown eyes looked up at the two and his mouth moved, making like he was going to talk, when all sound seemed to leave him. He starred wide-eyed at Yami, then back to Yuugi, then at Yami again.

"Yuugi, who is this?" he questioned.

"Oh, Ryou, this is Yami. Yami, this is my friend Ryou from school."

The demon seemed to be studying Ryou intently. He said nothing.

"No relation," Ryou questioned.

"None at all," Yuugi replied. Ryou seemed crestfallen at this, gulping slightly.

"Yuugi he's not a. . ah. . . demon, is he?" the small teen whispered, squeaking slightly.

Yuugi and Yami both lost the ability to keep their mouths closed. "How," Yuugi began, bewildered. Yami looked skeptically, like something was going to pounce on them at any minute.

"Yuugi, stay away from him! They're dangerous!" Ryou burst out without warning. He looked desperately for an escape.

"What happened to you?!" Yuugi exclaimed again, sitting up more to show Ryou to stay put, and that nothing was wrong at the moment. Shaking but silent, Ryou starred transfixed for a moment.

"It's a demon, isn't it?" Yami questioned, deep voice resonating somberly, knowingly. Ryou nodded dumbly. "Who is he?"

Ryou shook his head ruefully. "He won't tell me."

"What's he done to you, Ryou?" the violet eyed teenager asked gently.

Ryou kept his arms wrapped pathetically around him, bruises and a swollen lip making him look all the feebler. "Raped me," he whispered. "Beat me, destroyed my house, verbally battered me. . . .the list goes on."

"What's he look like," Yami asked.

"That's what is so scary. He looks just like me, but. . .more evil. And he has icy blue eyes." Ryou shook his head, attempting to get rid of some horrible memories. "He won't go away, won't tell me why he wants to torture me, won't give me his name, and won't tell me what he's looking for in my house. He's driving me nuts."

Yami sighed, rubbing a temple to soothe a small headache. "His name is Ryo Bakura, and he's a complete ass. He's stubborn, grabby, and a natural thief. He's also quite vain."

"Well, that would explain his obsession with bothering me," Ryou spoke.

"Yami, we have to help," Yuugi stated. At first, Yami didn't want to. It wasn't his problem, why would he care? He was never one to interfere into other people's business, no matter what was going on.

But the pleading look on Yuugi's face made him change his mind. Ryou was Yuugi's friend. And if Yuugi's friend was in trouble, it made the teenager worried. And if Yuugi was worried about something, it then became Yami's job to fix it, that way it would make Yuugi happy.

Funny how the ties of friendship work.

A scheme was already being concocted inside of Yami's devious little mind. "I think I know of a way. . ."

"Please, though, don't hurt him. Just, make him stop what he's doing."

The demon looked at Ryou cross-eyed. "Why do you worry about his safety?"

Ryou visibly blushed, averting his eyes to the floor. "I-I'm not sure. I mean, I know that there has to be some reason that he's doing all of this. If I could just find out why. . .I don't know. . .but I couldn't stand to see him hurt. I know that I'm not making much sense, with him beating me and all. . .but. . " Ryou broke off from his rambling, unable to continue.

Yami was amused to see a goofy, knowing little grin on Yuugi's face, but wisely didn't say anything.

"But I don't understand. Why aren't you hurting Yuugi? Aren't all demon's supposed to be evil?"

"I was," Yami simply stated.

"I've been taking care of him for a while, he was really hurt when I found him," Yuugi began to explain.

"Why? Why wasn't he mean to you after he healed?" the white-haired teen questioned again.

Yami coughed softly, then got up and walked into the kitchen. Yuugi sighed. "I guess they're a bit prideful too. You see, Yami's spirit had been broken when I found him. He was on his deathbed, and I brought him back to health. I think what it is, because we had a lot of emotional issues to work through, is that demons are pretty unstable. Yami wouldn't let me or grandpa become close to him. He was afraid that we'd reject him. He was simply too weak to fight us at the time. After all, that's why a lot of people are mean or vindictive; they're jealous, hurt, scared, alone, all kinds of things. When Yami realized that I'd always be there for him. . .Ryou, I've never met anyone else I would rather spend more of my time with than him." Yuugi finished with a crooked smile, remembering the past couple of days.

"I wish I knew what to do," Ryou stated flatly. He did concede to what Yuugi said, though. "It does make sense, what you said I mean. Maybe you're right." He put his head in his hand and shook it softly, utterly lost at the moment.

Yuugi got up and went into the kitchen, finding Yami standing next to one of the counters, deep in thought. Instinct brought Yuugi over to his side, wrapping his arms around the demon's slender waist, resting his head on Yami's shoulder. The demon looked a little surprised at first, then warmed up and pulled Yuugi closer to him. "Any ideas," Yuugi murmured.

"I think so," Yami started slowly. Yuugi felt smooth fingers slightly lift of the hem of his shirt, playing at his delicate skin. "Like I said before, Bakura is a grabby little thief. If we put Ryou in a dangerous position, set it up to where it would only look like he would get hurt and it was just an accident in the waiting, I think that the demon-thief would do a complete turn-around in his attitude towards Ryou."

Yuugi nuzzled Yami warmly. "Ryou shouldn't know about this, should he? To make it all the more real. We can't have him accidentally letting it out."

"No, we can not."

The two jumped when they heard pounding at the front door, Yami tensing viciously and pulling Yuugi towards him tighter. "What is it," Yuugi questioned.

"Yuugi, there's a police woman at your door," Ryou called back.

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