"All I Wanted", by Ryoubakurafan013
Disclaimer: I just... I... yeah... I don't own it already... -_-
Warnings: It's only yaoi, fluff, and a little bit of bloodshed. Nothing much to complain about. Oh, and Mariku's character suddenly changes, so it may surprise some of you. Not that he won't still be an evil bastard... Just a little more loving. Oops! Don't let me spoil it for you!
Pairings: Lots of Ryou/Bakura fluff (and they get a bit intimate in this chapter! ^^), with Malik/Mariku for the first half.
Author's Notes: This chapter brought to you by the "Hybrid Theory" CD from Linkin Park, which accounts for the violence. Nothing too graphic, though, I assure you. I wouldn't want to mutilate any of my characters when I need them for the plot. ^_^; As compared to the other 6 chapters, this is a bit lengthy, but I don't think it'll take all that long to read. None of the chapters on this fic do. You want long chapters, go read "SKoL", which is also on this site. I like the shorter chapters better, even though this story takes me twice as long to write as "SKoL"... Anywho... Please enjoy.
Chapter Seven
*****Normal POV*****
{{If you so much as lay one finger on either of the Bakuras, I'll have to resort to violence!}}
"So desperate, now, are we hikari?"
{{Well... yes! Put the knife down, and let me have my body back!}}
"Why?"
{{Yami! You know why!}}
"Sorry. Wrong answer."
{{Please!!}}
Yami no Malik gripped the kitchen knife in his right hand, his left hand turning the knob on the kitchen door. Suddenly, his hikari took control for a brief moment, long enough to make a five-inch-long slash on his left arm. His other took over again, then yelped as crimson fluid began to trickle out of the gash. He hadn't thought that Malik would actually do it...
{{Yami... please, give me back my body...}} The hikari's voice was wavering.
"Again I ask; why?" the darkness asked, leaning over to lick the blood from his arm.
Malik shivered. His yami may have had control of his body, but he could still feel anything that the other could. He felt the sting in his own arm, though his body was unharmed in the soul room, but what he felt even more was the tingling sensation that he received as Mariku dragged his own tongue along his arm. {{Yami... Why, you ask? I don't want Yami no Bakura to get hurt, and even more, I don't want Ryou to be hurt either.}} That wasn't what Mariku wanted to hear, and Malik knew it. {{But, other half of me... I don't want you to be...}} He trailed off. His yami wouldn't believe him, even if he said what was true. Since when had he started caring for the demonic spirit that resided within his mind, tormenting him constantly?
"Don't want me to be what, hikari-mine?" was the sneered reply. Mariku unlocked a cabinet in the kitchen and took out a roll of bandages. Licking his own wound clean of the blood again, he then began to wrap his arm, not even wincing once.
{{I... don'twantyoutogetsentbacktotheshadowrealm!}}
Yami no Malik dropped the bandages, and they rolled on the floor, unwinding from their roll as he faltered for words. "Repeat that...?"
{{As much as it may seem like I don't care for you... I don't want you getting hurt. I know it weakens you every time you have to fight to get from one realm to the next, and I almost regret having to send you to the Realm of Shadows...}}
Violet eyes opened wide in astonishment, a foreign expression gracing the spirit's features. "You... you care about me?"
"Hai..." was the hesitant, whispered response, as Malik materialized in front of the stunned young man, who had kept his guard down enough to let the hikari out. "Please, Mariku!" the teen cried, hugging his yami around the hips and refusing to let go. "I don't want to see you get hurt!"
The darkness' eyes darted back and forth between his hikari and the knife that he had lain on the countertop, as if trying to decide between them. "Malik, I'm sorry, but... I need to do this. Bakura should belong to me..."
"Yami! Why are you so stuck on him?!" the light asked, his eyes welling up with tears. "Why can't you just leave him alone, and not drag him or Ryou into this?"
"Because...!" Mariku reached for the knife, grasping the wooden handle. "I don't want to see his abilities go to waste. He could make an excellent second-in-command, if only he would cooperate and let go of that pathetic femme that calls himself Bakura's hikari." He turned the blade in his hands carefully. "Besides... I like him. He used to try to be like me all the time, and would follow me around anywhere. I want that back... I like having power over people, and Bakura allowed that..."
"So... you love him, then?" the younger asked, his voice barely above a whisper.
"I used to..." Yami no Malik smirked. "I guess all it is now is lust."
Tears fell from Malik's eyes, cascading down his cheeks and falling onto his yami's chest, as he listened to the one above him. He didn't understand... He was all that his other half had said Bakura was... Why didn't Mariku love *him*? But more importantly than that, why did his counterpart feel such a strong need to drag the other yami and hikari duo into all this? Sure, Bakura may have made a great person to help him destroy the world, but what would be left? "Don't you understand that by the time you destroy the whole world, you will also destroy yourself, and Yami no Bakura-kun?"
"I've already thought about that..."
"Then why destroy yourself?!"
"It's simple..." A sudden wave of affection swept over Mariku, and before he could stop himself, he leaned down and kissed his hikari on the head. "No one cares enough about me. Not Bakura, not you, hell; I don't even care that much about myself..." Malik looked about to say something, but the yami shook his head. "No, don't interrupt me. This world is full of pain and anger, and it all reminds me of what you were like at ten. But you were innocent... The world is not so much." He scowled. "Everyone just deserves to die and go to hell."
Malik sobbed then, into the other's shirt. "You don't know how much that hurts me, yami!" Raising an eyebrow, Mariku blinked down at the crying teen. "I love you! Why can't you see that? I don't want you to die, damnit! I don't really hate you, even though I always say that!!" The light paused for a minute, realizing what he had just said, and then he let go of the older, yanking the knife out of the other's hand and placing the serrated edge on his wrist. Desperate times call for desperate measures... "Promise me that you will just leave Bakura-kun and Ryou-chan alone, or I won't hesitate to cut right into my veins..."
Eyes widened, making his pupils seem even more dilated, Mariku had a look of utter confusion on his face. "Malik... Put that knife down... You know you wouldn't be able to carry though with it..." he said, more as a reassurance to himself that his hikari was too afraid to do anything as rash as he had said he would. To prove his yami wrong, the teen made a small cut, about an inch and a half, across his wrist, the blood rushing to the new wound with lightning-quick speed and dripping out and onto the tiled floor. "What the fuck are you doing?!"
"I'm showing you that I can be just as ruthless as you. Now, promise me, or I'll be forced to make this cut a much deeper slash."
The older looked amazed, to say the least. "I... I promise that I won't hurt either Ryou or Bakura... Now... please put the knife down..." Malik dropped the blade, and it clattered on the hard, laminated flooring. The same instant, he was embraced by his darkness. "You will NEVER do that again, you hear me?! You fucking scared me!"
Malik twitched. "You? Scared? Please... spare me the irony." He wriggled out of the other's grasp, backing under the kitchen table and curling up. "Just... Go away. I almost killed myself because of you. I hate you..."
"You... you said that you loved me, though."
The hikari froze. He had heard it, that faint hint of sadness, in his yami's tone. He opened his eyes slowly. "So what if I do? You don't give a damn about me anyway..." This was it. He was going to find out whether or not the other actually cared. Though, there wasn't even a one-percent chance that he did...
Malik was pulled from his fetal position on the cold floor and into his darkness' lap. "Hikari... You've never said anything about loving me before... I thought for all the world that you hated me." The younger gasped as his neck was nuzzled. "Why didn't you ever tell me?"
"I didn't expect your reaction to be like this... I thought you would punish me. Yami, why the sudden change of heart...?" The spirit didn't answer, but Malik felt something wet on his neck, and his yami began to rock him slightly, back and forth. "You're faking, aren't you? You've never in your life been like this with me... until now..."
"You don't like me to be gentle with you? I could always be rough..."
"No! I like it... more than I should... but why?"
Yami no Malik stopped rocking his other half's body, chewing on his own lower lip. "I guess... when you feel anger, it feeds the darkness within me, but when you're calmed... I know that I love you, too."
"What??" Malik turned to face his yami, unable to believe that he had heard right.
The dark one took advantage of the other's new position, and gently claimed his hikari's lips with his own. The kiss was simple, yet effective, and it was no surprise that Malik responded to it after a few moments of hesitation. When he pulled away after only fifteen seconds or so, Mariku repeated himself. "I love you."
*****
Ryou awoke to the sound of quiet whispers in his ear. Groaning softly, he rolled over and was greeted with a smile from Bakura. "Aishiteru, hikari," the darker one breathed, before placing a soft kiss upon his light's forehead. The young one giggled, a sound that his dark was overjoyed to hear, before chastely kissing his other on the lips.
"I love you too... Oh god..." Ryou winced suddenly, the sharp pain shooting up and down his spine when he attempted to sit up. "Bakura... itai!"
As soon as he had helped his light onto his stomach, Bakura lightly traced a finger over the teen's back, delighting in the giggling that came from his actions. This was very good; the silver-haired boy was actually enjoying this. Leaning over, the young man trailed kisses down Ryou's spine, starting at the base of his neck and working his way downward. After several minutes of this, the spirit massaged his other's lower back, kneading the muscles, and making Ryou utter a slight purring sound from the back of his throat. They had gone though this a lot in the past, Bakura rubbing his hikari's back and Ryou telling him whatever was on his young mind. But now, Bakura knew exactly what the light was thinking about, even though they no longer shared a link, and he didn't like it. Once he had finished his ministrations, he sat back up, running his fingers though Ryou's silvery hair and frowning.
"Bakura?"
"Hai..."
"Can I have a bath, please?"
Bakura chuckled. "Alright. I'll go ask Malik for permission first, just out of politeness. Just rest here for a few minutes, okay?" Ryou nodded, and closed his eyes, nuzzling his pillow. The yami slipped out of the room, heading down the hall. He heard soft murmuring coming from the kitchen, and suspected that Malik was in there, talking to himself, which wasn't all that out of the ordinary, from what he gathered about the teen. Not that he didn't like the Egyptian; he was actually quite fond of the boy, just as Ryou was.
Opening the kitchen door, Bakura came to a halt quickly, taking in his next breath sharply. "Malik...? What are you...?"
Turning quickly to face the intruder, Malik blushed, looking at the floor. "I'm... uh... cooking..." he faltered, gesturing to three different bowls of mixtures. "I know that most men don't have this much fun cooking... But as you already know, I'm not exactly average." He blushed deeper, looking quite embarrassed. "Please, don't make fun of me."
"Why would I do that...?" the spirit asked, quirking an eyebrow. "Ryou cooks all the time. I find nothing unnatural about that."
The Egyptian teen breathed a sigh of relief. "Okay, good." He turned back to his bowls and various ingredients that littered the countertops, mixing a cupful of chocolate chips into one of the containers. "I'm making a few different kinds of breads. They should be done in about an hour or so from now, and they'll take ten minutes to cool. Need anything before then?"
The yami sighed. "You're very kind to me, Malik. I thank you for that." The teen nodded, reaching into the sink and producing a strainer half-filled with cranberries, dumping the contents into a second bowl. "Could Ryou take a bath, please? I think it would help him relax."
"You don't really need to ask. You guys will both be living here for at least a few more days, and I want to provide as much hospitality as I can!" Malik busily peeled an orange, tossing the skin into the sink as he went. "Of course you can use the bath."
"Arigatou!" Bakura bowed, then headed back to the room that Ryou was in, smiling to himself. Today was a pretty good day. "Up, Ryou," he commanded in a gentle tone, convincing his light to get out of bed. "Take your time, while I get the bath ready, okay?" The hikari sat up slowly, not flinching for once.
(His back must be getting better,) the spirit thought, kissing the teen on the nose before leaving him and walking to the hall bathroom. He flicked the light switches and fan switch on the electrical panel, and then tugged the bathmat from its place on the towel bar, placing it on the porcelain bottom of the bathtub. Turning the tap on to a warm setting, the dark one plucked the drain plug from the corner of the bath counter, putting it in the proper place when the water was at the suitable temperature. While the tub was filling, Bakura searched under the sink for bubbles. "Orange scented...?" he read on a container, laughing. He popped the cap and poured an excess amount of the pearly liquid into the running water, watching the bubbles that were created multiply at a quick rate.
Ryou entered the room, tossing his shirt at his other's head as soon as he had taken it off, and giggling. Growling playfully, the darker turned quickly and advanced on his light, running nimble fingers along his bare sides and grinning when the boy yelped. "Stop that! It tickles!" But did Bakura stop? Nope.
Finally, when he had decided that his light had been tortured enough (Ryou was now on the floor, giggling like a madman), the yami let up, and turned the tap off. "Bath time," he announced, stripping himself of his own shirt before taking off his socks and jeans. He stood, naked yet unashamed in front of his hikari, waiting for the other to finish undressing. Ryou blushed deeply, and Bakura chuckled. "You have nothing to be embarrassed about," he assured the other.
Blushing deeper, the younger pulled his sweatpants and boxers off, rendering himself nude and slightly shivering. "How did I wind up wearing these in the first place?" he asked, not remembering when he had put them on.
"I put them on you. You were shivering."
"Oh..." Ryou smiled. "Thank you."
"Yeah..." Bakura gestured to the heated water, steam rising from its surface. "Hikaris first, Ryou." Said boy stepped nimbly up to the edge of the bath, lifting a slender leg and dipping his foot into the steamy liquid. He quickly withdrew, though, sucking in air. "Hot?"
"Hai..."
"Hmm..." Bakura poked his hand under the water. "It's not all that bad... Here, I'll get in first, okay?" Ryou nodded, and watched his yami as the older stepped into the tub and sat, submerging himself until only his head could be seen. "See?"
"Uh-huh..."
Bakura's hands emerged, and he grabbed onto his light's arm. "Come on, what are you waiting for? Get in! This was your idea..."
"But..." Ryou regarded the bath with narrowed eyes. "Where do I...?"
Sitting up, Bakura motioned with one hand to himself. "Sit in between my legs. There's plenty of room." It didn't seem like Ryou could've gotten any redder until then. Carefully placing a foot into the water, he kept his eyes away from his yami, lest he change his mind about the bath. Finally, after much debate, the other foot followed, and soon, the hikari was sitting in his dark's lap, everything underwater hidden by the massive amount of bubbles. "Heh..." The yami chuckled, pressing a kiss under his hikari's ear. "Let me wash you?"
"Sure..." the younger nodded hesitantly, his blush creeping downwards. The yami scooped water into his hands and poured it over Ryou's neck and shoulders, droplets trickling down his back. Bakura poured more water from his hands onto the other's arms, caressing them as he went. "Mmm..." Ryou sighed happily, closing his eyes. The hands went back to his shoulders, gently squeezing the pressure points between the blades and his neck. Leaning into the touches, the hikari moaned quietly in contentment, and Bakura smiled.
"You seem to be enjoying yourself, Ryou." The lighter half only nodded again, blinking his eyes open and closed in a sleepy manner. Gently kissing Ryou's neck, the older's hands crept over his hikari's shoulders and onto his chest, continuing the massage. "If you feel uncomfortable, just tell me to stop, alright?" the spirit asked, flicking his nipples with slender fingers.
"H-hai," Ryou breathed, as the twin nubs were rolled between Bakura's thumbs and middle fingers. A rush of incredible yet indescribable feeling passed through the teen's body, and he felt a bit of warmth spread through his legs and in his stomach.
The spirit continued his actions, and a barely-audible groan escaped the lips of his hikari. He smirked; the boy was obviously very sensitive, and he could mentally see Ryou writhing and screaming in pleasure for him. But he shoved those thoughts from his gutter-based mind, focusing on going slow so that Ryou could enjoy this without remembering what had happened his first time... Bakura had, until just now, doubted that they would ever be in the position that they were currently in, but Ryou didn't seem to be minding this too much. Maybe there *was* hope for getting their link back through the process of love-making... Heart fluttering at that thought, the yami scooped up some more of the steamy water, pouring it over Ryou's chest and stomach.
All the hikari could think of right then was that he needed to see his yami's face... As the darkness began his touches again, this time stroking the light's sides lightly, Ryou shook his head. "Stop..." Confused, Bakura did so, and Ryou shifted in the water, until he was sitting on his knees so that the water rose to just below his navel, facing his other half. "I just... I need to see you..."
Tilting his head slightly, Bakura nodded, before tenderly pushing the hikari against the wall of the bath, the younger's legs splaying out, spreading involuntarily. Settling on top of the other, the yami kissed a trail along Ryou's jawline, then onto his neck. He felt a pair of hands draw abstract patterns across his back in reassurance, and knew that he was still doing this right. Bakura's hands traveled to his hikari's legs, tracing the inside of his calves enticingly. Moaning, Ryou felt that heat pooling in his stomach again, and the feeling of the other's body upon his own began to drive him into a hazy state of mind. All he could think of was how wonderful and complete the darkness made him feel...
The dark one's entire body moved upwards a few inches, serving to further ignite that warmth in Ryou as the action allowed him an almost sinful, yet delightful feeling. He could feel the member between his legs begin to swell and retain blood, and each time Bakura made even the slightest movement upon him, it added to the heat, slowly kindling it into a small flame. But it was mind-altering, what the spirit did next.
Leaning upwards, and balancing his weight mostly on the boy beneath him, Bakura cupped his hikari's face with one hand, stroking him low on his abdomen with the other. He slanted in, taking Ryou's lips with his own and pressing their bodies together even more firmly. The light closed his eyes and let out something that sounded like a cross between a whimper and a sigh, freezing against his yami. It worried Bakura; was his light enjoying this, or beginning to have second thoughts? But before he could pull away to ask what was wrong, Ryou had woven his hands into the other's slightly damp locks of hair, and begun to respond to the demanding pair of lips upon his own.
Bakura rocked his hips down and into his hikari's. The flame within Ryou grew steadily in height as he thrust back, trying to relieve the tension that seemed to build in the lower parts of his anatomy. The lighter one broke away from his other's lips, gasping. "Oh god..." he panted, his eyes seeming to look at Bakura and through him at the same time. His entire body, especially his cheeks and neck, was flushed pinkish in color, his silvery hair plastered to his face and floating in the water. His respiration was coming in short, seemingly labored breaths, yet he looked as if he was too occupied to mind much. "Bakura?" he asked in a hushed voice.
"H-hai?" the pale yami replied.
"Just..." Ryou swallowed. "Just making sure... that it's really... you..."
That was all Bakura needed to once again be concerned. "Ryou, what's the matter?" he questioned, stroking the younger's cheek with his fingertips.
A soft sigh. "I don't know."
"Well, I can't tell if anything's wrong or not. Not by much, anyway. You need to tell me if something's not right here." The dark one began to sit back, but was suddenly pulled back on top of Ryou. "Eh?"
Smiling up at Bakura with half-lidded, hazy eyes, the hikari nipped gently at his other's collarbone. "Don't worry about me right now... just... love me."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
End-notes: Yes, I am aware that I'm going to be burned at the stake for ending the chapter there. The rest of the lemon scene is on the way; I just know that I'm WAY overdue on the chapter. But hey, it's nine whole pages typed... Don't complain to me, because this is the longest chapter this story's ever had.
Sorry if no one liked Mariku's new characterization. I have my reasons. And plus, I'm the author, so what I say goes! (Sucks, doesn't it, how YOU can't control me! MUAH!) Please tell me what you thought about the half-lemon there. If I like your responses (which means that they say something more than "I liked it please update") then I'll update a little sooner than three months from now (which is about how long it took to write this).
Thanks in advance!
~RyouBakuraFan013~
Disclaimer: I just... I... yeah... I don't own it already... -_-
Warnings: It's only yaoi, fluff, and a little bit of bloodshed. Nothing much to complain about. Oh, and Mariku's character suddenly changes, so it may surprise some of you. Not that he won't still be an evil bastard... Just a little more loving. Oops! Don't let me spoil it for you!
Pairings: Lots of Ryou/Bakura fluff (and they get a bit intimate in this chapter! ^^), with Malik/Mariku for the first half.
Author's Notes: This chapter brought to you by the "Hybrid Theory" CD from Linkin Park, which accounts for the violence. Nothing too graphic, though, I assure you. I wouldn't want to mutilate any of my characters when I need them for the plot. ^_^; As compared to the other 6 chapters, this is a bit lengthy, but I don't think it'll take all that long to read. None of the chapters on this fic do. You want long chapters, go read "SKoL", which is also on this site. I like the shorter chapters better, even though this story takes me twice as long to write as "SKoL"... Anywho... Please enjoy.
Chapter Seven
*****Normal POV*****
{{If you so much as lay one finger on either of the Bakuras, I'll have to resort to violence!}}
"So desperate, now, are we hikari?"
{{Well... yes! Put the knife down, and let me have my body back!}}
"Why?"
{{Yami! You know why!}}
"Sorry. Wrong answer."
{{Please!!}}
Yami no Malik gripped the kitchen knife in his right hand, his left hand turning the knob on the kitchen door. Suddenly, his hikari took control for a brief moment, long enough to make a five-inch-long slash on his left arm. His other took over again, then yelped as crimson fluid began to trickle out of the gash. He hadn't thought that Malik would actually do it...
{{Yami... please, give me back my body...}} The hikari's voice was wavering.
"Again I ask; why?" the darkness asked, leaning over to lick the blood from his arm.
Malik shivered. His yami may have had control of his body, but he could still feel anything that the other could. He felt the sting in his own arm, though his body was unharmed in the soul room, but what he felt even more was the tingling sensation that he received as Mariku dragged his own tongue along his arm. {{Yami... Why, you ask? I don't want Yami no Bakura to get hurt, and even more, I don't want Ryou to be hurt either.}} That wasn't what Mariku wanted to hear, and Malik knew it. {{But, other half of me... I don't want you to be...}} He trailed off. His yami wouldn't believe him, even if he said what was true. Since when had he started caring for the demonic spirit that resided within his mind, tormenting him constantly?
"Don't want me to be what, hikari-mine?" was the sneered reply. Mariku unlocked a cabinet in the kitchen and took out a roll of bandages. Licking his own wound clean of the blood again, he then began to wrap his arm, not even wincing once.
{{I... don'twantyoutogetsentbacktotheshadowrealm!}}
Yami no Malik dropped the bandages, and they rolled on the floor, unwinding from their roll as he faltered for words. "Repeat that...?"
{{As much as it may seem like I don't care for you... I don't want you getting hurt. I know it weakens you every time you have to fight to get from one realm to the next, and I almost regret having to send you to the Realm of Shadows...}}
Violet eyes opened wide in astonishment, a foreign expression gracing the spirit's features. "You... you care about me?"
"Hai..." was the hesitant, whispered response, as Malik materialized in front of the stunned young man, who had kept his guard down enough to let the hikari out. "Please, Mariku!" the teen cried, hugging his yami around the hips and refusing to let go. "I don't want to see you get hurt!"
The darkness' eyes darted back and forth between his hikari and the knife that he had lain on the countertop, as if trying to decide between them. "Malik, I'm sorry, but... I need to do this. Bakura should belong to me..."
"Yami! Why are you so stuck on him?!" the light asked, his eyes welling up with tears. "Why can't you just leave him alone, and not drag him or Ryou into this?"
"Because...!" Mariku reached for the knife, grasping the wooden handle. "I don't want to see his abilities go to waste. He could make an excellent second-in-command, if only he would cooperate and let go of that pathetic femme that calls himself Bakura's hikari." He turned the blade in his hands carefully. "Besides... I like him. He used to try to be like me all the time, and would follow me around anywhere. I want that back... I like having power over people, and Bakura allowed that..."
"So... you love him, then?" the younger asked, his voice barely above a whisper.
"I used to..." Yami no Malik smirked. "I guess all it is now is lust."
Tears fell from Malik's eyes, cascading down his cheeks and falling onto his yami's chest, as he listened to the one above him. He didn't understand... He was all that his other half had said Bakura was... Why didn't Mariku love *him*? But more importantly than that, why did his counterpart feel such a strong need to drag the other yami and hikari duo into all this? Sure, Bakura may have made a great person to help him destroy the world, but what would be left? "Don't you understand that by the time you destroy the whole world, you will also destroy yourself, and Yami no Bakura-kun?"
"I've already thought about that..."
"Then why destroy yourself?!"
"It's simple..." A sudden wave of affection swept over Mariku, and before he could stop himself, he leaned down and kissed his hikari on the head. "No one cares enough about me. Not Bakura, not you, hell; I don't even care that much about myself..." Malik looked about to say something, but the yami shook his head. "No, don't interrupt me. This world is full of pain and anger, and it all reminds me of what you were like at ten. But you were innocent... The world is not so much." He scowled. "Everyone just deserves to die and go to hell."
Malik sobbed then, into the other's shirt. "You don't know how much that hurts me, yami!" Raising an eyebrow, Mariku blinked down at the crying teen. "I love you! Why can't you see that? I don't want you to die, damnit! I don't really hate you, even though I always say that!!" The light paused for a minute, realizing what he had just said, and then he let go of the older, yanking the knife out of the other's hand and placing the serrated edge on his wrist. Desperate times call for desperate measures... "Promise me that you will just leave Bakura-kun and Ryou-chan alone, or I won't hesitate to cut right into my veins..."
Eyes widened, making his pupils seem even more dilated, Mariku had a look of utter confusion on his face. "Malik... Put that knife down... You know you wouldn't be able to carry though with it..." he said, more as a reassurance to himself that his hikari was too afraid to do anything as rash as he had said he would. To prove his yami wrong, the teen made a small cut, about an inch and a half, across his wrist, the blood rushing to the new wound with lightning-quick speed and dripping out and onto the tiled floor. "What the fuck are you doing?!"
"I'm showing you that I can be just as ruthless as you. Now, promise me, or I'll be forced to make this cut a much deeper slash."
The older looked amazed, to say the least. "I... I promise that I won't hurt either Ryou or Bakura... Now... please put the knife down..." Malik dropped the blade, and it clattered on the hard, laminated flooring. The same instant, he was embraced by his darkness. "You will NEVER do that again, you hear me?! You fucking scared me!"
Malik twitched. "You? Scared? Please... spare me the irony." He wriggled out of the other's grasp, backing under the kitchen table and curling up. "Just... Go away. I almost killed myself because of you. I hate you..."
"You... you said that you loved me, though."
The hikari froze. He had heard it, that faint hint of sadness, in his yami's tone. He opened his eyes slowly. "So what if I do? You don't give a damn about me anyway..." This was it. He was going to find out whether or not the other actually cared. Though, there wasn't even a one-percent chance that he did...
Malik was pulled from his fetal position on the cold floor and into his darkness' lap. "Hikari... You've never said anything about loving me before... I thought for all the world that you hated me." The younger gasped as his neck was nuzzled. "Why didn't you ever tell me?"
"I didn't expect your reaction to be like this... I thought you would punish me. Yami, why the sudden change of heart...?" The spirit didn't answer, but Malik felt something wet on his neck, and his yami began to rock him slightly, back and forth. "You're faking, aren't you? You've never in your life been like this with me... until now..."
"You don't like me to be gentle with you? I could always be rough..."
"No! I like it... more than I should... but why?"
Yami no Malik stopped rocking his other half's body, chewing on his own lower lip. "I guess... when you feel anger, it feeds the darkness within me, but when you're calmed... I know that I love you, too."
"What??" Malik turned to face his yami, unable to believe that he had heard right.
The dark one took advantage of the other's new position, and gently claimed his hikari's lips with his own. The kiss was simple, yet effective, and it was no surprise that Malik responded to it after a few moments of hesitation. When he pulled away after only fifteen seconds or so, Mariku repeated himself. "I love you."
*****
Ryou awoke to the sound of quiet whispers in his ear. Groaning softly, he rolled over and was greeted with a smile from Bakura. "Aishiteru, hikari," the darker one breathed, before placing a soft kiss upon his light's forehead. The young one giggled, a sound that his dark was overjoyed to hear, before chastely kissing his other on the lips.
"I love you too... Oh god..." Ryou winced suddenly, the sharp pain shooting up and down his spine when he attempted to sit up. "Bakura... itai!"
As soon as he had helped his light onto his stomach, Bakura lightly traced a finger over the teen's back, delighting in the giggling that came from his actions. This was very good; the silver-haired boy was actually enjoying this. Leaning over, the young man trailed kisses down Ryou's spine, starting at the base of his neck and working his way downward. After several minutes of this, the spirit massaged his other's lower back, kneading the muscles, and making Ryou utter a slight purring sound from the back of his throat. They had gone though this a lot in the past, Bakura rubbing his hikari's back and Ryou telling him whatever was on his young mind. But now, Bakura knew exactly what the light was thinking about, even though they no longer shared a link, and he didn't like it. Once he had finished his ministrations, he sat back up, running his fingers though Ryou's silvery hair and frowning.
"Bakura?"
"Hai..."
"Can I have a bath, please?"
Bakura chuckled. "Alright. I'll go ask Malik for permission first, just out of politeness. Just rest here for a few minutes, okay?" Ryou nodded, and closed his eyes, nuzzling his pillow. The yami slipped out of the room, heading down the hall. He heard soft murmuring coming from the kitchen, and suspected that Malik was in there, talking to himself, which wasn't all that out of the ordinary, from what he gathered about the teen. Not that he didn't like the Egyptian; he was actually quite fond of the boy, just as Ryou was.
Opening the kitchen door, Bakura came to a halt quickly, taking in his next breath sharply. "Malik...? What are you...?"
Turning quickly to face the intruder, Malik blushed, looking at the floor. "I'm... uh... cooking..." he faltered, gesturing to three different bowls of mixtures. "I know that most men don't have this much fun cooking... But as you already know, I'm not exactly average." He blushed deeper, looking quite embarrassed. "Please, don't make fun of me."
"Why would I do that...?" the spirit asked, quirking an eyebrow. "Ryou cooks all the time. I find nothing unnatural about that."
The Egyptian teen breathed a sigh of relief. "Okay, good." He turned back to his bowls and various ingredients that littered the countertops, mixing a cupful of chocolate chips into one of the containers. "I'm making a few different kinds of breads. They should be done in about an hour or so from now, and they'll take ten minutes to cool. Need anything before then?"
The yami sighed. "You're very kind to me, Malik. I thank you for that." The teen nodded, reaching into the sink and producing a strainer half-filled with cranberries, dumping the contents into a second bowl. "Could Ryou take a bath, please? I think it would help him relax."
"You don't really need to ask. You guys will both be living here for at least a few more days, and I want to provide as much hospitality as I can!" Malik busily peeled an orange, tossing the skin into the sink as he went. "Of course you can use the bath."
"Arigatou!" Bakura bowed, then headed back to the room that Ryou was in, smiling to himself. Today was a pretty good day. "Up, Ryou," he commanded in a gentle tone, convincing his light to get out of bed. "Take your time, while I get the bath ready, okay?" The hikari sat up slowly, not flinching for once.
(His back must be getting better,) the spirit thought, kissing the teen on the nose before leaving him and walking to the hall bathroom. He flicked the light switches and fan switch on the electrical panel, and then tugged the bathmat from its place on the towel bar, placing it on the porcelain bottom of the bathtub. Turning the tap on to a warm setting, the dark one plucked the drain plug from the corner of the bath counter, putting it in the proper place when the water was at the suitable temperature. While the tub was filling, Bakura searched under the sink for bubbles. "Orange scented...?" he read on a container, laughing. He popped the cap and poured an excess amount of the pearly liquid into the running water, watching the bubbles that were created multiply at a quick rate.
Ryou entered the room, tossing his shirt at his other's head as soon as he had taken it off, and giggling. Growling playfully, the darker turned quickly and advanced on his light, running nimble fingers along his bare sides and grinning when the boy yelped. "Stop that! It tickles!" But did Bakura stop? Nope.
Finally, when he had decided that his light had been tortured enough (Ryou was now on the floor, giggling like a madman), the yami let up, and turned the tap off. "Bath time," he announced, stripping himself of his own shirt before taking off his socks and jeans. He stood, naked yet unashamed in front of his hikari, waiting for the other to finish undressing. Ryou blushed deeply, and Bakura chuckled. "You have nothing to be embarrassed about," he assured the other.
Blushing deeper, the younger pulled his sweatpants and boxers off, rendering himself nude and slightly shivering. "How did I wind up wearing these in the first place?" he asked, not remembering when he had put them on.
"I put them on you. You were shivering."
"Oh..." Ryou smiled. "Thank you."
"Yeah..." Bakura gestured to the heated water, steam rising from its surface. "Hikaris first, Ryou." Said boy stepped nimbly up to the edge of the bath, lifting a slender leg and dipping his foot into the steamy liquid. He quickly withdrew, though, sucking in air. "Hot?"
"Hai..."
"Hmm..." Bakura poked his hand under the water. "It's not all that bad... Here, I'll get in first, okay?" Ryou nodded, and watched his yami as the older stepped into the tub and sat, submerging himself until only his head could be seen. "See?"
"Uh-huh..."
Bakura's hands emerged, and he grabbed onto his light's arm. "Come on, what are you waiting for? Get in! This was your idea..."
"But..." Ryou regarded the bath with narrowed eyes. "Where do I...?"
Sitting up, Bakura motioned with one hand to himself. "Sit in between my legs. There's plenty of room." It didn't seem like Ryou could've gotten any redder until then. Carefully placing a foot into the water, he kept his eyes away from his yami, lest he change his mind about the bath. Finally, after much debate, the other foot followed, and soon, the hikari was sitting in his dark's lap, everything underwater hidden by the massive amount of bubbles. "Heh..." The yami chuckled, pressing a kiss under his hikari's ear. "Let me wash you?"
"Sure..." the younger nodded hesitantly, his blush creeping downwards. The yami scooped water into his hands and poured it over Ryou's neck and shoulders, droplets trickling down his back. Bakura poured more water from his hands onto the other's arms, caressing them as he went. "Mmm..." Ryou sighed happily, closing his eyes. The hands went back to his shoulders, gently squeezing the pressure points between the blades and his neck. Leaning into the touches, the hikari moaned quietly in contentment, and Bakura smiled.
"You seem to be enjoying yourself, Ryou." The lighter half only nodded again, blinking his eyes open and closed in a sleepy manner. Gently kissing Ryou's neck, the older's hands crept over his hikari's shoulders and onto his chest, continuing the massage. "If you feel uncomfortable, just tell me to stop, alright?" the spirit asked, flicking his nipples with slender fingers.
"H-hai," Ryou breathed, as the twin nubs were rolled between Bakura's thumbs and middle fingers. A rush of incredible yet indescribable feeling passed through the teen's body, and he felt a bit of warmth spread through his legs and in his stomach.
The spirit continued his actions, and a barely-audible groan escaped the lips of his hikari. He smirked; the boy was obviously very sensitive, and he could mentally see Ryou writhing and screaming in pleasure for him. But he shoved those thoughts from his gutter-based mind, focusing on going slow so that Ryou could enjoy this without remembering what had happened his first time... Bakura had, until just now, doubted that they would ever be in the position that they were currently in, but Ryou didn't seem to be minding this too much. Maybe there *was* hope for getting their link back through the process of love-making... Heart fluttering at that thought, the yami scooped up some more of the steamy water, pouring it over Ryou's chest and stomach.
All the hikari could think of right then was that he needed to see his yami's face... As the darkness began his touches again, this time stroking the light's sides lightly, Ryou shook his head. "Stop..." Confused, Bakura did so, and Ryou shifted in the water, until he was sitting on his knees so that the water rose to just below his navel, facing his other half. "I just... I need to see you..."
Tilting his head slightly, Bakura nodded, before tenderly pushing the hikari against the wall of the bath, the younger's legs splaying out, spreading involuntarily. Settling on top of the other, the yami kissed a trail along Ryou's jawline, then onto his neck. He felt a pair of hands draw abstract patterns across his back in reassurance, and knew that he was still doing this right. Bakura's hands traveled to his hikari's legs, tracing the inside of his calves enticingly. Moaning, Ryou felt that heat pooling in his stomach again, and the feeling of the other's body upon his own began to drive him into a hazy state of mind. All he could think of was how wonderful and complete the darkness made him feel...
The dark one's entire body moved upwards a few inches, serving to further ignite that warmth in Ryou as the action allowed him an almost sinful, yet delightful feeling. He could feel the member between his legs begin to swell and retain blood, and each time Bakura made even the slightest movement upon him, it added to the heat, slowly kindling it into a small flame. But it was mind-altering, what the spirit did next.
Leaning upwards, and balancing his weight mostly on the boy beneath him, Bakura cupped his hikari's face with one hand, stroking him low on his abdomen with the other. He slanted in, taking Ryou's lips with his own and pressing their bodies together even more firmly. The light closed his eyes and let out something that sounded like a cross between a whimper and a sigh, freezing against his yami. It worried Bakura; was his light enjoying this, or beginning to have second thoughts? But before he could pull away to ask what was wrong, Ryou had woven his hands into the other's slightly damp locks of hair, and begun to respond to the demanding pair of lips upon his own.
Bakura rocked his hips down and into his hikari's. The flame within Ryou grew steadily in height as he thrust back, trying to relieve the tension that seemed to build in the lower parts of his anatomy. The lighter one broke away from his other's lips, gasping. "Oh god..." he panted, his eyes seeming to look at Bakura and through him at the same time. His entire body, especially his cheeks and neck, was flushed pinkish in color, his silvery hair plastered to his face and floating in the water. His respiration was coming in short, seemingly labored breaths, yet he looked as if he was too occupied to mind much. "Bakura?" he asked in a hushed voice.
"H-hai?" the pale yami replied.
"Just..." Ryou swallowed. "Just making sure... that it's really... you..."
That was all Bakura needed to once again be concerned. "Ryou, what's the matter?" he questioned, stroking the younger's cheek with his fingertips.
A soft sigh. "I don't know."
"Well, I can't tell if anything's wrong or not. Not by much, anyway. You need to tell me if something's not right here." The dark one began to sit back, but was suddenly pulled back on top of Ryou. "Eh?"
Smiling up at Bakura with half-lidded, hazy eyes, the hikari nipped gently at his other's collarbone. "Don't worry about me right now... just... love me."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
End-notes: Yes, I am aware that I'm going to be burned at the stake for ending the chapter there. The rest of the lemon scene is on the way; I just know that I'm WAY overdue on the chapter. But hey, it's nine whole pages typed... Don't complain to me, because this is the longest chapter this story's ever had.
Sorry if no one liked Mariku's new characterization. I have my reasons. And plus, I'm the author, so what I say goes! (Sucks, doesn't it, how YOU can't control me! MUAH!) Please tell me what you thought about the half-lemon there. If I like your responses (which means that they say something more than "I liked it please update") then I'll update a little sooner than three months from now (which is about how long it took to write this).
Thanks in advance!
~RyouBakuraFan013~