A Warm Heart in a Cold Desert
Disclaimer: *Picks up a pencil* Sorry guys... My authoress powers tell me I still don't own YGO.
Pairings: Bakura/Ryou, Marik/Malik, Seto/Joey, Yami/Yugi? Maybe.
Warnings/Other: YAOI (don't like? don't read.), death, angst, some OOC. Dedications to the usual trio mentioned. Oh, and lil-kat-girl! I finally found a way, thanks to Tia, to bring Yugi into the story for you! ^_^
Summary: -AU- Bakura, an Egyptian prison escapee. Ryou, a contradictory teenager sick of the family life. After Ryou is dragged along on his family trip to desert, he finds Bakura in the back of his car, and decides to run away with him. There's only one problem. They're lost in the desert with no idea where civilization is. YAOI BxR
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"Officer, you found the bodies, correct?" Yami arched his eyebrow in curiosity.
"Yes." Seto replied.
"Can you decribe the condition of the bodies?"
"Crippling knife wounds, various stabbings... Multiple physically-induced injuries on one of the bodies... the neck was severed."
"Severed? Could you please elaborate?"
"Well.... The head was gone."
"Gone?" Yami's eyes narrowed in seriousness as he wrote down the last details of the murder.
"Decapitated."
"Disgusting. Thank you, Kaiba."
Yami turned around and faced the paler of the three prisoners in the cell. Dark earthen orbs glared back at him through silvery bangs, as if daring him to make a prosecution. The tri-colour-haired officer gave an indignant 'humph' and returned to his paperwork.
Kaiba sneered at Bakura before spinning around on his heel and walking away.
The Chief of Police sauntered over to the cell. Marik and Malik remained silent as Bakura stood, arms crossed, and eyed Yami suspiciously.
.
"So, you didn't think you got yourself into enough trouble the first time..." Yami reached into his pocket and pulled out a single, folded paper. He unfolded it and flattened out the creases. He read off a list, "Thievery... Robbery... Avoiding arrest... Defiance of authority... And of course, sneaking into the country without a passport." Yami shook his head. "Those crimes are minor compared to the murder of four people."
Bakura's eyes flashed with anger, "Your workers haven't traced anything back to me in reguards to those murders."
Yami held back a smirk. "Perhaps we have." Here, a streak of suprise passed through Bakura's expression. "The date of your trial will be coming up shortly. I suggest you think of a way to hire a lawyer, although, as previously explained, if you cannot afford a defensive lawyer, the courts will appoint one to you. Understood?"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Bakura waved off Yami's accusations with a casual flick of the wrist, "Been there, done that."
"I don't think you understand the severity of this case. Your life rests in the court's decisions."
A twisted smile crossed Bakura's face. "Really, now? That sounds interesting." His grin dropped in timing with grave seriousness appearing in his eyes. "I've always loved the rush of adrenaline one experiences while facing what could be their death." Bakura said coolly, leaving a stunned Yami to sort out his words as he sat back down, crossing one leg over the other and glaring through an emotionless façade.
.
"Bakura," Marik said cautiously in Egyptian, after the intense confrontation between the silver-haired Egyptian and Police Chief had ended, "Come on now. You could die if the courts go against you, yet you're making light of this situation as if you were gambling a few stones of common worth."
A shrug. "I'm well aware of that." The syllabels rolled off the sixteen- year-old's tongue with age-old percision as he closed his eyes.
"So why do you continue with this... bluff?" Marik knew he was starting to tread on thin ice as he pressed the topic further. "Last time you were in this situation, Bakura whatever-your-last-name-is, you didn't have anyone who cared for you, nor did you care for anyone else. But this time, the cards you're playing are a lot different. You're not dealing the same deck - you now have someone who loves you, and as much as you don't want to admit it, someone who you love. And you can't take this so lightly anymore."
"Must you bother me with this so much, Marik? I /know/ how serious this is. I /know/ I might die; don't you think I've acknowledged that fact by now? But /Ryou/ doesn't know what's going on right now. /Ryou/ is... I don't even know where the hell he is." Bakura sighed in frustration; Marik knew he had hit it hard just now. "And I'm sure one way or another he'll find his way into this case, and if I make it seem like I'm worried about anything, he'll only be twice, hell, three times as worried, for me. For a stranger he met slightly over a week ago. For a damned prisoner from a whole nother country who shouldn't even be here in the first place."
Marik glared, "Shut it."
"Make me." Bakura opened a single, sharp brown eye and peered Marik from behind his bangs.
Malik, who had been feigning sleep up until now, joined the conversation. His voice peeked out from somewhere behind Marik. "You guys..."
Bakura and Marik ceased their glare-war momentarily while both cast their gazes at Malik.
"Listen. My only crime is sneaking into the country without a passport," he said carefully in his native language, the same Egyptian Bakura and Marik had been speaking in moments before. "I might be able to get out of here and find Ryou. To bring him here."
"No!" Bakura snapped, catching himself and everybody else off guard, "The hell's wrong with you, Malik? What do you think he would say if he found out I'm pretty much on death-row?"
Malik sent Bakura a level glare, "So you perfer to lie to him and say everything's all hunky-dory when in fact your very life is on the line? Don't you think it would be better for him to know the truth?!" He had to bite his tongue to keep his voice from raising as he spoke, standing and weaving his way out of Marik's arms.
Bakura snorted, "Fine. Do what you want." He muttered angrily. Everything had taken such a drastic change of events, he wasn't sure what to think. "Whatever." His two cellmates noticed the change in language, back to English.
"I'm glad you have so much faith in me." Malik mumbled in Egyptian before he, himself, switched back to English as well. "I won't tell him what's going on, okay, Bakura? Just trust me on this one." A smile suddenly lit Malik's features, "Remember, /I/ wasn't the one who was caught." He chuckled to himself as he called over the attention of the officer he remembered from the 'car-trip' to the station, Duke Devlin.
//
A long while had gone by since Ryou's mother exploded out of the room in a fit of rage. Quite frankly, he didn't see why she got so upset the way she did. But he didn't delve too deep into thoughts - his only focus right now was how he could find a way to reunite with Bakura. He listened to the steady beep of the heart monitor, and momentarily considered pulling it out and making a run for it while it was still in the lunch hour. Slowly, he reached his hand up towards the plug for all the machinery, carefully holding on to the cord between the joints in his index and middle finger. He began drawing his elbow back to pull the plug...
The door swung open and Ryou jerked his arm back to his side, muttering a curse under his breath. `Damn. I was so close.`
He sat up in the hospital bed, and for the first time since he had awoken, he became aware of the light blue hospital gown draped around his thin body. Glaring at whoever it was entering his room at such an inopportune moment, he found himself suddenly angered at how similar this other teen was to that damned officer who had taken away his Bakura.
The other smiled at him through gentle golden bangs. "Hey there! I'm Yugi Mutou, your doctor."
Ryou cracked a momentary, mildly sarcastic smile. "My pleasure." He mumbled out of half-intended respect.
"You're lucky, Ryou. Most of your ribs were fractured, only a few actually broke... And that ankle just needed a little bit of therapy. It should be fine within a day or so."
"Hn."
Yugi blinked at his patient, concern present in his wide magenta orbs. "You okay?"
Ryou had to wait a few seconds before answering, so that he wouldn't glare. `He's only trying to be nice, Ryou... Give him a chance...` He told himself mentally. "No." The fifteen-year-old glanced up at Yugi with slightly teary eyes. "The one I love is going to be put on death-row."
"What?" Yugi asked, shocked. "That's awful! I'm so sorry."
"Tell me about it." Ryou sighed.
The room lapsed into silence thereafter; Yugi tried to keep a conversation going, but Ryou obviously didn't feel like talking that much. Eventually, Yugi had to leave to take care of another patient, and he bid a goodbye of dampened cheer to Ryou before the silence came back, and Ryou was left alone once again to sort out his thoughts.
.
Just as he was getting somewhere with all his emotions and random ideas, the door creaked open a second time, and Ryou opened a single chocolate- coloured eye to see who had bothered his thinking this time. He gasped in suprise when none other than Malik slipped inside the room.
"Finally. I thought I'd never find you in here, Ryou." Malik said, grinning.
"Malik?" Ryou blinked, "Where are the others?"
A pause. "They're back at the station." He said truthfully. "But I came to get you out of here." Malik lowered his tone considerably as a nurse walked by outside. "Let me explain how I got out. Since my only crime was sneaking into this country, I was able to convert my punishment of 90 days in jail to a fine of five-hundred American dollars. So I got out easy."
"What about Bakura, and Marik?" Ryou asked hesitantly.
Malik frowned, a long streak of remorse passing through his captivating lavender eyes. "They're alright..."
Ryou continued gazing at Malik; he didn't quite believe him.
The Egyptian climbed onto the bed beside Ryou, and slung an arm casually around the silver-haired youth. "I know you probably don't trust me that much, but just remember, Marik and I have been 'Kura's friends for a long time." He rubbed the side of Ryou's arm with his fingers. "I promise I'll help you get to Bakura, 'kay?" Malik smiled genuinely, hoping to gain what little trust he could from Ryou.
After a long while, Ryou nodded slowly. "I trust you."
//
Bakura sighed for what seemed like the millionth time that day and glared threateningly at the clock hanging above the entrance to the room containing the cells of not only his shared cell with Marik, but other wrongdoers as well. He almost wished Ryou was in the cell with him right now, just so he could hold the boy a little bit more in what he felt to be his last few days of life.
He dwelled on Ryou for a long time during Marik's silence. The thief remembered the first time he had set eyes on Ryou, the first time they fell asleep in eachother's arms, their first kiss... Bakura trailed a thin finger over his lips. His unbreakable mask was slipping one piece at a time as he continued angsting over his seperation from Ryou.
His view of the clock and boring grey wall was suddenly blocked and replaced by two dark violet orbs. Bakura blinked, and sat up straight; he hadn't realized he was hunched over just now. Marik's hand raised to his cheek, and for a moment Bakura froze, completely immobile, as the memory of his mother's death years ago flashed before his eyes. The memory vanished as Marik wiped something away from Bakura's cheek.
"Tears? I didn't think you could cry, Bakura."
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Shori: ^__^ CHAPTER TEN! It's o_o completed. But wait! This story is far from over. I refuse to let it end now! x_x I wouldn't let it end now, anyways...
Bakura: You better not let it end yet.
Shori: Noooo worries, Bakura ^_^. Review counter updated to 150! 15 more than I have right now ^_^
Yugi: ^_^! I finally get a part! Though it was kinda small... It was still a part!
Shori: Yup! And, I'm sorry to all Mokuba fans, but he's just too young to be in this fic... Anyways, ja ne minna! Please continue reviewing! Thanks!
~Shori Musei~
Disclaimer: *Picks up a pencil* Sorry guys... My authoress powers tell me I still don't own YGO.
Pairings: Bakura/Ryou, Marik/Malik, Seto/Joey, Yami/Yugi? Maybe.
Warnings/Other: YAOI (don't like? don't read.), death, angst, some OOC. Dedications to the usual trio mentioned. Oh, and lil-kat-girl! I finally found a way, thanks to Tia, to bring Yugi into the story for you! ^_^
Summary: -AU- Bakura, an Egyptian prison escapee. Ryou, a contradictory teenager sick of the family life. After Ryou is dragged along on his family trip to desert, he finds Bakura in the back of his car, and decides to run away with him. There's only one problem. They're lost in the desert with no idea where civilization is. YAOI BxR
-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-
"Officer, you found the bodies, correct?" Yami arched his eyebrow in curiosity.
"Yes." Seto replied.
"Can you decribe the condition of the bodies?"
"Crippling knife wounds, various stabbings... Multiple physically-induced injuries on one of the bodies... the neck was severed."
"Severed? Could you please elaborate?"
"Well.... The head was gone."
"Gone?" Yami's eyes narrowed in seriousness as he wrote down the last details of the murder.
"Decapitated."
"Disgusting. Thank you, Kaiba."
Yami turned around and faced the paler of the three prisoners in the cell. Dark earthen orbs glared back at him through silvery bangs, as if daring him to make a prosecution. The tri-colour-haired officer gave an indignant 'humph' and returned to his paperwork.
Kaiba sneered at Bakura before spinning around on his heel and walking away.
The Chief of Police sauntered over to the cell. Marik and Malik remained silent as Bakura stood, arms crossed, and eyed Yami suspiciously.
.
"So, you didn't think you got yourself into enough trouble the first time..." Yami reached into his pocket and pulled out a single, folded paper. He unfolded it and flattened out the creases. He read off a list, "Thievery... Robbery... Avoiding arrest... Defiance of authority... And of course, sneaking into the country without a passport." Yami shook his head. "Those crimes are minor compared to the murder of four people."
Bakura's eyes flashed with anger, "Your workers haven't traced anything back to me in reguards to those murders."
Yami held back a smirk. "Perhaps we have." Here, a streak of suprise passed through Bakura's expression. "The date of your trial will be coming up shortly. I suggest you think of a way to hire a lawyer, although, as previously explained, if you cannot afford a defensive lawyer, the courts will appoint one to you. Understood?"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Bakura waved off Yami's accusations with a casual flick of the wrist, "Been there, done that."
"I don't think you understand the severity of this case. Your life rests in the court's decisions."
A twisted smile crossed Bakura's face. "Really, now? That sounds interesting." His grin dropped in timing with grave seriousness appearing in his eyes. "I've always loved the rush of adrenaline one experiences while facing what could be their death." Bakura said coolly, leaving a stunned Yami to sort out his words as he sat back down, crossing one leg over the other and glaring through an emotionless façade.
.
"Bakura," Marik said cautiously in Egyptian, after the intense confrontation between the silver-haired Egyptian and Police Chief had ended, "Come on now. You could die if the courts go against you, yet you're making light of this situation as if you were gambling a few stones of common worth."
A shrug. "I'm well aware of that." The syllabels rolled off the sixteen- year-old's tongue with age-old percision as he closed his eyes.
"So why do you continue with this... bluff?" Marik knew he was starting to tread on thin ice as he pressed the topic further. "Last time you were in this situation, Bakura whatever-your-last-name-is, you didn't have anyone who cared for you, nor did you care for anyone else. But this time, the cards you're playing are a lot different. You're not dealing the same deck - you now have someone who loves you, and as much as you don't want to admit it, someone who you love. And you can't take this so lightly anymore."
"Must you bother me with this so much, Marik? I /know/ how serious this is. I /know/ I might die; don't you think I've acknowledged that fact by now? But /Ryou/ doesn't know what's going on right now. /Ryou/ is... I don't even know where the hell he is." Bakura sighed in frustration; Marik knew he had hit it hard just now. "And I'm sure one way or another he'll find his way into this case, and if I make it seem like I'm worried about anything, he'll only be twice, hell, three times as worried, for me. For a stranger he met slightly over a week ago. For a damned prisoner from a whole nother country who shouldn't even be here in the first place."
Marik glared, "Shut it."
"Make me." Bakura opened a single, sharp brown eye and peered Marik from behind his bangs.
Malik, who had been feigning sleep up until now, joined the conversation. His voice peeked out from somewhere behind Marik. "You guys..."
Bakura and Marik ceased their glare-war momentarily while both cast their gazes at Malik.
"Listen. My only crime is sneaking into the country without a passport," he said carefully in his native language, the same Egyptian Bakura and Marik had been speaking in moments before. "I might be able to get out of here and find Ryou. To bring him here."
"No!" Bakura snapped, catching himself and everybody else off guard, "The hell's wrong with you, Malik? What do you think he would say if he found out I'm pretty much on death-row?"
Malik sent Bakura a level glare, "So you perfer to lie to him and say everything's all hunky-dory when in fact your very life is on the line? Don't you think it would be better for him to know the truth?!" He had to bite his tongue to keep his voice from raising as he spoke, standing and weaving his way out of Marik's arms.
Bakura snorted, "Fine. Do what you want." He muttered angrily. Everything had taken such a drastic change of events, he wasn't sure what to think. "Whatever." His two cellmates noticed the change in language, back to English.
"I'm glad you have so much faith in me." Malik mumbled in Egyptian before he, himself, switched back to English as well. "I won't tell him what's going on, okay, Bakura? Just trust me on this one." A smile suddenly lit Malik's features, "Remember, /I/ wasn't the one who was caught." He chuckled to himself as he called over the attention of the officer he remembered from the 'car-trip' to the station, Duke Devlin.
//
A long while had gone by since Ryou's mother exploded out of the room in a fit of rage. Quite frankly, he didn't see why she got so upset the way she did. But he didn't delve too deep into thoughts - his only focus right now was how he could find a way to reunite with Bakura. He listened to the steady beep of the heart monitor, and momentarily considered pulling it out and making a run for it while it was still in the lunch hour. Slowly, he reached his hand up towards the plug for all the machinery, carefully holding on to the cord between the joints in his index and middle finger. He began drawing his elbow back to pull the plug...
The door swung open and Ryou jerked his arm back to his side, muttering a curse under his breath. `Damn. I was so close.`
He sat up in the hospital bed, and for the first time since he had awoken, he became aware of the light blue hospital gown draped around his thin body. Glaring at whoever it was entering his room at such an inopportune moment, he found himself suddenly angered at how similar this other teen was to that damned officer who had taken away his Bakura.
The other smiled at him through gentle golden bangs. "Hey there! I'm Yugi Mutou, your doctor."
Ryou cracked a momentary, mildly sarcastic smile. "My pleasure." He mumbled out of half-intended respect.
"You're lucky, Ryou. Most of your ribs were fractured, only a few actually broke... And that ankle just needed a little bit of therapy. It should be fine within a day or so."
"Hn."
Yugi blinked at his patient, concern present in his wide magenta orbs. "You okay?"
Ryou had to wait a few seconds before answering, so that he wouldn't glare. `He's only trying to be nice, Ryou... Give him a chance...` He told himself mentally. "No." The fifteen-year-old glanced up at Yugi with slightly teary eyes. "The one I love is going to be put on death-row."
"What?" Yugi asked, shocked. "That's awful! I'm so sorry."
"Tell me about it." Ryou sighed.
The room lapsed into silence thereafter; Yugi tried to keep a conversation going, but Ryou obviously didn't feel like talking that much. Eventually, Yugi had to leave to take care of another patient, and he bid a goodbye of dampened cheer to Ryou before the silence came back, and Ryou was left alone once again to sort out his thoughts.
.
Just as he was getting somewhere with all his emotions and random ideas, the door creaked open a second time, and Ryou opened a single chocolate- coloured eye to see who had bothered his thinking this time. He gasped in suprise when none other than Malik slipped inside the room.
"Finally. I thought I'd never find you in here, Ryou." Malik said, grinning.
"Malik?" Ryou blinked, "Where are the others?"
A pause. "They're back at the station." He said truthfully. "But I came to get you out of here." Malik lowered his tone considerably as a nurse walked by outside. "Let me explain how I got out. Since my only crime was sneaking into this country, I was able to convert my punishment of 90 days in jail to a fine of five-hundred American dollars. So I got out easy."
"What about Bakura, and Marik?" Ryou asked hesitantly.
Malik frowned, a long streak of remorse passing through his captivating lavender eyes. "They're alright..."
Ryou continued gazing at Malik; he didn't quite believe him.
The Egyptian climbed onto the bed beside Ryou, and slung an arm casually around the silver-haired youth. "I know you probably don't trust me that much, but just remember, Marik and I have been 'Kura's friends for a long time." He rubbed the side of Ryou's arm with his fingers. "I promise I'll help you get to Bakura, 'kay?" Malik smiled genuinely, hoping to gain what little trust he could from Ryou.
After a long while, Ryou nodded slowly. "I trust you."
//
Bakura sighed for what seemed like the millionth time that day and glared threateningly at the clock hanging above the entrance to the room containing the cells of not only his shared cell with Marik, but other wrongdoers as well. He almost wished Ryou was in the cell with him right now, just so he could hold the boy a little bit more in what he felt to be his last few days of life.
He dwelled on Ryou for a long time during Marik's silence. The thief remembered the first time he had set eyes on Ryou, the first time they fell asleep in eachother's arms, their first kiss... Bakura trailed a thin finger over his lips. His unbreakable mask was slipping one piece at a time as he continued angsting over his seperation from Ryou.
His view of the clock and boring grey wall was suddenly blocked and replaced by two dark violet orbs. Bakura blinked, and sat up straight; he hadn't realized he was hunched over just now. Marik's hand raised to his cheek, and for a moment Bakura froze, completely immobile, as the memory of his mother's death years ago flashed before his eyes. The memory vanished as Marik wiped something away from Bakura's cheek.
"Tears? I didn't think you could cry, Bakura."
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Shori: ^__^ CHAPTER TEN! It's o_o completed. But wait! This story is far from over. I refuse to let it end now! x_x I wouldn't let it end now, anyways...
Bakura: You better not let it end yet.
Shori: Noooo worries, Bakura ^_^. Review counter updated to 150! 15 more than I have right now ^_^
Yugi: ^_^! I finally get a part! Though it was kinda small... It was still a part!
Shori: Yup! And, I'm sorry to all Mokuba fans, but he's just too young to be in this fic... Anyways, ja ne minna! Please continue reviewing! Thanks!
~Shori Musei~
