A Warm Heart in a Cold Desert

Disclaimer: Hm. *Uses the Magic 8 Ball* Magic 8 Ball, do I own YGO? It says 'My Answer is No.' That should tell ya.

Pairings: Bakura/Ryou, Marik/Malik, side Seto/Joey. Yami/Yugi? Maaaaaybe.

Warnings/Other: Yaoi (Don't like? Don't read.), angst, death, maybe some OOC. _ D, here's your chapter.

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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A pale hand lifted gently to wipe away tears from an equally pale cheek. Bakura sighed and ran his fingers through Ryou's hair. He didn't want the tender-hearted British youth to encounter any harm, either.

"Bakura," Ryou whispered, "Please tell me they won't give me death." Having barely any knowledge of the law process, he hardly had any ideas as to what would happen once the trial was resumed.

The Egyptian remained silent as he thought. He hated making promises when he didn't know if he could stick to his word. With a heavy heart, he replied as best he could. "I doubt they'll even punish you. After all, if what you said to them led them to believe you... or, really, I... acted in self-defense, then it would be justifiable."

"I hope so..." Ryou replied, "I really do."

Bakura simply held Ryou close to him.

//

The next day at 2:30 P.M., the court's 24-hours to decide the outcome of the case were over, and they were forced to make a decision. Still, not a word had been said to Bakura or Ryou, which caused both of them a lot of emotional torment and stress. At one point, Bakura wished someone would tell him what as going on, even if he was told both he and Ryou would be put to death, even though he did not wish for that result.

.

Bakura and Ryou were sitting in the main lobby of the law building, each lost in his own world, his own private escape from the scenario around them. Bakura had laced his fingers with Ryou's as soon as they had sat down, but he didn't even try to start up a conversation. Occassionally, out of the back of his mind, a question about Marik and Malik's well-being would pop into his head, but he found he hadn't the will to try and answer the question.

Ryou hadn't seen hide nor hair of his mother ever since that day in the hospital. Half of him was sad about that fact, half of him could care quite less. He wasn't sure if he could find it in him to forgive her for the way she had badmouthed his Bakura, but his conscience told him that it was only correct to forgive, as much as he didn't want to.

The silence surrounding them was somewhat tense, but mostly just dull as they sat, boring holes into the every-day beige colour of the walls. Neither of them saw the tall, blonde figure approaching them until a female voice coughed, "Ahem."

Instantly, their heads snapped up, and Ryou felt all the colour drain from his face at the sight of who had interrupted the moment.

* * *

Malik sighed and stared into the nearly identical orbs of his love, who leaned against the cement-like wall on the opposite side of the cell. He hated seeing Marik so restrained, so... defeated. Marik's hair fell despondently infront of furious violet orbs, but that fury had to remain kept in. The younger of the two boys frowned from outside the cell.

"Marik?"

"What." Replied the Egyptian, lifting his head slightly.

Malik pushed his hand through the bars and reached for Marik, though he knew he couldn't actually reach him. "I wish you weren't in there."

"Don't we all? I almost wish I was in Bakura's spot, just to get /out/ of here..." Marik grumbled.

"I don't want you in Bakura's position." Sighed Malik as he asked a passing officer to be let into the cell. At first, the officer refused, but after some convincing, the obviously new officer opened the barred door to Marik's cell. Malik slipped inside as the door was closed.

.

Weaving his way into Marik's arms, Malik nuzzled the side of his head against Marik's shoulder and clung to the slightly older boy. It felt so good to be held again; having to fall asleep alone in a cold, empty bed the police station had provided him with always left him with a feeling if transparency. "I'll find a way to get you out of here, Marik. I promise." Whispered the smooth-haired Egyptian in his native language, sending shivers down Marik's spine.

Marik held the boy closer. "Don't get yourself in trouble."

"I won't."

"Promise?" Marik asked as he placed a tender kiss on the delicate lips infront of him.

"Promise," Malik said, returning the kiss.

* * *

Bakura glared into the fiery magenta orbs that noted his hand laced with Ryou's. "You got a staring problem, or are you here to tell me something?"

"I would advise /against/ speaking to your /prosecutor/ in that matter." Replied Mai Valentine, settling a dainty hand on her hip.

A roll of the eyes, "I'll talk to you however I want. Now what is it you want to tell me?" Bakura asked, nearly having to bite his tongue to keep himself from using a harsher tone of voice than he already was. Out of the corner of his eye, Ryou glanced worriedly at him.

"The courts have reached a decision on the story you two have given us," Mai said, "Luckily for you, it has been filed as a justifiable homicide."

Ryou let out a sigh of relief and smiled up at Bakura. "Thank you, Ms...?" He trailed off, unsure of the woman's last name.

"Valentine." With a dissapointed 'humph', Mai turned and left the two nearly albino boys to themselves.

.

Ryou practically jumped out of his seat and into Bakura's lap as he smiled wider than Bakura had ever seen before. "Did you hear, Bakura? We're off!"

"I heard." Bakura muttered, snaking his arms around the fifteen-year-old's waist.

"But you don't sound or look very happy?"

A shrug. Bakura kissed Ryou's forehead and absentmindedly played with a few locks of silvery hair. "I am happy."

The British youth held his smile with dampened cheer. "Then what's wrong?"

"Didn't you see that look she gave us?"

"I did."

"She wanted us to die."ยน

Ryou's smile faded. "She did..." The smile returned to Ryou's face, "But the courts ruled in our favor, so..."

"We were lucky this time." Bakura sighed, ending the conversation by somewhat forcefully pressing his lips against Ryou's as they stood and began leaving the main lobby.

.

Walking down the long hallway, Bakura couldn't help but glance behind himself every few seconds just to make sure someone wasn't going to suddenly appear behind him and say the court's decision was reversed. Finally, after being told by Ryou to calm down, he gave up looking over his shoulder and instead became fascinated with the ground beneath his shoes as he walked.

Sensing someone infront of him, Bakura looked up just in time to see his defense attorney, Tea Gardener, entering the excessively long hallway from another door. He blinked momentarily, then nodded his 'hello' and continued walking. When a hand was placed on his shoulder, he had to once again bite his tongue to keep himself from snapping at whoever it was. His attorney quickly started a mostly one-sided conversation with him about the case and how the courts had reached their decision.

Ryou, who wasn't really paying any attention to Tea (not like Bakura was, anyways), let his gaze wander around the room until Bakura finished talking to Tea. Once Bakura's attention was all his again, he smiled cutely and stood on his tipee-toes. Bakura looked at him curiously, until out of nowhere, candy-like tiers were pressed against his lips. The moment would have been perfect, except for the angry footsteps approaching them quickly.

"RYOU! What do you think you're doing, young man?!"

The boy in question reluctantly broke the kiss and glanced around for the source of the voice.

He paled.

Coffee mug held in a death-grip in her right hand, Ryou's mother had never looked so angry.

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1 - Not meant for Mai-Bashing.

Shori: Wow, guys. I'm sorry. This chapter is shorter than all the others, it sucks, and I'm sorry if things seemed sort of rushed. This week has been completely horrible in more ways than one.

Bakura: ...And why is that?

Shori: For one, my (censor)ing 7th period teacher has been making us write sappy love poems for the ENTIRE week, and I hate Valentine's Day with a passion, and I begged her to let me write about ANYTHING else, but noooo... _ And then there was the freak-out I had yesterday where I went from super pissed to super perky to super pissed to super perky in a span of about 45 seconds.

Bakura: o_o And to think people call me a lunatic. Just because I don't particularly trust Shori's state of mental health right now, the review counter is updated to 190, even though that's more 3 more than what would make 15 from the current amount of reviews, but she and I both are too lazy to do the exact math. Deal with it.