Disclaimer: I do not, nor will I ever, have the intelligence to own anything as worthwhile as Yu-Gi-Oh!, so buzz off.
Warning: I have no idea where the story is going, but this WILL have SLASH! Yugi is a bit depressed, there may be a few inappropriate things, and of course, violence. I doubt I own a story without any of the above...
Chapter 4: Rescue
Last Time…
"Threats go a long way … " smirked Bakura, but Marik was distracted from the conversation as Yami Yugi's head snapped up at their discussion before whipping to glare at a figure sitting in a corner bent over a huge textbook. Yugi stared back at Yami; panic evident for a millisecond before he bolted out of the lunchroom as though the demons of Hell were on his trail. Yami quickly smoothed his glare and smiled thinly at the quartet. Marik's quick mental check assured him that his partner had also noticed the former Pharaoh's extreme reaction, and was thinking hard about it. No longer moaning, Bakura settled down to eat lunch, eyeing the Pharaoh suspiciously. A quick mental conversation between the platinum blond couple ensured that they would be following Yugi home today. Something odd was going on, and the Pharaoh's glare had been disturbingly familiar to what it had been five thousand years ago. Perhaps Yugi's wounds were not just bullies. That cock-and-bull shit about Yugi evil was something neither had ever believed, but only now did they believe something else might be going on than Yami's own misdirection.
*
Yugi was dead. DEAD. D. E. A. D. Or at least he would be as soon as Yami and Tea came home. Oh, how he wished Bakura and Marik had discussed that stupid whip elsewhere! Yami was going to kill him…
So why go home? Yugi perked up as the new idea was entertained before drooping when common knowledge set in. He had to go home. No one else would take him or even want to, now that everyone hated him again. Dejected, his shoulders slumped and he gently pulled the door open, stepping into the darkened house.
An arm wrapped about his waist and a hand slid over his chest to clamp down hard on his mouth. Yugi struggles were futile and a familiar dark chuckle made him cease and dangle limply in his captor's grip.
"That's better," snapped Yami, dropping the boy sharply. "But it was a lie, wasn't it? You are not half so complacent as you pretend to me, are you, Yugi?" He didn't wait for an answer, but kicked out sharply. Yugi's breath whooshed out as he wondered feebly why Yami was home so early. "You disgust me, brat. And you betrayed me as well. You gave that accursed Tomb Robber that whip, didn't you? Well?" He flipped Yugi over and stepped easily on his spine, grabbing a fistful of hair and jerking it back to look at the teen's terrified face. His own expression grew darker. "Well?" Amber eyes fearful and full of agonizing pain, Yugi nodded. His head slammed into the floor so fast that the pain was all that told him anything had occurred. His broken and bloody nose painted his face grotesquely as Yami kicked him into the kitchen and made sure the sound-proofing spells were up. He smiled at Tea, who was beginning to adopt his desire to cause pain, and squatted beside the weeping hikari.
"Do you know how wonderful screams sound, Yugi?" he asked, smiling now. Yugi couldn't stop to answer him through panicked sobs that wracked his thin frame painfully, and Yami slapped him, still smiling. As the sobs turned to hiccups, he started to talk again. "Only recently have I recovered more of my memories. From my times of ruling Egypt. And I have found myself missing some of my hobbies. Will you help me with them, slave?" Yugi nodded, knowing better than to refuse what Yami required of him. The smile grew into a twisted, pleased snarl. "Good." And white hot pain, red hot pain, blue yellow and orange hot pain flared as it was inflicted on the light's body.
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"Good God," breathed Malik as he climbed through the kitchen window. Marik followed warily, eyes narrowing further at the sight of the boy they had come for.
Yugi was sprawled upon the tiled and slightly bloody floor as if thrown by a giant hand. His breath came in shallow, desperate gasps, and his face – where it was not covered in blood from the broken nose – was a ghastly white. Now and then he twitched slightly, as though trying to ward off the pain still coursing through his body. Worse still were the rents in his school shirt. Holes really, they showed the astonished duo blackened skin, burned so thoroughly that the blisters were weeping sores over charred flesh, and the smell of the torture still lingered foully in the air. Blackened marks around the wrists and electrical cords ripped apart were a testimony to electrocution, and Malik seemed on the verge of hurling. Marik was quicker on the uptake; lifting the wounded Yugi and escaping out the window the way he and his hikari had come in. Malik followed quietly.
"We have to get him to a hospital," murmured Malik when they reached the road. "He might die otherwise; I certainly don't know how to treat him." Marik raised an eyebrow.
"That's what your Rod is for, hikari. It can heal, you know," he sounded amused, despite the gravity of the situation. Malik gave him a puzzled glance in return.
"Huh?"
"The Millennium Rod, Malik, it has other powers beside mind control, though not so mighty as the Puzzle."
"Oh," said Malik thoughtfully. They hastened to load Yugi in the car. "At any rate, we still better hurry."
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Yugi groaned and sat up stiffly. He was in a bed, but the room wasn't his. What was going on? He turned his head stiffly to see a picture on the nightstand. It was of two platinum blond youths …
"Oh no," he breathed, "How'd I wind up here? Yami's gonna kill me … but … didn't he (yawn) do that already?"
"Nope," said Marik cheerily from the doorway. "I don't think the intended to kill you anyway. He stopped before it could become truly life-threatening." He frowned at the teen as he walked into the room. "Now what exactly is going on anyway? Yami's been beating you, right? Why?" Yugi winced and looked away.
"He hasn't been beating me. I – get bullied at school."
"Yeah, you get the stuffing knocked out of you alright, but that's only because Yami told everyone you were evil and made your best friends hate you," pointed out Malik, who was apparently behind Yugi. "But bullies don't leave you half-dead on your kitchen floor after you already walked home from school without being molested for a change."
"And we looked into that too. Yami told them not to kick the crap out of you that day 'cuz he was gonna do it himself. So what exactly is he after?" Sleepy, Yugi confessed.
"I found some papers in his desk," he yawned. "Yami wants the money and stuff that Grandpa left me, so he wants me to (yawn) to sign a paper saying that everything I own, including me, is owned by him. He calls himself 'Pharaoh' and me 'slave' and Tea 'queen'. I think he's cr – cr – cracked (huge yawn) and he thinks he's gotta break me and make me sign it. I gave Bakura's whip ba-ack after he beat me up for it and Yami found out and hurt me again … " He woke up a bit more and sniffed back tears. "I hate him! He hurts me and I can't … do anything. Ryou's yami loves him. Same for you two. You just don't know what it's like! I trusted him! He was my Yami; my darkness! He saved me after I saved him and he helped me. I loved him like a brother … and then he kicked me out. Not that it took much; I'm not that hard to kick." He sighed and wiped his amber eyes. "Happy now?"
"No," said Malik, more gently than his normal rough-and-tumble attitude. "I'm not happy because my friend is not happy. I'm not happy because I let my friend be hurt. And I'm not happy because my yami lost to Bakura for a whip he bullied off of you!" He got a chuckle for that last, and Yugi shivered beneath the blanket.
"Bakura bought the whip; Yami stole it. Marik loses either way."
"Hey!" protested Marik; reaching out to cuff Yugi indignantly. The boy shied away.
"Marik!" scolded Malik. "He's just been beaten for months! Stupid yamis'," he muttered, rolling his eyes. "Oof!" Marik sat atop his hikari triumphantly.
"That should take the stuffing out of you!" he crowed. Malik punched him and a wrestle ensued while Yugi watched, half-terrified and half-amused.
"I'm more mature than you," he mocked when they finished, both flushed and ruffled. They stuck out their tongues at him and Yugi grinned. He liked it here. Wait.
"Why am I here?" he asked suddenly.
"Because we followed you home from school and saw the results of your encounter with Pharaoh butt-head," said Marik. "You've been out for days, but we got you healed up pretty well. The rest will take a bit though, and until we can get rid of Yami you'll stay here. He doesn't know you're with us, and we'll get the principal to send your work home so you can keep your grades up."
"Oh, don't worry about it. I've just about finished for the year anyway. There's not much else to do but the end of the year exams. I had so much free time with everyone ignoring me that I asked for work ahead of class schedule. My teachers won't care that I'm out 'sick', and Yami sure won't report me missing. He'll probably go find me on his own." Yugi winced at the thought. "Um, how well can you hide me?"
"Pretty well. Been experimenting with the Rod; it can be used to hide your presence, though it does tend to wear off after so long a time period," commented Malik. Marik snickered.
"Yeah. You figured that one out after how long? Plus, you managed to turn yourself into a frog twice while experimenting with it! Twice!" He started laughing. Malik looked at him sourly.
"I still know how to do that spell, you know. And I'm sure it can be adjusted to annoying yamis'." Marik tackled him again and wrestling resumed; Yugi smiling contentedly at the pair as he fell asleep feeling safe for the first time in what seemed like forever.
*
A/N: How'd I do? I had to do some humor this chappy; sry. Things get interesting in future chapters as people get to know Yami for what he really is and Yugi recovers throughout bouts of laughter and the irrepressible natures of his new loony companions. Next chapter: Recovery.
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