Dark Alleys

For the longest time now, I've been trying to get my original story (Bloody Fingers) typed up and edited so that when I finish, I can send it off to a publishing company. That's why I sort of forgot about my ficcies... T_T But! I'm back! Muahaha!!!! Lots of thanks to my reviewers, and hopefully you'll still be reading this despite the lack of updates. What can I say? I'm not exactly the most motivated person that I know... O

Note: Ryou is out of his mind for most of the chapter, so he is speaking in Egyptian. There is a mini-glossary at the end of the ficcie of the words that I use. I don't speak Egyptian myself, so Ryou's vocabulary will be very limited. ^_^' He begins speaking English pretty soon, though, because I get sick of looking up words... oo'

Chapter 3: (Let's give this one a better title, shall we?) Hallucinations (Meh. Good enough.) (A.K.A.: MKD/Spaztic Bozon Hates This Chapter Because She Wrote It Whilst Being Very Tired and It Went Ka-boom.)

"Ryou!" Kaiba shrieked in surprise, almost stepping on the poor boy in his haste to get out of the house.

Ryou blinked a few times and then rubbed the sleep from his eyes. He looked around, trying to remember where he was. Then, the memories came flooding back. Tears streamed down his face. "Ianew!" Ryou cried, his mind somehow switching over to Egyptian. "Ianew!!!" With that, he passed out.

"Ryou..." Kaiba whispered, staring down at the unconscious boy at his feet. "What happened...?" Knowing that he wouldn't get an answer any time soon, he picked up the boy and carried him into the house.

-*-

Ryou awoke much later and found himself on a leather couch with no memory of how he got there. He moved an inch to look around, and immediately, pain shot up through his ass and all the way up his back. The memory of his rapist's sneering face plastered itself into his memory, and he began crying again.

Kaiba was in the kitchen making soup for Ryou when he heard the small boy crying. He quickly rushed into the room and knelt by his love. "Ryou! Ryou, what happened?!"

"Shenew..." Ryou moaned. "Fen... Ahew..."

"Ryou! Ryou! Why are you speaking in Egyptian? You hardly know the language!"

"Mew!" Ryou suddenly gasped. "Mew!"

One of the few words that Kaiba actually knew in Egyptian was "mew," which meant water. He jumped up and ran into the kitchen to get Ryou some water. In his haste, he broke one of the glasses, smashing it all over the floor. "Oh Ra," he muttered. "I hope Mokuba doesn't decide to come downstairs right now and step on the glass..." He debated for about two more seconds on whether or not to clean it up.

"Mew!" he heard Ryou gasp.

He ran back into the room, the water in the fresh glass splashing all over the floor. He handed it to Ryou, his arm shaking.

Ryou took the glass and drank deeply, feeling very lightheaded. He handed the glass back to Kaiba and managed a smile. "Arigatou..." he muttered.

Japanese, Kaiba found himself thinking. At least I can understand that...

"Ianew..." Ryou muttered. "Fen... Ahew..."

"Shh," whispered Kaiba, trying to calm the boy. "Listen, I'm going to call Bakura and tell him that you're here. He's been worried about you."

Ryou nodded his head and fell back to sleep.

Kaiba smiled lightly. At least he can understand what I'm saying, too...

Kaiba ran back into the kitchen and turned off the stove. He then grabbed a broom and swept up as much glass as he could and threw away the shards, mentally reminding himself to come back later with a vacuum cleaner. He then picked up the phone and hastily dialed Ryou's number.

Bakura picked up. "Hello?"

"Bakura—"

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY HIKARI?!"

Kaiba held the phone away from his ear until Bakura had finished shouting. "Nothing, baka," he sneered. "I just wanted to tell you that he came to my house. Right now he's sleeping on my couch and is speaking in Egyptian."

"..."

"Bakura?"

"What?"

"Help."

"N-Nani?!"

"I don't know Egyptian."

"Neither do I. Ancient Egyptian is a lot different that present-day Egyptian."

"I know, but...at least you can guess easier than I can. Present-day Egyptian came off of Ancient Egyptian."

"...Fine. I'll be over in a minute. But if I hear that you have done anything to harm my hikari, I'm going to personally put my hands around your neck and strangle you until you are no longer breathing!"

"Bakura?"

"What?!"

"Do you know how to get here?"

On the other end, Bakura glared. "Yes, baka! Remember the little thing called the 'Sennen Ring?'" With that, Bakura hung up, and Kaiba was left staring at the phone in confusion.

Kaiba slowly shook his head and hung up the phone.

-*-

In the other room, Ryou woke up again, bathed in a sheet of sweat. Pain shot through his head as well as almost every other part of his body. His mind was flipping through every language that he had learned so quickly that he found it hard to keep one thought separated from another. The only thoughts that he could interpret were the memories that came with mental images—which he really didn't want to live through again. "Ahew..." he moaned.

Ryou tried to fall back to sleep, but now sleep was out of the question. Every time he had fallen asleep, he had relived the night before. He didn't want to. He wanted to be free of the torment. Every time he had slept with Kaiba, the older boy had made it...pleasurable. What he had experienced the previous night was only pain.

His Sennen Ring glowed, and Bakura emerged.

"I don't know why I didn't think of this sooner," Bakura muttered, looking around him.

Ryou stared up at the tomb robber. "Akh!" he shouted.

Bakura glanced down at his hikari in confusion. "Uh...akh to you, too?"

Ryou shook his head slowly, but stopped rather quickly as the pain shot through him again. Tears began to leak from his eyes again. He tried to brush them away, but his arms were too heavy to move.

Kaiba rushed into the room. He had heard Ryou scream out "akh," but it had taken him a moment to react. He had been sweeping up more of the glass and had to put down the broom carefully so that glass didn't fly everywhere again. He stopped when he saw Bakura standing there.

"When did you get here?" Kaiba asked in fear.

Bakura tapped the copy of the Sennen Ring around his neck and smirked.

Kaiba raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything more about it. "Can you understand him?" he asked, motioning to the boy.

Bakura shrugged. "He said 'akh,' which kind of sounds like 'Aker.'"

"Which is...?"

"An earth-god also presiding over the juncture of the western and eastern horizons in the Underworld."

"Wow, you sound like a text book."

Bakura glared at him. "For your information, I had to memorize all of the gods and goddesses when I was younger."

"I don't know how you kept track of them all..."

"Nedj," Ryou whispered.

Kaiba knelt down by Ryou's side and took his hand in his. The younger boy's hand felt like ice and was slippery with sweat. He looked up at Bakura. "What did he say?"

"No idea," Bakura snapped, sitting down in a chair beside the couch.

Kaiba placed his hand on Ryou's forehead. "He's not warm... In fact, he feels pretty normal... Ryou...what's wrong?"

Ryou looked up at Kaiba. "Ahew..." he whispered.

"Damn it," Kaiba muttered. "Why can't you speak so that I can understand you?"

Ryou closed his eyes and sighed deeply. His mind was spinning out of control. He couldn't put a complete sentence together if he tried. "Help me," he managed to croak.

Bakura sat up straight in the chair, and Kaiba moved even closer to his love.

"Help... Ahew..."

"Damn! What the hell does 'ahew' mean?!"

Bakura closed his eyes in concentration. He began moving his lips as if he was saying something, but no sounds came out. After a few moments of this, he opened his eyes again. "I think it means 'pain.' Ryou taught me a few words of modern Egyptian to show me how they differed... I'm pretty sure he said it meant 'pain.'"

Kaiba nodded his head slowly. "But...why would he be in pain...?"

Ryou moved a bit to get more comfortable. Pain shot throughout his entire body, seemingly setting it on fire. He opened his mouth in a silent scream.

"Ryou!" Kaiba hissed. "Ryou what's wrong?"

"Wa-wa-water," he gasped.

Kaiba leaped up, grabbed the cup that he had set aside earlier, and dashed into the kitchen to refill it. He was back by Ryou's side within ten seconds, holding out the cup for the other boy to drink.

Ryou slowly reached out and took the glass. Pain shot through him again, but this time he didn't pay attention to it. He raised the glass to his lips and slowly let the water run down his throat. After he had drank enough, he fell back to sleep.

-*-

Ryou awoke about three hours later to find both Kaiba and Bakura staring at him. Memories once more washed over him as well as a wave of nausea. He closed his eyes and moaned.

"Ryou," Kaiba whispered. "Are you all right?"

Ryou found his head working much more clearly, and he was able think a lot more easily. "I...I think I'll be all right in a little while..." he said softly.

Kaiba smiled.

"Thank Ra I don't have to be a translator anymore," muttered Bakura.

"Yami?" Ryou questioned.

"What?"

Ryou opened his eyes. "What happened?"

"That's what we were going to ask you!"

Tears slipped past Ryou's defenses. "N-Nothing," he stammered. "I-I'm f-f-f-fine. I-I-I—" He let down all of his defenses and broke down completely.

"Shh," Kaiba whispered soothingly. He ran his hands through Ryou's hair, making the other boy shiver a little.

"Hikari, what happened?"

"Don't bother him just yet," said Kaiba, not looking up at the former tomb robber.

"Why not? Don't you want to know?"

"Yes, but I don't think he's in the mental state to discuss it right now. Whatever happened must have been pretty terrible for him to be this badly shaken up.

Bakura went back over to the chair that he had been sitting in and sat back down.

"Ryou?" Kaiba whispered.

"Hmm?"

"Do you want something to eat?"

Ryou shook his head.

"Do you want some water?"

Ryou shook his head again.

"Can you tell us what happened?"

Ryou's eyes widened in fear.

"Great," Bakura sneered sarcastically. "You scared my hikari."

Kaiba reached out and gently took Ryou's hand. "I didn't mean to," he shot back at Bakura. "Ryou," he said softly, turning his attention back to the albino. "Can you at least tell me how you're feeling?"

"I-I f-feel great," stammered Ryou. "W-why?"

"For one thing, you're stuttering."

"A-am n-n-not... I...I just don't feel a-a-as n-n-normal as usual. That's all."

"And why not?" Bakura asked, looking almost sympathetically at his hikari.

"I don't want to talk about it right now," Ryou muttered.

"I'm going to go get you some soup, and then you're going to take a hot bath," said Kaiba, standing up.

Ryou shook his head. "I'm not hungry."

"Then at least take a bath."

Ryou shook his head again. "I don't want to move."

"Ryou," Bakura cut in. "You have to eat something. I don't remember the last time you ate, and you probably don't, either."

Ryou dropped his gaze and stared at a nonexistent spot on the floor. "So?"

"So, I'm making you lunch," Kaiba said plainly. He then walked into the kitchen to reheat the soup that was still on the stove.

Ryou sat up a little and watched him leave. It didn't hurt as much to move as it had before, but he still felt the pain.

Bakura watched his light try to move. "Ryou, something's wrong," he said softly. "I know you don't want to tell us, but we're worried about you. You're going to have to come clean sooner or later."

"I know," said Ryou just as softly. "But please not right now..."

Bakura nodded his head and looked up as Kaiba came back with the soup.

* * *

I felt it deteriorating, so I decided to stop before it completely died.

Note: I have no idea what I'm going to do for the next chapter. Any help would be greatly appreciated. You can talk to me on AIM (Bozonic Caesar) or e-mail me (Fishee_for_Mooshicorn@yahoo.com) or just review. Reviews are nice. Veeeery nice. ^_^

Mini Egyptian-to-English Glossary:

Ahew – Pain

Akh – A certain type of Spirit

Fen – Weak

Ianew – Sorrow

Mew – Water

Nedj – Ask (as in a question)

Shenew – Illness