Dark Alleys

Mystical Knight Dragon: I don't mind flames; really, I don't. They provide me with something to laugh at every time I check my reviews. Still don't believe me? Well, then, I'm going to reply to my flame to show you how much I really don't care. And then it might teach people to stop flaming. I just think it's amusing... If you hate it so much, then why did you take the time to read the whole thing, click the little review button at the bottom of the screen, wait for it to load, type up this loooong thing telling why you hate it, click then send review button, and then wait for that to send before you can get on with your dull and boring life.

That's just my opinion.

Now, to respond to the flame, left by some bastard that was too friggin proud of their, ah, "review" that they didn't even leave their name:

First of all, it takes about six months for HIV (not AIDS) to show up on a test. (That's nice. I know that. What in here makes it seem like I don't know this? I'm not an idiot. Even if I might seem like it, I'm really not.)

Second, why the hell would Ryou, who you obviously state as ENGLISH speak EGYPTIAN...horribly I might add. If you don't know the language, don't use it. If Ryou knows Egyptian because his father studies it or something like that - STATE THIS FACT or the idea makes no sense. (Who knows? He could have taken modern Egyptian as a foreign language class. I take Spanish as an extra class, but I'm American, which means I speak English. I will try to use the last bit more often, though. Think optimistically and try to use at least one thing from these bloody flames, I suppose.)

Third, why the HELL is KAIBA worshiping RA?! That makes no sense no matter which way you look at it. (Kaiba can worship Ra if I say he worships Ra!!! If you're making a point out of this, then why the hell aren't you saying anything about Ryou getting raped?! How much sense does that make?! ...Well...I guess we won't go there... Anyways, would you make a point out of that? How would you know if I worshiped Ra because I'm some deranged psycho that takes part in any religion that comes along? I could take offence at that comment. :P)

You're story is garbage. The plot is okay though horribly overused (the Ryou being raped anyway) but the structure and 'writing' is nightmarishly done. (Your flame is garbage, especially since you didn't even use the right "your!" My goodness! How stupid can you get?! No offence, or anything, but you deserved that. If you're going to take all of that time to flame (which is a complete waste of your time), then at least use correct English! Please don't bother me ever again with your petty thoughts on how I suck and you're obviously the ruler of the universe. slight laugh You are story is... How much sense does that make...? ...I think I want to kill you now.)

Ahem. My rant is done. Now to spend my time on more useful things...such as clearing up a few questions.

In the dream, Ryou's subconsciousness switched the rapist with Kaiba. I did that for a little extra plot. It should screw around the story a bit (...what kind of English was that...? oO), which is a good thing. It adds the feeling of mistrust towards his lover, so it should get interesting. I don't know. I haven't really thought up a major plot yet.

Terribly sorry for that extra long author's note, but I was just a bit ticked off. Just a bit. slight cough I sort of want to beat my flamer with a stick now...or an oversized squeaky banana.

This chapter is dedicated to HieiLoverGirl. (Terribly sorry I haven't updated in so long even though I promised I would. I've been trying to get some other things done, and I'm not the world's best multitasker... O Gomen nasai...)

Now, te presento a (Yes! Spanglish!)...

Chapter 5: Of Soup and Baths (Maybe I should quit trying to think up chapter titles... --'

Kaiba was downstairs in the kitchen waiting for the water in the pot to boil so that he could cook the ramen when he heard Bakura banging on a door and shouting Ryou's name over and over. The first thing he did was panic. Had something happened to his lover? He shut off the stove and ran up the stairs as fast as he could, reaching the top just as Bakura stopped beating on the door.

"What's going on?" Kaiba asked, panic shimmering through his voice. "Where's Ryou? Is he all right? What happened?!"

Bakura grabbed Kaiba by the shoulders. "Breathe," he said calmly. "Ryou's all right. He just fell asleep. I felt his brainwaves slow down, and I didn't want him to fall asleep in case he went under the water and drowned."

Kaiba took Bakura's wrists and forced him to get his hands off his shoulders by pressing slightly into the veins. (He might be an ancient spirit, but he has veins if I say he does! ') "Despite popular belief, I do care for my boyfriend. Pardon me for asking about him."

Bakura glared. "Well, you're not the only one who's worried about him! He's my light, and it's my job to make sure no one hurts him, especially not someone like you."

Kaiba returned the glare. "You have no right to talk to me like that in my house."

Bakura stepped closer. "I'll talk to you however the fuck I want," he snarled, his hair standing up a bit.

Kaiba remained where he was. He refused to show any of the fear that he was feeling. His pride got in the way too often...

The door slowly opened, and Ryou stepped out, a towel wrapped loosely around his waist. "Kaiba…" he whispered. "D-do you…have any extra clothing that I could borrow…? Mine's sort of…messy…and needs to be washed…"

Kaiba nodded. "You left some stuff here a few weeks ago, and I kept forgetting to give it back to you. I'll go get it…"

The minute Kaiba disappeared from sight behind the doors to his bedroom, Ryou sank down to the floor and began to cry. At first, Bakura just stood there, not quite sure what to do. Then he walked over to his light and kneeled next to him, wrapping his arms loosely around his shoulders. "Ryou," he cooed softly. "It's going to be all right…"

"No it's not!" Ryou sobbed. "You have no idea what I've been through!"

"Why don't you tell me?"

Ryou froze, only a solitary tear trickling down his face. He stared blankly off into space, fear etched into every part of his expression...or lack of expression...

"Ryou?" Bakura gently shook his shoulders. "R-Ryou...?"

At that moment, Kaiba came back carrying some clothing for Ryou. He laid them down next to his lover. "Uh, Ryou? I..."

Ryou looked over at Kaiba. "Arigatou..." he mumbled softly. He looked up at Kaiba, and tears began to trickle back down his face. He leapt up and grabbed Kaiba around the neck and began to sob uncontrollably. "Gomen nasai," he cried. "G-Gomen nasai!"

Kaiba slowly ran his hands along Ryou's back in slow, comforting circles. "I-It's all right, Ryou," he said, not quite sure what was going on.

"No it's not!" sobbed Ryou, crying even harder now. "It will never be all right! It's all my fault!" With that, he grabbed the clothing Kaiba had brought and went back into the bathroom to change.

Kaiba and Bakura exchanged confused looks, neither one having any idea what had just happened.

Kaiba stood up and walked towards the stairs. Bakura followed.

"Where are you going?" Kaiba demanded. "All I'm doing is going downstairs to finish fixing Ryou some soup."

"I need to talk to you," the spirit answered coldly.

When Kaiba and Bakura reached the kitchen, the former went about the task of completely ignoring the latter. Bakura jumped up on the counter and watched Kaiba as he bustled about the room, finding stuff for the ramon. Kaiba turned the stove back on and waited for the water to boil.

"What have you been doing to my hikari?" Bakura asked suddenly.

Kaiba turned around and looked at the former tomb robber, who was glaring at him very accusingly. "What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean."

"Actually, I don't, and if you can't—"

"I just want to know why the hell he never made it to your house last night!!"

"I want to know, too, so don't think you're the only one who cares for him." Tears began to build up in his eyes, and he turned around so that Bakura couldn't see them.

"We've already been through this dozens of times before."

"And it always ends with you threatening that if I hurt your hikari one little bit, you'll have the pleasure of making haggis later on."

Bakura nodded. "And my threat remains. So if you know something about last night that I don't know..."

"Listen, I know as much as you. I didn't even think he was coming over until you called the next morning. I thought he had decided to get a good night's sleep or something." He turned back around to face Bakura, not caring that his eyes were red and slightly puffy.

"What do you think happened?"

"I think we should wait until he's ready to tell us what happened..."

"I asked you what you thought."

"I...I honestly don't know what to think..." At that moment, the water in the pot began to boil over, and Kaiba went over to the sink to get a sponge to clean up the water.

/Bakura...?/ Ryou said, trying to contact his yami through their link.

Hmm?

/I'm scared./

Of what?

Ryou began to whimper, and tears began streaming down his face.

Ryou...?

/It's all my fault./

What is?

/Everything. Of you and Kaiba fighting... Of...of.../ He began crying even harder.

Bakura ran up the stairs and found Ryou sitting outside the bathroom wearing some loose sweatpants and a white shirt. He was leaning up against the wall with his face in his hands and crying like mad. He looked up when he heard his yami coming up the stairs and put his head back into his hands almost immediately.

"I'm sorry, yami," he sobbed. "I didn't mean t-t-to... I-It was all s-s-so s-s-s-sudden..."

"Ryou?" the former tomb robber walked over to his hikari and put a comforting arm around his shoulders. "Ryou, hush. Everything's going to be all right. You'll see. Whatever happened last night...It's not your fault...and don't ever think that."

Ryou sniffled. "D-Do you know w-what h-h-happened?" he asked almost terrified and looking up slightly at his yami.

Bakura shook his head. "No...but if you told us—"

Ryou's eyes widened, and he stared at Bakura in fear. "N-NO!" he yelped. "P-P-Please no! D-Don't hurt m-m-me!"

Bakura looked at his hikari in shock. "Wh-what? Why would I hurt you?!"

Ryou put his arms over his head and tried to shrink into an even smaller ball. "Go away! Y-You'll h-h-hurt me!"

Bakura stood up and backed away a little, not quite sure what to do. "Ryou...? I'm going to go bring Kaiba up here, all right...?"

Suddenly, the rapist's face changed into Kaiba's.

"My little slut, that's all you are," snarled Kaiba.

Ryou's head snapped up, and he looked at Bakura in horror. "NO!"

Kaiba heard Ryou yelling from down in the kitchen and ran up the stairs to see what was going on. Ryou heard him and dove behind Bakura and began whimpering. Bakura gave his light a strange look and glanced from Ryou to Kaiba and back again.

"What the hell is going on...?"

Ryou just clung to his shirt and didn't say a thing. "D-Don't let him hurt me..."

Kaiba was stunned. He froze in place and gazed at his lover. "Ryou...? What's going on...?" A stab of sorrow sliced through his heart as Ryou shriveled up even more behind the former tomb robber. "Bakura...? What's going on? Someone please tell me!"

Bakura shook his head slightly. "I have no idea..." He turned around to face his light. "Ryou? What are you doing?"

Ryou looked away from his yami, ashamed. He didn't know why he was suddenly so afraid of the people that he loved, but he was. He couldn't help it. The rape had scarred him. Bakura had once told him that he had been raped back in Egypt, [1] but Ryou had never thought that it would hurt that much... It was pain beyond any that he had felt before. When he was little, he fell out of a tree and had to get twenty stitches. This was worse—a lot worse. His whole body still ached even though the bath had helped a little. He collapsed onto the floor and began crying again.

Ugh, I'm almost out of ideas. O Any help would be GREATLY appreciated, as I have said dozens of times before. Much thanks goes to both bakuralove and HieiLoverGirl for giving me ideas for this chapter. I have a little bit of plot for this, but I have no idea where to start next chapter. Anyways, I don't know when the next chapter will be up. I'm trying to get my book (Bloody Fingers) finished so I can get it published. I want it finished by the end of this month, but I don't know if that will happen or not. Hopefully it will... Ah well. I'll try to get the next chapter out as quick as possible. In the meantime, I would love it if you reviewed! '

KuramaandHiei4ever: I hope you don't mind me IMing you for the next chapter...but right now I have this huuuuge virus on my comp (I'm using my dad's laptop... '), and I don't know when I'll be able to use AIM again ('cause my dad won't let me download AIM on his laptop... ;;).

HieiLoverGirl: I'm REALLY REALLY REALLY sorry that I didn't update. I thought I was going to get the chapter done that day that I had it up on my away message basically all day that one time, but then I never finished... I've actually had this chapter done for a while, but my dad wouldn't let me use his laptop to upload it. Damn viruses...

[1] I came up with this plot idea when I was wandering around in circles in my backyard. One of these days I might write it, but don't hope for it too soon. You know how slow I can be... ' Anyways, if you're interested, it's going to be called "I Get What I Want." It's set back in Ancient Egypt and is about Yami no Yuugi taking Yami no Bakura as a sex slave after Yami no Bakura tries to rob the Pharaoh of one of their camels. I've never done anything like this before, so I don't know exactly how it's going to turn out... '