Judgment

Disclaimer: well . . . are YGO and YYH worth five cents? If they are, then I own them!

Summary: Seto, Ryou and Ryuuji are TC's Elite and their job is to exterminate all Otherworldly beings from the real world. But real judgment is yet to come, what with the Chimera Brigade on the loose . . .

Warnings: Semi-AU, OOC (on some parts, not all). In this chapter there will be Ryou-torture (courtesy of our beloved Yami-kun), Seto and Ryuuji struggles and a sprinkling of romance! God bless romance!

Responses to Reviews/Author's Notes:

Ril: ah, my faithful reader/reviewer Ril! Did I tell you how much I appreciate your comments? Well, I am now ! You've never failed to review a chapter and the comments you leave are sooo inspiring!

Maruken: maybe there's a way of keeping Marik and Ryou together, but I'm not sure at this point yet! Yep, Ryou trained Kurama!! I thought it would be a cool idea!!!

Elle-FaTe2x1: yep, Yami is the last of the Four! There's Malik, Marik, Bakura and Yami. Ishizu and any other person I 'accidentally' neglected to mention may be considered the other members of Chimera who aren't as important.

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Chapter Thirteen: Unexpected Allegiance

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Kai opened the door to Fuyu's room quietly. The albino was sitting in an armchair, which he supposed Namu had brought in later on. Or maybe he just hadn't noticed it. Either way, he had never seen the armchair before. Fuyu was humming to himself, the tune nothing he recognised, but was comforting.

"Konbanwa, Fuyu-kun," he greeted.

Fuyu looked up at him a smiled.

"Konbanwa, Kai-kun."

"Daijoubu ka?" Kai asked. It seemed the right thing to do, since Fuyu had been unconscious for some time. Besides, he was worried.

"Ee, daijoubu. Arigatou." Fuyu got up and motioned to the armchair. "Have a seat. Please."

The brunette took the offered seat with a nod of thanks, while Fuyu sat across from him on the bed. The smile never left his face, which was glowing. Kai only had to assume that Namu had been to visit him. He leaned back on the armchair, watching his companion.

"Anou . . . Kai-kun," Fuyu said hesitantly, tilting his head to one side, "I was wondering . . . since you were there when I woke up, do you remember anything about my past at all?"

Kai shook his head slowly. No, he barely remembered his own past, let alone this boy's. But he did catch glimpses of scenes that didn't have him inside, ones that Namu was in. He silently wondered if they were Fuyu's memories. The said albino gave him yet another smile, this time a sad one.

"Oh, all right. Arigatou."

"Gomen, I wasn't much help."

"Uun," Fuyu protested, shaking his head. "Ii yo. It was a silly notion anyway."

They sat in silence. Kai retreated into his mind, brooding over the emptiness that had suddenly settled on it after he had woken up from his slumber. His trenchcoat was free of stains – Kami-sama arigatou, he silently prayed – and he was busy deciphering the strange mechanisms on it.

Fuyu, meanwhile, was troubled. He could feel a very strong sense of hate and determination approaching the room. Mixed in with his and Kai's confusion . . . it made powerful disturbances to his mind. He winced as the feeling got to his head and made it start to throb, pound even. He hissed sharply at the pain.

"Fuyu-kun? Daijoubu ka?" Kai asked worriedly.

"Atama ga . . . itai," he whimpered.

The door burst open and Kai leapt to his feet, hovering protectively in front of the pained boy. A tanned young man, looking no older than them, stood in the doorway, wearing a scowl. He was dressed in ancient finery, with real gold jewellery and heavy linen. Almost fit to be royalty.

"Dare ka?" Kai demanded angrily.

"Get out of the way, boy," the newcomer snarled. "My business is with that one over there. Don't involve yourself."

"If you want to hurt him, you'll have to get through me."

The newcomer glared at him and swept his arm sideways violently, throwing Kai into the wall. He hit it and slumped down, clutching his side in pain. Fuyu was oblivious to this exchange, the pain in his head increasing to unbearable levels. There was so much anger and hunger for vengeance coming from this man . . . it hurt and it frightened him. He had never felt something so strong.

"You, boy . . ." the man stopped in front of him. "Do you know who I am?"

"Iie – iie," Fuyu sobbed.

"Ore wa," here he yanked Fuyu's head up by the hair, "kisama no shibou no kao."

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The tunnels were endless, or so they seemed to Ryuuji. Every few metres there would be a new twist, or turn or something that would confuse him and throw him off course. He had encountered more than ten dead ends, four death traps and three empty chambers.

Turning the latest corner, he found himself in another dark, stony corridor. Silently he wondered whether the demons here had anything better to do than to trick the ones who came in here. They would have had to be clinically insane or had had an interesting childhood. Or, even better, maybe they were just bored.

Anyway, he found another corridor branching off from that corridor and decided he had nothing to lose and turned. Here he encountered a stone slate.

Only those who have a purpose may pass.

He touched the slate carefully with both hands.

"This must be it, the entrance to Chimera's lair. Took long enough."

But where was the entrance exactly? This stone slate acted as a noticeboard of sorts, but he didn't see the entrance anywhere. Was this some sort of sick joke to prank unsuspecting, desperate people who were seeking to find a way into their lair? It probably was, but he had had enough. It wasn't funny any more. He needed to get inside.

In a fit of anger, he punched the slate. It didn't break, or crack. Finally, Ryuuji felt desperation rise up within him, anger and frustration, in the form of tears. Why did everything always go wrong for him? Why was it that, he had finally come to terms with his feelings and the person he loved had to be taken?

"Kutabare! Kisama, kutabare!"

Footsteps sounded behind him. Whipping around, Ryuuji found himself face-to-face with Marik. The game creator's lips curled in a snarl at the sight of the demon. But then he stopped. Marik seemed somehow – distraught, lost and . . . almost as desperate as he was.

"What do you want, Marik?"

Marik's lilac-red eyes met his wearily.

"You can't save Ryou now," he said heavily. "It's too late."

"What do you mean 'too late'?" Ryuuji demanded.

"You won't be able to get any further," Marik explained. "Even if you do, there will be nothing you can do to save Ryou. I can't do anything either because, whether you believe me or not, I only wanted Ryou, I didn't want him to die."

"And why can't you save him?" Ryuuji asked angrily. "This is your territory, isn't it? Why can't you save him?"

"This isn't 'my territory'." Marik looked at the slate. "This place really belongs to Yami, the Dark Pharaoh of the Lost Dynasty. He's far more powerful than you can imagine – even my siblings and I can't defeat him. Ryou's in his hands now and I can't do anything about it."

Ryuuji was rendered temporarily speechless. There was someone even Marik was afraid of? And now Ryou was at the hands of this someone, who was about to kill him. The teen rounded onto Marik, expression livid.

"So you're just going to give up?" he asked incredulously. "Just because this guy is powerful, you're just going to let him kill Ryou? If you really love Ryou, then you would do anything to save him. Even if it means risking your own life. I'm sure we could beat this Yami if we work together."

"Work together? You want to work with me – a demon?"

Ryuuji flashed a wry grin.

"No, not really, but if we have a common goal to save Ryou – why not?" he placed a hand on the slate again, turning away from Marik. "You do want to save Ryou, right?"

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Warehouse Five – Domino Pier

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"The portal will be opened in ten minutes. We're just a bit ahead of schedule."

Jounouchi sat down on the floor of the warehouse, cross-legged, with a heavy sigh. Yugi scratched his head as he watched his friend, a little exasperated with him for being so lazy. Their two escorts checked their watches, setting the times so that they matched exactly.

"So what happened to Bakura-kun-tachi?" Yugi asked.

"Yeah what happened?" Jounouchi piped.

Kurama exchanged worried glances with Hiei, before he turned back to them. He wrung pale hands together as he talked.

"Ryou-sama, Seto-sama and Ryuuji-sama were separated when they got into the Otherworld," he began. "At that point, Ryou-sama had been attacked by a leeching demon and Seto-sama and Ryuuji-sama had followed to save him. They were drawn away from each other when they got into the Garden of Lost Memories, the first part of the Otherworld they arrived in through their portal."

"Oh, so we have to save them?"

"Do you really think you're much better than them?" Hiei smirked. "Bakura Ryou, the British Elite, Kaiba Seto, the Japanese Elite and Otogi Ryuuji, the American Elite of the Chosen. If they can't save themselves, do you really think that an untrained amateur like you could save them?"

"Hiei," Kurama said warningly.

The black-haired teen and Jounouchi were glaring daggers at each other. Yugi was lost on what to do. Usually his blonde friend would just get over whatever was bothering him. But he didn't know how Hiei behaved. Kurama sighed at their childishness.

"Anou . . . you said we were to be trained, Kurama-kun," Yugi said hesitantly. All eyes turned to him. "I-I wanted to know what exactly we're to be trained on."

"Depends on what your skills are, really," Kurama explained. "I, for example, am a manipulator. My skills are in the area of transfiguring and changing things. Because of this, I needed to be trained on control and I was assigned to Ryou-sama. He is a master of control in every sense."

"How about you, Hiei-kun?"

Hiei grunted and Kurama gave a small smile.

"He doesn't like to talk of his sensei," Kurama told Yugi and Jounouchi. "They're both stubborn people and they don't get along very well."

Jounouchi huffed in agreement at that, earning himself another death glare from Hiei. Kurama noted that there was still seven minutes left. They sat in silence for a bit longer, until Hiei broke it suddenly.

"I'm a manipulator of minds, a psychic manipulator," he said. "Kurama manipulates solid objects and living organisms and I manipulate on a psychic, mental level. This includes mind control and brainwashing. I was assigned to Kaiba Seto because of my psychic abilities."

"You're Kaiba-kun's student?" Yugi exclaimed.

"Kaiba had a student?"

Hiei only grunted and walked to the other end of the warehouse. Another four minutes ticked by and the other three joined him. The portal to the Otherworld was opening soon and they had to be ready. It was then that Jounouchi remembered something that was important.

"What are our powers?"

"Think back to the virtual reality game you played," Kurama said. "What were your special abilities there?"

The two trainees frowned. They had played the virtual reality game quite a while ago. It mainly consisted of demons and monsters from myths and legends. But Yugi had a tingling in his fingers, like there was something he had held . . . a palm-sized hourglass. He related this to Kurama and Hiei.

"What did you do with the hourglass, exactly?"

"Well, I think I was flipping it around," Yugi said, trying to remember. "And the time either sped up or slowed down or stopped altogether."

"I remember that!" Jounouchi exclaimed. "And I made things appear!"

"Well then that's simple," Kurama smiled. "Yugi, you control time. You can speed it up, slow it down, stop it and turn it back. Jounouchi, you're a conjurer. Both of these areas need strength of will. If I'm not mistaken, the two of you would probably be assigned to Ryuuji-sama once this is over."

"The portal," Hiei interrupted.

He was looking at the empty wall, which had slowly started to become warped. The edges started to shimmer a little, then waver and finally a sort of second wall appeared in front of them. Hiei walked forward and passed through the wall, disappearing from view. Yugi and Jounouchi blinked, before following Kurama through as well.

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Lair of the Four Kings

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Yami watched as the boy, Ryou – who was now known as Fuyu to himself and to Kai – struggled vainly against him. He had a death grip on the slender throat and Ryou was clawing at his hand, but he didn't release him. The boy was going darker from lack of oxygen and he was getting weaker and weaker.

In another corner of the room, Kaiba Seto was forced against the wall by his aura, unable to move. They were really pathetic, nobodies when they didn't know how to use their powers, and when they were rendered helpless at his mercy.

He scowled.

For five millennia, he had lived in this forsaken world because he hadn't been the perfect Pharaoh and ruler of his people. He had slaughtered many, but that was part of his job. If he hadn't killed his younger brother and younger sisters, he wouldn't have survived to take the throne. It wasn't his fault he had to poison his father's mistress, who had given birth to the said younger brother.

But the Gods didn't see that he had done all that for survival. To Them, he was an abomination, unfit for the human world. They had damned him, after his death, to an eternal afterlife in the shadows. He had built his world around this darkness and forsaken his human identity for one he made for himself.

Yami. He had named himself after the darkness that had become his home. He watched and waited these last few millennia to strike back at the Gods, who had taken all prospects of a glorious afterlife with his ancestors and threw him in a humiliating situation. And now, under his hand, in his control, was Their most precious possession and hope for the salvation of the human world.

The possession he was about to kill, to taint and to wipe off the face of existence. He was going to make this as painful as possible for little Ryou, the innocent Angel who held so many hearts in his pale hands. He would not let this boy take control of his damned existence.

"You have caused me a lot of pain, boy," he breathed. "I will make you pay with all the pain you are suffering now."

He released Ryou's throat and the boy fell to his knees, gasping for much-needed air. Without letting the albino catch his breath properly, Yami dragged him over to the bed by the hair, dropping him unceremoniously in a sprawled heap. Ryou's eyes were wide and frightened.

"Kirei na . . ." the Pharaoh whispered, running a hand through the boy's silvery locks. "You are perfect."

The said hand trailed dangerously low, over the slender hips and across the stomach. Ryou whimpered. Seto struggled wildly, trying to break free of the invisible bindings around his wrists and ankles. Yami paid them no heed and brought Ryou's lips to his in a harsh, fierce kiss. Ryou tried to push him away, but he had him by the neck. If he tried to break away too forcibly, he would snap his own neck.

"They did well to model you in Anubis' image." Yami smirked at the memory of his former, wild lover. "I wonder if you're as passionate as he is? He was very pleasurable, I must say. Wild and rough. It was great fun, taming him."

"Dame yo," Ryou breathed raggedly. His breath came in gasps.

"Why?" Yami asked mockingly. "Don't you like this?"

"Iie . . . I don't."

"Well, that's just too bad, my little one." Yami stroked him through his pants, making him whimper. "That's just too bad."

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End Chapter Thirteen

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Author's Notes:

YAMI'S GONNA RAPE RYOU! AHHHHHH!

Kutabare: Fuck you. I actually learnt this from reading Ego-chan's fanfic 'Or Die Trying'. I swear, you should read her fics! They're really good!

Atama ga itai: my head hurts. 'Atama' means head and 'itai' is basically hurt or pain

Kisama no shibou no kao: I'm not sure if this is correct, but it's supposed to mean 'the face of your death'

Dame yo: don't, stop it

Iie: no

Daijoubu yo: I'm all right; 'daijoubu ka?' means 'are you all right?'

Uun: oh, really . . .

Ii yo: it's all right (or, it's good)

Gomen: sorry

Arigatou: thank you

Kirei na: pretty, beautiful

Anou: um . . .

Okay, I think that's about all the translations in this chapter.

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