The Caged Rose
Disclaimer: Bakura says: Shori (thankfully) does not own YGO or its' characters!
Pairings: Malik/Ryou, Bakura/Marik (shows up in this chapter). Other pairings will arrive later.
Warnings/Other: Yaoi, Yuri, angst, school-fic, completely ignores story line... Some OOC.
Summary: Ryou is a depressed yet caring loner who just wants some love. Malik is a popular, 'egotistical' honours student. Malik has a secret crush on Ryou, whose trust is literally impossible to gain. The rest is up to fate when they bump into eachother in the halls. YAOI, YURI.
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There was nothing Malik Ishtar detested more than waiting in the obsessively long lunch-line. Well, actually, he wasn't too fond of his Health class, and he certianly didn't harbor any positive feelings towards Algebra II. He juggled the thought of which activity he hated more as he drummed his fingers against the styrofoam lunch tray he had selected. Malik decided that, in the end, nothing could outdo his hatred for Algebra II.
Finally, after waiting impatiently for one of the other students to select their lunch for the day, he payed the ¥166.650¹ required for lunch and began making his way towards the bungalos where he and his friends gathered every day. As he passed the covered eating area outside the cafeteria, passed the quad, and passed the basketball courts, he couldn't help but keep an eye out for a certian white-haired British boy.
Malik glanced around what he could see of the campus until he found who he was looking for. Ryou, clad in all black just like the day before, was sitting alone against one of the vending machines near the boy's gym. Hesitantly, he traipsed over to the brown-eyed beauty, balancing his lunch above a textbook.
.
"Hey Ryou," Malik started, "Why're ya sitting alone?"
Ryou barely looked up in response, having recognized Malik's voice automatically. "Because."
Somehow, this conversation seemed all too familiar to the blonde Egyptian. "Oh... Hey, why don't you come sit with me and my friends? One of 'em looks just like you."
A sigh, followed by a pause. "Alright..." replied the boy, tossing the rest of his unwanted fries in the trash. He lazily shoved his book that he had been reading into his backpack and stood, shifting his shoulders until the straps fit evenly on his back. "Where do you guys... 'hang out?'"
"Over there," Malik answered, pointing to a small group of about three people in the distance. "My brother's there too... He hangs out with us a lot."
"That's... good." Ryou hesitated before speaking the last word. After a lot of thinking the previous night, he decided that perhaps he shouldn't be so stone-cold to Malik. After all, the boy was only trying to be his friend, right? Besides, even if Malik's friendship turned out to be nothing but a fluke, that didn't really matter. Ryou had long since learned to deal with rejection. And Ryou did have to admit, Malik really didn't seem like a bad guy.
A smile lit the taller's face, "I'll bet you'll get along really well with Bakura, seeing as how you two could pass for twins."
Ryou's natural curiosity was spiked once more. "A twin? Interesting." He said as he and Malik rounded the corner of the Music Academy building.
.
Perched on the top stair in a set of stairs leading up to a bungalo was Ryou's 'twin.' With his slightly spikier white hair hanging down in his face, the twin had his arms slung around the shoulders of who Ryou guessed to be Marik, Malik's older brother. Marik was leaning back casually into the embrace, as if it was a pleasant nothing-new sort of experience. Ryou noticed with a slight blush that his look-a-like had his pale cheek nuzzled against Marik's darker cheek.
"Can you two quit the romance for a second?" Malik teased, dumping his backpack at Marik's feet. "And Bakura," the white-haired looked up curiously, arms still encircling Marik's shoulders. "I didn't know you were a twin?"
"The hell're you talking about, Malik? I'm not a twin. Only child, remember?" 'Bakura' said, eyeing Malik curiously.
Malik smirked and rolled his eyes, making Ryou blink at the sudden change of personality. "Yes, you are."
"No, I'm not. I told you that already."
"Stop being such a dumb-ass and look at who's standing next to me!" Malik finally exclaimed, slumping his shoulders.
Bakura looked at Malik skeptically before turning his gaze to Ryou. For a few seconds, he pinned Ryou with a curious but not necessarily nasty glare. He shrugged. "I'm still not a twin." He said to Malik. Bakura looked back at Ryou. "I've seen you around quite a bit."
Casting a wary glance at Malik, Ryou smiled faintly, but made no verbal response. Being around so many people made him slightly uneasy. Upon noticing that Malik was giving him the 'introduce yourself' look, he frowned slightly and took a breath to speak. "My name's Ryou."
"Cute kid." Marik said, quirking a teasing eye at Bakura, who sent a friendly glare back.
Malik groaned at his brother and Bakura. Turning his back to them and towards Ryou, he shrugged with a smile on his face. "Sorry about those two. They're always like that."
.
Ryou hardly responded as he found himself locked in Malik's gaze. He didn't like this one bit. Not only was he talking to one of the 'Forbidden People,' but he was starting to /trust/ this 'Forbidden Person.' Trust wasn't a good thing. It meant he had to put his fragile trust and even easier-to-break heart in someone else's hands, and that was not something Ryou liked doing. But, as he struggled with his inner demons, he found it impossible to break the warm, entrancing amethyst gaze of the other boy.
"It's fine." Ryou said after a long while.
The more petite of the two white-haired boys leaned back against the railing and loosely crossed his arms, head bowed, eyes gently closed. Half of him wanted dearly to take down his barriers and get to know Malik and the others more, but the other half of him disagreed completely.
'It'll be good to loosen up once in a while.'
'But that means risking more misery.'
'How much longer do you want to keep bathing yourself in darkness?'
'As long as it takes to heal.'
'Shutting everyone out isn't going to help you heal any faster.'
'I don't care. I don't trust people.'
With a sigh, Ryou put the mental war to rest by a slight shake of the head. His eyes eased open, and time lapsed into nothingness as he mutely stared at the cement gravel beneath his black sneakers. Silence reigned over the two before Ryou, suprisingly, broke it.
"How do you do it, Malik?"
The blonde blinked, "Do what?"
A blank expression, followed by a shake of negative affirmation. "Nothing. It's not important." His eyes closed once more.
"Oh...'kay." Malik frowned, ogling Ryou. The boy was breath-taking, to put it lightly. Fair-coloured hair cascaded down slim but strong shoulders, encasing a beautifully pale face with the most soulful and enchanting brown eyes Malik had ever seen. At that moment in time, Malik could have sworn he saw angel wings sprouting from the silky fabric of Ryou's shirt. The wings curled delicately around Ryou's slender form, shielding his face in a flurry of pure white feathers. Very slowly, the frown present on the boy's soft, pink lips dissapeared, replaced by a smile.
Malik reached out to touch the wings. His fingers had just began to carress the down of the feathers, when the fog clouding his mind cleared. Before his eyes, the wings melted and glittered their way up different paths of air into the sky above. Ryou's face became visible once again now that the vail of cottony feathers had vanished. To Malik's dissapointment, the smile, too, faded into non-existance, the frown reclaiming its' territory on Ryou's lips.
Shoulder tense, Ryou eyed Malik suspiciously. His left shoulder was drawn tight into his jaw bone, having flinched away from Malik's touch. Brown eyes hesitantly lowered the intensity of the glare being sent to the Egyptian as Ryou allowed his muscles to relax.
"What were you just doing?" Ryou asked, taking a step back.
"I..." stammered Malik, blinking the illusion away as he searched his mind for an answer. He was about to speak when a loud ringing echoed throughout the quad, basketball courts, classrooms, hallways, and cafeteria. Malik allowed his lips to slide shut. Shaking his head, he bent down to pick up his backpack from his brother's feet. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ryou begin walking towards his next class.
.
"Malik's in love!" Marik smirked as he leaned up to kiss Bakura. He and Bakura stood, straightening the fabric of their shirts with their free hands, as the other hands were intertwined. The elder of the two Ishtar brothers grinned at the younger, mischeif playing in dark violet orbs.
Malik glared, "You want the whole world to know?"
"As a matter of fact..."
"I shouldn't have asked."
Bakura, arm lazily slung around Marik's shoulders, shook his head with the same grin of mischeif in his eyes. "No, you shouldn't have, but you did. So, how do you plan on getting--"
"BAKURA!" Malik exclaimed, slapping a hand over Bakura's mouth. "Shht!"
He growled and pulled Malik's hand away. "I wasn't going to say something dirty, you pervert. I was /going/ to ask how you plan on getting him to trust you." Bakura arched a curious silver eyebrow.
"I don't know." Malik sighed. "It's like he doesn't want anything to do with anyone... Like he's almost afraid of people."
"Well then, Malik, you're just going to have to get rid of that fear." Stated Bakura, before an announcement came over the P.A. system that there were two minutes left until period five started, and the three dispersed to their different classes.
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1 - ^_^ Thanks to Yami for how much yen $1.50 is.
Bakura: I AM NOT A PERVERT, SHORI!!
Shori: ...right, and my name is Wisconsin.
Bakura: o_o But... it isn't?
Shori: -___-;; My point exactly.
Bakura: _ Demon.
Shori: ^___^;; Well, this sure took a while to get out. And to that reviewer who didn't like the review counter but voiced the dislike politely, I appreciate your not insulting me first chance you got. However, since the majority of reviews haven't said anything about it, the review counter will remain up for the time being. It is, on the other hand, lowered to 15. 20's a bit much I guess -__-;;.
Bakura: Shori... Do you tell people why you have a review counter?
Shori: Uhm... o.o Not.. yet?
Bakura: Baka. *Thwaps Shori* She always has this idea that her fics suck ass. And this is her way of gaining confidence in her writing.
Shori: Pretty much. Until next time, minna!
x Shori
Disclaimer: Bakura says: Shori (thankfully) does not own YGO or its' characters!
Pairings: Malik/Ryou, Bakura/Marik (shows up in this chapter). Other pairings will arrive later.
Warnings/Other: Yaoi, Yuri, angst, school-fic, completely ignores story line... Some OOC.
Summary: Ryou is a depressed yet caring loner who just wants some love. Malik is a popular, 'egotistical' honours student. Malik has a secret crush on Ryou, whose trust is literally impossible to gain. The rest is up to fate when they bump into eachother in the halls. YAOI, YURI.
-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-
There was nothing Malik Ishtar detested more than waiting in the obsessively long lunch-line. Well, actually, he wasn't too fond of his Health class, and he certianly didn't harbor any positive feelings towards Algebra II. He juggled the thought of which activity he hated more as he drummed his fingers against the styrofoam lunch tray he had selected. Malik decided that, in the end, nothing could outdo his hatred for Algebra II.
Finally, after waiting impatiently for one of the other students to select their lunch for the day, he payed the ¥166.650¹ required for lunch and began making his way towards the bungalos where he and his friends gathered every day. As he passed the covered eating area outside the cafeteria, passed the quad, and passed the basketball courts, he couldn't help but keep an eye out for a certian white-haired British boy.
Malik glanced around what he could see of the campus until he found who he was looking for. Ryou, clad in all black just like the day before, was sitting alone against one of the vending machines near the boy's gym. Hesitantly, he traipsed over to the brown-eyed beauty, balancing his lunch above a textbook.
.
"Hey Ryou," Malik started, "Why're ya sitting alone?"
Ryou barely looked up in response, having recognized Malik's voice automatically. "Because."
Somehow, this conversation seemed all too familiar to the blonde Egyptian. "Oh... Hey, why don't you come sit with me and my friends? One of 'em looks just like you."
A sigh, followed by a pause. "Alright..." replied the boy, tossing the rest of his unwanted fries in the trash. He lazily shoved his book that he had been reading into his backpack and stood, shifting his shoulders until the straps fit evenly on his back. "Where do you guys... 'hang out?'"
"Over there," Malik answered, pointing to a small group of about three people in the distance. "My brother's there too... He hangs out with us a lot."
"That's... good." Ryou hesitated before speaking the last word. After a lot of thinking the previous night, he decided that perhaps he shouldn't be so stone-cold to Malik. After all, the boy was only trying to be his friend, right? Besides, even if Malik's friendship turned out to be nothing but a fluke, that didn't really matter. Ryou had long since learned to deal with rejection. And Ryou did have to admit, Malik really didn't seem like a bad guy.
A smile lit the taller's face, "I'll bet you'll get along really well with Bakura, seeing as how you two could pass for twins."
Ryou's natural curiosity was spiked once more. "A twin? Interesting." He said as he and Malik rounded the corner of the Music Academy building.
.
Perched on the top stair in a set of stairs leading up to a bungalo was Ryou's 'twin.' With his slightly spikier white hair hanging down in his face, the twin had his arms slung around the shoulders of who Ryou guessed to be Marik, Malik's older brother. Marik was leaning back casually into the embrace, as if it was a pleasant nothing-new sort of experience. Ryou noticed with a slight blush that his look-a-like had his pale cheek nuzzled against Marik's darker cheek.
"Can you two quit the romance for a second?" Malik teased, dumping his backpack at Marik's feet. "And Bakura," the white-haired looked up curiously, arms still encircling Marik's shoulders. "I didn't know you were a twin?"
"The hell're you talking about, Malik? I'm not a twin. Only child, remember?" 'Bakura' said, eyeing Malik curiously.
Malik smirked and rolled his eyes, making Ryou blink at the sudden change of personality. "Yes, you are."
"No, I'm not. I told you that already."
"Stop being such a dumb-ass and look at who's standing next to me!" Malik finally exclaimed, slumping his shoulders.
Bakura looked at Malik skeptically before turning his gaze to Ryou. For a few seconds, he pinned Ryou with a curious but not necessarily nasty glare. He shrugged. "I'm still not a twin." He said to Malik. Bakura looked back at Ryou. "I've seen you around quite a bit."
Casting a wary glance at Malik, Ryou smiled faintly, but made no verbal response. Being around so many people made him slightly uneasy. Upon noticing that Malik was giving him the 'introduce yourself' look, he frowned slightly and took a breath to speak. "My name's Ryou."
"Cute kid." Marik said, quirking a teasing eye at Bakura, who sent a friendly glare back.
Malik groaned at his brother and Bakura. Turning his back to them and towards Ryou, he shrugged with a smile on his face. "Sorry about those two. They're always like that."
.
Ryou hardly responded as he found himself locked in Malik's gaze. He didn't like this one bit. Not only was he talking to one of the 'Forbidden People,' but he was starting to /trust/ this 'Forbidden Person.' Trust wasn't a good thing. It meant he had to put his fragile trust and even easier-to-break heart in someone else's hands, and that was not something Ryou liked doing. But, as he struggled with his inner demons, he found it impossible to break the warm, entrancing amethyst gaze of the other boy.
"It's fine." Ryou said after a long while.
The more petite of the two white-haired boys leaned back against the railing and loosely crossed his arms, head bowed, eyes gently closed. Half of him wanted dearly to take down his barriers and get to know Malik and the others more, but the other half of him disagreed completely.
'It'll be good to loosen up once in a while.'
'But that means risking more misery.'
'How much longer do you want to keep bathing yourself in darkness?'
'As long as it takes to heal.'
'Shutting everyone out isn't going to help you heal any faster.'
'I don't care. I don't trust people.'
With a sigh, Ryou put the mental war to rest by a slight shake of the head. His eyes eased open, and time lapsed into nothingness as he mutely stared at the cement gravel beneath his black sneakers. Silence reigned over the two before Ryou, suprisingly, broke it.
"How do you do it, Malik?"
The blonde blinked, "Do what?"
A blank expression, followed by a shake of negative affirmation. "Nothing. It's not important." His eyes closed once more.
"Oh...'kay." Malik frowned, ogling Ryou. The boy was breath-taking, to put it lightly. Fair-coloured hair cascaded down slim but strong shoulders, encasing a beautifully pale face with the most soulful and enchanting brown eyes Malik had ever seen. At that moment in time, Malik could have sworn he saw angel wings sprouting from the silky fabric of Ryou's shirt. The wings curled delicately around Ryou's slender form, shielding his face in a flurry of pure white feathers. Very slowly, the frown present on the boy's soft, pink lips dissapeared, replaced by a smile.
Malik reached out to touch the wings. His fingers had just began to carress the down of the feathers, when the fog clouding his mind cleared. Before his eyes, the wings melted and glittered their way up different paths of air into the sky above. Ryou's face became visible once again now that the vail of cottony feathers had vanished. To Malik's dissapointment, the smile, too, faded into non-existance, the frown reclaiming its' territory on Ryou's lips.
Shoulder tense, Ryou eyed Malik suspiciously. His left shoulder was drawn tight into his jaw bone, having flinched away from Malik's touch. Brown eyes hesitantly lowered the intensity of the glare being sent to the Egyptian as Ryou allowed his muscles to relax.
"What were you just doing?" Ryou asked, taking a step back.
"I..." stammered Malik, blinking the illusion away as he searched his mind for an answer. He was about to speak when a loud ringing echoed throughout the quad, basketball courts, classrooms, hallways, and cafeteria. Malik allowed his lips to slide shut. Shaking his head, he bent down to pick up his backpack from his brother's feet. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ryou begin walking towards his next class.
.
"Malik's in love!" Marik smirked as he leaned up to kiss Bakura. He and Bakura stood, straightening the fabric of their shirts with their free hands, as the other hands were intertwined. The elder of the two Ishtar brothers grinned at the younger, mischeif playing in dark violet orbs.
Malik glared, "You want the whole world to know?"
"As a matter of fact..."
"I shouldn't have asked."
Bakura, arm lazily slung around Marik's shoulders, shook his head with the same grin of mischeif in his eyes. "No, you shouldn't have, but you did. So, how do you plan on getting--"
"BAKURA!" Malik exclaimed, slapping a hand over Bakura's mouth. "Shht!"
He growled and pulled Malik's hand away. "I wasn't going to say something dirty, you pervert. I was /going/ to ask how you plan on getting him to trust you." Bakura arched a curious silver eyebrow.
"I don't know." Malik sighed. "It's like he doesn't want anything to do with anyone... Like he's almost afraid of people."
"Well then, Malik, you're just going to have to get rid of that fear." Stated Bakura, before an announcement came over the P.A. system that there were two minutes left until period five started, and the three dispersed to their different classes.
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1 - ^_^ Thanks to Yami for how much yen $1.50 is.
Bakura: I AM NOT A PERVERT, SHORI!!
Shori: ...right, and my name is Wisconsin.
Bakura: o_o But... it isn't?
Shori: -___-;; My point exactly.
Bakura: _ Demon.
Shori: ^___^;; Well, this sure took a while to get out. And to that reviewer who didn't like the review counter but voiced the dislike politely, I appreciate your not insulting me first chance you got. However, since the majority of reviews haven't said anything about it, the review counter will remain up for the time being. It is, on the other hand, lowered to 15. 20's a bit much I guess -__-;;.
Bakura: Shori... Do you tell people why you have a review counter?
Shori: Uhm... o.o Not.. yet?
Bakura: Baka. *Thwaps Shori* She always has this idea that her fics suck ass. And this is her way of gaining confidence in her writing.
Shori: Pretty much. Until next time, minna!
x Shori