A/N: Sorry if I seemed to take a long time to update, but sent me a lovely little e-mail saying that my uploading abilities were being taken away for a while. I'm not sure for how long, but I know that it's working now! But anyways… After many death threats, various pointy objects, a Latin book, and a leg of ham being thrown at me, I finally get to some sappy stuff! I told ya'll I'd make it better, didn't I? So now, on to the chapter!

The Love of an Angel

Chapter 8

"You, there! Stop right where you are!"

The quick shadow being spoken to either didn't hear or chose not to, and continued to run down the long corridor towards the narrow stone stairs that led out of the dungeon into the courtyard. Several of the guards were in pursuit; or, the only ones that hadn't put away more than two bottles of their favorite liquor so far that evening.

Several other guards lay unconscious on the ground in the hallway behind them, and would wake up the next morning with severe headaches. Bakura had wanted to make a more stealthy escape after picking the lock of his cell door, but there wasn't exactly much room deep in the dungeon and he hadn't been able to hide fast enough as a small troop of guards had come around the corner suddenly.

The demon finally reached the stairs, and dashed up them as quickly as he could. As soon as the night sky and the light of torches outside met his vision, he spread his wings and shot upward off the ground and into the sky. The shouts from below faded away behind him, the inebriated guards not nearly as fast as the elusive thief.

Bakura took off towards the high, elaborate towers where the Demon Lord, his officials, and his son resided. He weaved in between them, stopping only for bare seconds to peek into windows, looking for his angel. Eventually, he came to one of the highest towers in the small group that looked down upon the capital city, the window glass glistening with candlelight. As he looked inside, all the blood drained from his face. Then, it began to boil inside of him.

Some other bastard of a demon was on top of his Ryou, touching him, caressing him… his Ryou… Bakura saw the strange demon's hands begin to move down the angel's body, and Bakura knew only rage for the next few minutes.

The sound of glass shattering echoed through the vast room, causing the demon's head to snap up and stare with glazed, bloodshot eyes at the furious demon that now stood amongst the broken glass that had once been the window. A vicious snarl was on his face, his blood red eyes dark and stormy.

Grabbing the closest thing to a weapon that he could find, which was one of the larger shards of glass at his feet, Bakura strode forward menacingly. The drunken demon didn't have any time to react, whether he was capable of doing so or not, and suddenly found himself pinned down on the floor on the other side of the bed. The glass shard was suddenly half-embedded in his upper chest, and Bakura drew it very slowly down the demon's torso. Bright blood stained the floor, and the demon's scream filled the room.

Bakura abruptly flipped the man over, not withdrawing the glass shard, and there was a harsh cracking sound suddenly masked by a scream as both of the demon's wings were broken. Bakura grabbed the demon by the scruff of the neck, dragged him over to the window, and promptly tossed him out into the cloudy night air.

The thief stared at the shattered window for a moment, then turned back around to the bed, and all of the anger melted away as if it had never even existed. He rushed over to the angel's side, his eyes their original garnet color once again with a new, gentle softness to them.

"Ryou…" he gently pulled the gag out of the angel's mouth, and the first thing he heard was a soft, "Bakura…" in that sweet, beautiful voice. The angel's face was covered in tears, though he was trying to smile at the demon through them. Bakura managed a small half-smile, trying to comfort the angel, then reached over and tore the ropes right off of Ryou's wrists. As soon as his hands were free, Ryou threw his arms around the demon and began to sob into his chest.

Bakura hugged back tightly, burying his face in Ryou's soft silvery hair. He pressed his lips to Ryou's forehead, and whispered soft words of comfort to the angel as he rocked him gently in his arms. Ryou's sobs eventually quieted, and the only sound in the room was the wind whistling through the shattered window. Slowly, the demon reached for the ropes that bound the angel's wings together.

The angel had to bite down hard on his lip to keep from crying out at the contact. As soon as his wings were free, he slowly extended them, gripping Bakura's arms tightly as he moved his broken wing. Ryou took a deep breath, let it out, and gradually his grip on Bakura loosened and the angel relaxed.

"Are you all right?" Bakura asked him. Ryou nodded, letting Bakura help him to his feet. "Where are we going to go?" Ryou asked.

Stopping for a moment, the demon frowned. He hadn't thought about that part. Just then, there were loud, quick footsteps outside of the room. Bakura barely had time to think, and simply pushed Ryou behind him and grabbed another of the glass shards. He hissed sharply as his shoulder protested, then tried to focus as the curtains in the doorway were thrown open.

Another demon stood there, with bronzed skin and wild golden hair that spiked out in all directions. The strange demon stared at Bakura and Ryou, and the two stared back at him. The strange demon blinked once, then asked, "Who the bloody hell are you?"

Bakura just glared, but secretly was wondering who this other demon was. Then, a voice from outside of the room called, "What was it, Mariku?" Yet another demon, one that looked rather like the first except that his build was more delicate and his hair was slightly tamer, walked into the room wearing only a sheet wrapped around himself.

The thief was now thoroughly confused. The demon that had just walked in, his aura was very similar to the cloaked demon that had captured them. Why was the tracker here in the palace with this Mariku? He frowned. And why did that name sound so familiar?

His eyes widened suddenly as he realized why, and then suddenly blurted out, "You're the Demon Prince!" pointing the glass shard that was still in his hand at the spiky-haired demon.

Mariku stared back for a moment, glanced at the broken piece of glass in Bakura's hand, then nodded. "Yes, I am. The last time I checked, anyways. And you are?"

Bakura didn't even hear the question. If this was the Demon Lord's son, then who was the bastard that he had sent flying out of the window three minutes ago? Behind him, Ryou was glancing from the two bronze-skinned demons to Bakura with wide eyes.

"Would you please tell me what's going on?" Mariku asked crossly.

"Mariku…" the bounty hunter said, walking up to the Demon Prince, "… do you remember what I told you about how I snuck in here? The angel that I had to get back in order to get into the palace?"

It took Mariku a moment, then he said, "But I thought that was supposed to be for my birthday. That's tomorrow."

"Technically, love, it already is tomorrow."

Mariku scratched his head. "Well, whatever. I don't understand why Father got me an angel, anyways. He couldn't even keep it a secret from me. Very poor planning." He looked over at Ryou, "No offense to you, but angels aren't really my thing. I much prefer my Malik here."

Bakura was still confused. "Wait a second… if you're the Demon Lord's son… then who…" He glanced over at the shattered window. Mariku blinked, and suddenly noticed the broken glass. "Ah, that must've been one of the servants; Yopparai, most likely. I heard he was supposed to guard the angel until Father gave me my "birthday surprise". He was a useless drunk; no great loss. I suppose I'll have to thank you for ridding me of him."

From behind Bakura, Ryou gathered up the courage to speak, "So, if you're happy with, um, Malik, then can we please leave?" Mariku put his arm around Malik, looked at the angel for a moment, and then said, "Sure. I certainly don't mind, and you two seem like you would be happy together."

Ryou blushed at the statement, and Bakura silently let out a breath that he had been holding. He hated to admit it, but his opinion of the Demon Lord's son had been bettered ten-fold already that evening. Mariku really wasn't what he had expected; his original picture had been a weak little princeling that squealed to his father, but thankfully that wasn't the case. He could just almost forgive that bounty hunter for what he had done, too… But, as long as Ryou was safe, it really didn't matter.

"You might need these first…" Malik said as he opened a closet in a corner of the room and tossed some clothes to Ryou. Ryou blushed an even deeper red.

"I'd be careful, though," Malik said as Bakura helped the angel dress himself. "His majesty might not care about the angel anymore, but he'll certainly want to go after the thief. We can try to throw him off the trail, if that'll help any." He grinned wryly, adding, "It might make up for what I did earlier. It was nothing personal." Malik stepped closer to the Demon Prince, resting his head on his lover's shoulder. "Mariku's father doesn't like me very much; it takes some work to get into this place for very long anymore."

Picking Ryou up, Bakura nodded to them. "Thank you," he said quietly, then darted out the window, holding the angel securely in his embrace.

The wind felt so good on his face… Ryou closed his eyes, letting the sound of the night breeze whistle past his ears. Just being up in the sky was like he had been woken up just now, refreshed and energized. He opened his eyes, gazing down at the trees that now passed underneath them. Great gods above, how he had missed flying… Leaning closer to Bakura's chest, he felt a smile creep onto his face.

The demon's black wings beat the air in a steady rhythm as he flew across the night, and Ryou suddenly found himself very tired. The cool wind was so soothing, and the sound of Bakura's wings and his breathing right next to him made his eyelids feel heavy. The demon looked down at the angel in his arms momentarily to see that Ryou had fallen asleep with a small smile on his face.

Bakura found a rather confusing mix of relief, sadness, bitterness, and joy swirling around in his mind as he gazed at the never-ending, ever-approaching horizon. Relief that Ryou was all right, sadness that Ryou had still had to suffer because of his own carelessness, bitterness that he had been stupid enough to be so careless, and joy because the angel was now in his arms once again.

He shook his head, silvery white hair bouncing along with the movement. He'd figure it out later when Ryou woke up, and when they were hopefully somewhere safe. The guards would figure out where they had gone soon enough, and both he and Ryou were injured. Would the caves be safe? He couldn't be sure…

"Bakura?" Ryou asked sleepily, his eyes still closed.

The demon blinked at the angel in surprise, thinking that Ryou had been asleep. "Yes?" he replied.

"Can we go to… Earth?"

Bakura frowned. Earth? That was the human realm, wasn't it? Was it even possible to get there? Well, if Ryou wanted to…

"I suppose… But do you know how to get there? As far as I know, it's rather impossible."

Ryou was silent for a moment, then murmured, "I heard a story a while ago, in the White Lands, about this angel who went to Earth because he loved a human. He went to the edge of the lands, where the mists are, and he jumped and went to Earth."

The demon listened carefully. The guards wouldn't dare follow them into the mists… His thoughts broke off as Ryou continued, "We could go to the edge of the lands; they wouldn't be able to find us on Earth. We wouldn't have to worry anymore…"

Bakura seemed troubled for a moment. "Are you sure? I could try to take you back to your home eventually…"

Ryou shook his head, and opened his soft green eyes to look up at Bakura. "They'd find us there again; they won't follow us to Earth. It would be nice to go back home, but it doesn't matter all that much. I just want to be with you…" Slowly, Ryou's eyelids fell closed again and his voice trailed off, replaced by slow, even breathing.

While he had been talking, the demon had changed his direction of flight, and now headed towards the unknown borders of the Black Lands.

A/N: Finally! That one took a lot of beating my head against a brick wall… I wasn't sure what was going to happen in this chapter until I actually wrote it, but here it is! By the way, the name for the random demon, Yopparai, means drunkard in Japanese. I thought it suited him… I hope everyone's happier with this chapter than they were with the last one. Please review!