Disclaimer: Yu-Gi-Oh! belongs to Kazuki Takahashi.
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#6: The Lovers

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They were nearly out of the area that could be called downtown and into the warehouse district when Honda said "There."

Ryou looked in the direction that he had nodded and saw two people heading down the street: a younger woman in motorcycle boots and a fishnet shirt pulled over a black tanktop, and a man in jeans and a rumpled sports jacket.

"Who are they?" Ryou asked.

Honda gave him a look. "I wouldn't point them out if I knew them," he replied. "You should know what they are."

Ryou closed his eyes and said nothing. When he opened them a moment later, something in his expression was hollow. "What do we do?" he asked dully.

"What the hell do you think? Get them out of the open."

"How?"

Honda eyed the couple. "There's hardly anyone around . . . we might as well just wait for them to walk past an alley and then shove them in." He slid his backpack off his shoulders and shrugged off his jacket as well, before stuffing it in the bag. At an impatient glance, Ryou did the same. Once he had the coat tucked into his case, Honda began walking slowly towards the two. Ryou followed.

"You go for the woman -- she's closer to your height," Honda said. "And don't forget to cover her mouth."

The teenager glanced down at Ryou's hands with that, noticed they were shaking, and snorted derisively before turning back to the couple.

They only had to trail the two for a quarter of a block until the couple began to pass by the mouth of an alley.

"Now," Honda said, and he suddenly sprinted ahead. Ryou followed a second later.

As he began moving, he realized that he was much faster than he'd been before. He reached the woman almost as soon as he'd started running.

Honda had already caught the man and shoved him into the alley. The woman was staring in shock, and had just opened her mouth when Ryou clamped his hand over it and pulled her into the area as well.

The woman stared at him with dark, pretty eyes that were just beginning to register fear, when Ryou heard a wet crack behind him. The woman's gaze shifted to look over his shoulder, and then her eyes widened. She abruptly sank to her knees, mumbling something against Ryou's palm. Ryou turned, keeping his hand clasped over her mouth, and saw that Honda had broken the man's neck.

He stared in horrified amazement, absently dropping his case. "Honda-kun . . . why. . . ?" Ryou trailed off and stared at Honda's eyes, his hand loosening.

"Don't say I never did anything for you," the brunet replied, shoving the body at him.

Ryou caught the man awkwardly, stumbling back and sinking to the concrete under the sudden weight.

Beside him, the woman opened her mouth to scream, but Honda darted forward and clamped a hand over it, causing the shriek for help to be reduced to a strangled noise. Honda used his momentum to shove her back and to the side, until he'd slammed her against the wall. Then the brunet grabbed her shoulder and, holding her in place, twisted her neck up and to the left. He buried his face in the skin, and Ryou couldn't see what happened after that.

He could hear the woman's next strangled scream, though, and see the tears of pain that began to drip past her tightly shut eyes and down her cheeks.

When she opened her eyes and gave him a desperate, begging look, Ryou shuddered violently and looked down at the body slumped across his lap.

He was so hungry. . . .

There was another choked whimper from the woman, but Ryou couldn't force himself to look up. Instead, he began to pull the man's jacket collar away from his neck, moving almost mechanically.

As he stared at the man's throat, Ryou realized just how hard it would be to get any blood from there. Honda had mentioned fangs. . . . The teenager ran his tongue over his canines, and they didn't feel any sharper than they had when he was still human. He was so hungry -- now how was he supposed to eat?

And it was going to get cold soon . . . and congeal. . . .

Ryou stared at the corpse for another moment, only half-hearing the woman's quieting cries, before reaching down and picking up the arm.

He pushed the cuffs of the man's sports jacket and shirt halfway up to his elbow, and brought the wrist to his mouth. Ryou hesitated a second longer, and then bit down as hard as he could.

The skin broke, but not enough -- Ryou wound up having to worry it, like a dog with a bone. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he thought about bringing a knife next time to make things easier.

Finally, though, he'd scraped away enough flesh to let a decent amount of blood spill into his mouth; and after that he began sucking as forcefully as he could, not caring about the almost obscene slurping sounds he was making because as soon as those first drops had trickled down his throat his stomach finally felt like it was going to stop trying to eat itself from the inside out. . . .

When the amount of blood dripping out of the man's wrist wasn't enough, Ryou began shredding the skin further up his arm even as he continued drinking. He was still ravenous. . . . It's not coming fast enough. . . .

A hand suddenly wrenched the arm out of his grasp. Ryou growled without realizing it and tried to grab it back, but Honda used the arm to drag the man off his lap and tossed the corpse slightly down the alley.

"You look like a rabid animal," the brunet said, staring down at him.

Ryou gazed up at him in confusion and said the only thing that mattered at the moment. "But I'm hungry. . . ."

The muscles of Honda's shoulders jerked once, involuntarily, before he dropped the woman into Ryou's lap. "There," the teenager said, looking away towards the opening of the alley, "have the rest. I don't need it."

Ryou buried his mouth in her neck, slurping up the blood still running from the wound that had already been made.

He continued drinking until it was impossible to pull any more up; and then he licked away the half-dried blood around the gash in the woman's skin before dropping her body and sucking the dribbles of blood off his fingers and hand. When he was done, he closed his eyes and leaned back against the metal wall of the alley, his breathing the slow and slightly labored kind of a person who'd just eaten a full course meal.

Ryou swallowed several more times until it was obvious that he'd gotten all the remaining traces of blood. Then he stretched slightly and let his eyes drift open.

Honda had left the alley, and Ryou had no idea if it had been a few seconds ago or right after he'd given him the woman. He hadn't heard him leave. The teenager stared at the exit for a few more moments, before letting his head roll back to the front. His gaze focused on the young woman still slumped over his legs, and the man lying face down a couple feet away.

Ryou swallowed again. His breathing, labored already, became a little more strained.

A moment later Ryou brought his legs up to his chest, kicking the woman's corpse away from him. She rolled partially down the concrete and wound up lying on her back, staring blankly at the sky. Ryou stared at the two bodies, and then he buried his face in his arms.

Half-nauseous and trembling uncontrollably, he sank into his consciousness and reached out for the other person in his mind.

(What do you want?) Bakura demanded, irritated at the sudden intrusion.

Please take over and get me home.

(What?)

Ryou felt the thief push forward enough to read what had happened recently in his memories, and when he heard Bakura's snicker his fingers twitched.

(Don't be so gutless,) Bakura said. (Put on your coat to hide the bloodstains and walk yourself home, landlord.)

Ryou kept his head buried in his arms as he spoke. Please. I've never asked anything from you before. Please.

Bakura didn't reply for several minutes. Ryou didn't move.

(Consider this the month's rent,) Bakura finally said, and Ryou could feel the Ring heat up a second before he was tugged out of control of his body. Instead of expending the energy to wake up in his soul room as he usually did, he let himself fall into unconsciousness.