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Warnings: Major Yami-angst coming up...and Bakura OCCness
I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh!
Walk With Me
Chapter II
Punishment
A true friend is someone who's always there. It's a precious thing that some people could not knowingly go through their entire life without. Those who find one are lucky indeed.
"Hey!" Bakura yelled. "What do you think you're doing?! Leave him alone!"
Ijuni smirked, knowing he had struck a nerve. Bakura was very protective of the things he considered as "under his protection." Yami was on that list.
The trapped teen struggled slightly, but stopped as he was slammed into the wall again. This time, he let himself go limp, his breaths coming in short, ragged pants.
"Let him go!" Bakura roared, lunging forward.
He skidded to a stop, however, when the man pulled out a knife and pointed it at Yami. "Stay where you are, 'Kura-chan, or your kid brother gets it."
Bakura froze.
Ijuni smirked. "You dare disobey me? You dare smart mouth and insult me? To me, you are all one. One obnoxious little annoyance. If anyone of you irritates me, one member of your little group is going to pay the price. Poor little Yami here just happened to be unlucky enough to be picked today."
"Bastard! You're just picking on him because you know you have it won!" Marik yelled.
"Yeah, coward! Why don't you go pick on someone your own size?!" Malik scowled, backing his foster-brother up.
Ijuni snarled and plunged his knife into Yami's shoulder. The boy jerked. Ijuni yanked the knife back out.
Bakura had made a noise when Yami had been stabbed. He was now sending the man a glare that promised revenge.
"Anyone have anything else to say?" Ijuni asked, looking at the group with narrowed blue eyes. "No? Why, what're these looks supposed to mean? You don't like what's going on?" the man smirked, and drove the knife forward again. This time, it left a deep gash across the wounded teen's chest.
"Punishment for having rebellious thoughts." Ijuni whispered. He looked again at the group of boys. Everyone was glaring at him with pure hatred. Except Ryou. The young teen was looking away, trying to keep tears from spilling out of his eyes.
"'Kura-chan, I'm not sure I like the look I'm getting from you. In fact, I don't like any of the messages your eyes are sending me." The man scowled.
The blade flashed several times. When it halted, it left a bloody teen starting to be bathed in his own blood.
"Any of you have anything else to say?" The armed man sneered, turning once more towards his young charges. The boys were now swallowing their prides and avoiding eye contact.
"Good." Ijuni grinned. "Oh, and," he plunged the knife deep into Yami's other shoulder, and again, yanked it out. "That was to sum it all up." The man grinned manically. "Clean this mess up. I don't want any blood stains." He dropped Yami, who crumpled to the floor, blood immediately starting to pool around him. Ijuni glanced at the bloody teen, shrugged, and gave his already wounded shoulder a good kick. Then grabbed his coat and walked out the door.
The moment he was gone, Bakura darted forward. "Yami." He whispered, picking the younger boy up. "Hey, c'mon, wake up."
Yami didn't respond; he had fallen unconscious.
"I'll go get the first aid kit." Joey said, hurrying off.
"He is gonna die?" Ryou asked in a scared voice, coming to stand behind Bakura.
"No! Don't be silly!" Marik scowled. "He'll be fine." But Malik, who was next to him, heard him mutter softly to himself, "I hope."
"Here, get him on the blanket. The f---er will have our heads if this place gets any more messed up." Joey said, returning with a box under his arm and a blanket in his hand. "Marik, Malik, could you start cleaning up?" The two nodded, and left to get supplies.
Bakura gently laid the boy on the blanket. Ryou knelt down beside him, and, together, the three began bandaging their friend.
The next morning, Ryou woke up squished in his bed. This wasn't surprising, as they had to accommodate for an extra person. They had agreed it was for the best to let Yami have a bed to himself.
The white-haired teen sighed, and sat up, glancing over at the other bed. He smiled when he saw Bakura sitting by Yami's side, propped up against the wall, and fast asleep.
He must have sat there until he finally dozed off. Ryou thought. Sighing, he got out of bed, careful not to wake his companions, who were all still sleeping peacefully, and walked over to Yami. Sitting down in a beat-up old chair that had been place by bed, Ryou took a cloth that was next to the pillow and started to wipe the teen's sweat-drenched face.
"We should get him to a doctor."
Ryou jumped, and looked up. Bakura was looking not at him, but at the unconscious boy between them.
Ryou sighed, settling back down. "We can't. That kind of thing cost money. And besides, Ijuni would never–"
He was cut off as Yami made a small whimpered, and shifted. The movement must have hurt, however, because his eyes suddenly flew open and he gave a small yelp.
"Shh, Yami-chan, stop moving." Ryou said soothingly. "I'm sorry, did I wake you?" the teen talked in a soft, calm voice, gently stroking his foster-brother's hair.
The younger boy let out a slight whimper, clearly letting the others know how much his wounds were hurting him. He was usually very good at keeping his emotions to himself. Although he was smaller than the rest, he could endure the most pain without emotion.
There was a knock on the door. It opened, and a head poked in, looking around. "Hello. Why aren't you all up?"
"Ms. Mari? Why're you here?" Marik muttered sleepily, blinking at the woman – their personal tutor provided by the government.
Ms. Mari smiled. "It's Monday, Marik. School." She came in, and dragged the covers off the slumbering forms. "Up, now."
The boys all groaned. Joey literally rolled out of bed, and hit the floor with a thump. Malik, not watching where he was going, accidentally stepped on the blonde, and ended up tripping himself.
Ms Mari shook her head with a smile, used to the antics by now, and looked over at the three on the other bed. Seeing Yami's pained expression, she frowned and came over to them.
"What's wrong?" she asked, kneeling down and putting her hand on Yami's forehead. "Are you sick?" The covers prevented her from seeing the bandages wrapped around the boy's chest.
Fear flickered through the Yami's glazed eyes, and he tried to back up, which wasn't a good idea. He let out a cry as pain shot through him in waves.
Ms. Mari's frown grew deeper, and she stood up. Ryou was now busy trying to calm the smaller boy down.
"What's going on? Bakura?" She looked down at the teen, locked gazes with her, stubbornly refusing to talk.
"Bakura, have you been up all night?" Marik asked, coming over. Joey and Malik were still tangled up on the floor.
"Mostly." The with-haired teen grunted.
"Marik! Tell me what's going on!" Ms. Mari said, her voice raising.
Marik raised an eyebrow. "Well, Teacher, I'd love to – if I didn't know that it'd bring more trouble for us."
Ms. Mari paled. "Oh no…did he…?"
Ryou winced. Silently, he pried the pitifully thin blanket from Yami's hands and pulled it away to let the woman see the boy's chest. They were not allowed to speak of the abuse to any authority figure – Ijuni had made that clear the first day they had met – but the man hadn't said anything about showing and implying of abuse.
Bakura sighed at the sight of the bandages. "I changed them during the night, but it looks like I'll need to do it again…"
"Aw, damn." Joey muttered, coming up behind them. Apparently, he and Malik had been able to sort themselves out. "He's gone too far this time."
"This time? It's happened before?" Ms. Mari gasped. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"For a couple of reasons, the most obvious being that you never asked. The second being that we don't want to get killed." Malik said dryly.
"I'm reporting this to the police." The woman said quietly, fuming. "This is sick. We need to get him to a hospital –"
"Mari-san, don't. Ijuni's the type to hunt things down. We get him jailed, he's either gonna be let out or break out. And he's gonna hunt us down. He's got friends, too, who'll be too willing to do what he can't. You do know he's connected with the head of the most powerful gang leader in this country?" Marik sighed, clearly not liking what he himself was saying.
"What?!" the teacher stared at him. "That's a lie! The government-"
"The government obviously doesn't know. He's only in this for the money-"
"That's just sick."
Everybody snapped their heads towards the door. Yami, however, started shivering, probably due to cold and fear. His senses were always hyped up after a beating.
"What're you guys doing here?" Joey yelped. At the door stood none other than Yugi and Seto.
"We have a day off, and I convinced him to drive us here." Yugi explained. His normally friendly violet eyes were aflame with anger. "And we heard enough to know what was going on."
"We really should get him to a hospital." Seto said, concerned eyes looking over at Yami. "And for goodness' sake, put that blanket back on. He's going to catch hypothermia. It's not exactly warm out today. In fact, it's snowing."
Ryou hurriedly complied. Joey got the blanket from the other bed and tucked it around the boy's lean frame, being careful not to hurt him any further.
"We have to do something about this!" Yugi growled. "It's not right."
"It may not be right, be there's nothing we can do about that. I thought you listening? Besides, the damned government is desperate for any man who's willing to take a couple street kids into their home. There're only so many good-hearted, willing people out there, and too many homeless and neglected cases." Marik shook his head. "They'll probably tell you this is 'disciplining.' Which, by the way, the guardian is allowed to do."
"This is 'discipline'?!" Yugi squeaked.
"You haven't been out in the world much, have you?" Bakura rolled his eyes.
"Ms. Mari, do something!" the short teen cried, turning to the only adult.
"I'm afraid they're right." She replied tiredly. "There's really nothing we can do that won't put them in even more danger."
Joey sighed, and left the room. Yugi turned to look at Seto. "Something's gotta be done! Seto, isn't there anything you can do?" he pleaded.
"I'm the CEO of a gaming company, Yugi. What the heck do you think I could do?"
"Can't you use you influences on the government, or something?"
"Are you really that powerful, Kaiba?" Joey asked, returning with a box tucked under his arm, which he gave to Bakura, who accepted it a nod. He lifted Yami's head onto his lap as gently as he could, removed the blankets from the boy's chest, and started to undo the bandages on his left shoulder.
"I can get almost anything I want from the gaming and public relations department, but I'm not all that connected to the departments you're wanting me to deal with." Seto replied, shaking his head.
"Ouch." Yugi winced, seeing Yami's wound. Even after all this time, it was still bleeding. The boy let out a moan, shutting his eyes tightly, clenching his hands around his blanket.
"That'll need stitching." Seto stated.
"Do you know how?" Ryou asked, looking up hopefully.
The CEO shook his head. "No. Sorry."
"There really isn't anything we can do?" Yugi asked, close to tears.
"No. Yugi, if we could've done anything, we'd have done it ages ago." Ryou sighed, his hand moving to cover Yami's. He gently took the teen's clenched hand into his own, offering comfort the only way he could.
"You think we want this to happen?" Marik asked harshly.
"N-no, I just-"
"Look, he hits the rest of us, too." Malik growled. "It's not just Yami, although he seems to get the worst of it. Trust me; we would report this if we could."
"Don't move, Yami, you're just going to hurt yourself more." Bakura murmured quietly. Yami had started to struggle, but now forced himself to lie still.
Yugi sighed. "How long have you guys known each other?" He asked after a moment's silence.
"Years." Joey answered. "Me n' Ryou, we knew each other from school. We were bought in to foster care together, after one of our teachers found out about our parents. 'Kura, Marik, and Malik knew each other on the streets together, and were bought in together. The five of us got placed in the same home right off. Ryou was the youngest one, he was six. Malik's the oldest, if only by two months. He was nine. We spent a total of two years at that first home. It was the one and only one we've been to that actually cared. Yami joined us there, a year after we moved in."
"You've all been together since?" Seto raised his eyebrows. "Isn't that rare?"
"Very. But we won't let them split us up. We can all be very difficult when we want to be. Even Ryou, believe it or not." Marik grinned. "This is the only family we've ever known."
"They tried. Remember that first time?" Malik chuckled at the memory. "They had to take you kicking and screaming." He nudged Marik in the ribs.
"Kicking, screaming, hitting, biting, and yelling out every single inappropriate word he knew five times through. And believe me, he knew a lot, even at that age." Ryou shook his head, cracking a small grin.
Seto and Yugi both sweatdropped.
"But how did you manage to convince them to let you stay together?" Seto asked.
"They took Ryou and Bakura next." Joey said. "That's when things really went haywire. Malik started going crazy –"
"So did you!"
"Right, me too. We wrecked the house. Kira – she was the one who owned our foster home back then – had to lock us in a room until we got too tired to even stand. It was bad. I remember how angry I was."
"Angry? I was enraged!" Malik hissed.
"You don't even want to know what I did to the place they took me. Ryou gave them one hell of a time, too. He wouldn't stop crying, wouldn't eat, and refused to let me out of his sight." Bakura smirked. "Bet they learned their lesson. They give us a family, and then they tear it apart. Sure, we're just gonna stand by and let them do it. Not!"
Marik smiled a slightly insane smile. "I gave that officer permanent scars. I also trashed his office, and locked him in the bathroom. All in the first hour I got there."
"And Yami…boy he made Kira shed tears, and she's tough! You remember that, buddy?" Joey asked the boy on the bed. Yami managed a small smile. "He didn't even do anything physical, which made it more amazing to me. He just sat in a little corner, watching the door, and refusing to do anything. And I mean anything. He wouldn't respond to words, wouldn't eat, wouldn't drink, and wouldn't leave to go to bed. Heck, I don't even think he left to go to the bathroom…though, he probably did it when we weren't looking."
"Kira went nuts, didn't she?" Malik grinned fondly at the memory.
"Aww, I kinda felt bad for her. It wasn't really her fault." Joey brushed his bangs away from his eyes. "But yeah, she freaked. I mean, with us, at least we ate. We were trashing the place, but still…Yami was literally killing himself."
"What happened after?" Yugi asked, fascinated.
"She made a desperate call to the social workers, saying we weren't taking the separation to well." Malik responded. "And found out that those three weren't exactly being cooperative. So they instantly agreed to let them come back and figure out what to do with the lot of us."
"I was in my room, bouncing off the walls. Everything that could possible be broken had been destroyed." Joey commented. "And suddenly, I hear, ''Kura! Ryou! You're back!' That was the first time Yami had spoken in two, almost three days. Boy he was happy. I don't think he let those two leave his sight for days afterward. And then Marik came back and we were all happy again. For the time being."
"You're a close-knit family." Seto observed.
"Yeah. Those idiot social workers didn't dare pull that stunt again. Another day and Yami'd have died of dehydration."
"There. All done. Get some sleep, Yami." Bakura smiled at the boy, showing affection that was very rare from him. He got off the bed, and almost fell down. "Damn. My legs are asleep."
Yugi and Seto went home soon afterwards, knowing there was nothing else they could do. Ms Mari stayed for a while, before leaving at her usual time, saying she'd be back tomorrow.
Yami slept most of the day. He had to be helped up a couple of times to use the bathroom, which was a very painful experience. He ate only a few small bits the whole day, and only because he had been begged to.
The next few days passes similarly. The healing process was slow and painful, but Yami did his best to take it in stride.
Ijuni hadn't taken a shot at any of them since their "punishment," which was a relief. But all good things must come to an end. One evening, when Ijuni was in the living room, watching TV and drinking beer, and the boy were upstairs, the front door burst open.
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