Innocence?

Mystical Knight Dragon: I'm so sorry I haven't updated in so long!!!! I had to squash my former plot because it was terrible, and now I've had to start from scratch. Please don't kill me.

Marikay: She has her Faceless (Godsmack) CD all the way up, so her mind's not entirely focused right now. She can hardly spell this little sentence correctly.

Mystical Knight Dragon: Shut up... Anyways, I'd just like to thank my oh-so- wonderful reviewers! Carmen5 (I really am trying to update quickly, but he -- *points at Juan* -- just dumped my sister, so I'm trying to cheer her up in any way possible. The depression's all here, but the time isn't.), Bakuras-Hell (The problem is, I don't know if Bakura's going to *stay* out... *shifty eyes* Actually, he probably is because I wuv him! ^__^ ...Then again, that's usually *why* I torture people...), Maria Christina (Once I catch up on my homework (Darn those advanced classes!) I'll be updating sooner. I hope...), Fuzzle-sama and R.O.M. (Yea! *huggles R.O.M. and eats marshmallows* And I'm trying to stick R.O.M. in here... The only problem is I don't want them to get hurt, which is more than likely what's going to happen... *pout*), DemonSurfer (MKD: *eats chocolate chip cookie and attaches muzzle to Marikay*; Marikay: Mffhhmmhhff!!!; MKD: I'm sorry... Did you say something? *evil grin* MUAHAHA!!!!), and Lightening Sage (Honestly, I can't answer you questions even if I didn't mind letting everyone know what's going to happen. My plot has changed so much throughout the course of this story that I don't know *what's* happening anymore... -_-')!!!!!!!! You guys are awesome!!!!

Marikay: Her CD is scaring me. On the song "Releasing the Demons", it says "What do you see when you're in the dark, and the demons come for you?", and MKD keeps laughing every time she hears it...

Mystical Knight Dragon: What? I like demons! Anyways, presenting:

Chapter 12: Lurching Movements a.k.a. The Boat of DOOM!

~*~Ryou's POV~*~

"Why are you doing this?" Kaiba yelled. I looked over at him, only to see his eyes filled with tears. It took all of my will power not to look over at Mokuba, who was sitting on the cement ground, crying harder than I had ever seen anyone cry in my life. A man with big bulging muscles and dark, brown hair jerked him to his feet seemingly ripping the arm from the poor boy's socket.

I looked around once more to see if there was any way to escape. There wasn't. Men were surrounding us on all sides. Like there would be anyway. There never is, and there probably never will be. Even if I did find a way to escape, how the hell am I supposed to inform the Kaiba brothers of my plan without anyone else knowing what I'm doing? Might as well just shout out, "Hey Kaiba! On the count of three, let's punch that guy's lights out that's on our left and run away from these creeps!" Yeah, that'll go over real well.

//Ryou! Where are you? I'm coming to get you!//

I sighed. He never gave up, did he? /I told you I can't talk right now,/ I said quickly. /I'll tell you later./

I felt cold steel once more press into the back of my head. "I hope you know that this whole fainting trick is getting old," said an all too familiar voice in my ear. "Next time you pull that trick, I swear I'll cut your throat..."

"Just cut it now, and our worries will be over," said a man who was walking in front of Ryou. "He's worthless to us, anyway. We can at least hold the Kaiba's for ransom or something..."

"Yeah," said another man, shoving Kaiba in the back to make him walk faster. "What *is* the point of keeping the albino, Danny [1]?"

The man I suppose was Danny stopped and glared at everyone else. "*We* might not need him," Danny sneered, "but we might get a raise for turning him in to the boss."

The man behind me snorted. "It won't be a very big one!"

"Just you wait," glared Danny. "One of these days all our problems will be over. Then we can get out of this hell hole of a country that we've landed ourselves in."

I took another look around me, reminding myself once more that this could be the last look at anything that I would get in a long time. Buildings lined both sides of the small, but busy, dirt road that we were walking on. Merchants were trying to sell random objects that they had found over the course of the week to the passersby. More than once, I saw someone steal something from someone else and try to sell it back to them at a higher price than it could ever be worth.

"I still don't understand this," said the man behind me. "If we don't really need this guy except for for a few extra bucks, why don't we just ditch him? He doesn't even know anything!"

"He knows what we look like," Danny snapped. "And if you want to keep your head, I suggest that you just shut up."

Silence fell over the group, and not another word was spoken until they reached a dock bustling with people going to and from the large ships that lined the body of water they were looking at.

A short little man wearing hardly anymore than rags rushed up to Danny. "Ohayou gozaimasu!" he said a little too happily in a high, squeaky voice. "Welcome to the East China Sea, Danny-sama! Do you need a boat, Danny-sama? Where are you going, Danny-sama? Danny-sama, do you--"

"That's enough, Haidoushi!" Danny yelled, his voice echoing above the roar of the crowds.

Haidoushi bowed his head. "Gomennasai, Danny-sama! Have I angered you?"

Danny rubbed at his temples. "Not angered, Haidoushi. Just annoyed the crap out of me."

Haidoushi bowed again. "That's what I do best, Danny-sama... Your boat is ready to sail. Third one on the left." He waved his hand in the general direction of the boats already lined up along the dock. "Ja ne, Danny- sama!"

Danny rolled his eyes and walked towards the boat. Even thought the boat was quite large, it was still dwarfed by the others that were towering over it. It looked to be wooden, but it was probably metal. I looked over and saw that Kaiba's hands were twitching. After knowing him for so long, I could only guess that he wanted to rip it to shreds. Kinda creepy if you think about it for a while...

The guy behind me slammed something into the side of my head. I could feel the blood welling up and sliding down the side of my face as the darkness began to consume me.

'Ryou...' a voice whispered around me. 'Ryou...'

I clawed around the darkness for a while, trying to find a way out. My yami was calling me. He would be pissed if I didn't answer.

'Ryou!' it said, a bit sharper this time.

I continued clawing. Then it hit me: That wasn't my yami's voice. It was Kaiba's...

My eyes shot open, and pain welled up at a big gash in my head. I moaned against the pain only to have Kaiba's hand placed over my mouth.

"Hush, Ryou!" he hissed. "You don't want those guys coming back down here!"

I blinked and looked around me without getting up for fear of my head splitting in two. I was lying on some sort of wooden floor; barrels were stacked in corners and rolling around; and the air seemed to be filled with the stench of foul wine mixed with rotting fish. "Where are we?" I asked him as loud as I dared. Right at that moment, the floor lurched and my memories came racing back.

"We're on that fucking boat." Kaiba looked over at Mokuba, who had just sat up. "Sorry, Mokuba."

"It's okay, nii-sama," he said softly. He stood up to brush himself off, but just then, the boat lurched again, knocking him back to the floor. He fell only mere inches away from a huge pile of barrels.

"Careful, Mokuba," said Kaiba in a lot softer tone that he uses with anyone else. He walked over to his little brother and helped him over to where I was lying.

"Nii-sama," Mokuba whispered. I don't think he thought I could hear him, but I could. Crystal clear. "What happened to his head?"

I knew exactly what he was talking about. I could feel the blood pouring out and soaking my hair. I knew I was a mess, and all I wanted to do was to take a shower.

Fuck fate.

It hates me.

No, that was an understatement.

Fate *despises* me.

Absolutely loathes me.

Danny walked down a set of wooden steps that were a faded red and over to us. "Having fun?" he sneered.

I just lied there and stared at the ceiling. I could see Kaiba out of the corner of my eye, and he looked like he so desperately wanted to punch Danny as hard as he could until they could no longer breathe.

I heard a snicker off to my right and realized Danny had walked over there while I was watching Kaiba. "You guys had better get used to this," he continued to sneer. "I will, however, allow you to get a breath or two of fresh air from above if you want. Just don't think about escaping. We're literally out in the middle of nowhere. And no jumps overboard, either. We can't risk losing Kaiba. He's worth too much." He grinned a terrible grin and began walking up the stairs.

Kaiba sat down on the ground with a sigh. He looked over at me and tried to read my expression. Too bad there was nothing on it. "What are we going to do now?" he asked me, although seemingly to himself.

It was my turn to sigh. I didn't speak for a few minutes after that. I wanted to contact Bakura, but he had no doubt found out that I was a murderer and wouldn't want to speak to me. Damn.

I wanted to stand up. Nothing could be done with me not moving at all. Surprisingly, I was able to stand quite easily. The boat gave a tremendous lurch, however, and almost knocked me down again. I turned to the stairs and began to walk upwards.

"Where are you going?" Kaiba asked.

I looked at him in the eyes. "Honestly, I have no idea."

There was a door at the top of the stairs, and I was able to swing it open with surprising ease. The wind was cold and harsh and bit fiercely at my face.

The ocean can't be too much colder.

Just a bit saltier.

I walked over to the railing and looked out at the sea. I couldn't help but think of how fucked up my life had become. The waves looked so threatening, as if *daring* me to jump and allow them to feast upon my soul. I looked behind me. No one was paying attention to me. They were watching Kaiba, whom I suppose had followed me up here. He shouldn't have. He wouldn't want to watch me die.

Kaiba looked over at me, and I almost laughed at how his eyes grew large. "What the hell are you doing, Ryou?!" he shouted at me.

"Tell Bakura I said goodbye. And tell Yami that...that I'm sorry." With that, I turned around and jumped off the side of the ship.

* * *

Mystical Knight Dragon: Sorry for the cliffhanger. I just wanted to get this chapter out. Anyways, at the end of chapter three, I said that this was not going to become a suicidal fic. I've begun to have second thoughts about this and was wondering if anyone would mind if I did turn it into a suicidal fic. Please tell me if you do or don't, so that I'll be able to change my ideas according to what people are and aren't comfortable with. I'm personally anti-suicide, but I drew a picture of Ryou that fits in with this plot line, and I kind of wanted to stick it up on mediaminer once I get an account or somewhere else. Who knows?

Marikay: Please review. And again, we're all desperately sorry about the cliffhanger and the late update.

Mystical Knight Dragon: It was supposed to be longer, but *someone* -- *points angrily at muses* -- wanted to go on vacation from my head for a little while and came back a little rusty with their writing skills.

Muses: *grin sheepishly*

[1] Danny is pronounced with the "a" sounding like "ah". Dah-nee. Danny. Not Dan-ee. Dah-nee. ...Do you get it or was that really confusing?