I'm Not Like You Chapter 5: Heaven and Hell, a yu-gi-oh fanfic

Disclaimer: Still don't own Yu-Gi-Oh.

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Jou walked down the sidewalk, trying to keep out of the light drizzle. 'Damn, I hate spring. Too freakin' wet!' He tried to keep too much rain from falling on his face so that his makeup wouldn't run.

...Yes, tough guy Jou wore makeup. But none of the kohl that Malik donned or lip-gloss that Ryou loved. No, foundation was Jou's savior. After all, the lack of visible bruises was the only thing keeping his father out of jail and Jou from being a ward of the state.

'Gawd, my life sucks monkeys,' he thought to himself, starting to run as the rain fell down harder. 'Caught in the rain multiple days in the past few days. I should'a brought Kaiba's umbrella with me.'

Jou's face melted into a tiny smile at the thought of the cold CEO who was too stuck up the see the world moving beneath him.

'He's such a stubborn pain in the butt,' Jou thought to himself with a smile on his face. 'But I bet he'd never return my feelings. After all, he only thinks of me as a puppy or something.'

Honk, honk!

"Well, this is becoming too familiar of a scene, Pup-sickle. Yet another day spent smelling like a wet dog?" Jou blushed, looking over his shoulder to see Kaiba, in his fancy private school uniform talking to the blonde out his window.

"What do ya want, Kaiba?" "To give you a ride to school." "Huh?" Jou stared dumbfounded at the brunette teen trying to make sense of what was said. "I said, get in the car."

"Boy, talk about Déjà vu." "Shut up, Mutt. Get in the car." Jou crossed his arms. "Why should I?" "Because," Kaiba said with a smirk, "your mascara's going to run." "Yipes!"

Jou quickly checked his reflection in the mirror to make sure that none of the foundation on his face had run too badly. Seto actually laughed. "You mean you're really wearing mascara? Christ, Mutt!" "'m not!"

Seto rolled his clear blue eyes and opened the door. "Jou, get in the car. It's no problem for me to take you to school. If you want me to." Jou paused for a moment. Sure, Kaiba was a bit of an asshole, but was it really better to walk in the rain? Hell no.

"Alright. Scoot over." The blonde climbed in the limo and buckled himself in, setting his bag in his lap. Kaiba quirked an eyebrow at the other but soon turned to look in another direction.

'Why can't I stop helping that stupid puppy?' Seto asked himself, peeking over to where Jou was sitting. 'Damn dog... he looks kinda cute sitting there all wet...' "What are ya lookin' at, Kaiba?"

"Nothing," he snapped, turning to angle his body away from his companion. 'Loser dog. I shouldn't even be associating with a moron like him, let alone... what, liking him? Having feelings for him?'

"Christ, Kaiba, I know you're lookin' at somethin' so just tell me what you're lookin' at!" "What do you want me to say, that I'm staring at you?" Jou blushed. "Well, why would you?"

"Maybe I'm wondering why I even stopped to give you a ride. Maybe I can't figure out what makes me want to help you. Maybe I l-... you know what, nevermind." "L? Loathe? Like? Maybe you what, Kaiba?"

"Maybe I like you, okay!" The two stared at each other, startled by Kaiba's revelation. "You what?" "I like you, alright." Jou blushed. "That's a cruel joke, Kaiba! Dun make fun of me like that!"

"Fine, whatever!" Seto huffed and stared out the window, trying to ignore the blonde mutt. However, something brushed the back of his hand before another hand enveloped his own.

"This ain't a joke, is it Kaiba?" "No, it's not." "But why?" Seto turned his hand over to squeeze the other. "I don't know. I kinda wish I did." Jou unbuckled and scooted over to Seto, resting his head on the brunette's shoulder.

"I like ya, too, Kaiba." "Seto," he corrected, wanting the blonde to call him by his name. "Seto?" "Yeah?" Jou blushed and pressed his lips to Seto's. Though he was startled at first, Kaiba quickly returned the kiss, making Jou moan.

"You don't care about being late to school, do you puppy?" Jou looked at Seto. "Do you think I care? My attendance record is probably in the negatives." Seto chuckled a little. "Point made. I think I can afford to miss a day... want to go back to my house, Pup?"

"Don't call me a dog, Seto!" "Hey, hey! Cool down. Chalk it up to being a pet name." "What happened to pet names like 'baby', 'lover', 'angel', and romantic shit like that?" Seto tilted his head. "You want me to call you a name like that?"

"Point made." The two cuddled together and Seto buzzed the driver. "Take me back home, Ronald. I won't be going to school today." "Crackle Yes sir, Mr. Kaiba."

Jou shoved his backpack, letting it fall in the floor, totally regarding the huge report that was due that day.

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Ryou blushed as he realized that Bakura was standing on the stairs leading into school, watching him as one watches a bag containing $1,000,000; with want. "What is it, Bakura?"

The other albino walked up to his mini and tilted his face up to look right into his eyes. "You're little slut friend got Marik suspended. What do you have to say about that?" Ryou kept his gaze even.

"From what I hear, Marik got himself suspended. Malik just happened to be there." An insane blaze appeared in Bakura's eyes as he raised a fist, preparing to hit the other teen.

However, instead of flinching away from Bakura, Ryou hardened his gaze and kicked Bakura, hard, in the shin. "No, Bakura. I'm finished playing the victim to you. You've hurt me enough for one lifetime. So leave. Me. Alone."

Bakura released Ryou's chin, reaching down to place a hand over his wounded shin. "I have no intentions of leaving you alone until you're mine! I won't let you slip away from me!"

"Why?" Ryou asked him, more passion in his voice than Bakura had ever heard. "Why won't you just leave me be? You made me break up with Malik, who I really cared for! Then, you made me like you, only to break my heart into. And now what? Are you going to start stalking me until I agree to go out with you? You're such a brat, Bakura."

The taller teen glared at him. "Don't push me, Ryou. Just because I want you doesn't mean that I won't hurt you if you make me." Ryou looked at him, evenly. "Then go ahead. But hurting me won't make me return your feelings."

Suddenly, Ryou found himself enveloped in a strong grasp. But it didn't feel threatening. In fact, if Ryou didn't know better, he would have called the embrace a hug.

"Then what will? What do I have to do to make you mine? I'm not going to give up! I've never had feelings like this before, and I can't let you slip away from me!"

Ryou caught Bakura's eyes and saw the want, lust, and... love? in that gaze. "You could have anyone, Bakura. So why me?" "Because I think I... I just picked you, that's all!"

"If that's all, then I can't force myself to care for you, Bakura. Not without you telling me why I should." Bakura glared at him. "Fine! Get out of here! But don't think this is the end of this, Ryou! I mean it; somehow, I will have you."

Bakura shoved the teen away from him and made to storm off. However, a petit hand caught his sleeve. "You know... if you were willing to tell me the truth, you might be able to have me now. I mean it, Bakura, why me? What is so special about me that someone like you would care?"

"I don't know. That's the problem. From the moment I saw you singing on stage, I was... oh, what's the word I'm looking for?" "Smitten?" "What? No, nevermind. The point is, I can't explain to you why I like you because I myself don't know."

"Then maybe you need to figure it out before you end up causing me any more pain. I can't take much more right now, Bakura. I'm about at my breaking point. If you broke my heart right now, I'm not sure how much longer I could keep pretending that everything's all right."

Bakura looked down into Ryou's doe-brown eyes. "I guess even I can understand that much. But you have to agree to at least be patient with me! I know that Marik and I were... total assholes... but just give me a chance to make it up to you."

"One chance, Bakura. I mean it. I'm not going to let you keep screwing up and forgiving you every time you break my heart."

Despite Bakura's rough nature, he smiled. "Great! I promise, Ryou! I'll be much better this time!" "I hope so, Bakura. For your sake as well as mine."

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Malik glared at the door from which the sound had just come. Knock, knock, knock! "Come on, Malik, open the door! I know you're in there; where else do you have to go on a school day?"

"Shut up, Marik, I'm going to open the dang door, okay? Geez, you're impatient." The Egyptian teen opened the door only for Marik to quickly grab him in a tight hug. "Malik. Thank you so much for giving me this chance to make it all up to you."

"I didn't say I was planning to forgive you, Marik Ishtar." Marik squeezed Malik a little tighter, causing Malik to moan in pain. "Oops, sorry."

"It's alright. Well, come on in before the neighbors start staring at us." Malik allowed Marik inside before closing the door behind him. The two sat on the couch, turning to look at each other. "What do you have to say, Marik? Because I don't have all the time in the world to sit here and listen to your sorry excuses."

"I know. Malik, the last few days have been... different. And, though it will do nothing to say this, I'm sure, I think I've fallen in love with you, Malik. And Ra knows, I don't fall in love easily."

Malik looked at him. "Okay, and?" "You don't even care, do you?" "Right now? No. Because I'm really, really, really mad at you. And I doubt that anything you say is going to make me forgive you." "At least be fair and hear me out?" "I'm listening."

"Alright... Malik, from the first time I saw you, I knew you were something special. You weren't a mindless drone or a popular wannabe. You were happy being yourself, the cynical, slightly sadistic psychopath that easily caught my attention. You were... to say the least, fascinating.

The more I saw you standing up to everyone else, being yourself without even a twitch, the more I started to want you. It sounds a little moralistic, but the most attractive person you can be is yourself, right? And even when your humor was made at my expense, I laughed with you. Or, after you, when I was away from everyone else.

"When I realized that I had a chance with you, even the slightest, I took it. I didn't want to think that Bunny had gotten you, not me. So I was talking trash in front of Bakura, saying that I might have to 'royally screw over that albino doormat', and Bakura took it upon himself to say something about it to you; yes, I was there.

"And Ryou had you... what was I supposed to do, Malik? I loved... love you. I really love you."

Malik lowered his gaze, more than slightly affected by Marik's speech. "I didn't know that you really felt like that. I thought it was more of a lust thing than that you admired me." "You were able to be honest with yourself. Something I haven't been able to do in years."

Marik leaned forward towards Malik, eyes wide. "Malik... can I kiss you?" Malik put a finger over Marik's lips. "Not yet. No, not yet. First, tell me; what was the point of trying to bust my face in at school yesterday?"

"For crying out loud, Malik! You called me... a jock, a whore, a miserable whelp, and a toy. How would you feel if I decided to call you names like that?" "I was really pissed off at the time!" "Exactly! I was really pissed off when I attacked you."

Malik paused. His mouth formed an understanding O. "I see. I guess I can understand that. I mean... yeah, I've done the same thing." Marik smirked. "I know. So... can you really forgive me?"

Malik leaned forward and gently kissed him. "I suppose I can... overlook it this one time. But it had better be smooth sailing for the rest of the week." "Just this week?" The littler blonde looked at him for a moment.

"You're on probation. Screw up one more time, and you won't get any more chances with me. Got it?" Marik kissed him. "Got it. Now, how about we... snuggle?"

Marik climbed on top of Malik and starting to tease his fingertips over Malik's tight skin. "O-ooh, Marik." "That's a love."

"M-Marik, we have to stop! You were only supposed to stay for forty minutes. My dad is getting off of work early, today. He can't come home and find you here!" Malik's face held pure, untainted panic. "Please, Marik, you have to go!"

"Malik, I'm not leaving you." "Trust me, Marik, you don't want to stay here!" "Malik! Hush! You know that I know... and I'm still not going to leave you right now." "Do you want this to be you?" Malik asked, throwing his T-shirt off.

Marik gasped at seeing the black, blue, and yellowing bruises that covered Malik's chest and stomach. "God, Malik." "See? You have to leave before Dad finds you here." Marik pulled Malik into his lap. "I don't care, Malik. I'm not going to abandon you to your father."

"If he doesn't find you, there will be no reason for me to need protecting. Please, Marik, go!"

"No!" The sound of an engine pulling into the driveway filled Malik's conscious. "Oh no, oh no! Oh, Ra, Dad's going to kill me! Please, Marik, just leave out the back door, now!"

Marik kissed Malik, slipping his tongue into the other's mouth. "I refuse to leave you." The front door opened, and Malik knew... this was not going to end pretty.

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Yugi sat at his desk, trying to ignore the poking in his shoulder. "Yugi. Yugi! Pst. Come on, Yugi, why are you ignoring me?" The small boy sat still, facing forward. It was very, very difficult to ignore someone like Yami Motou when he wanted your attention.

"Yugi! Yugi! Damn it, Yugi, I'm trying to talk to you!" Every head in the classroom except Yugi's turned as Yami realized that he had forgotten to whisper/shout the last part of that. The teacher paused in her lesson to stare as well.

"Yami? Is there something you wanted to say?" "Uh... do I have to?" The sensei laughed and replied, "no, you can opt to go to ASD." Yami thought about it. "Can I be in the same room as Bakura?"

A couple of people laughed while others just scoffed at the spoiled tone of voice he took. "No." Yami frowned. "Oh. Well, in that case, I was trying to talk to Yugi, who is ignoring me, and it's mean!"

Yugi blushed at hearing Yami so loudly proclaim that one of the most popular boys in school was trying to talk to him, an outcast. "What did you want to say to me, Motou?" Yami frowned, unhappily. "Last names, Yugi-chan? What, am I embarrassing you?"

A hiss went around the class as people questioned the 'Yugi-chan'. "Actually, you weren't until then. Now what is it, Yami?" "What's got you in such a snit? You're ignoring me, and I don't like it."

"If you don't have anything to say, I would appreciate it if you would be quiet so we can continue our lesson." "Yugi! What's wrong? Do you think I'm like those two and think I would break your heart like that?" "You already did!"

A few people gasped yet again, and the teacher intervened before Yami could question Yugi's startling statement. "Okay, okay, everyone sit down, and let's focus on the lesson at hand shall we? Yami, you and Yugi can continue this little soap opera after school today."

"Yes, ma'am." Yami sat down, sadly, reaching forward and placing his hand on Yugi's shoulder, intimately. The smaller tried to shrug him off. "Yug..." "Maybe you're confused, Yami. I'm not Anzu."

"What does Anzu have to do with anything?" "Oh, I don't know; I would say a lot after you kissed her!" "Yami! Yugi! Both of you, that's enough."

Yugi smiled with a sad gleam in his eyes. "Of course. My apologies, ma'am." "Hmm." Yami tapped Yugi on the shoulder. "We're going to talk about this after school." Yugi sighed. "Can't wait."

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Marik stared at the grown man, looking as if though he wished Marik would burst into flames from his gaze. Then, he turned to Malik.

"You miserable little slut! I leave the house for hours, and you have your boyfriend over to bang in my house! How dare you!"

"Father! I thought you were going to be gone for a little bit longer." "So you could have sex in my home! You little bitch!"

Marik stood up, taking a step to block the male's view of Malik. "Sir, your son and I were just talking, trying to resolve a little argument from the other day. Really, it's no big deal, sir. We just need to finish our conversation, and I'll be out of your hair."

Malik's father slapped Marik across the face. "Shut up! I don't recall giving you permission to speak, you man whore." Marik's eyes blazed. "What did you call me?" "I called you exactly what you are. Why don't you leave and allow me to deal with my son."

"What are you going to do, beat him again?" Malik gasped, grabbing Marik's shirt tightly in his fist. "Excuse me? I don't think what goes on in my house as being any of your business. And you are, in fact, trespassing in my house."

"How about we go down to the police station together? After all, child abuse is illegal, too." Malik's father glared at the small, now frightened teen. "You told him! You damn little whore! Do you not remember what I told you I'd do to you if you ever told a soul!"

"Please, father! I didn't tell anyone!" Malik's father reached around Marik and grabbed his son by the hair, jerking him to the floor. "Malik! Are you alright?" Marik bent down, cuddling the boy close.

However, Malik's father ripped the teen away from the other and tossed Marik to the side, his head knocking into the wall. "Marik!" The pretty teen let out a groan as his father slugged him in the stomach. "I'll teach you to lie to me, you brat. I'll fix you good."

"Daddy, please! Please, have mercy!" "Mercy! Why should I have mercy on you, you murderer? Would your mother want you to have mercy?"

Malik's lip quivered, and then he burst into tears. "Mother loved me! And she loved you! If she didn't, I wouldn't be here!" Crack! Malik jumped back, a handprint across his face.

"I'm going to kill you, Malik. And then you can find out what your mother thinks about a killer like you." "Father!" The adult stormed over to a locked cabinet and took a key down from the top.

The cabinet, Malik knew, held his father's gun. "Dad, please, you don't want to do this!" "Yes, son." He pulled the pistol out. "Yes, I actually do."

Marik shook his head, with bleary thoughts and a horrible headache. However, all thoughts of himself left him quickly as he saw Malik's father aim a gun and prepare to fire on his own son.

Just as the adult pulled the trigger, Marik tackled him. Malik screamed, the bullet whizzing right over his shoulder and cutting him. More shots rang out as a fight began over the firearm, Marik fighting tooth and nail to get the weapon away from the man.

All of a sudden, the fight was over. Malik's father had the most shocked look on his face... and a bleeding wound in his chest. "Father!" Marik's eyes went huge as he stepped back, the elder falling face forward to the floor.

"Father! Father!" Marik grabbed Malik around the waist before he could reach the fallen man. "You killed him! Father!" "Malik, listen to me!" Marik commanded, pulling the boy in close.

"Gods, Malik, you're hurt." "I don't care about me! My father! Father!" Marik held the teen tightly, refusing to let go no matter how much Malik struggled.