Tenshi no Kokoro

Disclaimer: I don't own YGO! Bloody hell, do we have to go through this every fucking time? YGO does not belong to me, Seto, Ryou and Ryuuji are not together (damn!) and so therefore I DON'T BLOODY OWN IT! This will be the ONLY disclaimer I'm writing for this fic, so don't you DARE say I didn't!

Summary: Chimera has been defeated and the Angel has emerged. But now the Angel seeks only to destroy evil. Seto and Ryuuji, aided by a reborn Marik, must overcome it to find their lover. S/R/R, YY/YB, YM/R

Warnings: eh . . . I don't really know at this stage.

Author's Notes: The long awaited sequel to 'Judgement'! I guess you've all been waiting a long time for this, ne? Well, my friend at school basically threatened me with a painful death if I didn't post this up soon. But I was going to put this on hold until I got my next fic 'By Moonlight' up and running. Then again, the characters were a bit OOC.

So anyway, I hope you enjoy the sequel!

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Chapter One: New Troubles

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"There have been seven reports of missing persons over the past two weeks, four of which were anonymous. No one knows what has happened to the missing people, all middle-class business people . . ."

The television was switched off at the click of the remote. All people present in the room sighed and exchanged worried looks. There had been people going missing for months now, all of them rather unpopular in society. Many people saw this as strange, since there hadn't been such a case of disappearance before.

"He's really doing this seriously."

"Of course he is. It's his job."

"But there have been twenty disappearances since he's come back into town."

"That's been two months."

"Averaging ten per month."

"Pretty efficient, if you ask me."

"Hiei!"

"Kidding."

Hiei smirked and dodged a cushion thrown at his face by an annoyed Kurama. The two of them, Seto and Ryuuji were sitting in the library around the in-built database used especially for TC purposes. The Kaiba Mansion had all the necessary facilities for them to use in any situation, which came in handy.

Kurama looked around at them all.

He and Hiei had moved into the Kaiba Mansion eight months ago, when they had taken up the responsibility of two trainees put on them. Ryuuji would have taken the two from them, but they had all decided that it was for the best if Kurama and Hiei kept them.

Seto and Ryuuji, the last two Elites of TC, had changed over the last eight months. They had lost their partner and love in the last major assignment Gaea had assigned them. Kurama had been afraid that they would never recover from the loss. Ryuuji was planning to move back to America afterwards, but then a new incident occurred that prevented him from doing so.

This 'incident' was what they were discussing now. Bakura Ryou, the partner Seto and Ryuuji had lost, was back. But instead of rejoining TC and living with them, Ryou had started to attack those in the world who were evil or had malicious intent. He had told them, once, that he was the Judge of all that was good and bad in the world. They could not stop him from doing what was right.

This is my purpose. I was reborn to finish off what I had started. You cannot stop me, because I will only have to kill you as well. The Gods have Judged you to be innocent, but should anything occur, I will take action against you.

"He cannot control the Angel that resides within him," Ryuuji said. "He has no choice but to do what the Gods have sent him to do."

"As long as the Angel is in control, he won't know what he's doing," Seto added, glaring at the blank television screen. "There have been times when he had control of his body and mind, but those are rare. If we could talk to him at one of those times . . ."

"We can't afford 'ifs', Kaiba," Hiei snapped at his former trainer. "Time is wasting. Sooner or later, people will find out about TC, especially if things like this is happening on a day to day basis!"

"Do you have any better ideas, Hiei?"

"DAMARE!" Kurama shouted.

The two glared at each other angrily before turning away. Ryuuji and Kurama sighed in exasperation. The two were so much alike that they fought. Some would think that two of the same people would get along well, but two dominant, aggressive and non-too-cooperative people was hell to live with.

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"Tadaima."

"Okaerinasai, Yami."

Yami kissed his lover as Anubis came out to meet him. They had been put on probation by the Council at their Judgement and received human forms. They were now part of the human police force, under close observation by TC agents who had infiltrated the system.

"I really don't like the fact that they keep tabs on us like this," Bakura muttered. They went into the kitchen. "It's so unnerving."

"Well, we're on probation and if we pass this, then we're free."

"I know that, but doesn't mean I like being pegged down like a runaway animal." He set down two drinks. "Here, you're tired. That stupid department you're in works you like a horse."

"Malik and Marik had to go to school though," Yami snickered. "Would you have wanted to go to school instead?"

"Nah. Stupid teachers are worse than the police chief. Never liked school."

They drank quietly, worn to the bone. Ever since their rebirth – and Malik, Marik and Ishizu's – they had retained none of their previous powers. Well, almost none, because they were still able to defend themselves again weaker level demons and other spirits. Finding this extremely irking and really annoying, Anubis frequently growled and complained, knowing that, somewhere nearby, a TC agent would hear him. Not that this would do them any good.

"Have you seen the boy lately?"

"Ryou? The Angel? No."

"Hmm . . ." Yami studied his drink. "I thought I should apologise for what I did to him back in the Otherworld. I mean, it would only be right. We don't want him coming after us, should he think to do so."

"Do you think he would?" Bakura stared at his lover.

"I . . . don't know," Yami confessed. "Really, though, I think I should."

"You're getting soft, Pharaoh."

"Damare, Tomb Robber."

They grinned at each other. Once, back in their old lives, they hated each other. Yami had been the almighty Pharaoh and Anubis had been the lowly tomb robber. They were on opposite ends of society. Sometimes, out of good fun, they still referred to each other by their former titles. It somewhat irked but amused them both greatly.

"Let's call up the others tonight."

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At school, the next day, Seto slipped away from the others as they entered the school premises. He didn't want to face them at the moment, content to drown in his own thoughts rather than talk. This was something he and Ryuuji didn't share, as he found out after Ryou left them. One of them liked to talk about anything and everything, while the other left everything inside.

He found this habit of Ryuuji's irritating and yet oddly comforting at the same time. At least, when the game creator talked, he could temporarily forget about his problems and be distracted from his well-hidden pain.

Somehow he needed to have a serious talk to Ryou. It had been almost a year since their last conversation and he wasn't exaggerating. Ryou had been back at school and they had never properly talked without the albino escaping him before they had exchanged more than twenty words.

"Kaiba, ohayou."

Marik was sitting underneath a tree, reading a book. Seto nodded to him in greeting, wandering over. Before he could find Ryou, he could afford to talk to someone who was – or had been – closely related to him. Marik Ishtar was a reformed, former leeching demon who had been pardoned by the Council of the Gods and was put on probation in the human world.

"Marik, have you seen Ryou?"

"Iie, I haven't." Marik closed his book. "Ryou's been pretty hard to trace. I mean, I transferred in with him, but I haven't seen a hair of him since then. He's been avoiding all of us."

"You've heard the news about the disappearances, haven't you?"

The blonde frowned and nodded. They both suspected that Ryou was connected to those disappearances. At first, Seto and Ryuuji had thought that Marik would know about what Ryou did outside of school, but it turned out that the blonde knew about as much as they did. Ryou had hidden himself from everyone who he had associated with before.

"I was thinking of talking to him about it," Marik admitted. "But, like I said, he's hard to pin down."

"That's why we have to find a way." Seto clenched his fists. "We could ask around about where he goes every recess and lunch. It might give us some clues as to what he does."

"I'll admit that it's true, but if you and I both can't track him, how do we suppose those others would be able to?" Marik sighed. "I know about the powers you Chosen have. That guy, Hiei, he's able to trace any source of magic, isn't he? Well, if it were so simple that normal people could have found Ryou, then why haven't we found him already?"

He had a point, though Seto was reluctant to admit it. As Chosen, they were superhumanly gifted in many areas. What normal people could do well, they could do ten times better. If they couldn't accomplish something, no one else would be able to either. The thought alone was depressing.

"What if . . . what if we're thinking about this too complicated?" he asked slowly. This hadn't occurred to him before. "Maybe we were thinking in too complex ways about how he's been hiding himself. He might be in ordinary places and we don't even know it."

"Not everything is like a mystery novel, Kaiba," Marik said.

"No, I'm serious. Maybe he's been in school ever since. Or he's in the common places we've been overlooking."

"I dunno, but you may have something there."

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Ryuuji opened his locker and a whole bundle of letters fell out. He sighed and bent over to pick them up. Love letters. With a disgusted look, he gathered them up and dumped them in the nearest rubbish bin. Those girls could hang themselves for all he cared.

Pinned to the door of his locker was a photo. A photo of him and Ryou, to be exact, one which Mokuba had taken without his knowledge. He had come across it months ago, when sifting through the photo albums back at the Kaiba Mansion. Mokuba insisted that he kept the photograph and he had done so, putting in a place where he would be able to see it.

In the photo, both he and Ryou wore bright, genuine smiles. It had been taken during the two months before Ryou's first disappearance, before he had been captured by Marik and after Mokuba had been poisoned. The four of them – Seto, Ryou, Mokuba and himself – had gone to the amusement park for the day. The photo was when he and Ryou were coming out of the roller coaster ride and he was jokingly play-acting a particular scene in the ride.

Damn, I miss him again, he cursed. But I know I shouldn't give up that easily.

He took out the books he needed for the next period and closed his locker with a sigh. Things were so lonely without Ryou. It didn't mean he didn't enjoy Seto's company, but it just wasn't the same. Seto was different to Ryou. He didn't like the CEO in that way, the way he felt about Ryou.

So instead, when they were at school, he hung around Hiei and Kurama more often than not. They were a source of comfort and distraction to him. Along with Jounouchi and Yugi, he found he could easily numb the pain and loneliness. They were further down the corridor now, at their own lockers, talking and chattering like nothing was wrong.

But they all knew that something was wrong with both the CEO and the game creator. Ryuuji acted as if he had talked about all his problems, making them sound convincing so as to not worry the others, but Seto didn't have that habit. He would bottle things up and bury himself in work or another obsession.

"Ryuuji-sama, are you coming?" Kurama called.

"Kurama, I told you to stop calling me '-sama'," he sighed. "People talk about it already. Just either call me Ryuuji or, as Yugi-kun and Jounouchi-kun does, call me Otogi-kun."

"Hai, Otogi-kun."

He was silently glad that Kurama had picked the latter way of addressing him. If the redhead had chosen to call him Ryuuji, then the game creator would have suffered another pang of remembrance. The redhead reminded him of Ryou, with his quiet and polite ways and likeable disposition. It figured, since Kurama had once been Ryou's student, but the likeness was uncanny.

"Ja, iku yo!" Yugi cheered, practically skipping away.

"I can't believe he looks forward to lessons," Hiei muttered.

"I DON'T!" Yugi yelled back. "I JUST THOUGHT YOU GUYS LOOKED TOO DULL! CHEER UP GUYS! LIFE SHOULD BE FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUN!"

The ones, who were left behind, sweatdropped. Kurama gave a quiet laugh of amusement at his student's antics. They followed him down the corridor.

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Ryou clutched his arms, fingernails digging into the flesh as he fought the pain. He fought back a cry, sweat cumulating on his forehead. The cold fire spread through his entire form, engulfing every nerve and sense within. His vision was blurry as he struggled.

It's no use, the voice inside his mind whispered. Give me dominance.

"Iie!" he gasped, falling to his knees. "I can't – you – harm people . . ."

He was in a deserted classroom. There wasn't a single soul around, since this classroom had fallen into disuse for a few years.

Give me control, the voice continued, more firmly. There is work to be done.

The world fell into darkness as he felt his control slipping away.

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The room was dark. Sometime in the last five minutes, the power in the building had been cut. A man sat at his desk, trying to find a torch or any source of light, failing miserably. He looked up, startled, at a fluttering of what sounded like wings.

"Dare ka?" he called.

I've found you . . .

A cold feeling, like he had been soaked in icy water, came over him. He shivered. What was going on? Or maybe his conscience was just getting to him. He managed a weak laugh. Oh yeah, his conscience decided to kick in now, after he had committed the crime he was so afraid of being caught for. He was being stupid.

You're a cheat and a fraud. Face the wrath of the Gods' Judgement.

Now this was not funny. He didn't think his conscience would be saying things like that to him. Consciences usually said things along the lines of: 'you shouldn't be doing this' or 'it'll be unfair to do this'. So if this was his conscience, then why did it say such strange things?

"Kimi dare ka?" he yelped, now frantic. "Whoever you are, you shouldn't be here!"

Oh really?

Behind him, two strong hands clamped around his neck. He choked and tried to turn around, to no avail. The grip around his neck was like a vice and he couldn't remove it. His head was throbbing and his vision swam in and out as his oxygen supply was cut.

The Gods don't look kindly on sinners like you, a voice breathed in his ear.

He made a choking sound, feeling strangely detached and light-headed. Another hand rested on his forehead. It was freezing cold, the same feeling he had before, as if he were drowning in ice-cold water. The same voice echoed in his ear.

Your life will be the penance for your sins.

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Ryou opened his eyes, feeling thoroughly shaken. He was at his desk, with his head on the table, resting on its side so that he was facing his computer. He relished the feeling of the cool, hard wood against his throbbing skull. This wasn't the first time he had had such a bad headache – and it certainly wasn't the first time he had 'passed out' like this.

Awake, are you?

"Hai . . ." he murmured.

You did a good job, Ryou. Another source of evil has gone.

"Why do I have to do this?"

It's your purpose. The reason you live.

"When can I stop?"

You'll never be free of this task, Ryou. Not as long as evil exists. You will live forever, in an immortal body, doing what you are doing now until there is no more evil in this world.

He turned his face downwards and buried it in his arms. He hated this. Ever since he had become the Angel, the real Chosen One of the Gods, he had never had a decent day. Sure, he still maintained his memories and the like, but he wasn't a free person anymore. There was another being within him now, the Angel itself.

The Angel took over his body now, frequently, to accomplish the task he had been sent to do. He had no choice over the matter. The Angel was too strong for him to challenge mentally. There was no question who was the dominant one. In fact, changes had made themselves known in his appearance. His dark brown eyes had gone. In place of them were two pale blue eyes.

"I hate this," he hissed. "Why do I have to do this?"

It's your destiny, the Angel told him. You know better than to fight the will of the Gods.

"I want to be normal. I want to see Seto and Ryuuji and . . . there's so much I could be doing now instead of this. Why me?"

Seto . . . Ryuuji . . . he missed them terribly. It had been so long since they had a proper conversation. He wanted to live like a normal person, with them, never having to worry about what the Angel would do. He didn't want to kill others and not know it until it was too late.

You made a choice in the Chamber of Judgement, his counterpart reminded him. You realise you cannot go back on it.

"I know I've made a choice," he said bitterly. "But I hate it."

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End Chapter One

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Author's Notes:

The rewrite of chapter one! I had to change this chapter after I finished Judgement because I had ended it differently to what I had planned. I wrote the first 'edition' of this halfway into the thirteenth chapter of 'Judgement'.

Yami and Bakura as cops! Snigger I have no idea where that came from. And now they're all nice!

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Relinquished