Title: Hope for Tomorrow
Author: Shadows of Chaos61
Rating: R
Pairing: Seto X Yami
Warnings: language (Yami has a dirty mouth), sexual content, violence, and yaoi.
Disclaimer: Yugioh does not belong to me
Summary: Yami is an 18 year old that has lived on the streets most of his life taking care of his brother, Yugi. Seto is a rookie cop that soon finds himself drawn into Yami's world

Chapter 4

Steam rolled out of the bathroom door as Yami opened it and stepped out into his motel room. Undoing the rather small white towel from his waist, he went over to the book bag Bakura had given him and pulled out a pair of ripped up blue jeans. Sliding them on, he zipped them up leaving the button undone. Picking up the towel again, he looked into the mirror and proceeded to dry his hair. His eyes lingered on the nasty wound on his neck and made a mental note to rebandage it later. He also noticed his skin still had a pink tinge to it from where he scrubbed his skin raw trying to remove the evidence of his latest job.

After he had finished disposing of that man, he delved into his stash of money he allowed himself to keep and paid for a room from a motel that he knew wouldn't ask questions. After all, the owner was in debt to Taro and over looked anything and everything. Which was good since he was covered in blood from head to toe.

Sitting down on the edge of the bed, he tossed the towel onto the floor and rummaged around in the bag till he found what he was looking for. Holding the card between his thumb and index finger, he studied it. Why he kept the card was beyond him. Normally he wouldn't have given something like this a second thought, but for some reason he didn't want to rip it up or throw it away.

Taking his eyes away from the card, he glanced over to the phone that was sitting on the worn wooden table beside the single sized bed. The number wasn't long distance and was connected right to his cell phone so if he called he would get the rookie without having to go through those bastards at the station. But did he want to call? That was the real question.

Placing the card on the table, he grabbed his pack of cigarettes. Taking one out, he stuck it in his mouth and lit it. Exhaling the smoke, he fell back on to the bed and glared at the ceiling. His thoughts turned from the cop to the job he had just preformed only a few short hours ago. He snarled at himself for being weak and letting Taro take advantage of him. True the asshole had used his brother's life against him, but surely he could have come up with another option to get out of killing someone for Taro. But in his haste to keep his brother safe he agreed to do it and now there was another black mark on his soul.

He hated killing people. He hated to be the one that had to hear screams as they begged for their life. But most of all he hated himself because he was the one causing it.

He still remembered his first job that Taro had given him. His target had been a man in his thirties. Had a wife, kid, dog, house, the whole nine yards. Yami had watched the man for a few days to find out when he would be alone. During that time he witnessed a caring, loving family man that unfortunately owed the wrong man money. His heart told him not to follow through with it, just to let the man live. But his thoughts remained focused on the five grand he would receive as payment. Five thousand dollars to take care of Yugi.

To a boy of sixteen, faced with raising a brother of twelve, it was well worth it.

Now he was eighteen without Yugi to take care of and he was still killing people for the money. His payment never increased but it was enough. It allowed him to get the few things he needed and let him keep a promise that he made to his brother. A promise he would keep or die trying.

He laughed at that thought before he took another draw off his cigarette. The idea of dying didn't bother him anymore but left him with a feeling of peace. His duty to Yugi was almost over and after that what would there be left for him except death? He knew if he kept up his current life style he would either end up six feet under or in jail but the thought of stopping and leading a normal life of worrying over taxes or whether a neighbor's flower garden was outdoing his eluded him.

He just couldn't see himself doing things like that. It wasn't for the fact that he hadn't tried. He use to watch Bakura through a window as he cop would sit down and worry over bills, water house plants, or impress a date. Normal things a normal person would do and take for granted.

Sighing, he snuffed out cigarette on the end table, rolled over on his side and picked up the card again. Idly he let his depressing thoughts settle back on the blue-eyed cop. He knew Seto was offering him help and he felt both resentment and comfort in that. Running his free hand through his still slightly damp hair, he glared at the card held in front of him. Why couldn't he just rip it up and be done with it? Why did he hold on to it? If anyone else had done that he wouldn't have given it a second thought but this person… was different.

He remembered the looks the other had given him. There never was any pity there. The cop hid his emotions well but there was a linger of concern laced in those piercing blue eyes. Concern he could deal with, hell Bakura and his brother looked at him with that expression all the time. But why was it when this man looked at him with it did he find himself wanting to give in to it and let someone else take some of the weight off his shoulders?

With a growl, Yami snatched the phone off the table and threw against the wall, watching it shatter into pieces. Damn if he would let some cop become something more to him.

Seto threw the reports down on his desk as he leaned back in his chair and rubbed his eyes. Endless reading of the typed words had caused a slight headache to form behind his eyes. He had spent the last few days trying to catch up on all the details of the past reports of the stupidly dubbed 'Rune Murders' to see if he could find something the others had failed to find. All in all there were over five different signature markings used along with this Taro person's. So he knew they were looking for at least five other people.

Sighing, he picked up Bakura's and his latest report on the Johnson murder and reran the meaning of the marking through his head. Whoever this person was it was clear the murderer was not happy with their life. Seto had taken the time to look up the exact meaning of othel rune and had frowned when he read it. This one was clearly different than the others that were used.

The other markings had symbolized things such as wealth, warning, dominance and so on. But this one had been almost a cry for help.

"Still can't find anything?"

Seto glanced up and looked into the chocolate brown eyes of his older partner before he shook he head. "No, and I'm not sure I will be able to. Whoever these people are they are very smart. No finger prints, no DNA evidence present. It's professional down to the last detail."

Bakura made an affirmative noise before he sat down at his desk. "I have a feeling we are going to have to take the 'wait and see' approach. Sooner or later someone is going to make a mistake."

Frowning, Seto nodded his head. "Too bad we can't get anymore on this Taro. He would be the one to take out if we really want this to stop."

"We've been trying to hunt that bastard down for years. We don't even know what he looks like. The only reason we happen to know what he goes by is cause some fool carved it on a victim's back a few years ago and our informants confirmed it. But everyone is so scared shitless of him that they refused to tell us anything else."

"I hate the 'wait and see' approach. Takes all the fun out of it."

Bakura grinned at the rookie. "True but it makes things sweeter in the end."

Seto was about to retort when he noticed the captain's gaze was looking somewhere over his shoulder. Curious, he turned to see one of their fellow officers limping and cursing everything in sight as he came closer to them.

Bakura raised an amused eyebrow at the man, "What the hell happened to you, Kino?"

"That damn fucking brat of yours is what happen to me! Punk kicked me in the knee when I tried to perform a cavity search. I swear that boy's the spawn of the devil himself, red eyes and all."

"Ah, then you are talking about Yami huh?" Bakura said as he smirked at his fellow officer. Leave to Yami to lighten everyone's day up or darken it depending on which side of it you were on.

"What the hell was he brought in for?" The slight amusement in Seto's voice only angered Kino more.

"That piece of shit," he spat "was caught on the south end trying to pick up a john. Tricky little thing, didn't realize someone that small have some much strength behind him. It took six men to bring him down when he tried to run! Then it took handcuffs, shackling his legs and four men this time to get him processed and searched. I don't think any of us came out of there uninjured."

"So is he in detainment?"

"Yeah, he'll be there until his arraignment which is sometime tomorrow morning I think."

"Thanks Kino, Kaiba will go visit him soon and see if he can talk some sense into him and get him calmed down."

Kino eyed the rookie, wondering why Bakura was sending him, before he shrugged his shoulders and limped off.

Seto was wondering the same thing, "Why me? You know him better than I do."

"Ah, but he kept your card. I have a feeling he will listen to you better than he will listen to me. There is something about you that he respects. And that's saying a lot when it comes to him." Bakura leaned back into his swivel chair and kicked his legs up onto the top of the worn out desk.

"What a load of bullshit. You just don't feel like dealing with him and you know something I don't. Tell me.." he asked as he glared down his partner, "what is it?"

Bakura laughed and placed his hands behind his head, "I don't know shit, but you can bet he won't be in the best of moods after being put through everything he had to go through to be processed."

Seto grimaced. He couldn't imagine having to go through a body cavity search by a bunch of strange people. But then again Yami was use to unknown people touching him but still…"Hellcat"

"Huh?"

"He'll be a hellcat plain and simple. Claws will be out, ready to strike at anything in his way." He murmured.

"Don't let him hear you call him that. That's a feminine term, 'evil spiteful woman' if I remember correctly. If he heard that coming out of your mouth, he'd rip your tongue out before you could blink."

Yami paced back and forth in the small cell. His cold blood colored eyes glared at the others he was forced to be with. His nose scrunched up as he got closer to one of the few that were sitting down on the only bench. The smell coming off the man was enough to make anyone gag, but he kept his composer. He knew what he looked like, his small frame made him seem weak and an easy target for ones that thought they could take him on.

His bound hands tugged absentmindedly at his bright orange jumpsuit. He hated these things and the only reason he was require to wear on was because he would have to spending a few nights in jail for what he was brought in for. If this had been his first time he would have been booked, arraigned, and let go. But he had lost count in how many times he had been booked for prostitution.

Movement off to his side stopped him in his tracts. Turning his cold eyes to the left he noticed that one of the males was getting up from where he was leaning against the wall. Waves of disgust rolled off of him and he realized what the man was getting up for.

"Pretty little thing aren't you?"

Yami growled low in his throat, "Fuck off."

"Such a dirty mouth on such a pretty thing."

Yami glared into the man's gray eyes, setting his jaw firm. He quickly sized up the situation knowing that this wasn't going to go easy. The man seemed to be in his thirties, rather large frame, but that didn't bother him. He had taken down men much bigger than this. Everyone always underestimated him.

He spared a quick glance that the others in the room and noticed that they were all looking on in interested but none seem to be willing to step in or back the other up. Shrugging his shoulders he turned back to the man standing in front of him just in time to see the other bring up his handcuffed hands towards his face.

In one quick movement, Yami brought up his knee and planted is squarely in the older man's groin. Taking advantage of the fact that the blow caused the other man to bend over, he hooked his bound hands over the man's head and stepped behind him in one fluid motion. Tightening his arms around the thick neck he leaned back pulling the other with him till they were both on the floor.

Placing the man's windpipe in the crook of his arm, he leaned forward and whispered in the man's ear. "You shouldn't fuck with things you don't understand." Putting every bit of strength he had into it he began to choke the body in front of him.

Cheers and curse words barely registered in Yami's mind as he concentrated on the man in his arms. He fully intended to make this man pass out but before he could he heard shouts and the unmistakable sound of a baton banging on the metal bars.

"Yami get the hell off of him!!"

Growling, Yami reluctantly released the man and was partially satisfied when he heard the other coughing, trying to catch his breath. "Bastard."

Standing up he turned and faced the blue-eyed cop that had interrupted his fun. "So rookie, what do I owe the pleasure?"

Seto motioned for the other officers to release the electric locks on the cell door. Upon hearing them click and the door spring open slightly, he reached in and pulled the shorter teen out. Hearing the locks click back into place he took a hold of Yami's arm and all but dragged him down the hall towards another interrogation room.

Yami chuckled lightly as he was lead down the darkened hallway. It was amusing to him to see the rookie pissed off.

Seto pulled the teen into the small room and forcefully pushed him down into one of the chairs. Turning to look the other full in the face, he crossed his arms in front of his chest. "So care to explain what the hell that was all about?"

The tri-colored teen shrugged his shoulders, "Guy wouldn't take no for an answer."

"So you felt the need to choke the life out of him."

"Taught him a lesson. He'll think twice about messing with some one again now won't he?"

"Damnit! You could have killed him!"

"So?"

Seto growled and walked around the metal table and sat down in the chair across from Yami. Resting his elbows on the surface, he leaned over and ran his palms over his face. "Yami, what the hell is wrong with you?"

"Fuck off rookie, you can't even begin to understand me so don't even try. Or is this another one of Bakura's tactics? Send you down here to me to try and get me to loosen up and talk? You all can kiss my ass."

Kaiba's patience was at the breaking point. "Listen here you little piece of shit…"

"Ah, so you do have some backbone after all. It's a good thing too rookie, cause if you didn't then this fucked up world would get you." Yami slouched down in the seat with a smirk on his face. This cop was fun to play with.

"So is that the reason you act like you do? Afraid the world will destroy you if you don't destroy it first?"

Crimson colored eyes darkened to the color of dried blood, "Don't even think you can begin to know anything."

"I could if you talked to me." He growled out, "I'm willing to listen."

A deep chilling laugh spilled from Yami's lips. "Sure you are. I talk, you listen, and then you run off and file a report and the next thing I know I'm sitting behind bars for the rest of my life. Do you really think I'm that stupid? You're a cop and you will always think like that. No thanks, I'll deal with things on my own."

"You're going to lose it if you don't find someone to talk to."

"That's where you're wrong, rookie. I've already lost it. There's nothing left to hold on to."

Dragon: Whee! This chapter was fun to write. Gotta love a bad ass Yami!