What can i say? School is hard and i'm overloaded at the moment. I'm surprised i have enough energy to even type this. Oh well.

Chapter 3

The next day soldiers were sent into the nearby city to try and locate the thief. Even though he had not left with anything he had committed the crime of trying to steal from the Pharaoh. And threatened Seto's brother.

The search turned up nothing though. The thief was cunning and had easily slipped through their fingers.

Ryou was glad that his red eyed god had not been captured. What he was not glad about was the fact that Seto had gone into protective brother mode. That and the fact that he blamed Jou for the whole incident.

Jou had been patrolling the corridors and Jou had let the thief get close to Seto's brother. It didn't matter that Jou had been patrolling different hallways to the ones the thief had visited or that there had been other soldiers there to help.

It was all Jou's fault, according to Seto.

Jou didn't like being given the blame and especially not from Seto. The two argued whenever they met and could only be stopped by either Ryou or Yami.

Needless to say, Yami was getting a headache from listening to their bickering, which had increased tenfold since the day before. It was getting to the point where Yami felt the urge to scream.

And then the person in charge of assigning the guards their posts made the biggest mistake anyone has ever made. He assigned Jou to be the extra security guard Seto had insisted be posted outside Ryou's room.

Seto went ballistic went Jou turned up with a scowl on his face. They both got into another argument in record time. Seto said he wanted someone with skill to guard his brother. Jou argued that he did have skill and that Seto was an asshole.

Inside his room Ryou covered his ears. It didn't work though – the argument could still be heard thus preventing him from sleeping. He wondered if anyone else was able to sleep with the level of noise that the two were making.

Ryou groaned and covered his face with his pillow but that didn't help him sleep. He pulled the blanket over his head and pressed the pillow hard against his ears. This didn't dim the noise either – nothing could block out the two screaming males outside.

Ryou grabbed his pillow and blanket and moved out onto the balcony. It was slightly less loud out there so Ryou set down his things and curled up on the floor. The cool night breeze whipped around his face and he felt soothed. The memories of camping out in the desert with Seto washed over him and helped to drawn out the rest of the world and carry him off into a deep slumber

Bakura silently snuck through the palace courtyard. He had been correct in assuming that security had yet to be increased enough to pose a fret to him. Nobody thought he'd come two nights in a row. But they were wrong.

Bakura easily located the balcony he had jumped off the night before. He threw up his grappling hook and it caught onto the railings. He then swiftly ascended up the rope.

When Bakura reached the top he jumped over the railings. He was not watching his feet so when he took his first step he tripped on something. His breath was sharply knocked out of him as he landed on something human shaped. He reached for his dagger but froze when a pair of shocked emerald eyes blinked up at him.

Ryou and Bakura stared at each other for awhile, not knowing what to say. Bakura was the first to break the silence. "I told you I'd be back didn't I?" he said, his hot breath caressing Ryou's face.

"Yes," Ryou managed to get out, distracted by the fact that the thief's sexy body covered his own.

Bakura was slightly surprised by the teen's response. No crying, screaming, begging or resistance of any sort. Did the angel like the idea of being kidnapped? "Would you like to be stolen little treasure?" he asked.

"Yes," Ryou replied, his heart going a mile a minute.

Bakura smirked and leaned down to capture Ryou's lips. Ryou gasped at the sudden contact but soon relaxed and responded to Bakura's kiss.

They broke away and Bakura brought the boy, still wrapped in his blanket, into his arms as he stood. He unhooked the grappling hook and jumped off the balcony. They reached the ground and Bakura took off through the courtyard to a gate that wasn't being guarded. Bakura passed noiselessly through and headed towards a stallion that obediently waited for its master.

Bakura sat Ryou at the front and then jumped up behind him. He was about to flick the reins to tell the animal to go but stopped when he heard Ryou ask, "What's your name?"

"Bakura," he whispered in his angel's ear as he placed an arm around its waist. "What's yours?"

"Ryou."

"Ryou." The boy's name was sweet and easily rolled off his tongue. Bakura held tight to his new treasure as his mount set off into the night.

Meanwhile, Seto and Jou were still going at it. Ryou hadn't been the only one who's sleep had been disturbed by the two's fighting. It had become so loud and aggravating that the Pharaoh had been woken to sort them out.

Yami did not like being disturbed at night especially when it was the second night in a row. He was irritable and wanted to sort this out quickly.

"Seto! Jou!" Yami shouted as he approached them.

The two stopped fighting and turned to face their king. "Is there a problem Your Majesty?" Jou asked.

"Yes – you two are my problem! Your bickering is disturbing everyone!"

Seto and Jou looked down, both feeling embarrassed. "Sorry Your Majesty," they said at the same time. They then looked up and glared at each other.

Yami sighed. "You better apologize to Ryou as well. Poor boy probably hasn't had a wink of sleep thanks to you two."

Seto glared harder at Jou. "I'll go talk to him," he said before quietly entering his brother's room.

Yami massaged his temples and wished he could be somewhere else. "Go get some sleep Jou," he ordered the blond guard tiredly. "I doubt your presence will be needed tonight. Your bickering probably scared off any intruders."

A shout was heard from inside Ryou's room. Jou and Yami exchanged worried glances before dashing in to see what was wrong. Seto was standing on the balcony looking distressed. "He's gone! He's not in here!" he shouted.

"Maybe he went for a walk-" Yami started to say but was interrupted by Seto.

"No! His blanket's gone but his pillow is still here. He wouldn't of jumped off the balcony and we would have noticed him if he came out the door. There aren't any other exits! My brother has been kidnapped!" Seto shouted, disregarding the fact that he was interrupting the son of Ra.

Seto turned to Jou and pointed his finger at him. "This is your fault," he hissed.

"How is it my fault?" Jou demanded.

"Because you were the one who was supposed to be guarding him," Seto said, temper and volume slowly rising. "Because of your stupidity Ryou has been kidnapped!"

"Well if you hadn't been calling me names and distracting me I might have been able to save him!" Jou retaliated.

"Are you trying to say that it was my fault my brother has been kidnapped?"

"Enough!"

Seto and Jou stopped fighting and turned to Yami.

"The both of you need to calm down and point the finger later. Right now Ryou's safety is more important than your petty quarrel. Jou, you will go and inform the captain that I want his men searching the surrounding area as soon as possible. Seto, you and I will go back to my rooms and wait until the search is complete. Now move!"

Jou ran off to carry out his orders and Seto followed the Pharaoh as he marched off down the corridor.

"Don't worry Seto," Yami said as his cousin caught up to him. "Ryou will be fine. I'm sure whoever took him will not harm him – the scumbag is probably just after a ransom. We'll get Ryou back."

Seto hoped Yami was right. About everything.

He was sure that they would get Ryou back but he wasn't sure if he'd be in once piece – physically or mentally. Seto knew that Ryou was pretty and had seen many men look at him with lust in their eyes and only one thing on their minds.

What if the one who took Ryou was like those men? What if they were too late when they found Ryou and he was broken from being raped? Seto would never be able to live with himself knowing he could have prevented it.

A new burning hatred mingled with Seto's despair. It wasn't just hatred for the kidnapper but also for Jou – the one who was supposed to protect his brother but had failed to do so.

Seto wasn't going to forgive the mutt for this.

Not ever.

Please Review! Your comments help me to write more!