Chapter 11

Whenever Seto needed to think, needed to be alone, he usually went to the fountain in one of the less popular gardens. That was where he sat now, watching the clear water spout from the mouths of stone creatures down into the base of the pool.

What had Jou meant earlier? Ryou was loosing a loved one? He wasn't dying (as far as he knew) so who else would Ryou consider a loved one?

Nobody sprung to mind. Ryou knew better than to make friends on their journeys and he whenever they stayed in the palace Ryou mostly kept to himself. Seto had asked one of the servants if they knew of anyone who was ill. She had given him a funny look but informed him that nobody at the moment was so ill that it was likely they would die.

Seto sighed and stared down into the soft ripples of the bottom pool. He let his mind wander and surprisingly enough it wandered over the topic of Jou. After all, Seto had just seen him in a new light.

As far as Seto was aware Jou and Ryou had never been more than acquaintances. They had talked together when Ryou had separated the blond and brunet after fights but that was about it. The only problem with this theory was that Jou had been quite right in what he had said about Ryou. Seto had tried to deny it at first but now that he had thought about it he could see clearly what Jou had told him, what he had missed. Ryou had been so quiet on the way back. Seto at the time thought that it was a comfortable silence they had shared on the journey but now he saw that it wasn't. It was the silence of a grieving man.

Seto jumped when a hand touched his shoulder. He spun around and found Yami watching him with pity in his eyes. "You're obviously troubled if you have come to your thinking spot," the pharaoh told him.

Seto turned back to the fountain. "Jou's smarter than I thought."

Yami smiled, amused. "Really now? Whatever could have made you say such a nice thing about someone you hate so much?"

"Don't mock me Pharaoh," Seto said dangerously.

Yami sighed. "You take things far too seriously Seto," he said sadly.

A thought struck Seto. "Who's about to die?" he asked.

Yami raised an eyebrow at the morbid question. "Is this a trick question? Your way of saying you want that thief to be executed for what he did to Ryou?"

Seto's eyes widened. It couldn't be. There was no way that was who Ryou was grieving over. The man had kidnapped him – Ryou should hate him.

But still, who else was there that Ryou knew and would soon be loosing?

Seto jumped to his feet and stormed towards Ryou's room, leaving Yami behind in a state of confusion. Seto needed to know. He needed to find out if his theory was correct. What he would do after that didn't matter – all that mattered was eliminating such a possibility from the equation.

As Seto entered the corridors he saw another Jou walking towards him. Seto strode towards him, intent on making Jou reveal what he knew about Ryou. "It's the thief isn't it?" Seto shouted. "That's the loved one you were talking about!"

When Jou had seen Seto and the determined look in his eyes he had known something similar like this would be coming. That did not mean, however, that he had been able to think up a plan on how to handle the situation. "Yes," he said simply.

Seto stopped. He had expected the answer to be 'no'. He had hoped the answer would be 'no'. He had prayed the answer would be 'no'. Instead the answer was yes and he had absolutely no idea what to do about it. "It's a lie. You're lying to me," he accused.

Jou shook his head sadly. "If only I was," he muttered under his breath before staring Seto straight in the eye. "Seto, I've got no reason to lie to you."

"You could be doing it to spite me."

"Spite you?"

Seto glared at the blond guard. "I thought you had developed some form of intelligence. Obviously not or you would remember the years of vocal sparing."

Jou felt his temper rising. "I wouldn't lie to win a fight! I'm not a bastard who would make up something like that! I would have thought after all our years of 'vocal sparing' you would know me better!"

"Why would I do that you stupid, worthless mutt!"

Jou could no longer control his temper. "You stuck up bastard! I thought we'd gone past that! After helping you to rescue your precious brother I thought we'd given this up! I started to think you were alright but I was wrong like the first time!"

"First time?"

"When I first started working here I saw you and thought you were good looking!"

Seto was stunned at this declaration. Jou had thought that about him? That was something highly unexpected.

Meanwhile Jou was still ranting. "I thought there might have been a chance of us getting on if we couldn't be friends like the pharaoh and I do but no! You were so stuck up you'd never lower yourself to associating with anyone below you! From that first meeting we've only ever argued! Whenever you were here I always got in trouble for not concentrating because I was so busy trying to come up with good retorts for the next time we met!"

Seto found that rather strange; he too had found that he had read a line of text on one of his scrolls several times because his mind had been more focused on coming up with insults instead of the task at hand.

"Then, when you went off on one of your trips I had nothing else to do because every waking moment when you were here I had spent fuming over your comments! My life revolves around your comings and goings! When you're here I'm fuming over your pigheadedness and when you're gone I'm left to find something else to do besides cursing you for doing these things to me!"

Jou gasped for air; his rant had really taken it out of him. He watched Seto's face which wore an unreadable expression.

A chuckle made both males turn. Yami stood to the side, watching the two with a secretive smile. "It sounds to me like you're obsessed with Seto," he told Jou.

Jou's face became a deep red hue. "Obsessed? I'm not obsessed with that stupid bast…jerk."

Yami retained that secretive smile that neither Seto nor Jou liked. "You do know that hate is only a step away from love since both can make you very aware and obsessive other that other person."

"You're saying the mutt loves me?" Seto asked incredulously.

"And I think you love back," Yami added.

It was Seto's turn to go red, but not as obviously as Jou had. "I don't know what you're talking about. You have absolutely no proof to back up this accusation."

Yami listed the proof on his fingers. "You interact more with Jou than anyone else, including Ryou. You're always going on about him. You feel it necessary to insult him because you don't know any other way to put across what you're feeling. He occupies a large portion of your mind most of the time; need I go on?" Yami smirked when both Seto and Jou stared open-mouthed at him. "I'll take that as a no," he said before walking away. It was good to torment his cousin and friend sometimes. Also, he might have just put an end to the constant fights he had to break up. Today was a very good day in deed.

Jou and Seto remain in the same position for awhile after Yami had left. Everything that had been said was slowly registering in their brains and unfortunately all the pieces were fitting together.

When they did realise that they were both just standing there they quickly turned to walk in the opposite direction, not caring where they went as long as they were far away from each other.

Ryou sat alone in his room, curled up in a ball, his head buried in his knees. It was all too much for him to cope with. He just wanted this nightmare to be over. But it couldn't end – if it ended he would loose Bakura forever.

The tears trickled from his eyes. He didn't know what to do. Nobody believed there would be a happy ending. Was there anything he could do?

There was something but did he dare do it? If he was found out he would be in so much trouble. It would be worth it though. If he could make it happen there would be a happy ending. Well, maybe not a happy ending, but a satisfactory one at least. Yes, it was satisfactory and probably the best option he had.

Ryou sat up and wiped away the moisture on his face. He needed to be brave to do this; he needed to be smart. He had to make his plan. The deed had to be done before the trial in three days.

Please review!