.:Chapter nine - Thievery Accusations:.
"What?" Yuugi asked, turning to look at Bakura, quite shocked at what the other had just screamed out.
"That bastard has out stuff!" he repeated, pointing at some punk kid with a hat far too down on his face and dirty, black clothes, with chains hanging in every possible spot.
Mariku gasped loudly and dropped the struggling Malik, who hit the cement with a howl, hitting his shoulder. "That's a bad man!" he cried, covering his mouth with his hands once he spotted his precious luggage case. He ran to Bakura, grabbing the other's shoulder, looking ready to cry.
Ryou, meanwhile, ran to Malik's side, helping him up, glad the insane being had finally let go of him. "Are you alright?" he asked, looking his friend over. The Egyptian nodded, glaring hatefully at the one who'd dropped him.
"Fucking bastard..."
Yuugi grabbed onto Yami's arm worriedly, seeing the furious look in the other's eye. "You're sure?" he asked wearily, not wanting them to attack some innocent... slightly stoned-looking punk-ish guy.
Yami nodded, seething as the boy pulled out some small machine, showing it off to the guy he was talking to, pointing to different things and laughing every now and then. "Yes, that's definitely our stuff."
It took no more than a few seconds for Bakura to swiftly move across the street, over to the guy and sock him square in the jaw, most likely breaking it on contact. People around them started yelling as more violence ensued, gathering quite a crowd. It also took almost no time for some police officers to move in on the scene. After pulling the brown-eyed male off the other, his fists smeared with streaks blood (though not a lot, it made it look like more than it was), there was much shouting and cursing, Yami looking worriedly to Yuugi, who gave the same look back.
This wasn't good.
"Bakura must have been really upset to do something like that without thinking..." he said quietly, resting his hand on the gray-eyed boy's shoulder quickly before walking over to the commotion. He began talking quietly with the officers, who nodded a few times, still holding the struggling Althasian down. Yami then pointed to the other one, who'd received the beating, his face bloody and a black eye forming, before his finger trailed down to the bags that the guy had next to him.
Mariku had apparently lost interest, since he was busy fawning over Malik's shoulder, while the tanned teen was trying to bat him away. "You're such a fag!" he finally screamed, pushing the alien away and getting up, brushing himself off.
Ryou, who was standing on the side, looked like he'd been struck, and moved back, finding intent interest in some sign in the window of a shop. The remark had been aimed to hurt Mariku, but it had actually hit him instead of the intended target. The other was just confused.
"What is 'fag?'" he asked, completely oblivious to the meaning. This caught Malik off-guard, who'd obviously not expected the other to do so dense as not to know what an insult meant...
His face barely tinged rosy as he replied; "It means you're a disgusting, gay man."
Again, the other just blinked. "What is 'gay?'"
Malik shouted his rage to the sky, as Ryou disappeared inside the store he'd been looking in. He just didn't think he'd be able to stand it much longer.
After having a sharp kick at his bluntly rude friend, Yuugi glared a little before turning to Mariku. "Its original meaning was 'incredibly happy and cheery', though I doubt that's what Malik was aiming for..."
Grabbing a bit of Yuugi's spiked tuft sticking up, the violet-eyed psycho tugged slightly, not enough to hurt the small boy, but enough to make him wonder what the hell he was doing. "Then what did pretty 'Li mean?" he asked, tilting his head and pulling the hair back and forth, causing Yuugi to have to move his head from side to side.
Trying to ignore this, the under-height teen tried to reply, his face becoming somewhat... flushed. "Well, I think he means that...that... well, the other meaning of gay is... erm... for a guy to... like guys... like-like..." he trailed off, somewhat uneasily.
While he wasn't as blatantly homophobic like Malik was, the thought did make him quite uncomfortable...
"So gay means for a man to mate with another man?" Mariku translated, frowning.
"Well, er...yes, you could say that."
"Well, Mariku is most definitely gay in both cases," he replied proudly, pointing to his chest and smiling, having let go of Yuugi's hair.
The said boy fidgeted, looking very unsure of what to say or do. Malik, on the other hand, stuck a finger down his throat and retched loudly, looking quite disgusted. "That'd be about right for you," he said, lips turned up. Ignoring the shocked glare he was receiving from his short friend, the Egyptian turned and pushed open the door of the shop Ryou had gone in mere seconds, possibly a minute of so, before.
He just needed to get away from that unnatural...thing. After letting out a heaving sigh, he looked up suddenly at the sound of a soft, beautiful yet haunting tune. Walking further into the shop, he found the shorter pale teen standing near the back, by a painting of an Asian-styled tree, some kanji scribbled down the side. In his hand, he held a small music box tenderly, watching it intently as though it were the most wondrous thing ever created.
Moving silently next to his long-time friend, he stopped at the boy's side, both just quietly listening to the music, ignoring the quiet chatter of the other people, however few there were, in the small pawnshop. It would have continued like that, had Ryou not suddenly snapped it shut, startling the tanned male. "What is it, Malik?" he asked, voice not sounding as sweet as it normally did.
"I just needed to get away from that disgusting pig." he replied, looking like he'd just tasted something very unpleasant. "He admitted to being gay! Like it was the most natural thing in the world... It's just... sickening."
"Malik, please don't talk to me anymore," came the dangerously low voice of Ryou, as the boy shoved past the oblivious blonde, who couldn't seem to understand why that had made the shorter male so upset.
"Ryou--"
But the other had already left his sight, having moved behind a bookshelf filled with different assortments of nick-knacks. Glancing down, Malik saw the now-forgotten music box, which had a small painting of a child and what could be presumed as a mother. They both looked so happy...
Now feeling slightly guilty, knowing somehow that it was his fault for hurting his friend, he gently opened the small box, letting the unfamiliar music flow once more.
---
As he exited the building, Ryou looked up and saw Mariku latched tightly onto Yuugi, nuzzling the short boy's face, while the latter gave off a very harassed and somewhat scared look.
'This whole thing is Mariku's fault... if he... if those three just hadn't showed up in the first place, at least I could still dream that it could work...'
As though sensing these angsty thoughts from the pale boy, Mariku glanced up, letting go of Yuugi to attack Ryou. Needless to say, he wasn't too pleased about this. "Leave me alone!" he shouted, throwing his arm out in an attempt to get the other to move back, but his plan didn't work too well... Since the blonde had just easily caught his wrist and blinked at him with his wide, pupiless violet eyes...
"Why is Ryou angry at Mariku?" he asked quietly, looking hurt.
...It was so damned hard to stay furious at someone who looked as pathetic as that... "Just...just go bother... bother Malik or something," the white-haired boy replied, looking away. His rather large crush on the said boy had suddenly shriveled, curled up in an attempt to keep the other's harsh words out. And his admiration for him dropped rather steeply as well.
Suddenly the other perked up, grinning brightly. "Yes! Pretty pretty Malik must be bothered!" he cried, clapping his hands, before his face fell a bit. "But pretty Malik doesn't like Mariku," he added, looking down sadly.
Swallowing hard, Ryou shrugged, trying to be nonchalant. "I'd have to say the same about myself," was his only reply, as he stepped around the tall Althasian, attempting to not look at Yuugi, who seemed utterly confused.
"Why's Malik mad at you?" he asked, his question directed at his albino-ish friend.
"Think about it,"
"Erm... never mind, then." Maybe if he just ignored the whole conflict, it would dissipate... things seemed to be doing that as of late. And the fact that he honestly had no clue of what Ryou was talking about didn't help, either.
Turning around, he went back to watching to make sure that Yami didn't need any help. But out of the corner of his eye he saw trouble. Uh-oh.
The white haired one had to be held down since he'd apparently struck one of the officers who had come in to help. Not good. And so, Yuugi, being the kind-hearted, problem-solving boy he is, ran towards the scene, dodging a few cars that almost hit him as he went. Yami was shaking his head, speaking animatedly to the other officer, who was the only one not having his hands full with something. "Those items belong to us, sir," he explained, shoulder slumping.
"Well, first thing is I'll need proof. Do you have any identification on you?"
...Hoshit.
"Um, sir, excuse me," Yuugi piped up, jumping into the conversation, smiling brightly. "I'm so sorry, but along with his stuff, Yami seems to have had his wallet stolen as well. He has no way of showing any identification." he said, thanking whatever deity would listen for his innocent face.
Frowning, the male before them sighed and nodded, resting his hands on his hips. "Well then, I'm afraid that you're going to have to come down and get it, once we've looked up your information on the computers," he muttered, pursing his lips, quite aggravated that things just couldn't be easy. "We'll also need you to tell us how your belongings went missing, and when."
Yuugi turned to look up at Yami, another small smile on his lips. "Don't worry Yami, we're going to get your things back... You just need to go with them so they can look up your personal info on the computers," he parroted back to the other, who looked straight ahead, his eyes widened slightly.
Blinking at the unusual face the taller was making, Yuugi frowned. "Yami...?" he asked, waving his hand in front of the other's face, who only jumped, startled.
"This isn't good..." he muttered, more to himself, not really worried about the officer hearing them, since he was conversing with the thieves.
"What's wrong, Yami?" the gray-eyed boy asked, now getting concerned.
Now he was in a stump. He couldn't just tell Yuugi that there was no way this planet would have information on them, could he? "Um..." His mind scrambled for an explanation, and he finally grasped one... not a very good one, but one none-the-less. "Perhaps we should just forget about all of this and go back to looking for that...erm... pot."
"But, Yami..."
"Please, Yuugi," the Althasian urged, grabbing lightly at the smaller boy's upper arm, looking into his eyes to prove his seriousness.
"Er...O...okay, Yami..." the earthling replied hesitantly, uncertain.
Breathing a sigh of relief, the bloody-eyed male sighed, pulling the other into a short-lived hug, before pulling back, glancing over at Bakura, who was throwing every curse he knew at the police who now had him in handcuffs, keeping him on the ground.
"Calm down, sir!" one of them was shouting at him, but the white-haired one simply ignored him.
"Get off of me! Those bastards stole our things! I'm going to get them back! Get the fu--" and from there, he lapsed into nice, colorful language, painting a picture of anger for the officer, who just rolled her eyes.
"You're going to get yourself a needle to the arm if you don't calm down," she muttered, causing Bakura to twitch, before struggling again, going on about the 'injustice' of this place, and so on.
"Bakura!" Yami barked, his voice angry and dangerous. All three people looked up at that, Bakura glaring hatefully at the prince, and the officers simply blinking, surprised at how such a small body could hold such a voice.
"Let it go, Bakura... let's just leave," he replied in a quieter tone, eyes flashing.
"Yami, I'm getting our things back, regardless of whether you want me to, or not," the paler one hissed, eyes burning with fury. "That bastard stole our property...we need those things!" he added, trying to buck the two off of him.
"Let him up," he told the two, who glanced at each other and then let a little slack on the boy beneath them. "Thank you," he added, bowing slightly, before grabbing Bakura and pulling the man to his feet, forcing him closer, ignoring his protests. "Bakura, we don't have anyway to prove those things are ours... and to do that, we'd have to go wherever it is they look up background information... And we do not have any on this planet!" he whispered, teeth clenched. "They'll catch us for being here illegally, and Ethe-hle be with us when they do! We don't know what kinds of things they have as punishments! They obviously don't know about aliens! Do you understand?"
Bakura stared ahead, eyes foggy, their former spark gone. He still looked furious, but now more subdued. "Bastards," was all he said, before shrugging his way out of the prince's grasp, glaring at the officers. "Just get these stupid things off me, and we'll be on our way."
Eyeing the two uneasily, the female officer frowned. "What changed your minds?" she asked, now suspicious that perhaps there was more than just a simple burglary that had gone on.
Seeing the look, Yami and Bakura glanced at each other, both knowing that this couldn't end well. Yuugi jumped up behind them, and began dragging them both off, when the third officer stopped him. "Why don't you all just come with us? To get things cleared up, and all..."
This definitely couldn't end well...
.:Chapter end:.
Sorry for leaving you guys like that, but...merf. Well, I sure hope you enjoyed the update! Yet another plot bunny has bitten me, and I'm afraid I'm working on more than just this story right now. -sweat- Heh... So sorry this took a while to get out! Hopefully I'll be able to update at least once a month from here-on-out, but no promises as of yet...
Don't forget to review! They're what keep me going!
-Cecilia