A/N: I'm losing everyone, aren't I? Shall I retire from the authoress career? X3
Happy New Year! Welcome to the year 2006! I present to you an incredibly new (no kidding!) SPNMIC chapter! This was a crazy-hard revision!
Please tell me what you think and best wishes to all my readers!
Sweet Perfected Naivety Meets Its Counterpart
Chapter 6: Broken Safety
By LilPurplFlwr
The bell jingled softly as Ryou carefully pushed open the door of the game shop.
"Ryou!" Yuugi exclaimed happily from his seat at the counter. He did not get up to greet the other though because of his injury.
"Are… are you allowed to be up?" Ryou asked skeptically, maneuvering the stack of textbooks from his arms onto the surface of the display case.
"If you're asking how I'm feeling, I'm fine," the other senior replied with a childish grimace. "Besides, I've been lying down all day, and that gets pretty tiring in itself."
"Point taken," Ryou propped his elbow up on the tower of books, "Are you up for a challenge?"
Yuugi rolled his eyes and reached for a glass of water next to him. Taking a sip, Yuugi tossed his head back and popped two capsules into his mouth. After a hard swallow, Yuugi drained the glass of water in record time.
"Now I am," the injured seventeen-year-old confirmed with a grin.
"Since when were you on Viagra?" Ryou asked, blinking innocently.
"What?" Yuugi gasped, "I'd let you know I don't need Viagra to be up for a challen--oh… OH." Realization dawned.
Ryou couldn't help but snicker.
"That's clever, Ryou… very clever," Yuugi waggled his finger at Ryou, "I knew you were a pervert all along."
Ryou's laughing ceased immediately. 'I wonder… if he got my note,' he thought, his mind still reeling at the memory of the warm sensation pressed against his mouth. 'I hope… no, I shouldn't… why would someone like him open a chemistry book anyway?'
"Ryou?" Yuugi asked worriedly, staring at Ryou's slightly stressed expression, "Are you alright? Was it something I said?"
"I… I can't find my chemistry book!" Ryou blurted out, hastily brought back to attention when Yuugi waved a hand across his eyes; to further his statement, Ryou knelt down and began to dig through his backpack.
"Chemistry?" Yuugi repeated, scanning through the four main textbooks in front of him. Calculus, Physics, History, Literature. "Ryou…"
'Oh no… I can't believe I said that!' Ryou berated himself and sat down heavily on the floor, his arms resting on his knees. 'I have GOT to get over this! It's obviously very common for some really nice… no, I take back nice… some person to save another person and then kiss him… perfectly normal… nothing wrong with that…'
"…Why the hell are you taking chemistry when we're taking physics at the same time? TWO sciences? Are you sick, man?" Yuugi finished, his violet eyes widening in amazement.
"I'm sorry, what?" Ryou returned, a dazed look on his face.
"I'm kidding," Yuugi smiled softly, resting his chin on top the books and looking down at Ryou's huddled figure on the floor, "What's on your mind?"
"It's nothing."
"Don't give me that crap," Yuugi countered with a snort. "That wasn't meant to be mean, by the way," he added when Ryou looked at him strangely, "It's not often you are so preoccupied. You're always… how do I say this… on top of things?"
"Really? You think I'd be seme in a relationship?"
Yuugi nearly choked on air and got caught in a coughing fit. When recovered, he sputtered, "What is with you today, Ryou?"
"What?" Ryou flushed pink, "You just set yourself up perfectly."
"As if I actually meant to!" Yuugi countered, laughing, "Get your mind out of the gutter, Ryou… or is that what's really going on?"
Ryou could feel his face heat up further.
"Oh…" Yuugi mused, his eyebrows disappearing a moment beneath his blonde bangs. "I never knew…"
"You don't know a lot of things," Ryou chuckled nervously, trying to make his tone light.
Yuugi pouted, but looked thoughtful, "You're cute Ryou, but I thought you were too… uh… Ryou-like to get into this stuff."
"Stuff?"
"Porn!" Yuugi exclaimed with a bright smile, as if there was no other answer.
Ryou would have fallen over if he weren't already on the floor. He opted to staring at Yuugi's Cheshire-Cat grin with disbelief. "Porn?" he repeated, making sure he had heard his friend correctly.
"Are you having trouble finding it?" Yuugi charged right on, and sympathetically offered, "I could—"
"NO. God no," Ryou laughed, "Never."
"Wait… so what's the problem?" Yuugi asked confusedly.
"… It probably happens all the time." The floor pattern was suddenly very interesting to Ryou.
"That depends on what you're talking about," Yuugi smiled, "Now if you're referring to bon—"
"STOP right there," Ryou interrupted, holding up a hand, "You're terrible, Yuugi. I would have never expected…"
"Maybe it's the Viagra," Yuugi joked, tapping the bottle of painkillers.
"I'd bet," Ryou scoffed, "But… well…"
Yuugi 'hmm'ed and interrupted again, "Does it have something to do with your dirty uniform?"
"I…" the white-haired teen started.
"You're lying," his ever-so-observant friend accused.
"What? I didn't say anything!" Ryou defended, though he was about to lie again.
"You were going to say you tripped, right? Come off it, Ryou. I'm probably the person who gets bullied the most at school. You just get harassed because you're pretty," Yuugi shrugged the fact off casually.
"Uh…" Ryou didn't know whether that was a compliment or an insult, "It's the same thing, Yuugi, bullied and harassed, that is. At least drunk people don't mistake… you… as… a girl…"
"It was one time, Ryou… don't worry about it," Yuugi soothed, getting off his stool, and gingerly joined Ryou on the floor, having been with Ryou at the time referenced.
"It… happened again," Ryou squeezed his eyes shut in embarrassment, "And… it went further."
"What?"
"You asleep?"
Malik did not move to roll over and continued to stare at the wall, "I wish."
The bed shifted behind him as the other settled on it. Leaning back against the wall where a headboard would be, Bakura nonchalantly positioned a cup of water before Malik's eyes.
"Was it something you regret?"
Malik took hold of the glass but stayed lying down. Bakura's fingers left the rim of the cup and retreated. A minute passed before Malik pushed himself onto his back and sat up with a pained groan, water in hand. After finishing half of the initial volume, Malik eased himself back onto the mattress and turned onto his other side, now coming face to face with the familiar shreds in Bakura's jeans.
"Yes."
He closed his eyes and a frown was etched clearly in his usually clear face. His hand tightened its grasp around the cup, and the glass split. Bakura's dark eyes darted down at the mess of cracked glass, damp sheets, and his friend's bleeding hand.
"I thought you tossed regret out of your life along with your past."
Crimson trailed down Malik's fingers. Slowly, he loosened his grip, and loose glass tinkled into the water puddle at the bottom mold of glass. Broken edges rose up and down like mountains, and Malik was tempted to press a peak deeply into his palm.
"You and me both."
Bakura took a deep breath and let it out quietly. In the mean time, he took the broken shards and tossed the pieces, water and all, into the wastebasket.
"Is it bad?" Bakura finally asked, warily eyeing Malik, who lifted his injured hand so that the blood dripped down his wrist.
"Trying not to care," Malik replied vaguely, unsure as to what Bakura was referring.
"Sure."
Bakura's paler hand jerked Malik's arm horizontal to apply pressure to the cuts by a wad of tissues. The only indication of emotion was the flicker of pain in Malik's lavender eyes.
"I hope you didn't bleed over the bed," Bakura said casually, dropping the reddened tissues into the trash as well. He reached for a roll of bandaging beside him.
"Wasn't my intention," the Eyptian responded, unenthusiastically.
It took a minute or two for Bakura to tie the final knot around his friend's hand. Malik, in return, gave a weak smile.
"What?" Bakura prodded, almost waspishly.
"I could have done better with my one hand," Malik said, inspecting the wrapping job.
"Fucking ingrate," came the ever so clever response.
Malik fell silent, trying to figure a way to broach the subject again. It must have been obvious, because minutes later, Bakura supplied the perfect introduction.
"You regret it because…"
"… Because it put us in danger."
A perfect eyebrow rose in disbelief. Malik scowled when he saw the almost amused expression on his friend's face.
"I don't see how your sleeping with someone puts us in danger," Bakura offered, half in reassurance and half in his own arrogance.
"You don't understand!" Malik blurted, pushing himself up suddenly and anxiously peering into Bakura's eyes for comfort. "He…!"
Bakura waited patiently for Malik to continue, but the blonde clamped his mouth shut in mortification and fear.
Fear of rejection. Fear of separation. Fear of change. Fear of… losing someone important.
Studying the other's tortured expression, Bakura finally shrugged carelessly and stretched before planting his feet back onto the floor and standing up.
"I don't understand a lot of things, Malik," Bakura said with an atypical remorseful smile, "If something was so important to understand, wouldn't we understand it?"
"Bakura…"
The white-haired young man just shook his head and turned to head out of the room.
"There's not use for regret. What's past is past. What difference does it make if we'll face the future anyway?"
Bakura would have left, but he heard a muffled sniff behind him. Whirling around almost angrily, Bakura glared at Malik, who ducked his head down, one hand scrubbing madly at tightly closed eyes.
"Oh, for fuck's sake," Bakura exasperated, throwing up his hands, "That's the last time I'll ever try comforting you."
"You call that comfort?" Malik chuckled shakily, using his bandaged hand to blot any stray tears.
With great effort, the blonde eased himself off the bed and, wincing, closed the distance between himself and his best friend. Their lips met briefly due to Malik's insistence.
Bakura pulled away only inches to ask, "Oh, you wanted that kind of comfort?"
"Oh, stop," Malik chided, "I was just overwhelmed with my gratitude for your… uh… companionship." Malik looked like he just sucked on a lemon.
"Friendship's not in your vocabulary, huh?" Bakura laughed.
"I would have said I loved you, but it might make… this… what's the name… Ryou very mad," Malik smirked mischievously, throwing his arms around Bakura's neck for an overly dramatic clingy effect.
"Who?" Bakura asked, officially confused.
"Owner of chemistry book and said love note," Malik lapsed back into normalcy, as he set his full weight against his friend, near dragging both of them to the ground if not for Bakura, who was struggling to stay upright, "Oooh, Bakura… I want to know who you are. Is that code for 'That was a fun fuck, let's do it again'?"
Bakura groaned, "When…?"
"I'm not as stupid as Jou, thanks," Malik said, lifting his head up proudly, "Give me a little credit here."
"How do you know his name is Ryou?" Bakura inquired cautiously.
"Him, huh? Obviously if you read the cover – WAIT," Malik pushed away from his friend and, staggering, backtracked to sit on the edge of the mattress, "You don't even know the name of this guy!"
Bakura glared, "Why should I? I just met him today."
"Today?" Malik looked just ready to either (1) congratulate (2) scold (3) pry for more details, or, always a good option (4) faint from sheer excitement.
"Yes… since when do you open chemistry books?" Bakura couldn't help but wonder.
"Since they began tripping me," Malik shot back good-humoredly, "Geez, where have you been, Bakura?"
Bakura considered this for a moment, and leaned against the doorway, "Okay… one more question then, before I kill you."
Malik smiled, "Shoot."
"How sore are you?"
"You couldn't possibly imagine," Malik's smile faltered, "If anything has to happen for the next… oh, say… week…"
"That bad, huh?"
"So very bad," Malik finished with a sigh.
"Yuugi, wait," Ryou protested, whilst Yuugi continued to take inventory of how many sharp hazardous items were in his home and in how long 'the hunt' would commence, "It's fine. This guy got rid of the drunk."
"Rid?" Yuugi asked curiously, halting in his personal commentary.
"Completely trashed him," Ryou corrected with a dry smile, "I have to admit I was impressed."
"Is he what's been on your mind?"
Ryou swallowed guiltily, "Sort of." At the doubtful look on Yuugi's face, Ryou rephrased his answer, "Yes. Unfortunately."
"Well…"
The bell jangled its second time in the afternoon. Yuugi looked up, ready to ask, "How may I help you?"
"I'm sorry. Am I interrupting?" a familiar baritone asked.
"Yami?"
Yami smoothly stepped into the shop and let the door swing close behind him. A small smile tugged at his lips, "Yes?"
"W-what are you…?"
Yuugi struggled to get to his feet, but standing up was a lot more difficult than sitting down. Swiftly, Yami was at his side, helping the other teen up by wrapping one arm beneath Yuugi's arms and another around his small waist. Ryou took one look at Yuugi's flushed expression and decided to make himself scarce.
"Yuugi, I'm going to put our books in your room, okay?" Ryou said congenially, sweeping the schoolwork off the counter and disappearing into the house.
"But! Ryou!" Yuugi called, to no avail. Shyly, he turned back to Yami, who did not relinquish his hold on Yuugi's waist.
"I came by to see how you were doing," Yami explained, gently touching Yuugi's side, "You look well," Yami commented conversationally.
"Tha-anks," Yuugi stuttered, only too surprised to find he had unconsciously grabbed the taller teenager's shoulders for support and was now terribly close to the other. "I… thanks," he lamely concluded.
"No problem… Yuugi," Yami responded smoothly, quite liking the effect of his saying the younger one's name.
Yuugi, as jittery as he felt, had to confess he liked the lack of distance between him and Yami. Though, Yuugi thought absently, most normal friends don't stand so wrapped up in each other.
"So… what brings you to the shop?" 'Brilliant question, if I do say so myself,' Yuugi groaned sarcastically to himself.
Yami tilted his head to one side as if to inquire about Yuugi's question, but instead, leaned even closer until his mouth nearly brushed Yuugi's ear.
"You, obviously," Yami answered, very much amused. His warm breath ghosted past the curved shell of Yuugi's ear, sending hot tingles rushing through the senior's blood.
Yuugi recoiled, his hand instinctively reaching up to touch the side of his head. His violet eyes widened, but were only concentrated on the sensual appearance of Yami. Yuugi supposed he had never noticed the -- dare he say it? -- beautiful? dangerous? extremely attractive? sexy? details of the street teen.
Aside from the very evident slim, but toned, body, what pulled Yuugi down like gravity were Yami's eyes. Presently, they were a warm crimson, but as Yuugi had once experienced in the dead of the night, Yami's eyes could look like stone-cold rubies.
Presently, Yami was pushing his stray bangs from said eyes, which knocked Yuugi from his reverie.
"Actually, besides coming to see how you were, I wanted to return this to you."
A dark-red bundle was presented to Yuugi, who looked at it confusedly.
"Your sweatshirt you lent me," Yami explained, "Thank you."
It took a second for Yuugi to register that Yami was wearing a familiar black shirt, sleeves rolled up in a style most comfortable to Yami.
"Oh…" was all Yuugi came up with, as he took the folded article, "Ah! How is your… uhm…" With no words, Yuugi gestured to Yami's torso, "I saw bandages last time, and –"
"Healed. It's wrapped to prevent irritation though," Yami answered, pulled his shirt high enough for Yuugi to see some of the wrapping, though Yuugi's eyes froze on Yami's flat abdomen. Yami mentally laughed, but continued with, "Guess we can be two invalids together, hm?"
Yuugi giggled, "Please. You're as active as ever."
His comment darkened the situation, and it suddenly became very awkward.
Yami took a deep breath, "Yuugi. I'm really sorry you witnessed what happened. I thank you for saving me, but do not get yourself more involved."
"Wh—" Yuugi started, wanting to protest or at least have Yami define what 'more involved' meant, but was cut off.
"This is dangerous business. You have to understand," Yami proceeded in a methodical manner, as if he had been running these sentences over and over again in his mind.
"But, Ya—"
"I want you to pretend you've never encountered my group that night," the harsh tone in Yami's voice cut into Yuugi's core.
There was silence, and with a business-like nod, Yami turned to leave. The cheerful jingle of the door was apathetic to the heavy mood.
"Wait," Yuugi entreated, "You're saying…?"
"I never want to see you again."
Yuugi felt something wither in him. Whether it was hope or connection or even understanding… it was brought down with those simple seven words.
"Why…?" Yuugi murmured to himself, not even having a specific question in mind. He was confused. Had he really gotten himself into something he didn't want to be in? Or did he honestly want to continue?
As the door shut after Yami's dark figure, Yuugi failed to miss Yami's last fleeting words moments before the door swung close.
'Stay safe.'
"I can't… don't understand," Yuugi gripped his head in frustration.
'Please.'
There was something to be about light and dark. There were little things that looked fearful in the light, but even the most congenial objects emanated disturbing vibes in the darkness.
Things that came to mind were streets and houses.
But as luck would have it, the gang found themselves around an empty run-down warehouse area. The building itself stood towering among the crates and rusting metal-linked fences.
"I still don't think this is a good idea," Mai hissed to the others as her eyes darted nervously around. All she saw was dust, odd shadows, and a lot of wooden structures.
"It'll be fun," grinned Bakura, feeling more like himself now that they were faced with unknown danger.
Jou, who had broken away from the group to scout the outside area, inched back toward the four and mused, "Question is: How are we getting inside?"
Yami peered thoughtfully at the top of the building and spotted a relatively close stack of crates nearby.
"I'll be right back."
With that, the petite youth scaled his way up, and, with a little momentum, disappeared over the edge of the roof. Yami had completed his task in complete silence. There were perquisites that came with being so light.
Bakura turned back to look at his lagging friend, "You shouldn't have come."
Malik sneered and gave the white-haired fiend the finger, "Give it a rest, will you?"
Bakura had the decency to look indignant, "If your reflexes aren't already shot, your lower body probably feels like shit."
"Thank you, Dr. Obvious," came the bitter reply from Malik.
"Go home!" Bakura commanded, staring into Malik's pained lavender eyes.
"No."
There was a small thud from above and the four on the ground tensed. Yami climbed down and dropped quietly to the dirt with an apology.
"Are they still arguing?" Yami asked Mai, who nodded. None of them knew why Malik had insisted on coming with them in his sore condition.
"Nothing up there?" Jou asked, steering the topic to what was presently on-hand.
"No, though if we wanted to, we could get in from the open windows," Yami gestured to the high but small rectangular openings near the edge of the room.
"I know it sounds stupid, but walking through a door would be grand," Malik opinionated, who was batting away a still concerned but also aggravated Bakura.
"Once we're in, we'll be sitting ducks," countered Mai, knowing enough about a general warehouse to know it would be complete with plenty of corners, aisles, and shelve-like features.
"That's okay," Jou said with a decisive flick of blonde hair. Going to the double doors, Jou tested the weight with a palm, but drew back with caution when they shifted open a sliver.
With a one-arm shove, Jou moved quickly behind one side and waited. There was nothing, and with a kick, Jou opened both doors. Like before, there was no change in the setting.
Even when all five had moved inside, the warehouse was deadly silent and the warm humidity inside the dusty area made their nerves jump.
The group of five was standing close together in the middle of the vast room. Slowly, as if someone had spoken the command, they all spread out warily, each taking up a specific area. When it seemed that they were all miles away from each other, something, somewhere, made some movement.
Immediately, shadows of dozens of people appeared above and around them.
"Shit," Mai scowled, "What a surprise... not!"
No one made a move. The ambushers all seemed to be waiting...
"Hmm, looks like we're waiting for the all high n' mighty dude," Jou said, snapping his fingers, "Alright, then, we'll wait too."
He leaned back against the wall that he was backed up against and crossed his arms. Likewise, Bakura, Malik, Mai, and Yami also backed up a little to survey what was coming for them.
Nothing.
Suddenly, someone actually moved, lightly jumping up onto a high shelf, near Malik's head. Malik, who was already surrounded by four people, did not really dare to look up. In fact, the tanned teenager was a little worried about the turning in his stomach.
'Four… good lord, how screwed am I?' Malik winced, pressing his back harder against the wall. His eyes darted back and forth, scanning the visages of his opponents. Obviously, he could take them out quickly… if he wanted them dead… but even he wasn't that cold-hearted.
Oh, life's dilemmas…
"He won't be... attending tonight," the unidentified person informed quietly, though everyone heard it in the complete silence, "What a coward," he also added under his breath.
-What did you call me, punk?- came an enraged voice from the collar of the teenager's shirt.
"Ah, so he had me bugged."
Malik finally realized who was speaking above him. He should have recognized the amused tone in the other's voice immediately, but logic got lost when one was in trouble.
Mariku pulled out a miniscule hooked microphone and jumped down gracefully, landing next to Malik, who recoiled. Dropping the electronic onto the floor, Mariku unceremoniously stepped on it, drowning out any other commands from the angry leader.
Immediately after Mariku had ended the communication, his whole group collapsed into chaos. They all turned upon the one person they were told to attack as a group.
-
"Aww," a man cooed after he studied Yami, "I think we got the baby of the group."
Yami's eye twitched at the statement. Baby? Baby? What. The. Fuck.
"Do you realize," Yami said in a deadly soft voice, "That I am capable of maiming all five of you in under two minutes?"
They blinked back doubtful.
Yami started to laugh, "You're more than stupid," he reached behind his back and pulled out a switchblade, "You'll learn not to mess with me."
It was barely a challenge. They were slow. Compared to his speed, they were moving as fast a snail. Snickering to himself, but then feeling the smallest twinge of guilt for laughing, Yami unintentionally stumbled over a fallen body.
"Whoa!" Yami stumbled forward, unbalanced, but was pulled back by another, who wrapped a thick chain around Yami's neck and started to strangle the eighteen year old.
Wheezing, Yami's free hand reached up to try and loosen the tight noose that meant to either cause him to pass out or die. With no second thoughts, his dagger sought to distract his assailant, and in desperation, ended up stabbed into the man's leg.
The word howled was unintelligible, and the man immediately dropped to the floor, going into shock. Yami coughed and winced, in no condition to worry whether or not he had hit a main artery or not. The buckle he wore about his neck actually helped more than he would have ever dreamed. And his friends always wondered why he wore it.
Pulling away the heavy chain, he swung it around, gathering enough force through an intricate routine to bring down on his stunned opponents.
That was three down, but who was counting?
"Hmm ..." Yami murmured to himself, swinging the heavy chain around, "How fun."
As he began to swing it in patterns again, the last two men did not dare come close to him, in fear of being knocked out by the whirling metal.
Soon enough, Yami had it swinging so fast that one could not possibly tell where its exact location was, and all one could see was a gray shield around Yami. It hummed disturbingly.
"Fuck!" the man glanced at his partner, "What should we do?"
"I dun---"
Yami had casually walked up to them and brought the chain down upon the man's head.
Chuckling quietly as the man screamed in intense pain before collapsing, Yami grinned evilly at the last man. The man's eyes widened as Yami replaced the chain he had in his hand for a dagger. The chain was hooked loosely along Yami's waist, ready for use at anytime.
"Shit! From chains to knives, I'm getting out of here," the man informed rhetorically, stumbling backwards and wrenching open a side door.
Yami's red eyes narrowed apprehensively, debating whether to go after him or not. The question was, however, whether the others were okay with their situations.
After all, they all had their weaknesses.
-
"Three against one isn't very fair," Mai complained, and as the others stepped out of the shadows. She then muttered, "Lucky me. I get the bitches."
"As if it's a bad thing," one laughed evilly.
Mai was suddenly had an epiphany as to what her teammates were all males. Girls got on her nerves. A lot.
"Until death then?" Mai suggested, reaching for her weapon secured to her thigh.
"Do we play any other way, girls?" the first one asked, one hand on her hip and waving a blade in another.
'Of course not,' Mai answered grimly, narrowing her eyes, "More fun for me. Who's first?"
"I am," all three said simultaneously.
"Figures," Mai glared, ducking the combined assault and rolling away from the three, "Wish I put my hair up," she added ruefully, shaking out her beautiful golden waves.
"Vanity isn't a virtue," quipped a girl decked in black who appeared quickly behind Mai, delivering a swift kick toward her head.
Though instinct told her to dodge, experience had taught Mai otherwise. With her free hand, she blocked the kick and knocked the girl to the floor with a sweep behind the knee. As the weaponless girl crumbled, Mai knocked her out with a precise blow to her head.
With no warning, a flash a metal cut right next to Mai's face, but by luck, Mai had been crouching to the floor to check just how much damage she had dealt the now-unconscious girl.
"Shit!" Mai said with surprise, landing ungracefully, eyes wide in order to observe her setting. "What was--?" As if to answer her, the second girl dropped like a stone.
It took a couple of seconds for Mai to realize that the weapon had an awful hard-to-avoid backlash if the target was missed.
"Sheesh, poor girl," Mai murmured to herself.
"It isn't polite to whisper to yourself when you have company," the girl with two eight inch blades yelled at Mai, who pulled a matching dagger from its holder in order to counteract the approaching threat.
Hanging out with Bakura and Malik did help you work with knives though.
"Shit!" Mai exclaimed again, as a knife bit into her arm. Check that. Knives weren't her forte.
Hissing in pain, she clumsily sheathed her weapons and tore off the black cloth that covered her forearm and wrapped it around the bleeding wound. She pulled out her blades again, mentally grimacing as she felt blood continue to flow and the wound start to sting, but she stood strong, spinning the blade with her injured arm as to indicate that such a wound did not faze her.
"Shall we give it another go?" she asked lightly, but was wondering why the last girl had stopped.
"Not today," came the odd reply.
The slim figure before her took off running. Though urged to follow, Mai fell back with weariness.
It took a lot of energy to not kill.
-
This was not good.
Jou breathed heavily as he continued to defend himself from a large burly man. It was like an unending and tiring game. The difference in weight was just too much. Fortunately, the blonde had already taken out two people. Each was a bloody experience, but whether or not they were gone was another question.
'I can't take this for much longer,' Jou panicked, trying to knock the sharp weapon out of the man's hands and yet dodge the other physical assaults.
Grabbing the man's arms and bracing himself, Jou planted a solid kick under the man's rib cage. The blow was successful, and the man froze for a moment and gaped soundlessly from the loss of all air.
Taking his chance, Jou hit the man as hard as he could on the head with the hilt of the knife. Knowing that the man had collapsed and was now in the land of darkness, yet still breathing, Jou quickly turned and prepared himself for the next attack by two younger teenagers, even younger than himself.
'What is this?' Jou thought as he struggled against such energetic and ruthless teens. 'They're so young!'
"I hate to become da bully n' all," Jou muttered, as the two boys spread out to opposite sides of him, "But even bullies have to defend themselves, right? Right."
The two teenagers charged at him. Jou instantaneously darted his eyes to find something to grab hold of. Jou's eyes lit up triumphantly as he spotted iron bars above him. Stable or not, he would have to do this if he did not want to do something he would hate himself for.
Backing up against the shelf, he prepared himself for a jump with his foot on the lowest ledge of the shelf.
"I'm trapped!" Jou yelled, as the two raised their weapons to attack.
Giving it his all, Jou sprung for the lowest bar, his fingers just getting a grip on it. Wrapping his hands until he had a very firm hold on the bar, Jou pulled his legs up to the bar and hooked them, letting his arms go, and hung upside down by his legs. The bars held perfectly stable.
Watching the two teenagers amusedly upside down, Jou saw that they had run into each other. What would one expect from such inexperienced kids? Jou overheard them yelling to each other over the noise about how stupid the other was. Typical.
Jou swung back down, landing lightly on his feet.
"Nice going, " Jou mocked, coming closer to the two boys.
He kicked the weapons away, which skidded across the floor smoothly until they hit a fallen body. Looking frightened, one boy tugged on the other. Unexpectedly, the other one shoved Jou backward, and the two ran for their lives. Jou, too surprised to react, stumbled backwards but gave up the chase.
What were young teens like that doing in a gang anyway?
-
"I'll use this one," Bakura snickered insanely, licking the edge of a terribly jagged-edged blade, "Do you want to go first?"
"Oh, great," one of his enemies muttered, "We got the crazy one."
Bakura snarled, loving the way the others jumped at the bestial tone, "Me? Crazy? No… I just think I enjoy this too much," he ended with a congenial chuckle.
No one attacked him. No one even moved. Bakura raised an eyebrow. This was pathetic… so the fear was kind of cute, but it was boring.
"… Three!"
Bakura took a few steps back when all five rushed at him at once. His eyes glinted a feral red at the first slash that sent splatters of crimson liquid. It took a nanosecond for the adrenaline to flood his veins. His pupils dilated seeing the smears and pools of black that came from his work. It was a zone that could not be broken.
It was almost decorative, the way Bakura fought. Yes, it was a beautiful effect, but dried blood usually ended up ruining the edge of his blade, also given that it was hard to clean off.
"Holy shit! You are fucking insane!" his last surviving opponent managed to choke out, only having received several deep slashes, but not anything fatally wounded. One eye was shut due to a cut and the blood was dripping down an attractive face.
Knocked out of his world, Bakura tried to contain his laugh. He was not even close to being insane. They were just too pathetic.
"Insane? No. I just happen to possess... " Bakura turned his back upon the other teenager, "... a little more SKILL than your group of five combined."
Being completely and stupidly wide open, Bakura found it suspicious and insulting that his opponent did not even try to attack. In fact, the said gangster turned tail and ran towards the exit.
"What the fuck?" Bakura leaped over the other fallen enemies to chase after his last attacker, or now, his prey.
Rushing outside, where there was not even a moon for light, Bakura continued to chase after the teenager, who seemed to be losing blood at a very fast rate. Snatching another blade that was hooked loosely by a single loop to his pants, Bakura hurled it, what seemed, directly at the teenager's retreating upper back area. It really did not help that the boy was wearing solid black.
In the darkness, Bakura heard the knife hit solid wood, probably one of the dozens of large cargo carts around the warehouse.
'Wood?' Bakura thought, surprised. Was his aim really that bad?
Nearing the area, his ears caught the start of a motorcycle and he saw that his knife had, indeed, pinned itself almost halfway into the wood.
"Hn," Bakura grumbled, pulling his knife out and replacing it back at his hip, "Not bad. Heck, he survived this far. Not bad, not bad at all," Bakura considered thoughtfully.
-
"Wait," Mariku commanded the four other people surrounding his lover, "Shoo," he added carelessly. Almost mechanically, the four turned and tried to divert their attention. Confused, they could only deduce that what the second-in-command said, had to be done.
"You!" snapped Malik, angry beyond redemption, "Just what do you think you're doing!"
"I can't say. Don't quite know yet, you see," Mariku whispered back, leaning near Malik's ear.
"Get. Away. From. Me," Malik hissed, but was trapped against the shelf with Mariku keeping him there.
"Mmmm, you said relationship," Mariku reminded in a soft murmur, planting light kisses along Malik's jawline.
"No public displays of affection!" Malik scowled, his voice low but trembling with uncertainty.
"So relationship is still okay, right?" There was hope, Mariku figured triumphantly.
"Fuck off! I'm busy!" Malik pointed out awkwardly, anxiety setting in.
"Fine, if you insist. But if you need me, I'll be right above you," Mariku reassured, having been worried the moment Malik walked (limped) in.
Malik shuddered, "I don't see how that is supposed to make me feel better."
But when the ambush did get underway, Malik found it getting easier as it went along. With his skills with blades, he could almost get away fighting sitting down. Malik barely allowed a smile on his face. He was supposed to be mad. Stupid Mariku. Who did he think he is? But this was no challenge. It was kind of funny to see such amateurs go down when they tried to take Malik down. Malik gave them a cold smile, nonetheless.
Flipping his daggers around in his hands, Malik faced the other two. Ducking and grasping one's arm, Malik pulled it in the direction an arm was not supposed to be pulled. That scream was heard by everyone.
"You'll be put out of your misery," Malik informed, tackling the man and plunging a knife into his chest and twisting it, "You're lucky I'm so nice. I'm not getting you back for those other injuries you gave ME!"
Hearing whimpering and getting annoyed by the mere sound, Malik pulled the knife out of the dead man and threw it at the other one. Sheesh, such babies, crying and whimpering like that.
"Nice," commented Mariku, dropping down like a cat next to Malik again, reflexively ducking when Malik tried to cut him, "Violent."
"Shut up," Malik sullenly wiped the blade on his shirt.
Pulling Malik's other knife from a body, Mariku also cleaned the blade off on his shirt, tossing it back to Malik, who caught it with practiced ease.
"That's not getting you back on my good side," Malik informed, replacing the knife at his waist.
"Was I ever on your good side?" teased Mariku, edging closer to Malik.
'Stab him!' one of Malik's inner voices screamed at him, but he just could not get himself to throw the dagger.
"Not another step," he warned, holding the blade pointing straight toward Mariku's smirking face.
"Malik... " Mariku frowned sadly at Malik, whose hand was beginning to quiver.
Moving impossibly slow, Mariku reached up and pried the knife from Malik's weakening grip. Looping the dagger's intricate handle to Malik's pants, Mariku gave Malik a soft kiss on the lips. Malik tried to pull back, but Mariku's hand was preventing him from doing so. Pulling away and then giving Malik another quick kiss, Mariku whispered an incoherent goodbye.
Malik opened his eyes, surprising himself that he had closed them in the first place. Frowning to see the other teenager had disappeared, he looked around and tripped. Again.
"What…?" he muttered beneath his breath, wincing painfully. Why didn't he listen to Bakura when he could have?
Lying there next to his feet was a large box. Squinting in the darkness, Malik pulled the box toward him and opened it. Inside, packed neatly, were bandages, gauze, disinfectant, and other useful first aid supplies. Plucking the note that was taped to the lid, Malik could not read it until he held it three inches to his face. Damn the lack of light.
Malik blinked and figured his eyes were playing tricks on him. Things like that might happen if you just killed a couple of people.
No joke. Mariku actually left him something useful.
A/N: How wasthis new-chapter-six-plus-revised-chapter-seven combination? 6500 words… time for me to pass out. X.X
I beg you to review… TT.TT Especially on the earlier half… new chapter six… with the Yuugi&Ryou scene, Bakura&Malik scene, and YamixYuugi scene