At the moment, it seems as though my only mission with this story is to make you fine people hate Yami XD And...I don't think this chapter will exactly rectify this :/ please don't hate me :'( I promise, it's not like that at all :'D

Oh, and~! And~! Random side note here: I had my sixteenth birthday party two days ago :D (The party, not the actual day) It was SUPER SPECIAL AWESOME~! Sorry, I just had to tell somebody that XD

~IA

There was no specific destination; the best advice Yugi had to offer Ryou was, 'away'. So away they went.

They had been travelling for at least an hour when Ryou noticed something very unusual. Frowning, he tapped the temperature gauge as though the reading was faulty. Predictably, it wasn't.

Ryou didn't wait around. He pulled onto the side of the road.

Yugi looked up from the back seat. "What's the problem?"

Ryou was already jumping out of the car. "The engine looks like it's overheating. That's..." He tried to find a more effective word. Failing to do so, he just finished with, "...bad."

He ran around to the bonnet and pulled the hood up. After a moment, Yugi joined him. Ryou leaned forward over the hot engine, tentatively trying to find the source of the problem. His hair kept falling into his face and he brushed it away with frustration, wishing he had some kind of bandana or headband.

As soon as he figured out where to look, sourcing the problem was easy. "There's no cooling fluid," Ryou said matter-of-factly, straightening up again.

Yugi gasped and looked inside the engine too. He obviously had no idea what he was looking for, though, because he straightened up too a second later. "That's bad, right?"

Ryou grimaced, nodding. "Without the cooling fluid, the engine will overheat and..." He paused. "Die."

Yugi frowned. "So, we just...ran out? Can something like that happen?"

Ryou wasn't satisfied with simply knowing the problem. "I haven't seen it before, but I'm not a proper mechanic and I've never owned a car. I wonder..." His brow still knitted, Ryou leaned inside the engine again, trying to pinpoint the exact problem. The car had been serviced only a week ago, after all...

His breath caught when he found it. A very deliberate hole had appeared in one of the pipes that circulated the cooling fluid. Small, but present and clearly of human origins. A little of the precious cooling fluid still dripped from it, sizzling into minute jets of steam as soon as it contacted the hotter parts of the engine. Ryou gulped. This hole hadn't been there a week ago; it was new.

"Did you find the problem?" Yugi's voice was thick with worry. Ryou could understand; not only was it his car, but it was also their only method of transport.

The fact was very simple, though; Ryou wasn't going to drive a car with no coolant, and they had no spare parts to replace the leaking pipe. Ryou's hand started to tremble. How could he possibly tell this to Yugi? Yugi, who had just escaped from several months as the kidnapped prisoner of an angry street gang. It wasn't difficult to see who the culprits of the hole were, and since the engine could only have been vandalised on the previous night...they must have been close.

Ryou squeezed his eyes shut. What did they still have against Yami? Why couldn't they just give up?

"Ah..." Ryou tried to act casual. "Um, not yet; just let me have another look. If there's no leak then we should be able to use water to replace the missing coolant and be on our way in no time."

The lie flowed swiftly and unnaturally through Ryou's lips. What good would lying do? It wasn't going to change anything; it would simply grant Yugi a few more minutes of blissful ignorance.

Yugi bit his lip and hung back. "Well, okay...is there anything I can do?"

Ryou shook his head, acting as easygoing as he could, as though the knowledge that their car could no longer run didn't matter to him. "Nope; just wait in the car."

Yugi hesitated and then obeyed. Through the windshield, Ryou saw him rouse Yami and explain to him what was going on.

Ryou's heart sank. He didn't want to lie to Yami, too.

But what else could he do? Ryou pretended to be looking in the engine, his thoughts elsewhere. How could he possibly tell Yami that they were stuck there while the very people they had been running from were somewhere nearby?

A tear slid down Ryou's cheek, sizzling into oblivion as soon as it hit the hot engine. If Yami came out and asked about the engine, Ryou would have to tell another lie, to the man he loved. He opened his eyes again. If Yami never saw the hole, he would probably think Ryou had overlooked something when he was fixing the car a week ago. Then he would think that Ryou had been careless and it was going to cost them their lives. He would blame Ryou for everything and he and Yugi would hitchhike away and leave him there.

Ryou gulped. He was being overdramatic; even he couldn't imagine Yami jumping to such extreme conclusions. Yami never jumped to conclusions.

Through his tears, Ryou smiled to himself. He was all conclusions; he could drop a milk bottle and, mere seconds later, have panicked and arrived at the conclusion that he was about to be evicted from his apartment and be forced to live jobless on the streets. He was extremely lucky that his predictions rarely came true.

He sighed again, his thoughts returning to the matter at hand. He only wished that the same principle applied here. But this prediction was irrefutable; all the principles in the world weren't going to replace the cooling system.

"Ryou?"

Ryou jumped upon hearing his name, and looked away a moment later when he realised it was Yami who had spoken.

Yami was standing to one side of the bonnet, his hand on the hood of the car, peering at the engine. "What's the problem? Yugi said-"

"Cooling fluid. I know." Ryou couldn't bear to look at him.

Yami came around to the front of the bonnet, next to Ryou. Ryou's heart gave another painful flutter as they brushed hands for a second. He moved away slightly.

"Did you find what's wrong?" Yami asked, his voice even and almost emotionless.

Ryou was about to simply shake his head, when the truth tumbled from his mouth as though it hadn't seen daylight in years, completely contrary to what Ryou had already decided to say. "Oh, Yami! There's no way of getting it to run!" he practically wailed. "It must have happened last night; somebody drilled a hole in the cooling pipes and now if we use the car it'll overheat."

Yami stared at him in utter disbelief. "What?" He bent to examine the hole Ryou was pointing to.

Ryou couldn't believe himself. What had he just done? Now Yami was going to hate him for having lied to Yugi.

Yami straightened up, his face pale. "Have you told Yugi?"

Ryou shook his head, trying to keep himself together. "No...I didn't want him to worry...after everything he went through."

Yami nodded slowly. "That's what I would have done."

B-bmp b-bmp, b-bmp b-bmp.

Ryou couldn't believe how pathetic he felt. He was practically falling apart at the seams. "What are we going to do?" he whispered, staring into the engine dejectedly.

Yami was no longer looking at the car. His gaze had fallen onto Ryou.

Ryou suddenly realised that this was the first time they had been alone together since Yami had told him about his past. Yugi was only feet away, shielded from view by the car's raised hood, but Ryou felt eerily alone. He knew right then and there that he didn't want to be alone with Yami; it was too much for his frayed nerves to cope with at the moment.

"I actually wanted to talk to you, Ryou."

Ryou turned so that his body was facing Yami, but his head still hung low and he stared at the ground, not knowing what to say.

"Listen, Ryou," Yami began, "I just wanted to say...how sorry I am."

Ryou looked up hesitantly.

Yami was looking straight at him. "It's my fault that this is happening to you; you never did anything, and yet...here you are, stuck in the middle of nowhere with no transport and a gang of angry gangsters trying to kill me and anyone who's with me."

Ryou blinked. "You don't need to be sorry, Yami; it's not your fault. I don't blame you for anything."

Yami suddenly scowled. "Ryou, I'm not asking this of you, I'm begging you; don't forgive me because you feel sorry for me. For the sake of my sanity, don't forgive me."

"But it's not because-"

"I'm serious, Ryou; I-"

"Will you let me finish?" Ryou interrupted sourly.

Yami stopped, surprised by Ryou's sudden outburst.

"Okay, so...you listen to me, okay?" Ryou said, trying to sound forceful. "I'm not forgiving you because I feel sorry for you. I don't forgive anybody because I feel sorry for them." He stood taller. "I'm not a pushover, Yami; I'm me! I'm Ryou Bakura, and the only person who decides how I feel is Ryou Bakura! Not you, or anybody! My feelings are mine and mine alone, and I forgive who I feel deserves forgiving, not who you feel! So this is how I feel; you haven't done anything to deserve a grudge from me, and if I want to forgive you, I can damn well forgive you. It's my choice, and to hell with your sanity!"

He fell into silence. That hadn't come out as he had planned it to; it was how he felt, in that...he forgave Yami because he felt that Yami didn't deserve his anger. But the part about how he, Ryou, was the only one who decided his own emotions. After all, there was no way he would have chosen to feel the way he did about Yami. Ryou had been caught in the snare of love and was powerless within its grasp.

Yami looked surprised by Ryou's words. After a second, his scowl dissappeared to be replaced with a winning smile. Ryou looked down again. "So, yeah. I forgive you."

Yami looked like he was about to say something else. Ryou looked up again sharply. "And if you don't like it then it's your problem."

Yami actually laughed and leaned against the hood of the car, as did Ryou. "Thank you," he said simply.

Part of Ryou wanted Yami to leave. To let Ryou be alone with his turmoil. To take Yugi away so that Ryou wouldn't have to feel his heart break every time he saw them together.

And yet, another part of him just wanted Yami to kiss him again, like he had done that last time...in their apartment. Ryou closed his eyes at the memory, remembering every second, the heat, the fire, the feel of Yami's lips on his...

Ryou's eyes shot open. He couldn't remember that. He had to stay cool. And yet, the memory of those few perfect minutes haunted Ryou like a ghost. He couldn't push them away no matter how hard he tried. "Yami," he choked out.

"Ryou." Yami said Ryou's name as though it were an appropriate answer.

Ryou took a deep breath. "Yami," he repeated more softly, "I'm sorry...but I need to know." He closed his eyes. "Before you left...you were..." He had no way of putting his thoughts into words. "Why?" he asked finally, hoping Yami wouldn't make him elaborate on his question.

It was Yami's turn to look away. Ryou held his breath. If he was honest with himself, he didn't truly wish to know answer. It was just that...if he didn't ask, he would never be able to find peace with the memories that brief moment had left him with.

"Because I..." Yami closed his eyes as though he hated the words leaving his mouth with every fibre of his being. His hands clenched into fists. He took a deep breath. "I thought Yugi was dead." His eyes opened. "I would never, never, never, have given up on finding him, but...I truly had lost all hope that he was still alive, and you...reminded me of him."

Ryou gave a slow nod as though this statement didn't bother him. "I was a rebound."

"Yes," Yami said with sudden harshness. "So don't ask me about this again. There was never anything between us, Ryou." He gritted his teeth. "There was never a choice for me to make between you, and if there was, I would have chosen Yugi."

Ryou gulped, somehow holding his head together. "Okay..." His jaw trembled. "I just wanted to know, that's all."

Suddenly, Yami pushed himself off the bonnet of the car. He abruptly changed the subject. "I'll tell Yugi that you only found the hole just now. He has to know eventually."

"Thank you," Ryou whispered.

Yami have a short, curt nod and dissappeared around the bonnet.

The tears that flowed from Ryou's eyes would have been enough to cool the car down to nothing. Ryou could literally have sat on the bonnet cooling the engine while Yami or Yugi drove, had such an arrangement been viable.

Until then, his subconscious had been harbouring some secret, forbidden hope that Yami his kissed him that time because somehow, deep down, he felt the same about Ryou as Ryou did of him. That hope had been snuffed out with a painful sizzle more suddenly than the tears that fell from Ryou's eyes onto the car's overheated engine. It was so blaringly obvious now; Yami had been imagining that Ryou was Yugi, only to discover that the real Yugi was still alive and he didn't need Ryou any more.

Ryou slumped down with his back against the front of the car. How could he still find it in himself to care about Yami now? Any rational human being would hate him for what he had done. For how he had broken his heart so thoughtlessly. Not Ryou; since when had Ryou been a rational human being?

He sighed as he answered this question. He had always been a rational human being. But when it came to Yami...there was nothing rational about Yami. Yami was measured on an entirely different scale of thought.

Ryou wiped his eyes. He couldn't believe he was still crying at a time like this. They had more pressing matters to worry about. Straightening himself up, he closed the hood of the car.

The road was bleak and empty. Few cars passed them and those that did didn't stop for hitchhikers.

Each of them had attempted calling for help with their respective phones. This proved more difficult than it at first seemed, as the only reception a mobile could receive from their location were short, weak bursts of it that dissappeared after a mere few seconds.

The atmosphere was tense; Ryou could feel it. Yugi's fear was growing by the minute and Yami was obviously filled with dread.

Ryou himself had no idea what he felt. He knew that they were sitting ducks if Yami's former gang were still trying to get back at him for quitting, but somehow...this didn't unsettle him. He felt completely safe with Yami.

Ryou was sitting against the back wheel of the car, with Yami and Yugi standing a few feet away. Hesitantly, Ryou looked up at Yami.

Yami hadn't spoken to Ryou since their conversation behind the bonnet, at least an hour ago. And if they had, Ryou didn't know what would have happened. After all, enough had been said, hadn't it?

Ryou looked away again, blushing. He shook his head to clear it.

This was his fault. He was supposed to be the mechanic; if he had noticed the engine heating sooner, they wouldn't be stuck here in the middle of nowhere. Yami and Yugi were just too polite to say so.

Ryou drummed his fingers against the grass on the side of the road as another vehicle sped past, ignoring their plight. He sighed sadly. Surely, at least one person out there would be kind enough to help them. They just had to wait for that person to come by. Ryou rested his chin on his knees, wishing that somebody would speak to kill the stifling silence.

Ryou was waiting for a miracle by the time somebody finally stopped for them; a friendly looking couple in their mid-forties. After Yugi explained to them the situation with the cooling system, they were both more than happy to let them accompany them to the next town – the town the three of them had stayed in the previous night – where they could call for a tow truck. Eternally grateful, Ryou got into the backseat, with himself and Yugi on either side of Yami.

Being so close to him, Ryou had no idea how he kept his breath steady. Maybe he didn't. He was certain that his heart was beating so fast that their saviours could hear it from their places in the front. He was glad that they both started striking conversation, saving Ryou from having to think about his proximity with Yami.

They had been on the road for nearly forty-five minutes when something very unexpected happened. Yami received a text message.

It must have been received during one of the momentary bursts of mobile coverage which then faded almost instantly, because by the time Ryou had hurriedly leaned over to see, there were no bars of signal in the corner of the screen.

But he wasn't paying any attention to the signal. It was the message that snared his fascination. Ryou gulped, reading it.

We settle this tonight. Last chance to come back or quite simply you'll wish you had. You know the place.

There was complete and total silence.

Ryou's neck was stiff and refused to obey him. It took him a full minute to finally be able to turn and look at Yami.

Ryou had never seen his face look so...out of context. Ryou could have understood something thunderous or even worried. The look of eerie calm that settled upon Yami's features was somehow more terrifying.

The man driving the car looked at them through his rear-vision mirror. "Is there a problem?"

Ryou, Yami and Yugi all looked up with surprise, having forgotten who they were in the car with. "N- no," Yugi said, innocently but shakily. "It's just an automated message from the service provider."

Believing this, the man nodded, satisfied. Before he could say anything to them, his wife made some comment to him about jobs. They both started off a separate conversation to their passengers.

Ryou turned his gaze back to Yami. "You're not going, are you?" he whispered. Please don't go, Yami. I don't care if you love Yugi; you can't leave me like this.

Yami looked at him for a second. "They aren't kidding themselves; they don't want me back and they'd beat me senseless for suggesting it." He gave a dry smile. "They've been trying to get back at me for much too long; nothing matters to them anymore except killing me."

Ryou gasped. "They wouldn't actually-"

"They would, Ryou; that's how it works on the streets. It's a dog eat dog world." Yami's voice was simple and matter-of-fact.

"Then you-"

"Then you can't go!" Yugi exclaimed at the same time as Ryou. "There are nine of them. There's no way you alone could possibly win..."

Yami smiled at Yugi and gently squeezed his hand. "You don't need to worry; I'm not so stupid as to walk into their trap." He sighed calmly. "I've spent all these months trying to find them, I think it's time I did the human thing and ran away."

Ryou bit his lip. It wasn't like Yami to run away. But...if Yami wasn't going to throw himself at the mercy of his former gang, he didn't care. As long as Yami didn't get himself killed. Nothing else mattered if Yami was safe.

"I-" Ryou began.

"Listen to this," the woman in the front of the car loudly said all of a sudden, "Would you agree that holding somebody's job should never come before workplace health and safety or that it can change circumstantially? Because imagine if..."

Ryou was reluctant to be jerked back into the instantaneous reality by her words, but he was nonetheless. He formed some kind of mumbled response before turning his attention out the window at the passing scenery.

I want to go home, Yami, he thought sadly. Why can't we just go home and forget all of this?

Because life isn't always playing soccer and fixing cars, his mind answered silently. We are in danger. If Yami encounters his old gang, he really could die.

Ryou clenched his fist. There's no way that's ever going to happen.

The engine will overheat and...die. Just like my computer almost did. When I came back to edit this after my little incident with flying machinery, I read that line and thought it was funny as hell~! Lol XD (The full story is on my profile, if you're interested, but if not then...nyeh XD)

I hate writing exclamations mid-story. It feels so unnatural to do an exclamation mark without a squiggly line before it~! Lol :D I spend way to much time on this site ;D I've even started doing my exclamation marks like that on paper~! I don't even know how I got into this habit...hm...oh, well :D~! It really is a deeply satisfying thing, you know~! I recommend trying it sometime. In fact, there is a very lovely little button just below this story, which opens a new window in which you can type a few little '~!'s, or even a few little words. Perhaps you would consider clicking this button in order to test out your new little skill along with a few little words and then clicking the button at the bottom of this new little window *glamorous eye twinkle* The button at the bottom of this new little window allows you to show off all your '~!'s to the world, so that everybody will know how good at them you are~! *glomp* I love you so much~!

This story is (very regrettably :( ) drawing to its conclusion. This next chapter will very likely be the last one, if not the second last. Wahhhh~! Sob! Somebody please hug me~! I'm having too much fun with this story for it to end *cries* Anyway, rather than wasting everybody's time with my annoying author's notes, I shall hop to it and finish this next chapter~! I hope you guys like it *huggles*

~IA