Not thinking clearly, Yugi panics and disposes of Ryou's body.

Warnings: Dead body. Improper disposal of a body in an attempt to cover up a potential crime. Plus, a gruesome discovery is made.


Chapter 3.

Cover Up.

Having rearranged Ryou's clothing to make him decent and wiped the sofa clean, Yugi cleared away the dinner plates, and then put the pizza in the fridge. That was the easy part. The next part of his plan would be more difficult, and he was filled with dread as he peered outside to see if the coast was clear. It was nearing midnight now, and since it was a Tuesday there was no one around at this time of night. It was also beginning to rain heavily, which hopefully would discourage the late night dog walkers.

Yugi gazed around the flat. No one would suspect. If anyone entered the flat, they would assume that Ryou ate dinner, cleared up and then went out and never to come back. He had few friends, so it was unlikely anyone would miss him.

Since Ryou's flat was on the second floor, and Yugi's car was parked in the guest bay behind the building, he needed to move the body as quickly and stealthily as possible. It would be unwise to use the lift, so he decided that the best option was to carry Ryou down the concrete stairs on the outer end of the building. Ryou's flat was only a few metres away from the stairs, which made things a little easier. Yugi's car was parked not too far away from the foot of the stairs.

Unable to look into Ryou's cold, dead eyes, Yugi wrapped him in a sheet and hoisted him over his shoulders. He was heavier than Yugi imagined, but fuelled by fear and adrenalin, it was not a problem for the slighter built man.

Outside was quiet, and Yugi made haste, successfully reaching his car without being seen. He opened the boot and bundled the body inside. Slamming the boot shut, he breathed a sigh of relief that the first part was over.

The next part would hopefully be a breeze, or so he tried to tell himself.

The plan was to drive to a popular beauty spot on the top of the cliffs and dispose of the body there. It was about a twenty minute drive to get there, and as expected on a dark, wet, windy night, the car park was completely empty.

Steeling himself, Yugi got out and retrieved the body from the boot. The situation felt unreal. Never in a million years did he ever think he would be carrying a dead body along a steep, narrow cliff path, late at night in the pouring rain. It was pitch dark, and with just a small flash light to guide him he nearly slipped over on the path several times, but he held his nerve and somehow managed to reach the peninsula jutting out into the ocean unscathed.

He could hear the waves crashing onto the rocks below, and his vision was drawn to the danger sign, warning people not to stray from the path onto the edge of the cliff to take photos. People did, but Yugi had never been brave enough or foolish enough to disobey the order, until now.

Taking a deep breath, he stepped over the small barrier. He put Ryou down and pointed his flash light so that he could see the edge. Unfortunately, it was too dark and the weather too bad for the edge to be easily seen.

Knowing that it would be a sheer drop into what would be certain death if he fell, he gulped and shuffled closer to the edge, dragging the body with him until he was close enough to roll the body out of the sheet and over the crumbling ledge.

There was no sound of the body hitting the water, just the loud crashing of the waves and the whistling of the wind. But Yugi knew that Ryou would quickly be taken away by the waves and strong current. People had jumped off this cliff before, and it had usually been many months before any remains had been washed up or found. If indeed they were ever found.

Crawling backwards towards the path, Yugi wished he could curl up and vanish. Maybe he would be better off joining Bakura in the swirling water below. He shivered, partly from the cold, partly from the horror and shock of what he had just done.

Giving himself a pep talk, he scrambled back up the path to his car. He was soaking wet from the rain, muddy from the path and freezing cold. He got into the warm, dry car and broke down in tears.

Ten minutes later, he had pulled himself together enough to drive home, with the heater on full blast.

:::::::::::

Once home, Yugi closed his front door on the world, staggered mindlessly into his kitchen and peeled off his wet clothing. He was shaking uncontrollably, but did not know if that was because he was traumatised by what had happened tonight, or if it was because he was borderline hypothermic. Shoving his wet clothing into the washing machine, he went upstairs and jumped under the shower. Adjusting it so that it was not too hot on his chilled body, he let the water cascade over him, but it did nothing to ease the tremors that wracked his body.

Grabbing the shower gel, he used virtually a whole bottle to scrub himself clean, but he still felt dirty. Bakura was, had been, his friend. But his friend had drugged and violated him in a way that made him feel sick. But worse than that, his body had betrayed him by enjoying it. Even now, Yugi was not sure if he might secretly have wanted it to continue.

The thought made him feel ashamed, and he found himself sliding down the wall onto the floor of the shower, where he sat with his arms around his legs, hugging them tightly until the water eventually ran cold. Only then did he force himself up to turn off the water and dry himself.

After cleaning his teeth thoroughly as well, he wrapped himself up in fleecy winter pyjamas, dried his hair and then curled up in bed to try and sleep.

It occurred to him that he had to be up by seven in the morning to go to work. He wanted more than anything to just ring in sick and wallow in self loathing and misery all day, but if he was to avoid any suspicion when…. if, it was discovered that Bakura was missing, then he had to carry on as normal.

:::::::::::

After a terrible night of vivid flashbacks, Yugi crawled out of bed and got himself dressed for work.

His stomach felt sick, but he forced himself to eat some breakfast and washed it down with some strong green tea.

Telling himself he could do this, he could get through the day, he put his shoes on and went outside to his car.

His car. Shit! He suddenly remembered the sheet from Ryou's flat, in which he had wrapped the body, was still in the boot of his car. DNA! Ryou's DNA would be in the boot!

Crap! Crap! He needed to give the car a thorough clean, but there was no time to do that now. Opening the boot, he carefully gathered up the, wet, muddy sheet to dispose of it, and spotted a couple of strands of his friend's blonde hair in the boot. A chill ran down his spine. He carefully picked them up and let the wind carry them away. He then took the rolled up sheet. He did not know what to do. He could dump it in a bin somewhere, or wash it and then donate it anonymously at a clothing bank. Deciding on the latter, he took it indoors, shoved it in the washing machine and set it running.

Back outside, he got into his car. There was mud on the mat and seat from the cliff path, so he brushed it off as best he could and went to work.

Somehow, he managed to get through the day. Someone did ask him if he was okay, but he told them he had a bit of a virus and had not slept too well as a result. They believed him and, not wanting to catch his virus, gave him a wide berth for the rest of the day.

That evening, Yugi washed and cleaned his car, both inside and out.

:::::::::::

For the next two days, Yugi was in a constant state of stress. It took every ounce of his willpower just to stay calm. Luckily no one noticed; if anyone did, they did not comment on how jumpy he was.

He kept scanning the news, but so far there was no mention of Ryou Bakura's body being washed up anywhere, and no one had reported him missing. and as the days went by and there was still nothing in the news about Bakura going missing, Yugi started to relax. It was beginning to look like he was in the clear.

As well as being in the clear, Anzu was coming home today, and that would hopefully help take his mind off the horrors of the past week and a bit.

As he drove to the airport to meet her, Yugi found his mind and stomach churning over his situation. The longer it went without Bakura being found, the less chance there was of him being linked to the crime, if there even was a crime. He concluded that the only thing he had done wrong was to dispose of the body instead of calling the police. And he had only done that to protect himself from false allegations of improper behaviour with his friend.

By the time he was parking the car, Yugi had convinced himself he was going to get through this; his life would go back to normal and over time he would forget.

Composed, he got out of the car and made his way to the arrivals lounge, where he had arranged to meet Anzu. His heart sped up when he spotted her. She was scanning the crowd, looking for him. He waved, she spotted him and waved back, pushing her trolley through the crowd towards him.

Despite the long flight, she looked radiant and they greeted each other with a loving hug. Yugi took charge of her trolley and they made their way to where he had parked the car.

As he drove them home, Yugi listened to Anzu chatting enthusiastically about all the different European cities she had visited during the six week tour and, for the first time in a while, he found himself able to smile. He loved her so much, but she could never know of the terrible secret he was hiding.

:::::::::::

As soon as they were home, they made straight for the bedroom. For a young married couple, six weeks apart was a long time and they were extremely horny for one another.

Yugi thought that making love to Anzu would help him put what had happened with Bakura behind him, but unfortunately all it did was leave him feeling racked with guilt. It did not matter that he had been drugged, and therefore an unwilling participant in Bakura's seduction of him, he had still been unfaithful to his wife, and keeping it secret was eating him up inside.

It was not long before Anzu started noticing that something was off.

"Are you okay Yugi? You seem distracted," she said as they lay together in the afterglow of their love making.

"Huh?!" He shook his head. "Just thinking about how nice it is now you're home. I missed you so badly. It's been tough, especially these last couple of weeks." That was not an exaggeration.

She hummed thoughtfully. "As much as I love touring, I don't like being away for that long."

He nodded. "If you are, I'm going to make sure I take time off so I can travel to see you."

"Hmm," she said, pressing her lips to his. "I'll hold you to that."

Just then, the doorbell rang.

"I wonder who it is?" said Anzu. Yugi chuckled.

"Probably our friends. They know you're coming home today."

Anzu raised an eyebrow and huffed. "They could have given us a bit more time alone!"

"They could have," Yugi agreed, "but since they're here we had better go and let them in." He hurriedly threw on his jeans and a tee-shirt, and ran downstairs. "Won't be a sec," he called out to the people at the door, as he reached the bottom stair.

He opened the door to see a man he did not recognise standing there. "Oh!"

"Mister Muto?" the man asked, and Yugi nodded.

"Yes. That's me."

"I'm Mister Nakamura," he said, bowing politely.

Anzu came bounding down the stairs, laughing. "You guys certainly have bad timing….!" Spotting someone she did not know, she cringed. "Oh!"

Thinking Mister Nakamura was a salesman, Yugi was about to say they were not interested, when he said, "Sorry to interrupt you. I'm a colleague of Ryou Bakura." Yugi felt his stomach drop. The man continued. "He hasn't been at work the last few days and isn't answering his phone. We know you're friends of his, and we wondered if you might have seen him?"

Crap! It had not occurred to Yugi that Bakura would be missed at work. Trying to appear dumb, he shook his head. "No… Not since the beginning of last week! My wife just got back from Europe."

Mister Nakamura shifted on his feet awkwardly. "Well, I won't keep you. If you do hear from him, could you ask him to ring work and explain why he's not been in?"

"I will." Yugi thought up a quick lie on the spot. "He didn't seem too well when I last saw him. Perhaps he's caught a virus, or something."

Smiling, Mister Nakamura nodded. "Perhaps that's it." He backed away. "Thanks for your help." He turned on his heel and left. Yugi wanted to slump against the wall and bang his head, but instead, quietly closed the door and turned to Anzu.

"Weird of him to not turn up at work without telling them why!" said Anzu. "I was always under the impression he loved his work!" She never could understand how Bakura could enjoy working at a morgue so much, but each to their own.

Yugi narrowed his eyebrows. "Yeah. That's what I thought."

"Maybe we should try ringing him," she said. Fishing her phone from her dressing gown pocket, she rang his number. It rang and rang and then went to voicemail. "Hmm!" she shrugged and tried again. The same thing. "Perhaps we should go round there instead."

Yugi swallowed down the lump in his throat. Even though he knew there would be no answer, he agreed. "Sure!"

"I need a shower first," said Anzu. "Care to join me?"

"Hmm, yes. Okay." A nice hot shower with Anzu might help the cold chills running up and down his spine. He told himself to relax. No one knew about him and Bakura. And it was not like they could force entry into Bakura's flat without good reason.

:::::::::::

It was early evening by the time they made it round to Bakura's apartment block. Yugi had not been here since that dreadful night, and it gave him flashbacks.

Trying to stay in control, he gave Anzu's hand a squeeze. She looked up at him and smiled.

"You okay?" she asked. "You look anxious."

"I'm worried," he told her. "What if he's really sick?"

"Then it's a good job we're here," she replied, marching purposefully into the building and up the stairs to Bakura's door. She pressed the bell. There was no answer, so she rang again and they waited. Anzu thumped on the door. "Ryou! Are you in there? Open up!"

"Shh… You'll disturb the neighbours," said Yugi.

"He's got to be in there!" she reasoned.

"What if he's not? He might have moved out. It wouldn't be the first time: didn't he have to leave his last place after getting into trouble for holding seances?"

"Yes. But he said he learnt from that mistake," she said, walking over to ring on a neighbouring door.

"What are you doing?"

"Asking the neighbours. You never know, one of them might have a key."

The neighbour looked a bit annoyed when he answered the door. "Someone else was looking for him earlier today –apparently he didn't show up for work. I told him the guy living in that flat is a weirdo and I don't want nothing to do with him." The man went to close the door but Anzu brazenly shoved her foot in the way.

"Ryou is a lovely, kind soul. He's shy and misunderstood," she said, putting the man in his place. The man shifted his stance and backed down. "Yeah, well, sorry I can't help ya. I suggest you try Ms Yoshida. She's a nosy old bat who always seems to know everyone's business."

"Thank you." Anzu bowed politely. The man slammed his door shut and Anzu promptly stuck her tongue out. "What a nasty man," she said. Yugi put his arm around her and kept up the pretence.

"It doesn't matter. Let's go home. I'm sure Bakura will turn up when he's ready."

"No! I'm not leaving until I find out if he's okay!" she said stubbornly.

Yugi could have screamed. He knew Ryou Bakura was not okay. He knew that he was never coming back. Instead, he kept quiet.

Anzu knocked on Ms Yoshida's door.

Ms Yoshida was a middle aged woman with slightly greying hair and a round face, and as soon as she answered, Yugi recognised her as the woman he had said 'good evening' to in the hallway on that fateful Tuesday. She recognised him as well. "Ah! You're Ryou's handsome friend!" she said, flirtatiously. "And you are?" she said to Anzu.

"The handsome friend's wife!" Anzu said, possessively holding Yugi's arm.

The rude man next door was right about her being nosy. But she was helpful, and said she usually saw Ryou each morning when they both left for work, but was a little concerned because she had not seen him for a while. She also confirmed that Ryou's work colleague had called round earlier wanting to know where he was. "I do hope nothing bad has happened to him!" she said. "Maybe I should ask the letting office if he's moved out. It would be such a shame. He's such a beautiful young man."

Yugi tried not to grimace, as he and Anzu thanked her for her help.

"I'm wondering if we should go and speak to the letting office," said Anzu, as they went back to the car. "They should have a spare key."

"I don't think they would just hand us a spare key," replied Yugi.

"It's worth trying. The office is probably closed now, but we can go tomorrow morning," she decided.

The following morning was Saturday, but the office was open when they got there.

Anzu explained that they needed to check their friend was not injured or unwell, but the woman in the office told them that she had already explained to the man who came in yesterday, that they were not permitted to enter the flat of a tenant unless they had good reason for doing so, such as to evict someone for unpaid rent or for breaking the rules. And since the rent was up to date and there had been no complaints from other residents, there was no justification for entering the flat.

Back outside, Anzu was unable to hide her irritation. "He could be laying dead on the floor and we wouldn't know!" she complained. Her comment made Yugi shudder, but he was getting good at hiding it.

"Hey! Stop worrying," he said, putting an arm around her. "I'm sure he's okay. How about we go for coffee?"

Anzu sighed. "Okay.. I could definitely do with some coffee."

Forcing a smile, Yugi took her hand and lead her along to a popular coffee shop, relieved that, for now, he could stop worrying about them adding to the mystery by finding the flat looking like Ryou had just upped and gone, leaving the dirty dishes in the sink and a half eaten pizza in the fridge.

:::::::::::

Monday morning brought with it Yugi's worst fears. The headline in the local news was that a body had been caught in the net of a fishing boat. As of yet, the person, a male thought to be in his mid to late twenties, had not been identified because the body had been scavenged and his features were not easily recognisable. An autopsy would be carried out, but in the meantime police were looking through reports of any missing persons.

As Yugi stared at the TV screen, the news reader's words faded into obscurity and he nearly brought up his breakfast.

Anzu was busy watching the TV and did not notice his reaction. "Oh, God! That's awful. Poor man," she said. "I wonder who he is?" By the time she looked at Yugi he had composed himself.

"It is awful," he agreed. "Did they say how long he's been in the water?"

"I don't think they did." She shuddered and pulled a face. "Picked at by scavengers. Ugh! It's put me off my breakfast." She stood up and went over to the bin, scraping her scrambled egg into it.

"Me, too," said Yugi, pushing his plate away. That was not why he had lost his appetite though. He had lost his appetite because he was pretty sure the body was Bakura.

:::::::::::

Detective Tetsu Ushio was tasked with leading the investigation into finding out the how, the why and the who.

Although there were several missing males in their database, only a few possibilities matched their corpse, so they would need to wait until the DNA report was back. In the meantime, the autopsy had concluded that the man was already dead when he entered the water, and that he had probably died within one to three hours prior to entering the water, of a broken neck.

"So we're looking at a possible murder," Detective Ushio told his small team. "Someone most likely snapped his neck and chucked him overboard."

"Does that mean we're investigating gang violence?" an officer asked.

"I'm ruling nothing out, but it is a possibility that our corpse is someone who is part of a smuggling network and that his neck was broken and he was thrown overboard," said Ushio. "If it's Yakuza related, then it's unlikely we will be required to investigate further." They all knew that the Yakuza would see to it that the investigation was shut down.
However, when the DNA report came back showing that the male was twenty six year old Ryou Bakura, with no connections to drug smuggling or gangland violence, they were left baffled as to why someone would kill him and dump his body in the sea.


Thank you for reading.