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Rulers and Rogues	By : Khat Category: Yu-Gi-Oh > AU - Alternate Universe Views: 10587 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own YuGiOh!, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 17
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- 19
I so wanted to title this 'something wicked this way comes', but I thought no, that was just way too cliche.
So, this chapter might break that 'nothing too bad' promise I put in the first chapter. Depends on your opinion of 'too bad'. Because I'm not entirely evil, I will promise that it's not going to be permanent, and you will all know exactly what I'm talking about when you see it.
Welcome back, Venetia. Cool name. And KMichelle (Is that a typo?) feel free to read it again anyways. But here's another chapter for you too. And thank you, of course, Anon.
In other news, I think I'm going to start loading this up over at AO3, too, probably two chapters a week, maybe, until I catch up. I'll still be doing regular updates here, or as regular as they get, at least. Just if anyone else is over there too and wants to aubscribe or bookmark it or anything, thought I'd let you know.
Warning: Plot ahead. Big plot. There is huge important happenings in this chapter.
******
It didn’t take long for the odd feeling to distract Kaiba from his work. One of the kitchen boys was in the middle of answering his questions when the brunet suddenly tilted his head, frowning. There was something wrong with Jou, he could sense, but he wasn’t quite sure what. It almost felt… defeated…
But defeated was never a word he would have applied to him. Still, it wasn’t normal.
“You may go now.” He said suddenly, interrupting the boy. “I’ll call for you later.” The child bowed and left and Kaiba exited the room himself a moment later, heading for his apartments.
The other male wasn’t where he had left him, but that was hardly a surprise. The sound of water running led him into the bathroom.
“Jou?” Kaiba frowned as he took in the scene. The blond didn’t even lift his head, crouched under the spray of the shower, arms wrapped around himself. He was shivering, not surprisingly, the King thought, feeling the chill of the water as he turned the shower off.
“Come on, Pup.” He murmured, reaching for the thick towels. He caught the chain close to the collar and the shorter male offered no resistance as he was pulled to his feet, just standing quietly while Kaiba rubbed the water from his hair and wrapped the towel around him. The collar was removed and tossed aside. It had been waterproofed, of course, but it wasn’t meant for such an extended soaking. Perhaps he should consider a different style. A gold torque, perhaps, or a ball or choker chain or something.
Kaiba nudged his distraught slave into the bedroom, withdrawing a thick robe from the closet and exchanging it for the towel. He started moving him towards the bed and got his first reaction, consisting of a full stop and a spike of terror that even made his head hurt.
“All right, then. We’ll go to the couch…” He moved him out to the living room and the blond lapsed back into his… well, lack of feeling was the only real word for it, Kaiba supposed.
Jou settled down onto the couch willingly, and the Priest fetched a blanket, wrapping it around him securely, sitting down then and repositioning Jou so that his head was resting on his thigh, petting the damp locks lightly, adapting the techniques he had used to use for Mokuba when he had had nightmares.
The mentioned teen came in only a few minutes later, pausing and frowning in confusion at seeing his brother home so early. He started to ask something, but Kaiba just waved him to silence. The dark-haired boy eyed Jou a moment, then shrugged and went to get a snack, taking it to his own room.
Kaiba leaned his head back and closed his eyes, relaxing, sending out soothing thoughts through the mindlink. After a few moments he began to sing, softly, a lullaby he had sang when Mokuba had been young.
It was the singing that got through to Wolf first, the quiet words reaching through the fog of apathy and snagging his attention. It was a nice voice, soft and deep. The words weren’t making sense to him, yet, but they didn’t really matter.
He felt warm, and comfortable, and… and safe… Protected… He hadn’t felt quite like this in a very long time. Not since he had been a child, really. After the divorce… Well, his father hadn’t been the comforting type even before he had turned to drink.
A hand was playing idly with his hair and he turned his head a bit, leaning into the touch. The singing stopped, much to his dismay, but he didn’t have long to regret it.
“Jou?” It took a moment for the voice to register on him and he stiffened a bit, fear crossing his thoughts. That voice meant pain and humiliation.
“Easy…” The hand was still moving through his hair soothingly, and the pleasant feeling jarred with what his memories were insisting as he came back to himself more. Kaiba was dangerous, he abused him and insulted him, and he had raped him. And, admittedly, the first two weren’t anything that was unusual in the life of Jounouchi Katsuya, but he had always been able to fight back, before. There was no fighting back against Kaiba now, though. Each time he tried, he just ended up in a worse situation.
But, he was cuddling him. Something, a blanket, probably was wrapped tightly enough around him that he couldn’t move his arms from where they lay against his chest, and the feeling should have scared him, but combined with the petting and the soft thought-murmurs through the mind-link, it was actually sort of comforting. It was definitely better than their usual interactions.
Should he stop fighting, then? Become Kaiba’s tamed pet, and sit on his lap and take food from his fingers? Rush to greet him when he came in and follow at his heels like a well-trained hound? It might be more comfortable, but it wasn’t in his nature to take the easy path.
He didn’t want to think about any of it. Right now, he only wanted to enjoy the brief moment of quiet. He wanted to forget that he was the Wolf, and that he was currently settled with his head in the lap of his enemy/soulmate, being petted by him. And, after a brief pause, Kaiba seemed willing to let him.
******
It was dark when Prince awoke, finding himself lying on the couch in the Pharaoh’s suite. His wrists were still locked into the fused bracelets, and he wore the other jewellery as well, except for the belt, but other than that he was nude, a light blanket tossed over him for warmth.
Yami sat on the loveseat, his feet up on an ottoman, quietly reading.
The hikari shifted slightly, and couldn’t help the pained hiss, deciding not to move again, ever, if he could help it. And that was really the last time he’d let himself get caught alone by the thief. How many times had he come? Four times? Five? In none of those cases had he lasted as long as Bakura had wanted, and he had been punished for it, each time, until he hadn’t been sure where the pain had ended and the pleasure began. Until he had finally blacked out.
“I trust you’ve learned your lesson this time.” The spirit murmured, watching him. Prince remained silent. “You’re lucky you didn’t get caught up in Malik and Marik’s game. You would have liked that even less than your afternoon with Bakura.” The rebel blushed, looking away, noticing the rubber band that sat on the coffee table between them, recognizing it instantly.
“Yami…” He began uncertainly, then slowly raised his gaze to meet the ruler’s, not quite sure what he had been going to say. The Pharaoh’s face was expressionless. Prince looked away again, started to curl up a bit and bit off a whine, deciding not to. After a moment he opened the mindlink tentatively.
Anger was foremost in the spirit’s mind, and disappointment. There was an odd sense of determination there. Something about it made him very nervous, though he didn’t quite understand why.
“I don’t know what to do with you, Aibou.” The statement was calm and cool. They could have been talking about the weather, or what they were having for dinner that night. “Ryou’s settled back in well enough, and Seto is making some progress with Jou, apparently. And you… Well, Bakura’s having more luck handling you than I am. Perhaps he’s right, and I should try his methods.” Prince felt a surge of terror at the very though, and Yami winced slightly and sighed.
“And then you do that.” He murmured. “And the threat won’t keep you from acting out next time, either. Your determination was a blessing when we were facing off against our foes, but it’s become a hindrance now. To both of us.”
“Must be awful to be the bad guy.” The smaller twin bit out, feeling the familiar dismay at the statement. Why didn’t Yami understand? He was behaving no differently than any of the other villains they had faced.
“You’re the one who’s causing that. You, and the others who only want to cling to the past, and refuse to accept what the present is, and what the future could be. And your immediate future is shaping up to be a painful one, if you do not. Stop. Testing. Me.” The deep voice rose at the end, the anger finally breaking through. Prince flinched involuntarily at the threat, and the Ruler closed his eyes, letting out another sigh, standing after a moment, noting the way the soft violet eyes followed his movement nervously. He ignored him for the moment, striding over to the kitchenette. Yugi was scared of him, now, or, at least, scared of the threat of more pain, but it wouldn’t last. His aibou was like a river. Block it up how you would, it would eventually, inevitably, return to its path, perhaps with a slight detour along the way, but still ending up at the same point. It took a major divergence to force it to flow where you wanted. Or a million small ones. He had tried the gentle approach. Yugi was forcing him to the point where he would need to try the harsh one.
“Anzu had her baby this morning.” He said, deciding to change the subject, for the moment. Another soft hiss of pain told him that his hikari had shifted again, probably trying to sit up to look at him.
The lights suddenly dimmed then, coming back on before going out entirely. There was darkness for the span of a few breaths, then they came back on and stayed, as if nothing had ever happened. Atem frowned upwards.
“That was odd…” Yugi murmured, almost to himself. The Pharaoh hummed softly in agreement. There were a number of odd things happening lately, from the missing shipments, to the water suddenly stopping working that morning, to the lights, now. Still, it could just be the generators malfunctioning. He would have to remember to have someone check on it tomorrow.
“Was it a boy?” The spirit blinked, frowning at the back of the couch curiously a moment, before realising.
“No, a girl. She named her Ichigo.” He would have preferred an Egyptian name, but it was the mother’s right to name her children, and it was a girl, after all. Had it been a boy, he would have pressured, since he would need a proper name in order to be acceptable to the gods, but an Egyptian princess could be shown more lenience. “Perhaps, if you behave, I’ll take you to see them when you’re feeling better.”
There was a thought, actually. Perhaps, if Yugi didn’t cause trouble the next few days, the Pharaoh could allow him to leave the suite and visit the harem alone, in the guise of a reward for good behaviour. They were in the same wing, after all, and it would be simple to set a few guards to watch him. It did seem to be that he got up to trouble most often when he was left alone, after all, so if he kept him close, or otherwise occupied, perhaps he’d settle down.
Or, perhaps Atem was just setting himself up for another fall. That was the more likely scenario, he was sure, but he hadn’t been lying. He really didn’t know what to do with him. He might make threats about Bakura’s approach, but it wouldn’t have worked. The thief had had years to work Ryou over, with the Light unable to escape his tormentor. He had neither the time nor the skill to break Yugi properly. He’d end up ruining their bond, if he didn’t destroy his hikari’s spirit outright.
“Are you going to take these off?” Yugi asked, as Atem came back to the couch with a plate of fresh fruit.
“No.” It was a spur of the moment decision. He hadn’t really thought about the cuffs since he had replaced the rest of the jewellery, but it was a simple enough way to keep him disabled and dependant. Would make it a bit harder to pick locks, as well, though he hardly intended to give him the chance again. “Consider it part of your punishment.”
“I thought Bakura was my punishment.” Yugi muttered under his breath.
“Bakura’s ‘punishment’ was for wandering the halls alone.” More like Bakura’s prize, the spirit thought, with a tinge of amusement. He had most likely enjoyed having someone who wasn’t as broken in as Ryou was. “I haven’t entirely decided on your punishment for breaking out of the garden.” He ignored the indignant glare and chose a grape, not missing the hungry glance his other half gave the plate. He didn’t imagine Bakura would have bothered to see to lunch, which meant Yugi hadn’t eaten since breakfast.
For a moment Atem considered trying to get his hikari to come sit at his feet, but decided that even if Yugi had been inclined to, he would have been too sore.
Suddenly, the lights went out again, and there was a moment of complete silence, the kind that was just too soundless. Then there was a loud squeal, equal parts fear and pain.
“Yugi!” Yami bolted up, the puzzle flaring bright with light. All he saw was a shadow of something before he struck, power tearing the creature apart. It gave a scream as much felt as heard, and then shattered apart like a swarm of insects, the lights coming back on immediately, but the Pharaoh paid no attention to either, leaping over the couch to land next to where Yugi was curled up, having apparently been snatched up and dragged over the back. He was sitting awkwardly and breathing hard, obviously holding back any noises, his left shoulder in an unnatural-looking position.
“It’s all right, Aibou.” The spirit soothed, taking a few steps away and hitting a button hidden behind a fake fern. A female voice answered and he ordered emergency medical assistance quickly, before returning to Yugi’s side. A quick use of the puzzle’s power and the welded cuffs fell apart, freeing the slave’s wrists. Instantly he reached up to grip his shoulder, letting out a pained hiss at the touch.
“The healer’s on her way up. It will just be a moment.” At least, she had better be. Atem looked him over critically. The shoulder seemed to be the worst injury, but it wasn’t the only one. A trio of long deep scratches ran up his left leg, blood welling up in them sluggishly, the skin already looking enflamed. Shorter, shallower scratches covered his arms, but they looked fairly harmless.
“Yami?” Yugi’s voice was soft and nervous, and concerned by the other injuries as he had been, it took him a moment to realise why. It was only when he looked up to meet the smaller male’s gaze that he realised. Yugi’s usually bright violet eyes were now a pale milky lavender. “Are the lights going to come back on?”
******
See, I'm a bad person. I am willing to admit it, although I haven't yet accepted help for my issues.
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- 19
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Rulers and Rogues