Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Winter Solstace ❯ And So, It FINALLY Begins... ( Chapter 7 )

A/N: *^^* Sahnkyuu for reading! You reviewers are so nice---thank you thank you thank you!!! ^______^ *passes out cookies* we'll get some nice fluffy R/B-ness-ness soon as Ryou and Bakura actually *meet*… which is this chapter. ^_^;; kawaiiness!

Sah, in this chapter…: the three start checking out the city for more Direct Descendants, the three start to feel desperate, the three get into a bit of trouble with the Shadow Trio, the Shadow Trio find an extremely red Ryou sitting under an extremely (not really) furious Bakura… okay, so it's not fluff, but it's the best we've got under these circumstances! Be thankful, Dangit!

~*~

"Winter Solstice"

07/20

~*~

- Third Person POV -

"Nuts, nuts, I like nuts! I like almonds too! Peanuts drive me crazy, crazy, I was crazy once! They locked me in a paddock and I liked it there so I died there, buried where the flowers grew! One grew up, one grew down, one even tickled my nose, drove me Nuts, nuts I like nuts! I like almonds too! Peanuts drive me crazy, crazy, I was crazy once! They locked me in a paddock and I liked it there so I died there, buried where the flowers grew! One grew up, one grew down, one even tickled my nose, drove me nuts, nuts, I like nuts! I like almonds too! Peanuts drive me cra-"

"SHUT UP!"

"…Huh? Whatever…. I know a song that gets on everybody's nerves, everybody's nerves, everybody's nerves! I know a song that gets on everybody's nerves and it goes something like this! I know a song that gets on everybody's nerves, everybody's nerves, everybody's nerves, I know a song that gets one everybody's nerves and it goes something like this! I know a song that gets on--"

"I SAID SHUT THE HELL UP YA STUPID KID, NOW SHUT THE HELL UP!"

"…well, geeze… This is the song that never eeeends, it goes on and on my frieeends! Some people started singing it not knowing what it was, and now they will keep singing it forever just because THIS IS THE song that never e- yes, Bunny-chan?"

"Maybe you should… stop singing… Kitten-chan…"

"Eh? Why?"

"You mean you haven't noticed random people across the street screaming at us to shut up?"

Yuugi blinked.

"Um… no…"

Ryou blinked.

"Oh… okay…"

They just blinked at each other. Then…

"I know a song that gets on everybody's nerves!--"

"--What?--"

"--Everybody's nerves!--"

"--Where?--"

"--Everybody's nerves!--"

"--Oh."

"I know a song that gets on everybody's nerves and it goes something like this!"

Malik sighed and placed a hand on either boys' shoulders. "Hey you two… as fun as this must seem to you, we DO have a job to do…"

Yuugi and Ryou immediately brightened and chorused: "That rhymed!" before falling into a fit of giggles. Malik rolled his eyes.

It was Sunday morning, around nine AM. They'd gotten up early, around four-thirty five-ish, and had henceforth been wandering around town trying to find anything even remotely dark or magic. As far as they could tell, nothing. Then Malik had gotten Ryou and Yuugi triple-shot lattes each. That had been the Mistake of the Century, and since then both shorter teens had been singing several loud and annoying songs.

"Nice little Sunday wake-up call, really... We love you, Domino City!"

"OOOOOOOHHHH, Once there was a boy-boy-boy!"

"A boy-boy-boy?"

"YEEEESSS, Once there was a boy-boy,"

"Boy-boy?"

"And he had a lot of to-"

"That's the last time…" Malik muttered, snatching their empty coffee cups and throwing them into a nearby trash bin. "I'm never, never going to, ever again…"

"Once there was a woman from Venus! Who's body was shaped like a pe-"

"SHUT UP YOU STUPID BRATS!"

A large amount of cold water came crashing down from one of the apartment windows above, soaking Malik, Ryou, and Yuugi (the latter two being sobered up rather quickly).

"It's a direct descendant…" Ryou muttered darkly, shivering as he looked upwards. "I say we kill it…"

Yuugi sighed.

"Malik… why don't we just get the three into a dark alley and behead them? This place is right next to Tokyo, and Tokyo has a pretty high crime rate…just get Mariku out of the way sooner, aye? And as for Kaiba and Jounouchi, well… tragedies happen a lot… we've another year left, and need to rid this world of the Shadow Powers before then… even if it's physically impossible…"

Malik looked down and sighed, clenching his fists. "I… I need to get closer to Mariku… get him alone, most likely in a bedroom… he'll be done by next week. You two are going to have to get a better move-on with Yami and Bakura, however, and Seto and Katsuya are most likely innocents…okay, you're right. This needs to be sped up." During this, the three had walked through town some more and were now in the middle of a rather deserted park. "in three more weeks it'll be the end of the month. If we haven't taken care of all five by then, then we'll do a hit and run sort of thing. Then we'll allow ourselves another month to finish checking this place out, or at least, find another Hunter…"

There was a considerable amount of silence as Ryou and Yuugi sat together on a bench and Malik commenced pacing in front of them. He was all of a sudden quite anxious.

"Find another Hunter…?" Ryou repeated softly. They had done it once or twice before. When a particular location had too many direct descendants, but… contacting another Hunter could be done one of three ways: hunt them down, make a deal with the local Underground, or just call one you already knew. They didn't have time to sniff another Hunter down, nor did Ryou like the idea of making a deal with the City's crime highs. This left calling one they already knew.

Hunters rarely if ever got along (hence, they knew none). It was simply the different ways they had of taking care of the Direct Descendants. Once, Yuugi, Ryou, and Malik had met two Hunters who found a direct descendant, then killed the descendant, their family, friends, and pretty much everybody within a mile radius… it had been awful. Malik had killed them both, personally, and then had to punish himself for breaking the Code by killing a fellow Hunter.

"There's a single message board, online…" Yuugi mumbled doubtfully. He looked up. "I don't think this city's too bad, but… but… but maybe, we do need some help…"

Ryou chewed his lip. Then he looked up. "I don't like it. And there's still that Jounouchi and Kaiba. We need to confirm any suspicions about them, and chances are, there are several under-age Descendants, there always are in big cities like this…"

Malik ran a hand through his hair, then stalked off in the direction of a swing set. After a pause, Yuugi and Ryou stood up and followed him, each flopping down on a swing as well.

"Mariku-chan…" Malik whispered, kicking his feet and scuffing his toes in the dirt. "You guys… I…"

Ryou and Yuugi watched him expectantly, waiting for more, praying he wasn't about to say what they suspected…

"I… Maybe, I…"

"OI! GET BACK HERE YOU STUPID NO GOOD MOTHER-FUCKING SON OF A BITCH!" A voice screamed abruptly, making all three Hunters look up curiously. Across the park were three figures, two running flat-out, one clutching a small book, and a third chasing them with homicide written all over his face.

Ryou and Malik scattered, but Yuugi didn't manage to get out of the way fast enough, and the first figure crashed in to him, both falling first onto the swing directly behind, then the ground. The second runner jogged over, waving the book.

"Yami no baka! Stop making out with the locals and---friggin---RUN!"

Malik and Ryou paled slightly from where they had scampered up a tree out of sight some ways away, whereas Yuugi was out cold when Yami slowly sat up, groaning. He looked down and started.

"Bakura, its that kid from before!"

"Huh?"

"The one Mariku tripped over, and stuff…"

The book-holder strode over and, planting his hands on his knees, bent to get a good look at Yuugi's still face.

"Oh, hey, he i---AARGHH!!"

The third runner and before hand shouter slammed into Bakura, rolling with him some ways before managing to snatch the book back and yanked a page out of it, shredding it in seconds. He then looked down at the other boy he was straddling and smirked.

"Uh, hey, you guys… I think I killed him…" Yami's voice called. Mariku and Bakura, after a short but firm scuffle, sauntered over to the swing set and bent down next to Yuugi's still form.

"Shit, Yami! You killed him!"

"Well, CRAP…"

"I didn't mean to! I didn't! Honestly!"

"I can't see…" Ryou whispered to Malik, leaning down a small ways to peer harder through the leaves.

"This is bad…" Malik whispered back, frozen to the spot. They were whispering because the swing set wasn't as far away as it looked, and because Yami's, Mariku's, and Bakura's inner demons so to speak had noticed to the Hunters and were trying desperately to get free, clawing at their mental restraints, hissing death threats that nobody could hear. Only Malik and Ryou noticed this, shivering under the icy feeling.

"Yuugi…" Ryou murmured, voice raising just the tiniest bit.

Meanwhile, Mariku, Yami, and Bakura had gotten Yuugi on his back and on the grass, away from the swing set, unfortunately much closer to Ryou and Malik, and Yami was giving him mouth-to-mouth while Mariku pumped his chest and Bakura took his pulse.

This earned mixed emotions from the two Hunters hiding in the tree. Yuugi would, of course, be playing dead on a much higher number. Hunters, when knocked out, were KNOCKED OUT as in no heart beat, no breathing, nothing. It gave them the ability and protection to live through an amazing amount of things, and one week for a fellow Hunter or somebody from that Hunter's family to wake them up.

"They're going to panic…" Ryou whispered, softer, directly into Malik's left ear.

"I can't go down there, Mariku knows me too well," Malik hissed back, just as softly. He turned to Ryou. "Go to them. I'll meet you down at the end of the street and we'll head off from there."

Ryou gave one, firm nod, then slowly, cautiously slid down from the tree, and ran the short ways over to the four.

"Usagi, what did you do to Usagi? Usagi, wake up! USAGI!" Ryou shrieked, falling to his knees beside Yuugi's unmoving form and roughly shoving all three Direct Descendants away. Always the performer and dramatist, Ryou added a few tears and notched his voice up a bit. "You freaks! Usagi's only eleven! You were raping him! Drug-addicted bastards!"

Ryou picked Yuugi up, carrying him bridal style. He gave the three a few choice looks, tears running rivers down his cheeks.

"Don't you child-molesters ever come near him AGAIN!" and he turned and ran.

"Oi---matte!" Yami called out.

"That…" Mariku snarled under his breath.

"We didn't do anything!" Bakura half-shouted, furious, and took off after Ryou and Yuugi, ignoring his friend's shouts for him to come back.

It turned out that Ryou was a very fast runner, even with such precious cargo as an unconscious boy cradled in his arms. Bakura breathed heavily, fixing the bobbing white head ahead of him with a death glare. He wasn't going to give up; he hadn't been the captain of the track team for the last seven years in school for nothing. He wasn't worried about not being able to catch up.

Ryou, however, was. He could feel the Direct Descendant's Shadow Powers reacting to their jailer's fury, coldly snatching at Ryou's soul, yet unable to do anything, or even be noticed. Until Winter Solstice. He swung around a corner, tears and pre-tense from before forgotten, and almost ran into Malik.

"One of them following---" Malik stated quietly. Ryou could only nod, gasping, and handed him their fallen friend. Malik took Yuugi carefully, then melted into the street. Ryou listened to his pounding footsteps on the rooftops a moment later, and made to follow, but before he could really take another step, Bakura caught up. Snarling softly, the taller pinned Ryou's arms to his sides, one arm around his waist and the other around his chest.

Ryou gave a startled shout and writhed, unconsciously shutting off his internal ability to sense the Shadows as they were so close. Bakura only grunted as he slammed Ryou to the ground, then pinned him, holding his arms behind his head and one knee pinned to his lower back. Immobile, Ryou could only wait for something to happen.

It did, shortly, though not at a very high magnitude.

Bakura leaned down, breathing heavily, and said, directly in Ryou's ear: "That stupid Usagi of yours just HAPPENED to be in our way, and got himself knocked out due to stupidity solely on his part. It isn't our fault that his friends ran away, nor were we hurting him; we were trying to save his life, and if he dies, it is YOUR fault."

Ryou hissed lightly in response, not opening his mouth as it was pressed against the concrete sidewalk.

Mariku and Yami caught up then.

"Where's the little one, Bakura?" Yami asked, panting.

"Where's the brat?" Bakura repeated for Yami, making Ryou shift slightly with the discomfort of somebody breathing so harshly in his ear. He managed turned his head and got out a quiet, "I don't know what you're talking about."

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Bakura roared, making everybody jump, and he flipped Ryou onto his back before straddling him once more. "Now, where's the kid. Tell the truth."

Ryou sucked in a tight breath and parted his lips to answer, but only let the breath out again, slowly.

He hadn't realized just how beautiful Bakura was.

It was like receiving his first kiss all over again; all he could do was blush slightly and stare fixedly into the hardened orbs above him flaxenly. Bakura growled.

"Answer!"

Ryou turned his head slightly, trying to examine Bakura's eyes from a different angle; he let his lips fall parted slightly, and blinked once, slowly. Heart doing an odd double thump in his throat, Ryou choked something unintelligible out.

"What was that?" Mariku asked, bending over him from the left and behind. Yami did the same, only from the right.

Ryou ignored them; they were not a part of the fallen angel sitting on him, touching him---Ryou flushed harder still, realizing his wrists were pinned to either side of his head, the positions they were in…

"…I said… he… woke up."

Bakura scoffed. "I find that hard to believe."

"That boy… Usagi, did you say? He needs medical attention…" Yami added gently.

Mariku watched Ryou's quickly reddening face, looked at Bakura's furious expression, then back to a still-blushing Ryou. He took note of their position. He smirked.

"I believe him," Mariku stated evenly, still smiling insanely. "In fact, I think you should let him go, Bakura!"

Bakura and Yami (Ryou let his eyes drop from Bakura's eyes to his lips) stared at Mariku.

"Um… Okay, sure…" Yami said slowly, recognizing the look on the blonde's face.

"…Fine…" Bakura grumbled, and let go of the frailer teen, standing up. Ryou didn't realize he was free for a moment, but when he did, he scrambled to his feet in a matter of seconds.

"I don't blame you." he murmured, voice breaking through the whisper, and then took off down the street in the direction Malik had gone.

"Okay, you had BETTER have a good excuse, Mariku." Bakura snarled.

"Oh, yeah…" Mariku responded. "Bakura, that kid has a crush on you. I simply feared him attacking you with a pair of handcuffs and a bottle of chocolate syrup if you kept sitting on him like that, is all…"

"OI!" Yami cried, furious. "What about the kid?"

"I always did hate kids," Mariku responded. "It's no loss if he dies, Yami."

"Yeah." Bakura put in, not letting on any emotion to having found out his self proclaimed enemy had a crush on him. "Forget the kid. Forget kids in general."

"You two can---but if he's really hurt, it's my fault!" Yami cried, frustrated at the lack of sympathy.

"I'm sure he's going to be fine," Bakura said dismissivley. He checked his watch. "What do you say to a late breakfast and early lunch?"

"Fun, fun!" Mariku said excitedly.

Yami sighed.