FIC: Road Blocks (Chapter Seven)
Title: Road Blocks
Author: ShadowSpirit
Email: HPFerret@aol.com
Feedback: Sure.
Rating: PG-13 - strong-ish swearing
Fandom: Yu-Gi-Oh!
Pairing(s): Fadeshipping (Jounouchi x Yami no Malik), ???
Chapter: Seven
Summary: They took him away... Couldn't they see? Didn't they realize that he was still wanted by someone? Of course not. Of course not, they were so blind... but... he had to get him back. He just had to.
WIP: Incomplete
Word Count: 2386
Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh or any of its characters. This is not used in any way to make money. Please do not sue me. Thank you.
[Story Hub]
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Road Blocks
Chapter Seven
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Jounouchi Katsuya had a good handle of dealing with people who had another “occupant” apart of them. He had known three hosts - or shells, or anchors, as Yami no Bakura kept insisting. Yuugi, Ryou, and Malik all had their difficulties with their other occupants, but seemed to mostly come out of it with both halves intact. Of course, Malik was able to get rid of his half. Not the best ending of things.
Especially since now, Jounouchi was having a difficult time seeing that half, who had been freed from the Shadow Realm, only to be put into the body of Seto Kaiba, who apparently already had an occupant. A very dormant occupant.
It made Jounouchi have to think more on things now whenever Yami no Bakura called out “Priest” - whether he was referring to Kaiba, as normal, or the actual dormant High Priest that was only poked at for magic or when Yami no Malik wanted out.
He didn’t get to see Yami no Malik much. Seto Kaiba was too use to having control of everything to just give it up. But it did look like the CEO was sleeping less and less.
Jounouchi hadn’t seen much of Ryou or Yami no Bakura lately either. In fact, about the only people he did see were Anzu and Honda. They chatted while he stared longingly outside the window of the local Burger World. Yuugi was strangely missing.
It made him ill. He looked back to the pair across him. They were talking about how Otogi Ryuuji had gotten a new car… something normal from what he had been dealing with lately. He interrupted them. “Have you guys seen Yuugi around?”
“Oh…” Anzu stared at him for a moment. Her gaze then dropped. “No… I think he’s sick or something.”
“We tried going over to the game shop before we found you, and the place was locked up,” Honda added. “It’s actually been fairly quiet around the area.”
“Quiet, huh?” Jounouchi returned to looked out the window. A little over a week had passed sinced the small ritual in Ryou’s basement. He wondered what the pair were going through in order to get Yami no Yuugi away from his lighter half. Was Yuugi going to be unharmed?
If both came out safe, couldn’t the same thing be done with Kaiba and Yami no Malik?
“But hey, you’ve been hanging around that Kaiba a lot, haven’t you, Jou?” Honda asked him.
“Trying to anyway,” Jounouchi responded, then started and blinked, turning his gaze to them. They both were uneasy. He set his hands onto the table and tried to backtrack. “Don’t get the wrong idea of anything. I beat the guy in a bet. Except then I got cocky and he beat me in a few more… so I’m a bit trapped doing work for ’im.” Yeah. That sounded reasonable.
“You should just ask Yuugi, he’d help you out!” Honda said before he thought about it.
“Yuug’s not around, man,” and he didn’t help me out before.
“Yeah… that’s right…” Honda sighed. “I wonder where he is…”
“I’m sure he’s ok, you guys! Don’t look so down. He’ll be back in no time, you’ll see.”
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Jounouchi stopped by the game shop instead of trying to seek out Kaiba. He was almost sure that the CEO had been finding new hiding spots from him anyway. Jounouchi wasn’t sure if he could blame the guy, no matter how much he did want to see Yami no Malik.
As the others had said, the shop was locked up. He went around to the house and rang the doorbell, banged on the door, and yelled in, anything to try and get an answer. “Yuugi! Yuugi! Come on, quit kidding around! You’ve gotta be in there… Stop worrying everyone!” And then he swiftly kicked the door in anger. “Dammit, Bakura, what’d you do?!”
Upset and dejected, he wandered worriedly around town. To his surprise, he found Kaiba and his brother in a small park. Mokuba was feeding pigeons. Kaiba was sitting on a bench with his arms strung over the back and looking half-dead.
He approached quietly, coming up to Mokuba’s side and crouching down by a grouping of pigeons. “Feed me, feed me!” he called and got the boy’s attention, scaring off some of the birds in the process.
“Hey there, Jounouchi!”
“… What?” Kaiba groaned and lifted his head, staring unenthusiastically at Jounouchi.
“Hi,” he responded, giving Kaiba an even look. “Think I can chat?”
“No.”
“Might make your headache go away,” Jounouchi suggested.
“No.”
“Aw, come on Seto, you really gotta socialize a bit more!” Mokuba laughed. He turned to Jounouchi. “He’s been more grouchy than normal lately. And then he starts to randomly wander off and mumble strange things. I told him to go to a doctor, but he’s just so stubborn. I don’t know what’s wrong with him. Oh! And get this! If you see him under a streetlight or something, he looks different -”
“Mokuba, that’s enough.”
“Different how so?” he questioned.
Mokuba ignored his brother’s demands. “His hair gets lighter, and really messy. And I swear his eyes change color!”
“Mokuba!”
“Sheesh, Seto,” Mokuba stuck out his tongue and crossed his arms. He whispered towards Jounouchi. “See? Touchy.”
“Kaiba, have you seen Yuugi?” Jounouchi asked. He stood right in front of the other seriously. He looked for any signs that maybe Yami no Malik had broken through, but Kaiba, despite his condition, wasn’t ready to give in yet.
“No.”
Jounouchi frowned. “What about Ryou?”
“Have you tried his house?”
No, Jounouchi thought. “I found you on my way there.”
Kaiba didn’t seem to be listening. Jounouchi pushed, just a little. “Look, can I please speak with -”
“He doesn’t know anything either,” Kaiba mumbled. “And he’s annoyed, but not as much as me. You don’t get anything until I get my end of that stupid deal.” End of story. Mokuba looked back and forth between the two of them, confused. Jounouchi left, nearly stepping on several pigeons.
He’d check that damn house.
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He heard yelling, consisting of a heavy argument. He pressed his ear to the door, trying to hear all of it.
“He’s nearly dead!”
“I never said he was going to come out of it in one piece! I said he’d be alive, which he is, so what’s your fucking problem?!”
“That we barely came out of it in one piece! Failed to mention that part to me?!”
“Minor difficulties! But we’re both in walking condition, and he will be eventually, and his other will be accessible again soon enough! So stop fucking yelling, you’re giving me a headache! I need a bloody vacation from this damn city.”
The door opened. Jounouchi stumbled back, not able to even hide. Yami no Bakura, angrily, was standing in the doorway. He nervously smiled and stepping back, almost fell down the steps; Yami no Bakura grabbed his arm and pulled him close, hissing, “you fucking weasel,” and threw him into the house.
The door slammed behind them. Jounouchi looked around wildly as if expecting his life in danger. Ryou ghastly stood in the living room. Jounouchi followed the other, still waiting for something to jump out and execute him.
Instead, the only thing that almost killed him was the scare of seeing Yami no Yuugi’s body laid out on the living room table, clothing torn, blood covered and staining the table and the carpet below, unmoving.
Jounouchi gasped, but the first words out of his mouth were the words that were echoing in his mind the past few days, so he couldn’t help if his concern was limited. “…Where’s Yuugi?”
“Shadow Realm,” Yami no Bakura snapped without missing a beat. He walked over to the table and folded his arms, staring down at the body. “This is pathetic.”
“S-Shadow Realm?”
“You heard me.”
“H-How… why…? What the hell did you do?!”
“I upheld my part of my fucking deal, you got it? You should be prancing around! If it wasn’t for that deal, your secret little lover would still be trapped in that place! But don’t fucking be worried about little Yuugi Moto. He’s got himself a bubble of safety! Someone’ll get him back later, I’m sure!” He glared at Ryou to keep his mouth shut.
And then Jounouchi finally noticed the condition of the other two. They were not nearly as bad as Yami no Yuugi, but still there was blood dripping down: from Yami no Bakura’s left side, and Ryou’s right.
“I don’t… understand,” Jounouchi choked, “how did you do it…?”
“I don’t want to fucking talk about it!” Yami no Bakura roared. Jounouchi felt dark energy bouncing off the walls. He was sure he was going to be sent to the Shadow Realm. He sensed the energy crawling towards him, pulling all the hairs of his body towards it. And then it all died down. Jounouchi stared at Ryou, standing where his dark half had been, ready to collapse, but in control of their body.
“I-I’m sorry…” Jounouchi whispered, unsure of what to say. The boy smiled faintly. “I… s-shouldn’t something be done… to… help him?” He pointed shakily at the body on the table.
“Of course. I’ll get to it…” Ryou’s eyes clouded, “shortly,” and then he collapsed to the ground.
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Calling the hospital seemed stupid; he wasn’t sure why. He managed to get in contact with Kaiba, who was much more agreeable when Jounouchi mentioned “Your end of the deal is here” and it was only a matter of time for a limousine to pull up. Jounouchi begged for help, exclaiming that he wasn’t sure what to do. They told him to get in and they took the two bodies quickly to the Kaiba Mansion where an army of doctors were waiting and ready.
Jounouchi hadn’t seen the bodies since. He sat, alone, in a living room that wasn’t homey or warm. But it was better than being back at the Bakura household, where their living room smelled of blood and death. He was sure that he had never seen Yami no Bakura so enraged.
Something had gone wrong, or not followed what their plan. Yes, they had gotten their goal, but it had to have been more difficult than they were hoping. And if it wasn’t for Ryou merging and taking control, he was certain he would be in the Shadow Realm with Yuugi right now.
He wasn’t sure where his concern rested. It felt more for himself and Ryou and Yuugi. But Yuugi was purposively “safe.” As safe as anyone could be in the Shadow Realm. Yami no Yuugi… he did fear for. As hard of a time the spirit was being for Jounouchi, part of him still hoped him healthy.
But Jounouchi could see that this “method” of Yami no Bakura’s wouldn’t work so well on Kaiba.
“Katsuya…”
Jounouchi turned his head. He knew. “Mariku.”
“I don’t have long until the bastard boots me out. I can’t exactly protest since all his little pawns are waiting for their orders. Ryou is doing alright. Yami no Yuugi is showing more signs of life than before. That damned High Priest is giving his Hell to try and rush the immediate recovery of him,” he tapped the side of his head in annoyance. “You’ve got to get me out of this body. It’s too awkward.”
“But how?”
“I don’t know. Not the way the Tomb Robber tried on his test subjects.”
“I figured that but -”
“Time to go,” Seto Kaiba said.
Jounouchi stood up heatedly, “Dammit, Kaiba! That’s not fair! You got what you wanted!”
“I’ve got work to do, mutt. And the faster that work gets done, then god I hope the faster someone gets this freak out of my fucking head. Save me before I go insane.”
He sat back down and stared at his hands. Kaiba was hoping to heal Ryou up so that Yami no Bakura could get back to work. But what if he was unwilling after what happened? Jounouchi wasn’t so sure he could do this on his own.
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