Gardenias

Gardenias

Hato chiisai

Disclaimer: I do not own Yugioh.

If you’re a fan of my fics, you already know that this story is YAOI

As per my promise in Tearing Down the Sky, each chapter of this fic is dedicated to the winner of the “Guess Who The Four Are” Contest. The answer was the Four Arch Angels, Michael, Gabriel, Raphael and Uriel.

This chapter is dedicated to Tao K.

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Chapter 1

Magnolias

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Ryou lay on his stomach on the window sill, staring silently out at the rain and twirling a gardenia blossom in his fingers. He sighed. Last week had been his birthday, and his boyfriend had been too busy to even to have lunch with him. He missed his lover greatly. The big beautiful manor that they lived together in was very lonely.

Emerald green eyes watched Ryou from the doorway. Ryuuji Otogi slowly entered the room and approached his boyfriend.

“Ryou?” He called, softly. Ryou turned and looked up at him, smiling.

“Otogi…” He said and sat up, gladly allowing himself to be enveloped in the older boy’s arms. “You’re home.”

“Yup. I’m really sorry I missed your birthday, Ryou.” Otogi said.

“It’s okay.”

“No it isn’t.” Otogi protested, and sat down on the window sill, pulling Ryou into his lap. “You’re depressed, love.”

“I’ve missed you.” Ryou said, cuddling into the Dice Master’s arms and inhaling the delicate fragrance of the gardenia in his hand. “I’ve hardly seen you over the last month. For crying out loud, we LIVE together!!” Ryou stared into the green eyes of his lover, and Otogi smiled softly at him, brushing Ryou’s bangs out of his face so that he could stare back into Ryou’s sad eyes.

“You look like a sad puppy, Ryou.” He laughed softly. Ryou frowned and looked away, placing the gardenia back in the bowl of water on the small table by the window, where it floated on the surface with several other gardenias. (AN: Try it sometime. Just get a few gardenias and float them in a bowl of water. Smells sooooo good)

“It isn’t normal, Otogi. Where the hell have you been? You don’t even come home sometimes!! Where have you been going?!”

“Ryou, I’ve been working, love.” Otogi said, and Ryou scowled and stood.

“That’s what you always say!” Ryou spat, and moved away from the dark haired boy. “Even Seto Kaiba himself finds time to be with not only his brother, but Yami too! And he is far busier than you! What are you doing?! You can’t actually be working! I can’t believe that anymore!” Otogi blinked and stood slowly, his heart pounding.

He knew that Ryou would begin to suspect something eventually. And now the time was here, and wasn’t ready for it.

“I, I…. Ryou, please understand that I’m busy. I love you, and I—“

“Are you seeing someone else?” Ryou blurted suddenly, and Otogi froze, eyes wide.

“What?! No! Why would I?! I have you!” He wrapped his arms around Ryou lovingly. “What else could I want?”

“That guy that comes to see you every night, maybe?” Ryou spat, and Otogi froze.

“………..”

“I thought so.” Ryou said softly, and turned and headed to the closet. “I see.” He said, and began pulling his clothes out and shoving them into a bag that Otogi had not noticed on their bed.

“R-RYOU!” He gasped.

“If I wasn’t satisfying you, you could have told me and we could have just broken up.” Ryou said coldly, as he crammed his clothes into the bag. Otogi watched a tear fall down Ryou’s face before he brushed it away.

“Ryou no! It’s not like that! I’m not cheating on you! I would never do that!!” Otogi cried, and grabbed Ryou’s wrist, being careful not to hurt the delicate boy. Ryou glared at Otogi, but his glare softened at the tears filling the Dice Master’s green eyes.

“I would never, NEVER do that to you!” Otogi gasped, and slowly dropped to his knees, holding Ryou’s hand. “On my life, Ryou. Yes, this man has been coming to see me, but I care nothing for him. It’s just…. Business.”

“Are you sleeping with him?”

“No!”

“…….. promise?” Ryou asked, hopefully, and Otogi nodded.

“Yes! Yes, on my life Ryou! On my honor, my life, my blood, anything! I care nothing for him! Please believe me!” Ryou slowly knelt.

“I believe you.” He said, and Otogi grinned and hugged Ryou close. “Are you in some kind of trouble?” Ryou asked, and Otogi’s grip on him tightened briefly. “You are, aren’t you?”

“I, it’s nothing. I’ll handle it.” Otogi said, and stood, offering Ryou his hand. Ryou took it and stood.

“You promised that there would be no secrets. That we would share everything, including problems. Take me with you tonight.”

“What?! No! No, absolutely not, Ryou.”

“You don’t have a choice. I didn’t ASK you to take me with you. I TOLD you. And I’m coming.”

“No you’re not.”

“I’ll tell my yami!” Ryou whined, trying to hide a smile as Otogi paled.

“All right!” He gasped, remembering the threat that had been issued to him, not only by Ryou’s darkness, but by Malik’s as well. The two yamis had pinned him to the wall and Marik had held a knife to his groin.

“If you upset him in any way, Dice Boy, you won’t be legible to be called Dice ‘Boy’, got it?!” Bakura’s threat wasn’t empty, either. The yami was very protective of the hikari, and Marik was very protective of Ryou as well, and he had no intention of angering the insane pair.

Four hours later, the limo pulled to a stop outside of Otogi’s building. He sighed and looked at Ryou.

“Please, love. Just trust me and go home.”

“No. If you’re in trouble, I want to help.” Ryou said, and climbed out, looking up at the familiar ten-story structure as the lightning lit it up. Otogi stood beside him, then took his hand, and led him inside. They went up to the raven-haired boy’s office, and Ryou watched him plunk himself down into his big cushy chair, and stare at the door intensely. Ryou slowly moved behind him and stared out the window at the still falling rain. After a while, a car pulled up and a large man got out. Ryou frowned. It was the same man that came every night as he had seen on the security tapes his had swiped from Otogi’s office a few days ago.

“He’s here.” Ryou said, and Otogi frowned and stopped his current activity, which was swirling his finger around the gardenias floating in a bowl on his desk. The flowers were Ryou’s favorite, and Otogi had come to love them as well. They reminded him of his lover, whose skin was as soft and sweet as the white flower’s petals.

“Go into the other room.” Otogi said in a cold voice, moving the bowl back to the corner of his desk.

“No. I’m staying with you.” Ryou whispered into his lover’s ear, and hugged him.

“Ryou, I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“Has he hurt you?!”

“No, but… please Ryou. Just go.”

“No.” Ryou cried, looking very upset. “I’m staying right here!” Otogi opened his mouth to shout at Ryou, but they both heard the elevator ding to signal the arrival of their visitor.

“Please!” Otogi whispered frantically, but Ryou frowned and went to the door. When the shadows of feet appeared on the other side, Ryou flung the door open and glared out at the man with a bitchy scowl. The scowl soon faded into a look of intimidation as he stared up at the monstrous man, who glared down at him. Ryou gulped, and slowly moved back, letting the man in, not taking his wide eyes from the narrow gray eyes of the visitor. The man’s hand suddenly darted out and caught a fistful of Ryou’s hair, and he felt it curiously. His lips curled into a sneering grin of approval, and he chuckled at the look of terror on the boy’s face. He leaned over suddenly, and breathed in the scent that came from Ryou’s hair. He straightened up and looked at Otogi.

“I’m guessing that this is the reason for your love of those.” He said, gesturing to the flower-filled bowl on the desk.

“Get your hands off of him.” Otogi snarled from across the room. The man’s grip on Ryou’s hair tightened briefly before he released the boy, who quickly backed into the wall.

“Your lover, Ryuuji?” The man asked with a feral grin. “He’s quite the looker.”

“Just take what you came for and get out.” Otogi snapped, throwing an envelope at the man, who caught it.

“The usual offer stands, Ryuuji.”

“Fuck you.” Otogi snapped, and the man laughed.

“That’s the idea!” He crowed, and Otogi turned red in fury.

“Get. Out.” He snarled, and the man chuckled.

“Oh no… Not now that I’ve seen THIS tender morsel…” He drawled, looking at Ryou again. The boy quickly made his way behind the desk where Otogi pulled him into his arms, protectively.

“Get out. NOW!” Otogi shouted.

“Alright… but since there’s two of you…. It will cost you double.” Ryou blinked and Otogi’s eyes widened.

“WHAT?!”

“This,” the man said, waving the envelope. “Only covers for one of you. You were better off when I didn’t know about him.” He jabbed a finger at Ryou. “But now… you’ll have to cough it up for both of you.” Otogi winced, and pulled a checkbook out of his desk. He scribbled a check for $1000 to Tetsuya Nakazawa, then slowly moved across the room and handed it to the man, who grinned. Ryou frowned. He knew that name…

“Alright, then. But cash from now on. You know that. Oh, and I expect for you both to be here from now on. Is that understood?”

“You will never see him again.” Otogi snarled. “EVER!”

“Oh, I beg to differ.” The man chuckled. “If I don’t see him, then I will have to hunt him down. And if I find him, well…” He seized Otogi’s throat. “It is YOU who will never see him again.” Otogi gulped and nodded slightly, then gagged as the man squeezed.

“LET GO OF HIM!!” Ryou screamed and charged, pouncing on his lover’s assailant, biting and clawing. The man yelped and punched Otogi to the floor, then grabbed Ryou by the wrist and flung him around, slamming him into the wall. Ryou yelped as his skull slammed into the wall with a loud crack. Otogi watched his lover slowly slide to the floor, leaving a trail of blood smeared onto the wall. The man chuckled darkly.

“Well… maybe it will be a few days before I see him, but I will be watching. And as soon as he gets out of the hospital, I will expect him to accompany you to our every meeting. Or next time he won’t need an ambulance. He’ll need a hearse.” And the man swept out the door. Otogi let a broken cry escape his lips as he ran to Ryou, slumped against the wall.

“Ryou? Oh, God, Ryou….” He ran to his desk and dialed up an ambulance, and then, hands shaking, called Bakura.

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