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 Liviania

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Chapter 2

White Roses

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Bakura arrived at Otogi’s office just as the paramedics were transferring Ryou to a stretcher. He ran to his light, who was unconscious.

“Please stay back, sir.” A paramedic ordered, as they rushed Ryou from the room. Another paramedic was tending to Otogi, who kept batting at his hand and claiming that he was fine. But he froze when he saw Bakura. Eyes glowing in anger, Bakura approached the Dice Master.

“What. Happened.” He snarled. Otogi gulped and looked down.

“Ryou… he… This man had come to see me, and we had a disagreement. He started choking me, and Ryou attacked him.” Otogi said, softly. Bakura blinked and nodded, then offered Otogi his hand. Otogi blinked and took it, and stood.

“He loves you a lot.” Bakura said, heading out of the room. “He will be upset if he wakes up and you’re not there.” Otogi blinked, then nodded and followed Bakura out of the room. Outside, Bakura walked over to a tree. Otogi followed, and gulped when Marik stepped out of the shadows. Bakura spoke softly to him for a moment, and Marik nodded, looking at Otogi.

“Ryou can be a real bitch when someone he loves is threatened, ne?” Marik said to Otogi with a smirk, and Otogi gulped and blinked. “Aww, loosen up Dice Boy. We ain’t gonna hurt you. Let’s get to the hospital for the squirt.”

“Don’t call my light a squirt!” Bakura snapped at his boyfriend, and Marik chuckled.

“Uh, my limo’s over here….” Otogi choked out.

“LIMO!! SCORE!!!” Marik cried, and ran over to the black car and scrambled in, only to begin playing with things randomly. Bakura snickered and threw Otogi a wink, before climbing in after Marik. The ride to the hospital was nerve wracking for Otogi, who was sure that Marik’s fiddling would blow up the limo at any moment.

“WAIT!!!” Otogi suddenly yelped, and flung open the door of the car at a stop light, running up to a flower shop called Kitten in the House, just as they were closing. A cheerful blue eyed teenager helped him out real quick before happily waving him on his way. (AN: OMIIIII!!!!!! LMAO anyway, that’s from Weiß Kreuz) Otogi climbed back into the car with a small bush in his hands.

“What’s that?” Marik asked.

“Gardenia.” Bakura said. “It’s Ryou’s favorite.” He eyed Otogi, then nodded approvingly. “I’m impressed that you know.” Otogi snorted.

“How could I not?! He had me plant these things all over my yard, and they’re floating in a bowl of water in nearly every room of my house!” Marik and Bakura snickered.

“That’s my hikari.”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Otogi followed Bakura and Marik into Ryou’s room as soon as they were permitted to see the boy. Ryou still had not regained consciousness, and had suffered a concussion, according to the doctors. But he would recover with no problem. Otogi set the plant on Ryou’s windowsill and moved to the bedside. He watched silently as Bakura bent over Ryou and pressed a kiss onto his forehead, while stroking his hair.

“My little hikari…” He said softly. “Well done. Don’t let anyone hurt what is yours.” And he lifted his eyes to meet Otogi’s. The boy blinked and swallowed. “Since he will be fine, I’ll let you two be. However, there had better not be a next time.”

“If he lays another hand on Ryou, I’ll kill him.” Otogi snarled, and Bakura grinned happily.

“Oh, good!” He said in a perky tone. “Let’s go Marik!” And they skipped out of the room, leaving a confused Otogi. He sighed and took Ryou’s hand.

“I don’t know how you put up with him, Ryou…”

“……. Experience.” Ryou mumbled.

“You’re awake!”

“Mmmhmm….. I smell gardenia….” Ryou muttered, and Otogi smiled and brought the small bush over. “Ohh… Otogi, I knew I smelled it!” Ryou said, and stuck his nose in one of the blossoms. “Thank you!”

“How are you feeling?” Otogi asked, sitting on the edge of Ryou’s bed.

“My head hurts…” Ryou moaned, lifting his face out of the bush, and Otogi smiled and put the bush on the bed side table.

“Why did you do that, Ryou? He could have killed you!”

“He was hurting you!” Ryou cried, fixing distressed eyes on his friend. “He was choking you! I couldn’t let him do that to you! Otogi, what is going on?! Tell me!”

“No.”

“Why not? I’m going to figure it out anyway. I have to be there with you from now on.” Ryou pointed out, and the darker boy sighed and rubbed his eyes.

“I’m starting to think that I should have let you walk out on me today.”

“What?!”

“At least you’d be safe…” Otogi said, staring down at the hospital bracelet on Ryou’s wrist. Ryou sighed and hugged Otogi.

“If you’re in trouble, I want to help.” He said firmly.

“We’re both in trouble now.” Otogi said.

“Call the police.”

“Uh… I would but….”

“But?”

“Ryou… he IS a cop.”

“WHAT?!”

“He’s Tetsuya Nakazawa; the chief of police, Ryou.”

“You’re kidding!”

“Would I kid about this? I don’t know what I could do, Ryou. I just don’t know. I can’t tell anyone. He… He has documents all drawn up that could get me arrested for several things I didn’t do. I have to do this.”

“What is it he wants from you?”

“Well…. He and my father were friends in high school and college. And you know that my father and I never got along.”

“Yes?”

“Well, he’s been tormenting me ever since my father died. He’s become more and more disgusting, corrupted, and perverted over the years. And he‘s approached me several times.”

“For… what?”

“Guess.”

“Otogi….” Ryou gasped, mortified. The Dice Master stood and began pacing, rubbing his arms.

“I wouldn’t let him touch me. But when he became chief of police, he began finding ways to see me. And a few weeks ago, he came up with false documents that could implicate me in cases of smuggling, embezzlement, tax evasion and other things. And he started blackmailing me.”

“How so?”

“Basically, he comes every night. If I’m not there, he will put out a warrant for my arrest. The deal is $1000 cash, or my submission.” He stopped pacing and put his hands on his hips, glaring at Ryou. “And now I have to pay him $2000 so I can keep you safe too! That’s why I should have let you believe that I was cheating and let you leave me! You wouldn’t be in danger like this!”

“No!” Ryou cried, and reached a hand out to Otogi. “No, don’t think like that! You’re in trouble, and now we’re in it together! We can work through it together!” Otogi sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Ryou…” He sat down beside Ryou again, letting his pale haired lover wrap his arms around him. “I know we said ‘no secrets’, but I kept this secret from you because I didn’t want you involved. I didn’t want him to see you. EVER. Because I knew he’d want you too. I’m going to try to break a deal with him to get you out of this.”

“No. I don’t want to think about what he’ll want from you. Let’s just play along until we think of something, okay?”

“Alright. But if lays so much as a finger on you, I’ll—“

“Be very upset, yes I know.” Ryou giggled, kissing Otogi’s pout away. “Don’t worry, love.” He sighed and rested his head on Otogi’s shoulder. “We, we’ll find a way out of this.”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Otogi was loathe to leave the hospital the next morning, but he had to go into the office. He napped in the limo on the way, and practically ran to his office, not noticing at the ‘good morning’s he was receiving from his employees. He ran into his office and slammed the door.

“Ah, there you are.” He froze and stared.

“Nakazawa…” He gasped.

“So… your little boyfriend is being released this afternoon…”

“Uhh….”

“Don’t lie to me, Ryuuji.”

“Yes.”

“I thought so. So I will expect to see him tonight.”

“He needs rest. He needs to sleep.”

“You have a sofa, don’t you? He can rest there.”

“B-but…”

“That’s final, Ryuuji. I want to see your little lover here, tonight. See you then.” And Nakazawa turned and left. Otogi watched him go, then dropped into his chair and let his head fall into his hands.

“This is not good…” He whispered, and looked up, swirling his finger in the bowl of water with the gardenias floating in it. “What do I do?”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

A few hours later, Otogi was once again sitting at his desk, swirling the water and flowers in the glass bowl, and wondering what he should do. But now, he was staring at Ryou, sleeping quietly on the sofa. The building was dark, as was the sky outside. Otogi was waiting for Chief Nakazawa to show up. He stood and began pacing, before leaving his office, muttering about needing to pee. He did his business, and then returned to his office. He opened the door, and stared.

“Hello, Ryuuji….” Nakazawa purred from where he sat on the sofa, stroking Ryou’s hair. Frightened brown eyes hidden from Nakazawa’s view by his hair turned to Otogi. He glared.

“Get away from him.” He snarled.

“The money?” Nakazawa asked, running his hand down Ryou’s back, and further. Ryou yelped and hurled himself off of the sofa and scrambled across the floor. Otogi knelt to meet him, and pulled him up to stand. Ryou hid behind Otogi, eyes staring at Nakazawa. The police chief chuckled at Ryou's retreat.

“The money?” He asked again. Otogi snorted, and went over to his desk, pulling out an envelope with $2000 in it. He went over and handed the envelope to Nakazawa, who counted it briefly before grinning. “Nice doing business with you, Ryuuji.”

“Get out of my building.” Otogi snarled. Nakazawa chuckled and turned, throwing a wink at Ryou before leaving the room. The door closed, and Ryou ran to Otogi.

“What did he do to you?!” Otogi gasped, holding his shaking lover to his chest. “Are you alright?”

“F-fine… He didn’t do anything to me.” Ryou said. “I’m so tired.”

“Let’s go home. You need to rest.” Otogi said, and Ryou sighed and nodded. Otogi smiled and helped Ryou out to the car.

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