When the Sun Goes Down

I have spent far too much time listening to the soundtrack for Death Note. In fact it's playing as I type this. Which could mean bad things for Ryou. I like making him suffer. And this music inspires me. 170 hits and only one review. But hey a review is a review. And I thank you for taking the time to tell me you like this fic. Another chapter just because reviews make me happy. And so does listening to "Zetsubou Billy" on repeat. And boys in make up. And angst. Hmmm.... Wondering if I should include Malik in this story sooner than planned.

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Bakura was dreaming again. He knew he was dreaming because in the real world Ryou would not be standing in front of him wearing sinfully low cut leather pants and a loose fitting velvet shirt. In real life his light wouldn't be fisting his hands into his hair and whispering tempting words against his lips.

Most importantly in real life Ryou didn't have wings like an angel. At least last time he checked he didn't.

The thief struggled to wake up. He didn't want to finish this dream. He knew how it ended. It always ended in the same way. With Ryou killing himself.

The way it happened was never the same but it always happened. And Bakura was always powerless to stop him.

Ryou stepped back and pulled his wings around his form, hiding from sight. Bakura tensed.

"What's wrong yami? You caused it yourself. You hurt me so many times. You hurt my friends. I finally found a way to hurt you back. I want to see you cry Kura." Red wings flared open and Ryou fell backwards arms outspread.

Bakura fell to his knees reaching out to touch the blade embedded deep into his light's stomach.

"Bakura. Bakura, wake up." Ryou reached out to shake the other awake without thinking.

'Don't touch me.' Bakura swung catching Ryou across the face with his arm and knocking him back onto the floor.

It was reflex more than anything. He started to reach down to pull Ryou to his feet but stopped in mid motion when brown eyes glared up at him.

'You brought it on yourself you stupid fool. I told you a long time ago don't touch me when I'm asleep.' He grabbed the other boy by his arm and jerked him up.

"You busted my lip open. How do you expect me to hide that from my friends." Ryou touched his bleeding lip gently then pulled his fingers away and held the blood smeared digits up. "Yami's going to know what happened before I even say a word."

'Don't speak to me about that Ra damned Pharaoh.' Bakura reached out and grabbed his light by the back of the neck. 'Should I show you want he did to my family? Do you want to see what he did to them? He's nothing but a spoiled brat.'

'Let me go.'

Rage washed over Bakura. Hurt him. If you hurt him he'll shut up.

'Don't! I'm sorry!' Ryou struggled to get away from the vice like grip on him. He'd have bruises on his neck but his hair was long enough to cover them. He was more worried about the fact that Bakura had spun him around and the hand holding him was shaking. 'Please.'

It was too easy. Far too easy to shove the boy into the wall with one hand and hold him there. Bakura growled as he leaned his weight against Ryou's back. 'I could kill you. Sure, I'd miss my chance at the Pharaoh now but I have eternity.'

He'd do it. Ryou was sure of that. As easy as it would be to just let him it wasn't what he wanted. What he wanted was to make his dark happy. So he forced his muscles to relax. Whatever was about to happen wouldn't hurt as much if he just wasn't as tense.

Bakura raised a fist into the air and brought it down onto the other boys shoulder hard, knocking him to the floor. "Stay there. Don't move until I leave...I'm...Just stay."

On his hands and knees on the floor of his own room Ryou started crying as his soulmate left the room. He didn't move until he heard the front door slam, then he collapsed, burying his face into the carpet to muffle his sobs.

I just want to make you happy.

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"Yami."

"Hm?"

"I was thinking that maybe it was time to talk to Jou about what Malik did to him."

Yami rolled over in the bed to get a better view of Yugi laying next to him. His light was laying on his stomach hugging a pillow. Refusing to meet the dark red eyes he knew were watching him closely. "Don't you mean what Marik did to him?"

Yugi shook his head, blonde bangs flopping. "Sure Marik was inside of him but Malik was the one who had Jou kidnapped. He even admits that. Why blame the dark for what the light did?"

"Because," Yami sighed deeply. "Our duty is to protect you at all costs. Marik feed his lights anger and fear. He may have been borne out of pain but he's still a guardian. He sould have stopped him."

Yugi sat up suddenly. "Let me see if I have this right. Because he's a yami and Malik is a hikari that means Marik has the right to just keep him from doing what he wants to do?"

'No. That's not what I said. You have to understand something little one, if I ever saw you hurt and suffering I would gladly kill the person who caused it.' Long fingers tipped Yugi's face up. 'I wouldn't let you do it yourself. It would take away part of what makes you my Yugi. I'm surrounded by darkness all the time. I come from the darkness. I'm made of darkness. One day I will return to darkness. Yugi, your light is what keeps the demons of my past at bay.'

I think I'm going to kiss him now. Yep. Kissing sounds good.

'We were talking about Ka...Jou. I want to talk about him. I want to know what you think.'

Yami slowly moved his hand away from Yugi's chin dragging his fingers slowly. No reason to take his hand away faster than was necessary. Besides it gave him time to think. "What about him?"

"Do you really think it was such a good idea for the three of us to get an apartment together? After all he's still a little jumpy and you seem to make him nervous. You didn't use to."

Because I had never pinned him to a bed before. I had never held his hands over his head while I rubbed against him. I had never made those sounds fall from his lips. We almost lost him and I couldn't stand the thought of not tasting him any longer.

"Yami."

"Hm?"

"Maybe we should talk about this tomorrow. Everything's easier to talk about in the morning." Yugi laid back down and curled around his pillow. It had been two months since they had moved into the new apartment. At the time of the move all they could afford was two beds. One for Jou and one for Yami and Yugi to share. It had been a better idea at the time it was decided. Now they could afford another bed but neither seemed to have the time to go get one. Funny how that worked out.

"Perhaps. Besides, Jou knows that neither Marik nor Malik can harm him now. They're back in Egypt where they belong." Yami stretched out on his back lacing his fingers into his hair. Everything would look better in the morning. Everything was always better in the light.

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Mokuba sat in the window seat of his room staring out at the rain that had begun to fall. He liked it when it rained. It gave everything a hazy dream like look. Not that Mokuba had been dreaming much lately. Hell he hadn't even been sleeping much lately.

Something was very wrong with his big brother. Something that he couldn't fix. The worse part was he knew it was because of him. Because of something he had done to make Seto hate him. He couldn't figure out what though.

He sighed and dug under the pillows for the lighter he knew was buried somewhere in the mass. He didn't know why he bought the lighter in the first place. I t wasn't like he smoked or anything. Still there was something oddly comforting about flipping the small green tube around his fingers.

Mokuba thought back to the dinner he and Seto had shared only a few hours before. Seto had seemed stressed. He always seemed stressed when he let his home office but tonight was different. Tonight his stress seemed to be focused at his little brother.

_flashback_

"Eat."

"I'm not really that hungry." Mokuba looked at the sandwich sitting in front of him and felt his stomach roll. Nope, not hungry at all.

Seto slammed his fist onto the table startling the younger. "You wanted something to eat so eat. If you weren't hungry you should have told me. I wouldn't have come down here and wasted my time."

The brunette stood and snatched both plates off the table before stalking across the room and slamming them into the sink. "I'm going to bed."

"Good night" came the whispered reply.

_end flashback_

Mokuba bit his fist and blinked rapidly. A Kaiba never cries. To cry was to show weakness and weakness was something for people to use against you. Mokuba still carried the scars of his weakness.

It's pathetic really. How many times can one person get kidnapped in a life time.

Black hair drifted over his shoulder and across his face. Weird, he didn't remember opening the window. Then again he had been doing a lot of things lately without thing about it. A strong breeze sent ebony locks flying.

Mokuba stood and walked over to his desk, digging inside for a moment before finding what he was looking for. He raised the scissors up and examined them closely in the dim light of his room.

I look like a girl. How many boys have knee length hair? I put it in a ponytail and look like a girl. I wear it down and look like a girl. Seto looks anything but girly. I look weak.

He pulled a handful of hair over his shoulder with one hand and cut with the other. The scissors kept getting stuck in the thick mass and he had to yank them out several times. When he was done he threw the shears down and walked over to the mirror to examine himself. His hair was ragged and barely bushed his shoulders at the shortest places.

"I still look like a girl."

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"Seto, tell him." Otogi rolled his eyes and twirled the cord of the phone charger around his finger.

"Sure. Mokuba I hate you. That should go over really well. All the way to the news."

"Don't say that. You don't hate him. Do you? I mean do you really hate him?"

Seto sighed deeply. "No. I hate that I want him to hold me and tell me it's okay. I hate that I want him to tell me I did everything right and I don't have to be strong anymore. I hate the fact that I want to him to treat me like he's my mother."

"You hate the fact he looks so much like her but he's not her."

"Yes." Seto hung up knowing his friend would understand.

Mokuba might look like his mother but he wasn't her. That was what made Seto so angry. Everyday he was reminded of what he had lost by someone who had no memories of her. Seto doubted his little brother had ever even seen a picture of their mom.

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Bakura leaned against the wall of a closed shop breathing in the moist night air. He was waiting for the one person he could talk to about what had happened. The one person who would understand. He heard the sound of a motorcycle coming down the road and walked over to it as it stopped in front of him. "It's about time."

"Hey. You're just lucky I came at all. I was asleep when you called you know."

Bakura wrapped his arms around the others waist. "Quit bitching and drive."

"You know if you keep that up I might start to think you aren't happy that we're back" Malik replied as he rolled the bike into motion.