Teenage Jail

Disclaimer: Yu-Gi-Oh! belongs to Kazuki Takahashi.

Read between the lines.
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"Somewhere out there on that horizon,
Out beyond the neon lights,
I know there must be something better
But there's nowhere else in sight."

-- The Eagles, "In the City"

When he heard the sound of a motorcycle roaring up to the building, Bakura glanced over at the door to his father's room and stood up, walking over to the door and undoing the lock. He opened it a crack and watched Malik stalk up the stairs, wondering what had happened today.

He pushed the door open the rest of the way and started to speak when Malik grabbed his collar, yanking him into the apartment. The blond seized the cord of the Sennen Ring and jerked it over Bakura's head, before throwing it at the floor. "What were you--"

Bakura covered Malik's mouth, cutting him off. "Shh! You'll wake him up!"

Malik grabbed Bakura's wrist and pulled the hand from his mouth, then glanced over his shoulder at the door to Bakura's father's bedroom. He turned back and glared at the other teenager. "Why didn't you tell me about the Ring?! What were you thinking?" he hissed.

Bakura shook Malik's grip off. He'd kept the Ring hidden for over a week now, but that afternoon he'd had the bad fortune to be recognized by someone the spirit had hurt in an earlier time. It had taken over and made short work of the man, but hadn't managed to push Bakura back in control before being was spotted by one of his friends. Honda had informed Jounouchi, who immediately went looking for Yuugi to make sure he was safe, and by then the claim that the Ring had been stolen was useless. But he hadn't expected Malik to hear about it so soon. "There wasn't anything to tell."

"It may come back a lot," Malik said sarcastically, "but that's still worth some mention."

Bakura said nothing, and Malik stared at him for a moment before narrowing his eyes. "You...."

"Yuugi-kun gets everything!" Bakura whispered harshly. "Why should I have to give him my Ring, too? It's mine!"

Malik jerked away from him, then started pacing. He reached the part of the carpet where the Ring lay, and kicked it across the room. Malik turned and glared at Bakura. "I can't believe you," the blond growled, keeping his voice as quiet as he could while angry. "Is it that hard for you to live without your scapegoat?!"

"It's not that!" Bakura replied. "Yuugi-kun shouldn't get everything so easily!"

Malik gave him a disgusted look. "You're such a selfish, brainwashed little puppet."

Bakura narrowed his eyes slightly. "I suppose you would know."

Malik glared and turned his back on him, moving towards the Ring to kick it again. "Why do you keep doing this? It's a murderer!"

"So are you," Bakura said quietly.

Malik jolted at that and spun around to look at Bakura, eyes wide in hurt and surprise. He removed the expression quickly,ugh,ugh, and stalked forward. "What would you know?" he hissed, bracing his hands on either side of Bakura's arms and trapping him against the wall. "What could you possibly know?"

"What else is there to know?"

Malik stared at him for a time before finally speaking. "You're just as much of a killer," he said quietly. "All those people wouldn't have died if you stopped hiding him."

"They would have eventually," Bakura answered. "Everyone does. And at least he doesn't hurt my friends, not anymore."

Malik's face twisted up in a snarl. "Oh, really?"

Bakura gazed at him. "Yes. Really."

Malik stared at him for a long time, before shoving himself violently away from the other teen, hands clenched into fists. "I should--"

It was his day to get cut off, because there was a stirring in the room with the shut door. "Son?" came the elder Bakura's bleary voice.

Bakura looked at the room with re, bu, but then yelped in surprise when Malik grabbed his arm and wrenched him out the door, kicking it closed behind them.

Bakura stumbled over the stairs as Malik dragged him down to the bottom level and out to the sidewalk. "What--?"

They reached the curb, and Malik pushed him at the motorcycle. "Get on," he ordered.

Bakura took a few steps back, but Malik caught his arm again and prevented him from escaping. "Get on the damn bike!"

Bakura stared at him for a moment, then climbed up. Malik slid a leg over the seat and jammed the key into the ignition, then peeled out into the street before Bakura could ask about helmets. The paler teen tensed up and held Malik's waist tightly as they cut in front of a Toyota, but the Egyptian ignored him and headed for the highway.



The ride became a little more bearable once they had left the city traffic behind and were out on the open road, but the further they wenom Dom Domino City and the people in it, the more nervous Bakura grew. He didn't want to be alone with Malik when the blond was like this.

Bakura vaguely recognized the highway as the one that circled the city in a wide loop, going out beside the sea before leading back downtown. He kept his grip on Malik and stared out at the ocean as they roared past it.

He blinked when Malik started slowing down. The blond pulled onto the shoulder, then stopped the bike. Bakura climbed off immediately.

Malik parked lea leaned the bike against the guardrail. He grabbed Bakura's arm and threw a leg over the railing. "Come on."

Bakura hesitated, then clambered over and dropped down to the beach, landing with an "Oomph." Malik hit the sand next to him a moment later, and Bakura stepped away.

Malik walked past him and stared at the ocean, before suddenly jerking around. "Whose side are you on, its or mine?"

Bakura tensed up again. "What are you going to do if you don't like my answer?"

Malik glowered at him, then took several rapid steps away, before raising his hands in exaggerated harmlessness and sitting down on the sand.

Bakura grasped his elbow, unconsciously guarding himself. "I'm not on either side."

"Bullshit," Malik said flatly. "Why did you hide the Ring, then?"

"Because you would have made me give it away!" Bakura shook his head. "It's not yours to give away. It's mine. I'm not on anyone's side but my own, and the Ring is not Yuugi-kun's! It's so simple, why can't you understand?"

"It's simple, all right," Malik snapped. "It's so simple it's stupid. Why are you hanging on to something evil?"

"Because it's mine."

Malik shoved himself onto his feet. "That's not good enough!"

"Then I'm sorry," Bakura said, "but that's all there is to it!" He started to back up as Malik walked closer.

"Give me a better reason!" the blond demanded.

Bakura was quiet for a minute. "...He doesn't scare me the way you do," he said finally, sliding his hands into his pockets.

Malik watched him for a long time, before walking over to the wall and leaning heavily against it. He shoved his hair back from his face and clenched the strands in his fists. "I hate you," he gritted out. "All of you. You won't give me anything to stand on."

Bakura stayed where he was, waiting. Eventually Malik straightened and let his hands drop. "Fine. Whatever. Let's go," he told the paler teen.

Bakura bit his lip. The part of his nature that had made him the suitable host for the Ring was usually in full force whenever he was around Malik, and right now his instincts were telling him that the damned dumbest thing he could do at the moment was to get back on that bike when the Egyptian was like this.

Bakura walked slowly over to Malik, pulling his hands out of his pockets and keeping them at his sides, palms slightly face-up. "Malik-kun, I didn't mean to hurt you," he said gently.

"You knew what you were doing," Malik replied with a glare. "Liar. You knew the whole time."

Bakura accepted the insult without comment. "You were able to give up your Item, but I can't. I don't want to," he said. "You knew that before."

Malik slumped slightly, then slid down the concrete wall to sit on the sand. The look he gave Bakura was close to the open expression he used to have before his father's death irrevocably changed him. "Don't you understand?" he asked with half-hearted venom. "You can't have it both ways. Not anymore."

Bakura paused, then bent a knee and balanced himself on his hands so he was closer to Malik's eye level. "...Do you really want to hear who I'll pick if you give me an ultimatum?"

"Yes!" Malik said viciously. "Now tell me! Say it, you bastard, just say it!"

Bakura gave him a sad look, then leaned forward and slid across the sand until he was sitting in front of Malik. He placed a hand on the blond's leg. Malik tensed, but didn't pull away.

"It wasn't your fault, Malik-kun. And I won't ever wear the Ring around you." He tried a slight smile. "You drive that motorcycle so loudly, I have plenty of time to take it off."

Malik gave him a narrow look, and Bakura's smile slipped away. "If it doesn't take control of you first," he added. "You don't have any power to stop it."

Bakura stared down at the sand, and his next words took a long time to come out. "Then maybe you should stay away."

Malik smiled bitterly. "And go where, Bakura?" he asked. "That apartment where I'll have to watch the two of them day in and day out? The city? I can't even remember the faces of half of the people I used, let alone how many came from here." He gave Bakura a cold look. "Whatever your reasons for keeping it, you shouldn't put me at risk as well."

"I know," Bakura said. "That's why you're not my friend anymore."

The two stared at each other for a few minutes. Then Bakura picked up one of Malik's hands and started to get to his feet. Malik followed him.

Once they were standing, Bakura stepped forward and pressed his lips to Malik's, running his tongue along the seam. The blond stood still for a moment, then dropped his shoulders and opened his mouth.

Moving forward enough that Malik was leaning against the wall, Bakura let go of his hand and moved to the hem of his shirt. Malik made a noise in his throat at that, and Bakura slid his hands under the fabric, hooking his fingers in the waist of Malik's pants before moving forward and rocking against him slightly.

Malik finally stirred when Bakura opened the button of his jeans and pulled down the zipper. He moved his head back. "What...?"

Bakura slid his hands inside the pants and pushed the fabric away from Malik. Then, hoping no one was going to drive by in the near future, he dropped down to his knees and pulled Malik's pants down enough to be out of his way. The Egyptian stared down at him.

Bakura kissed the skin of Malik's abdomen, while wrapping one hand around him. Malik twitched in his palm, and the blond leaned back against the wall, hands curling into fists.

Bakura kept moving his mouth downwards, sliding his lips along the flesh in his hand until he reached the end. The paler teen rubbed his thumb over the tip, making Malik hiss and pump into his hand.

Bakura gave the flesh a dubious look, not really sure he wanted to do this; but he glanced up at Malik's face and then dropped his head again. It wasn't as disturbing to think about what he was doing when the blond was still only half-erect, so Bakura ran his tongue over the head. Then he closed his eyes and slid his mouth forward, one hand bracing him on the ground and the other still wrapped around Malik and stroking.

Malik groaned and thrust forward, making Bakura start and nearly gag. Malik reached out and twisted a hand in the paler teen's hair, pushing him further along.

Bakura choked again and shoved his head back violently, wincing when he ripped out some of his hair. When he was far enough back, he lifted the hand that had been on the ground and braced it on Malik's hip instead. Bakura licked the tip again before moving to rub his tongue against the seam on the underside of Malik's erection, and continued moving his hand.

Malik let his head drop back to rest on the concrete, hand tightening in Bakura's hair once more. The other teenager tried to shake him away again, but Malik kept pushing him forward until he could feel Bakura fighting down his gag reflex with each thrust.

Giving up on trying to control anything in the situation, Bakura moved the hand that had been on Malik's hip to cup the blond's balls, rubbing his thumb over the soft skin and hoping to distract him.

Malik hissed at that and slid his free hand into Bakura's hair, making the other teen whimper slightly. "Keeping moving past," he gritted out.

Bakura, trying to figure out what the mildly cryptic statement meant, slipped a finger further back and rubbed the small expanse of skin behind the sac. Malik's hands tightened. "Harder!"

Bakura pressed down on the spot, and Malik thrust roughly into his mouth, making him choke. The blond suddenly shifted, making a motion to shove Bakura back, but he didn't move fast enough.

Bakura choked at the sudden burst of fluid filling his mouth, and pulled away as soon Malik's hands fell out of his hair. He twisted to the side and fell over slightly, coughing and spitting out the semen.

Beside him, Malik slid down the wall to sprawl out on the sand. A few moments later, he blinked several times and his gaze grew less hazy. He tucked himself back into his pants and zipped them up, ignoring the fact that he was still sticky and that there was now sand in irritating places. He looked over at Bakura, who was still coughing slightly.

When Bakura sat up a minute later, Malik asked, "Why do you make yourself so easy to use?"

The paler teen rubbed his palm against the side of his mouth and wiped his hand on the sand. "It doesn't hurt as much," he said quietly.

Malik sneered at him. "So just roll over and take it."

"You didn't complain," Bakura said, gazing at him levelly. Malik looked away.

They sat there without a word for several minutes, until Bakura spoke again. "I--" he paused. Then Bakura shook his head, and the tiniest hint of a smile came to his lips. "You wouldn't believe it, but I did fight once. Do you know what I got in return?" He waited until he had the blond's eyes on him, and then lifted his hand. "Scars." Bakura ran a finger down the faint line along the back of his left hand, then put it to the area of his chest where the Ring had embedded its pointers. "Scars, and the trust of my friends--which only put them more at risk when he came back again." He wrapped his arms around his legs and rested his chin on his knees, watching Malik. The smile was still there.

"I heal really quickly, so you can barely even see them most of the time, but...." Bakura trailed off and watched him. "You fight everything, Malik, and all you do is get angry and hurt yourself. Why?"

"How can you stand to live like that?" the Egyptian asked him, sincere and disbelieving.

"Because that lets me stay alive," Bakura said calmly. He stared down at the sand. "You usually treat something better if you know you own it."

Malik stared at him for a longer time. Then he stretched his legs out and beckoned. "Come here."

Bakura looked up and shifted, then hesitated and stayed where he was. "Can we just go back?" he asked.

Malik looked at the paler teen. Then he pushed himself up. "Yeah. It's getting dark, anyway."

Malik and Bakura climbed back up to the highway in silence.

By the time they got back, night had fallen and the city lights were up in full force. It made the ride back more scenic, since they were going slow enough this time around that the buildings didn't resemble blurs.

As soon as Malik dropped him off at his apartment, Bakura realized that he didn't have his keys. He knocked on the door and hoped his father had gotten over the jet lag by now.

It opened on the second knock, and Bakura smiled up at his father as he stepped inside. The man frowned down at him. "Where did you go?"

"Out with a friend," Bakura answered.

The elder Bakura held up the Ring. "I found this on the floor," he said with a hint of disapproval. "You should take more care of it."

Bakura nodded and took the Ring back. "I know. We were in a rush, and I accidentally left it behind." He slid the cord over his neck and smiled at his father. "I didn't mean anything disrespectful. It's my favorite present from you."

The man smiled back at him. "Hmquotquot; he said in a mock-stern voice. "And just last month you said that the Roman oil lamp I brought back from Turkey was one of the 'neatest' things you had seen."

Bakura laughed at the teasing and tucked the Sennen Ring beneath his shirt, patting it once.


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