I'll Cover You Reprise

Title: I'll Cover You ~Reprise~

By: KuroSakura-chan

Summary: Things had been going well. Kaiba Corp. basically ran itself, Mokuba had plenty of friends, and Seto had Bakura. And then, one night, it all changed.

Category: Yu-Gi-Oh!.

Genre: Angst, Drama, Romance,

Couples: Seto/Bakura,

Warnings: Yaoi,

Disclaimer: I do not own YGO.

A/N: Oh gods...I didn't even realize that I'd switched to 1st Person in the last chapter...Crap, crap, crap...

…

-Seto-

Watching Bakura sleep had always been something he liked to do. It wasn't something he got to do often, because Bakura wouldn't fall asleep unless he was around someone he trusted, and even then, he had trouble falling asleep first. He always woke before Seto did, or right after Seto begin to watch him. Said that Seto watching him alerted his subconscious.

So being able to watch him now was...calming, yet disturbing. Normally, he'd be awake by now, complaining that Seto woke him up. Seto didn't like the fact that Bakura was so out of it that he didn't notice.

Ryou promised that he'd be all right, that Bakura just needed to sleep after the splitting process. Seto recalled that Ryou ended up in the hospital after Bakura split from him. He remembered because Bakura had been panicked, not sure of what he could do to help Ryou. Seto had to tranquilize Bakura to calm him down.

It was the only time he'd tranquilized Bakura. It wasn't necessarily the only time he tried, but it was definitely the only time tranquilizing Bakura had worked. Bakura was livid when he woke after that incident, which is why Seto only managed it once.

Seto understood why Bakura would be wary of being tranquilized, as it would leave him extremely vulnerable to anyone around. Considering the amount of people Bakura had pissed off, it was a reasonable fear.

“You're watching me again.” Bakura was staring at him, making Seto blink. Had he actually zoned out enough to miss Bakura waking? “Why do you always do that?”

Seto mused that question for a few moments. Should he tell Bakura that he thought the other was quite adorable when he was unguarded? No, that would be a disaster. So, unable to tell Bakura the truth, and Bakura would know if he was lying, he said nothing.

“Eh, it doesn't matter.” Bakura started to push himself up, groaning with the effort.

“Stay down.” Seto reached forward, placing his hand on Bakura's chest, attempting to keep him down. “Ryou says you need to sleep, that the process took a lot out of you. I've been given orders to keep you in bed for at least today.” Bakura's brow rose at the thought of Seto receiving orders. “Were you aware that your hikari is quite forceful when he wants to be?”

Bakura laughed, laying back. His mirth wore off after a bit, and he looked around the room. “So, I'm stuck in bed for at least a full day?” Seto nodded, and Bakura scowled in annoyance. Seto found himself faintly amused by Bakura's annoyance, though he said nothing of it. “I guess it's my own fault, for using the Ring so drastically right after gaining back a little energy.”

“That teleportation trick?” Bakura nodded. “How did you manage that, anyway? It goes against all the laws of physics.”

“The Ring. It created this body and keeps it up. That's how I heal so quickly. Thus, this body is tied to the Ring, not your laws of physics.” Bakura explained, holding his left hand up and staring at it.

“So the Ring can reform it wherever and whenever?” Seto asked in disbelief.

“Yeah, as long as I want it to and I have the energy.” Bakura replied, dropping his hand and looking back at Seto. “Where's Akefia?”

Now...There was a question that Seto didn't want to have to answer. Ryou had told him not to worry about how Bakura responded to Akefia's location, but then, Ryou didn't have to worry about being killed for trying to keep Bakura in bed after he found out.

“With Ryou.” Seto finally answered.

As he predicted, Bakura immediately sat up in bed, a growl deep in his throat. Seto quickly moved over, shoving Bakura back down and straddling him. It was the only way he could think of to keep Bakura in bed. Bakura growled, thrashed, and swore, but it wasn't long before his energy ran out and he collapsed back down. He glared darkly at Seto, swearing with his eyes that Seto would pay for this.

“How could you let that bastard be around Ryou?! What if he hurts him!” Bakura hissed, though Seto merely rolled his eyes in return.

“Do you really think that Ryou is that weak?” Bakura paused at that. “Besides, he has Marik with him, so if Akefia tries anything, Marik will protect him.” Bakura continued to glare, but he didn't say anything to that. “Now, I have a few questions that need answering. Why the hell did you leave? I could've helped you! You could've at least told me where you were going, rather than say just say that we were over. What the hell made you think I couldn't handle hearing that Akefia was returning?”

Bakura merely blinked, looking surprised with Seto's rant. He hadn't realized that Seto had been hurt hearing about why Bakura had left. In truth, Bakura had never planned to return. He'd been prepared to die keeping Akefia away from all the people he cared about.

“No answer...I guess that's the only answer I'll get.” Seto clambered off of Bakura, walking over to the bay window on the eastern side of his room.

“It wasn't like that.” Bakura finally said after several moments of watching Seto bathed in the light from the sunset. It would figure that Seto didn't tell him that he'd already slept the whole day away. “I thought I wouldn't make it back.” Seto didn't turn to face him, though Bakura could tell that he was listening. “Akefia is larger than me, and he had the opportunity to kill me during one of the weakest points in my life. I was prepared to die keeping him away from all of you, the ones I care about.”

Bakura almost swallowed his tongue when he realized he'd actually said that aloud. But now it was out, and he'd have to take whatever Seto gave him as a reaction.

Seto turned from the window, his mouth opening, though he closed it before he said anything. He wasn't sure of what to say. It wasn't like Bakura to admit to feelings. He admitted to caring for Ryou, but that was different. Ryou was his hikari. Seto was his lover. Some things Bakura just didn't admit to, and caring for his lover, despite the title, just wasn't one of the things that he would normally admit to.

Bakura sighed, turning his head so his eyes faced the door. “I know it's...rare, to say the least, for me to tell you how I feel, but I feel like if I don't say it now, something's going to break, and it won't be fixable.” Seto couldn't believe what he was hearing. “I really do care for you, Seto. I should have told you this before, but...” Bakura shrugged. “It doesn't matter. All that matters is that I tell you now. I had to leave. I couldn't let Akefia near you...He wasn't exactly a great lover to Set in Egypt. In fact, he was pretty much an asshole where Set was concerned. I didn't want anything to happen to you. You aren't Set.”

Seto walked from the window and stood in Bakura's line of sight, blocking the door. “You don't have to say all of that.”

“Yes, I do.” Bakura responded. “If I don't explain myself, hell, even though I have, I can't blame you for throwing me out. It's what I probably would do.”

“You aren't going anywhere. You're injured, and thus, you're staying put.” Seto crossed his arms over his chest, making it obvious he wasn't going to budge from his decision. He wouldn't be Seto if he wasn't forceful. “Sleep. I'll get something to eat. And don't worry about Akefia. Marik has already gotten him a job at that club, and Ryou's stopped by to show that Akefia's settled in nicely. You've actually been sleeping for a few days.” With that, Seto stepped out of the room, leaving Bakura's mind whirling with all the information he was just given.

They weren't fixed, that was something Seto knew for certain. It would take time to heal the wounds inflicted. After all, neither Bakura nor Seto were emotional people. Bakura often commented on Seto's stunted emotions. Still, they were working on it. At least he knew that Bakura hadn't left because he was sick of Seto. He left to protect Seto from Akefia.

Glancing back at the door to his room, Seto made up his mind. “This time, I'll cover you. I'll protect you and let you heal. Then, maybe everything will be fixed.” Seto returned to his mission of retrieving food for Bakura. He had to start somewhere on his journey of protecting and healing Bakura.

A/N: Well, there is is. Let me know how it is? I don't like endings very much...I am also really, really sorry to my aff.net readers. I could have sworn I posted this up here, but apparently, something didn't work our right. So here it is! Oh, and to kuraireikan, email me or send me your email in a review or something. I owe you for bringing it to my attention, that it wasn't finished.