Love Under a Silver Moon

Love Under a Silver Moon

Chapter 6

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The buzzing of the alarm brought Malik out of his slumber. His hand reached out and groped the bedside table, locating the offending object and switching it off. There was a warm weight on his chest, which he now slipped one of his arms around. Malik’s eyes opened and he looked down at the head of bright white hair that was resting on his chest, the rest of his body lay between Malik’s legs, and he could feel the ribs of the sleeping figure press slightly into his abdomen.

Malik moved his hand up Ryou’s sleeping form to rest on his shoulder, before venturing out a long finger to stroke his soft cheek. Ryou’s hand, which had been splayed on Malik’s bear tanned chest, now contracted and his breathing became uneven. Lifting his head, Ryou blushed slightly at the violet eyes that met his own, and the position he found him self in.

“Sorry…” Ryou mumbled, making a move to get off Malik.

Malik smirked and slipped one of his legs over Ryou’s to prevent him moving.

“Don’t. I like you there.” He said.

Ryou smiled and drew himself up so that he was face to face with his lover. He lent down and kissed him softly.

“Thank you. For last night.” He whispered.

Malik thought about the events that occurred mere hours ago. The cinema, the vampires, having their blood taken, Ryou’s dark secret, and the look-alikes that were so much like them, and so unusually eager to help. After the vampires had left, Malik had bundled Ryou up into his arms and brought him to his house, where he had let him shower and given him some hot chocolate. The warmth of the drink had made Ryou drowsy, and, in a mixture of fatigue and needing comfort, he had pulled Malik into bed next to him where Malik held him until they were both asleep.

“Anytime. Anywhere.” Malik replied, hugging his white haired one to him.

Ryou giggled, but suddenly a look of shock came over his face.

“Malik, it’s school today!”

“I know.” Malik said, a lazy grin on his face. “That’s why I set the alarm. It was good job you left your bag at school last night. You can borrow some of my uniform.”

“Thank you again.” Ryou said, looking visibly relieved. Malik knew about his guardians, and the money they supplied.

With a last kiss, and extreme care not to disturb his injuries, Ryou slid off Malik and his bed dressed only in his boxers, and quickly faced away from his lover, and grabbed a shirt off the floor to shield his bruised body. Malik sat up; he too was only in his boxers.

“Ryou?” He called him over gently, sitting on the side of his double bed.

Ryou obliged him, still covering his body with his eyes to the floor. Malik pulled Ryou by his hips to stand between his legs, and carefully pried the shirt away from his pale hands. Ryou’s eyes were closed as he let Malik take away the protective material. Gazing over the blue and purple coloured bruises on the pale skin, Malik felt a rush of love and anger at the sight. He let his fingers play over the worst marks, a poppy shaped bruise that spread over the bottom of Ryou’s ribs, as though some of the bones had been broken, which, Malik reminded himself with a jolt, probably were.

Ryou’s eyes managed to flicker open when he felt something cool play over the bruise which he had had for maybe about a month, but had never done anything about, just like the rest of them. Looking down, he saw Malik had reached into his bedside draw and was rubbing some anti-swelling cream over the marks.

“Ryou, how long has this one been here?” Malik asked, passing his digits over the other’s ribs.

“Um, I really don’t know. It hurts a bit when I breathe though.” Ryou said, enjoying the feeling of Malik’s hands on him.

“Well, have you ever thought that the ribs might be broken?”

“Probably. I sometimes forget how much it hurts when… w-when they’re doing things too me.” Ryou spoke his true thoughts, but stopped the tears from falling.

Malik looked at his love and thought about the inner strength he must have to cope with bones even being broken, yet never letting on to anyone.

“Ryou…” Malik whispered, finishing with the cream, and hugging him to his chest.

Ryou held onto Malik as though he was his lifeline, and the feeling of love overwhelmed him.

“Stay here from now on, OK? We’ll go get your stuff tonight.” Malik concluded, burying his nose in Ryou’s sweet hair.

“Yes. Thank you, Malik. I… I love you.”

Malik smiled. “I love you too.”

--
Walking to school was a far more light-spirited Ryou, swinging on the hand of Malik, dressed in the slightly too big clothes, but loving the fact that he could smell Malik so strongly around him.

Reaching the school gates, they were accosted by Yugi, Anzu and Joey.

“Hey guys,” Yugi said slyly, noting their held hands.

“Hey Yugi!” Ryou said, hugging him.

“Yugi? Yugi, what’s wrong?” he added, for the boy had stiffened in his arms.

Looking over Ryou’s shoulder with a scared look on his face, Ryou didn’t have time to turn around when he felt a strong arm wrap around his waist. Looking down at familiar pale skin, Ryou knew that it wasn’t Malik.

“Hello, I was wandering if you could help me. I’m a new student here.” The silken voice said.

Ryou jumped slightly before being yanked away from the figure by Malik who growled slightly, putting an arm around Ryou protectively. Ryou looked on in amazement at the white haired vampire that stood before him. Standing slightly taller than him, with wilder white hair and dressed in the school uniform that showed off his slim figure perfectly, Ryou was amazed to see him again, but by no means scared. Without him, Ryou wouldn’t now be living with Malik. With a jolt, Ryou realized that he had been staring at the vampire for quite some time, and with a blush, knew that he had thought the demon rather good looking.

“It’s you!” Yugi said in amazement, just as another figure approached them.

“Sorry, just parking the bike.” A wild blonde haired person said in an equally smooth voice as Bakura’s. Slipping an arm casually around his lover, Marik continued.

“Who is he referring to, Bakura?” he asked looking at Yugi with interest.

“You! You’re vampires!” Yugi exclaimed.

Bakura let out a laugh, “Vampires? There’s no such thing as vampires!”

Marik winked at Malik and showed him a sneaky fang. Malik smirked and decided to join in.

“Yugi, I’ve never heard of vampires before, except in movies. I think they’re just new students that happen to look like me and Ryou.”

“But I’m sure of it! They are vampires!” Yugi piped up, looking determined to prove his point.

Anzu, who had been looking at Bakura in extreme interest said, in her most “seductive” voice, “Well, Bakura, I believe you. What class are you going to be in?” all the while looking him up and down.

Bakura visibly looked disgusted, and opened his mouth to deliver a rude comeback, when Marik elbowed him in the ribs.

“Look, what’s your name?” Marik said

“Anzu”

“Well, Anzu, I’m afraid to say Bakura doesn’t swing that way, if you get me? He-”

“We’re lovers.” Bakura interjected, giving Anzu the death glare.

Before anymore could be spoken, the bell rang and the group dispersed, with Malik gesturing for Bakura and Marik to follow them. When they reached a secluded hallway, Malik cut to the chase.

“I assume you’re both in our class?” he asked, Ryou still very close to him.

“Mmmhmm.” Bakura said leaning against the wall.

“Thanks for back there, by the way.” Marik said

“Why are you here?” Malik questioned again

“Because,” Bakura said, “We’re interested in human life.”

Marik noticed he didn’t mention it was the two humans in front of him whose lives they were interested in.

“Come on,” Ryou said quietly, regarding the vampires with uncertainty, “we better get to class.”

--

Seated in biology with a vampire at your side is definitely a new experience, Ryou thought, as he accidentally found his eyes wandering over the smooth jaw line of Bakura. Again. The two vampires were in most of the same lessons as both Malik and Ryou, but when Ryou had some sciences, Malik had sport.

The lesson was rather dull, just going over things that Ryou already knew and there was a chatter in the room, but Ryou was too nervous to speak to Bakura, so, to the surprise of the demon sitting next to him, who had actually been watching his every move, Ryou lent underneath the desk, with a quiet gasp of pain, which of course Bakura heard, and brought out a thick book with a picture of a sword etched into the front. To the further surprise of Bakura, Ryou proceeded to open the book and start reading about the kind of sword that was exactly like Bakura’s own.

“You know I could fix you bruises.”

Ryou jumped and blushed at the sound of Bakura’s voice so close to his ear.

“Really?” he said, looking deep into Bakura’s dark chocolate eyes that were now turned on him.

Stop it, Ryou! He mentally slapped himself, noticing the scent of Malik that lingered on the borrowed clothes. You have a lover, he has a lover, it’s not going to work.

“Yes, I can.” Bakura said matter-of-factly – it was a good job they were the only ones on the back bench.

“Vampiric saliva has healing properties. So does our blood.” Bakura started, Ryou was listening in fascination. “That’s how we don’t get caught, by closing up the wounds and it’s also why you didn’t need stitches last night.” Ryou blushed slightly at the thought of Bakura’s body, pressed up against his own… “So, by me either applying spit,” Bakura licked his lips slowly, enjoying the effect it was having on the human, “or you drinking my blood, you would be healed, internally and externally. That is why there aren’t very many vampires, because of both our feeding habits being seen as a threat, and our bodies being used for medicinal purposes.”

Ryou thought about this for a bit. So Bakura was suggesting a method that would use some of his bodily fluids. He decided to think about it before letting Bakura get that close to him.

“Bakura?”

“Yes?”

“Where are your wings?” Ryou said in fascination, the vampire’s wings had looked rather large last night and they were nowhere to be seen now.

With a smirk, Bakura took Ryou’s wrist and pulled him closer, he didn’t struggle but had some sort of odd trust in the vampire. Bakura pulled Ryou’s hand around his back and slid it up the back of his shirt, enjoying Ryou’s quickened breathing at the closeness of their bodies. Ryou felt his fingers brush against something soft. Bakura tugged his wrist a little more, and Ryou obediently felt the feathers there. Bakura let go of his wrist, but Ryou kept his hand there, running it over the extremely soft black feathers that were flush against his back. Bakura almost moaned at the ministrations, but suddenly they stopped, and he looked down at a very red faced Ryou, who obviously thought he was being too forward.

“Still there.” Bakura grinned at Ryou.

Ryou calmed down a bit, still marveling at the unexpected texture of the wings. He then posed a question he had been thinking about last night.

“So how come you can go in the sun? and, um… how do vampires reproduce?” He blushed again at this, watching Bakura settle his chin on his hand.

Ryou couldn’t help noticing that when Bakura had turned to face him, their knees had connected and were now resting together. Bakura smirked slightly, admiring Ryou’s delicate features, he was sure Marik wouldn’t mind if he had some fun.

“A vampire can “condition” its body to the sun. If we go out for longer and longer each day, our skin gets used to the sun and is not burnt.” Bakura paused, and then continued

“Well, no vampire is born, they are turned. As we age slower, it would be tedious to have a baby vampire for over 100 years. The person desiring the change has their blood drained by their sire until they are almost dead. Then the sire gives back their own blood, and because of the combined effect of the healing properties and special chemical reactions, the human is transformed into a vampire.”

Ryou’s mouth was hanging open slightly. He quickly closed it. He felt he had warmed to Bakura enough now to ask him another question.

“So who is your sire?”

Bakura was pleased by Ryou’s boldness, as the human knew full well, and from experience, that Bakura could kill him instantly if he was displeased.

“Marik.” He answered shortly.

“What, your lover?” Ryou enquired

“Yes, we were together as humans, but he ran away from me when he was forcefully turned to become a bed slave to a vampire general. I tracked him down and made him turn me. We then combined our strengths and freed him, to be together again.”

Bakura had to stop himself laughing at the looks that had crossed Ryou’s face during the explanation. The expression of sincere shock, followed by a smile had touched Bakura, with the knowledge that this human actually cared about his feelings was a nice thought.

“So, you like swords?” Bakura said, changing the subject and gesturing to Ryou’s book.

Ryou snapped out of his little daze and answered quickly,

“Yes, well, I don’t know. I just like the history and looking… at… them?”

Ryou trailed off looking at Bakura’s face. It was the first real smile he had seen out of him. Bakura slid the book over to him and gazed at a small picture in the corner of the yellowing page, depicting a sword entitled “The Blade of Ice”. He then placed his finger on the picture and looked up at Ryou.

“That’s mine.” He said.

Ryou looked astonished. “What?” he said, “You own that?”

“Own it, polish it, and fight Marik a lot with it.” He smirked at Ryou’s look of wonder.

“That’s amazing!” Ryou exclaimed

“Well, if you’re really interested, I’ll teach you.”

“Would you? That would be great, I’ve always wanted-” Ryou stopped himself, not wanting to look like an idiot.

“After school then? I’ll go back to my place and get you a practice sword, then go back to Malik’s house with you?”

“That’s fine. But how do you know I live with Malik now?” Ryou asked.

Bakura just smirked at him. “Wait, I don’t quite get plant respiration, could you explain it to me. Please.”

--

Malik was looking in the changing room mirror, taking off his gold jewellery, when he glanced to his side and saw an almost identical pair of eyes looking back, the owner in the exact same act as he was.

“Any good at football?” Malik asked, turning back to his sports bag and removing his shirt.

The two were alone in the changing room, having got there early. They had chatted a bit and Marik had won Malik’s friendship when he had casually dropped a powerful blue dye into the soap dispensers in the toilets and, as they were walking along the corridor, leisurely smeared the same dye on the locker handles as they passed. After Malik had realized what the dark version of himself had done, he had been reduced to laughter until about two minutes ago.

Marik couldn’t help looking at Malik’s thin but toned body. His gaze had wandered to just where Malik’s hips dipped low on his shorts, when he turned around.

“I play a little.” Marik replied, not mentioning that when he was human he had played for the country.

With this, he turned away from Malik and removed his own shirt to a gasp.

“So that’s where they were!” Malik exclaimed, gesturing to Marik’s back.

Malik took in the way the black wings were folded neatly against the others back and the seamlessness of the feathers and skin. His wandering eyes then fell on the muscled front of Marik and the platinum hair that complemented his skin so well. Smirking, Marik looked round at the other and flexed his wings out from is back. The feathers ruffled in the air and, after being stretched out fully, settled loosely so they curled slightly around his arms. Malik stepped towards the vampire, until they were merely a step apart. He reached out a hand, and looking at Marik for a silent confirmation, which was responded with a nod, laid it on one of the wings.

Using his vampiric senses to breath in Malik’s scent, Marik detected the cinnamon-like smell that lingered on the human and Ryou. If Marik hadn’t known that Ryou and Malik were together before today, he would’ve been able to tell by Malik’s scent that was on the other human.

“Like them?” Marik asked the human he actually found quite attractive.

Malik smiled in return and ran his hands over the soft feathers. Marik closed his eyes; little did Malik know that Marik’s wings were one of his most sensitive parts. Still the stroking continued, and he only opened his eyes when he felt a firm chest bump against his own. Malik immediately jumped back, muttering something of an apology and suggesting they get out of the changing rooms before someone saw his wings.

Marik looked on in amusement as the human moved around hurriedly, pulling a shirt over his toned chest. He leisurely pulled a shirt over his own head after pulling his wings up against his back. He then followed the still blushing human out of the changing rooms and onto the field.

The vampire decided that Bakura wouldn’t be too upset if he found out he was having a bit of fun with the human. Coming to this conclusion, about the time the class was standing in a semi circle around the coach, he slipped his hand carefully around Malik’s waist and flicked his finger up the sensitive part of his hip, making him start slightly but because they were in silence, Malik could do nothing. When the explanation was over and the class set out onto the pitch, Malik caught Marik’s eye and smirked.

--

Ryou laughed at another of Bakura’s comments about “stupid humans getting in the way” as another young boy ran across his path. After their talk in biology, Ryou had eased greatly towards Bakura and didn’t mind so much when they brushed together. He was looking forward to tonight, when Bakura was going to teach him, the two swords were in a pack on Bakura’s back. They made their way to the school gates where they had arranged to meet Marik and Malik.

Waiting under a tree, Ryou was the first to spot the two blondes, heading in their direction from the sports fields, mud on their tracksuits. Ryou’s breath hitched slightly. Malik had just put his arm around Marik and Marik had complied with an arm around him. The look on their faces made him twinge a bit inside.

“Ryou? What’s wrong?” Bakura asked, looking at the sadness that had briefly passed over the light ones face.

“Nothing. Nothing at all.” Ryou answered quickly, moving closer to the slightly taller vampire.

Bakura looked over to where Ryou had just been staring and knew what was wrong straight away.

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Thanks for reading and to all who reviewed, I really appreciate it :)