Title: Colors of the Mind
Author: Crimson Eyed Dragon
Rating: R/M
Pairing: Marik/Yami
Warnings: Domestic abuse, mentioned/implied rape, character deaths, language, Yami torture, blood
Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh
Summary: Yami is in an abusive relationship with Marik. When Yugi gets involved the consequences may be more than they realize.
Status: 1/1 Complete
Italics are flashbacks
Dragon: This was written for a challenge for Kokoro no Yami and my weird desire to mess with Yami Yugi's mind. In this I deal with a lot of emotional/physical abuse so if you are offended or upset by this, then please do not read further. The yami's have bodies of their own but no longer have any powers or items. They are human. So if the warnings and my author notes have not scared you off, then please read on.
Red paint.
There in front of him, behind him, all around him was nothing but red paint. He even registered in his state of mind that he was sitting in the slowly drying substance. It was pretty though, so bright, so fluid that he couldn't help but stare at the thick stuff, but only at the more colorful parts. He made sure to avoid the thinner liquid that was slowly turning from beautiful to ugly, as it seemed to shift from brilliant to dull minute by minute.
It was turning brown.
Brown was not pretty, it was ugly and painful for some reason, thin and cracking like mud. It itched on his skin, even if he didn't know why there was brown paint on him, he knew that it itched and pulled at the faint hairs on his arms. Raising his hand, ready to scratch the offending stuff when he noticed that his hands were red.
Pretty red paint.
Hands red, arms brown.
But why?
Slowly he swept his gaze across the room, bring his bare legs up to his chest, wrapping his brown-stained arms around them. Everything was red and brown. But there was another color here, he could sense it some where in this room. He hugged his legs closer to him. There was something wrong with this color, something that frightened him and yet felt wonderfully familiar also.
Black.
With this new color in his mind, he easily spotted it lying on the bed across the room, even if it was covered in the pretty red and ugly brown. But why did this color scare him? Cause wasn't he the same color? He was black too, right? But the other black was dark, menacing, devoid of any white.
White.
Where was the white? Wasn't there always white with the black? The two were always together right? One could not be without the other. And where was his white? If he was black then he should have white also. He should not have red or brown but white. Confused eyes widened. The other black –the evil black- took the white away.
He remembered.
Black plus black equals red.
The other black erased his white so he made the other black turn red - the pretty red, and time turned it to ugly brown.
One hand fell lifelessly down to the floor, fingers trailing lightly through the slowly congealing fluid. They danced around, barely noticing it as it settled under his fingernails. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew what he was doing even if it made no sense to him.
Black minus white equals…..
What was the answer to that equation?
"Yami! You came!"
A rare smile graced Yami's face as his excited hikari came bounding down the stairs and into his arms. After carefully shifting the wrapped gift from one hand to the other, he tightened his grip on the younger teen. "Of course I came, Aibou. Why wouldn't I be here on your birthday?"
Yugi pulled back slightly, lavender eyes darting quickly to the other yami who was standing aloofly behind his own before he looked back at the once spirit of the puzzle. "Well I hardly get to see you anymore. You've been so busy with your own life lately."
Noticing the look his young charge gave his boyfriend and the low growl the dark Egyptian responded with, Yami sighed. "I'm know and I'm sorry. I'll make it up to you." Even though Yugi nodded his head and smiled, Yami could see the doubt in his eyes.
Guilt flooding him down to his soul, Yami smiled despite his feelings and handed the blue wrapped box to his other. "Why don't you take this and put it with the others? I need to speak to Marik for a moment. Then we'll join you, ok?"
Again lavender eyes darted toward his yami's boyfriend, narrowing slightly before he nodded his head and took the gift. And without another word, Yugi left them standing in the hallway.
Frowning, Yami opened his mouth to speak when he felt two strong arms wrap possessively around his waist and heated breath against his ear. And for some reason unknown to him, he relaxed, and leaned back against the other.
"You are mine."
A dark eyebrow shot up. What had caused Marik to say those words? Of course he was his. Hell, he had been living with the other yami for over six months now. Confused, he twisted around in the tight hold and looked up to see dark lavender looking down at him. "Of course I'm yours dumbass." He replied, lifting himself up to place a chaste kiss on the other's lips.
"You hugged him."
"W-what?"
"You hugged him and you are mine."
"He is my hikari," Yami replied, furrowing his eyebrows in confusion even as that already tight embrace became even tighter, almost to the point of hurting. "We will always be close. You of all people should know that, you have one too you know. And I love him but not the same way I love you."
Greedy, possessive lips met his unexpectedly. It was a ferocious force that Yami had never experienced before and didn't know what to make of it. It flattered him that he was wanted this much but also left a lingering feeling of nervousness in its wake.
Suddenly with another low growl, Marik broke the kiss and walked away leaving behind a very dazed and seriously confused ex-spirit.
He slowly pulled his naked battered body across the sticky floor. Fingers curled like a bird's talons left odd trails in the various puddles of red he moved through. His knees dragged along the wooden floor, slipping a little as he made his way over to the other black.
Once he was beside bed near the other body, he sat down and once again drew his legs up and wrapped his arms around them. His eyes were dull and lifeless as he looked over the stillness of the one he knew.
Black covered in red and brown.
The colors mingled together, oozing from the wounds the gray thing inflicted.
Gray makes red.
Carefully, he picked up the cold object, pulling it out of the body, looking at it curiously as a flicker of recognition caused him to drop it, startled at the dull thud it made on the wooden floor beside his feet.
Yami sighed contently as he snuggled closer to his boyfriend, enjoying the late Saturday afternoon they were spending together watching TV in the living room. Closing his eyes, he tucked his feet under him, feeling the couch shift slightly as Marik placed an arm around his waist.
But the wonderful peaceful solitude didn't last much longer when suddenly Marik withdrew his arm and stood up, causing Yami to almost fall over from the quick movements.
"Marik?"
"I'm going out."
"Why?"
"Because I want to."
"OK. Well, where are you going?" He asked curiously, watching his boyfriend walk over to the door and put his boots on.
"Out Yami, that's all you need to know."
"Well why don't I come with you?" he stood up and walked over to the door. He and Marik had spent the entire day together for once and he didn't want that to end just yet.
"No. You will stay here and wait for me."
Yami was slightly taken aback by the harsh order he was given. Marik had never ordered him to do anything before. "Excuse me?"
"You heard me Yami," Marik stated with a low growl. "You are to stay here and wait for me to come back home." The Egyptian reached for the door when Yami's next words stopped him cold.
"I don't think so. You can't order me to stay here."
Crimson eyes narrowed and he crossed his arms across his chest, his posture taking on a defensive stance. He didn't know what Marik was playing at but he would be damned if he let the other tell him what to do.
Lavender eyes turned cold and harsh, and in a few swift steps he was standing nose to nose with the other ex-spirit. "You are mine and you will do as you are told." He sneered.
"I'm not some object you can order around Marik. And just to prove that, I think I will go visit my hikari."
Just as Yami was about to step around the other dark, he suddenly found himself violently shoved up against the wall. Startled, Yami could do nothing but gape at the dangerous expression on his boyfriend's face. Those once warm, loving lavender eyes were now dark and deadly, almost black as they bored a hole into him.
"You will go nowhere. You will not go see that runt of yours. You are not to leave this house at all unless I am with you." His voice was like the venom of a thousand cobras, startling Yami even more. What hell was wrong with Marik?
"Do you hear me, Yami?" he asked while pressing his body closer to the shorter one's, pushing Yami even harder into the wall.
Shocked at the sudden change in his boyfriend, Yami could do nothing but nod dumbly. He wouldn't push Marik any more right now, but that didn't mean he was ok with it. No, he would bide his time and try to figure out what the hell was going on.
"That's a good little Pharaoh." Marik grinned sadistically.
"Black. Gray. Red. Brown."
Those four words were repeated over and over again in a harsh whisper into the still air around him. He rocked his body back and forth while wide, unblinking crimson eyes stared at the knife lying seemingly innocently at his feet.
"Black. Gray. Red. Brown."
The whisper slowly increased in volume, echoing off the empty walls of the bedroom he had once shared with the dead body that was cold before him. His eyes darted frantically from the body to the knife and back again, the volume of his mantra becoming almost a hysterical scream.
Suddenly the rocking stopped, his body frozen as another fleeting color in his memory caused him to halt his words.
White.
Yugi sighed as Yami glanced over his shoulder for what seemed like the tenth time since they had arrived at the little out-of-the-way coffee shop on the outskirts of town.
"Yami, what is wrong with you?"
Wide crimson eyes turned back to him before a quick mask of indifference slid on, "Nothing's wrong Aibou, what makes you think that?"
His eyes narrowed slightly. It was times like this that Yugi wished he and his dark still had a mind link. "You're lying Yami. You may be able to hide things from any other person in the world, but you can't hide from me.
You've been glancing over your shoulder every few minutes and you've checked your voice mail on that phone just as often. Let me guess. Either you're not supposed to be here or I'm not supposed to be here or both."
Yami turned and gazed out the window, unable to look the other in the eye. "Both."
Lavender eyes narrowed even further. "Care to explain that?"
"No. I don't. And even if I did, I don't have the time. Listen, I called you here to tell you…" Yami took a deep breath then finally let his gaze meet that of his hikari's. "Marik and I are moving."
"Well…that's not so bad, I guess. I mean its not like you're moving out of the country."
"Actually, that's exactly what we are doing. We are moving to the States."
"What! Why?"
"Now that is something I don't understand either. This is Marik's idea, not mine."
"Do you want to go, Yami?" Yugi asked softly and reached across the table to take his yami's hand only to frown when his other jerked his hand back placing it in his lap and then glanced once again over his shoulder.
"No. I love it here. You are here, Jii-chan is here, all my friends are here."
"Then why are you doing this? If you don't want to leave then tell him that and stay here with me. You can move back in with us if you're worried about having a place to stay."
"Aibou, thank you but I can't do that. I'm going with Marik."
"Why?"
"Because I love him. Why wouldn't I go with him?"
"Does he love you?"
"What kind of question is that?"
Yugi blinked at the tone of voice Yami was using. His dark had never spoken to him in anything other than gentle and loving. But now there was a bite of harshness in his voice. "An honest one," he said carefully. "If he loved you, he would want you happy and if he knew that moving so far away would make you unhappy he wouldn't ask it of you."
Yami just looked out the window, giving no indication that he was even paying attention to what the other was saying, but Yugi pressed on anyway.
"Did he even give you a reason for this move?"
At this, Yami turned back to Yugi with a shrug. "He said something about wanting to take me away from everything. He wants it to just be us."
Yugi opened his mouth to ask another question when suddenly a distinctive ring caused Yami to uncharacteristically jump. Paling slightly, he reached over and pressed the 'talk' button.
"Hello?" Yugi frowned at the almost nervous tone his dark was giving off.
"M-Marik, I……" Yami's eyes became wide, "But…." He pulled the phone away from his ear, Marik's voice too loud for it to be comfortable. "I'm with Yugi……I know but….now?" Yami gulped and bit his lip. "OK, bye."
Yugi watched silently as Yami ended the call and pulled his keys out of his pocket. That call disturbed him. He had never seen Yami act like that before and it caused a protective spark to ignite in him.
"What the hell was that about Yami?" Yugi immediately regretted his tone of voice when he saw the other flinch.
"I have to go. I shouldn't have come here." Quickly, Yami stood up only to be stopped short when Yugi grabbed his arm.
"Yami, is he…is he hurting you?"
Crimson eyes narrowed as he jerked his arm out of his hikari's grasp. "No, he is not. Marik loves me, he wouldn't hurt me. How dare you ask something like that! And besides even if he did, I can take care of myself, I'm not weak."
"No, you're not Yami, I would never suggest that you were. But there are other forms of abuse besides physical."
"I'm leaving." Yami turned away from his other and began to walk out of the shop only pausing for a moment when he heard his hikari speak again.
"You're not immortal now Yami. Your powers are gone, the Items are gone. You're just like the rest of us."
Yugi watched helplessly as Yami refused to look at him and walked out the door. "Be careful Yami," he whispered into the empty space before him.
White.
With this new color in his mind, crimson eyes scanned the room and only stopped when the door came into his view. Moving like a broken robot, he began to crawl through the now completely brown substance, pulling his body along, making his way into the hall.
Panting, he made his way down the short space till he came to the living room, the last place he saw his white. Carefully, he wound his way through the destroyed room, avoiding shattered light bulbs, broken furniture and trinkets till he found what he was looking for behind the overturned couch.
Brown covering white.
Yami stared in disbelief, his heart trying desperately to rebuke what his brain was telling him. Things had been going so great for him since they had moved to the States six months ago. Marik had been loving and attentive, apologizing profusely for yelling at him and calling him names that day he had met up with Yugi. Nothing bad had happened, not one single time, but now it seemed that had changed as he looked at his boyfriend, who had just stumbled in the front door after being gone for two days with no word.
Crimson eyes looked over the other dark carefully, noting every wrong detail of the other. His once clean clothes were now dirty and looked like they had been slept in. There were dark circles under his eyes, a worn expression on his face, and Yami could tell from the state of Marik's hair that the other hadn't taken a bath or shower since he was last here.
Not to mention he reeked of body odor, alcohol…and was that perfume?
It was bad enough that Yami had been a nervous wreak these past couple of days. It was bad enough that he had worried himself sick wondering if Marik was in jail, lying hurt in a hospital, or even dead somewhere without him knowing. But now he was here and looked like he had been having the time of his life and never once bothered to call Yami and let him know what was going on.
And not to mention the fact that right now, Yami had a suspicion that he had been cheated on.
"Where the hell have you been Marik?" He crossed his arms over his chest, blocking his boyfriend's way.
Dark lavender eyes seemed to fix on him and finally notice that there was another presence in the room. Recognition passed over his haunted face. "I don't have to answer to you."
"Actually, you do. Gods, Marik, do you know how worried I've been? Two days ago you just walked out of this house without telling me why or where and now you just show back up and expect to get in here without answering me?"
Marik snarled, taking a step forward, eyes darkening till they looked almost black against his bronzed skin. "You have no right to talk to me like that, Yami. You seem to be forgetting your place."
"Excuse me?"
"You heard me. I will do as I please and when I please and you can't and won't stop me."
"Is that so?" Marik took another step, and from the body language of the other, Yami knew Marik was about to explode. But days of stress and worry caused him to ignore the warning bells going off in his head. "As your lover I think I have every right."
Mark laughed harshly, its tone stinging. "You are nothing. Do you hear me? You mean nothing to me other than a good, steady fuck, you slut. And if I want to try something different on the side then I will."
Yami stumbled back from the harshness and bitterness of those words. Those four sentences affectively caused his whole world to come crashing down around him. Marik was cheating, Marik called him a slut, Marik told him he was nothing. He was only wanted for sex.
Anger, hurt, betrayal, all swirled around him, causing tears to form in his eyes. His hands began to shake as he willed himself not to go running out of house. If this was going to be the end, then he had a few things to say first.
"You son of a bitch," he whispered in a shaky voice. "I loved you and you sleep with someone else? How dare you!" Crimson locked onto dark lavender. "You go out and get yourself some whore, you get drunk and gods knows what else you did. And you let me believe that you loved me too. Well I'm glad the truth is out now. I can stop wasting my time with a worthless piece of shit." Quickly, Yami turned around and headed towards their once shared bedroom.
"Where the fuck do you think you're going?"
Yami was aware he was being followed but at the moment he didn't care, he just wanted to get his stuff and leave. "I'm going back to Japan. Yugi offered for me to stay with him and I think its time I took him up on that offer."
"The fuck you are," Marik growled, "You are mine!"
"I was yours Marik, but you don't have that right anymore."
In the blink of an eye, Yami found himself pushed violently face down onto the bed. A firm hand grabbed his hair and pulled his head up, a cold voice in his ear. "You will always be mine, Pharaoh. Mine to dominate, mine to fuck, mine to do with as I please."
Yami cried out as he was bitten harshly on the neck. He struggled to free himself but without his powers now he was defenseless and physically weaker than the other yami. He continued to struggle as Marik flipped him over and straddled his waist.
His eyes widened when he felt his the button and zipper of his jeans being undone. With renewed strength fueled by panic, he pushed the Egyptian off of him, quickly scrambling off the bed when he heard Marik hitting the floor. Just as he reached the door, he was pulled backwards and spun around, a fist colliding with his jaw with a crack and Yami knew immediately that his jaw was broken.
"Bad move Pharaoh. My possessions aren't allowed to fight back."
Pain coursing through his system, his vision began to darken slightly but nothing could get that burning image out of his mind of those harsh, deadly, insane lavender eyes he saw as he was thrown back on the bed and stripped of his clothes.
With complete care and tenderness, he lifted the limp body into his lap and held it close. No tears were in his eyes, no words came out of his mouth, but love was there nevertheless as he rocked his white back and forth. He was mindful of the ugly gash across the white's throat that was now stained with the brown, smelly paint.
Brown plus white. Not correct, not the right equation.
He frowned. White was supposed to be pure, no other colors tainting the perfection. No specks, no flaws, nothing but white. But this one was damaged, with its stains of brown drying and crusting over the perfect backdrop.
Must make correct.
Looking around, he found a ripped piece of curtain lying on the floor near him. Reaching over, his fingertips brushed the torn fabric till he could grab a hold of it. With the loving tenderness of a mother bathing a newborn, he gently tried to wipe the ugly brown paint from the tainted easel.
Yugi bit his lip as he looked from the address on the paper back to the house in front of him. According to the address on the last letter he had received from Yami seven months ago, this was where he was living. His eyes roamed over the shabby building, taking in the overgrown lawn, the beat-up car and the shingles about to fall off the roof. This was where is Yami lived? Gods, he hoped not. Stuffing the paper in his pocket, he quickly paid the taxi driver, picked up his suitcase and began walking up the driveway.
It had been a little over seven months since he had last heard from Yami. He had tried calling him but the operator said that the phone had been disconnected and all his letters went unanswered. So with a lot of worry, he began saving up his money for a plane ticket to California so he could visit his other.
Ever since that day at the coffee shop, Yugi had been plagued with worry for Yami. Things didn't seem to be as they appeared between Yami and Marik, and since he really didn't approve of the relationship from the start he was bound and determined to make sure his yami was ok.
There had always been something about Marik that frightened him and it wasn't just the fact that he had once used Malik to kill them all and take over the world by trying to get the Pharaoh's power. No, it was something that he couldn't quite put his finger on, something hidden deep that always had him on edge when the other was around. But Yami loved him, truly loved him, and so Yugi kept his feelings and thoughts to himself. But now he was beginning to wonder if that had been the right thing to do.
Upon reaching the front door, Yugi set his suitcase back down and rang the doorbell, excitement running through his body at the idea of seeing his dark after so long. After waiting a couple of minutes of not getting a reply, he reached for the doorbell again, ready to push the tiny, lit-up button, when the door began to unlock. Placing the biggest smile on his face he began to bounce on his toes only to almost fall over in shock at who answered the door.
Crimson eyes were dark, hollow, haunted looking, with black rings under the lower eyelids. His face, which had once been handsome and defined, was now nothing more than a shrunken shell. Hair that had once been an almost exact duplicate of his own, was now cut and dyed completely black. There was a seemingly infected bite mark on his neck, and even through the floppy gray t-shit and sweatpants, Yugi could tell that Yami had lost a lot of weight.
"Yami?"
With Yugi's voice, Yami seemed to snap out of whatever daze he was in to stare wide eyed at his hikari. "Yugi? What? Why? You shouldn't be here!" Quickly he looked left and then right, biting his lip out of nervousness.
"I came to see you. You don't write anymore and your phone has been disconnected. This was the only way I could see if you were ok. And from the looks of it, you're far from ok."
"Go home Yugi."
Stunned, the smaller young man almost didn't have time to put his foot into the door to block it from being closed in his face. Angered and upset, Yugi pushed against the door, only to turn into shocked and worried when Yami stumbled back against the little force he used. There was once a time when Yami was physically stronger than most people even if his size was deceiving to most. But now it seemed his other was the weaker of the two.
Once inside the house, Yugi turned around grabbed his suitcase from outside and placed it just inside the door before he turned back to look at a now shaking Yami. "Gods Yami, what happened to you?"
"Yugi, Aibou, please go home."
"Did Marik do this to you?"
"Please Yugi, leave now."
"Damn it Yami answer me!" Yugi didn't mean to yell or even use words that were practically unknown to him, but the worry of seeing his once proud and unbreakable dark look like a broken child, and the frustration of not getting his answers was affecting him more than he realized. But when Yami flinched and seemed to pale at his outburst, guilt washed over him like a tidal wave.
"Oh Yami I'm sorry." His steps were careful and non threatening as possible as he approached the other like he was a wounded frighten animal, ready to bolt at any moment. His heart broke with when those panicked, fearful eyes locked onto his.
He hesitated slightly as Yami backed up into the wall, body stiff as if expecting Yugi to hit him at any moment. And that thought alone caused tears to form in his eyes right before he stood toe to toe with his dark.
"Mou hitori no boku," he whispered, reverting back to the name he called the other when they were still spirit and host. "Please don't be scared of me. I wouldn't hurt you."
Yugi watched intently as Yami's eyes seemed to radiate the conflict within his soul. He wanted nothing more than to throw his arms around his other but he also knew that if he didn't get Yami to understand that he wasn't in any danger first, more damage would be done. Yami had to realize that he was here to help and comfort not to harm.
"Think Yami, have I ever hurt you in any way in all those years you've known me? You're my yami and I am your hikari. I love you, for you are the other part of my soul."
Those words seemed to have had the right effect for Yami's shoulders suddenly slumped and he closed his eyes, and sank down to his knees. Tears freely falling now, Yugi knelt down and wrapped his arms around his dark's shaking body, burying his head into the now thin chest of his other. A hiss caused him to jerk back and look up into the pain filled face of Yami. With a frown on his face and narrowed eyes, Yugi grabbed a hold of the hem of the gray shirt and lifted it up with no resistance from the owner.
A gasp filled the air as wide lavender eyes took in every bruise and cut that marred the once perfect flesh. There were scars that seemed to make grotesque pictures that seemed to mock him for not picking up on the signs of his yami's abusive relationship earlier and having the guts to stand up and stop it before it got this far.
Dropping the shirt, he covered his mouth with his hand and closed his eyes, fighting back the feeling of being sick. More tears poured from his already red-rimmed eyes and his shoulders started to shake, only to stiffen when he felt arms wrap around his waist and draw him near to a frail body.
"Don't cry for me Aibou. It's too late for that," his voice whispered in his ear.
"But Yami," he leaned carefully against the other's chest. "It hurts me to see you like this."
"I'm not worth it."
"W-what?" Yugi pulled back, stunned at his yami's words. "How can you say that?"
What little light was in those crimson eyes dimmed instantly, "I am nothing."
"What?" he hissed, outraged that Yami had said that and believed it. "Did he tell you that!" This time his other did not flinch or even blink when he raised his voice.
"I am nothing without Marik. I could not live without him. I am his always."
Yugi suppressed a shudder at the eerie, lifeless tone of voice that sent chills down his spine. This was not the same person that had emerged years ago from that golden puzzle he had pieced together. That brave, strong, passionate soul was gone and replaced with nothing more than a lifeless drone used for someone else's sick pleasure. He had to get his yami out of there; then maybe he could mend some of the damage that Marik had caused.
Quickly, he wiped away his tears and untangled himself from Yami's arms. "Come on Yami, lets pack a few of your things and then get out of here. We can go home where you'll be safe."
The thought of leaving snapped Yami out of his almost catatonic state. Abruptly, he stood up, shaking his head and backed away from Yugi.
"No, you must go home. I can't leave but you can."
"I'm not leaving without you Yami. I am NOT going to leave you alone with him anymore."
"Yugi, please, go. There is nothing you can do to help me anymore. This is my life for better or for worse, but I can't protect you if you stay here. Go home. Then I will be at peace knowing you are ok." Yami pleaded, eyes wide and unblinking.
"I'm not leaving Yami."
Yami looked on hopelessly, trying to think of anything that would make his hikari leave when the sound of the door slamming and a menacing voice caused them both to jump in fear.
"You should have listened to your yami, little Yugi."
Still not perfect.
The dry, torn curtain continuously tried to wipe away the caked, cracked brown from the dead body's skin and clothes. Each stroke just as gentle as the last, as if he would cause more damage if he didn't handle it with absolute care and perfection. He would not give up. He had to make it right no matter what it took. White should not look so….
Dirty, unclean, stained with imperfection.
Sounds of sirens and doors slamming from the outside world reached his ears and filtered down to his damaged mind. Other colors were coming and he wasn't finished yet. Looking up and around, he decided to stay where he was, hidden behind the couch and resumed his task of cleaning.
Black absorbs all the colors that white reflects.
Yami reached forward and grabbed his hikari by the back of the shirt and pulled Yugi behind him. He knew he wouldn't be able to stop Marik from doing whatever to himself, but he would give Yugi a fighting chance to make it out of the house. Shaking, he willed himself to stand as a barrier against his boyfriend.
"Well Pharaoh, I was wondering how long it would take for you to run to your hikari."
"L-Leave him out of this Marik, just let him go."
"And why would I want to do that?" Marik never moved, just stood there with a frown on his face. "Yugi has always tried to take what was mine and that is something I can not allow."
Yami heard Yugi whimper behind him and he wanted nothing more than to reach back and comfort him, but he knew better and kept his place. Marik had always been overly possessive of him when it came to Yugi and their bond. The last thing he needed was to throw fuel to the fire. His eyes looked over his boyfriend, taking in his appearance, and he realized that there would be no way to make Marik see reason. From the look of things, he had been out drinking again and Yami knew all too well the damage the man could inflict when he was in this state of mind. But he would try for Yugi's sake.
"Marik, I've always been yours. Yugi could never take me away from you."
"Don't lie to me. I know how close you two are, I've seen the way you look at each other, the way you hug. The way he runs to your every beck and call. He wants you but you are mine."
Yami cringed, hurt that the man he had loved had turned into this. "I loved you Marik. Nothing could have taken me from you."
"Loved?" Marik stepped forward, eyes narrowing. "Loved me huh? Who has your love now Pharaoh if not me? The runt?"
Shaking his head, Yami backed up causing Yugi, who had remained quiet, to do so as well. "No one has it now, you killed all hope of that the first time you hurt me."
"Hurt you? Dear Yami, I have never hurt you, I was teaching you a lesson, showing you your place. I had every right to do that."
"You broke my jaw Marik! You forced yourself on me that day!" Yami choked back tears as he heard Yugi gasp at what he revealed. "The only thing you taught me was how much I hate myself, how worthless I am now and how much I hate you."
Neither Yami nor Yugi saw it coming. In the blink of an eye, Marik stepped forward, pushing Yami violently to the side, his head crashing into the wall as Yugi was picked up by the strong hand that enclosed around his throat.
"But you don't hate him do you?" Marik hissed, his eyes never leaving the struggling hikari in his grip.
Steadying his already weakened body, Yami cried out at the scene before him. He couldn't let Marik hurt Yugi. "Marik, please, don't hurt him. Punish me however you want but leave him alone."
Ignoring Yami, Marik walked into the living room carrying Yugi with him, knocking the lamp and table over in the process, sending knickknacks flying across the floor. Crimson eyes looked on in horror as Marik threw his hikari down on the couch and pulled a knife out from the back of his pants, something Yami didn't realize he had up until now.
Time seemed to stand still at that moment, causing Yami's heart to stop beating, his lungs to stop inflating, mind going completely blank as the light flashed on the cold gray metal poised at Yugi's neck. His hikari's pale skin became deathly white as he frantically tried to push himself further into the couch, as if to hide himself in the cushions. And somewhere in the back of his numb mind he heard his name being called…..
Suddenly time began to move again as gray flashed again and a panic filled scream filled the house only to turn into gurgling. Pushing himself off the wall, he forgot about his fear, forgot about his weakened body, his mind only focused on one thing – Yugi. With renewed energy, he ran into the living room and rammed into Marik, sending all three of them tumbling over the couch, ripping the curtains from the windows in the process.
Something wet and warm began to cover his body. Pushing himself up, he looked down in horror at all the red that was seeping out of Yugi's body as it lay beneath him. Too much red, and he knew it wasn't right. His hands sought out the source of the seemingly endless red, pressing down on the gapping wound. Unblinking lavender eyes stared off into the heavens above them.
"Why didn't you leave when I told you too?" Yami whispered, tears running down his face, watching with trance-like vision as the red seeped between his fingers and down his arms.
"Because he had a death wish."
Yami jumped, landing painfully on his side. He had forgotten all about the one threat that was still in the room. "Bastard." Yami hissed, torn between feeling the need to back up and stay with his other.
"Bastard? No, Pharaoh." Marik laughed cruelly while wiping his knife off on his jeans. "If anyone is the bastard, its you. After all his death is your fault."
Crimson eyes widened, looking back and forth between the small limp figure to the menacing one looming over him. "What? N-no." He shook his head, "You did this."
"Really?" he smirked, "Did your little Yugi come looking for me? If he didn't love you he would have never come here and he will still be alive back in Japan. I say this is your fault for not telling him to stay away and that you didn't return his love." He took a step forward, brandishing the deadly gray weapon. "It's your fault."
"No." Yami backed up.
"Your fault I had to kill him." Another step. "You are mine."
Yami continued to back up till he was almost back in the hall. His mind started reeling out of control as he pulled himself up on all fours, ready to try and make a break for it when he saw the red liquid covering his arms and hands.
"See? His blood is on your hands."
He was right; Yugi's blood was on his hands, smeared carelessly over his knuckles, palms, and forearms. His gaze was wide and unblinking as he brought them up to his face, the coppery smell ticking his senses. So much red. Yugi's life was on his hands, on his body…. He looked up, eyes trying to focus on the man before him looking for the same substance of the other, but Marik was almost clean compared to him.
"It's….on…..me."
"That's right." Marik kneeled down before him, the cold gray metal caressing Yami's cheek. "Pretty don't you think? So bright, so alive with color." He mocked with a smirk on his face.
"Yes," Yami looked up with a smile on his face that Marik didn't know what to make of. "Very pretty red."
Yami watched the colors of his mind intently, studying them, recognizing some while confused by others. The red was pretty but also wrong, it shouldn't be there. The body before him was black, littered with sorrow, hate, guilt, and….love? That wasn't right…was it? He furrowed his eyebrows, studying the black that lifted him up effortlessly and carried him away towards their bedroom.
His mind in its damaged state tried to piece the colors together, tried to make sense of the two dominant pigments that swirled before him. Red was life and love, he knew that. So why was the black signaling love also? Wasn't it supposed to mean death, sickness….pain?
Somewhere in the back of his mind he knew he was roughly thrown on the bed. Somewhere it told him his clothes were being pulled off of him, but his mind in its child-like mental state couldn't send the signals to fight, to save himself as the colors continued to swirl in his vision. The pain his body felt from being violated never reached his mind, for it had shut its self off from the rest of the outside world as a way of self-preservation.
Black loomed over him, beckoning him, using him, punishing him as was its right, till he grew tired of his lifeless toy and pulled out only to collapse in exhaustion on top of him.
Yami began to shiver, his only reaction to the beating his body had taken. Fingers twitched, curling to grip the sheets in comfort. They continued to curl and uncurl, unknowingly pulling the sheet little by little until something brushed up against his hand. Moving his hand at the wrist, he grabbed the object, instantly knowing what it was.
Gray
Gripping the handle, he brought it up before his face, turning it just a little, letting the light reflect off its deadly perfection.
Gray makes red
And without a second thought, he plunged the weapon down into the body.
Officer Miranda Smith scanned the neighborhood as another police car pulled up behind hers. Pulling out her gun from its holster, she fell in line with the two male officers that had responded and made their way up to the house with the same number as the 911 dispatch. Neighbors had reported hearing fighting and screaming coming from this location.
But in the fifteen minutes that she had be ordered to wait for backup, not a single sound had been heard and that could only mean one of two things, either everything was calm now or they were too late. She seriously hoped for the former. Domestic abuse was one of the hardest things for her to deal with besides child abuse. How people could say they loved someone one minute then hurt them the next was beyond her.
Once they reached the door, she stood with her gun poised as the other two officers told the occupants to open up. When no answer came, the larger of the two males effectively kicked the rotten door open and they filed in, ready to take down anyone that looked like they were ready to fight back. Making their way carefully down the hall, they reached the first room, what looked like the living room, and instantly went on guard at the obvious signs of struggle.
They split apart, the two males going further into the house while she took to looking around the living room some more. Holding her gun up, she crept forward till she spotted some movement behind the overturned couch. Carefully, she pointed her gun and walked over to the area only to blink when she spied a naked man holding another young male in his lap.
Instincts, from years on the force, told her that these two would not be any trouble and she holstered her gun and then crouched down beside the obviously older one. His body was bruised and battered, caked blood covered him almost from head to toe and he looked like he was trying to clean the blood off of the other one.
The other one was paler, younger and seemingly dead since she could see the fatal wound to his neck. Carefully, keeping her eyes on the other male who had yet to look at her, she reached forward with two fingers wanting to check his pulse to make sure. He movement caused the older male to pull the other one closer to him and he turned to look at her for the first time causing Miranda to gasp.
Never before had she seen eyes that color, they were like the freshly spilt blood she had seen more than her fair share of. But not only that, they were dull, lifeless, not really fixed on anything.
"I just want to check his pulse." She whispered, knowing that this man cared deeply for the one he was holding so closely, so lovingly to his body.
He stared at her, not doing anything else until he uttered one word in a language she was not accustomed to, "Shiro."
"Excuse me?"
"Shiro," he repeated and uncurled the body from him, allowing her to finally check and confirm her first thoughts. The young man was indeed dead. Once she had assessed the body, he curled it back into his and once again began his task of cleaning and rocking the lifeless body.
Miranda frowned, her heart going out to both of them as she heard the other two male officers walking back into the room. She listened intently as they reported the other dead male in the bedroom, fully clothed, with only a single knife wound to the back.
She turned back to the only living member of the house and studied him. The clues were there plain as day at what occurred just an hour or so ago. And she was thankful for the small miracle that they would be taking one living victim out instead of two and that the murderer would be heading to the morgue.
He had served justice and she just hoped that justice would have mercy on him.
About thirty minutes later Miranda found herself sitting in the back of the ambulance as it sped its way towards the nearest hospital. He eyes lingered on the victim as he stared off into space, never once paying attention to the EMT that checked his vitals.
"What's wrong with him?" she asked, concern laced in her voice. "Why isn't he protesting, talking or even blinking for that matter?"
With a sigh, the young medic sat down on the bench. "Shock probably, if what you said earlier was any indication." He shrugged, "Hard to tell sometimes."
Her eyes traveled to the handcuffs that were around his wrists, safely secured to the rails of the stretcher. She hated to do that but protocol insists since they didn't know how much of a danger the man was to himself or others.
"I've seen a lot of stuff in the three years I've been a cop but this is by far the worst. How could someone not have seen this before it got this far?"
"People don't like to butt their noses into things like this. They say it's none of their business or they pretend its not happening."
"So he was invisible." She murmured, looking out the small back window so she never noticed the crimson eyes that turned to look at her.
Black minus white equals……… invisible.
Shiro – white in Japanese (according to the online dictionary)
Dragon: I'm thinking about a sequel to this, so if you would like one please let me know.