Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh. Insert witty disclaimer here.
Jounouchi had no idea what the hell he was doing outside Malik's warehouse. He really didn't. It was as if his hung-over, leaden feet had dragged themselves here of their own accord. He had never had any real intention of ever actually telling anyone he knew where this place was, unless there was no other choice.
There were certainly other choices right now, but he really couldn't think of any. He just kept staring up at the warehouse dazedly, wondering what his next move would be. Maybe I shoulda thought this out a bit more...
Stupidly, he opened the door and stepped inside. What the hell are you doing? A tiny voice inside his mind screamed. This is suicide! Ok, so you're depressed over Kaiba, why don't you jump off a cliff instead? It'll be less painful in the long run, honest!
He ignored the voice in his head, like he always did. He had just gotten used to ignoring it. I miss him. I fucking miss him. I gotta get my mind off this... I have to...
He took a deep breath and licked his lips, slowly drawing back, and kicking the door to the warehouse open. I'll distract myself. "Yo, Malik!"
The warehouse was dead silent, and he stood in the doorway, one hand on his gun. He looked around, frowning. Aaaaaaand people aren't crawling out of the woodwork to kill me?
"What the fuck are you doing here?"
A highly-indignant and very pissed off Malik stalked down the stairs from the second level of the warehouse. He was wrapped in a silky lavender robe that looked like he'd bought it from "Victoria's Secret". Marik followed, half-dressed, eyes narrowed to annoyed slits. Malik was unarmed. Marik most definitely was not, holding a pistol in each hand.
Any ideas Jou had flew out the window. Shit. "Uh..." He lowered the gun slowly, uncocking it and putting it away. "Well..."
Malik stalked across the warehouse floor, stopped about a foot away from him and pulled himself up to his full height, crossing his arms. "You have thirty seconds to give me a reason. At the end of the thirty seconds, Marik will blow your head off, and we'll go back to having sex."
Jou made a face and shook his head. "I so did not need to know that, ok? I... uh... came here to... make a deal." The words were out of his mouth before he could stop himself.
Marik smirked slowly and chuckled, the sound like metal grating on metal. Jou froze. I've heard that laugh before...
He was the man who had accosted him, threatened him in the alley. Oh, shit. Oh, shit, shit, shit. I am in trouble.
Marik leaned his chin in Malik's hair. "What should we do with him, my love?" He leaned down and nibbled his ear. "He is our greatest enemy... do I get to kill him? May I play with him?"
Malik fought down a shiver. Sometimes, having a relationship with a complete lunatic can have its disadvantages... "No, Marik, he said he wanted to make a deal..."
"A deal with us?" Marik murmured, head tilted, eyes half-closed. "Mmm. Whatever gave him that idea?"
Jou shivered. "Uh- uh- um-"
"Perhaps," Marik continued, letting go of Malik and artfully draping himself over the nearest inanimate object, "this will be a good time to mention the... very interesting sight I saw today."
Malik raised an eyebrow. "Oh? You didn't speak of this earlier..."
"You were very... enthusiastic when I returned," Marik smirked at him. Jou rolled his eyes.
"If you're not gonna shoot me, can I just leave or sit down or something?" He started edging towards the door.
"Sit," Marik snapped, sitting up slowly. "What I have to say applies to you as well."
Jou slowly felt around behind him and grabbed a chair. "Ok..." He sat down slowly, not wanting to turn his back on Marik at all.
Malik scowled slowly. "This seems awfully like you're keeping a secret from me, Marik..." he said in a quiet voice. "I thought..."
Marik smirked slowly at him. "You said you wanted to hear no more on the subject, so I remained silent until now. But now, I think we can have this... discussion. As to what I saw..." His smirk grew until it was a full-fledged evil smirk. "I saw Jounouchi's little sister in... a rather... compromising position with dear Rishid. Several compromising positions, actually."
Jou had to sit there for several minutes until that processed. Then he lunged for Marik's throat. "You lying bastard!"
At the same time, Malik turned to glare at him. "Marik, how many times to I need to tell you..."
Marik brought up one pistol and placed it against Jou's forehead as the blonde grabbed him by the shirt. "If I'm lying, we should go to Rishid's apartment and double-check, shouldn't we?" He cocked the gun. "And you will let go of me. Or any deal you want to make will not happen..."
Jou let go of him slowly, swallowing. "Bastard. You are lying. Serenity wouldn't do that... She wouldn't..."
Malik scowled and nodded curtly. "Fine, Marik. We'll go to niichan's apartment. Go get a shirt." He glanced over his shoulder and two gang members seemingly appeared. He jerked his chin at Jou and turned away. "Keep an eye on him." He then headed upstairs to get dressed, Marik following him, smirking.
Jou sat down again with a shiver. 'Ren wouldn't do that... she wouldn't... she promised me she was a different person now...
Wait a minute... she had those hickeys... and she did say she was in a relationship... With the Dragonslayer? Not 'Ren... Serenity wouldn't do that to me... She wouldn't betray me like that... She wouldn't...
He found it harder than it should be to convince himself.
xXx
Rishid hugged Serenity to him gently. She was sleeping contently now, more relaxed than she had been in a while. Perhaps she had needed to rant at someone. He was fairly certain he'd exhausted her as well.
He smiled faintly, fingers combing through her hair. Gods, what would I do without you...?
He shook his head. Best not to think like that. It could come true at any moment... Something had been bothering him all evening, as if there was something he'd forgotten... something that should have been very prevalent in his mind, as was conspicuously absent.
Was I supposed to meet with Malik today? He never told me if I was... I danced attendance on him all last weekend, he can't be expecting me... If this feeling doesn't go away, I'll call him...
Serenity stirred a little and curled closer to him. His smile increased and he smoothed a hand through her auburn hair. I've never thought about having a lover... other than Malik, that is... I've never considered a wife, never considered children... But now... Now I find myself wanting to... settle down. To retire, I suppose. But in order to do that, I would have to leave. Immediately. And go very, very far away, where Malik's influence will never touch. He shivered a little and drew Serenity closer, trying to leech warmth from her, despite the fact that he was cocooned in blankets himself. He still felt cold at the mere thought of Malik's revenge. My brother does not forgive and forget. What's his is his forever.
A knock at the door made him jump violently and grab his gun before he was even conscious of what he was doing. He forced his racing heart to calm and placed the gun aside. The knock came a second time, louder and more insistent this time.
He moved over to the door and yanked it open, right in the face of a stunned Black Dragon. They stared stupidly at each other for a long moment- Rishid was completely unmistakable, every Dragon knew who he was. "S-Serenity?" The man said, somewhat stupidly.
Serenity had woken up as Rishid had gotten out of bed. "Ushiro?" She blinked and moved over to the door. "Oh, no, Ushiro, what are you doing here?"
"Your brother sent me after you, I saw you come in here... what are you doing with him! He's- he's- do you know who he is?"
"He's- he's my lover." Serenity said firmly. "Ushiro... please..."
"No, no way," Ushiro shook his head. "I'm gonna go tell Jou... I can't believe you're betraying him like this..."
"I'm not betraying him!" Serenity took a step towards him. "I'm not! I'm in love, I never tell him anything, please don't do this..."
"Tell it to Jou yourself, Serenity." Ushiro reached for her. "We're leaving..."
A shot rang out before anyone knew what was happening. Ushiro stared at the hole in his chest, then stared at Rishid, who lowered the gun slowly. Then his eyes glazed over and he crumpled.
"No!" Serenity tried to grab Ushiro, but Rishid grabbed her back. "You bastard!" She shoved at his hands, then pounded on his chest. "Let me go!"
"You would rather he separated us?" Rishid asked quietly, though he did release her. She pulled away from him and knelt by the body. "He would have. He would have gone straight to your brother, or his Second."
"I could've talked to him!" Serenity's hands shook as she checked for a pulse. Ushiro had always been there... he had been one of her bodyguards more times than she could count, and he had always been so faithful to her brother... And now he was dead because of her... "I could've..."
"You know he wouldn't have listened." Rishid knelt down next to her and touched her shoulder. She flinched away. "Serenity... he wouldn't have..."
"I could've made him listen!" Serenity punched his chest as hard as she could- it felt like hitting a brick wall and he barely even felt it. "I could've, you never gave me a chance, just like you never gave me a chance to tell you no, to leave, to never get involved with you in the first place! You never gave me a chance to not love you!"
From the stricken look on his face and the way he recoiled from her, that had hurt him far more than any measly punch ever could have. Serenity bit her lip and searched for words to apologize, and found that she didn't want to. He had killed her friend! He deserved to hurt!
He turned away from her, eyes closed tightly. "And do you want me to give you a chance to say those things again?" He asked softly, but with a very bitter edge. "Or should I just go inside and forget about you?"
"If it'll be that easy, then just go." Serenity snapped, looking down at her friend's body and then back at him. "I'll be bringing niichan soon."
Rishid started laughing, a humorless, dull sound. "You would have him kill me? I see."
"It wouldn't bother me at all," Serenity lied, rubbing her arms. Hasn't there been enough death? Enough killing? What a mess this all is...
"Then you should go and get him," Rishid said quietly. "Bring him here and have him kill me. It wouldn't bother me at all. You would have to tell him, of course, how you know me. Why he was here in the first place. But surely he'd forgive you, if you delivered me to him. You could even say that it was your plan all along, to seduce me and make me fall in love with you... then to kill me when I least expected it."
That thought had crossed his mind so many times when they had lain together late at night, when she had been limp and asleep in his arms. He had always dismissed it, giving her the benefit of the doubt. After all, he never told her Malik's secrets, and she never told him Jounouchi's. It was just something they never discussed. But now, all his doubts surged to the forefront of his mind.
"Was that the plan?" He stiffened his posture, turning to face her and crossing his arms. "Was everything you said a lie?"
Serenity stared at him. "No!" The word exploded out of her before she could stop herself. "I loved you! I still do! But- but you're a heartless killer..."
"So is your brother," Rishid pointed out. "And do you love him any less? And I am not heartless, Serenity..." He looked at the ground. "Because I love you."
"Niichan is not-" Serenity started to argue back, then stopped. He was. He really was... she had tried to convince herself that Jou wasn't a bad person... But he had just used Kaiba, he killed people for reasons that sounded good but probably weren't...
But he seemed to be paying for it now, and she felt badly for him. She shivered and looked up at Rishid, who was staring at her silently. She simply stared back, unsure of what to say.
Rishid broke the silence by pulling out his gun. Serenity flinched, then froze with wide eyes as he held it out to her. "Would you like to avenge your friend?" he asked, eyes flat and unreadable.
Serenity slowly started reaching for the gun, almost of her own accord. I could forget any of this ever happened... I could go back to niichan and tell him what I did... I could lie and say that I was here looking for my boyfriend and that the Dragonslayer had ambushed me and Ushiro... that he killed Ushiro but balked at killing me so I shot him... Her hands shook, and she drew them back to her chest quickly. I can't... "I can't..." She whimpered, eyes closing tightly. "I can't..."
Rishid dropped the gun and moved over to her, taking her into his arms quickly. "Shh." He soothed her, rocking her gently and kissing her hair. "Sh, it's all right."
"No, no it's not..." Serenity sobbed into his chest. "My friend is dead and you killed him and I can't even stay angry at you like I want to because I love you so much!"
"I'm somewhat relieved at that," Rishid admitted, stroking her hair gently. "I love you too... and I do not want you to be angry, I do not want to die... I want to stay with you..."
"Don't you ever leave me..." Serenity clung to him tightly. "Don't you ever, ever leave me... Ever."
"I promise, I won't." Rishid stroked her hair some more, kissing her gently. "I love you too much to leave you..."
"I love you too much too." Serenity whispered, looking at him. I should be angry... I want to be angry... Why can't I be angry?
Rishid stroked her cheek lightly, then leaned down and gave her a gentle, soft kiss. She leaned up into it, arms wrapping around him slowly, losing herself in it. There was nothing but him. She needed nothing but him. Why had she been so upset? Nothing else mattered...
"Oh, Jesus."
Rishid pulled away, his eyes flicking up to the hallway. He'd forgotten where they were. They were still outside his apartment, standing in the middle of the hallway, with a dead body at their feet.
This is going to be difficult to explain to my landlord...
As he saw who had spoken, he realized that it was going to be even trickier than he'd thought.
Jounouchi, Malik and Marik all stood in the hallway, staring. Well, Jounouchi was staring in shock, Malik in disbelief, and Marik- Marik had the most triumphant expression on his face he had ever seen.
"Well, brother," he drawled, casually pulling a gun and pointing it at him. "I think you have some explaining to do."
...comments? Complaints? -shrugs-