Looking for Ryuuji, once again

[lord-of-dragons.livejournal.com]

[[ Ryuuji-mun, I know you're going to hate me, but I guess Irony and Karma just hate you, and have it out for you. I still love you. >D Terry-mun, you're included in the hunt, of course. ^.^]]

Seto rushed from the classroom, eyes scanning for where Ryuuji had gone at once.
It just wasn't like Ryuuji to leave class early, or to admit he needed to go to the infirmary. Something must really be wrong....

Right! Cell phone.

Seto pulled his out in a snap and dialed Ryuuji's number as he kept walking, hoping his pace wasn't too fast for Terry.

Comments

[dice-addict.livejournal.com]

((I don't hate you. XD But, er, Ryuuji's unconscious. *dies*))

Ryuuji hadn't trusted himself to make it to the infirmary, not with the pain growing so strong and fresh. Lord Fregula had been dormant for a while, which was what made this session even worse, or so Ryuuji assumed. Stumbling, he hit the wall, and slid down it, biting down on his lower lip in his struggle to try to keep the demon from emerging.

Away... He couldn't even teleport within Hogwarts, couldn't get himself somewhere that he would be alone. Except-

There. Door. Empty classroom? Please be empty.

The classroom was empty, and even as the outline of a red-lipped mouth started to appear on the soft skin of his inner forearm, Ryuuji forced himself to stand up and stagger in, door slamming shut behind him as he went up to the front and collapsed at the desk. He fell off the chair, then went under the desk, curling up and hidden from sight, hopefully.

The mouth was clearly visible now, white fangs flashing, and Ryuuji reached up to his own neck, performing a flawless Vulcan neck pinch even as the mouth opened to speak.

His eyes shut, and the mouth disappeared.

[lord-of-dragons.livejournal.com]

[[ >D *DEAD* But the phone would still be ringing, right? Seto would just keep calling it and listen for the rings until he found him. >D Sorry, Love. ]]

Ring.

Seto listened--how many rings was that? Ten?

Not good.

Damn it, Ryuuji, pick up!

Ring.

Not good, not good, not good.

Face set with determination, Seto hung up before the voice mail could kick in, then dialed again--if Ryuuji passed out somewhere, he would find him by listening for the rings.

[tomorrow-knight.livejournal.com]

Terry watched Kaiba get panicked in a very structured way. He blocked him out. Ryuuji couldn't have gone far, they'd basically rushed out right after him. He'd been grabbing his arm as if it hurt, which meant the infirmary so they had to have at least picked the right direction.

He walked swiftly behind Kaiba but paid a great deal more attention to his surroundings. The stone walls echoed with a slam and Terry spun towards a side corridor. He was about to tell Kaiba to keep phoning if he honestly thought Ryuuji had his cell on him, they could track it. But when he looked over it seemed as if the other young man had realized that as well.

Terry went to the nearest door and pulled it open. A door had slammed shut. That seemed too coincidental and even if it wasn't Ryuuji it might be someone who'd seen him.

[lord-of-dragons.livejournal.com]

Seto let the phone continue ringing as he noticed Terry, out of the corner of his eye, head to a door.

"Heard something?" he asked, following the other. He thought he had heard a slam, but that could have been anyone. Still, as Terry thought, Seto also considered it could have been someone that had at least seen Ryuuji, and most of the school knew who he was.

[tomorrow-knight.livejournal.com]

The classroom door was locked, and after knocking no one answered. Terry pulled a lock-pick case out of the depths of his robes, likely out of his means somewhere.

"Either him, or a witness. Think he'd have the presence of mine to use a spell ?" The tools were already in the lock and there was a soft click.

Terry looked up, knowing his was probably being stared at. "Fine motor control therapy." He sad deadpan.

[lord-of-dragons.livejournal.com]

Still listening for rings, Seto just shrugged. He didn't really care--whatever got them in there got them in there. And little in impressed him these days.

"Ryuuji? Most likely. Depends on how severe this was," he answered in reference to the spell question.

What Seto didn't know was that the phone was set to vibrate, so he wouldn't be hearing rings any time soon. Thankfully, though, it had fallen to the floor, and the vibrating created a loud hum. Plus, they were in the right room.

[tomorrow-knight.livejournal.com]

He was a bit surprised they'd found the right class room on the first try, but when Terry pushed open the door, there was a phone dancing, shimmying and shaking it's way in little S's on the floor. Right by the desk.

"Ryuu ?"

Terry moved, pushing the chair out of the way and gently kicking the phone across the floor towards Kaiba. He had no idea why Ryuuji would be curled under a desk and turned mouth about to ask Kaiba the question, one hand already reaching to check to see if Ryuuji had some sort of fever.

[lord-of-dragons.livejournal.com]

"He went to a lot of trouble to hide from view." Something was off about that. People didn't bother to go out of their way into hiding when passing out, they just blacked out. Then again--this was Ryuuji.

Seto bent over to get the cell phone, then asked Terry, "McGinnis, think you can carry him, or should I? We can either take him to his room, where he should be comfortable, or the infirmary, but we shouldn't leave him in here like this."

If he was trying to hide, though, the infirmary may not be where he wants to be. Hard to tell.... He might have just said the infirmary to get out of class, but intended to hide else where all along. Or he just never made it. But what was he trying to hide?

[tomorrow-knight.livejournal.com]

"His room." Terry said firmly. Knowing all the trouble that Ryuuji went through to make it a safe place, in his mind that was the only possible option. And Ryuuji was gifted in potions. Whatever the infirmary might give him in this place, he probably already had his own version in his room somewhere.

He was gently rolling Ryuuji onto and into his arms and stood with a slight huff of breath. Sometimes he forgot how heavy other people really were, but he still knew he could manage this.

[lord-of-dragons.livejournal.com]

Seto was, in a large way, more grateful to Terry than the other could imagine. He could, probably carry Ryuuji, but Seto had never tried it, so he wasn't positive about that. And considering his sleeping schedule of late...it probably wasn't wise to try.

He got the door for Terry and held it open. "All right, after we get out of here, I'll lead the way."

[tomorrow-knight.livejournal.com]

He nodded, shifted the warm weight in his arms and making sure Ryyuji's neck was supported followed Kaiba out of the classroom.

Terry couldn't resist, however, lightly nuzzling Ryuuji's hair. He was worried, the thought of the familiarity implied in leaning his cheek against the top of Ryuuji's head wasn't quite making an impression. Instead his focus was on hoping Kaiba didn't try to make it easy on him and walk too slow. The sooner Ryuuji was safe behind his wards, the better Terry would feel.

[lord-of-dragons.livejournal.com]

Seto made the quiet walk, down into Slytherin, as quick as possible, checking once in a while behind him to make certain Terry was keeping up.

Once at Ryuuji's room, Seto muttered the password. He was uncertain if Terry caught it, but since he was Ryuuji's friend, Ryuuji probably wouldn't mind. Ryuuji hadn't even minded Marik having the password until Seto explained what Marik had done.

No problem here.

With that, he gestured for Terry to follow him in.

[tomorrow-knight.livejournal.com]

Terry stepped over the threshold, but couldn't really feel anything. Though he didn't know what he expected to feel, so he stopped thinking about it and headed where Kaiba led.

"Could you pull back the covers on his bed ?" He remembered how Ryuuji said he got cold easily.

[lord-of-dragons.livejournal.com]

Seto nodded his head as he did, then his eyes wandered at once. Startingly pure blue sought out the persocom. Where was he?

So deep in the arrow's insanity was he, Seto had yet to think Terry might find Ryuu utterly bizarre, and he didn't understand Ryuuji's dislike of it either.

Nor was Seto aware the robot might have issues with Ryuuji....

[dice-addict.livejournal.com]

"What's he doing here?" The robot suddenly demanded petulantly, having come out of the study at the sound of an unfamilar voice. Nobody had been there except himself and Seto for days, and to suddenly see Ryuuji there, being carried to a bed? Well. Jealousy wasn't half of it.

Folding both arms over his chest, he pouted at the two boys and the unconscious figure that Terry was carrying, a disdainful flick of his ponytail expressing how he Did Not Approve. Eyes as green as Ryuuji's (but empty in the way that Ryuuji's only were when he wanted to stop his heart from breaking) stayed locked on Seto, the robot drawing himself up to his full height.

His clothing had come straight out of Ryuuji's closet as well, fishnet stockings wrapped tightly over long, muscled legs, and a pair of cut-off denim shorts resting low on his hips, barely long enough to be decent. The top he wore was abbreviated as well, ending just under his nipples and made of thin black cotton with "Assassins Do It Best" scribbled on it in red paint, exposing his abs and the mini-dragon tattoo that undulated over his left hipbone. With his wealth of golden skin exposed, and black studded wristlets the only decoration on his arms, the robot looked something like what Ryuuji would look if he ever took up hooking.

But most of all, he looked like Ryuuji did - sex on legs, and proud of it.

[lord-of-dragons.livejournal.com]

Eyes wide, Seto asked, "Where did you get those clothes?" as he certainly hadn't dressed the persocom in them.

"And Ryuuji is here because this is his room," Seto said sternly, tone giving off a slight warning note. If the robot was this rude to Ryuuji, well...no wonder Ryuuji had been staying away. Is this what Seto had missed the other day?

"Or, if you meant the boy kindly carrying Ryuuji for me, his name is McGinnis Terry, refer to him by whichever he requests, or McGinnis." Seto decided, considering Ryuu's tone, that he stay slightly in front of Terry and Ryuuji, between them and the persocom.

He wanted to understand the issue, so Seto just had to ask, "Is something wrong with that?"

[tomorrow-knight.livejournal.com]

'Remind me to tell you about the robot.' An innocuous enough statement, until faced with something like this. Terry had just been about to place Ryuuji on the bed, but now he pulled back even though his arms protested.

No. Just no.

"This was a mistake. I'll take him to my room." Terry didn't even blink when he heard how his voice sounded. He wasn't McGinnis right now at all.

[lord-of-dragons.livejournal.com]

"Please no," Seto protested, turning his back to the persocom. "I don't think that's a wise idea...." Considering Ryuuji, he might not like that. Seto just didn't know. He didn't know how Ryuuji viewed Terry, or what was going on between them. Ryuuji didn't tell him anything....

Seto's bangs fell forward and shadowed his eyes. "If you're to take him anywhere else, take him to the infirmary. Your room doesn't sound like a good idea, not to me. I may be wrong, though. As soon as I can, I'll follow."

He would just need to talk to the persocom a bit. And...if it couldn't get along with Ryuuji, and was just chasing Ryuuji off...it would need to be shut down.

[tomorrow-knight.livejournal.com]

"The infirmary isn't private. My room is." He watched Kaiba carefully though, despite the fact that there was a sexbot of Ryuuji walking around with all the cliched over possessiveness and likely capacity to kill, Kaiba seemed concerned, genuinely concerned.

His voice shifted calmer. "Look at my neck."

[dice-addict.livejournal.com]

"Ryuuji's closet - I decided to do some exploring while you were in class. Did you know he has an arsenal hidden under the bathroom floor?" The robot answered Seto's question, unable to not do what would make Seto happy, then gave Terry a cool, bright smile. Like Ryuuji's, except lacking in the warmth that made Ryuuji's eyes light up - instead, this was the polite smile he gave to people that were useful that he didn't necessarily like.

When he spoke though, his attention went right back to Seto's, hand curled around something unseen. "And there's nothing wrong, my Seto. Ryuuji's little slaveboy can take him back to his room, and you can stay here with me."

Why slaveboy? He was wearing a collar. That said a lot about who had the power there, didn't it? And besides, Ryuu had been modelled after Ryuuji. He knew exactly how possessive Ryuuji could be when it came to things that he actually gave a damn about. Not that Ryuu would focus on that aspect, as opposed to mocking Terry.

Another smile, beautiful and empty, lips slicked with a glittering red lipstick stretching into something that spoke of an impatience for Ryuuji to be gone.

[lord-of-dragons.livejournal.com]

"You have no business going through Ryuuji's things," Seto scolded him. "And this is Ryuuji's room--he has a right to be here. Plus, don't refer to McGinnis that way--it's crude."

The CEO couldn't understand what brought on this venom. No one was being mean to the persocom, and Ryuuji was never the type to act like this. He tried to please people and get along with them.

Then again...there was the AI. Seto's eyes widened a little when he considered it. Coupled with the learning ability, plus Ryuuji's possessive traits, the persocom could have well pushed aside it's original programming and formed it's own likes and dislikes already. Scary thought, but highly likely.

And all the more reason to terminate it before this got out of hand.

[lord-of-dragons.livejournal.com]

There was just a wince in response to that.

Then a strong regret of ever coming to the damn school in the first place.

Then Seto just dismissively waved a hand in Terry's direction, silently telling him to do whatever.

Seto wasn't going to be able to stay by Ryuuji's side, was he? Or know much of anything. Why was he even there?

Suddenly, Seto had forgotten all about the persocom.

[tomorrow-knight.livejournal.com]

"Do you know where my room is if you want to come check on him ? Alone." Because if that thing came near his room, Terry would unleash everything he had on it, and then try to fly it out of the room and drown it in the lake.

His arms were burning, but Terry shifted the weight and exhaled. Pain was momentary, it eventually went away and he wasn't hurting himself, it was just a little muscle fatigue. All the same...

He opened his mouth to ask for magical help and then remembered that as usual he'd picked up his backpack and not thought about it. He could change into the suit and get to his room through a window. Easy, fast and with the added bonus of privacy.

Terry turned to leave.

[dice-addict.livejournal.com]

Seeing that Ryuuji was going to be out of the room, the doll prowled over to Seto, carrying itself with the same lethal grace that Ryuuji had when he was within striking range of trapped prey; he moved like mercury, like he couldn't head anywhere else but would do so with the utmost deliberation. Both of its arms wrapped around Seto's waist, one still closed into a fist, and Ryuu-bot pulled Seto back against his chest, nuzzling soft kisses against Seto's throat.

His eyes watched Terry and Ryuuji jealously, narrowed so that poison-green slits stared out at an angle from under cats-eye styled eyeliner, and red marks were left on Seto's skin from where the bot's lips touched his skin. A vampire, but not in need of blood, only in need of love. And Seto had plenty of love to give, and Ryuu-bot was afraid of losing him to his original once more.

[lord-of-dragons.livejournal.com]

Not that it mattered--Seto didn't respond to any of this. Ryuu-bot never had Seto to begin with.

[lord-of-dragons.livejournal.com]

Seto had no idea where it was, or if he even wanted to bother. They probably wanted to be alone...but....

Knowing the robot knew Morse Code--and every language Seto could think of--Seto walked over to Terry and whispered, "No, I don't. If you wouldn't mind telling me where it is, though, I'll go see him. I need to...take care of something, first." Seto's eyes trailed to the robot, hoping he couldn't figure it out.

He was smart, though...Ryuuji-scary smart. Any little sign could give it away, and it was more than strong enough to prevent Seto from achieving his goal of shutting it down. It was, in fact, possibly dangerous. Seto had programmed it to be aggressive if anyone attempted to touch its ears. But it shouldn't react like that towards Seto. Not Seto.

[tomorrow-knight.livejournal.com]

Kaiba's whole body suddenly seemed to say 'What have I done??!'. But Terry couldn't tell if it was just that loud or his training. He nodded, however and whispered the Ravenclaw password.

"Anyone at the bar can tell you where my room is." And there'd be something rigged to the door, and across the floor and at the windows the minute Ryuuji was safe in Terry's bed.

He was even considering asking someone else in the family for help. Robots could be very dangerous.

He pitched his voice low, and had no trouble injecting his next words, words meant to be heard, with sarcasm and disgust. "Sure I'll give him your apology. But I don't think that'll help matters." Terry twitched his shoulders rather than shrug, because his arms were burning. There was a difference between dead weight and someone who was holding back and he felt it as the moments drew out.

"After all, you are abandoning him for your little play thing."

[lord-of-dragons.livejournal.com]

[[ Thing is a popular word tonight. Sorry for the repost. >D ]]

Seto didn't respond to that. Let Terry think what he wanted.

After all, there were things people didn't know about--and Seto preferred it that way.

He just stiffened, eyes returning to more of an opaque blue-green. He had to murder his creation; he wasn't in the mood to correct anything else.

[dice-addict.livejournal.com]

"I am not a plaything." Ryuu-bot's eyes narrowed even further, and the pretty smile on its lips turned into a harsh snarl, lips drawn back and teeth exposed. Unconsciously, it slid into one of Ryuuji's fighting stances, feet spread apart, weight evenly distributed and hands at the ready, wrists crossed over each other and one hand still fisted suspiciously around something. "I love Seto like Ryuuji doesn't. Ryuuji's not good enough for Seto; Seto had it right the first time when he told Ryuuji that."

A haughty flip of his ponytail accompanied that statement and as he glared at Terry, the look in his eyes was murderous, "So go ahead, little slaveboy. Please take Ryuuji away from Seto. Seto's never had anything except pain from him anyway. Ryuuji's a vicious, cold, manipulative, fickle, heartless bastard son of a bastard. And you're just in love with him like everyone else, or in love with his ability to suck cock, whichever. Either way, just get him out of here. He doesn't want to be near Seto; he abandoned Seto first. Seto's mine now. He made me just to have someone to belong to."

[tomorrow-knight.livejournal.com]

Terry's eyes narrowed. Blue and bright and but holding emotion as dark as hellfire.

" Guess that makes Ryuuji the lucky one. He didn't have to make me."

His anger wasn't completely at Kaiba. It's not like he hadn't encountered a situation like this before. But it was a response so that the Robot would have a clue of just how hard someone would fight to protect Ryuuji's life if it so much as looked at him wrong. It didn't matter that the thing might not make it through the night.

[lord-of-dragons.livejournal.com]

"Of course not. Ryuuji's lovable," Seto automatically responded, voice getting softer. "Ryuuji wouldn't have to do that."

Seto wanted to disappear about then, but he just stood there, calm and very, very still.

[dice-addict.livejournal.com]

"Both of you are just brainwashed." Ryuu-bot insisted, glaring at Terry, red-painted lips narrowed into a line. "And in your case, if he seduced you, he made you want him. That's the same thing in his case, because love's something he only takes. Ryuuji doesn't love, he doesn't know how."

As for Seto...

Tone softening, turning pouty instead of hateful, the robot argued unhappily, "I know your father made you say that, but it was still right. Ryuuji's every bit as worthless as his father always told him. I'm better than him; even dirt is better than him. And he can be gentle, and he can be sweet, but those aren't what he is. And you know he can be vicious! He ripped out your ribs! That's vicious!"

Did it care that Terry was listening? Not in the least. It went on, attention still fixed on Seto, "And he abandoned you because he hasn't been back to the room since you introduced me to him. Soon as he knew he was free from needing to be your friend, he's been spending every night elsewhere - whose bed do you think he was in? Alucard's? Kira's? Mai's? Sara's? Steerpike's? Oz's? Mystique's? Anne's? All of them at once, or in rapid rotation? Don't tell me that he didn't abandon you when he's never here. I'm just saying what I know of him from what you programmed into me, what I saw in his Pensieve, and how he acts. And so far, the only thing that I see him acting like is a wounded child that never got over being hurt and thinks he deserves to be loved by everyone just 'cause he suffered. BRAT.."

[lord-of-dragons.livejournal.com]

....

Seto stared for a moment, horrified the persocom just told Terry about that. People weren't supposed to know about the ribs, about the torture. That--his punishment--was no one's business.

As for everything else?

Seto's eyes narrowed, and his voice turned to sharp and clipped. "Stop talking about Ryuuji like that. Now."

[dice-addict.livejournal.com]

Subdued by Seto's sudden shift to anger, Ryuu-bot muttered under his breath, "But it's the truth!", and then went quiet. Its eyes teared up slightly, and he sniffed pitifully, but stopped glaring at Terry.

Terry wasn't important right now; he just didn't want Seto to be mad at him.

[lord-of-dragons.livejournal.com]

Seto was beyond angry.

Had been for a while, a long while.... Longer than he let himself realize.

Cooly, without another word, he marched right over, intent on switching the thing off and getting this over with. He knew it was fast, but it couldn't possibly be possessive enough it would fight to stay alive, or fight Seto--that would go against its original desire to make him happy.

Unless the robot had become unstable with the AI and switched that into obsession. Then there might be trouble.

Either way, Seto didn't want to deal with it any longer. Ryuuji didn't need this keeping him away from his room. Seto could see at least that much, now. And Terry...? Had already left, it seemed.

When he was close enough, his hand reached out, aiming for the robot's ear.

[dice-addict.livejournal.com]

"...Seto?!" Terrified of the look in Seto's eyes (he looked like he hated him), the robot stumbled back a step, falling against the bed and then pressing back hands to it, flipping backwards but twisting to the side as it did so.

Landing on its feet, in front of the study, Ryuu-bot blinked at Seto, still in a fight-ready stance. "What's wrong? Say something!"

He didn't want to hurt Seto, no, but he didn't want to die either. That would leave Seto alone and make him unhappy! Ryuu-bot had to live for Seto's sake.

[lord-of-dragons.livejournal.com]

"Everything's wrong," Seto explained, tone completely void of emotion, eyes almost blank. "And I plan to fix it. I'm sorry you had such a short life."

He stepped forward again--quickly, knowing how fast the robot could be, and once again, his hand reached for the ear. It was just a little button--this shouldn't be such a hard thing to do.

Ryuuji was more important.

[dice-addict.livejournal.com]

"...You can't kill me. You need me. You love me. Ryuuji will never love you. You have to have me to love you!" Ryuu-bot flipped backwards, then over Seto's head, twisting and running out of the door. Over its shoulder, to Seto, it called out, "I won't let you kill me, Seto! You love me!"

And with that, it was out of the room and gone.

[lord-of-dragons.livejournal.com]

Calmly, Seto stepped out of the room, and with the persocom still in hearing range, shouted out, "You're not making me happy by running off on me."

It was programmed to attack if anyone tried to shut it down manually, but it was also programmed not to hurt Seto. And it was also programmed to want to make him happy.

[dice-addict.livejournal.com]

"..." Damnit. Ryuu-bot was now stuck, a clash of programming making it freeze in place. It couldn't make Seto unhappy, not when he loved Seto but on the other hand, it was going to be turned off if it didn't run!

Struggling visibly, Ryuu-bot shook from the effort of staying still, and whimpered audibly. NOT FAIR!

[lord-of-dragons.livejournal.com]

Seto walked out in front of it, arms crossed. "Running off is just going to make me unhappy, so stay there while I make something clear to you."

His tone was firm, eyes narrowed. "I don't love you. I love Ryuuji. I did't make you for me--I made you so he wouldn't have to worry about me any longer. I don't appreciate all the things you said about him. I don't appreciate you being cruel to him and rude to McGinnis, and I'm not going to allow you to continue this."

And once again, he attempted to manually shut it down, because using the password and verbal command seemed too cruel--but if it ran off again, then he'd have to.

Gently, slowly, as though he was going to caress the persocom's cheek, Seto started to lift his hand towards its face.

[dice-addict.livejournal.com]

"..." The robot didn't resist any longer. Heartbroken, he just shut his eyes, a single tear slipping out of the corner of his left eye, and let Seto shut him off passively.

There was no point in living if Seto didn't love him.

[lord-of-dragons.livejournal.com]

Seto lightly wiped away the tear and whispered, "I'm sorry," as he attempted to drag the persocom back to Ryuuji's room.

Very quietly, he left it on the floor of the study, and then headed off for Terry's room, intent on apologizing to Ryuuji. Or at least staying by his side until he woke up.

[lord-of-dragons.livejournal.com]

Voice soft, small, low and eyes looking somewhere--at something not in the room, Seto insisted, "I never said that about Ryuuji. That's what Gozaburo wanted me to say. I wish you and Ryuuji both would remember that.

"And Ryuuji's none of those things. He's not vicious. He's can be very gentle, and sweet. And he always thinks about the people he cares about. He didn't abandon me.... Where are you getting all of this from?" It was frightening--Seto had never programmed it to be that way, or to think like that about Ryuuji.

[tomorrow-knight.livejournal.com]

He wasn't going to stay there any longer, not when the thing was building up to an attack and he was not prepared. Terry moved, ignoring Ryuuji's weight and fumbling for the door.

Note to self: Wear the suit under clothes at all times in this place, just like old school Superman..

[lord-of-dragons.livejournal.com]

[[ That's probably wise. ]]