Disclaimer: I don't own YuGiOh or Inuyasha, no da!

Trees?

The first real signs of change came that day at the arcade, though when they thought back they noticed that the symptoms had shown up long before. When Ryou Bakura started getting jumpy, reacting to the tiniest little sounds and seeing farther than was normal, people put it down to stress or some other quirk. And the fact that Yami Bakura might attack someone who surprised him was not really new. But that day at the arcade showed that a definite change had come over him.

It was a beautiful day, and summer was just starting to creep into the air. Yugi and the gang had decided to meet at the arcade in the afternoon, and now they were surveying the games wondering what to do first.

"Ha, meet Joey, the king of the arcade! Now, whom shall I show my superiority over first…" Joey said, looking around expectantly. Tristan laughed.

"King of the arcade? You couldn't beat a paper bag at an arcade game! Yugi trounced you last time!"

"Grrr…." Joey glared at Tristan, and then dragged him over to a fighting game to fight it out. Ryou was standing quietly on the side. He wasn't really good at arcade games; he just came to hang out with his friends.

"Come on, Ryou," Yugi said cheerfully, "let's go play something!"

"Fine," Ryou trailed after him, letting Yugi choose a racing game. They both sat down, and soon they were racing away.

Ryou was concentrating on the game, pretty much to the exclusion of everything else, but he did notice that it seemed rather easier than usual. He reached the end, and only then saw Yugi staring at him.

"Wow, Ryou, you've gotten really good! You beat me by a lot!"

"Wh-? I-" he didn't know what to say; he had never won an arcade game before, at least not on his own. His Yami was better than he was at the games, and would play occasionally.

"Oh my gosh, look guys, Ryou beat Yugi!" Tea exclaimed, drawing Tristan and Joey over. Ryou shrugged uneasily, uncomfortable with all the attention.

"Wow, you mean Ryou actually beat Yugi, the King of Games? That's weird…." Joey scratched his head.

"Hey Ryou, let's do the Mortal Kombat one!" Tristan challenged.

"Sure…"

For the rest of the afternoon Ryou played arcade games against everybody, and won almost all of them. Everybody was bemused, and Joey was shaking his head.

"Man, I never thought I'd see that. Ryou, becoming that good! C'mon, tell me, how did you do it?"

"I-I don't know, it just seemed rather easy all of a sudden."

On the way home, Ryou saw a familiar figure lounging around on one of the streets. "Hey, Malik!" he called, waving. Malik turned around.

"Oh, hi Ryou. What're you doing here?"

"I'm on the way back from the arcade," he said.

"Have fun?" Malik asked, almost wistfully.

"Yeah, but it was weird. I won almost all the games."

That made Malik take notice. "Wow, you won? What brought about the sudden change?"

Ryou scuffed his shoe in the dust, and stared at the floor for a minute, then looked back at Malik. "I really don't know how it happened. It felt like my reflexes suddenly got so much better, but that can't really be, can it?"

Malik contemplated the sunset. "Who knows? Weirder things have happened, this isn't the most normal place in the world, in case you hadn't noticed. See you around." Malik gave him a wave and strolled off, leaving Ryou to walk home alone.

Ryou went inside his dark house, and got ready to make himself dinner. His Yami had been strangely silent all day, so he sent an inquiring thought at him.

~What?~ came the irritable reply.

~I was just checking, you've been awfully quiet all day,~ he answered, while heating up water.

~Is that a crime? Or is it now my job to provide you with constant amusement?~

~No, I was just making sure you were okay.~

~You always complain about me saying things, and then when I don't you complain also. Obnoxious hikari!~

Ryou sighed. His yami was not exactly the easiest person to live with. At least he wasn't trying actively to steal the Millenium Puzzle again.

After dinner Ryou showered and got into bed, and decided to ask his yami if he knew anything about the strange reflexes he had noticed at the arcade.

~Yami?~

~What now? Need me to sing a lullaby?~ Yami Bakura said sarcastically.

~No, I wanted to ask you about something.~

~You won't leave me alone and pretend you asked?~

~No. Today at the arcade, I won all the games. It was as if my reflexes suddenly got a boost. I've never been able to do that before.~

~Really?~ Suddenly, his yami was interested. ~It's about time I started rubbing off on you. I used to have the best reflexes in Egypt. That's why I was such a great tomb robber.~

~I never knew that. I've also been feeling weird lately. I think I can see better than I ever could, and I can hear better too-~

~So? You're actually taking notice of the world around you. Congratulations.~

~But it's not just that! You've also been jumpy; it's not normal to be able to hear someone tiptoeing so loudly. Or a window being opened three blocks away….~

~I used to have almost inhuman abilities at times. I guess it really is rubbing off on you. Maybe now I can go stealing again, now that I've got my old abilities back…!~

Oh, man, this wasn't a good idea at all. ~No, don't! I want to understand what's happening! Why could you do those things?~

~I've been like that ever since I could remember, except when I woke up and took over your pathetic body. Go away, I want to think.~

Ryou knew he wouldn't get anything else out of his yami that night. Maybe drawing his attention to this hadn't been the best of ideas, but he really didn't know what was going on. He turned out the light and went to sleep.

*^*^*

He was running through a forest, faster than he had ever known it was possible to run. He knew he had to get away from the things that were chasing him. They were after something he had, something he knew he must never give them, something he must protect with his life. The howls were drawing closer now, and he could finally glimpse some of his pursuers. They had huge claws and sharp teeth, glaring red eyes, and looked like creatures out of some horrible nightmare. The only way he could get them to leave him was to fight them head on. Breathing hard, hurting all over, he stopped momentarily for breath, his heart pounding savagely inside him. Looking up, he saw a clearing up ahead, and decided to make his stand there. With an extra burst of speed, he was there. He stopped and turned around, ready to face them.

The first one came from the side, where he wasn't expecting it, and clawed him in the side. There was a swift, sharp pain and a splash of blood, but he couldn't stop, the creature was coming back-

Ryou woke up with a start, panting. A phantom pain still stabbed at his side. He checked the clock, and saw it was 2:30 am. Ryou got up shakily and went to wash his face from the sweat. His pajamas were whole, and there was no wound. It was just a dream, but it had seemed awfully real.

~Yami, do you know what that was?~

~You dreamt that too?~

~Did I pick it up from you, or did you pick it up from me?~

~I don't know-~ there was no hint of the usual annoyance or sarcasm in his yami's voice ~It seemed a little familiar, for some reason-~

~Maybe it was some memory from ancient Egypt?~

~How stupid are you? There aren't any forests like that in Egypt, and there never were-~

~Oh, right. I guess I'll go back to sleep, I do have school tomorrow. Good night.~

~….~

Ryou tossed and turned for quite a while before his eyes finally closed and his breathing evened out. He slipped into a fitful, and uneventful, sleep.

The next day was just as nice as before, but Ryou's yami being in a bad mood rather ruined it. He kept on taking over and looking around, then going back into his soul room, until Ryou was getting annoyed.

"Hey Ryou!" Tea called out from the other side of the street. He turned and went over to where Tea and Yugi were waiting.

"Hi," he said rather sullenly.

"Ryou, what's wrong? Why are you so uptight this morning?"

"It's nothing."

They walked on in silence for a minute, and Yugi and Tea exchanged a glance. Ryou had been known to be a little moody in the past few weeks, and they were careful not to annoy him.

Ryou walked a little ahead of them, then suddenly slowed down and started looking around, as if he was searching for something that wasn't there. Then he sort of shook himself, and clenched his fists.

"STOP DOING THAT ALREADY!"

Yugi and Tea jumped. "Ryou, what happened?" "Doing what?"

"No, it's not you, my yami keeps on coming out and looking for something, it's driving me crazy!" ~What are you looking for?!~

~There aren't enough trees around here. They should plant more trees, big ones~

Ryou shook his head in disbelief, and then gave a shaky laugh. "Sorry about that, guys."

"It's ok," Yugi said. "What did your yami want?" he asked, slightly wary.

"He was looking for trees, he said there weren't enough around here."

"Trees?" Tea asked, amused. "That's really weird."

"Tell me about it."

"Take him to the park later on," Yugi suggested, "there are lots of trees there."

"Yeah, maybe."

During class that day, Ryou was distracted. He kept hearing all sorts of mental 'noise', which he assumed was from his yami. He wasn't sure he wanted to know what his yami was doing in his soul room, but whatever it was it was driving him to distraction.

"Ryou?"

Ryou stared out the window, chewing on his sandwich, trying to block out his yami's noise.

"Ryou?"

Somebody was shaking him.

"Ryou!"

"What!"

"Sorry man, but you weren't answering!" Joey said, rising his hands defensively.

"Sorry."

"Is it just me or is Ryou really out of it lately?" Joey commented quietly to Yugi.

Yugi stared at Ryou for a second, then nodded.

~Yugi?~

~Yes, Yami?~

~Please be careful. I don't know what is happening to your friend, but remember that his yami's activities generally mean no good.~

~I don't know, it just seems weird. Why is Yami Bakura suddenly interested in trees, of all things? It just doesn't fit-~

~I don't understand it either. Just be careful~

Ryou went to the library for the rest of recess, hoping that the quiet there would offset the noise in his head a little. He tried asking his yami what he was doing, but again he got no answer. He didn't want to go in and see, if anybody came by they'd think something was wrong with him.

"Ryou?"

He turned to see who it was this time, and saw Malik was sitting at the table near him, reading a book. "What are you doing here?" he asked.

"I could ask you the same question."

"I came to get some peace and quiet. My yami has been making a racket in my head all morning."

"Is it helping?" Malik smirked evilly.

"Not really. Why are you here?"

"I'm reading, isn't that obvious?"

"But why don't you hang out with the gang or anything?"

"I dunno, I have stuff to do." He said, avoiding Ryou's eyes.

"Come on, I'm sure they'd be happy if you came along sometime."

Malik looked away. "They don't trust me, and I don't blame them. I'm fine." He got up and walked away.

He really needs some friends, Ryou thought. They don't know him at all.

~Yami?~

~…What?~

~Finally! What have you been doing there all morning?~

~Redecorating my soul room~

~Rede…give me a break! You've been planning something, haven't you?~

~Actually, I haven't. Not that I need to explain myself to you, mind you-~

Ryou twitched a bit as his yami took over.

~Hey!~

~Don't believe me~ his yami smirked, ~go see for yourself~ Yami Bakura left the library and went toward Ryou's classroom.

By the end of the day his friends noticed that Ryou was much calmer than he had been all morning, and was back to his usual sweet, easygoing self.

"Didja ever figure out what was bothering you this morning?" Tristan asked him.

"Yeah," Ryou said, "you won't believe it. My yami was redecorating his soul room. He filled it with trees."

"He sure has a tree fixation recently, doesn't he," Tea commented.

That night Ryou had another dream. He was quite young, and standing in the middle of a beautiful field, and he was playing a game with someone he couldn't quite see. He heard a voice calling him and the one who was playing with him, and he knew that the person calling him was his mother. The one he couldn't really see grinned competitively at him.

"C'mon, Ryu. I'll race you home!"