Author's Note: Yes. This is my sad attempt to continue the wonderful White Angel Chan's fantastic story, New Students. Sorry if I make your eyes bleed.
"Since some of you have yet been unable to clear your mind through meditation, we will use herbs and incense to invoke a state of tranquility," Professor Trelawney announced in her mystified voice, sweeping around the classroom, her excess of jewelry jangling loudly. "I will, though, give you the option to choose what scent you prefer. And dear, don't choose from the incense. You will break out in hives," she added to Neville, who looked suddenly nervous while Lavender and Parvati glanced at each other significantly, muttering among themselves. The class got to their feet slowly, none of them particularly enthused. Harry and Ron had been playing a game of wizard chess under cover of a cushion, while Yugi watched anxiously out of the corner of his eye. With a sigh, Ryou got to his feet, shuffling forward and taking a few sticks of incense without particular enthusiasm.
"Ah, what a combination! Perfect tranquility, I expect, will be achieved," Professor Trelawney exclaimed over Ryou's choice, causing him to blush. They all returned to the large cushions and lit their incense and began to burn herbs. Soon, the room, which was already heavily perfumed, absolutely reeked of flowery scents. Neville kept on falling asleep and slipping sideways off his cushion, receiving a great many glares from Parvati and Lavender.
Ryou glanced down. Meditation? Yami Bakura would surely proclaim that as a load of crap, and Ryou was forced to agree. He cast a few anxious glances around, though most everyone seemed to be merely sleeping. He closed his eyes, seeking out Yami Bakura at once, who had been sleeping in his Soul Room for the better part of the day. //Well? What is it?// Apparently, the spirit wasn't quite happy to be woken.
//We're supposed to be meditating.//
Yami Bakura snorted. //Meditation. What next, palm reading?//
//Yes, in fact.// Ryou paused, uncertain. //But the tarot card reading...//
//Happened once. We need not speak of it again,// Yami Bakura replied in a cold tone. Ryou was somewhat taken back at this, but the spirit continued talking a second later. //Why did you even take this class if it's so ridiculous?//
Ryou felt inclined to bring up the tarot card reading, but decided against it. //I thought it might be...helpful. It can't be any stranger than anything that has happened to us so far, right?//
//Correct,// Yami Bakura said, sounding a bit smug. There was a moment of silence, then he added somewhat haughtily//I still believe that I should have taught you fine dining. It's a skill you may someday require, more than this dribble at least.// Ryou suppressed a gag and a snort at the idea of fine dining and what it entailed. Curious, he opened one eye and glanced around. Neville hadn't even woken up the last time he'd fallen off his cushion and was sprawled across the floor. The question was, where was Professor Trewlaney?
He dared to turn his head slightly and let out a yell of surprise. Professor Trewlaney had apparently been observing him from a very close distance, as if he were some strange and wonderful creature. She was nine inches away, to be exact.
The other students nearby woke up immediately, with the exception of Neville. "Ah, and I thought you would be the first one to reach a state of perfect enlightenment!" Professor Trewlaney was clearly disappointed. She whirled away, bustling loudly through the mass of cushions and students gathered on the floor. "My dear boy, I expect to see you after class." She said in a loud whisper as she reached the other end of the room. Ryou flushed considerably, glancing over at Yugi who looked amused.
"Back to your meditation now, dears," Trewlaney announced, way a hand at them. "The clairvoyant atmosphere must not be interrupted." She cast a significant glance at Neville, who had just woken up and was hurriedly returning to his cushion. Yugi cast him a sympathetic glance, but Harry and Ron exchanged slight smirks. Harry was, for one, glad not to be the center of attention. Ryou's good mood had officially been ruined.
//Well, that's what you get for not sensing the 'good vibrations' or whatever the hell it is,// Yami Bakura stated sardonically, returning to the sanctity of his own soul room and leaving Ryou to mutter under his breath.
The rest of the class passed uneventfully, though Professor Trewlaney made it a business to come and check up on Ryou every chance she could. When the class was finally over, the others filed out, most still bleary-eyed and drowsy from their nap. Yugi made a motion telling Ryou that he would wait at the bottom of the ladder for him. Ryou impatiently shuffled over to Professor Trewlaney's desk, where she sat surveying him behind her thick glasses.
"My dear, dear Ryou," she began with the air of one talking to a sick patient who was about to die. "I had expected better of you! That reading, ah, I haven't seen anything like that in my life! You are, by far, my most promising student. And as my most promising student, I believe it best to take you under my wing. To harbor you and teach you the ways of one gifted with the Inner Eye!" The heat and perfume in the room was making it hard to focus on the words she was speaking. It all sounded like a load anyway.
"I have had a great many students, as you may well know. Some quite gifted, but never before have I had one like you! That Card Reading! Magnificent! But you did not finish!" Ryou resisted the temptation to roll his eyes. He had expected this to come up, but had no way to answer it. He himself was a bit curious about the reading. "So, my dear boy, would you like to confide in me the results of your reading?" She continued to gaze expectantly at him, looking more like a mantis intent on it's prey than anything.
So this was why she wanted him here. "Er, I'm not quite sure, Professor. I've already forgotten." He feigned shame, hanging his head. Professor Trewlaney looked crest-fallen, but only for a second. Ryou dared a glance upward, but Professor Trewlaney was now looking somehow triumphant.
"Ah, what a shame. You know, my boy, I would be more than willing to teach you myself." Ryou fought down the horror rising inside him. "One with skills such as yours should really be taught privately. My dear child, what I could teach you! I have noticed that you have been faltering since that last Reading, my boy, and wondered if there was anything I could do about it. I am a Seer, after all," her chest puffed out and she continued. "You know, some other students have taken private lessons. Would you be willing, then? I have so much I could teach you! You could grow famous under my tutelage!"
Ryou stared at her, his face barely hiding the horror he felt. How would he ever be able to live with this? She continued to gaze expectantly at him, her eyes larger than normal behind her over-sized glasses. He glanced down.
"Er, I'm sorry, Professor...It's just that, well-" he stopped abruptly as he looked back up. Trewlaney had suddenly sprawled backwards in her chair, gaze vacant and jaw hanging open. "Professor! Are you-?" He was interrupted again, but this time by a voice he had not heard before. A strange voice that carried power and was issuing from Professor Trewlaney's mouth.
"Born in blood, a dark alliance spanning centuries dawns with the new year. Spirits seek identity in clouds of suffering, sacrifice and lies. Born in blood, fueled by blood, in blood it shall all end." The voice died off slowly, still reverberating off the walls. Her head sagged forward as Ryou gaped, not sure what to think. From what he knew of the magic world, this hardly seemed to be natural behavior.
Her head rose again, the same smile he had seen just moments before plastered across it. "Well, what is your answer?" She was oblivious to what had happened, and Ryou wasn't qutie sure what to think or say.
"N-no thank you, Professor. I have to go. Homework," he turned sharply, leaving a dismayed Trewlaney behind him. He practically leapt all the way down the ladder to where Yugi was waiting.
"How'd it go, then? What'd she want?" he asked, smiling kindly, also oblivious to what had happened.
"Er, fine. Private lessons. I said no. Say, I'll see you later, okay? I forgot something in the dorm. Bye then," he waved to Yugi, hurrying off down the hall as the short boy called after him, but he was already too far away to hear.
//What was that about?// Yami Bakura asked. Ryou was somewhat relieved to hear him, but the fact that he didn't know what had happened didn't make him feel any better.
//I don't know. She was just asking me about private lessons or something, and then she just went all...weird.// He stopped walking, leaning against a wall, eyes fixed on the animated tapestry across from him.
//Maybe someone else has experience with this sort of thing. Did you have any idea what she was referring to?// Ryou shook his head. The fat ponies in the tapestry were now playing leap-frog.
There was a long pause. //Maybe...it was a prediction. I don't know. But didn't Harry hear one from her?//
It was Yami Bakura's turn to be silent as he thought. //Ask him, but don't go spreading this story around. You already have enough of a reputation to be going on with.//
//What? I have a reputation?// Ryou spluttered, momentarily forgetting the prediction. //All right. I'll ask him. But how do I make it sound, er, casual?//
Yami Bakura snorted. //Tell the truth. You can't lie to save your life. At least Yugi and Malik will know you're telling the truth, because you are hardly the person to make things up.// For once, Ryou was glad of this.
//What's your take on this?// Ryou asked Yami Bakura, pushing himself away from the wall and setting off at a slow pace.
//I have no idea. All I have to say is that things are getting stranger and stranger.//
Ryou's footsteps faltered. //It's just...I've been having this bad feeling lately. Like something is going to happen...// he stopped, feeling foolish. //But it's all just my imagination, right?// Yami Bakura's prolonged silence didn't make it seem so. If Ryou was having premonitions, nothing good was to come out of this.
//Go and eat. I doubt we're in any danger here, anyway,// he added reassuringly.
Ryou smiled and set off, feeling considerably better.
Ryou might have been easy to steer away from the upcoming events, but all this just proved Yami Bakura's theory. Something big was about to happen, and, knowing Fate, they were going to be in the middle of it.