Ryou Bakura awoke with a groan and stumbled to the bathroom. He felt awful, really awful, and he now knew how a lobster felt when it was being cooked. He looked in the mirror and quickly looked away. If it was possible, he was even paler than usual, and had dark circles under his eyes. He reached into the medicine cabinet and pulled out a thermometer. After about thirty seconds the thermometer beeped and he removed it; 106o F, he should probably get back to bed.

On his way back to his room he smacked his forehead; he had an Algebra test that day. His teacher had gotten really fed up with students skipping school the day of the tests, then asking their friends what the questions were and writing the answers on their hands when they took the test next class, and had announced that tests had to be taken the day they were to be taken and could not be redone. He had to go to school.

He headed back to the bathroom and took a couple of aspirin, then scrubbed at his face until it had lost a little of its pallor. After approving his appearance in the mirror he went back to his room to dress, then set off down the hall to Bakura's room to wake him.

"Yami, it's time to get up." Bakura groaned and sat up; Ryou left the room to allow him to dress and turned down the hallway towards the stairs. He was so dizzy, however, that he had to keep resting on the way, and by the time he finally reached the stairs, Bakura was already emerging from his room yawning. Ryou stood up hastily and started down the stairs. If Bakura knew he was sick, he'd make him stay home, and he just barely had an A- in Algebra; he had to be there. Dizziness and stairs just don't mix, though. He found himself falling; he brought his arms up to shield his head, and waited for the inevitable. But it never came, he opened this eyes that he had never realized had been scrunched shut, and looked around. Bakura was holding him; he had stopped Ryou's fall from way down the hallway, and was now studying Ryou with a look of mingled concern and annoyance.

"Did you trip? What the hell Ryou? You're usually a klutz but never so much." Ryou squirmed back to the ground and put on a big smile.

"Well there was this really big bug on the stairs and I didn't see it until I was about to step on it so I tried to avoid it and just tripped." Bakura looked at the stairs behind them, then turned back to Ryou with a skeptical look on his face.

"I don't see any bug."

"Oh! It must have run away!" Ryou finished the trip down the stairs and started out the door. "Are you coming?"

"Yeah… sure" Bakura followed him out the door and they started on their way to school.

-----------------After School------------------

It was pouring rain. Ryou had forgotten his umbrella, and was walking home. He could feel his fever skyrocketing as he walked, exposed to the elements and utterly alone. Bakura had gotten another detention and had to stay after; Ryou could count the number of times he had actually walked home on time on one hand. The rain increased, it was growing difficult to see the sidewalk ahead of him. Or was it just that his vision was blurring? He found himself stumbling, and vowed to take a nap once he got home. Or maybe now… he pitched forward onto the pavement and was unconscious in moments.

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When he awoke he was being carried through the door to his home on someone's (presumably Bakura's) back. He groaned and squirmed a bit, Bakura put him down and he struggled to stand.

"Ryou," Bakura was scowling at him, looking very annoyed, "why the hell did you go to school today when you were this sick?" Ryou coughed a little and murmured: "Algebra test" before slumping against the wall. He was still conscious, but found he was unable to move.

"Idiot…" Bakura picked him up again, and began carrying him upstairs, "bed, now."

"I have homework…" A feeble protest, but he had to try.

"I don't care," figures.