Chapter 1: First Sight
For beauty being the best of all we knowSums up the unsearchable and secret aims
Of nature- Robert Bridges; The Growth of Love
Ryou didn't want to be there.
He looked around himself nervously. The throng of students pushing past him barely seemed to notice him, if at all. The noise was almost deafening as he fought to get through the heavy people traffic. He could hear shouts and kids talking about what they did over the school holidays as he passed them, snippets of conversation that got lost in the overall sounds. He felt himself get pushed this way and that way, until he finally fell out of the jam, hitting a row of lockers to his right.
'Ow...' he muttered, rubbing his right shoulder.
Domino High School was unfamiliar to him. On his journey there, he'd wondered what it would be like. It was not what he'd been expecting, he thought to himself. It was a tall building, with long rectangular glass windows and a big concrete facade. A few trees grew around the back of it, and what little he had seen of the sports grounds were large and impressive. It was densely populated, and it had been a fight to get through the corridors. He didn't know anyone there, but he supposed that was OK. He had never been altogether good with people.
He pushed himself off from the row of lockers, and shouldered his bag once more, which had fallen to the ground at the sudden impact on his arm. He pulled out the scrunched up piece of white paper that was his timetable. Keeping close to the edge of the corridor, he scanned down the list for Monday 14 April. He found his first period class – English. Well, that was good, at least. English had been his favourite subject in his last school. The number M142 was next to the subject name. He considered it for a moment. A letter for the teacher's name, and the number was his class. He looked around him. Currently, he was in one of the main corridors, with no classrooms. He had just come past Room 156 before that, he recalled. He turned to look back down from where he came. Students were still thronging past him, and the noise had not quietened. He judged the stream of movement. It would be easier to go back than to go forward, he supposed, if that's where the majority were headed.
He started to walk down the corridors, repeating M142 over and over in his head. The rush of people led him past a set of stairs and an intersecting set of glass windows, which looked out onto the Canteen. He soon managed to turn a corner, which led him away from the main surge of students. He recalled the number again and looked at one of the classrooms on his left. 152. This corridor was slightly darker than the others, despite the sunny nature of the day, with a door at the very end and it's main light coming from the corridor he had just exited. He started to walk slowly down it, stopping to check the number on each door as he went. 149, 148, 147... he counted down. He passed another set of stairs and lockers, where he found 144 on his left. If the pattern was the same here, then 143 would be on his right, and 142 would be the next door down from 144. He was right. He turned towards it, but hesitated. He didn't really want to go in. He didn't want to be the strange new kid from out of town.
Reluctantly, he stretched his hand out towards the doorknob. He left it there for a few seconds, hovering, before he finally grasped it and opened it, carefully.
All heads turned toward him as he stepped into the room. It was a large room, with yellow walls. The teacher's wooden desk was situated near the window, which let in the bright beams of sunlight. The teacher herself turned to look at Ryou. Her hand was suspended in front of the chalkboard. She studied him for a moment, then smiled and let her hand drop to her side.
'Ah... you must be Ryou. Yes, the staff got an email about you this morning. Come in and stand up here with me.'
Ryou gulped as he made his way over to stand next to the teacher. He looked at the room full of students. None of them seemed particularly interested enough to give him much notice. He looked at each of their faces. Most were bored, some had mobiles under the tables, until he got to one of the pupils who was sitting near the back of the room, a desk to himself, who was staring at him. Ryou dropped his eyes and looked away shyly.
'Class,' the teacher began to announce. 'This is Ryou Bakura. He's just arrived here at the school today. Say hello.'
'Hi Ryou...' the words were barely audible, they were just a collective of mumbles and mutterings, but the teacher didn't seem to notice.
'Well then,' she said, smiling. She looked around the class for a moment, settling her eyes on a half-empty desk. 'There we go. You can share a desk with Yugi Mutou today. We're studying poetry at the moment. He'll lend you some of his notes, I'm sure.'
Ryou nodded gratefully and shuffled over to the desk, keeping his eyes on the floor. When he reached it, he looked up and was surprised to see the boy from before, smiling at him.
'Hello!' His voice said amicably. 'I'm Yugi, nice to meet you!'
'Um... Hi...' Ryou said nervously, sliding into his seat and smiling slightly. He was a little taken aback at Yugi's appearance. His hair was tri-coloured and oddly spiked. The bangs surrounding his face were blonde, and the spikes at the back were black with magenta edges. His eyes were big and wide; and a shocking violet. His face looked young, but Ryou guessed he must be around seventeen; his own age.
'How are you finding the school?' Yugi's voice chirped in again. Ryou looked at him shyly.
'Um... it's nice.' He said. 'Very noisy.'
'Yeah, isn't it!' Yugi laughed.
Ryou found himself liking Yugi Mutou quickly. His nature was irresistibly happy and bubbly, and it was infectious. He became very comfortable in his company rapidly, and much less shy. They were soon talking as if they already knew each other.
'So where do you come from?' Yugi asked him.
'Well, I was born in England, but I moved to Japan when I was three years old.' Ryou replied.
'Cool! I've always lived here in Domino... it can be so boring sometimes, but it's nice when you have great friends like mine!'
Ryou smiled at his new friend warmly. 'It must be.'
Yugi nodded. 'Oh, hey! I'll introduce you to them after class, they'd love you! Oh, well if you want, anyway...'
Ryou beamed. 'That would be great, I really need some friends here.' He said gratefully, blushing.
Yugi beamed back at him. 'Oh, we should probably get taking down some of the notes. Maruyama-san is looking a little edgy. Here, take some of mine... it's not very neat, sorry,' he said, laughing slightly through his words.
Ryou chuckled. 'No, it's fine. My writing won't be much more legible.'
They both smiled, and proceeded to copy down the notes from the board. Ryou looked at the poem in front of him. My Last Duchess, by Robert Browning. He hadn't had any time to read it so far, but he supposed he would read it when he got home. It looked quite long, and rather complicated, but the title intrigued him.
The bell rang soon after, and after having packed his books away, Ryou was surprised to look up and see Yugi still standing at the desk, waiting for him.
Yugi registered Ryou's blank expression and laughed. 'Did you forget already? I'm going to introduce you to my friends!'
Ryou blushed. 'Oh... how silly of me...' he slapped himself mentally for behaving like a moron. Yugi gestured for Ryou to follow and they went out into the hallway together.
'All my friends are going to be really interested in meeting you,' Yugi said cheerfully. 'There hasn't been a new kid in ages, least of all someone has interesting as you. There aren't a lot of foreign kids who want to come here. I never understood why, though. We'd be happy to have them!'
Ryou smiled at his new friend's warmth. 'That's very nice of you to say that. A lot of people just ignore the new kids.'
Yugi turned back to look at him, and smiled again. 'Well, not me! I love meeting new people, and everyone needs a friend, right?'
Ryou laughed and nodded in silent agreement as they weaved through the busy corridors. It was much easier for him to find his way around now that he had Yugi as his guide. Studying him more closely, Ryou realised that his friend was quite small in stature, but he was easily able to get in and out of the crowd in the hallways. A few times, he had had to stop and wait for Ryou to catch up.
'So,' Ryou said, after following Yugi out of one of the doors in the main foyer, into the open air. 'Who are you taking me to meet? I mean – who are your friends?'
This question seemed to please Yugi, as his smile became even brighter.
'Oh, you'll love them! There's Joey, Tristan, Malik, Mai, Duke, Tea... well, Tea isn't really a close friend... Joey doesn't like her at all by the way, but we're all nice to her, because she doesn't really have anyone else to be friends with.'
'Oh,' Ryou nodded, wondering what this Tea person was like, and why this 'Joey' seemed to hold such a dislike for her.
'Anyway,' Yugi went on, undeterred by his last train of thought, 'they'll all be very happy to see you. Joey's a bit mad, but he's got a good heart, although Tristan and him get into a lot of fights, they're like an old married couple, they're actually the best of friends. Duke likes to play games, but if he challenges you to one don't take him up on it, because he's a cheat, not in a bad way, but curiously no one ever wins – '
'Maybe he's just super-talented,' Ryou interrupted, looking slightly puzzled.
This time Yugi laughed out loud. 'Who, Duke? No way! You'd have to see him to see what I mean. You know about Tea, and I'd watch out for Malik because he has one of the dirtiest minds you could ever come across, and Mai is super sarcastic, usually to Malik and Joey, which drives both of them nuts, but don't be fooled by Joey because he actually fancies her really bad – '
As they walked in the warm sunny air, they came close to a small group of people leaning on the wall of what appeared to be a gym, and Yugi stopped short, turning abruptly to face them and suddenly wheeling towards them, a super grin on his face.
'Guys! Guys! GUYS, IT'S ME!!' He waved his hands around in the air as he ran towards the group. Ryou stood rooted to the spot, feeling awkward. He didn't want to go over and impose on them. He watched Yugi talk animatedly to the group for a few minutes, and almost had a heart attack when Yugi started to point excitedly over in his direction. He looked down at the ground, but they'd already started to walk over.
He was blushing furiously. He looked up again, and became terrified to see how close they all were. They walked a few more paces and stopped, looking at him inquisitively as Yugi leaned over and pulled Ryou in towards them.
'Hey, Ryou? Why didn't you come over? If it was because I ran off like that, I didn't mean to abandon you by proxy... I just sort of assumed you'd come with me!'
Ryou blushed and muttered something inaudible, afraid to make eye contact with any of them. Yugi didn't seem to register his awkwardness, and started introducing him to all his friends, one by one.
'Ryou, this is Joey Wheeler. Joey, Ryou Bakura.' Ryou looked up to see a tall boy with longish blonde hair down to his collar, and a big grin across his face.
'HI! WELCOME TO DOMINO HIGH SCHOOL,' he said animatedly, a broad grin covering his face. Ryou thought it was quite handsome. There was a glitter in his eyes when he looked at people. He was taken aback when he felt the blonde boy thump his left shoulder in greeting. He looked up and smiled slightly, not wanting to rub his arm in front of them all.
'Joey, you idiot, way to make him feel welcome. 'Hi I'm Joey, WHACK.' Goofball. Ignore this stupid clown, the majority of people here aren't as much as a bimbo as this one here.'
Ryou looked up to see a similarly tall boy with angular brown hair looking down at Ryou. His smile was less broad, but sincere.
'Hi, I'm Tristan, Nice to me – '
There was a loud THUMP as the blonde boy's fist careered into Tristan's shoulder.
'GOOFBALL? I was TRYING to be friendly, you sarcastic jackass.' Joey's voice interrupted Tristan's before anyone else could say anything.
'Stupid bimbo.'
'At least I have good hair!'
'My hair rules!'
'You look like a crappy version of Elvis!'
'Shut up!'
'You shut up!'
Ryou stared as the blonde and the brunette proceeded to get into a scuffle, shoving each other and arguing about whose hair was better. Everyone else seemed to be laughing.
'Um...' Yugi said uncertainly. 'I wouldn't worry about those two, this kind of thing usually happens, they'll make up in about five minutes. You'll get used to it.' He turned to face the rest of the group.
'This is Malik,' he said, and leaned in closer to Ryou. 'You know, the one with the dirty mind,' he said quickly and subtly, before leaning out again.
'Hi,' Malik said, reaching out to shake Ryou's head. 'It's very nice to meet you. You're very cute. Has anyone ever told you how cute you are?'
'MALIK!' Yugi yelled, shocked, and slapped his friend's hand away. 'Could you PLEASE try to say ONE sentence without injecting any sexual commentary AT ALL?'
Malik smiled, his eyes twinkling. 'Well excuse me for appreciating beauty when I see it.' Yugi gaped at him, as Malik's eyes turned back to Ryou again.
'So was I right? Someone must have told a cutie like you the obvious. Are you in a relationship?'
Yugi's face went bright red, and his hand came up to slap his forehead. Ryou heard him mutter an Oh My God under his breath.
'Um...' Ryou stammered. 'Um... actually no, you'd be the first. And no... I'm not... but erm... um thanks...' He felt his face go bright red, not least at the question, but the way Malik was staring at him, and Ryou had to admit, he was very attractive.
'That's a real shame!' Malik cried, leaning in closer to Ryou. 'It's very rare that I see someone as pretty as you around here...' His eyes seemed to become sultrier for a second, before he was shoved out of the way by a pale hand.
'You've never seen anyone as pretty as him around here? You have a funny way of showing it by the way you act.' The person ignored the 'Hey' that came out of Malik's form.
The voice came from a female about Ryou's height. She had blonde wavy hair and piercing blue eyes.
'Hi, I'm Mai. I would heavily advise you to refrain from going anywhere near Malik for a couple of weeks. He seems to have taken quite a shine to you.'
Ryou blushed beetroot red, but Mai's eyes didn't stray from his face. 'It's good to meet you, maybe you'll be able to inject some good manners into everybody.' Then her eyes softened, and she smiled. 'You seem like a very nice person. I know everyone's first impression has been a bit bad, but they really are all very nice.'
Ryou smiled at her revelation and nodded, looking back at Yugi as she walked away to talk to Malik.
Yugi was staring at him, his face bright red. 'I'm... I'm so sorry. Malik just takes a bit of getting used to, he's nothing to be scared of.'
Ryou smiled. 'It's fine. He was perfectly nice.'
Yugi frowned a little. 'Yeah, until he sees something he likes.'
Ryou blushed. Yugi smiled comfortingly at him and motioned for Duke to come over.
'Ryou, this is Duke Devlin, the guy who's into gaming. Duke, Ryou is new at the school, so unless it's a game of SNAP, NO GAMES.'
Ryou saw Duke's face fall as he reached out to shake his hand.
'Aw, come on Yugi, nothing like a good game of Dungeons and Dragons to make a guy feel welcome.'
'ABSOLUTELY NOT. You are not conning Ryou out of anything.'
Duke pouted, then turned to smile at Ryou slyly.
'How about a probationary period. I'll leave you alone for one month. After that, you have to play me at Dungeons and Dragons.'
Before Yugi could intervene, Ryou agreed. He turned to look at Yugi.
'Sorry, Yugi, but I do like a good game.'
Yugi rubbed his face in his hands. 'But he'll CHEAT.'
Ryou just shook his head. 'Oh well... I'll just find out the hard way, but if you guys have done it, I want to do it too.' He smiled as Yugi rolled his eyes.
'Alright... but DON'T place any money Ryou, please.'
Ryou nodded. 'Alright, if you think he's that dangerous.' Duke smiled and patted Ryou on the shoulder.
'Game on in a month then, snowy,' he said cheekily, ruffling Ryou's long and shaggy white hair.
Yugi turned around as if to introduce somebody else, but there wasn't anyone there.
'Hey... where's Tea...?' He said. He looked over at Joey suspiciously. 'Joey, what did you say to Tea.'
It wasn't even a question, as much as an accusation.
Joey looked over, startled. 'I didn't say nothin'! I – '
Everyone turned to look at him. Under their gaze, Joey wilted. 'Fine. You know in Biology this morning?'
Everyone nodded in synchrony.
'Well... we were dissecting frogs and... well... I put one of its eyeballs in her pocket, and then she found it and – '
'JOEY!!' The whole group chorused, except Malik, who seemed to be splitting his sides in half laughing, until Mai thumped him in the chest and he fell against the gym wall, coughing.
'Technically, it's not saying anything,' Joey said meekly, looking embarrassed.
'You stupid berk,' Tristan muttered, glaring at him. 'Now she's going to be crying, and it's ALL YOUR FAULT. What did you do that for?'
Joey shrugged and looked down at the floor. Yugi folded his arms and stared at his friend.
'You have to apologise.'
At the word 'apologise', Joey's head whipped up and he squinted his eyes together.
'Absolutely, not.' He enunciated slowly. 'She kept poking me in the ribs! And telling me to smile! AND TOUCHING ME!'
Yugi didn't say anything. Joey fumed.
'Why are you all even BOTHERED, none of you even LIKE her.'
Everyone muttered, except Tristan, who shoved him in the side. 'Because now she's going to come crying to ME, STUPID BERK!'
Malik glanced over at Ryou. 'Tea fancies Tristan,' he called over to Ryou. Ryou nodded in understanding.
'Well, whatever,' Mai cut in. 'There's nothing we can do about it now except carry on like before. Stupid jerk.' The latter part was directed over at Joey, who went bright red. Ryou recalled Yugi telling him how much he liked Mai.
Before anyone could say anything, the bell rang. Everyone around him groaned, especially Joey and Tristan. They all started to turn to walk in the direction of the main building.
Malik caught up to Ryou, smiling at him.
'So... how did you find us?' He said teasingly Ryou blushed and smiled.
'You... you are obviously very close to one another.'
Malik blinked unexpectedly. Clearly, he hadn't been anticipating that answer.
'Wow...' he said, confirming Ryou's suspicions. 'That's not the typical reaction that we get. What makes you say that?'
'Because of the way you rib each other. You are clearly very comfortable in each other's company.'
Malik smiled softly. 'You're very good at reading people. Very shy as well... did I scare you with what I said earlier?'
Ryou's heartbeat quickened. He made to say something false, but Malik's lilac eyes boring into him made him change his mind.
'Well... a little...' he admitted, blushing a deeper red.
Malik grinned. 'Well, it's true. I wouldn't say if I didn't mean it. Which class are you in next?'
Ryou reached inside his blazer jacket pocket for his scrunched up timetable. The uniform felt odd on him, being brand new and purchased only the day before. The trousers were OK, slim, loose and blue, but the jacket and shirt were quite heavy. For the weather of the day, at least.
He took it out and scanned down the Monday list.
'Er... World Civilizations. What about you?'
'Awesome, same class!' Malik grinned. 'You arrived just in time. We're studying Ancient Egypt, and I know it sounds dull, but it's actually really interesting. Want to be partners?'
Ryou blinked at Malik's sudden request.
'Er... sure... yeah, sure!'
Malik grinned and turned back to the rest of the group.
'Hey guys! Ryou and I are going to head off to World Civ! We'll see you at lunch, yeah?'
Mai, Yugi and the rest of the group waved and separated their different ways outside the main building.
Malik led Ryou through the door and through a new maze of corridors inside the school. They came to a dark hallway, but before Ryou could assume that this was where the class was held, Malik grabbed his elbow and started dragging him up a flight of stairs, and into a brighter corridor, with wide windows throwing in the light rays of sun.
'This is the classics department,' he told Ryou, still holding onto him as the hoards of students thronged past them. 'I reckon you'll like the class – I've got a great pair of seats right at the back, but I'm not sure about the teacher. He's a bit of an eccentric. Just do what he says and he won't go nuts.' Ryou nodded in comprehension.
Malik walked right into a room with an open blue door, and Ryou followed him cautiously in. Most of the students were already in their seats, but the teacher wasn't there yet, so he rushed to the back to sit next to Malik.
There was something about the room that he instantly liked. There were posters of exhibitions of Greek Art, and Latin satire prints on the walls. The walls were light blue, and behind their desk was a shelf of ancient books. The room still had an old-fashioned blackboard. It seemed authentic.
He'd been under the impression that they were the last ones to get in the class, but at the exact time the second bell rang, another student walked in. The sight of him took Ryou's breath away.
His hair was almost identical to Ryou's, but it was more jagged, and rougher looking. His skin was as pale as snow, and his eyes were a deep shade of brown, and narrower than Ryou's own. His face was chiselled, with the shadows of his cheekbones easily visible against his fine skin, and a square jaw. When the student's head turned slightly to the side, Ryou was shocked to see a thin scar gracing diagonally down the side of his left cheek, but it didn't mar his beauty, it seemed to make it even more perfect. He was perfect. There was nothing about his face that could be described in quite so many words. Ryou had never seen anyone so beautiful.
He realised he was staring, and turned to Malik.
'Who is that?' He said, gesturing at the student.
'Oh, that's Bakura. I saw your expression... he's gorgeous isn't he.'
'I... I... Yes...' Ryou said, unable to stop himself from looking back at the beautiful boy. No, not boy. He seemed different to the other people in the class. His physical appearance made him out to be their age, but he looked older to Ryou for some strange reason. He scanned down the rest of the student. He was very tall, over 6ft, slender, but still strong with fine muscularity, and his shoulders were broad. Suddenly, he looked over at Ryou, and Ryou blushed, dropping his gaze immediately.
Malik poked him in the sides. 'So are you... into guys then?'
Ryou blushed. 'Yes... I thought you were too, by the way you talked to me earlier – '
'Oh, well I'm actually bisexual, but I can see where you're coming from. He's beautiful, but he never talks to anyone except his two friends, Marik and Yami. You should see those guys too. He looks too perfect to be human, doesn't he.'
Ryou nodded. 'Yes... that's exactly it,' he murmured, gazing at Bakura.
He didn't get much chance to look at him further, as the teacher came in right at that moment.
He didn't seem to notice the presence of a new student, but proceeded to write his name up on the board anyway. Shirakawa-sensei.
'Right, class, open your textbooks to page 119 please, and do the questions on Mummification. It will do you well to actually do them this time, as they will be on the end of year test.'
Malik groaned. 'Sir, you didn't tell us there would be a test!'
The teacher grinned. 'I know, I just decided to have one there now. You would do well to study for it this time Malik-kun. Frankly, your score on the last test was appalling.' He smiled sarcastically and turned to write what looked like Hieroglyphics on the blackboard. Ryou looked at Malik.
'I thought you said you liked Ancient Egypt.'
'I do. The last test we did was on the History of the Celts in Ireland. Who would actually learn that.'
Ryou found his gaze straying over to Bakura once more. 'What did he get?' He asked absentmindedly, sighing in contentment.
'100%'.
Ryou blinked and whipped around.
'100%?!'
'Yeah,' Malik said, a little jealously. 'He does well in everything, he doesn't even try. He doesn't even like going to school, but the teachers can't say anything because he gets such good grades.'
'Oh,' Ryou pondered, looking over Bakura, adding intelligence to the advantages of the beautiful teen.
'What about the others? You know... his friends?'
Malik laughed. 'Well, Yami's pretty much the same except for some subjects, and Marik is useless. He hasn't passed a single test this school has to offer, but he doesn't really care. I've heard he's actually very intelligent, he just hates every single teacher here.'
Ryou chuckled. 'They sound alright to me.'
'I'm sure they are,' Malik said. 'But like I said, they don't really associate with anyone but each other. And not meaning to burst your bubble, but most of the kids in the school, male and female, have wanted them and do want them at some point. It's like they're immune to it.'
'Oh...' Ryou never thought he'd truly have a chance, but it had been nice to fantasise.
He attempted to do the questions that sensei had set them, but he couldn't stop looking over at Bakura. He eventually resorted to copying off Malik's paper, which he wasn't sure he should trust so much, but he needed to hand something in to Shirakawa-sensei.
The class ended fairly quickly, and Ryou was sad to have to leave. He'd enjoyed just looking at Bakura. It seemed that the pleasurable activity had passed all too fast. As he gathered his books up, Malik went to wait for him at the door. Ryou attempted to look for Bakura, but he'd already gone.
It turned out Malik was in a Study period the next class, so Ryou went on his own to try and find his Music class. He smiled. He loved music. He hoped that they'd be doing some kind of practical today.
The room was relatively easy to find. It was one of only four in the entire building, and he was delighted to enter the room, and seeing a cluster of instruments over in the far corner, a wide smile broke out across his face.
He was not the first student there. As he walked in the door, he almost walked right back out again. The beautiful Bakura was sitting at the desk in the far corner, staring straight ahead. He broke his glance to look at Ryou for a second. His eyes seemed to quirk at something – probably the hair, Ryou thought – then turned away again.
Ryou went to sit at the opposite end of the room. Still at the back, so as not to be too noticeable, but the opposite nonetheless. He tried his hardest not to look at Bakura as the rest of the students began to filter in, and thankfully, another boy sat down next to him, and he didn't seem too interested in the new kid.
The teacher's name was Takai-sensei, and Ryou's mood soon lightened when they were told to take an instrument from the far corner, if they played one. Ryou was one of the small number of students who got up from his seat, as did Bakura, a girl he didn't know the name of, and another boy.
Ryou went over to the corner and stood and studied the instruments for a short moment, before selecting the one he could definitely play, He lifted the small set of panpipes off of the floor and went back to his desk with them. The boy went to sit down at the piano, while the girl grabbed a pair of Bongo drums. Bakura lifted the biggest instrument there, a vintage looking guitar. Suits, Ryou thought. It figures someone like him would play the guitar.
After they had all gone back to their seats, Takai-sensei began to distribute various instruments to the rest of the class; things such as maracas, triangles and little handheld bells. One of them got a xylophone. Once they all had some kind of instrument in their hands, the teacher scanned around the classroom. His eyes settled on the boy at the piano.
'Arashi-kun, would you please play a Minor chord from B-G, at this speed.' Takai-sensei set a metronome on top of the piano, and set it to a deliberately slow pace. 'Now, improvise what you can at that pace, and once you have a set pattern, I want you to just keep repeating it.'
The boy nodded, and started playing out a rhythm. He got one easily, and soon the gentle music from the piano was wafting through the room.
Again the teacher scanned the room, and this time his eyes settled on Ryou, and beckoned him up to the front of the class. Ryou, looking slightly scared, made his way up to the front to stand in front of the class. He kept his eyes on the floor, but it was made impossible by the teacher.
'Well, I've never seen you in my class before,' Takai-sensei said curiously, looking Ryou over. 'What's your name? Are you related to Bakura, by any chance? You look very alike.'
Ryou blushed a deep magenta colour. 'No... no relation... and Ryou, sensei.' He risked a glance over at Bakura, who by now was staring inquisitively at Ryou. He blushed even more.
'Oh. Well, it's nice to have you in my class Ryou-kun. If you go and sit over by Arashi-kun there, and we'll get started. Now, I want you to listen to what he is playing, and then improvise a tune for your panpipes. Can you do that?'
Ryou nodded.
'Excellent.' Takai-sensei murmured, and Ryou started to listen to the sound of the piano music. After listening carefully for a few moments and getting the pattern, Ryou began to make up a panpipes tune. It was light and airy, and he tried to make it sound like he had heard on CDs. He loved the sound of Japanese flute music, so he based it on that. Surprisingly, it worked well.
After that, all he had to do was concentrate on the music. Takai-sensei next had Bakura come up to the front, and improvise a tune to the panpipes and piano. It was as easy for him as it had been for Ryou. He began plucking out a tune effortlessly. It was good Ryou was playing an instrument, or he would have broken concentration entirely and keeled over on the spot.
It went on like this for the duration of the class, the three at the front of the room providing a solid background tune, while Takai-sensei taught the class simple rhythms and tunes using their instruments.
When the bell ended, Ryou immediately put his panpipes in the corner and grabbed his bag to leave as fast as possible. His heart was racing uncomfortably fast and his face was hot and red. He could feel Bakura's stare on his back as he rushed out of the door, anxious to get away from him.
The rest of the day was fast for Ryou. He met up with the others for lunch, and told Malik about his embarrassing period of Music because of Bakura's presence, then he had Geography with Joey Wheeler, which was eventful. He hadn't realised the extent of Joey's wit, and, uncharacteristically, he got into trouble several times for laughing when he shouldn't have.
At the end of school, he gave Malik and Yugi his address to give to the others. He was renting an apartment by himself, due to his father working in England. He paid for it using his job at a bookstore in the centre of Domino, and his father usually managed to send over cheques every month. He couldn't afford luxury, but he had enough to live on.
He said his goodbyes to his new friends, and parted ways. As he started to walk out of the main facade and through the car park to get to the school gates, he almost baulked at the site of Bakura, and what must have been his two other friends. They were standing talking by a sleek black Ferrari 360 Modena. He wondered how any of them managed to afford it.
He took a look at the other two. One kind of looked like Malik, with the same kind of hair, only wilder, similarly coloured eyes, only taller and more muscular, with a more angular face, and another looked strikingly like a taller version of Yugi – much taller – but with a stronger looking body and face. They were all perfect, beautiful, handsome, whatever words anyone could think to describe beauty, but Bakura just seemed to outshine them to him.
He found himself staring after Bakura again, and quickly looked down at the ground. He didn't want to draw attention to himself. He attempted to walk quickly past them, but he noticed that the muttering of their voices seemed to quieten as he approached. He – foolishly – risked a look up at them. They were all looking at him, not in an aggressive manner, but it unnerved him. Their eyes followed his until he looked away and rushed out of the school gates.
He was sweating. His heart was beating to the point it was almost painful, and his breathing was laboured. His face felt too hot and he was sure it was going bright red. He looked back inside the school, but they had gotten into the car. The one who looked like Yugi was driving, with the one that looked like Malik beside him, and what must be Bakura in the backseat.
He started to walk quickly along the pavement, but as the car pulled slowly out of the school gates and drove past him, he could feel more than one pair of eyes on his back.
SO WHAT DO YOU THINK? Long for a first chapter, I know, but please R&R so I'll be encouraged to continue! Thankyou :)
P.S. Yes, the quotes at the start of each chapter will make sense as the story progresses.