Nerves bubble in your stomach as you walk slowly out the door of your apartment, telling your flatmate, "If I die, Sio, then make sure they bring me home to bury me!" Sionnach just grins and shoves you out the door before her. She flicks her long, flaming mane of hair over her shoulder, mischief sparkling in her hazel eyes. You are both on a foreign exchange trip from Ireland for two years and are both wearing your new school uniforms; Skye is going to a different school to the one you have chosen.
You decide to take the bus since you can't remember where the hell the school actually is. Getting lost on your first day would not make a good impression. You stare out the window to memorise the route, your bursting schoolbag and kitbag beside you. You have been asked to explain the concept of GAA to Domino High students.
The bus stops and you get out, stumbling slightly. Ahead of you are five different people – four boys and a girl. You recognise one of them as Yugi Mouto, the King of Games, and your heart beats faster. You play Duel Monsters too, and you carry your deck around with you wherever you go, like the Cladagh ring on your right hand. The other boy you recognise because he lives in the flat right above you.
"Ryou!" You call, and hurry towards the group. They all turn, but Ryou give you a big smile and calls back, "(y/n)! You didn't get lost!" He looks like he's remembering the circumstances in which you met, two weeks ago. You blush slightly and give a small smile. "Nah, I took the bus this time. Besides," you gesture towards your stuff, bursting with books, "Can you imagine lugging all these everywhere?"
Ryou laughs and introduces his friends to you. "(y/n), these are Yugi, Tea, Joey and Tristan. Guys, this is (y/n) O'Hara, one of the Foreign Exchange students."
"Hey Bakura, how come you know her?" The one labelled as Joey smirks. "Did you guys bump into each other, or what?"
You and Ryou look at each other and grin. You decide to tell your story. "I was meant to take the bus but I wanted to walk like the eejit I am and got lost. Ryou and I bumped into each other, I lost my map, and he brought me to the block of flats all twenty six of us are staying in, because he lived there too – right above Skye and me, which is grand and all. Great craic." You shrug.
"Crack?" Yugi says hesitantly, and you notice another person beside him. You can tell it's a spirit – it's seethrough and glowing slightly. It looks almost exactly like Yugi, except taller and more badass. He seems to have as much interest in you as you do in him, and he bends down to murmur something to Yugi without taking his eyes off you. Yugi jumps and gives you a troubled look as you try to explain what you meant, involving lots of hand gestures and pointing.
"Grand is...OK, alright, you know, that sort of thing, and craic is -" Your hands wave around a bit as you try to come up with an understandable answer "-doing things for fun, like. You know."
They all nod their heads in understanding, which makes you feel grateful. You glance over at Yugi again and see that the spirit is gone before Tea interrupts.
"So (y/n), what have you got first thing? If we're in the same class I can show you around."
You drop your bag in the cloakroom – by now you're at the rows of lockers, wou were walking while you talked – and riffle through your books for your journal. You check your locker number, find the locker, put all your books in, and only then do you look at your timetable to see what you have. "Um, English and Maths." Tea checks her timetable against yours: a perfect match, except where Tea has labelled in 'Japanese' you have written 'Gaeilge'.
"You don't do Japanese as a language then? But I'm pretty sure that we don't have anyone that teaches that," she frowns and holds your timetable to her face to look. "What is it, anyway?"
"It's Irish as Gaeilge," you reply automatically, your hands already pulling out books from your locker. You don't see the bewildered look on her face when she hands you back your table. Instead you are too busy staring at the name stuck on the locker directly above yours:
Ryou Bakura
And wondering if it is just a coincidence. Shaking your head, you follow Tea and the others out of the room to class.
"Oh sweet Jesus, that maths test was hard," you groan, coming out of the classroom behind Tea. "I barely passed that."
"Well, I know that I failed," Joey commented, dropping in beside you.
"That's only because you never study, Joey," Tristan points out, glancing behind him. "What did you think of it, Yugi?"
"I think you're right." Yugi smiles at Joey. "You never did enjoy studying, Joey."
"Keh," Joey mutters, scuffing his foot against the floor as he walks. Something bumps against your shoulder, and you hear Ryou apologising, "Sorry, (y/n)!" as he falls into step beside you. You blush as your reply, "It's no bother, Ryou," before looking at him from the corner of your eyes and seeing that he's blushing too, a deep red that shows up against his alabaster skin as you all walk into the cafeteria. Joey and Tristan get their lunch first and secure a table by the and Tea get theirs soon after, leaving you and Ryou in line. He's in front of you, and you are only a few seconds leaving after paying for your full tray when a tall teen with a 'tough thug' aura hanging around him like a menace approaches you and bars your way with his arm. He leers at you unpleasantly before saying in a sleazy voice, "Hello there gorgeous, but I don't think we've been introduced." He leans in closer to you and lays an arm across your shoulders. You wrinkle your nose and try not to breathe; his breath reeks.
"The name's Ushio," he continues, still leering, "And since I'm the Class Representative in your class I would be honoured to show you ar-"
"Excuse me."
The voice is quiet but firm, and you turn your head to see Ryou standing in front of Ushio, his face set. He is still holding his tray, and now Yugi and the others are looking up and beginning to move towards the three of you. You hear Ryou continue, still looking at Ushio, "If (y/n) had wanted to be shown around by you, then I'm certain she would have asked."
Only then does he turn to look at you, and your heart skips a beat. His deep brown eyes stare into your own, and you can feel yourself falling into them, losing yourself...
You blink, shrug Ugama's arm off and go to sit with the others at your table. Ugama stares after you, growls and stomps off after giving Ryou an extremely dirty look as he takes his place beside you . You both begin eating your lunch, but you can't concentrate on your food, not with Ryou right beside you. You had become best of friends after you had bumped into each other on the street, and you kept meeting him around the place and chatting with him, which was strange. You would meet him in the shops, on the street, in the corridors and laundry rooms. In fact, every time you went out (and sometimes when you went in) he'd be there, walking or laughing or just being nice to people.
You feel strange, hot and cold at the same time, and you keep glancing involuntarily at him before flushing and ducking your head again until Yugi asks you a question.
"Hey (y/n), what's that?" You follow Yugi's gaze to your right hand, where your Cladagh Ring is plainly in view. Your eyes trace its familiar shape – the crown above the heart held by two hands – before shrugging and answering.
"It's my Cladagh Ring. Back home, they're a popular way of telling someone whether you're single or not without having to say anything." By now the whole group is interested, and Joey and Tristan stop bickering and look with interest on the scene.
You take it off and turn it in your fingers before handing it to Yugi,who admires it, hands it back with a question of "How?" You notice that the other Yugi has appeared again and is watching you intently, staring at you with those handsome amethyst eyes of his. Placing the ring back on your finger, you begin to explain:
"The whole ring is a symbol." You point to the heart, then the crown, then finally the hands. "The heart represents love, the crown represents fidelity – that's loyalty – and the hands represent friendship." You take it off and place it so that the heart is pointing inwards. "If the heart is pointing inwards towards you, then your heart has been taken by another." You switch it back to its original position. "Heart outwards, and you're looking for love."
"Has it ever been pointing inwards for you?" Ryou's voice makes you glance up into his eyes – and your heart nearly stops. You blush, looking away from the seriousness reflected in them as you reply.
"Nah. I'm a frigid."
"A... what?" Tea seems shocked. You silently curse yourself.
"It means that I've never been kissed," you mutter, ducking your head. The bell rings and you head off to your next class – art.
Sionnach is waiting for you outside the gates, smirking. She's changed into a black t-shirt and jeans and waves to you when she sees you, calling you by your nickname.
"Howyeh, Bubbles!" She yells, laughing. You glare at her and blush as Yugi, Ryou, Tea, Joey and Tristan all turn to look at you. Joey starts sniggering.
"Aw, you're blushing again, Bubbles."
"Bubbles is OK," Ryou moves closer to you defensively. You silently thank him in your mind. He's so nice...
Sionnach nods at Ryou. "Howyeh bin keeping, Ryou?"
"Alright, Sio." He looks at you, confused. "Why Bubbles?"
You shrug and say loud enough for the others to hear, "Because Cuddles here dumps her dirty clothes all over the place, and I do the laundry at home." You shrug resignedly. Tristan lets out a hoot of laughter.
"She doesn't look anything like a cuddles!"
Sionnach grimaces at you and grabs your arm. "So, who's going to introduce me?"
"Right. Sio, this is Yugi, Tristan, Joey and Tea. Guys, this magnificent article of sarcasm is my friend Sionnach Ní Duibhe. She's my flatmate."
"Nice to meet you," Yugi nods, before Sio checks her watch.
"C'mon (y/n), we've gotta get back before Ms. Kearns kills us."
"We'll come with you," Ryou offers. "After all, it's my turn to host this week."
The gang all nod and you set off with Ryou beside you, grateful for his offer. Sio chats to Yugi and the others, and when she mentions the fact that you both play Duel Monsters, Yugi looks excited.
"We can duel each other then," he laughs, beaming happily.
Finally you reach the apartment building and begin climbing the stairs. The gang all stop outside your door as Sionnach fishes in her pockets for the keys before twisting them in the lock and stepping inside. You are about to follow when Ryou grabs your arm. You turn around to face him questioningly. He blushes.
"If you want then you and Sionnach can come up later to hang out."
"Sure," you smile. Your heart feels like it's doing cartwheels in your chest. Yes! "I'll tell her." You walk inside and close the door. Ryou stares at it for a second, sighs and then goes up to his own apartment with the group. He feels a tug on his Millennium Ring, excuses himself to the bathroom when everyone is inside, and carefully shuts the door behind him.
"You like her, I can tell." Yami Bakura smirks behind Ryou. It widens as he goes on, "I can help you get her if you want."
"I don't want your help," Ryou says wearily. He rubs his face tiredly. "Every time I let you in, I don't know what the hell I'll wake up to in the morning. He sighs and looks at Bakura. "Also, I want her to like me for me, not for you."
"Jealous, are we?" Bakura leans against the wall. "I intend on helping anyway, but I won't say when." Ryou begins to protest, but Bakura holds up his hand and jerks his head towards the door. Right on que, the buzzer rings. "I think you should go and greet your guests," he grins evilly as he vanishes into thin air. As Ryou unlocks the front door, he doesn't hear the silent, triumphant hiss in his mind. She will belong to me!