Chapter 1
Yugi, Joey, Tristan and Tea spent stumbled along the pavement on the way to school, their eyes heavy and full of sleep. Summer had ended and it was the second day of the new school term. The summer holidays had been a challenge for the team; defeating Zork and the loss of the Pharaoh. However, in the last week of the holidays, Yugi had been contacted by Shadi and the sennen puzzle returned to him; the Pharoh did not wish to leave and so the sennen puzzle only remained in this world.
Tristan yawned loudly and Joey pushed him half-heartedly. A shout was heard from up in front, followed by footsteps. Yugi looked up to find a strange old man dressed entirely in rags charging towards him. The man threw himself at Yugi's feet and sobbed loudly.
Joey withdrew and clamped his hand over his nose and mouth. Tea did the same and Tristan, who had hay fever and couldn't smell anything, just looked at the two confused. Yugi winced and twitched his nose, trying not to be as rude as the others.
'Dude, this guy smells like super piss!' Joey commented, but was silenced by Tea slapping him the face and telling him to shut up.
'Oh great Pharaoh!' Shouted the old man. Yugi was completely taken back; this was the kind of behaviour he would expect in Egypt, but just outside Domino High school? 'Yugi Motou! He is coming! A great power that takes destroys all! He comes at the time of the next full moon, and he comes to take the Pharaoh and rule the world! Only you may defeat him, and at a great price. Be wary great master; you will lose more than you think that you have.' The old man sat back and held out his hand expectantly. Yugi looked at it confused.
'Come on Yoog, this guy's lost it.' Joey said trying to push Yugi onward.
'No, Joey, how did he know my name? What if he's telling the truth?' Yugi began to panic. The old man sighed and made the gesture of money with his left hand while holding out his right.
'Oh, right.' Yugi said and placed a few small coins, enough for some food, into the old man's hand. The man grinned and shuffled away to the nearest off-license to buy alcohol.
Tea tutted and put her arm over her Yugi, her boyfriend's, shoulders.
'It's ok. It was just some crazy guy. Nothing to worry about.' She soothed. Yugi looked up into her eyes and smiled.
'Yeah.' He agreed and they continued the next 100 metres to the school gates.
'Hey, is that Bakura?' Exclaimed Joey.
'Yeah, it is… Hey! Bakura!' Yugi shouted waving wildly. Bakura didn't look up and continued walking into school. Yugi let his hand drop slowly to his side.
'Hey, you reckon he's still pissed at us for locking him in the cupboard the other day?' Joked Tristan, nudging Joey. Joey laughed.
'You guys did what?' Yugi cried, looking up at Joey and Tristan horrified. Even Tea was laughing.
'Come on Yoog, he seriously deserves it. He's being such a prick, ever since we got back from Egypt he's been moping around.' Joey said.
'Yeah, maybe you're right. But there has to be a reason for it. Maybe he just didn't want to go home?' Yugi replied.
'He was so much cooler with an evil spirit inside of him. I mean then he was interesting, now he's just… Bakura, the albino, English twat.' Tristan laughed.
'Hey, I heard his uncle got back from a year's vacation the other day. That might be what's annoying Bakura.' Tea suggested.
'Yeah. Maybe.' Muttered Yugi.
The bell rang and lessons begun.
Yugi wasn't concentrating for the entirety of the day; he was still slightly nervous after this morning's antics. Maths, the final lesson of the day, crept like a snail across sticky toffee, painfully slowly. Yugi played with a pencil on the desk, deep in thought. Opposite him, next to the window sat Bakura, deep at work and getting through the sums on the paper before him faster than anyone else. Joey was at the other desk next to Yugi and was leaning back on his chair, not bothering to do the work. Tea, in front of Yugi, was playing with her hair, unable to work out the answer to the questions. And Tristan, behind Yugi, was completely stuck and feverishly chewing the end of his pencil trying to think of how to approach the very first question.
Yugi's pencil dropped to the desk, where he picked it up and dropped it again. He was bored. Joey leaned towards him and jabbed him in the ribs.
'What's up?' he asked.
'Full moon…' whispered Yugi in reply 'That's in three days time…'
Joey sighed 'Oh Yugi, forget about it.'
'Oi! You two at the back! Wheeler and Motou! Stop talking' Shouted the teacher. Yugi blushed and Joey giggled.
The teacher looked up again, 'Is there something bothering you Bakura?' he snapped.
Yugi hadn't even noticed that the scratching of Bakura's pencil on the paper had stopped. He turned his bored attention to the boy sitting next to him. Bakura was gripping the pencil really tightly, the other arm was held across his chest. He was shaking slightly and a sweat had broken out on his forehead.
'I… I'm fine.' He said, and looked up to face the teacher. The teacher was not convinced, but accepted it and continued with the lesson anyway. Yugi and Joey looked at Bakura, the boy was breathing heavily and leaning on his desk. His knuckles were white from gripping the pencil and he looked really unwell.
'Bakura… hey, Bakura' whispered Yugi, reaching out to pat him on the shoulder to get his attention.
'Mister Motou, I have told you once already could you please…' The teacher started.
'Please Teach…' Joey interrupted, 'But I don't think Bakura's very well.'
The teacher's eyes grew wide and he strode to the back of the classroom to where Bakura was sitting. He knelt in front of the desk and placed his hand on the student's shoulder.
'Bakura… are you ok?' he asked tentatively.
All eyes were on the back of the classroom. Bakura was shaking violently by now and the desk was clattering against the floor as a result.
The teacher stood up.
'Class dismissed.' He announced, and then turned to Yugi and Joey. 'Except for you two. I need to know exactly what happened. Tea, could you go and fetch the school nurse please?' Tea hurried out of the classroom, glancing back across the now empty desks to smile at Yugi, who smiled and waved back. She blew him a kiss, and he mimed catching it and putting it in his wallet.
'Mister Motou! Please! Could I have your attention?' The teacher commanded.
'Sorry' Yugi mumbled and turned to face the teacher.
'What happened over here?' the teacher asked, his voice commanding.
'I don't know… I… he was just shaking…' Yugi stuttered.
Joey groaned.
'Teach, we don't know what's going on, could we please leave?'
The teacher stared at Joey angrily.
'Well, with the way you've been treating Bakura over the last couple of days, I think it's only fair that I keep you behind in case any of this is your fault!'
'But teach…' Joey complained.
'It's… it's not his fault.' Bakura whispered, looking up and straightening himself him slowly. 'I'm fine. Honestly.' He smiled.
'Do we need to get you to a hospital?' the teacher asked.
'No, don't worry about it. I fell down the stairs a few days ago and broke one of my ribs. I guess I was so busy with the maths today that I forgot and stretched back and caught the break by accident. I'll be fine.' Bakura smiled. The teacher look at him confused. Yugi looked concerned and Joey signalled to Tristan (who was standing outside the door) that he would be out in a minute.
Not convinced, but unable to do anything, the teacher sighed and stood up. 'Well, if you're sure. But I really do suggest that we get you to the hospital…'
Bakura smiled a big friendly smile. 'Don't worry.' He said.
The teacher left the room as Joey ran through the door to meet Tristan. Yugi began to follow, but stopped to look back at Bakura.
'Are you ok?' he asked.
'Yeah. Yeah I'm fine. Thank you Yugi.'
Not really wishing to get into a long conversation with Bakura when he could be sitting outside with Joey and Tristan or lip-locked to Tea, Yugi picked up his bags and left for his locker. Once outside he was met by Tea, Tristan and Joey. The teacher was explaining everything to the school nurse, who glanced in to Bakura, who was tidying his belongings extremely slowly, and shook her head sadly. Bakura left the room carefully, making sure not to hurt himself further and passed the small group of his old friends smiling pleasantly at them. When he'd passed, the smile fell and he clenched his teeth together to stop himself crying out. He stumbled down to his locker.
Once Bakura had passed, Joey started to grin.
'What?' asked Yugi.
'Guess what I have.' Joey teased.
'What?' asked Yugi.
Joey produced a tatty looking book bound with leather from his bag. The name on the front was faded and drawn on in black pen; 'Ryou Bakura'.
'Bakura's diary!' he laughed. Tristan clapped his hands in glee and Tea whistled. Yugi was not so impressed though,
'You should really return it.' He said.
'Yeah. I will. Later.' Joey laughed.
'You're not going to read it, are you?' Yugi asked, worried.
'Nope. Just gonna make him think I will.' Joey winked at Yugi.
The bell rang and it was time for registering out. The group headed out into their homeroom, where Bakura was already sitting at his desk.
Once the rest of the class had entered the room, and the teacher was late again, Joey took the diary and waved it in front of Bakura's face. Bakura reached out to snatch it, but gasped as his injury was caught again and retracted his arm slowly. He glared menacingly up at Joey.
'Hey! That's not fair!' shouted Yugi.
Joey smiled, 'Now lets see why you're being so moody, eh Bakura?' A crowd began to assemble around Bakura's desk. Joey opened the book and flipped through the pages.
'Joey, this is going too far!' Shouted Yugi.
But Joey was too carried away in the moment. A pile of loose papers with sketches on them fluttered to the floor and Yugi picked them up, glancing quickly at each one. 'These are good.' He smiled as he handed them back to Bakura.
Bakura stared angrily at Joey, who had settled on a page and cleared his throat.
He put on a high pitched, British accent and began to read.
'Dearest, darlingest diary…' he paused, waiting for the sniggers around him to fade. Bakura was furious; he never started a diary entry like that.
Joey continued, 'I'm not sure how much longer I can take this. If only someone would question the person behind the smile. How much longer do I have to hide myself away like this? I can't take this anymore! Why do I have to pretend that everything is fine? Please, no more. Someone save me, anyone, Grandpa, Amane, Yugi…' Joey stopped and grinned down at the silently fuming Bakura.
'Bakura loves Yugi!' he chimed. The class sniggered and Joey through the book down on Bakura's desk.
'You have no right.' Hissed Bakura.
The teacher walked in and the students moved back to their seats. Joey high-fived Tristan and Yugi was so shocked by what had just been read that he moved silently and sat at his desk.
Tristan, Joey, Tea and Yugi sat in their usual seats at the back of the room. Ryou Bakura watched them sadly. He missed being with the group, but things had changed. Times had changed. Ryou had become quieter after summer, he was a year younger than the rest, having just turned seventeen a day ago, but his intellect had put him up one schooling year.
To some extent Ryou missed the spirit of the sennen ring; it had made him interesting, brought him friends. Apparently he was more interesting when he was a half-crazed psycho trying to rule the world. Had the group ever cared about the real Ryou Bakura? Was Ryou Bakura effectively a tag-along, a sub-character as it were, whose very existence made up a variety of 'filler episodes' in the friendship between the rest?
The register was taken and the bell rang. Not wanting to be late home, Ryou ran for the door. The rest of the group were picked up outside the school by Yugi's grandpa and went to stay at Yugi's for the night.