Ryou hadn't slept in two days. He was constantly pacing back and forth, stopping every now and then to read some book. Bakura had noticed his hikari's strange behavior, but decided to keep it quiet.
Today however was the third sleepless night, and odd behavior day for Ryou, and even though it was only 8 in the morning (Bakura had stayed up to monitor his strange hikari's movements). Bakura had had enough of it.
"Ryou," Bakura asked his hikari softly. Ryou looked over to his yami, but Bakura could see the misty look in his eyes, and knew that his hikari wasn't even looking at him. "Are you okay," the older albino asked still in a soft voice. Ryou simply nodded, turned away, and opened up the book next to him, just to prove that he was fine.
Bakura however knew that this wasn't the truth, he would use their mind link, but it's so foggy and confusing right now.
Bakura sighed as he walked around; his eyes then fell on the calendar that had a big red circle on today's date. He finally understood why his hikari was so depressed.
He turned back to the boy to see him deeply immersed in the book he was reading. Bakura walked over to Ryou, and took a seat next to him, stretching his arm out far enough so that it wrapped around his hikari's small shoulders, and pulled the boy towards him. Ryou didn't fight back against the older male's control, and he soon found himself resting against the older male's shoulder.
Ryou continued to read his book fervently, ignoring everything Bakura did, even when his yami attempted cooking breakfast. Bakura even tried seducing his younger hikari, and even though it worked to an extent (he did get the boy to look up from his book and blush), but that only lasted for a few moments before the younger boy went back to his book.
It was about 11 AM when there was a loud knock on the door. Ryou looked up from the book in his hand, still displaying no sign of emotion; he walked over to the door and opened it. "Otousan...," Ryou muttered softly as he saw his father at the door. His mother was British, and his father Japanese, so he addressed them based on their background.
Ryou's father, Bakura Akio, simply nodded to his son, not even noticing Bakura. \Please leave, I haven't told him about you yet.\ Ryou in a sense pleaded to his yami. Bakura nodded, and slunk back into the shadows, using them to leave the room.
Ryou sighed when he knew that Bakura had left, and opened the door to let his father in. "Good morning Ryou," his father greeted in a deadpan voice before going into the living room and taking a seat on HIS chair. Ryou forced a smile onto his face, and went into the kitchen.
"So, how has your studying been?" The young boy asked. "Fine," his father replied in a gruff voice. "Found anything new?" The boy asked again, trying to start up again "I'm always finding things." His father replied curtly. "So what have you found?" Ryou tried again. "Nothing that concerns you." His father stated a note of finality in his voice. Ryou gave up conversing and brought out two small cups of tea for him and his father. His father basically yanked the tea out of his hand and started sipping it, while Ryou sat on the couch, picking up his book and continuing to read it.
The two sat in complete silence, the only sounds being the pages turning, and the occasional sip of tea. Akio finally stood up, "Well, we should get going, shouldn't we?" He asked in his dull, monotone voice. Ryou nodded then followed his father put of the apartment.
Line
Once the two were gone Bakura came out. He had seen how Akio treated his son before, and he had always been disgusted by it, but today Akio was worse. It seemed like he was trying to block Ryou out even more, and him being Ryou's yami, already knew the young boy's thoughts on him.
Bakura exhaled loudly and decided to follow the two, for Ryou's sake. Yep, he cares about the boy, but he will never admit that.
Bakura quickly slipped out of the apartment and walked down the street to the cemetery, doing what he did best, lurking in the shadows.
Line
Ryou was standing with his father, both males staring at Amane's and Emma's graves. Ryou smiled gently, having a mental conversation with the two, however, his father was not that imaginative to do the same.
"I miss you guys," Ryou muttered to the two graves. Akio however turned around, somewhat appalled by his son's behavior. "Well hell you better miss 'em. They're your god damned mother and sister." Akio stated. Ryou raised an eyebrow to his father, who just kept ignoring his younger son.
Ryou then dug something out of his backpack. He retrieved two cards, and gave one to his father. "Otousan...this one is for mum" "Okasan," "Right, Okasan, well this card is for her, and I signed it from both of us. Feel free to read it..."
Akio opened the small card and began to read, his face remaining emotionless.
Once he was finished reading, he turned to Ryou and smacked him across the face, the sound of flesh hitting flesh resounding through the graveyard.
Yugi's P.O.V
I had noticed Ryou come with his father, because I was there with my mother and grandfather, mourning over my father's death. I had already told my mother about what really happened that day, and they felt empathy towards Ryou.
We were just staring at the grave, me going over my best memories when I heard that sound. My head quickly snapped in the direction of the sound, and all I saw was the red hand -shaped mark on his pale skin, and Ryou's father glaring down at him.
"Ryou," the word escaped like a whisper, as I waited for Ryou to drop on his knees crying. Ryou however just glared back at his father, almost looking like Bakura while doing so.
I'll admit, I winced a bit at the intensity of the glare war, and was shocked when an equally hard smack hit Ryou squarely on the other side of the face, causing the boy to have two red hand marks on his cheeks. Ryou however didn't seem to care, because all he did was role his eyes and turn back to the two tombstones. Ryou's father however seemed to be leaving.
I turned to face my mother and Grandpa, and I saw a reflection of my own shock plastered on their faces. I then looked over to Yami, who had been sitting by a tree, he also seemed shocked. We both looked to Ryou, why isn't he in tears, it's so unlike Ryou, not to be rude, but it isn't.
Line
"'Kura," Ryou sated softly, staring intently at the tombstones in front of him. "Please 'Kura, don't hurt him." Ryou said to his yami, as he came out from behind the trees.
"Ryou are you-" Bakura started, only to be cut off, "I'm fine," hissed the younger boy. Bakura sighed, then walked up behind his hikari and wrapped him in a hug, kissing him on the cheek. Ryou blushed, but silently beckoned for Bakura to let him go. Bakura got the message, via mind link, and let the boy breathe.
Ryou noticed his small card on the floor and picked it up. The poor card was crumpled and stepped on. When had his father done this?
Ryou tried his best to fix the letter, but he couldn't. He then pulled out the secondary card he had, just in case something like this happened to the first one. He then proceeded to place both cards on the graves.
Ryou got up slowly and walked towards where Yugi was standing with his family. He pulled another card from his bag and handed it to Yugi. "I'm sorry you had to see that...he just gets mad when I bring up my family. However, I wanted to give this to you as a form of apology from what happened to your father." Yugi took the card and stared at it
Grandpa nudged the small boy from behind, and Yugi read the card, his eyes watering as he did so. At the end of the card Yugi flung himself at Ryou, tears streaming down his cheeks. "Thank you Ryou." He cried into the taller boy's arms. Ryou smiled softly, "It's nothing Yugi, really." Ryou said, being his normal modest self. Yugi smiled, and let go of his friend.
"Well, I should get going, it's getting pretty late." Ryou stated with another sweet smile, before turning off and walking home.
Yugi let a small sigh escape his lips. "I wonder how he does it..." Yugi stated as he watched his friend walk off.
Line
When Ryou arrived home he immediately took a shower and changed into his pajamas. He then went back to the couch and stared off into space.
Bakura quickly notice to this, after he too showered an pulled on his pjs. Bakura then slipped into the seat next to Ryou, pulling the smaller boy into his lap.
"Are you-" "I'm fine." Ryou once again cut off his yami, in a slightly annoyed voice. "Then why-" "Because I look exactly like her." Ryou answered the question before Bakura could finish it. "Then I learned I had magic." Ryou continued, "And he thought I was strange, abnormal, feminine, dangerous, and just a form of torture to him. He never told me, but he wrote about me to people in Egypt, and one friend had one of the letters published. It didn't really bother me, and I guess that annoyed my father to an extent because he then left me." Ryou explained, words now just tumbling out of his mouth. "I used to wonder, what would happen if it were me and mum, or me and Amane that died...would he have left? No, he wouldn't. I now realize that he's always glared at me, or hated me to an extent. I'm fine with that though, he's not worth it. He has only done one thing that has really helped me. But he didn't intend to do that, so it doesn't even matter. The fact that he's famous is the only reason I live here, or can afford anything. Treating children wrongly, it's bad for publicity." Ryou was stopped when a hand covered his mouth.
Bakura took a deep breath then spoke, "Remember how Yugi called your mother a drunkie. Well think about this, you aren't your father, and you don't know everything he feels. You can't even be sure that article is real; people will try and inflate it. Give your father a chance. I know what he's done over the years is wrong, but at least get to know him. I mean look at me. I am ten times worse than your father. I have killed, I have stolen, I've done so many wrong things that the list would take an eternity to say, but I had a reason. I had a motive, and once you learned what it was you accepted me. Ryou, we both know what it's like to be judged before people really know us, who we are, and what we're like. Hell, I expected you to be balling like the baby I thought you were. But, you remained emotionless, you took the hit like it was nothing-" Bakura was cut off from his speech by a few tears rolling down his clothing.
"He-he hit me Bakura...no one's ever hit me...I was just so dazed, so mad. My father hit me for no reason..." He whispered into the older teen's shirt. The boy started trembling at the memory he had. "I always knew I was alone, that I shouldn't count him as family…but he hit me." Ryou choked out softly.
"It's ok Ryou; as long as I am around, that will never happen again." Bakura whispered. Ryou nodded, and fit his head neatly under the older boy's chin.
Bakura then lifted the boy and carried him bridal-style to the room which they had been secretly sharing for a while, well actually, the only bedrooms in the apartment were the one used by Ryou, and the one saved for his father whenever he visited.
Bakura laid the boy on the bed, and slid in next to him, pulling the younger boy closer to him, so that they were now cuddling each other.
"Good night Ryou," Came Bakura's baritone voice. "G'night 'Kura," Ryou's muffled voice replied, as the two silently dozed off together.
Author's Notes:
Well here is my glorious sequel to "Family Matters." I hope you enjoyed it…I love writing about these two. So anyways, please tell me what you think. Like I said in my first story, I am still pretty new to this fandom.