(A/N) This is my first ever fic, and I really want input. So...review, review, review!
Disclaimer: None of this belongs to me, so don't sue or something dumb like that.
Prologue
It was a good morning. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and Bakura was still asleep…Ryoh should have known it was too good to last. He sighed, and got up, beginning to brush his ivory hair, grimacing at the state of the mirror in his hotel room.
Still, he couldn't really complain. Not really. He wouldn't let Bakura out to steal things, so he only had the money he could get from working odd jobs as he traveled China on his mission of training. At least Bakura found the notion of his hikari traveling China for martial arts training interesting; otherwise, Ryoh would have a veeeery grouchy tomb-robber on his hands.
Sighing, Ryoh dressed in a simple gi, tying his black belt around his waist, and went down to ask his guide if there was anywhere he could get cheap food in the area. Otherwise, he might just have to let Bakura get some money, so he could eat. Moreover, letting the tomb-robber out didn't really seem like the best of ideas at the moment. Besides, his "guest" was still sleeping, snoring loudly at the back of his mind. Disgusted and annoyed, Ryoh closed the door to his soul-room, in a vain attempt to block out the infuriating sound.
"Ah! Sir! You is awake!" called out Ryoh's guide in his imperfect Japanese.
"Do…you know of any good places to eat…that aren't expensive…?" Ryoh queried.
"Maybe can get food near Training Ground of Accursed Springs?" replied Ryoh's pudgy guide.
"Oh, alright!" Ryoh brightened at the thought of food. "Wait a second…Training Ground of Accursed Springs…"
At the back of Ryoh's mind, something dark and twisted stirred…
"Oh, yes! Is alright, just don't fall in water, paying sir!"
"Right, right…"
/Hikari…/
/Oh, what is it, Yami/
/I want to see this…Training Ground of Accursed Springs thing./
/Yami, we're going there for some food./
/You know, you could get better food sooner if you'd just let me pick some pockets./
/I could also block you out when I'm breaking things. That's the only reason you pay any attention, right? It's not like you can use karate./
/I get the reflexes when I take over…/
/True, but I know you like to watch me break things./
"Sir! Dazing off not good way to get there."
"Oh! Right, right, please, lead on!"
And so it was that Ryoh found himself following his guide to the small café that had been built by the Training Ground. His stomach rumbled.
As he and his guide waited for their food, the guide began to tell Ryoh the story of the Training Ground of Accursed Springs. As he did so, he mapped the area on a napkin, telling the tragic tale of each spring…
"And this Spring of Drowned Girl. There is tale, very tragic, of girl who drown there one thousand five hundred year ago. Now whoever fall in, take body of girl! This Spring of Drowned Panda. There is tale, very tragic, of panda who drown there two thousand year ago. Now whoever fall in, take body of panda! This is Spring of Drowned Dog…"
/This is boring. Hikari, why are you listening to this/
/I wouldn't want to fall in one of those springs./
/Look! The food's here! Maybe we can actually look at the springs after you eat…/
/Alright./
After a hurried meal, Ryoh went to look at the springs. Unfortunately for him, a dark entity with a twisted mind took it onto himself to make life just a touch more interesting.
The dark spirit if the Sennen Ring separated from its host. While separated in this manner, it could only be seen, heard, and could only touch, its host.
/Yadonushi, which one's the Spring of Drowned Dog again/
/Oh! You're interested, Yami? It's this one, right here./ Ryoh told his permanent 'guest', as he pointed to the spring in question. The dark spirit grinned, and gave its host a good shove, so that he fell headfirst into the spring.
"Oh, no!" The guide cried, "he fall in Spring of Drowned Dog! Now cannot carry money for to pay me with."
As the guide bemoaned his predicament, a white-haired dog with large brown eyes leapt out of the spring with all of his possessions clamped firmly in his jaws.
/Yami, EXPLAIN./
/W-well, I just wanted to see if it was true…/
/Well, now you know/ Ryoh was, understandably, a little upset. Not only was a dog, physically, but he was also a dog in his soul-room. He made a mental note to block out his yami from his practices for a week.
"Ah! Paying sir! We must be to changing you back!"
Ryoh dropped his things. They didn't taste very good, anyway. "Wrerf?"
/I want to see something…/
Abruptly, the pendant around the dog's neck flashed brightly, starting from the Eye of Horus decoration in the center and spreading to the five bangles around the edge. The light spread throughout the dog, which swiftly transformed into a human form. The tomb-robber looked down at his naked form, and blinked. He then dressed and picked up the soaked possessions, going through his host's pack and removing anything that had been completely ruined by its dunk in the cursed spring.
"Sir? How you do that?"
"Magic. Now what was that about changing back…?"
"Ah, yes, sir. Hot water be changing back. We go get some, yes?"
"Yes, that sounds good."
/And then we're going right back to Japan! While we still have money for a boat!"
