Boot Camp
Chapter One
Yami's Promise
Ryou flinched unconsciously at Bakura's sharp yell. Ever since being separated, Bakura had been beating his light side around. The boy had scars and bruises marring his white skin. Now he was terrified of his Yami, and more introverted than ever.
"Host! Phone! GET IN HERE NOW!"
Ryou flinched again and ran into the living room. This is a decision he would probably regret, but at least he'd live to regret it.
"It's about time," Bakura sneered as Ryou walked in. This was a tone Bakura often used. Ryou called it the 'you-are-so-dead-when-you're-done' tone.
The smaller of the identical boys took the phone with a shaking hand.
"H-hello?"
"Ryou? Is that you?" said a deep voice on the other end.
"Yes...?"
"This is Yami. Yugi told me that last time you came over, he noticed scars on your arms. Has Bakura been hitting you?"
'Damn,' Ryou thought.
"Don't say I told you!" the frightened hikari whispered franticly. "He'll kill me!"
"I'll be right over." With that, the pharaoh hung up the phone.
Ryou sat in shock, listening to the dial tone and staring wide-eyed at the wall. Then, he heard his darker side snickering behind him. If at all possible, Ryou's eyes got wider.
"And why did you get the pleasure of talking to the Pharaoh, Ryou? I sure hope we aren't revealing anything important, are we?"
Ryou was in the process of denying when the doorbell rang. Bakura's eyes developed a rare red glint that could only mean trouble and pain for poor Ryou. In an instant, the former thief had crossed the floor and grabbed his light by the wrist, throwing him against the wall.
"You told him, didn't you?!" Bakura screamed. "I told you not to tell anyone! Do you realize what this means? He-"
"I won't do anything to hurt you two, if that is what you were getting at, Bakura. I wouldn't do that."
The two white-haired boys turned to see Yami standing in the doorway, with Yugi leaning against the doorframe.
"Bakura..." Yugi cooed, drawing out the 'a'.
"Whaaaat, you annoying hikari," Bakura replied in a sing-song voice.
Something dark flashed across Yugi's eyes, and he seemed to grow ten feet taller.
"YOU ARE COMING WITH ME!!" he thundered in his high-pitched voice.
"Where?" Bakura squeaked, cowering behind Ryou. That is, until Yugi grabbed his hair and pulled him out the door. "Eek! That's my hair!"
"Boot camp!" came the pharaoh's answer, before slamming the door behind them. Then, turning to Ryou, he said, "And you and I are going to your inner-strength-and-toughness camp!"
Ryou's eyes popped open at that, and tried scrambling wildly up the stairs. Yami caught him first, though, but Ryou kept struggling.
"I don't want to lose my cute, innocent, sweet guy reputation!" he yelled as Yami dragged him through a new portal to the shadow realm. But Ryou didn't go easily.
There are still claw prints all the way down the stairs.
"Where am I?" Ryou groaned, rubbing his aching head tenderly.
"You don't want to know," said a vaguely familiar voice off to his right.
The white-haired boy pulled himself up as another voice cut in. "Now, now, Malik, don't talk that way to Ryou, you'll rub your bad attitude off on him."
Ryou opened his eyes warily, prepared to shut them at a moments' notice. Which he did, laying back down with a groan.
Yami had been sitting casually on a table, which was in the center of a large room with brightly colored posters on the wall. Around him, in what looked like beanbag chairs, was Malik, Mokuba, Serenity, Tristan, and the Change of Heart girl. Surrounding the only exits were Dark Magicians.
"Ryou, wake up," cooed a soft, heavenly voice. "Yami's here to teach us about confidence and-SHUT UP YOU BLOODY- self control."
Surprised, Ryou looked up at the woman in the Change of Heart card. Currently, the evil side's arm had taken to pounding her fist into the light side's half of the face, while the light side tried to stop it.
"Girls! Girls! Let's stop for a moment, please? We're going to introduce ourselves," Yami yelled, grabbing the darker half's hand.
Everyone introduced themselves one by one, until it came to the Heartses turn.
"I'm Mar-JO!" they yelled.
"Or, in other words," Yami grimaced, "Mary," the light side waved, "and Jo." The dark half growled at everyone.
"Okay, now that we all know each other, why don't we start our session? Malik, you first."
"But I don't have a problem!" Malik yelled.
"Yes, you do," Yami cooed.
The blond teenager sighed and nodded his head. "Okay, I guess I have a bit of a control issue."
Yami gestured to keep going.
"A big control issue?"
The spiky haired counselor gestured again.
"Fine!" Malik shouted. "I was trying to prove my dad wrong!" Yami smiled. "I told him I wanted to be king of the world, and he told me I couldn't!" He started crying then.
Ryou rolled his eyes as Malik continued.
This was going to be a long day.
Bakura scratched his backside furiously. 'These uniforms sure do itch,' he thought.
"Bakura! ATTENTION!" yelled Yugi, the camp sergeant. Bakura immediately stiffened, slapping his arms to his sides before the Dark Magicians could do anything to him.
He had now been in this camp for two hours, and already had enough bruises just learning how to stand at attention. Those Magicians could be brutal.
"Humph. Before I came here, I didn't think the little runt had it in him," Ishtar whispered to him.
"Ishtar!" Yugi barked. "Drop and give me forty! Who asked for your opinion?"
"No one, sir!" Ishtar called from the ground.
The rest of the people in the lines snickered quietly. They included Duke, Joey, Kaiba, Pegasus, and the Blue Eyes White Dragon. Yugi glared at them.
"The rest of you...TEN LAPS!" he cried. Everyone snapped to attention and started jogging around the track. "Faster! FASTER! BLUE EYES, NO HOVERING!"
The dragon immediately dropped to the ground and ran, in large, lumbering steps that left gigantic footprints. Kaiba, who was running behind it, fell into one, crying out as he fell. Pegasus started laughing.
"Well, well, well, Kaiba boy, has your dragon finally turned on you?"
Bakura came behind the white haired millionaire and 'accidentally' pushed him into the hole. His screams were heard, interrupted by Kaiba's frequent death threats and the sound of punching. Everyone gathered around.
"Oh, damn!" cried Joey. "I hate them both so much, I don't know who to root for!"
"Pegasus screams like a girl," Duke pointed out.
"True...go Kaiba!"
Everyone was jeering when Yugi suddenly appeared, bearing a Dark Magician staff.
"Okay," he murmured to himself. "Time to show them why they're here."
Everything stopped around the men before darkness clouded around all of them.
Bakura groggily sat up, his head pounding. Strangely enough, there was the hall mirror from his and Ryou's home, right in front of him. And, that, in the mirror...wasn't...him...
It was Ryou!
Bakura moved his arm to touch his face, and so did Ryou. 'I am Ryou!' he thought. 'Ha!'
He smirked; the look contrasted horribly with his now innocent appearance.
"Host!" yelled a voice. "Get in here, pronto!"
"Who are you to tell me what to do?" Bakura shouted back. Suddenly, Bakura saw...himself?...round the corner, glowering.
"I am your Yami, your master. And you, you are my slave, and you are worthless." The other yami grabbed Bakura and threw him into the wall. "Now, go into the kitchen and make me some lunch, or I'll show you the true meaning of pain."
Bakura's eyes nearly popped out of his head as he watched the other Bakura walk away. He was not, nor had he ever been, that horrible to Ryou.
Or had he?
Ryou was curled up on the floor in a fetal position, a large bubble blowing in and out of his mouth each time he took a breath. Everyone else in the room was also sleeping, besides Yami and Malik. Even Yami was beginning to nod off.
Malik babbled on and on about random childhood events, seemingly for years. As it turned out, it was the middle of the second day at camp.
Suddenly, everyone was awakened by Jo-the-Dark-Change-of-Heart's screech.
"SHUT THE BLOODY HELL UP, YOU OLD COD!!" she yelled. For once, she and the light side worked together, the light side holding Malik's face while the dark side stuffed a pink frilly pillow down the boy's throat.
Serenity and Tristan were laughing so hard they could barely breathe. Mokuba's jaw touched the floor, and Ryou was crying with mirth. Yami looked shocked, dismayed, then furious.
"That's enough, children," he said in a haughty tone. "We were just getting to the bottom of Malik's control problem. Now, if you would please remove the pillow from his throat and sit down, we may continue this session."
"Children! I can't believe...little...session...continue!" grumbled the Heartses, dislodging the pillow from Malik's throat.
Yami, by now, was red in the face from holding in the laughter. Ryou rolled his eyes, smiling. 'The Pharaoh is just a little slow,' he thought.
"See?! Everyone picks on Malik!" the blond cried.
Yami burst out laughing, falling off the table.
"HAHAHA! Malik, you are fun-ny! 'Everyone picks on Malik!' And the look on your face? Priceless!" Yami said between gasps.
Malik burst into tears and ran into a small room that had appeared seconds before the outburst. The sign on the door said 'little psycho's room'.
Yami was now gasping for air and cradling his wrist, which he landed on in falling off the table. "Okay...Mary, Jo, your turn."
A/N: Okay, first chapter finished. Finally, the editing is done. I think it may be slightly better than last time I wrote it...I could be wrong, though.
Next: Go Fish, more therapy, Mai visits boot camp, and Yami sings us a song.
Until next time!
