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2. Admit you didn't care
Bakura could hardly remember a day worse than this one. For starters, he overslept after a series of painful attempts to store in his memory at least some basic information about this cursed Edo period but in the end he only succeeded in falling asleep with his head resting on the history handbook in quite an unnatural, uncomfortable position. With an aching neck and still clueless about what happened in 1854, where Kanagawa was, or who the hell Yoshinobu Tokugawa was, Bakura got up next morning and made a great effort to prepare himself for school.
At last he decided he was ready, so he left the house and went down the street. It was only after two minutes of walking that a couple of students came to join him towards the same direction. Seeing them made him understand that his black trousers and baggy striped T-shirt wouldn't pass for a school uniform.
"I want this cursed world to burn today" Bakura murmured and spent the rest of the way back home swearing. He saw some people giving him disgusted looks but he didn't care.
Maybe if he had the Millennium Rod and did some pretty brainwashing on the teachers here and there, he would be able to go to school without changing clothes. Unfortunately the Millennium Ring didn't have such powers so the only thing he could do was to return home and find Ryou's damned uniform. In the proper outfit this time he left the house once again, only to discover he was already late for the first class. Still cursing and wishing some brilliant catastrophe to destroy the whole Domino City right here right now, Bakura found himself close to school. He was only some meters away from the last intersection, so close he could clearly hear the bell announcing the second period, when two boys blocked his path.
"Where's our money?" asked first one with a self-confident sneer on his face.
Bakura was too busy thinking how much petrol he would need to burn the whole school building to the ground, so he didn't even listen to the boy but rather tried to pass by both of them like they were some bothersome obstruction in his way. Watching in disbelief his unforgivable insolence, the smaller of the two shouted an order making the bigger one grab the white-haired boy's arm in order to stop him from walking away..
"Oh, I assure you did not, REALLY did not want my attention on you." Bakura hissed angrily.
Attacking him like this – it was more than enough reason for the Millennium Ring's spirit to want them both hanging somewhere nearby with ripped bellies and eyes eaten by the crows. Bakura took a closer look at his new opponents, but very soon he figured out they were no match for him.
The first one was short, acned, and equipped with a pair of huge unfashionable glasses suggesting he was probably able to read and maybe even correctly write down something more than his own name. The second one was a dumb ironman with an overgrown ego, way too stupid to be an intellectual challenge even for a cockroach. As a human with a separated brain and set of muscles they had to join forces in order to create some kind of one being able to survive in the school society. It seemed they had chosen to be a co-operating bully team, but attacking him, the great King of Thieves, was the worst idea of their lives. And it would be the very last idea they had – Bakura was strongly motivated to make sure of it.
"Don't try to mess up with us, you freak!" said the boy with glasses. "Better give us all the money you got. Now."
"Yeah. Now." repeated the second one like a truly primitive caveman. The way he spoke made Bakura think it was quite possible he might not know any words longer than three or four letters. "I beat. You hurt."
"See? My friend is getting impatient. I suggest that you don't make him angry!" the so-called brain of this operation laughed in the same style as the old-fashioned villains from those shows they played on that plastic box called TV. "You've always been so polite and compliant, freak. I believe you don't want to meet his fist again, right? Don't you remember how it feels to have your nose bleeding and an almost broken arm or do you need us to remind it to you?"
Suddenly something burned in Bakura's veins. Hot, dazzling flames spread all across his body. It was as if he got liquid fire instead of blood running inside his veins. Ryou was bullied! And not for the first time! How could he not notice such a thing? Those wretched human scums… His fury was as huge as a firestorm that could turn the whole world into ashes. They would pay for all they did to Ryou. Oh, they would definitely pay…
"You have two hundred and six bones in your body. You may not believe me, but I can twist and break each one of them, and I feel an overpowering necessity to show you how it is done." Bakura said with Ryou's sweet, angelic smile completely incongruous accompanied by the murderous sparks filling his deep, dark eyes. "Shall we play a game, dear boys?"
…
Bakura weaved a masterful vision this time. He used all his imagination to build up a wonderful scenery for his retribution. Without any mercy he trapped both boys' minds in the illusion of a midday's sun at the center of a wide, sandy desert. They believed they were badly injured, suffering from many wounds, an incredible heat, and a light too bright for human eyes to bear. Bakura was almost satisfied with his job, but in the end he decided to add some pretty vultures on the amazingly blue sky and some jackals tiptoeing through the yellow hills.
The King of Thieves left the boys moaning weakly on the pavement. Without remorse he let them think that soon they would be nothing more than prey for the carrion-eaters; let them believe only their pale bones would remain, lost and forgotten forever in the hot desert sands. Bakura smiled watching the result of his efforts. Old Yami – the vengeful, evil spirit he used to be before he got tamed and civilized by his cute little Yugi, would definitely be impressed. The old Yami knew and appreciated the art of a penalty game. Bakura, absentmindedly, thought that if Yami had stayed that way they might have even been friends… eventually.
Friends or not, with Yami still wrathful and vindictive like he previously was, some things would be easier to deal with for sure. For example talking to Yugi and his closest friends waiting for Bakura in front of the school gate. Then again, even when Yami was insane, he had never tried to hurt Yugi. Still, it would have been helpful not being the only one considered evil. Not that he cared what those humans thought.
"Where have you been?" asked Anzu instead of "hello" or anything similar to "hi".
"Is there any way to sneeze without all of you knowing about it two seconds later?" replied Bakura dryly. He really didn't like the way she talked to him. He was the King of Thieves, not a trained dog.
It was more than obvious that Yugi had told Anzu, Jonouchi, and Honda what happened last night, and it was only the faint shadow of Yami behind Yugi's back that restrained Bakura from further commentary in this matter. The white haired boy sighed heavily.
"I got into trouble on my way here." he admitted.
"Is everybody alive?" asked Jonouchi with that goofy face of his that made Bakura think he would mindlessly believe that the King of Thieves had already killed five people, plundered three houses, and robbed at least one bank before breakfast.
"Yes, I think so. I left them convinced that they are fatally injured and are going to be mauled by jackals and vultures soon, but I doubt they'll die for real."
"You did… what?..." choked Anzu with eyes wide open in terror. Really, did she even know who was standing in front of her?
"Come on, Honda! We better check it out!" shouted Jonouchi and, with Honda by his side, he ran towards the direction of Bakura's home to find out where and against whom he used his spells.
"You can't do such things!" said girl. "You can't just…"
"Ryou was bullied by them." Bakura interrupted Anzu with enough sharpness in his voice to quell any protests from being declared aloud. "I simply made sure they won't dare to touch Ryou again or even look at him anymore."
A gasp of horror escaped Yugi. "He didn't say a word. If we only knew…" The tri-color haired boy bore such evident sense of guilt in his voice while his eyes instantly filled with infinite sadness. "He could have come to me…"
Bakura couldn't handle the boy's sadness. "Oh, stop now, kid. How could you notice it when even I didn't realize a thing until this morning? And to be honest, it is me who wears Ryou's body like a coat and lives inside his mind. He can't expect us to help him if he doesn't tell us that there's something wrong. It's his fault, so I won't blame myself and so all of you shouldn't either."
"Was that supposed to cheer someone up?" asked Yugi with a rather unhappy expression on his face. "I don't feel any better knowing my friend had such problems and hid them from me for some reason I can't even imagine." The boy took a deep breath, his hands trembling. "I had been there before… I could help."
The bell rang before Bakura could said something rude and for sure gain a direct attack from Yami who was ready to switch with his partner in order to teach his enemy how he should treat his friends. Judging by the proportion of anger and wrath in the crimson eyes, Bakura could tell that this lesson would be full of pain and suffering with a one-way ticket to the Shadow Realm included.
"Sorry, guys. I have to go now. There's an extremely difficult history exam waiting for me to fail." he said and carelessly waved them off heading into the building.
Going against Yami would be fun at any other point, but he already had enough in his mind as it was. After all, seeing how Ryou was bullied, who could blame the Pharaoh for wanting to protect his host?
…
It was odd. He had already skipped two classes, but when he came in, nobody reacted or asked him why he was late. No one smiled at him, no one greeted him. Most of Ryou's classmates pretended he was invisible and ignored him all the way. Some girls very carefully avoided looking at him when he passed their group to take a seat in the furthest corner of the room. Even if he wasn't sure at first it was Ryou's seat, the view of many offensive messages written all over his desk and chair soon confirmed that he had found the right place.
"Freak"? "Weirdo"? "Get lost, you crank"? "Die!"? Bakura read only some of them. What the hell has Ryou done to his classmates? Why are they so hostile towards him? Bakura was even more clueless about this than he was back at the street when he got bullied. From the very beginning he had thought of Ryou as a shy, polite, well-mannered, and, for sure, harmless boy. Of course he was interested in ghosts and the afterlife, but Bakura was an ancient spirit of a dead thief himself, so he didn't see anything strange in talking about being possessed or haunted houses with him. Was Ryou's sensitive side and his occult views that had his classmates thinking of him that way?
"Hey, you jerk. Will your ghosts write again the exam for you to pass with the best score?" asked one boy with obvious envy about Ryou's excellent marks. He had taken Bakura's silent thinking as another great opportunity to humiliate Ryou in front of everybody.
Bakura raised his head and nearly pierced the boy with his look. Very soon his amateurish adversary lost most of his confidence under such a sharp glance, but still tried to offend him. That was a highly miserable and piteous attempt in Bakura's opinion, so instead of feeling even the merest hint of offence, he got more and more irritated.
"What? Why don't you call the ghosts out? You're so stupid you'll fail without their help!" the boy mocked in a way only he found funny at all.
For one second two girls looked like they were about to say something in Ryou's defense but in the end they decided to keep quiet. Bakura realized that the classroom was full of cowards like them; with their silent agreement Ryou was insulted and treated worse than a lame stray-dog in a rainy night. Day by day, week by week year by year, Ryou had to put up with such behavior. This thought made Bakura's blood boil in his veins.
"Did you lose your voice?" the boy continued. "How are you supposed to summon any demons in here without a proper incantation?"
Bakura's movement was too quick for the boy to see and too sudden to be predicted. Terrified, the boy shrieked out when the King of Thieves caught his arm, knocked him down on the floor, and put a freshly sharpened pencil to his neck, exactly on point to perforate his trachea without any great effort.
"I think I won't disturb any demons or ghosts this time. You know, I'm pretty sure I can do a tracheotomy on you all by myself. Shall we check it out?"
…
"Ryou, dear child, what has gotten into you today?"
The school counselor's room was small, bright, cozy, and so featureless that it made Bakura sick. For some seconds he considered if by actually killing that hopeless idiot and being taken into police custody for adolescents he would find a more interesting place to spend the rest of this cursed day.
"I am possessed by an evil spirit who wants to see this building in rubbles and the heads of all my classmates impaled on three-meter stakes and exposed to the crows in the full sun." he answered the truth.
"Oh my! What a horrible idea!" exclaimed the counselor with a worried look in her eyes.
"In my personal opinion it would be nice to add some tigers. I like tigers a lot and they would perfectly deal with the bodies after decapitations." he completed his vision politely.
"You can't think this way." Replied the woman softly, concern sipping through her voice. "I know you're a good boy. You have always been a good boy, despite everything that has happened to you, you found the strength to remain kind and nice."
"What had happened to me?" repeated Bakura slowly. He pretended to be sad and defiant at the same time in order to get the information he needed.
The woman sighed, but didn't get discouraged. "You were transferred here just a few months ago, but I got all your data from your previous schools." responded the counselor looking into plenty of papers and prints stored in a big folder. "Your mother and little sister died years ago in a car accident. This was really hard for you of course but it only got worse when your father abandoned you. He lost his senses after the accident and believed you caused their death. You're living alone, your grandfather and grandmother send you money but refuse to contact you personally. You don't have any other family. Your guardian claims you're doing fine and you can take care of yourself. You were transferred a lot, because in each school you were bullied, insulted, or even worse. I was so happy to see that here, for the first time, you found friends." She smiled and closed the folder. "I dared to hope you would be able to stay in our school, but now I see that trouble followed you here as well. We need to talk. You need to let me help you."
Bakura was speechless. He was just staring into the space but he was seeing nothing.
How could he be such a dumbass? Ryou was a small child when his father gave him the Millennium Ring. Bakura knew his host for years, but now he wasn't sure he knew a single thing about him. Was he really so egoistic and so focused on his plans that he didn't even realize Ryou was suffering? Hadn't he seen a living being in him, thinking he was only a useful tool for his intrigues and machinations? Poor, persecuted Ryou was nothing more than a simple property for him. Bakura himself didn't treat him any better than the school bullies. He claimed himself Ryou's owner, but didn't care for him at all.
He was the great King of Thieves, so he never thought of himself highly in the ethical scale. He was no more noble or lawful than a stake at the crossroads, but now he was disgusted by his own deeds. It was as if he had a big, deep hole in the center of his chest. He felt incredibly cold and wanted badly to vomit. The sensation was entirely new and unpleasant.
"Ryou, dear? Are you okay? Should I call for the nurse?" asked the counselor, worried.
"No." replied Bakura faintly, but then he decided that it would be more comfortable for him to change his mind. After all, that would give him a good excuse to skip his lessons, too. He didn't feel like he could deal with people or studies at the moment. "Yes. Yes, please." He said in a whisper, surprising even himself. The great King of Thieves had never before begged anyone for anything.
…
Jonouchi was the best runner in the school so he reached the nurse's room first. He dashed inside, seeing the door half opened, but he didn't notice it was half open in order to alert the nurse of unwanted visitors. Jou felt a hand grabbing his jacket, not letting him go any further.
"He needs to rest!" the nurse said. "You're the last thing in the world he needs right now if he wants to recover!"
"But please, please! I was frightened when I heard he's in there!" cried Jonouchi, desperately fighting for his freedom. "I was running so fast I almost fell from the stairs!" He was definitely more curious to find out what had made Bakura visit the nurse, than caring for him at all. He tried hard to act all concern and innocent, but it wasn't really working.
"Yes! Please, could we see him for a minute?" It was Yugi who ran into the room with Honda and Anzu following him. "He's our friend! We're worried about him! Just one minute and we'll be gone! I promise!"
Yugi was charming and yet completely unaware of how defenseless people were when he looked at them with his huge, innocent eyes begging for something. The nurse just sighed and let Jonouchi go.
"Okay, but one minute only! I'm checking the clock!"
"Great! Thank you!" exclaimed Yugi, and led the rest of his friends to the bed behind the soft, white curtains. "Hello, Bakura. How are you feeling?"
Bakura was lying on the bed with,his face covered by his long, white hair, his back facing the door. He didn't move when he heard them talking to the nurse, not even when Anzu gently touched his arm.
"What's up this time? We've heard you nearly stabbed your classmate. I don't want to criticize you, but sending half the students to the graveyard and the other half to the Shadow Realm won't help Ryou in here when he'll be back." said Jonouchi, worried by Bakura's strange behavior. After all the thief occupied his friend's body. "Hey, we're skipping our math class for you! Show some gratitude!"
Bakura lifted himself slowly and raised his head. Jonouchi couldn't help but gasp and try to hide behind Honda's back seeing the white haired boy's state. The Millennium Ring's spirit looked horrible. He was pale like a ghost with his white hair a complete mess and his eyes hollow. His slow movements would no doubt have everybody thinking he was badly sick.
"Wow, now! You scared me to death!" gasped Jonouchi, still trying to have Honda between himself and Bakura. "You're looking like something out of a bad nightmare or a monster in a horror movie!"
"What happened?" asked Yugi while he sat on the bed, as close to Bakura as possible. Yugi wanted to scold Jou for his words but he was mainly concerned about Bakura at the moment.
"Be careful, Yug'!" advised Jonouchi. "He's a sneaky creature! Maybe he's up to something new!"
"No." said Yugi with certainty and touched Bakura's hand without fear. "Nobody could imitate such deep sorrow and regret without feeling it. Please," he turned his full attention to Bakura, "let us help you. We need to know what happened."
"I want Ryou back." replied Bakura and his voice sounded weak, like a long-forgotten echo in an empty well. "I just want him back. I want him back so badly I could burn down the whole world if only it would help." It hurt admitting it, but it hurt even more keeping it inside.
"I know." Yugi squeezed his hand a bit stronger with a little, encouraging smile. He was the only other person in the room knowing what it meant to share a body and mind. "I have spoken to my grandpa before I left for school. He said he hasn't seen such strange hieroglyphic signs before, but he will try to find out something about them during the day. He asked if I could bring you back home after the last class to see if you might help him with figuring it out. Would you come with me, please?" His voice was soft, encouraging, and warm.
Bakura nodded slowly and Yugi seemed happy that the evil spirit at last was looking at him and not through him like in the past moments. He really wanted to help him, not only because Ryou was so close to him, but also because he could see the spirit meant every word he had said.
"We got two more classes today." Yugi said cheerfully, knowing he needed to cheer up the other boy. "Try to lay down and get some sleep. We will be back for you, so don't worry anymore. We will find a way to get Ryou back. I'm sure we will!"
When Yugi and the others left the sickroom, the nurse tried hard to look severe. Yugi smiled at her gently as soon as he noticed she had let them visit Bakura for fifteen whole minutes instead of one. The nurse stopped at her heels and gave back a smile, unable to resist the innocent boy. Such creatures were the reason why she had become a school nurse.
