Not much happens in this chapter…more of a intro. to push our way towards the main storyline and stuff.

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I'm Ryou: Polite Isn't He?

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Yami Bakura was never a people-person, and never in his life (past or not), did he adore children. Actually, any kid he met stayed away from him, even though they had no knowledge of his reputation. However, it seemed that Ryou was not one of these children. The now-small boy had seemed confused with Yami Bakura's similar appearance with his, but it did not take long for him to dub the (very uncomfortable) dark spirit, as his 'big brother'.

To say that Yami Bakura looked unnerved to find his former host hugging his leg was an understatement. The thief looked absolutely horrified. Yami Yugi, as well as Yami Malik, had never seen their fellow dark act in such a way; the other was always the one frightening people, not the other way around.

Little Ryou was completely oblivious to his effect on the older white-haired boy as well as the shocked stares he was receiving from everyone in the room. He was smiling, looking quite content while rubbing his head affectionately on his 'brother's' lower torso.

Finally, he stepped back and looked up at Yami Bakura's frozen face.

"I knew Dad was going to keep his promise!" he said enthusiastically. "He said I won't be lonely anymore and here you are!" the child then held out his hand, "I'm Ryou Bakura, and you are?"

Yami Bakura merely stared at the small child's hand extended towards him, his mouth agape and unmoving.

If the situation wasn't so weird, Yami Malik would've laughed.

Ryou frowned, his cute little face scrunching up in a mixture of confusion and irritation, "You're not being very polite…"

This time, Yami Malik did laugh. It started as a snicker, but soon, the blonde dark was almost on all-fours, breathless with laughter.

Ryou blinked and looked at the strange man. Who was he anyways; he couldn't remember having met him before. Come to think of it, who were all the other people here? There was a second blonde, and two multi-color-haired boys (both of which were staring at the laughing man with uncomfortable expressions).

Fortunately, it seemed that Yami Malik's bout of laughter finally snapped Yami Bakura back to his senses. He blinked for a moment, and then probably realizing that the other was laughing at him, narrowed his eyes in a menacing expression.

"What the hell are you laughing about?" he half-shouted.

Yami Malik didn't appear to be intimidated at all, "Oh God, tomb robber—haha—whoever knew, that—haha!"

Yami Bakura couldn't exactly see what was so funny. Here they were, trapped in some sort of resort house (probably Seto's), with that Shadi guy lurking around, and then…out of all things that could happen, his light just turned into a damn kid! What the hell was so funny about that?

Apparently, Yami Malik thought it was very funny, by the way he was currently acting. Malik even had an almost concerned expression on his face as he looked at his dark side.

Ryou looked up at Yami Bakura and tugged at the other's shirt. When the other looked down, he said, "Do you know him?"

Yami Malik gave another large bout of laughter before managing to calm down enough to speak, "Ahaha…know me? Why," he straightened up and draped an arm around Yami Bakura's shoulders, "We're best buddies!"

Yami Bakura growled and immediately shrugged the offending arm off. "You're not helping."

Meanwhile, Yami Yugi and Yugi were observing the little boy. He certainly looked like Ryou. But how in the world did he turn so young? Maybe this was Isis' project that Seto had been talking about, and what a strange little project it was.

But how was this going to help with their light-dark relationships? They didn't get it. Were they supposed to baby-sit one another?

It was then that Seto made his presence known once more, though not in the room. It appeared that the house they were in had its own speaker system. All of them heard the CEO's slightly digitalized voice all around them.

"Well, I see the first of you have already succumbed to the spell…"

Though the rest only appeared confused, even curious, Yami Bakura was enraged. "WHAT THE HELL'S GOING ON, KAIBA?" the clearly vexed tomb robber yelled, eyes burning.

They heard Seto chuckled lightly, "Well…this, my guests, is Isis' 'project' that she has so generously given me the privilege to look over. And you're the participants, I guess, though this isn't really a game or anything of the sort."

Yami Bakura clenched his fists, "That doesn't actually answer my question…" he seethed.

"Well…" Seto appeared to think about it, "I guess I could give you a general overview of your situation," he said with a hint of smugness, "So…I guess you notice a few changes with Bakura?"

"He's a freaking six year old!"

Ryou looked at him and said, "I'm eight…"

"It…" Yami Bakura started but stopped, he couldn't yell at Ryou when he was at this…state, "…doesn't matter…"

Seto's lips formed a smug grin, though no one can see it. "Yes. That. It's quite simple actually. Isis feels that you would get all along so much more together once you have, as I quote, 'a glimpse of one another's past and childhood'. Shadi and herself took care of…what would make you roll back a few years in age, whilst I agreed to provide the facilities. We are currently in one of the many vacation houses I own…not that I use it much…"

Malik processed what Seto just said and his eyes widened in what seemed to be fear, "Y-You mean…we're all going to turn into a child at one point or another?"

"Yes, that's the plan," was Seto's nonchalant reply, "I'm not entirely sure how Isis and Shadi handled it per say…not that I have any patience to listen to any of those magical crap," he said distastefully. "All I can tell you is that, when you take your turn to be…transformed, you will adapt your way of thinking and memories at that time of your life when you were a kid."

"So that's why Ryou didn't recognize Yami Bakura…" Yugi mumbled thoughtfully to himself. Beside him, Yami Yugi looked thoughtful as well. Memories?

Seto continued, "However, when you turn back to your original self, you will remember everything that happened while you were 'changed'. Since, obviously, this will be all for nothing if you can't recall your…experiences."

There was a moment of silence as everyone thought about what they were told. Ryou however, simply looked at Yami Bakura with curiosity. Why was his new brother acting so frustrated? Didn't he like him?

"How long are we supposed to stay here?" Yugi asked, looking at the ceiling since he didn't know where else to look while addressing Seto.

"A couple of days…maybe a week at most. I don't really know how long each of you are going to be stuck as little brats."

"Well…since we don't seem to have a choice," Yami Yugi said, "I think I'll just…go on with the flow. It's not like I have anything better to do…and this does sound…interesting, to say the least."

"It seems we think alike, pharaoh. I myself am only here to witness you make a fool of yourselves. After all, I can never pass that opportunity can I?" he laughed.

Yami Malik was getting tired of all this talk and voiced his feelings accordingly, "Whatever. So are we allowed to wander around your little vacation home through all this? Or do you expect us to sit on our fucking asses all day?"

Yami Bakura found himself acting automatically, before he even knew it, he had covered Ryou's ears with his hands, no doubt to shelter the boy from Yami Malik's vulgar words.

Ryou looked up at him questioningly.

When Yami Malik noticed this, a smirk formed on his face, "Damn, tomb robber, not even ten minutes into this shit and you're already taking on the role of the doting protective big bro!"

Yami Bakura glared but no suitable reply came into his mind. "Just…watch your mouth, will you?"

The other only rolled is eyes and said, "Whatever," then addressed Seto once more, "Well, Kaiba?"

Seto who had been smiling throughout the entire exchange, composed himself and replied, "You have free range of the facilities. Obviously, leaving the premises is not allowed, not that you can since I have the area on lockdown. But other than that…feel free to do whatever you want. You can try and kill each other for all I care."

They faintly heard the door unlock with a small 'click'.

"There you go…" he said, "One more thing, before I leave you on your merry way. Don't be surprised if the house…changes, or if you see someone you don't recognize wandering around."

Yugi's eyes went wide, "Is this place haunted?"

Yami Bakura snorted.

"No," Seto replied, "Not at all. There will just be times when…a sort of replay of crucial events in your lives will occur. Think of them as something similar to holograms if you will, except that only the person currently turned into a child at that time would be able to interact with it normally."

"So…its like watching one of those 3d movies?" Yugi blinked.

"Precisely, except that it's more realistic of course. They're Isis' doing. I think she used that necklace of hers…"

Yami Yugi stopped, "The Millennium Tauk? But that's with Yugi and me, it's supposed to be at home."

"Well…now it isn't."

Not really knowing how to react on this new information, Yami Yugi turned silent.

"Hmph. This is boring," Yami Malik snorted, "I'm going," and with that said, he opened the door and stomped off.

"Well…I'll leave you all to it then," Kaiba said. "Farewell for now…" and he was gone.

The five remaining persons in the room stood in silence for a moment before it was broken by a small timid voice, "So, what's your name?" Ryou asked once more, looking up at his look-alike.

Yami Bakura snapped out of his reverie, and looked at his former host with a raised eyebrow. The boy stared determinedly back. When it was obvious that he wasn't going to stop bothering him until he answered straight on, he gave an almost uncharacteristic sigh and said, "I'm…Bakura…yes, Bakura."

Ryou's eyes widened with childish innocence, "That's my name too! Or my last name at least…"

"Yeah…well," Yami Bakura coughed.

Yami Yugi observed his fellow dark carefully, the former spirit was acting…almost…nice. Nicer than he ever was, at least. Yami Bakura probably didn't know how to treat Ryou, now that he was a mere eight years old. And the fact that he and Ryou didn't have the perfect relationship must be making it harder.

Ryou turned his attention to the others in the room, firstly at that blonde that looked so much like the one who just stormed off earlier. "Are you guys Bakura's friends?"

"Well…you could say that…" Malik said, shifting slightly.

The small boy didn't seem to notice the uncomfortable air Malik (as well as the others) were projecting and smiled at the Egyptian teen. "I'm Ryou, and you are?" he said, holding out his hand like in the same way he did to Yami Bakura before.

Malik took the small hand gingerly and gave it a little shake, "Eh…nice to meet you then, err, Ryou. You can call me Malik," he attempted a smile.

Yugi, having gotten over the shock of their current situation, and finding himself not minding it all that much, approached Ryou willingly with a smile already in place. "Hi Ryou, I'm Yugi," he said, "That over there's my yami—"

"What's a yami?"

"Uh…I mean, err—"

Yami Yugi stepped forward, "He means my name's Yami," he quickly covered. No need for Ryou to know about their I'm-his-light-and-he's-my-dark bit. It might just cause the young boy unneeded confusion.

"Oh, alright then," Ryou said, "Um…but who was that loud man earlier? The one who looked like him," he pointed at Malik.

"Eh…" Yami Yugi aid unsurely, "That's—"

"He's Malik's…relative, his name's…" Yami Bakura paused for a moment, "Marik."

Ryou giggled, holding his hand over his mouth in an adorable way, "Marik? That's weird. Malik and Marik. Malik Marik Malik Marik…it's like a tongue twister. And it sounds like they're twins or something too!" he clapped his hands in delight.

Yami Bakura ignored the look Malik was giving him. At the rare times he and Yami Malik talked in what could b called as casual conversatios, the other dark had mentioned that he liked that name. "I know it's like Lightside's, but it sounds manlier, you know," Yami Malik had said. After all, 'Marik' and 'Malik' were generally the same, and Yami Malik and Malik are the same person (though the other was considerably more insane). So it seemed sensible to him.

"Bakura?"

Yami Bakura blinked and looked at his former host. The boy had his arms extended upwards, "Carry me?"

He hesitated for a while. Malik, Yugi, and the pharaoh were looking at him with barely concealed interest. Damn, why was he placed in this ridiculous position? He contemplated ignoring Ryou but he thought the boy would get upset and probably end up crying if he did. And though Yami Bakura had handled many things, he didn't think he could handle a crying Ryou anytime soon.

With a shuddering sigh, he reached down and gathered his small counterpart in his arms. "You're bit too old for this, don't you think?" he muttered, trying to ignore the shocked expression on Malik's face and the smug one on the pharaoh's. Yugi only smiled fondly.

Ryou laughed, "But Dad always carries me. He says I'm still light enough to be carried around."

He couldn't argue with that, Ryou always was quite thin. And in truth, it didn't feel too tiring so far, in fact, Ryou didn't seem to be heavy at all! Yami Bakura noted himself to make sure the other ate enough after all this is over.

Malik looked at the two and almost envied them. He had expected something like this between Yami Yugi and Yugi, the two had always been close. But he didn't expect it from Ryou and Yami Bakura. Sure the thief was slightly cold and stiff, but Ryou didn't seem to mind this at all. What's more was that this Ryou wasn't at all afraid of Yami Bakura, it wasn't as if the mild teen was terrified stiff of his dark before, but he was a bit cautious around his other self. And yet this child observed no caution or fear whatsoever, and Yami Bakura…didn't seem to react badly at all. He smiled almost sadly at the scene before him. He wasn't going to expect anything like this from his dark side…

Ryou laughed and waved his arms about, "I want to go swimming!"

Yami Bakura looked skeptical, "What makes you think there's a pool around here?"

"Well…" Yami Yugi said thoughtfully, "This is Kaiba's rest house…thing. And considering his financial status and all, I won't be surprised if he had an indoor pool around here, if there isn't one, you could always use the bath tub I guess…"

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I hope you didn't get bored or anything. The REAL fun stuff starts at the next chapter. (hehe)

I've always seen Ryou as a polite person, haven't you?

I hope Yami Bakura isn't too out of character. He's still in a bit of a shock with Ryou being turned to a kid and all so let's cut him some slack. I promise he'll be his usual smart-mouthed self later on.

And thanks for those who reviewed guys.