Symposium: Chapter Two
"After the division the two parts of man, each desiring his other half, came together, and throwing their arms about one another, entwined in mutual embraces, longing to grow into one, they were on the point of dying from hunger and self-neglect, because they did not like to do anything apart; and when one of the halves died and the other survived, the survivor sought another mate, man or woman as we call them,-being the sections of entire men or women,-and clung to that. They were being destroyed."
–"The Symposium" –Plato
Ryou woke up in a cold sweat as the alarm on his clock chimed 6:30. He shot up in bed, pale green T-shirt clinging to him as he breathed deeply, wondering why a dream he couldn't even remember bothered him so much. It couldn't have been about the accident –he always remembered those dreams, and this dream left a faint sense of longing, not despair. Shrugging it, along with his pale blue sheets, off, he rose from bed too quickly, staggering from the vertigo, and then moving into his bathroom.
Everything in his apartment was exceedingly tidy –a painful reminder of his lack of a social life, but no longer starting today! Who knew, maybe he'd even make a friend or two working for Kaiba?
In this positive line of thought, Ryou showered and poured himself some cereal –no milk in the bowl. He never understood why people liked making their cereal soggy and flavorless, but hey, opinions…. The brown eyed boy was also pretty sure that most people didn't eat breakfast in only their underwear, but, hey, when he was tired, he'd wait til he got some energy. It's not like anyone could disturb him.
Finishing and stacking his bowl and glass in the sink for cleaning later, he went to get dressed, putting on blue jeans, a blue and white striped shirt, and a light jacket over it –wearing his usual white sneakers. Lacing them up and leaving the apartment, he locked up, ready for whatever the Sennin brothers threw at him….or, that's what he told himself.
Nearly tripping over a box on his doorstep, he frowned, picking it up. If it was mail for him, it'd be in his mail slot in the main lobby, so it made no sense for a package to be there. On the white shipping paper taped to it, his name was clearly spelled out, negating the idea that someone else dropped it. More like someone else dropped it off. He bent down to pick up the package when his butt vibrated.
Ryou shot up, having forgotten that he'd slipped his pager into his jeans' back pocket the night before, and pulled it out to read the message, package forgotten. In red scrolling text, it read "Change of plans. Everyone's meeting up at the McDonald's on the north side". Ryou sighed in relief that Kaiba had sent it before he left –but, his apartment was on the south side, so lateness, just like yesterday, might be inevitable.
Cursing his lack of a car –even though he had a license his dad didn't want him driving-, he could only hope for an empty cab. On a Tuesday morning. Perfect. If yesterday was a precedent for the rest of his working life, he might want to get his dad to reconsider the car thing.
Emerging from his building, he tried waving down taxies for about five minutes in vain, about to give in and make "the call". After another minute, he pulled out his beat-up, but reliable little phone, and dialed the number.
"Moshi moshi!" answered a cheerful voice, "It's good to hear from you Bakura-kun! Did you get that job?"
"Hello Miho," Ryou responded, relieved that she was awake this early, "and yes, I did. But I have a slight problem…"
A laugh resonated on the other end of the conversation, "Need a ride eh? I'll be over in five." And with a beep, Miho hung up, probably to touch up her make up before coming to get him.
They lived in the same building, and Miho harbored a crush on him since he moved to Domino City two years ago –hence it taking her five minutes to reach him when all she had to do was go behind the building to the parking lot for her car.
He back away from the curb, instinctively drawing away from the street and the cars on it. Even though he was a good driver, he and his father shared a mutual dislike of automobiles. Thankfully, as Miho promised, precisely five minutes later a car turned around the right side of the building, the purple-haired girl taking one hand off the wheel to wave at her crush.
Ryou felt horrid that he didn't like her back, but, she was an extremely positive girl, who, when told that he wasn't looking for a relationship, replied with "someday, you will love me! I don't give up so easy, ya know!"
She pulled to a stop, and yelled, "By the way, where are we going?"
Walking around the car to the passenger seat, he replied, "McDonald's. North side." Pausing, and then blushing slightly, he added, "Thank you. You are, as always, the one to save my sorry behind."
She laughed, a full, hearty sound, "What would you do without me?"
She then filled the ten minute car ride with typical Miho-banter; the radio on as loud as it could go with her talking over it, occasionally stopping to sing along. Even though Ryou's head practically wasn't in the car, she knew he was listening –her car's a/c long broke, hanging your head out the window in summer was optimal.
"So…" she drawled out, showing that she was serious, "any ideas for college yet? The guidance counselors really got on me for that back in May."
Ryou paused, and then said, "I want to major in Graphics and Multimedia, but I may take another major –if I do, it'd be in Folklore and Ethnomusicology."
She stared at him, speechless, before a car horn honking took her attention back to the road, "Yeesh Bakura-kun! You're worse than them! Why –no, how do you already know? Wait, I did mean why."
Ryou blushed, but still answered, "Just something I felt like doing in my free time a couple weeks ago."
"Well," she brushed her bangs out of her eyes, "next time your boredom gets to that level, come find me."
Her words brought an embarrassed flush to his cheeks, but he didn't regret his actions –at least his boredom would keep the counselors off his back.
"We're here!" announced Miho with a flourish, "Now get out of my car –I've got somewhere to be!"
Smiling at Miho, he told her once more, "Thank you," and got out, walking across the crosswalk and into the McDonald's.
Huge menu boards and signs meant to entertain people while they waited for their food were everywhere, some of the kanji illegible to Ryou. Even though his mom's side of the family was Japanese, and forced him to study it, some kanji still eluded him.
Looking around the thinly populated fast food restaurant, all he saw were people taking advantage of the free Wi-Fi, drinking coffee to keep themselves awake at this ungodly hour.
"Hey!" called a friendly voice to his left, "Bakura-kun!"
Ryou turned to the left, seeing a boy emerging from behind a divider wall, and smiled in recognition. "Hello Yugi-kun."
The boy with tri-colored hair walked over grinning pleasantly. The two didn't know each other very well, but they went to school together and were beaten up by the same bullies, so there was certain camaraderie to them.
"Not to be rude," Ryou began, "but what are you doing at a McDonald's so early in the morning?"
To the question, Yugi's smile became more humble, "I'm an intern for Industrial Illusions and I'm waiting to meet the brothers and the other interns."
"You're Industrial Illusions' new intern?" Ryou began, marveling at the luck –that two people from the same city (and school) had been chosen from so many.
Yugi blushed in shame, and Ryou realized how bad his words sounded.
"No!" he exclaimed, face flushing at his error of words, "I mean, I'm Kaiba Corporations' new intern!"
The amethyst-eyed boy looked down in surprise, and appeared to be marveling over what he'd just been told, then shook his head and said, "Wow…"
Ryou nodded in agreement, but then asked, "Were you doing something before I interrupted?"
Head shooting up, he answered (mostly to himself, it sounded), "Oh! I was going to order for everyone before they started arriving…"
"Don't let me stop you," the white haired boy told him kindly, "I'll take a seat."
The short boy nodded, and resumed his menu-searching, while Ryou went to sit down at the tables Yugi had pushed together, taking the seat in the dead middle. His eyes drooped sadly at his own cowardice with the short boy. It's not that he had a problem with Yugi –he seemed like a really nice guy, but Ryou didn't know him all that well and couldn't help feeling a tad bit nervous.
He sat in silence for a minute or so, just letting his drowsy thoughts wander. The loud roar of a motorcycle sounded by the windows on the left side of the building, snapping him out of his trance and allowing him to observe an odd looking guy enter through the double set of glass doors. This guy wore black pants, a very light purple shirt with two gold chains hanging across his chest, gold earrings, a gold necklace and gold armbands. From the obvious foreign-ness to the guy, Ryou assumed that this guy was one of the apprentices, and decided to go talk to him.
"Hello," Ryou smiled politely.
The boy's pale purple eyes fixed on his in a manner that made the brown-eyed boy blush.
"Are you one of the interns?" the tanned boy asked bluntly, an odd accent twanging in his question.
"U-Um, yes..." Ryou stuttered unintentionally, the strange boy making him feel uncomfortable.
The boy smirked at this, "Good. That makes things easier. Who are you?"
Wishing for Yugi's return, Ryou quietly answered, "Bakura. Ryou Bakura."
The smirk widened, "Ishtar. Malik Ishtar. And, is there an accent to your Japanese I hear?"
A little creeped by how similar Malik's question was to his own, he replied, "I grew up in London, but I've been speaking Japanese since I was ten."
The blonde nodded, "And, as the answer to the question I know you're wondering, my accent's Egyptian."
Ryou blushed at having been read so easily, and Malik went on, "Shall we sit down and wait for the others?"
Malik sat across from Ryou, leaning his head on his clasped hands, staring boredly out the same windows he just walked by. The white haired boy couldn't help staring at him, forgetting the previously wished for alone time, wondering what to say to the Egyptian.
"Like something you see?" Malik boredly asked, quirking an eyebrow at Ryou's blush, the latter whipping his head to the side.
"I –uh-"
Thankfully Ryou's intelligent thought was interrupted by Yugi, the cheerful boy bringing over array of coffee, creams, and one…McFlurry, for some odd reason.
"Are you one of the interns?" Yugi smiled welcomingly, setting the tray down, then sitting on Ryou's right, the latter grabbing three packets of creamer and his promised caffeine.
Malik snagged a coffee, paying no heed to the flavorings or the heat, and replied, "I think a better question would be, how did they let a grade schooler become an intern?"
The poor boy just blinked a few times, stunned that someone he just met could be so blunt, but eventually retorted, "I'm in high school!"
"Then why do you drink kiddie shit?" filtered a voice from behind said insulted boy.
They all turned their heads, even Malik, to see a guy who resembled Malik. This guy's blonde hair was either unmanageable, or he spiked it purposefully to make him look nuts. The eyes and skin tone, though, were scarily similar. Spikey wore a black tank top (with a dark purple cape), tan khaki pants, and gold jewelry just like Malik's (except he didn't have any on his shirt).
Not reacting to the similarity, Yugi frowned, "Sugar wakes me up."
The new guy slid himself into the chair next to Malik's, ignoring his twin's look of disbelief, and asked, "Why not drink coffee? You brought it for everyone else, and I'm pretty sure that costs more."
"Yeah, but I don't like coffee," Yugi admitted sheepishly.
"Wimp," the guy snorted in his rough voice (that, like everything else, seemed extremely similar to Malik's), snagging one of the coffees for himself, "Oh, I suppose I should introduce myself…"
Malik's eyes flashed slightly, but he remained as silent as he had been since his twin had arrived.
"The name's Marik. Marik Sennin," he took a long drink from his cup, setting it down with a lazy smirk.
Yugi and Ryou blinked rapidly, unable to comprehend the looks and names. But, Ryou had a weird feeling….that was about more than just the similarity. Malik even stared openly now, his eyes narrowing.
"What. The-"
"Hey, are you all the interns?" interrupted a voice from in front of the table.
A guy stood there, a wide eyed look on his face. This guy, unlike all the others, seemed to have difficulty speaking in Japanese, and had an accent worse than Malik and Marik's. He wore a high-collared green jacket over a white T-shirt and blue jeans.
"What does it look like, idiot?" snipped a voice, Kaiba taking a seat at the head of the table after pushing past the boy.
"Asshole," the boy grumbled in English, forgetting which language to speak when the brunette pissed him off.
"Jounouchi Katsuya everyone," smirked Marik in his demented sounding voice, "hailing all the way from Brooklyn, New York!"
Well, that explained the accent.
"So I'm assumin' you're my boss?" Jounouchi frowned, grabbing a coffee, drinking it black like everyone but Ryou took it.
Marik laughed, a rather disturbing sound, and replied, "I think we'll get along splendidly...", somehow answering Jounouchi's question without really answering it.
The table was silent after that, Malik never finishing his question though he would turn to glare at Marik every so often, as would Jou with Kaiba. Ryou smartly kept his eyes down, not wanting to draw attention to himself, but, unfortunately, Yugi had no such belief at the moment. The amethyst-eyed boy stared curiously at Jounouchi, most likely wondering if a possible friend could be found in the crude boy.
"What'cha starin' at, ya spikey-haired freak?" growled Jou at Yugi, the latter looking hurt.
"Um, I'm Yugi," the shorter boy spoke shyly, but kindly, "it's very nice to meet you, Jounouchi-kun."
"What the hell!" yelled Jounouchi, pointing at Yugi, "Don't be so damn familiar, I am not your sex slave!"
Yugi's face showed injury and disbelief, while the rest of the table stared on in silent 'wtf?' expressions. His honey eyes were both defensive and confused at once….somehow.
"What? What'd I say wrong?" his eyes shifted back from one end of the table to the other.
"Jounouchi…" Yugi spoke before anyone could insult the blonde, "the suffix 'kun' is a respectful term for men."
Jou blinked several times rapidly, "Oh. I knew that."
Malik muttered, everyone else respecting Yugi's attempt to keep Jou from being insulted, "How did manage to say something as complicated as that instantly when saying asshole before was too much to bother?"
Marik snickered at this, Malik giving him a look for this, still mistrustful of his look-a-like. Oddly, though, after this, the group settled into a peaceful quiet, sipping their various drinks (minus Kaiba, who eyed the cheap coffee with scorn). Of course, though, this sanity only lasted for about two minutes, before Yugi's twin showed up, dressed in tight leather pants, a leather tank top, a collar, and…what appeared of be…leather shoes, if that was possible.
"Hello," came a deep voice from a face that so resembled Yugi's, minus the serious red eyes and height difference, "am I late?"
"Nah," snorted Marik, kicking his feet up on top of the table, "the only time you'd dare to be late, Pharaoh, is to your own funeral."
The crimson eyes narrowed in a glare, and he took a seat on Kaiba's right, next to Malik. Then, his gaze shifted to Yugi, who shrunk back from the intensity of the leather-clad man.
"Did you get this coffee, little one?" this 'Pharaoh', as Marik called him, questioned softly.
The demeaning nickname spoken in that manor didn't seem quite as demeaning, and Yugi could tell it wasn't meant to be an insult. "Yes…" he spoke, "It's for everyone, so feel free to take one."
The Pharaoh smiled slightly, apparently laughing at some inside joke, and took one. "Yugi Moto, correct?"
Yugi's eyes widened, and he nodded.
"I'm your boss," he went on, "you can call me Yami. No honorifics needed."
"Aw," crooned Marik, "the boss and his intern!"
Kaiba growled in annoyance, "Can anything intelligent come out of your mouth?"
Ignoring the rest of the table, Ryou felt a sense of dread rush through him –yet again about the new boss not feeling right to him, for some reason. Curiosity was also present as he stared out the window, wondering who the last boss would be –considering two out of four resembled his friends. Yugi's voice filtered through Ryou's daydreaming, due to the lack of power in it.
"Now we're only waiting for…"
But before Yugi could finish his sentence, a guy pushed his way through the glass door, and suddenly a stupid American song that was playing was louder than ever. He had on black sunglasses, a black trench coat over a white T-shirt that had the words 'Thief King' written across it in spikey letters, and black (expensive looking) sneakers.
"Damn," growled Jou, "I assume that's him…why do they all think they're so fucking badass?"
Sure, it wasn't more extreme than Marik and Yami's clothes, but this guy…the vibe from before was back with a vengeance, even stronger than before, only getting worse when he removed his glasses, revealing his eyes. And, oddly, he could now tell what upset him from before were extremely negative emotions –that were now seeping from the other presidents and directed at the new guy.
Yes, Ryou was pretty empathetic for a boy, but empathy did no good when the emotions read made no sense. Speaking of things making no sense, this guy-
"Is it me?" Malik interrupted Ryou's train of thought, "or does Bakura-kun have a twin?"
Marik and Yami's heads snapped toward Ryou at Malik's words, and they asked, simultaneously, "What the fuck?" It appeared that they too had missed the resemblance until now, and Marik alone input sarcastically, "After me 'n the Pharaoh, why am I surprised?"
Seto, looking bored, unless you looked at his eyes, calmly commanded, "My intern. Stand."
"Hey bastard!" growled Jou, "You can't order him around like some dog!"
Everyone but Yugi, who struggled to calm down the feisty blonde, turned to stare as Ryou stood up, facing his glaring doppelganger.
"Introduce yourselves," Seto commanded, still as calm as ever.
This guy…even though it felt like looking in a mirror, wasn't his exact twin –the edges were too sharp, too cruel to be accurate…that and the hair fluffed out even more than his unruly spikes.
"B-Bakura, sir," Ryou stammered, bowing respectfully and missing the startled look that passed over the man's face, "Ryou Bakura."
As he rightened himself, he noticed that the glare was now….suspicious.
"Bakura," growled the low voice, shocking Ryou.
This is the Bakura they kept mistaking him for? Was all poor Ryou could think while he waited for "Bakura" to give his first name. Which, after staring at the guy for about a minute, the brown-eyed boy figured was not going to happen.
"Well," Ryou trailed off nervously, going to sit back down when Bakura spoke, freezing his twin,
"Go by Ryou."
Said boy turned his head in confusion, he asked, "S-Sir?" He'd never admit it, but the idea of calling someone else Bakura made him slightly uncomfortable.
"You all," Bakura announced, ignoring the intern, "are to call him Ryou from now on."
Jou glared something fierce, but Yugi had a hand over his mouth, sensing the same danger that Ryou felt, yet somehow immune to the evil glare from Jounouchi. Malik, however, spoke up, irritated, "Why can't he be called Bakura? You're obviously Bakura-sama." He added tauntingly.
The white haired president smirked down at Malik, "Watch your mouth –who do you think hired you, tomb keeper?"
Malik's expression twisted to one of fury, "Do you not understand 'classified'? Cause I mentioned it a lot yesterday."
Bakura's smirk widened rather sadistically, "No, I don't think I do. In fact, I think they all deserve to know why you're here."
Malik dared not speak back, glowering angrily at his revealed boss, thinking Bakura would stop there.
"He managed to convince his sister that, in exact quotes, "better enforcing for the tomb would make things easier for us"!" Bakura laughed at Malik's enraged blush.
"Your family guards a tomb?" Yami asked curiously, eyes shifting to his right.
"I think a better question would be," Kaiba interjected, cutting off whatever Malik would have said, "why aren't we leaving?"
He stood, marching out the door with, no one close behind, even though Jounouchi, Ryou, and Bakura were standing. The rest of them reluctantly stood, some making a side trip to pitch their coffees first, and others following slowly so as not to get too far ahead or behind anyone else. Bakura and the other bosses walked ahead, while the interns walked more slowly, Jou farther back and unwilling to walk with anyone.
So much had already happened, and the day had barely become. Well, Ryou reasoned, at least the rest of the day would be spared of any weirdness.
Right?
I thought I'd ask you guys, but, what do you think? Should the plot involve the Egyptians' past? Or should it strictly be these characters in this modern society? Oh, and also, tempted to give Ryou a lil crush on Malik? Thoughts on that? Oh, and finally, I'd like to thank all of you that favorited, alerted, or (especially) those of you that reviewed!
~Lyssa-chan