Well, here's Chapter 3 of Allure! This chapter has the rest of the group in it, and I hope you like it! ^_^
/Bakura to Ryou/
(Yami to Yugi)
Yandounishi- Landlord
Aibou- Partner
Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh
A fish blubbed its way through its fish bowl, oblivious to the scene laying before it. The owner of the small angelfish was hanging from the ceiling, eyes void of all life. The girls' hair was all matted, and blood seeped lightly from her open mouth.
Two days later, the angelfish will die and be thrown down the toilet. The dead fish will then make its way to the ocean where its corpse will be eaten by a salmon. Three weeks later, that salmon will be caught by a small fishing boat. The salmon will be gutted, and in its stomach a little girl will find a beautiful, unpainted charm…
Chapter 3: Talks, Walks, and Reminders
"So where did you move from Helena?" Amethyst eyes sparkled with enthusiasm as a small group chatted with Helena towards the end of school when they were given free time to converse with one another.
The group was none other than Yugi Muto, Joey Wheeler, Tristan Taylor and Téa Gardner. And, also, unknown to Helena, Yami.
"My mother moved me here from California." Helena's tone was bored, like she spoke of this all the time. "She's a director. She doesn't like me being left at home alone all that often, so she drags me along when she has to go out of country for films and such."
"What about your dad?" Yugi asked, leaning on his desk. Helena gave an airy laugh.
"That's a laugh." Helena told them. "My dad ditched my mother and me when I was nine. Haven't heard from him since." A few eye brows furrowed, and Tristan was the first to speak.
"Yeah, but don't you ever wonder how he's doing?" He asked, and Helena shook her head.
"Not really." She answered lightly. Helena started toying with her bracelets, mainly spinning the closest one to her wrist on her right arm.
"What happened to your bracelet?" Téa inquired, and Helena paused briefly to look at her bracelet before continue spinning it.
"Apparently, I chipped it." Helena's tone was level and cool, like her bracelets were a taboo topic. Téa gave a soft, 'ooh', but before she could ask anything further, Helena had spoken up.
"Do you guys know anything about him?" Helena's question was a bored tone, like she was just asking for the hell of it. Her hand was lifted, and was pointing at one boy specifically.
That boy was Ryou.
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It was free time during class. School was almost over, so it wasn't like it really mattered to Ryou or anything. Just free time for him to get a head start on his homework.
And, of course, eavesdrop. On his defense, it wasn't like he did it on purpose or anything, not at all. It just sort of… happened. It wasn't his fault that some of the kids talked like they were about to go over a waterfall.
Of course, that is how Ryou inevitably overheard one conversation in particular.
The one between Yugi and his friends and Helena.
"Do you guys know anything about him?" The question had been posed by Helena, Ryou identifying from the fact that only she was a girl amongst the group besides Téa, and the voice didn't sound like Téa's.
"Who?" Joey. Definitely Joey. From a different station amongst his ears, he caught wind of another interesting conversation, but Ryou's attention was kept firmly on this one for some odd reason.
"Him." Helena sounded irritated. Though, talking with Joey, one couldn't blame them. Ryou knew that although he could probably count all the times he had talked with the blonde on one hand, that didn't make it any easier to talk to him, Yugi and company around or not. "The albino."
Ryou felt himself stiffen. They were talking about him? That was just his luck. Yugi and them were probably going to tell her to stay away from him.
There went his only chance at getting a real friend out the window.
But then again, with a yami like Bakura, he probably deserved it.
/I heard that yandounishi./ It wasn't meant to be rude, but Ryou knew that is was his yami's way of letting him know that he was listening. /Besides, I don't see what's so great about that girl anyways./
Ryou tactfully chose to ignore his yami, opting to tuning back into the conversation. Nothing good would come out of arguing with Bakura anyways- just a headache.
"…Bakura?" Ryou heard Yugi question as his ears perked back to the conversation.
"Bakura?" Ryou could hear the confusion in her voice. "He told me that his name was Ryou…" If the group was shocked, Ryou couldn't tell.
"Well, yeah, but we call him Bakura." Tristan, definitely. Ryou briefly wondered what they'd tell Helena if she asked why they didn't call him by his first name. He didn't think that Helena would be one to believe a 'voice in my head' story.
"Why?" There was the question.
/Wow yandounishi. You must be so proud of yourself. Ever consider a career as a psychic?/ Bakura's voice echoed sarcastically through Ryou's mind.
Once again, Ryou chose to ignore Bakura.
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"Is it one of your Japanese customs?" Helena inquired, eyes flitting back and forth between the members of the group. She watched as their eyes looked back and forth from one another as if they were trying to agree with some sort of story.
"Heh heh, that's right," Yugi gave an innocent smile, and Helena flashed one back before firing off her next question.
"Then why aren't you called Muto?" She inquired innocently. "Or Tristan as Taylor?" The group looked like deer caught in headlights, yet no one seemed to want to make the first move.
"Ah, well," Joey attempted. "You see…" Then Helena's voice came, surprisingly quiet.
"You don't like him. Right?" Her voice was startlingly quiet, as well as cold.
"That's not true!" Yugi protested. "It's just that we… have conflicting interests." Within Yugi's mind, a voice chuckled.
('Conflicting interests', aibou? That's a wonderful understatement.) Yami prodded Yugi, but said nothing else. Helena blinked.
"Oh. Well then…" But whatever she was about to say was lost in the ringing of the bell and the sudden clap of thunder as rain continued to pound against the windows. It had started to rain after lunch, and it seemed like it wanted to migrate to a thunder storm now.
"I'll see you later." Helena stood up from her seat, dusting non-existent dust off of her uniform skirt. She picked up her bag, key chain clinking as she made her way out of the room.
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Of all days to forget his umbrella, it had to be today. Ryou stared up at the blackened sky, flinching as lightning flashed brightly against the black sky and thunder screamed hardly half a minute later. He stood underneath the roof of the school that covered the outside steps, hoping uselessly that the storm would stop or at least lull enough to allow him to make a break for home.
"Stranded?" Ryou jumped, startled, turning to see Helena standing next to him, looking up at the sky with wide eyes, bag and a black umbrella hanging from her hands. Her head came down and she looked at him, eyes closed, flashing one of her smiles. "If you'd like, you can share my umbrella."
Ryou, startled as he was, stumbled to find something- anything -to say.
"I- uh, well… I…" Ryou stumbled over his words, and Bakura wasn't helping any.
/What, startled by a pretty face yandounishi?/ Bakura cackled at his hikari's reaction.
"Sorry." Helena apologized. "I didn't mean to surprise you." Ryou shook his head.
"It's alright," Ryou finally managed.
"So?" Helena turned so her left side was facing the rain.
"Hmm?" Ryou asked, turning so his right side was facing the rain. "So what?" The umbrella was in between them now. Helena laughed and shook her head.
"I asked you if you wanted to share my umbrella, silly." Helena gave an airy laugh as Ryou blinked a bit bewilderedly. "I mean, I understand if you don't want to… I just figured that since it's raining and it doesn't look like- you know, anyone's coming for you and you obviously don't have one of your own…" Ryou turned his head away from Helena as he debated. Sure, he could turn the offer down, but then he'd feel bad because Helena would probably be sad.
/Just say no and get it over with already!/ Bakura snapped, Ryou jumped slightly at his yami's tone of voice, but Helena seemed to take no heed.
Opening his mouth, Ryou answered.
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"So, this is where you live Ryou?" Helena turned, facing Ryou as they stood at the bottom of the steps that led to the door to the apartment complex that Ryou lived. Ryou nodded.
"Yes." Was his reply, and Helena's short response was,
"Cool. I guess I'll see you tomorrow?" The question was innocent enough, but it was still enough to cause Ryou to freeze.
"Uh… well…" Ryou scrambled for words for what seemed to him to be the millionth time that day. "I don't know." Helena's face fell, and Ryou felt like smacking himself. "Maybe?" At that word, the girl perked back up.
"Promise?" She asked.
"Err… well," Ryou cursed himself for getting himself into this situation. He should've just said no in the first place and been done.
"Yeah." He finally sighed. "I promise." Ryou offered a weak smile.
"Here," Helena said, maneuvering the umbrella to her shoulder while she pulled one of the bracelets off of her arm. Looping one finger through the bracelet, the umbrella was returned to her hand before the bracelet was offered to Ryou, and placed in his hand.
"What's this for?" He asked, confused. Helena smiled and winked.
"Just so you don't forget your promise," She smiled, and turned and left Ryou, heading on her way back home.
Looking at the bracelet in his hand, Ryou sent one fleeting glance where Helena had been before he hopped up the steps to the interior of the apartment complex before heading in himself and making his way up to his apartment.
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So, yeah. Chapter 3... How did you like it?
Please read and review and tell me what you think!
~~Paw-Chan Signing Out~~
