Chapter 4- "A blessing or a curse."

4

Ryou woke up abruptly panting, sweating, and gasping for air. Had it all been a dream? Was Bakura downstairs or had he left? Did she even encounter him at all? She got out of bed and took very light steps heading downstairs. The living room was silent and the couch was empty. Bakura was gone. She felt conflicting emotions but finally let out a sigh of relief. She didn't know why she even felt slightly disappointed with his absence.

A loud knock was heard from down stairs. The sound broke her out of her thoughts and she immediately jumped out of bed. She grabbed her robe and threw it on before heading downstairs to open the door.
Ryou opened the door to find two police officers smiling at her. Despite their friendly smiles, they still had a professional demeanor that screamed, 'we mean business.'

"Hello miss, we're sorry to take up some of your time but there's Been many theft and burglary reports going on. Do you happen to suspect of anyone? Any trace that could lead us to the thief?"
Ryou knew exactly who they were talking about. She could tell them what she saw yesterday and basically 'rat him out' but no matter how much she wanted to tell, she just couldn't. She didn't want anything to happen to Bakura for some reason.

'Why the hell should I care what happens to him? That guy is nuts! It will be best to get him out of my life as soon as possible...' Ryou stood silent as she thought of him. 'If I describe him to them, they'll find him in no time at all and I'll feel safe again. That's it! I'm going to tell these cops who the thief is!' Ryou has made up her mind and was determined not to back out.

"Oh no officers, I'm sorry I haven't a clue who this person might be. I'm sorry I couldn't help.."
'What?! That's not what I intended to say.. or was it..?' She smiled weakly at the officers. They seemed disappointed but nodded in understanding.

"That's quite alright, just call in if you see him." They turned and started walking off her property.

"Will do. Good day!" She waved and closed the door. She let out a sigh. Whether it was relief or disappointment, she didn't know. Her heart had betrayed her and her tongue obeyed her heart's command instead of her brain's. She didn't know why she felt this obligation to protect him.

"Why didn't you tell them anything?" Ryou heard his voice but she didn't see him anywhere.

"Bakura? Where are you..?"
The curtains blocked all light from the outside from coming into her living room area and the dark grey walls made it difficult for her to see where he might have been hiding. She looked around defensively and tried to make out the direction in which she heard his voice. With just a blink of the eye, he appeared before her. A devilish grin played across his handsome face. Ryou was startled by his sudden presence.
'How did he do that?'

"Baku-" he grabbed her throat and slammed her on the door. Ryou gasped and placed both of her hands on the strong hand that was practically choking her.

"You're hurting me.."

"Foolish girl. After the things I've been putting you through, you protect me?" He pulled out his knife and held it close to her cheek. The cold metal gave Ryou shivers.

"I could kill you right fucking now and there would be nobody to protect you. All because you kept your pretty little mouth shut." He applied pressure to the dagger and smoothly made a small cut on her cheek.
Ryou yelped in pain and instinctively tried to push him away.
The small cut started to bleed very slowly. A little drop of blood slowly fell down her cheek.

"Do you want to know why you chose not to speak against me?" He purred into her ear with a low voice. Ryou remained silent. She didn't want to entertain him and she was also curious as to why she protected him, because even she didn't know the answer.
Suddenly she felt her cheek getting slightly wet. Bakura licked the blood off of her face slowly and forced her to look him in the eye by gripping her jaw tightly. As his tongue traveled slowly up her cheek, his eyes burned holes into hers. He was an expert at making any situation uncomfortable for her.

"It's because your loyalty belongs to me, my dear. You would never betray me..." He let go of her neck and slowly and closed his eyes shut. He was trying to contain his animal instincts and not try to take the beautiful girl right in front of him. Her silky robe started to smoothly travel down her shoulders exposing her nightgown underneath. This was not helping the situation and he took a deep breath.

"Fuck I need a smoke." He let her go and turned away from her. His entire hand gripped on his face as he cursed himself under his breath. Ryou remained silent feeling both a little fearful and excited. Her cheek started to sting and she remembered what had just occurred a few moments ago. Bakura stood still, but moments later he went out the door without saying a word.

'I don't know if you're a blessing or a curse...' Ryou sighed.

Bakura never returned. He was gone, but that's not to say Ryou didn't see him in her dreams. They were more like nightmares, each one feeling slightly more realistic than the next. She would wake up with light bruises and cuts. However, in the real world, Ryou found herself to be very busy over the past few weeks. Although he did cross her mind from time to time and she wondered why he left mysteriously, Ryou focused solely on graduation. Thankfully, it all went well. She was expecting the worst but she managed to walk across the stage without falling like she thought she would.
Now Ryou had time to do what she'd been dying to do all along.

"Little Ryou! I haven't seen you in quite a while. I've missed your pretty face, darling!" The tall brunette looked down at Ryou. She wore a plaid pencil skirt with a long sleeved ruffled top. Her black heels adding height to her already tall form.

"Miss Jane, how are you? Sorry I haven't come lately. I've been quite busy." Ryou smiled apologetically and approached the tall brunette's desk.
"But I'm here now... And it feels great to visit this lovely place again."

"Oh Ryou, you remind me so much of myself when I was your age. The library was like my sanctuary!"

"Which is why you chose to be a librarian!" Ryou giggled. She felt the same about the library being her sanctuary.

"Precisely, but tell me, what brings you here tonight? Any special book you've got in mind?" The librarian asked genuinely curious and interested.
Ryou looked hesitant for a moment as she thought of something to respond to the librarian.

"Well actually Miss Jane, I've just come to browse. See which lovely book catches my eye. I should go look around now.."

"Alright dear, just call me over if you need assistance."

Ryou walked off and headed towards the elevator. The library was a rather large one, and there was indeed a particular subject she sought after.
The silver doors of the elevator slid open and Ryou pressed the button that would take her to the 6th floor.
The 6th floor consisted of historical texts and documents that could not be checked out. Ryou had a feeling that whatever she was looking for, she'd find it there.

Ryou headed towards the back and began to search for books related to ancient Egypt. Her purpose in coming tonight was to finally learn more about her millennium ring.
'Or Bakura's ring..'

Her fingers delicately ran through the shelves as her eyes actively scanned the titles printed on the spines of the books.
Her finger touched a certain book and she felt the book burn her finger tip. She flinched at the slight sting she felt on her finger and pulled her hand away. A mysterious book caught her eye. Ryou wanted to remove the book from the shelf but hesitated a bit. Something inside of her triggered her to become very suspicious of the book that was on the shelf in front of her. Her millennium ring started to glow and its middle spike pointed directly at the book.

'My ring must want me to examine this book..' She carefully slide the old book out of the shelf and carried the massive thing to the nearest table and began scanning the cover. It was a very thick book, it's edges were worn out significantly and its pages were either stained or loosing their color. The book itself looked extremely old. Ancient even. There was no text on it's cover. Not a title nor an author's name was printed anywhere on the outside.

She carefully flipped the book open to the first page.
"The Millennium Spellbook," she read out loud to herself. However, she realized it was all written in ancient Egyptian text. Ryou almost fell out of her chair.

'I-I can read that?! It's all so clear to me.. as if it were written in English! B-But how?!'

A strong wind passed her and it caused the book to flip its old pages to another random page. This freaked Ryou out. She was in a library. That wasn't a particularly outside. So where did the wind come from? She stared down at the book before her and couldn't help but to give into her curiosity and read the page.

'The Millennium Items... It looks like mine along with other ancient items..'
This was no coincidence. Ryou was certain this page had been exposed to her for a reason and she was determined to read the text in order to discover more.

She studied the pictures carefully and read the text. It was a dark magical spell containing instructions on how to create these items. They were to bring peace to Egypt. These were the millennium items and there were seven, and Ryou had one of them. She learned that they possessed ancient powers far beyond comprehension. However, she also read that in order to create these treasures, human sacrifices were to be made. The mere thought of a human sacrifice made Ryou shiver in fear. She could only imagine how horrifying it was for several to be made. She looked down at her own ancient artifact and wondered why she had crossed paths with it.

Ryou began reading further, learning about the shadows and shadow alchemy. The more she read, the more confused she became.

'What's Bakura got to do with all this?' she began flipping through more pages and suddenly the same burning spark was felt on her fingers. This caused the Millennium ring to react and it started becoming hot. It burned Ryou but also clouded her mind with images flashing rapidly. The same burning village, women and children running, crying and screaming... The men trying desperately to protect their families. She slipped through more pages and more visions invaded her mind. She saw a small boy with short white hair. He stood alone with fear and horror in his eyes hiding behind a small stone home as he watched his people getting brutally murdered by strong men in horses. Black smoke and ashes filled the air.

Ryou wasn't even reading the book anymore. She just flipped through the pages and with each page of the book, another image flashed before her eyes, each one passing at the speed of light until her mind could not take it anymore and the burning sensation on her chest became much too strong. She violently closed the book and quickly stood up, causing the chair she was sitting on to fall back. Her head bent down, eyes closed tight, and her fists on the table supporting her. She panted and gasped for air. Tears rolled down her cheeks. The visions haunted her and were so emotionally distressing, especially for such a kind hearted girl like Ryou.

However there was a word on the tip of her tongue. All she had to do was open her mouth and say it. She didn't know where she heard it or even learned it from, but she knew for a fact that she never heard of it until this instant. The word wasn't anywhere in the text, it just came to her like magic.

"Akefia..." She whispered and finally opened her eyes. Only to see that the ancient book was now gone.