Uzumaki
Chapter 4
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Ryou stepped into the house after gaining his bearings once more after his latest scare. He just didn't know what to do. All he had was the history of the curse and the fact that it would forever plague the city for the mark was long entombed under concrete and mile high buildings. If there was any possible way to get rid of the Kajou no Ankoku and the spiral mark under the city, apparently it wasn't going to be found easily. The boy sighed, running a hand through his hair as he looked down to the spiral marking that was still etched on the floor. "What is the purpose of this?" he wondered before shaking his head. "If I keep worrying, I'm going to lose my head." With Hitoru helping him out, hopefully they will figure out a way to get rid of this curse not just from him but from Domino as well. Ryou made his way upstairs, needing to get himself a bath. He was accustomed to taking a shower but seeing as water will go down the drain in a spiral motion, he didn't want to risk what could be possible if he let that happen.
He sighed as he relaxed in the warm bath, a simple luxury that he was glad to afford without the risk of something bad happening. He lounged back and closed his eyes, falling into a small doze, completely unaware of what was happening downstairs. The spiral that was etched on the floor started to slowly twist, growing with each minute pass before two people clambered out of it. Crimson huffed as he dusted his shirt off, taking on a human form before grabbing Toben and pulled him out. "Come on." he growled before he started lurking throughout the house with Toben following close behind.
"So, why are we here again?"
"Well, Bakura wants his little pet to be cared for and so we're going to do that while making the other guy's life a living hell." Crimson explained as they made their way into the kitchen. "Well, if we gotta do cooking or anything, Toben's leaving that to you." Toben huffed as he crossed his arms, brushing back a strand of hair from his face. "Fine. I'll take care of that now. You go find him." Crimson said, crimson eyes glancing to him before he started grabbing things to cook. Toben let out a puff of air before nodding and started making his way upstairs. He looked through room after room before coming across the bathroom and saw that Ryou was there. The creature of the spiral smirked as he raised a hand, deciding that it was the perfect time to give him another scare. Ryou was blissfully unaware of what was going on before he noticed the water was moving on its own. Opening his eyes, Ryou gasped when he saw a large whirlpool engulfing the water. He tried to back away from it but could only get so far. Even though he had leverage on the tub floor, the whirlpool itself was going into an endless abyss.
"Scared yet, kiddo?" A voice questioned and he quickly turned to see the man standing there and yelped. "Who are you?!" he whimpered. "Just a guest. A very familiar guest." he said, wine red eyes looking to him and Ryou caught sight of the spiral within one of them. "You...you're that animal I saw earlier." Toben growled. "Toben's not an animal!" he hissed then thought it over and smirked. "But then again, it isn't a far cry off from monster." he murmured, tapping his chin in thought.
"What do you want?!"
Toben looked back to him and chuckled. "Well, the Ankoku no Kajou wanted Toben and Toben's dear friend whose making a nice dinner for you to keep an eye on you~ We won't influence your choice...much...but we're here to escort you there should ya agree to go with him and save your little boyfriend. But after his father dying from the Uzumaki curse, who knows if he will still stay by your side so much as he claims." Ryou covered his ears and shook his head. "No...you're lying...you're lying!" he cried. "Keep that up and you're gonna slip right into that endless abyss." Toben whispered and Ryou looked down to the still raging whirlpool in his tub. "Please! Stop!" he cried and Toben smirked. "Toben will if you don't call Toben an animal again." Ryou nodded and Toben chuckled once more before lowering his hand and the whirlpool dimmed away. "Now clean yourself up." he muttered before leaving the room. Ryou whimpered softly before he moved to clean up, now wondering of his fate now.
Toben walked downstairs and into the kitchen. "Who knew you were the fancy chef when you're not cooking up curses." Toben commented with a grin. "Shut up, Toben." Crimson growled, brushing back a strand of black that got into his face as he continued to stir the noodles. Toben watched him before grinning. "You're planning something, aren't you?" Crimson smirked. "About time you noticed. Even if we're being nice, we can't let up on our job." he said as he drained the pot and stirred in the sauce. "Such a cheeky bastard."
"So are you."
"Toben knows and Toben prides self in title." Toben preened. Crimson shoved Toben away as he took the bowl and headed upstairs. "Have fun. Toben knows he did scaring the kid shitless with a whirlpool in his tub." Toben called with a cackle before he went back over to the spiral in the floor and sunk right back in as if it were water in hardwood. Crimson only shook his head as he headed upstairs, using the scent of fear that permeated the air to locate Ryou. Said boy was currently curled up on his bed, face buried in his pillow. "Aww, the poor boy. He looks so cute all worried over the end of his life." Crimson mocked as he stood in the doorway. Ryou looked up before lowering his head.
"Go away. I don't want anything a demon like you would make for me." he whispered and Crimson tsked. "Too bad. I slaved over a hot stove to make this for you and you go and reject it. Unless you like the idea of force feeding, I suggest you eat it or we can do this another way." he said, grinning as the food on the plate started to move on its own, strands of pasta raising up and curling in on itself, manipulated into the dreaded thing Ryou hated most of all. "Now, do you want to eat or die early by the most unusual of ways?" he asked and Ryou gulped as he watched him before looking down and nodded. "Alright. Now we're getting somewhere." Crimson murmured as the food returned to normal and the plate handed over. "We could be so much nicer to you but that's if you come to the Ankoku no Kajou. Other than that, we have free reign to make your life a living hell." he spoke as wisps of shadows started to emerge from him.
"So learn well of each experience that happens to you for they will only get worse." The shadows started spiraling up, dispersing into the air. Ryou watched as he left before sighing as he ate the food. It was about time he discussed about what to do about the Ankoku no Kajou with Hitoru.
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The next morning, Hitoru came over to the house, keeping an eye out to make sure nothing was going to happen to him as he went, before knocking on the door. Ryou opened it and let Hitoru inside. "We need to do something now, Hitoru. If we don't, you'll die." Ryou stated and Hitoru nodded. "Yeah. My mom's already a wreck from my father dying but I'm not going to be next and neither are you. So what's the first thing you think we should do?" he asked. "Well, the only thing I can think is head back to the library. I went there already. Talked to Marik and he gave me a book but all it told was the history of the Ankoku no Kajou and how Uzumaki began. I didn't look further in after that." Hitoru nodded. "Bring the book to me. If it knows about the Ankoku no Kajou, then it must know some sort of spell to take care of him." Ryou nodded as he headed upstairs. From his own place, Bakura smirked as he watched. "Too bad you won't find anything with the pages gone." Ryou soon came back downstairs with the book and Hitoru took it from him, opening it and skimming through pages. He stopped when he came across a section that was ripped out. "Hey, there are pages missing."
"How could that have happened? The book looks perfectly preserved so why would any pages be missing?" Ryou questioned. Hitoru mulled over it before he sighed. "Maybe the missing pages were the answer but the Ankoku no Kajou took it out to prevent us from getting rid of him." he said before tossing the book. "Damnit! We were so close!" Ryou placed a hand on his arm. "Wait, maybe there's still something at the library. If Marik was able to find this book, then there must be others if we're lucky." Hitoru nodded and both soon left. But as they went, Hitoru thought over what Ryou said and started becoming suspicious of Marik.
When they got there, the library was silent other than the tapping of keys on a keyboard, indicating someone was in. Ryou thought of the situation to be eerie since there was never a time when the library has been completely empty during hours. He walked over towards the reception desk with Hitoru, seeing Marik there. He stilled his hands before looking up to them and smiled. "Well hello there, Ryou. Interesting to see you here today~" he murmured. "Well I have an inquiry. The book you gave me on the Uzumaki curse, there were some pages missing. Do you happen to have them?" Ryou asked. Marik chuckled softly before shaking his head. "Nope. I never saw any pages. Some shameless kid must've torn them out and took them with him. It's so hard to manage such a huge place alone but I live with it." he replied, smirking a little. "So tell me, what are you looking for today?"
"Well...I want to find something on the Ankoku no Kajou. More preferably a way to defeat him and free the city."
"Oh, that must be a tough goal. Here, let me help you out." Marik spoke as he stood and moved away from behind the counter. Hitoru watched him closely and thought he saw something strange in the other's eyes but wasn't able to see clearly due to the dim lighting of the library. "I'm going to stay here if you don't mind." Hitoru said and Ryou looked back to him. "You sure?" Hitoru nodded and Ryou returned the gesture. "Alright...just be careful." Ryou whispered before walking off with Marik. Hitoru waited for them to be out of hearing range before he ducked behind the desk and started shuffling through things. "There's something wrong with that man and I'm going to find out." he said, unaware of who watched from atop a bookcase.
"So tenacious he is, Crimson." Toben said, licking his lips. "Toben would love to tear him apart."
"I would to so why not?" Crimson said, grinning as he slit his palm, watching the blood well up before he dropped it onto a blank papyrus sheet that sat before him. The drop was absorbed and soon, symbols started to spread across the page. "Time for round two, you foolish boy. Let's see you not get yourself a paper cut." he whispered and laughed darkly. Hitoru looked up as he heard the laugh but didn't see anyone around. the papers on the desk rustled softy by an invisible wind before they were carried up by it. Hitoru was oblivious until he saw one sheet fluttering about his feet. He watched it before realizing the jagged edge. "This must be the missing page." he whispered and reached to grab it but it eluded him, fluttering off in the breeze. He gave chase but realized his mistake once he was out in the open. Not even the sound of a clock ticking away minutes was heard in the silence.
"Figured it out, huh?"
"Too bad you're too late!" A voice cackled before a swarm of papers circled around him in a vicious tornado. Hitoru gasped as he was stuck in the eye of the paper storm and reached out to break himself free from it but stepped back as a black figure jumped before him outside of the raging storm. "I wouldn't do that if I were you." he purred mockingly. "And why not?" Crimson smirked. "So glad you asked." He waved his hand and a ball appeared in his hand. "Let's pretend this ball is your hand. Stick it anywhere near these papers and..." Crimson tossed the ball and like instant, the ball was shredded. "Unless you want to be left with a bleeding stump for a hand, go ahead and try getting yourself out." he whispered and Hitoru growled. "You're working for the Ankoku no Kajou?"
"Well duh. Why else would I be here? To have tea and cookies while we discuss my nonexistent love life? Pah! But I'll let you in on a little secret. Each person that works for the Ankoku no Kajou has a spiral eye like this." He pointed up to his left eye with a spiral pupil overwhelming the iris. "And we are the ones that bring the curse to you, Hitoru. The Ankoku no Kajou doesn't like someone mussing up his prize so if we get rid of you, Ryou is ours." he said and laughed again. Hitoru only growled. "You'll never get him!"
"Oh but we will. You just don't know how weak the human heart is. And we'll be willing to prove that. We are all powerful. And to think, we would have never been summoned if poor little Ryou didn't get caught up in it." Crimson spoke once again before cackling as his disappeared once more and the paper storm only gotten worse, some papers actually flying out and slicing at exposed skin. "Ugh...Ryou...Ryou! Get away from Marik!" he called, hoping the other had heard him. Ryou looked up as Marik scanned through some titles, mostly to prolong Ryou from checking back on Hitoru. "Marik, I think something's wrong with Hitoru. We should go back." he murmured as he touched Marik's arm. Marik looked down to him and shook his head. "Nothing's wrong with him. I mean what could possibly go wrong while you're here?" Marik questioned and Ryou became skeptical as he stepped back.
"I'm going to go check on him. Just do me the kind favor of finding a book of spells for me, please." Ryou said before running off. Marik watched before grinning. "I love ya like a brother, Ryou, but even I can't change fate. A little spell won't save you but you can try." he whispered with a laugh before walking further into the library's depth, his left eye losing the mask and became the spiral eye. Ryou ran back to the front and gasped. "Hitoru!" he cried as he ran towards him. "Don't, Ryou! This thing will tear you apart if you try!" he yelled and Ryou stopped, biting his lip. He watched helplessly as Hitoru was given cut after cut as the storm raged around him. The boy had to think of something and fast before remembering a key idea. Since the Ankoku no Kajou was coming for him, it was apparent that he wouldn't want him hurt, even with his own spell. "Hitoru, hold on! I have an idea and it should work!" Ryou called as he ran forward.
"No! Ryou, don't do it!"
Bakura cursed darkly before raising a hand. "Damn you, boy!" he hissed. Hitoru watched as Ryou leapt at him and before he could touch the storm, the papers stopped and fluttered down to the ground harmlessly. He caught Ryou in his arms and held the sobbing boy close. "I don't know what just happened but I'm glad you're not hurt." Hitoru whispered. "It was the only way. Since the Ankoku no Kajou wants me, he wouldn't want me to get hurt. So if I put myself in danger of his own curse, he would stop it before something happened." he whispered. From the bookcase, Crimson spat angrily off to the side. "Brave little brat he is. Guess we'll have to improvise, Toben. Come on." he said before the two disappeared from the library.
They held each other for a moment longer before Hitoru pulled back and looked down to Ryou. "So, did Marik find anything?" he asked. "No, we couldn't find a thing." Ryou answered before looking around. "I wonder where he went to." Hitoru shrugged and took Ryou's hand before making his way for the door. But as he went, he skimmed the floor for the ripped page but didn't see it. He cursed slightly before they left the library. Marik stepped out from the shadows, smirking. "Looks like I have the bait to lead you to your death by Uzumaki, Hitoru." he whispered, holding the page in hand.
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Zypher: And there you have it. A chapter done and another to be soon in the works. Only five more days til Halloween! Hope you all enjoy and will be eagerly waiting for the next segment. Ja ne!