Title: A Persistent Shadow (Chapter 6)
Pairing: Ryou Bakura x Yami Bakura, possible others
Rating: M
Summary: The Pharaoh uses a spell to force Yami Bakura out of Ryou's body, but unfortunately for Ryou it doesn't work quite as well as intended.
For the next few moments, all Ryou could do was sit there, mortified. The spirit, for his part, seemed perfectly content to stay where he was and continue laughing at Ryou's discomfort. Ryou was distantly surprised that he hadn't made any kind of comment yet.
"Oh, there will be plenty of time for that later. I intend to savor this."
The spirit's voice jolted Ryou out of his stupor. He turned bright red and fled back under the covers, burying his head under a pillow. He darted out an arm to hit the snooze button on his alarm clock before fully retreating into his blanket cocoon.
Ryou tried to calm his panicked mind by pretending for a moment that nothing had happened. He hadn't had any dream about the spirit, especially not a... a... disturbing one. He wasn't still feeling an uncontrollable buzz of physical excitement beneath his mortification and his body certainly wasn't waiting expectantly for the end of an interrupted dream that had never happened.
As a strategy, it wasn't working very well.
He switched to focusing on his surroundings. It's nice under here, he thought. The pillows were soft. The blanket was warm. Maybe he didn't have to go to school today. Or any other day. Or go anywhere else, for that matter. He could just... stay there, under the covers. Indefinitely. It seemed like a good plan.
Seemed like a good plan until the spirit appeared next to him on the bed, anyway. "Does this mean you expect me to entertain you all day?" Ryou felt the spirit run a single finger down his spine, sending a hot, tingling sensation through his entire body. He choked out a short, flustered cry, threw the covers off and bolted out of the room entirely, leaving the spirit laughing behind him.
He had no idea where he was going when he left the room, but once he reached the hallway, he made a split-second decision and raced into the bathroom. He ran to the shower and wrenched the water handle so that freezing cold water rained down on him full blast. He switched it off in shock a few seconds later and stood there shivering, his heart pounding. He wasn't the most comfortable he'd ever been, but his current physical state was preferable to what it had been.
The spirit appeared behind him in the shower. "The traditional method for eliminating that problem is far less unpleasant."
Under normal circumstances Ryou would have blushed, but thankfully he was too frozen from the water to have much of a physical reaction right then. It didn't make the spirit's words less embarrassing, though. He hadn't... done that since he'd become fully aware there was a presence in his head that could see everything he did. He couldn't very well do it while someone was there watching him.
"I would never have let that stop me," the spirit said, as though not seeing why anyone else would either.
Ryou covered his face with both hands. "You wouldn't," he replied, trying not to wonder whether the spirit was referring to his time in Ryou's body or his former lifetime. It was better for what remained of Ryou's sanity to just assume the latter. He took a deep breath and turned on the hot water. He needed to get back to some semblance of a normal day.
"On a normal day you generally remove your clothes before starting the water."
"This way works just as well," Ryou replied stubbornly. He'd already been soaked through, so there was little point in taking them off now. He washed himself as quickly and completely as he could without taking off his pajamas, which still ended up taking longer than usual due to the added difficulty in rinsing the soap off his body.
"Unless you intend to go to school like this, you'll have to take them off anyway."
"Can't you go watch some more television for a while?" Ryou pleaded.
"Right now, watching you is the more entertaining choice by far." The spirit sounded more gleeful than Ryou had ever heard him.
Ryou sighed. "Of course it is." He turned off the water and dried himself off as best as he could in wet pajamas, then dripped his way back to his room. He put on his uniform in two parts, first taking off his pajama top and replacing it with the uniform shirt, then doing the same for his pajama bottoms and his underwear and uniform trousers. This meant that both he and the spirit remained at least partially clothed at all times, which was good for his currently frayed nerves, but it also meant that he got his uniform wet in various inconvenient places.
He quickly gulped down a bowl of cereal, not wanting to go to school without breakfast for a second day in a row. Afterward, he took a moment to throw his blankets back on the bed, grab his stuff, and turn off the TV, then headed out the door.
Ryou's dream consumed most of his thoughts as he walked along. He didn't want to think about it, but his mind just wouldn't let it go. It didn't help that there wasn't much else to take up his attention during that time or that the spirit did his best to feed into Ryou's obsession any way he could.
He lamented that his fevered imagination had chosen the spirit of all people to have a dream about. It was bad enough that the spirit would have seen and mocked him for it no matter who was in it, but it could at least have been about someone else. Like Yugi. Or Téa. Or Joey. Even Kaiba would have been a less upsetting. What sick, twisted part of his mind had decided on...
Ryou halted right in his tracks.
The spirit stopped at his side. "I know what you're thinking, Landlord, and no, you can't blame me for this one. You came up with that fantasy entirely on your own."
Ryou turned slightly pink at hearing it called a 'fantasy'. He shook his head at the spirit's denial. Whether it was true or not, the idea that his mind wasn't in any way responsible for the dream was too appealing to give up so easily. "How do I know you're not lying?" he challenged, too caught up in the argument to notice he was speaking to the spirit out loud in public.
"If I had the power to control your dreams, I would have used it long before now," the spirit replied reasonably. "And as much as I've enjoyed your reaction, I myself would have chosen something far more terrifying."
Ryou nearly protested that there couldn't be anything more terrifying, but he knew very well that it wasn't true. Dreams of horrific violence, dreams of his friends suffering, dreams of his friends hating him... all would have been worse than what he'd experienced. The dream he'd had was also relatively tame as far as it went. The spirit could easily have done worse even if he had decided to torment him with dreams of that nature.
As if to confirm that thought, several images of the 'worse' that the spirit might have inflicted on him filled his head.
The spirit snickered. "Already preparing something for tonight, Landlord?"
Ryou's face burned. Shut up. He realized he must have been standing around for some time and looked at his watch. Ack, I'm going to be late. He took off running in the direction of the school, relieved to have a different problem to occupy his thoughts for the time being.
Ryou raced all the way to school and made it with a few minutes to spare. He ran into Marik close to the building. "Hi," he said, still panting slightly from the run. The spirit appeared next to him.
Marik gave his clothes a quick glance. "Rough morning?"
"Yeah. I woke up late," Ryou lied. He tried to smooth out his now mostly dry but extremely wrinkled shirt, but the shirt wasn't cooperating. He was going to look like a mess all day. "So, it's your real first day today, right?"
Marik nodded. "Yugi said I'm in your class."
"That's great!" Ryou didn't want Marik to end up left out because he was in a different class than everyone else. He knew too well how that felt. Though, he had to admit Marik would probably have been a lot better at pushing himself forward and making friends than Ryou was.
Ryou noticed the spirit was walking around Marik, looking him over. Ryou wasn't sure why – it wasn't like he'd never seen Marik before.
I was simply taking in the terrible job he's done of camouflaging himself.
Ryou hadn't seen it before, but the spirit had a point. Marik did look incredibly out of place in his uniform. He still seemed to be wearing most of his jewelry, though it wasn't as easily visible as it was normally. He'd also tied the front of his shirt up so that his midriff was exposed. It displayed even more of his stomach than his usual shirt did.
You're very focused on other people's bodies today, Landlord.
Ryou blushed, realizing he'd been looking at Marik's bare stomach for longer than was probably appropriate. Hey, you were doing it first. I was just thinking that Marik's fashion sense and our school dress codes don't mix very well. He looked back up at Marik's face. "Um. You'll get in trouble if you wear your shirt like that." And not just with the teachers, either, he thought but didn't add. The bullies at Domino High could be flat-out insane at times.
Marik looked down. "Oh, like this? You're probably right."
Ryou expected him to do the natural thing and put his shirt back to normal, but Marik made no move to do so. "Don't you care?"
"Not really," Marik replied. "I was kind of hoping the principal would see me."
Ryou's first irrational thought was that Marik had some kind of... intentions towards the man, which frankly disturbed him more than even the dream he'd had that morning. A small "Why?" was all he could muster in response.
"He gave a very long, detailed speech about the importance of wearing proper clothing yesterday." Marik smiled slightly maniacally. "I thought he would like to see what I took away from it."
Ryou was momentarily relieved that it hadn't been anything like what he'd thought, but still cringed at the answer he'd gotten. Ryou was starting to see how the old Marik could have caused so much trouble. If he was this eager to face off against someone who provoked him now, Ryou didn't want to know how he might have acted when he had still been full of hatred and anger. "You really shouldn't antagonize him." His attention was drawn back to Marik's midriff by the spirit, who for reasons known only to himself was choosing to inspect it up close. H-hey. Get away from there.
The spirit stayed where he was.
"If ever anyone deserved to be antagonized, it's him," Marik replied obstinately.
Now the spirit reached out and poked Marik's stomach with one finger. Naturally Marik didn't notice anything.
Ryou turned pink for what felt like the dozenth time that day. The spirit was setting new records for embarrassing him and it was still only morning. Stop that!
Jealous, Landlord? The spirit mocked, moving away from Marik.
Ryou noticed that Marik was looking at him strangely and realized the spirit had probably been actively trying to make him look ridiculous. He wondered how long he'd been standing there staring at him without saying anything. It was always difficult to tell when he talked to the spirit mentally. "Er. You still shouldn't," he blurted out, just to have made some kind of response.
"Okay, if you really insist," Marik said, unknotting his shirt and smoothing it out. "Let's go inside." He was still looking at Ryou with an incomprehensible look on his face, though he sounded cheerful enough.
Great. Now he thinks I'm really weird. If Ryou could have glared at the spirit without looking even worse, he would have.
Thankfully, the principal was nowhere in sight when they got inside. The warning bell rang shortly afterward. "We should get to class. I can show you where our classroom is," Ryou said a little too helpfully. He hoped to get Marik inside the classroom before they ran into anyone hostile. Domino High was a minefield of potential bullies, any of whom would love a chance to pick on the new kid.
Marik seemed to know what he was up to, but didn't protest. "Alright."
"It's up the stairs..." Ryou led him up to the classroom.
Téa, Tristan, and Joey were already in the room when they got there, but Yugi was nowhere to be found. Ryou went to his desk. Marik started to follow him, but their teacher pulled him back. "I have to introduce you to the class." She wrote his name on the board.
Ryou put his things down and greeted his friends. "Where's Yugi?" he asked.
"Yugi said he might late this morning," Joey replied. "Wouldn't say what he's doing, though."
Yugi ran in a few seconds later, making it in just before the bell ended. He quickly made his way to his desk.
Ryou saw that Yugi looked almost as disheveled as he did and for one bizarre moment wondered if he'd had a similar dream about the Pharaoh, but he discarded the idea almost immediately. Even if Yugi had had a dream like that about the Pharaoh, Ryou didn't see the Pharaoh tormenting Yugi about it the way the spirit did to him. He had no idea how the Pharaoh would react, but it had to be better than the response he'd gotten.
Heh. The Pharaoh takes it as given that everyone loves him. He probably wouldn't even understand why his precious host might find it disturbing.
You have no way of knowing that, Ryou thought skeptically. It wasn't like the spirit had ever been caught having a suggestive dream about the Pharaoh. Not that Ryou knew about, anyway.
There's no need to be so disgusting, Landlord.
After everyone was settled down, the teacher introduced Marik to the class and sent him to sit in the back row at the empty desk to Ryou's left. Ryou smiled at him as he sat down.
Class continued as normal after that. The spirit wandered off somewhere for the morning, leaving Ryou free to concentrate on his teachers.
Yugi pulled him aside at lunchtime, telling the others to go ahead and save them a few seats.
Ryou felt a little unnerved, not knowing what Yugi wanted to talk to him about. He didn't seem angry, so it was unlikely that he'd figured out what Ryou had been keeping from everyone, but Ryou couldn't think of anything good that would make the boy specifically seek him out alone today.
The spirit returned to him, not looking especially pleased about this development either.
The first words out of Yugi's mouth didn't help much, either. "The Pharaoh did some tests on the Millennium Ring this morning. He wanted to see if the spirit is really inside."
Ryou steeled his expression, not letting the alarm he was feeling show. "What did he find out?" Ryou forced himself to ask.
Yugi smiled. "Don't worry! The Pharaoh was right."
Ryou was very confused. "Right about what?"
"The spirit's trapped inside the ring."
"He... is...?" Ryou replied slowly, now completely dumbfounded.
Don't be so obvious, Landlord. As far as he knows, you have no reason to disbelieve him.
Ryou knew the spirit was right in this case. "Um, I mean, how do you know? What did the Pharaoh do?"
Yugi waved his hands. "I don't really understand any of it. But he checked the ring somehow and found a dark presence."
The spirit found this hilarious for some reason and started cracking up. Foolish Pharaoh. As usual, not even close to the mark.
Ryou wanted to ask the spirit what he meant, but he couldn't do that and focus on his conversation with Yugi at the same time. "And the dark presence is the spirit? How do you know he's really trapped and not just..." Ryou searched for a good word, but couldn't find one. "...Not just living there, like he used to?"
Yugi shrugged. "I don't know. But the Pharaoh says whatever's in the ring can't come out under its own power. And it seems pretty unlikely that there'd be a completely different dark presence in the ring besides the one we already know, don't you think?"
From the way the spirit's mirth increased at that statement, Ryou wasn't so sure. But he wasn't about to let Yugi know that. "You're probably right."
Yugi nodded. "I just thought you'd like to know. Let's get to lunch."
The two walked down to the lunchroom. Ryou had too much occupying his mind to keep up with his friends' conversations. As he ate, he took the opportunity to ask the still-amused spirit about what was going on. If you're here, why is there still a dark presence in the ring?
The spirit sat in the empty spot across from him. Because there's a 'dark presence' in every Millennium Item. They're dark artifacts that were created in a dark ritual. The spirit looked very smug at knowing so much more about the items than the Pharaoh, but strangely, Ryou thought he detected a hint of anger and bitterness in that last bit.
So he'd have found a dark presence no matter which item he tested?
Precisely.
Ryou paused in eating his lunch. We're lucky he only tested the ring, then. If he'd tested any of the other items...
Ha! I'd like him to test the Millennium Puzzle. I'd love to see his reaction when he finds a dark presence a hundred times stronger than that in the Millennium Ring. Or should I say, ninety-nine times stronger. Definite bitterness this time.
Ryou was just bewildered now. What are you talking about? Why would the Millennium Puzzle be any worse than the other items?
That's none of your concern, Landlord. The spirit disappeared.
Ryou went back to eating his lunch and tried to catch up on what his friends were saying. Toward the end of lunch, when they were about to go back to class, Yugi pulled him aside again, this time with Marik. "Listen guys, the Pharaoh wants your help with something."
"I'm willing to help with anything," Marik replied brightly.
Ryou wasn't that eager. If nothing else, aiding the Pharaoh in any way would likely mean dealing with a disgruntled spirit during and afterward. He had to pick his battles. "What does he want our help with?"
"The Pharaoh's not too happy that the spirit's still in the ring. He wants him completely gone, so--"
Marik interrupted. "I've told you, I don't think the spirit can be in the ring anymore. Even if he hasn't been destroyed, he has to be somewhere else."
Yugi turned his head to the side, as though trying to avoid someone ranting right in his ear. "The Pharaoh, uh, doesn't agree with you. He wants to inspect the ring some more, see if he can get an image of the presence inside it. He's hoping there's a way to purify it."
Ryou could hear the spirit laughing, though he was still out of sight. After what the spirit had just told him about the Millennium Items, Ryou could almost understand why the spirit kept calling the Pharaoh clueless. If the spirit wasn't lying (which was always a possibility), the Pharaoh really had no idea what he was doing. "Um. That's fine, but what does he need us for?" He wasn't liking the idea of being around the ring again. He'd just gotten rid of the thing, and he didn't know what the spirit would do if he had access to it again.
"He needs Marik for help with some of the magic he wants to perform and he needs you because the ring still seems to consider you its owner."
"What?" That wasn't something Ryou wanted to hear, not that it surprised him that much. "But, uh, isn't the Pharaoh worried that the spirit will come out and possess me again? I've only been free for two days." He was a little upset by the Pharaoh's apparent lack of concern for his well-being.
If it means destroying me, the Pharaoh couldn't care less about what happens to you.
Yugi didn't look that worried either. "The Pharaoh is confident that he can keep that from happening. He wants to do it at the game shop today after school. Can you come?"
"I can come," Marik said immediately.
The spirit appeared behind Ryou. Say yes.
Ryou was instantly suspicious. Why?
I want to see what he finds out. You need to know what he's up to.
No! Ryoudidn't know if he was telling the truth or if it was just an excuse to get close to the ring for some other purpose, but it didn't really matter. He shook his head. "I... I'm sorry. I don't want to go near the ring again. Not if you think he's in there."
Marik put a hand on his shoulder. "We won't do it, then."
Yugi nodded, looking sympathetic. "Yeah. It's okay, I'll deal with the Pharaoh." He looked like he was already getting an earful from said Pharaoh.
Ryou pulled away from Marik's hand and looked down at the ground. He felt guilty about receiving sympathy from Yugi and Marik over something he'd actually been lying about.
You could easily solve that problem by doing what they want you to, the spirit said helpfully.
Ryou was firm. No. I'll live with it if it means protecting them from you.
Really now, I'm not even asking you to harm them. I only want to see what the Pharaoh is trying to do.
He seems to need me to even do it, whatever it is. You won't be missing anything. Ryou looked back up at Yugi. "He's not giving you too many problems, is he?"
"Nah. He's not happy, but he'll get over it. He'll just have to find another way to do it."
The three walked back to their classroom for afternoon classes. The spirit trailed after Ryou, trying to convince him to tell Yugi he'd changed his mind and would help after all. He didn't stop when class started, standing right in front of Ryou and blocking his view of the teacher.
After a while, Ryou was getting very tired of the spirit's ranting. How do you know it's not just a trap? For all we know, he knows exactly where you are and is planning something to get rid of you for good.
"If you really believed that, you'd have agreed to go."
Ryou couldn't really argue with that logic. What I think doesn't matter. It might still be true.
"The Pharaoh is much more obvious than that. He would never have allowed the others near you if he suspected I was still here."
Ryou had to admit that the spirit was probably right about that one, but that really only solidified his intention to keep the spirit away from both the Pharaoh and the Millennium Ring. He wouldn't let the spirit wear him down. If nothing else, the spirit would eventually become as tired of fruitlessly ranting at him as Ryou was of listening to him. Ryou really had no reason to give in – he knew very well that the spirit would always return to ranting at him about something, so he had little to gain by giving him what he wanted.
From the scowl on his face, the spirit himself seemed to have realized how ineffective his approach was. He fumed at Ryou silently for a few moments before something apparently occurred to him that put an unsettling smirk on his face.
Ryou knew the spirit well enough to know that nothing good could come of this. He eyed the spirit distrustfully.
The spirit chuckled, coming around to stand at Ryou's side. "There's really nothing to worry about, Landlord," he said innocently, bringing one hand up to rest on Ryou's shoulder. "I've simply realized what a terrible tenant I've been."
Ryou stiffened. The spirit making references to being a tenant was never a good sign, but at least it wasn't as dire as when he talked about--
"Why, my rent is months overdue."
Ryou's uneasiness grew worse, but he reassured himself that the spirit could no longer 'pay the rent' the way he had in the past. Everyone was safe.
"Yes, you're right about that, but fortunately I've found another method of payment," the spirit said darkly.
Ryou didn't want to find out what that method might be. You've technically been evicted, so you really, really don't have to pay anything anymore, Ryou thought back frantically, not that he thought for a minute that this was actually about 'rent'.
"I'd much rather pay you what you're owed. And how better to do that, than by giving you something you want?" The spirit moved completely behind him, bringing his hand up to stroke Ryou's throat.
Something I want? Ryou felt sheer dread rising inside him. The worst things the spirit did were always twisted variations of something he 'wanted'. Any offhand thought he'd had could become a warped, terrifying reality.
The particular thought the spirit had chosen became abundantly clear when he ran his hands suggestively down Ryou's back.
Ryou sat very still. He was in the middle of class. Now wasn't the time to panic. You don't really mean to--
"Oh, but I do," the spirit replied, an undercurrent of sadistic laughter in his voice.
Okay, maybe now was a good time to panic.
