Woo-hoo! Another update! How do you like them apples? :D (sorry, I love that reference)
Chapter 7
Ryou's POV
"A…purple cloak? And a golden rod?" I sounded nothing short of confused.
We had gotten to my home. It was a small apartment, but big enough for the family to fit in. Or me and my father anyway, who was out. Yami had locked himself away when Lucy knocked him over. I hadn't heard a sound of a thought come from him since. She was on the couch and I stood a few feet away.
"Yeah!" she exclaimed, "It's really weird, I know, but I was rescued by a guy in a purple cloak!"
"Wait, 'rescued'? You didn't say anything about being rescued."
"It slipped my mind. I was too busy thinking…" she turned her head away, leaving me feel like the conversation we were having was no more, until she spoke again, "I have another question for you. One you may know the answer to."
For some reason, I felt my palms heat up and my blood pumping from my heart to my body in one sing bum-bump. I avoided her gaze, so she wouldn't see me like this, "Yes…?"
I was reluctant to hear her question, something was off, "Are you…bipolar, or something?"
I could feel my jaw drop, "What?!"
"I'm not going to judge you or anything! It's okay! I've met other people who are, and they were really cool!"
"What makes you think I'm bipolar?"
"Well…" she started to shrink away a bit, "your mood changes a lot. One minute you sound upset or angry or just distressed about something, then another minute, you sound like you do right now: calm, quiet, even perky. Like how you sounded after I tripped you. You helped me up, even though you looked incredibly pissed at me only a few seconds before. I'm really sorry I did that by the way," she looked like something had been haunting her.
She's a lot like me after all…
"No, I'm not bipolar," I said that much more calmly than I had expected. Then I asked a question of my own, "Why aren't you and knives good friends? Did you see too many scary movies as a kid?"
"I just have grown to hate them…and be afraid of them."
I don't want to push her too far. We don't even know each other really. She doesn't have to tell me anything. Maybe I can reassure her a bit, "I keep one in my pocket because this is the part of the city nobody wants to be in. Self-defense, as I'm sure you know," I sat down on the other side of the couch. Not close enough to make her uncomfortable though, but, after carrying her for so long, I really needed to sit down.
"It's okay," she said, "I understand." She took a deep breath in and let it out. Then she turned to look me in the eyes, which made me blush a little, and said, "There's something about you I can't describe. I don't understand it, and I don't know what exactly 'it' is, but I feel as if I could trust you. Can I trust you not to tell anybody why I'm afraid of them?"
She never directly said "knives" and that was odd. Maybe it's because she's so afraid of them, for whatever reason. Whatever reason that is, I wanted to find out. I nodded my head, as though not to break the silence, except the sound of trust. I think I had made a friend.
"When I was younger, about 12, my father left us. My mom didn't have a job, so we couldn't stay where we were, which was New Jersey at the time, which is in America. I couldn't stay in school, so my mother taught me herself."
I felt so…taken aback. This story is sounding very similar to me…only my mother left…how are we so alike? Why are we so alike?
"I didn't know why he had left – I still don't," she continued, "But, as time went on, I became more obsessed with why he had left. I thought it was because of me. When he thought I was out of earshot, he always said to mom that he had never wanted a child.
"So, I became more of a solitude. I lost track of my friends, I felt angry at my mom a lot for letting dad go… everything hurt, but I didn't feel like it was real pain. So… I cut myself."
She stunned me again, "You did what?!" I couldn't believe it. She was too nice for me to believe she would do something like that to herself.
"You heard me," she said, "I cut myself, and I'm not proud of it.
My mom had caught me doing it one time. When she saw me she cried, then she said I had to go to a doctor. She had startled me coming in, and I cut myself too deep. The doctor treated my wounds, and my mom took me to a therapist. I hated it. Shrinks aren't my thing. I didn't listen much to the therapist – he didn't know me, so why should he care, you know? But after, my mom and I talked and I had promised that I would never do that again. We've had a good bond since then…"
I couldn't find any words to say. But, when words are lost, I suppose the truth prevails. "My mom left us when I was about 10. I cut myself too. I still do sometimes, but not often, only when something really bad happens. One night they had just started fighting and it had gotten really bad…" she gaped at me. I don't know if it was from shock that I cut too, or shock that we both have something like this in common. "I don't do it much anymore," I pulled up my sleeve and showed her my forearm, there were a few scars, but nothing new, "See? Only when I feel like I can't take life for a while… I get lost within myself too," and I meant that more literally than she did (special thanks to Yami), "But I always find a way back."
Just then a voice came into my head. It was Yami's.
"It seems like you two have a lot in common."
"All three of us, I think," I said, hoping Yami could see it too, "How long have you been eavesdropping?"
"Long enough. You can't hide your thoughts from me, Ryou, no matter how hard you try."
I hadn't been listening to him, "I think I want to tell her," I had my heart set on this.
"Tell her…what?" I think he knew, he just wanted to make sure we were on the same page.
"Tell her about us. She's been open with us, it's only fair—"
"She's been open with you! She doesn't say anything to me!"
"You're forgetting, Yami, she doesn't know we're two different people. She thinks we're the same person. She's being just as open t me as she is to you."
He just stood there. His face was emotionless. "What's wrong?" I asked.
Yami Bakura's POV
Should she know? Why should she? So she hated herself as a kid – who hasn't? I've had my own share of nightmares – ones that would make her skin crawl. Why should she know?
"Even if we did tell her – and I'm not saying we are," I scolded Ryou, "she probably wouldn't believe it. And if she believed the truth, she might never talk to you again. She might call you a freak, like those other kids did in school. And, so help me Ryou, if that happens, I will not be there to save your neck again!"
Ryou actually took this into consideration. He looked like he was mentally analyzing the consequences.
"Besides," I added, snapping at him from his thoughts for a moment, "You don't even know her. She's just a girl who turned your head in school and made you feel like a friend. What if this is all an act? Just a game she plays to get to you and the Millennium Ring!"
"She's not that kind of person!" he snapped back. He's being very defensive of her.
"How do you know?" I shouted back at him, "You have no idea what people can be like! Enough greed and lust – any meaning of desire – can turn you friends and allies into enemies and nightmares."
Ryou's face went blank, "But…she's new, Yami. She's nice. And she tolerates you better than I do. I think she even enjoys your company. And she turned your head as well! I saw the way she interested you – though I can't understand why…" He saw what? Since when did I turn my head? …She enjoys my company?
"But," he continued, "she did say she was interested in the Items."
"You see? What did I tell you?—"
"Hold on!" he held his hand up to silence me… I would kill him if I didn't need his body, "she said she had never heard of them. She doesn't know much about them. She only knows what Yugi told her— …oh bugger."
"What's wrong?"
"What if Yugi or the Pharaoh tells her about us? He already knows…"
"Then we'll tell her about the Pharaoh and she'll have no friends!"
"Well that's not very nice…"
"Oh well. It'll be her choice…and I did not turn my head for that girl!"
"Yes, you held an interest in her, and you still do. I can see it."
I didn't move. Her nerve and audacity took me aback, yes, but…no. But perhaps I enjoyed having a bit of interaction with a person. I don't feel incredibly bitter toward her, she doesn't bother me to a point where I would really like to kill her. "Maybe it could work."
Ryou's face went bright and vivid with happiness. "Do you mean it? Really?"
"On one condition," his face immediately became confused. He even looked slightly afraid. "I have to be the one to tell her."
(A/N) :O WOAAAHHH! Bakura's gonna do WHAAAT?! I wonder how it's gonna go... "I did not turn my head for that girl" yeah, sure... Liar. :) And who is this mysterious dude in a purple cape? As if we don't know ;) but does Bakura know who he is yet? Find out! (But this may take more than one chapter to explain).
P.S. Bakura is notbipolar. He just has multiple personalities xD I had fun with that.
