Bound With Darkness and Light: Chapter 7: Musings
Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh!
A/N: Huge thanks to WeakendSoul and Dragonwhisperer for being my first two (and only so far) Reviewers! I really appreciate your kind words!
I haven't mentioned this before, but I'd like to publicly thank my beta-reader, Scarlett, for her help in proofing this story. That said, this chapter has not been beta-read by her yet (I'VE proofed it, but my grammar skills aren't as good as hers) since she only has 'Net access at work and they've been having trouble with it. I'll replace this Chapter with it's beta-read version once I get it back.
Ryou hummed happily to himself as he tripped off to school, mood bright as the spring sunshine beaming down it's gentle warmth. The contrast between his walk home last Friday and his walk to school today was immeasurable; last Friday he'd been depressed to the point of tears just thinking about the eternally long weekend of beatings, with no hope whatsoever of reprieve.
Now I never have to worry about Bakura hurting me again, and I now know he actually cares for me! Thought the white-haired teen with a bright smile that for the past several days had been hovering about his lips constantly. It had come of something as a shock to both himself and his yami--neither imagined Bakura truly cared for Ryou, least of all the yami himself.
All that changed, however, when Ember used the Bonding spell to re-forge the link between himself and the Tomb Robber. Their previous link had been weak and ailing, product of many long years of Bakura blocking his side of it, something Ryou suspected had led to his beatings originally. The teen hypothesized that their link had weakened to the point of nearly snapping, an event likely to have dire consequences for both yami and hikari. Instinct or maybe the Sennen Ring urged Bakura to re-establish their connection and one of the first things necessary for that was physical contact.
With a Bond of any sort physical contact was vitally important. Bakura didn't actually know why he beat his hikari on a conscious level, he'd always said to himself and Ryou it was to make the boy stronger, but that was just a frail excuse meant to hide his confusion; apparently, the beatings were actually his (twisted) way to get closer to Ryou without admitting his feelings for the boy. It made a strange kind of sense considering the source, and that the source never thought about it overmuch in the first place.
In the last couple of days Ryou had gained an understanding of Bakura several years with the yami had not revealed. The first and foremost thing he learned, thanks to their newly strengthened Bond, was Bakura's intense fear of love—either given by or to him. Not that the yami TOLD him that or even thought it, but being so closely linked to another's mind gave one surprising insights to a person's inner self. Feelings and unconscious beliefs tended to leak over even a marginally healthy Bond, much less the intense connection they currently shared.
Bakura hadn't wanted to face admitting his feelings to his hikari, so when the opportunity presented itself for him to get rid of Ryou he'd eagerly taken it. If everything went as planned I'd be dead and Bakura would be Bonded to Ember, who'd probably always hate him. A perfect solution if you don't want the 'weakness' of love in your life. The snowy-haired hikari thought as he stood in the milling herd of humanity waiting to cross the street. I don't see Bakura enjoying such a relationship though. Even if Ember eventually forgave him she truly isn't the other half of his soul like I am.
No matter what his crazed yami thought Ryou could not be replaced entirely. At best Ember's presence might have acted as a cushion between his yami and the agony of their shattered Bond, and provide the spirit of the ring an anchor to this plane of existence; Bakura needed a Bond with a mortal to stay in the mortal world or, by the very nature of the Ring, he'd be sucked into it's shadowy depths again.
Ryou had read the information packet his father sent with the shackles and concluded Bakura mistranslated a few things. He also obviously didn't read certain passages thoroughly enough in his haste to test the magic out. The shackles had not been designed to replace a hikari, their original purpose was to nullify Shadow Magic (an application already tested out this weekend when a fed-up Bakura tried to send Ember to the Shadow Realm).
The Bonding ability had been entirely unintended, a completely unanticipated side effect of the powerful magic used to create the shackles, and one of the main reasons the shackles were left half-finished magic-wise. Were all the power allotted for it imbued within it as planned the shackles would be another Millennium Item, one meant to go as a set with the Millennium Puzzle. As it was only half the power needed to reach such lofty aspirations was sealed inside the golden manacles.
Unlike the Items, the shackles had no offensive magics, only defensive magics set for passive protection only. In other words, the shackles would automatically cancel out any Shadow Magic thrown at their bearer, but could not be directed to do so at their bearer's whim. Ryou had told Ember his findings but 'forgot' to tell Bakura, unsure of his yami's reaction.
He'd either not care or take an unhealthy interest in the shackles' magic, thinking maybe he could unlock any hidden potential they might have. The boy reminded himself as he continued down the sidewalk after crossing the street; his next thought bringing a smug grin to his lips. Which is why the copies I gave back to Bakura were not the same as what he gave me.
Bakura knew next-to-nothing about computers, so he certainly had no clue you could change the appearance of an image with them. So, using Adobe Photoshop, the hikari changed the hieroglyphs enough to read closer to what Bakura thought they should. The yami had been a tomb robber, not a scholar, so despite what Ryou's father thought Bakura's reading skills were minimal at best (where his father got the notion Bakura could read hieroglyphs well Ryou didn't know).
Since Bakura didn't particularly like reading his native language (or reading in general), Ryou felt confidant that Bakura had only read the photocopies of those ancient scrolls once or twice through at most. Thank the Gods Bakura was able to learn Japanese and English through his link with Ryou, otherwise teaching him would have been an exercise in purest frustration for them both.
Of course one might think Ryou had wasted his time changing the copies in the first place then, but with a yami like his Ryou had learned to always err on the side of caution. Better he alter the copies now and prevent any future difficulties from cropping up. At least when they do I'm not alone anymore. Even if Bakura won't be there Ember will.
Thought Ryou, a gentle warmth blooming in his chest at the thought of the young woman. Ryou never believed in love at first sight until he met Ember, they had definitely fallen for each other—hard and lightening-fast. He trusted Ember like he wouldn't be able to with Bakura for a very long time. He knew she would never hurt him intentionally, nor would she give him the cold shoulder when he wanted to cuddle (which was often, he loved snuggling). Best of all she didn't think him weak. Ah! Now THERE was a sweet memory. . . .
{They had been in his room simply relaxing and Ember had just finished asking him if he minded when she smacked Bakura around. Of course he didn't, not when Bakura deserved it and Ember never hurt their yami more than necessary. "Well, someone has to do it and I'm so weak there'd be no way---" He paused at the plethora of emotion flicking over her features—shock, anger, and sadness each took a turn before settling on sympathetic for her expression.
"Ryou, you aren't weak, not at all." She told him, taking his hands in her own and leaning foreword a bit, his mattress squeaking a faint protest. "But Ember, Bakura says—" A gentle forefinger pinned his lips closed over his words. "I don't care what Bakura's told you—he doesn't know everything and I don't find him being right very often. Now, listen to me, you are one of the strongest people I know."
Ryou shook his head, silvery-white hair swishing over his bare back. They were both in their jammies considering it was after midnight: her in a satin crop-top and short set, him in his usual boxers. "I am anything but strong Ember—I can't fight at all. I never even tried to stand up to Bakura." Ryou admitted quietly, ashamed, only to have her shake her head at him.
"There's more to being strong than physical strength or knowing how to fight. As for standing up to Bakura—violent confrontations are not in your nature and there is nothing wrong with that. The world could do with more sweet, gentle people like you in it." He'd blushed and leaned into the gentle hand she caressed down his cheek, turning it slightly in his own to lightly kiss her palm. "Anyone can become physically strong if they work hard enough at it, physical strength is nothing special." The young woman had continued.
"Strength of the mind and the soul, now there's something not everyone has and it's not something you can easily get if you don't already have it. You," Ember tapped Ryou playfully on the nose, bringing a grin to his face, "have a lot of that particular strength my dear." Of course he protested deprecatingly, but Ember wouldn't hear of it and pointed out several instances to support her opinion. In the end she'd argued him into accepting her words as true.}
Ryou shook himself out of the memory as Domino High loomed before him. I'm not sure I feel the same as Ember, but the fact that someone thinks of me as strong is wonderful all on it's own. To everyone else I'm just poor little Ryou whose yami abuses him, always to be pitied but never to be admired. Rolling his doe-brown eyes at his own foolishness, Ryou quickly stopped that train of thought before it fully left the station and depressed him.
"Ryou! Hey Ryou, wait up!" The hikari whirled to see Yugi and Jou running towards him, Yugi (who called him), waving energetically. Ryou's earlier excitement returned full force along with his smile as he slipped through the crowd towards his two friends--eager to tell them about his weekend for once.
A/N #2: Well, thought I'd go for a better explanation on how the shackles worked in this chapter, hope this clears up any questions anyone might have had concerning their true capabilities. If anyone is still confused on some points feel free to ask me your questions in a review and I'll post answers the next update. Some of you may have noticed I occasionally refer to Ember as a 'female hikari' and will continue to do so even though she technically isn't one. Well, Bakura thinks of her that way (remember, he isn't being corrected in his erroneous belief) and while Ember isn't a true hikari the Bond (at least in the context of this story) is pretty similar. That and I kinda like referring to her as such.
