Chapter 8. Hope, you'll like it.

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!

Chapter 8

It was morning again. As he woke up, Ryou felt much better than yesterday, well, as good as you can feel when words have been carved in your back and you've been beaten up by a sadistic demon two days ago. Ryou was really glad, that the demon hadn't hurt him that night, because that would have finished him off.

He stood up and went into the bathroom to have a wash and to check how his injuries were looking. First, he took of the bandage around his arm. The gash was healed. Only a small red scar was left. He didn't need the bandage there anymore. Then, Ryou took off the bandage, that was wrapped around his back and chest. It hurt a bit as he did that. He went to the mirror to look, what his back looked like. It looked bad. The wounds were very red and maybe a bit infected. Quickly Ryou searched for a new bandage, but he had used the last one he'd had yesterday.

Ryou shrugged. As long as the wounds wouldn't start to bleed again, he didn't need a bandage. After he had washed himself and got dressed, it was time to go to school. So he grabbed his school bag, went off and hoped, that this school day wouldn't be as bad as the day before yesterday.

As Ryou arrived at school, nobody stared at him like two days ago. That was good. He went to his locker and on his way he walked past Yugi, Joey, Tea, Tristan and Malik. They were talking and laughing and didn't even seem to notice Ryou. A bit sad, Ryou went on.

But of course, Yugi and the others had noticed Ryou. They had talked and laughed, so that it seemed, that they would just stand there to do that, but actually, they stood there to see, if Ryou would show up or not. And he had shown up. As he was out of earshot, they started to talk about him-

"So, Ryou is in school again...", Tea said.

"And what are we going to do now?", Joey asked.

"I think somebody should talk to him. Did you see how terrible he looks? He is paler than usual and he seems to be thinner, too", Malik said.

The others nodded.

"Malik is right. He does look terrible", Yugi said, worried about their white-haired friend.

"Hmm... An idea strikes me. In History we'll do a presentation. Always two will work together. If Ryou could be my partner, he could go home with me to work there on the project and I could ask him casually, what's wrong with him. Maybe that'll work", Malik suggested.

"That's a good idea!", Yugi said. "Hopefully, Ryou will accept you as his partner..."

"Well, don't worry. I don't think Ryou would be so rude to say 'Malik, I don't want to be your presentation-partner'", Malik said.

"That's what we all thought before he had his outburst", Joey muttered.

"Oh, come on. Maybe he isn't even strange anymore", Malik said. "Besides, everybody has days where he's in a bad mood. Not everybody can be a permanent smiley like Yugi", he added playfully, even if it was not the best time for jokes.

As the school bell rang, the group separated and they went into their classes. They all were concerned about Ryou. They wanted to help him, but they were not sure how, when he was acting so defensive.

In the second period, Ryou had History. Malik had, too. While Ryou walked to the classroom, he wondered, how Malik would act. Would he sit down beside him or would he search another seat? Were they still friends? He didn't know, if Malik and the others still wanted to be his friends, all he knew was, that he still wanted it. He just wanted to stay away from them, because of the demon that lived inside of him. He wanted to protect his friends from the demon as long as it was possible. But if that, what the demon had said, was true, then he couldn't do it that much longer. Sometime, Bakura would intervene and do what he wanted to do. And he would not care about Ryou's friends. Ryou didn't know when the demon would have enough from his disobedience, but he was sure it would be soon.

As he arrived at his seat and sat down, Malik wasn't here yet. Ryou didn't know, what he should do, so he stared at his desk. Sometimes, a desk can be very interesting, especially if you don't know, what else you could do or where you should look at.

Ryou heard, that somebody sat down at the desk next to him, but he still didn't look up. He didn't know, what he should think. At one side, the demon only wanted Yugi's puzzle, not Yugi himself, but the puzzle meant so much to the tri-colored-haired boy, that you could say, that the demon wanted Yugi. Okay, the demon only wanted Yugi, and not anybody else, right? He only wanted Yugi. Not his other friends. Not Malik, not Joey, not Tea, not Tristan. Only Yugi. That meant he only had to stay away from Yugi to protect him. At the other side, could he be sure about what the demon wanted? Could Ryou be sure, that the demon would do no harm to his other friends? No, Ryou couldn't be sure of that and that's the reason why he stayed away from all his friends. But yet...

The teacher came in and class started. Ryou finally looked out of the corner of his eye to the left, to see, if Malik sat there. And yes, he sat next to Ryou. Somehow, Ryou was relieved, that Malik sat there. He had been frightened that Malik wouldn't sit there if he would look to his side. He had hoped that Malik would sit down there, because it was like if he would say 'of course we're still friends' or something like that. Maybe, his friends hadn't given up on him.

"As I told you yesterday", the teacher said, "you will go together two by two and make a presentation." Ryou's head shot up. He wasn't here yesterday, so he was a bit surprised about that. And then he wondered, if Malik would take him as a partner. If not he, who then? The other students in this class have never spoken with Ryou and from most of them he didn't even know the name...

The teacher passed around a list where everybody could sign in who his partner was. The list started on the right side of the first row, wandered to the left and then backwards to the second row. The row where Malik and Ryou sat.

Ryou was desperate. What should he do if Malik wouldn't take him as a partner? Who should he choose instead write down as a partner instead? Should he write down nothing and see who was left in the end?

The list landed on Ryou's desk and brought him out of his thoughts. Quickly, he searched Malik's name in the list to look who he had chosen as a partner for the presentation.

Malik Ishtar - Ryou Bakura

Ryou sighed in relief. That also meant, Malik was still his friend despite Ryou's strange behavior. He looked at Malik. The boy didn't look in his direction but forward to the board and Ryou saw a small smile on the face of the Egyptian. Then he signed in.

Ryou Bakura - Malik Ishtar

He passed the list on to his neighbor. He was glad, that Malik would be his partner.

As History class was over Ryou went off to his next class. Outside the door of the History classroom, Malik leaned casually against the wall. Ryou didn't know if he waited for him and went past him.

"Ryou", Malik said and Ryou stopped. Malik walked towards him. "So... do you wanna come to me after school to work on the presentation?" Ryou was a bit surprised as he hadn't thought about that.

"Uh...", he didn't know if that was such a good idea, but how else should they work on their presentation?

Malik looked him deep (almost hypnotic) in the eyes. Eager, kind purple eyes stared into desperate, sad and tired brown ones.

"Or we can work at your place if you prefer th-", Malik said.

"No, no", Ryou interrupted and freed himself from Malik's hypnotic look. "I... Your place sounds good."

Malik nodded and an uncomfortable silence followed.

"Uh.. Well, see you after class", Ryou said and went on.

"Yeah. I'll wait at your locker", Malik said and went to his next class. He was glad that everything had worked. And Ryou seemed happy about it as well.

At lunch time, Ryou sat again down at the empty seat in the corner of the cafeteria. It was quiet there and he read a book. He didn't notice, that he was watched. Watched by his friends.

Yugi, Tea, Tristan and Joey darted concerned glances at Ryou. Malik wasn't here yet and they were curious about whether his plan had worked or not.

"Hey guys", suddenly a voice came. It was Malik. The others had been so deepened in watching Ryou, that the sudden sound of Malik's voice startled them. Expectantly, they looked at Malik. He grinned. "I've good news. Ryou's my presentation-partner."

The others sighed in relief. Maybe that would help them on in the matter with their friend.

"And what are you planning to do?", Yugi asked.

"I don't know, but I'll see what will happen. When I think that it's the right time, I'll ask him what's wrong with him", Malik explained.

The others weren't sure if it would work, but nobody had a better idea. All they could do was hope.

After lunch time, Ryou had PE. He didn't know if he was able to run and do other things with his injuries, but he had to try.

So he went into the locker room to put on his sport clothes.

Yugi had (as always) PE together with Ryou. He arrived just as the boy put off his shirt. Yugi gasped and covered his mouth in shock.

"Holy crap!", he muttered. Ryou's body was covered with bruises and scratches. But worst was what was on his back. It looked like words that have been scarified in his skin.

Yugi tried to read what was written (or carved) there.

"OBEY ME", he whispered, his eyes wide with shock. What had happened to the white-haired boy? Something terrible and that is for sure. Who did this to him?

In this moment, Ryou put on his sport shirt and turned around. As he saw Yugi staring shocked at him, he first narrowed his eyes, and then he realized his mistake. He had forgotten to hide his injuries.

"Shit", Ryou muttered.

Yugi wanted to confront him, but Yami held him back.

((Don't, aibou! I don't think, that Ryou is happy about the fact that we've seen that-)), Yami said, but Yugi interrupted him.

//I don't care about if he is happy or not! He can't be happy with so much injuries! Or didn't you see what his back looks like? This is something serious! We have to help him!//, Yugi exclaimed mentally.

((Yugi)), Yami tried to calm him. His lighter half was really worried about Ryou. ((I think we-))

//We can't wait anymore!//, Yugi told him. //'Obey me' was carved in his back! Obey me! Carved! Somebody must have tortured him!//

((I'm aware of that)), Yami said. ((But... I don't think we should upset Ryou by confronting him. Remember the last time we did that.))

Yugi sighed mentally. //Yeah, you're probably right...//

((So, let's keep our mouth shut and wait until tomorrow to hear what Malik will have achieved.))

Yugi nodded mentally, put his sport clothes on and went into the gym.

Ryou wanted to slap himself. How could he be so... dumb to forget to hide his injuries?

//Maybe Yugi hasn't seen the carved words//, he thought, but according to Yugi's shocked expression, the boy has certainly seen them. Eventually, the words were good noticeable in the middle of his back and bright red as well.

Ryou sighed and followed the other students into the gym. Hopefully, Yugi wouldn't confront him, because he couldn't tell him the truth and he wasn't a good liar, as he had already proven previously.

As school was finally over, Ryou went to his locker where he would meet Malik. Thankfully, Yugi hadn't confront him because of the injuries.

Malik waited already at the locker as Ryou arrived.

"Ready to go?", he asked. Ryou nodded and they went off.

Okay, this chapter was not overly interesting, but the next one will most certainly be (I promise).

Don't forget to review.

~Crystal of Moonlight~