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Chapter Ten: Nerves
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She looked nervous, Jounochi decided finally.
Her hands twisted together, like she was trying to feel for something that wasn't there. She had almost said something to them before the elevator had arrived; she'd bit her lip, opened her mouth, and closed it quickly enough for her teeth to clink.
Not that Jounochi could blame her. Kaiba's scowl was enough put anyone off.
The possibility of Bakura down there, the spirit of the Ring responsible for Mokuba's kidnapping... Well, it made him very glad he'd made Shizuka stay home.
And the real kicker, Jounochi felt, was that for all he had checked, for that he had gained assurances that the Ring's spirit wasn't in control, it still hadn't been Bakura Ryou that he had talked to earlier. Oh, the mannerisms had matched perfectly, head ducked embarrassment, a shy smile, and then amusement at some of his jokes, but that hadn't been him. Bakura would have warned him. The person he had talked to hadn't. Therefore, for all the shared mannerisms and acting, he hadn't been talking to the real Bakura.
Which really made him wonder just how often he had been.
The elevator dinged, its doors parting. The man that had gotten in two floors after them practically ran, escaping.
"How are you planing to deal with him?" Hermione asked abruptly. "I'm getting the impression that this is something normal for him."
"We've had to do this before," Honda said quietly.
"Do what?" Hermione pressed, stepping between the doors, blocking exit from the elevator.
"Break him out of it," Jounochi said, before Yami could say something. She looked nervous enough as was, she would probably run if they started explaining the Shadow Realm aspect to her.
Or Kaiba would. His patience for anything that would not lead to Mokuba had been severely shortened, something that Jounochi hadn't even thought possible.
"Don't shut me out of this," Hermione begged. "I'm coming along to help, not hinder. I want to be sure that you can handle this. You--"
If they could handle this? Jounochi felt something niggle at the back of his brain, something in the way she hadn't turned into a gibbering mess after meeting the other side of Bakura--
"I can," Yami said, breaking through her tirade and shattering Jounochi's thoughts, "We can. As you must have gathered, this isn't the first time for any of this."
"It depends on Bakura," Anzu added. "We have to see which one is out there. Now, please."
Jounochi briefly saw Hermione's face, before she turned away, and saw the almost frozen look of remembered pain.
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Hermione still wanted her wand, but delaying could cost more than she wanted.
Possession.
The memory of great yellow eyes haunted her.
If she had been a few minutes faster, a little more smarter, she could have skipped her months of petrification. Ginny wouldn't have nearly died because of her. The torn page, a last-stop gap had still taken too long to be found.
Yes, she thought, years old bitterness rising in her, she could understand their urgency.
With a deep breath, she dismissed the past. These were muggles, with technology, not the same as what had happened to Ginny. "Come on."
She led them down the hallways twisting away from the main entrance, and followed the exit signs, until she saw the same door that she faintly remembered by virtue of being to the left of particularly hideously painting.
They had been silently following her, and even their foot steps had been muffled.
"Here," she whispered and watched.
Yuugi and Kaiba sized each other up, clearly silently arguing who should go first, before Honda worrying his lip, ignored them, opening the door, and stepping out into the humid air.
Hermione followed, wishing for her wand, even as she took her deck out of her duel disk in a belated remembrance of the what had been said before. If wearing the duel disk was enough to be challenged, she wasn't going to make it easy to start a duel. What she really wanted to do was to take it off, but she could find no where to put it safely.
"Bakura?" Honda yelled, as Jounochi winced, and began to glance around furiously, like a deer that had heard a brach crack.
"Over here," the answer floated back, and Hermione glanced around, until she saw in the shadows her once opponent, arms and legs wrapped around a tree that was mostly hidden by an overgrown, ill-trimmed bush.
Honda bolted to him, a hand flashing to the back of Bakura's collar.
"Don't!" Bakura cried, arms claps at his chest, and the other against the nape of his neck. He stepped away from the tree, though one arm was left around it loosely, like he seemed to expect to be blown away, and needed an anchor.
"The Ring--" Honda began insistently.
"You can't."
"How many had he played already tonight?" Honda bit out harshly.
Bakura glared, and then in a fluid motion bunched his t-shirt up, exposing his chest.
Embedded in his chest was a object, with over a handful of points deeper in the chest, skin covering them completely.
Anzu gasped behind her, and Jounochi cursed.
"It won't come out." Bakura said, almost gently. "I've tried before. If you think you have gotten it, it's probably just an illusion."
Honda said something, but Hermione couldn't make out the words, but the tone was low and dark enough that she was sure it was cursing.
Her own thoughts swirled, taking in new variables to her hypothesis.
"And Mokuba?" said Kaiba, his hand clenching and unclenching with almost mechanically. Rhythmically, like he was holding a beating heart, Hermione decided morbidly.
"Mokuba?" asked Bakura, eyebrows drawing together, and then smoothing with comprehension. "This was more or less a strike of opportunity. I don't anything about what's happened to your brother.
"More or less?" Kaiba asked sharply.
"He saw something that he was very interested in..." Bakura's eyes drifted to Hermione.
She meet his gaze. This was the person that saved her, and not the one who fought her, but the body was the same.
"Who is he?" she found herself saying, mouth ahead of her thoughts, as she tried to sew together the scraps of information that she had.
A heartbeat's pause.
Yuugi shifted, as if almost uncomfortable, almost like he was shamed by failure, while Honda looked away, clenching his fists. Kaiba seemed to twitch slightly, and then his eyes slid away, as if he was completely uninterested in the proceedings.
"The other me," Bakura said, not quite gently.
"But who is he?" she pressed.
Bakura looked away, "A separate part of my soul. I am not him and he is not me, but we have the same soul."
A soul, Hermione thought absently, was unproven, but completely with Arithmatical bounds. That had been a paper topic assigned by Professor Vector two falls ago, before the Tri-Wizard Tournament had begun. In more classical magic, it existed without question, proven. She'd written about three feet on it, when they'd study Dementors.
Schoolwork that couldn't answer her question, even as she ran through the possibilities in her mind. Separate personalities looked likely, for all but the thing embedded in his chest.
It glinted in the dimness, even as she looked, as though it sensed her gaze. It's presence of that changed everything. The way it buried under his skin, made her want to scream dark magic.
A movement just above, and Hermione's gaze went from his chest to his mouth. His lips silently formed words.
"Are you talking to him now?"
His lips twisted into the familiar smirk she had seen less than an hour before across the playing field. "Not quiet." Even the way he spoke had changed, hesitance disappearing.
"Enough," Yuugi said sharply.
And then Bakura was back, looking at him with fear-filled, pleading eyes. "He doesn't feel like faking defeat tonight."
"Faking defeat?" repeated Yuugi, voice growing darker and greatly offended.
Bakura sighed, rolling his neck back to look above. "Yes, faking," he snapped. "I don't even pretend to understand him, but he's playing a deep game here." He looked like he wanted to say more, but the light in his eyes shifted to something different, almost bloodthirsty.
There was moment of silence and Hermione watched the look fade, and wondered just who else had seen it. Bakura only blinked as he seemed to shift back to the second one she had seen, fear still clear in his eyes, and perhaps a touch of guilt.
A moments later, Anzu spotted someone and hurried them back upstairs, though Hermione didn't catch the name, to busy trying to figure out what Bakura --both of them-- were trying to do.
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She went back to there room with them, trailing behind, watching Kaiba's purposeful stride matched by Yuugi's. Honda supported Bakura, half dragging him along, with both Anzu hovering and Jounochi looking watchful.
Not quite sure if following them back was such a good idea, she waited until they were back in the room.
"There are people who could help you," she finally said, shutting the door behind her.
"What?" asked Jounochi.
Hermione licked her lips, as Bakura was sat down on one of the beds, and Kaiba stared at her as though she was a particularly interesting stain.
"There's a magical government." The weight on shoulders both lightened and pinned her down further. The penalty for needlessly revealing the magical world to muggles was high, no matter the country. "There's law enforcement. Dark magical artifacts are not supposed to be easy to obtain for a wizard, let alone a non-magical person."
"Please, explain further," Anzu bit out, while the others only looked at her, perhaps a touch blankly.
"Something slipped through. Bakura, you shouldn't have gotten that object."
Bakura's bark of of laughter was disbelieving and bitter.
"This is real. I'm a witch. I can contact the Japanese wizards."
"...And what will you do about Bakura's... item?" asked Yuugi.
Hermione looked at him, and then looked at his puzzle.
Another set of pieces coalesced into place. The physical changes that could have almost been explained away by posture. The more challenging way he held himself than earlier that night. The deep concern over the existence over the other Bakura coupled with almost a sense of change.
"You're like him."
"In a basic sense, yes," the other Yuugi said.
Eyes drifted close, and his head bowed. Then, someone else was looking out of the eyes.
"The other me is very different from the other Bakura," said Yuugi. "Our relationship is much closer."
Another change, more sudden than the last. Hermione could only tell because the conciliatory pose melted away and eyes narrowed in sharp appraisal.
"It would not be wise to try to separate us."
"There are laws," Hermione began, even though she could already hear what Harry and Ron would be saying now.
"We belong together," said the other Yuugi, and his stance changed.
"We're are the same soul," added Yuugi.
"And Bakura?" she asked.
Bakura looked at her from the bed. "The other side of me... is tricky." The wildness in his eyes had died, and a more quiet, resolved strength was there. "I'm going to go take a shower, if you don't mind."
Hermione blinked, confused by the non-sequitur.
"Decide what you will," he said to Yuugi, hand going to his chest. A few seconds later, the bathroom door slammed shut and the shower started.
Honda sighed the first to break the silence in the room. "What are we going to do?" he asked Yuugi.
Yuugi looked at her. "I'm not sure yet."
"Why doesn't Bakura want to be here?" Hermione asked, still looking at the bathroom door.
"The other him could hear us," said Jounochi slowly. "He's getting better at fooling us."
"What would happen if we were to call in these authorities of yours?" asked the other Yuugi, traces of sympathy gone, hard ruthlessness all that remained.
Hermione bet he'd be a Slytherin.
"I'm not sure. I'm from England, not Japan. Laws differ, but... I know that the necklace--"
"The Ring," corrected the other Yuugi.
"It would taken and probably researched and analyzed."
A hand went to the pendant that he wore, that Hermione was beginning to think was part of a larger set. "No. There are others and they have powers too. While Bakura's darker side running free is not a solution, letting someone else mess with the Items could bring even greater disaster."
Hermione wanted to argue the point further. An evil possessing spirit was a matter for the authorities, but then again, so was the Dark Lord.
And she remembered very well just how Fudge had bungled that. Even Dumbledore had made mistakes there. She would be the first to admit that a student who had just sat her OWLs should not be trying to create new spells that would be the first line of defense against a Dark Lord.
"Fine."
"As enlightening as this has been," Kaiba said, sarcasm and irritability clear, "I'm going back to my room."
He was worried, Hermione realized. He looked like he wanted to say more, even if it was just to say that they were all idiots, but he was worried. His brother was missing, and he had wasted the last hour chasing after Bakura with them, and then they just sat and talked.
She'd already broken the International Code of Secrecy that night, what was one more violation?
"I can help you find him."
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