Yadonushi-sama is in his room.

Yadonushi-sama is doing his homework.

Yadonushi-sama has been

"Bakura!"

Bakura looked up innocently from the journal he was writing in. "Yes?" he asked innocently. One could almost envision the flaxen halo hovering above his white, spiky bangs that looked like bat wings.

Ryou bigsweated. Bakura noted that his lighter half was wearing khakis and a comfortable merino sweater. "Going somewhere?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. Ryou nodded quietly, searching for his water bottle. Bakura clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth.

"Fine. Be back by eight. And no bringing back giiiiiiiiiirls."

"I don't need your permission to leave my own apartment," Ryou stated tartly, as he exited his apartment. Bakura raised his eyebrows until they nearly disappeared underneath his bangs.

Ryou strode briskly through the crisp air, happy to be romping around alfresco. He had promised to help Ishizu with the cooking today, and so had agreed to meet Malik over near the local strip mall so that they could hang out for a bit before heading back to the Ishtar's home.

The Brit eagerly breathed the crisp air into his lungs, happy to be out of his dingy apartment where he spent most of his time. He needed more friends—okay, so he had plenty of those, but he just needed to be more social. Maybe he should take Miho up on her date offer…

Ryou sighed as he passed by the lilac bushes near the pebbled pathway towards the back gate of his apartment complex. There was a pretty garden next to the complex, with jasmine and lilies and lilacs and snapdragons and all kinds of things, including the kudzu that climbed up the walls, the longest tendril winding out just to the eleventh-story windows.

It wouldn't mean anything to go on a date with Miho, knowing that she wanted him to be her boyfriend, and knowing that he didn't want to, Ryou reasoned. He didn't like to lead people on, or put on airs, and he despised going out with fan girls that thought that one date meant that they were his world. His world didn't work that way, and if it was supposed to, it had been on the bum for quite some time.

Suddenly he felt a light blow to the head, and knew that Bakura was probing into his mind again. It felt like somebody was physically prodding the back of his head with a very thick stick. When Ryou had described the sensation to Malik, the Egyptian boy had laughed, saying that it sounded like Ryou was getting head-molested by a hobo. How a naïve teen like Malik even knew what the word molested meant, Ryou really wasn't quite sure. However, Ryou knew that if Malik still had his other half around, he wouldn't make jokes about having one's mind read, ever.

Ryou froze, forcing himself to think about how nice the jasmine smelled this time of the season, until the pain faded and Bakura was no longer lurking around in his mind.

Ryou sighed. Why did things have to be like this? He felt stalked, everywhere he went… Lonely, but never alone. But maybe things were better that way? Or perhaps that was just how things were supposed to be.

Ryou tried to smile bravely. "And that's why I'm going to see Malik!" he declared to the lilies. The lilies swayed in a celebratory movement, cheering him on as they were fueled by a hopeful wind. The white-haired boy scrambled over the apartment gate and sprinted down the road.