Distraction

In all honesty when Bakura had suggested that they would work on the mind link, he had not counted on being barged in by an angry half fairy, and as if that hadn't been enough, his old "friend" decided to drop by not long after the annoying fairy. It seemed that the two fairy tale creatures, who would both kill him for calling them that if they ever found out, had something going on from the moment they first ran into each other.

"You're not a human..." Whispered the half fairy boy to the vampire and Bakura felt like going 'no duh!' but would never do anything like that so he didn't. Anything that went on with the two-

"Neither are you."

-failed to interest him as he had noticed that something was wrong with Ryou. The boy had seemed to be perfectly fine just a few seconds ago but now he looked to be disturbed by something.

In the background, the vampire, Mariku, continued his chat with the blond boy. "Thought it would be something like that." Bakura had no idea what they were talking about anymore but then he was addressed. "Where is your room?" Apparently he had told the vampire to go to his room and wait for him... He didn't have time to draw a frigging map! Ryou was getting worse and he could feel how the boy got more and more lost in his own loneliness.

"Malik knows, he can show you," the teacher told and the fairy got upset by the fact that he had to escort the vampire and tried to squirm his way out of it with some supposedly clever reply that was easy to turn against him.

"I know because you would want to know all the places your friend could possibly be so you went and located my room or something." There was no way the blond boy wouldn't know. Bakura cursed his link to Ryou as the boy was getting worse; he was starting to feel the effects of him leaving the boy alone in his mental world as well. A bad move on his part but he needed to get the fairy and the vampire out of there before he went about fixing anything. They needn't to know about what was going on after all.

Bakura had known the few hundred-year-old vampire about three years back when they had been on "a secret mission for the better of the magical society", that was a quote from Bakura's ex-mentor at least. In fact, the whole thing had been so big secret that even the ones involved hadn't known what it all had been about. But back to Mariku, he's, in Bakura's personal opinion, a terrible pain in everyone's backside, and in all reality, a born vampire with authority. Whatever he had for the fairy didn't interest Bakura in the least right now, though it was painfully obvious that something was there.

The blond boy needed to get glared because of something, Bakura wasn't even sure what, it was just an automatic reaction. This got a spiteful comment from the one on the other end of the glare, which somehow led to more... feeling...

"Hey!" Bakura yelled angrily, at this point sick and tired of all the touchy feely-ness. There was something seriously wrong here and the two extras needed to leave. "Get a room! Horny-vampire and fairy-boy, out!"

"Aw Kura you're so mean..." It was that annoying fake whiny voice the vampire used to get to him. Too bad it usually worked... "Besides, I'm not horny, I'm just hungry for this little fairy creature."

At this point, Bakura just wished Mariku would drop dead. "Mariku... That's practically the same thing. Now get the hell out already." By some miracle, he managed not to yell. Or curse, much, verbally or otherwise. The vampire took the hint, because even though he might be annoying, he was not stupid, and set to leave. Bakura was relieved that the blond boy, whose name was still a mystery to the teacher, left with him. A thought that maybe, just maybe, it could threat the wellbeing of the boy to leave with the vampire crossed his mind but it was quickly forgotten and pushed aside by the sheer intensity of the feeling he was getting from Ryou.

He was being swallowed by his own lurking loneliness, caused possibly by Bakura leaving him alone during the time they were supposed to be more together than usually.

The whole mental background that the teacher dived into now that there were no distractions was so dark that he had some serious trouble with finding Ryou, even with the link-provided knowledge of where he was. The boy's aura was so dim in the darkness but the mental light it shone was still visible if one knew where to look from. The part of Ryou's soul that had previously been sad gray was now blackened by current lonely feeling, instead of just the feeling from the past that had made it gray in the first place. Bakura reached out and pulled Ryou out of the darkness. The moment their unphysical hands met, the now dimmed light of Ryou's aura engulfed them both for that short while it took to pull them both out of the meditating state of mind.

Now that their minds were where they were supposed to be, they just sat there, on the floor of the dark arts classroom and took their time to acknowledge what had just happened. Both were relieved that they were no longer experiencing the crushing loneliness, now that the link was working and intact again. This also led to a realization but the current situation was too distracting for further thought on that realization.

At some point during them getting over the thing that had just happened, Ryou had attached himself on Bakura and was hugging him tightly, crying. The one that was being hugged and cried on was feeling confused and staring at the one doing the hugging and crying, not knowing what to do in this type of situation. He could handle a situation where someone was trying to kill him or harm him but he had no idea what to do when someone was hugging him and seeking comfort. The feelings he got from Ryou were in such a mess that there wasn't much he could make out of them so that didn't help any but worked more to confuse him further.

"Uh... Ryou?" Bakura tried carefully. "What- um... Is there something wrong?" He was pretty sure that was the right question since that's what he needed to know, and the question of 'What the hell is the matter with you?' seemed sort of harsh.

"You idiot! ...I was so alone... you left me..."

The answer was muffled by Bakura's shirt but he could still hear it. But hearing it didn't make him understand it or what he should do. "Oh ok... That wasn't intentional." Now Ryou looked up at him with tear stained face and eyes shining from shed and unshed tears.

"Did... Did something go wrong? What happened?" the boy asked while trying to wipe the tears away, looking sort of pissed at himself for breaking down. He looked so pretty like that... Weak yet strong, confusing. A mystery even though he shouldn't be, not to Bakura who had unintentionally gotten so close to him. The teacher shook his head to clear his thoughts, concentrating on Ryou's question.

"Some unwanted... people... distracted me. They needed to be gotten rid of," Bakura told and Ryou suddenly smiled a bit.

"Did Malik come here?" he asked while still wearing that small smile.

"Malik? Is he that blond fairy friend of yours?"

Ryou nodded. "Half fairy," he corrected.

Bakura rolled his eyes at that. "Whatever," he muttered before speaking up. "Yes, he was here, along with someone I'm familiar with, unfortunately..." The end note got a giggle from Ryou but after that he looked kind of suspicious.

"I see... Where did they go?"

Then Bakura remembered that maybe they should be worried about this Malik who was alone with Mariku. Because he was Ryou's friend if something were to happen to him, it would be his own neck on the line... Not that he was afraid of Ryou or anything. "Maybe we should go check on them," he said and quickly got up from the floor and headed for the door. Ryou followed with a suspicious frown.

"Bakura, what's going on?" the boy asked, seeming to be worried now.

"Shut up and walk," was Bakura's explanation.

xxxxxxx

Ryou just had to wonder why Bakura was acting the way he was, that, however, was almost wiped out by the worry over his friend. Something must have happened to make Bakura act this way, something bad most likely. The thing that had happened during the meditation practice with the link had scared Ryou. He didn't want to feel that alone ever again, he had gone through that already, no need to repeat it. He did feel ashamed over his own behavior after that though... What had Bakura thought about him hanging onto him like some weak child? Ryou didn't want to appear weak in front of Bakura because he felt like if he did, it would be shamelessly used against him.

It was clear now that they were heading towards the teachers' dormitory and as Ryou looked around, he could swear that he saw someone in the shadows of the near by trees. He glanced at Bakura and noticed that he was also looking that way, giving the whoever was hiding there a curt nod before continuing on his way faster. Ryou ran to keep up with him while glancing back, trying to see the person in the shadows but failing and almost running straight into Bakura who had slowed down to open the door to the dormitory.

"Would it be possible for you to walk and watch where you're going at the same time?" the teacher asked and went in, Ryou fast on his heels.

"Who was that person in the shadows?" Ryou asked, choosing to ignore the other's rude implication that he was stupid, knowing damn well that wasn't what the other thought of him.

"That someone I'm familiar with," Bakura told shortly and they climbed up some stairs, went through a hallway and stopped at Bakura's room's door. After a moment of hesitation, the teacher opened the door and stepped in before Ryou had the chance to.

"Oh shit! Damn that Mariku..."

At that point, Ryou did panic a bit, pushing past Bakura, looking around and spotting Malik on the bed. He went to his friend and started to cure him, quickly concluding what had happened from the fang marks. Ryou glared at Bakura, the teacher signaled him to ask about it later, and then noticed how Malik woke up.

"Are you alright?" Ryou asked, worried over his friend.

"Um yeah, I guess..." Malik seemed to realize something and quickly sat up. "Wait... Where is that bastard?! I'll fucking slay him!"

The exclamation took Ryou by surprise but Bakura seemed not to get phased by it. "You won't be able to do that, believe me, I've seen people try before the contract put an end to it. He's a few hundred years ahead of you in experience." To that Malik yelled something, but Ryou didn't hear what it was. How was it that one moment Bakura could be yelling and pissed off and then the next he was perfectly calm again? The boy studied the teacher's features, not seeing any of the shock or slightly worried hurry that had been there just a few seconds ago. He did notice, however, how handsome, strong and firm, just standing there so casually in his all black clothing, the other looked even in a situation where Ryou would have been in panic.

"You could've just not cured him yet, now he has the energy to yell."

Ryou realized that he was being addressed, wondered if Bakura had noticed him staring, fighting the blush that was threatening to form, but couldn't help the small smile. It seemed that Malik had noticed something at least, he had this expression and Ryou just knew.

"Thanks for curing me Ryou. I think I just go now and give you your privacy," Malik said and started to leave. Now Ryou couldn't fight the blush anymore and it came with full force. His friend was out the door and there was the click that indicated that he had closed the door. Ryou silently cursed Malik for leaving him like this after that comment. He glanced at Bakura, only to see him staring back with a raised eyebrow and with this almost playful glint in his red-ish brown eyes. Ryou's mouth felt suddenly so dry and it was like his brain had stopped functioning properly, but that didn't stop him from being aware of his, almost forgotten but never lost, attraction for the older teen. It suddenly felt so weird to think that Bakura, who was a teacher of the advanced level warlocks and seemed to have more life experience than Ryou could even hope for, was only about two years older than he was. Certain admiration was in order... That was something everyone hoped to achieve but only a rare few did. But the way Bakura had made it so far, through all the troubles and problems in his life forcing him to grow up so fast... Ryou's admiration was only dimmed down by the way he knew Bakura was; shameless, arrogant, uncaring towards everyone else and, lastly but not least, unpredictable.

Ryou turned his eyes away quickly. "I should go check on Malik..." he said quietly and turned to leave.

"Ryou."

The boy stopped just before he was out the door but didn't turn around, waiting for the other to continue.

He did after a short silence. "Do you think that I'm a bad person?"

The question took Ryou by surprise and made him turn around to face the other. "What do you mean?"

Bakura looked and sounded so serious it was almost scary. "Exactly what I said. Do you?"

Ryou had no idea what to answer to that. Yes, Bakura was ruthless and didn't seem to care who got wiped out if they were in his way but... Ryou was sort of hoping that wasn't all Bakura was... "You're just a victim of circumstance," he answered, truthfully, smiled a bit and walked out the door, closing it behind him.

xxxxxxx

Bakura had stared at his door. He had just stared at it for so long that it had already been dark once he had stopped standing there, deep in thought and wonder, staring at the closed door but not seeing it.

"You're just a victim of circumstance."

He wasn't entirely sure what had possessed him to ask the question in the first place. Maybe he had just wanted Ryou's opinion, but why? Why would he care what someone else thought of him? He had never cared before, why now? Why Ryou of all the people? Could it be that the boy had somehow cursed him or something like that?

After he had noticed that it was dark, he had decided to seek out Mariku. That bastard would have some explaining to do... It wasn't very wise to attack a student here, especially if one was seeking to keep a low profile, and besides, it had been Ryou's... best friend or something.

"I don't... I don't..." He didn't care if that fairy was Ryou's best friend. "I don't- oh fuck... I do care!" Bakura yelled at no one particular, discovering that it was getting hard to not care about someone who apparently cared about him on some level and was just so... Bakura didn't even have a word to describe Ryou. Maybe he was naïve? Caring? What?!

"The apocalypse is coming, take cover."

Bakura whirled around and saw Mariku who had a slight smirk on. He was now annoyed. "Ha haa. Funny." Sarcasm... "What the hell is your problem?"

The vampire shrugged. "Nothing. I don't have a problem," he told, sending Bakura a meaningful look.

"Well, you will have one if anyone finds out about the fairy boy," the human one of the two told, ignoring the implication.

"Well, you will have one when someone finds out about that Ryou kid and whatever you two have going on," Mariku pointed out, not letting his own implication go just yet. "What is going on by the way? Is he the one you care about now?"

Bakura glared. "That's none of your business."

Mariku didn't seem to be very impressed by the answer; instead he had this annoyingly knowing expression. "I just wanted to know who's causing the world to end by making you care," he said with a smirk, then turning to leave. "I was in the neighborhood so I decided to drop by but there's been a change of plans and I'll be staying in the neighborhood." That was his 'bye and see you soon' before he left. Bakura decided that he didn't even want to understand the vampire's motives. It didn't seem like anyone was going to get harmed so his job wasn't in danger. If Mariku wasn't going to do anything, Bakura couldn't be suspected to have a connection with him and even if he was, that wouldn't do much to his reputation in any way.

xxxxxxx

Ryou was pretty sure that his friend was an idiot at this point. But he was the good kind of idiot, not meaning any harm. Though he was annoying... That never stopped Ryou from loving him as a friend though. That was simple enough and he wished that everything would be as simple... But no, some people had to be difficult and dealing with anything that had something to do with them had to be equally as difficult...

Ryou wanted to put that aside for now as he was worried about Malik. The other boy wasn't there, in their room, and he had no idea where he was. It had been a few hours since Ryou had gotten into their room and-

"Hi Ryou! You're here? Already?" -and Malik was back.

"Oh shut up... Where were you?" Ryou asked.

"In the library," the other boy told absently. Ryou stared at him for a while before letting it go. Malik never went to the library because the books were 'out to get him', so to speak.

"Ok..." Ryou let that subject go since it seemed that Malik was ok, apart from the going to the library. It would be great if all his problems could be solved like that...