Title: A Persistent Shadow (Chapter 13) – A Battle Of Wills
Pairing: Ryou Bakura x Yami Bakura, possible others
Rating: M
Summary: The Pharaoh uses a spell to force Yami Bakura out of Ryou's body, but unfortunately for Ryou it doesn't work quite as well as intended.

Ryou snuggled closer to the spirit, nuzzling his neck. The spirit's hands moved down his body, first running over his shoulders... then down his back... then finally settling lower down with a soft squeeze.

Ryou gasped in surprise. He clung to the spirit as the kneading continued, the massage grinding his hips down into the body beneath him. Oh g-god. He'd needed this, needed it far more badly than he'd ever realized. So badly he couldn't possibly stop for anything, no, not even the alarm clock, oh god, why did the alarm clock have to go off now, not now, just a little longer, please...

"As much as I enjoy listening to you beg, Landlord, I believe it's time for you to wake up."

Ryou froze midthrust, his attempt to keep reality away failing horribly. He was too mortified to even contemplate moving. His eyes glanced up at what he could see of the spirit's face, where for a brief instant he could have sworn he saw a smirk, which was quickly replaced by a peeved expression.

"Of course I'm peeved after what you were doing," the spirit said, tone full of disdain.

I-I'm s-sorry, Ryou babbled. I didn't mean to-- I was asleep-- I c-couldn't help it.

"That may be true, but where does that leave me?"

I d-don't know? Ryou desperately wished he could move right now. He had no idea why the spirit hadn't simply disappeared from under him, given the circumstances.

"With what I just put up with, I really do think you owe me."

O-owe you?

"I fully expect to be repaid for this, Landlord," the spirit added softly, caressing Ryou's cheek with one finger.

For one short, intense moment, Ryou thought his perverse dream might not in fact be over quite yet.

"That isn't the sort of repayment I had in mind, actually."

Ryou felt a tiny bit of suspicion growing inside him, displacing some of his embarrassment. What sort of repayment did you mean, then?

"Just a small thing I would like you to do for me."

The suspicion quickly became full-on distrust. What thing?

"The tomb keeper has a magic book. I would like you to take a look at it. That's all."

No, Ryou replied adamantly. He had no idea why the spirit wanted him to do it, but he knew he wanted no part of it.

"All you have to do is look. Aren't you the least bit sorry about what you were doing to me?"

Ryou fought off the guilt and embarrassment he was feeling, a much easier task now that he knew how the spirit was trying to manipulate him. Hey, you've done things just as... as... Ryou stopped for a second and then started over again. You've done things to me plenty of times without my permission, and you're never sorry. For all I know, you were doing it this time, he accused.

"What, doing this?" the spirit asked, lowering one hand and squeezing the way he had in the dream.

Ryou choked on his intended response, hips jerking downward against his will. Pleasure coursed through him, renewing the desperation he'd felt right upon waking. Power of movement restored, he frantically rolled off the spirit to get rid of any temptation to embarrass himself further.

"Still think I was responsible?"

N-no. I guess not. More than a few seconds of that, and he would have...

Blood rushed to Ryou's face at the thought of waking up to find that had happened while in the position they'd been in. He might well be calling Marik about a book right about now...

"Is that so?"

It won't work anymore, Ryou said quickly. I've caught on, now.

"You might as well agree right now, Landlord," the spirit said, looming over him. "You only lasted five minutes of the torment I inflicted on you the last time you refused to do what I wanted you to."

Ryou got out of bed and headed for the shower. What ended up happening when I gave in last time is motivation enough to resist now. Ryou shed his clothes as fast as he could manage before he changed his mind. He wouldn't let the spirit intimidate him this time. He wouldn't.

He got in the shower and turned on the cold water, flinching even before it hit him. It might have given him a small advantage against what he knew the spirit likely had planned for him, but cold showers still weren't the most enjoyable thing in the world.

"All this discomfort is easily avoided by doing what I've told you."

Not happening. Ryou sped through his morning routine, keeping himself moving to make it difficult for the spirit to catch hold of him. Not that the spirit had actually tried, yet. Ryou thought he must be saving whatever he had planned until Ryou was at school. It had worked last time, after all.

Ryou hesitated before opening the front door to leave. He tried to look through the peephole, but the view had been shattered during the frenzied attack on the door. He had no way to know if there was someone lurking out there, waiting for him.

"There's no one on the stairs. I just checked."

Oh. At least the spirit's paranoia finally coming in handy. Ryou opened the door and carefully made his way outside around the pole, which he ended up using to pull the door shut behind him. He locked the door and looked around, noticing that the area hadn't been cleaned up yet. He wondered if his landlord would be coming by, and if he'd be angry at him for... well, any number of things about the situation.

Ryou walked out of the building and was relieved to see what had to be the police guard sitting in a car just outside. The officer nodded to him as he walked by.

Ryou made it to school just in time, barely having a moment to say hi to the others before class started.

As Ryou had expected, the spirit started his slow campaign of torment as soon as he'd sat down at his desk. Ryou had built up a certain amount of resistance during the short time the spirit had tried using this method to distract him from his nightmares, so he was able to pretend nothing was going on for a little while before it became too much for him to handle. At that point, all he could do was cling to his desk and try to keep himself relatively unnoticeable.

Gym class was too active for the spirit to do anything to him. If he'd tried anything, Ryou could have easily thrown him off without arousing any suspicion. Running expended some of the built up energy, making him feel a little better when lunch came around.

He cringed when the spirit appeared behind him at the lunch table. I-If you do something now, I might choke on my lunch and die, Ryou thought. That's bad for you, too, right?

Heh. Fine. You can have your lunch.

Marik sat down next to Ryou at the table and immediately started talking. "I looked into some of my family's stuff, but so far haven't found anything."

Ryou blinked at him as he chewed a bite of his sandwich, at first having no idea what he was talking about. Then he remembered what Marik had said he intended to do, before Ryou had gone home and found an entirely different mess to deal with. "Oh. Right."

Marik stared at him. "You can't have forgotten already."

"No, of course not. It's just that..." Ryou debated whether or not to tell Marik about what had happened. He didn't want to make anyone worried about him unnecessarily. But it did potentially involve the Millennium Items, he realized, which meant that Marik and Yugi might be in danger. "Something sort of happened yesterday after I left the museum."

"Happened?"

"Um." He turned to Yugi, who was sitting across from him, rushing to finish a homework assignment due that afternoon. "You should hear this, too." He told them what he'd come home to find the day before, pole in the door and everything.

"He put a pole through solid steel?" Yugi asked. He hadn't looked at his homework since Ryou had started his story.

"Yeah," Ryou said. "The police don't know how that's possible." He toyed with his nearly untouched sandwich. "Do you think it could be related to..." Ryou looked at the puzzle hanging around Yugi's neck.

"The items?" Yugi asked. "Maybe. A normal person wouldn't have that kind of strength, but someone involved with shadow magic might."

Ryou heard Marik make strangled sound, and turned to see his friend almost frozen with terror. "You don't think it could be..." Marik said. He looked up at Ryou, wide-eyed. "I mean, I was with you. He couldn't have taken over and..."

"If he came back from the Shadow Realm on his own somehow, maybe," Yugi said.

Ryou tried to think of something useful to say, but he had no real experience with Marik's dark side. He only knew what little the others had told him. "If he were back, wouldn't he try to come after you first?" Ryou asked, only realizing after he said it that it really wasn't that comforting a thought. "Er, I mean--"

Marik put a hand on Ryou's arm. "It's okay. I know what you mean," he said. "And I think you're right. He'd come after me first, not try to break into your apartment when you aren't even there."

"Maybe it was the Spirit of the Millennium Ring," Yugi said. "We still don't know what happened to him after he left your body."

"No, it couldn't be him," Ryou said automatically, before remembering that the others would probably want a reason. "U-um..."

How about because I wouldn't have been beating against the door like a moron?

That was good enough for Ryou. "I'm pretty sure he's the one who put in the reinforced door in the first place," Ryou said. "And even if he didn't, he lived in the apartment for months. He'd have definitely known how to get inside without leaving any sign. Trying to break in through the front door isn't very like him, either."

"Yeah, he'd have gone about it a completely different way," Marik said, looking away from him for a moment.

"It could have just been someone after the Millennium Ring," Yugi said. "Someone we don't even know."

"But I don't even have the Millennium Ring anymore," Ryou said. "It would have to be someone who knows I had the ring before, but doesn't know I got rid of it."

"Maybe that's why they went to your apartment," Marik said. "It might have been someone who saw you weren't wearing the ring anymore and assumed you were leaving it at home now."

"If that's true, he might be coming after one of you soon," Ryou said.

"Forget about us," Marik said. "If it's true, he'll be coming back for you again. Are you sure you're okay alone?"

"I'm fine," Ryou said, not wanting anyone to worry about him. "The police have someone watching the building, so if he comes back, they'll get him." Not that Ryou entirely believed that. The officer might well see whoever it was and try to stop them, but how effective could a normal human being be against someone who could put a pole through a steel door?

"They won't be able to if this person is using shadow magic," Marik said, echoing Ryou's thoughts a little.

"I still have the steel door," Ryou said. "You two don't have that kind of protection," he added, trying to divert the conversation elsewhere.

"The front door isn't the only way someone can get in," Marik said doubtfully.

Yugi nodded. "Is the rest of your apartment protected at all?" he asked.

"I... don't know," Ryou said. He hadn't thought about it before, but would the spirit really go to the trouble of fortifying the front door and only the front door?

Of course not, the spirit replied.

Wait, what else did you do? Ryou hadn't seen anything else, but then the modification to the door hadn't been especially visible either.

I'm not telling you. You would only go and blab it to everyone around you. Let's just say we're well prepared.

Ryou hoped that didn't mean he should be worried about accidentally springing hidden traps inside his own apartment. He looked from Marik to Yugi. "I haven't noticed anything, but the spirit was very good at hiding things like this. And besides, whoever it was tried to get in while I wasn't there. He probably doesn't want to run into me at all."

"That doesn't mean he won't run into you if you happen to come home at the wrong time," Marik said.

"It's fine. Really."

Marik opened his mouth to say something, but the bell rang just then, allowing Ryou to escape further discussion of the matter.

Afternoon classes were sheer torture. The spirit more than made up for the short break he'd given Ryou, and in fact seemed to benefit from the effect it had. He had an entirely new strategy now, and seemed to delight in driving Ryou to distraction, then allowing him to calm down slightly, then getting him worked up all over again, over and over and over...

Ryou tried to pay attention to the teacher in spite of this, and he made it through one full class period before he had to give up, hiding his head in his arms so that no one could see his incredibly inappropriate reactions.

Ryou all but leapt up out of his chair when his last class finally ended, flinging the spirit off him. He rubbed his face, hoping his state wouldn't be completely obvious to everyone in the room. He shoved his things in his bag as quickly as possible, but also managed to drop half his stuff on the floor in the process.

He sighed. This is not my day, he thought, crouching down to pick his stuff up off the floor as the rest of the class filed out around him.

Marik came over to help him. "Bakura..."

Ryou didn't want another argument about his safety. "Thanks for helping me," he said brightly, putting the rest of his things in his bag. He stood up immediately afterward.

Marik did the same, and tried to continue whatever he was going to say, but was interrupted by Joey. "Hey, Bakura. Yugi just told me someone tried to break into your apartment."

"Um. Yeah. It's not that big of a deal, really," Ryou said.

"It is that big of a deal," Marik said.

"Look, I know some people," Joey said. "I can ask around. See if anyone knows anything about who might have done it."

"Wouldn't that be dangerous for you?" Ryou asked.

Joey waved dismissively. "It's no problem. If I hear anything you'll be the first to know," he said, heading out the door and leaving Ryou alone with Marik in the otherwise empty classroom.

Ryou moved to leave as well. "I'll see you--"

"Wait!" Marik said, grabbing his wrist to prevent him from going anywhere. "You can't just walk back to your apartment alone when someone might be after you."

The spirit chose that moment to renew his physical campaign against Ryou, coming up behind him and lightly massaging his backside. Yes, it would be much better if you went somewhere else with the tomb keeper.

Ryou nearly squeaked at suddenly being touched in such a sensitive place. He bit his lip, momentarily forgetting what he and Marik had even been talking about.

Marik immediately let go of his wrist and stared at him, wide-eyed. "Um. Sorry. I didn't mean to--" Marik shook his head. "It doesn't matter. I'm coming with you."

"Th-that really isn't necessary," Ryou said, words almost a pant. It was a much harder struggle to seem normal when he had to actually talk.

"I'm still not letting you go alone," Marik said, arms crossed.

Ryou could tell that no amount of arguing was going to change his mind. "Okay. B-but we have to go right now," he said.

Marik nodded. "Let's go."

Being able to walk freely was a huge relief. The spirit left Ryou alone as he made his way toward the apartment with Marik, just as he had the other times Ryou had been moving around too much for him to grab onto.

Ryou felt conflicted about his new bodyguard – part of him was happy to have someone so genuinely concerned for his safety, but another part of him felt like he shouldn't be taking up his friend's time with something like this. He looked over at Marik. "You seem pretty certain something is going to happen."

"I'm not," Marik said. "But I don't want to just leave you to possibly face something like that on your own."

"Do you still think it's...?" Ryou trailed off, not sure he should even have brought it up.

"No," Marik said. "I don't think it's actually him. But we don't know anything about who it really is, so my mental image of the mystery burglar is still him..."

"Oh."

The two walked the rest of the way in silence. When they reached the apartment, Ryou pointed out the police guard to Marik. "See, they have someone here. I'm sure no one could have gotten in."

Anyone could get around one of these fools, the spirit said from a distance. But the inside of the apartment and the surrounding areas are clear.

Ryou had to admit he was a little relieved to hear that, but it also made him wish he had a way to convince Marik.

"I still want to make sure there's no one inside," Marik said.

"Okay," Ryou said, unlocking the door and leading him up to the second floor. The rubble had been cleaned off the floor at some point while he was at school, but the walls were very obviously damaged and the pole was still sticking right out of the door.

Marik stared at it. "You weren't exaggerating, were you?"

Ryou shook his head. He went over to unlock the door, leading Marik inside around the pole.

Marik looked around. "There doesn't seem to be anyone here right now."

Ryou put his stuff down next to the couch and leaned back against the side. "See, it's fine." He smiled at Marik.

But Marik stood right in front of him, clearly not buying it. "That doesn't mean he won't ever be back."

"He'd have to get past that door," Ryou said. He felt the spirit appear behind him, but Marik was blocking his only escape route at the moment.

The spirit hugged Ryou, resting his hands on his stomach. He's right here. He wants to get you out of here. Ask him about the book.

"You could stay with me for a few days," Marik said. "I'm sure Ishizu wouldn't mind."

The spirit lowered one of his hands and rubbed him. Say yes, Landlord.

"No! I won't!" Ryou said, gripping the couch hard. He forced himself to remain still and upright, even though his body wanted him to be doing any number of other things right then. His face was too hot, his whole body was too hot, and he really, really didn't need Marik to be staring at him like that just then. "I m-mean, it's just not a good idea right now," he added, trying to make up for his sudden outburst.

"It doesn't have to be me, if I make you that... um... " Marik took a moment to find the word he needed. "...uncomfortable. I'm sure one of the others would let you stay over."

"You don't make me uncomfortable," Ryou hastened to assure him. He wished he could explain who was really making him uncomfortable. "I just n-need to be alone for a while."

"Yeah. I can see that," Marik said, sounding odd in a way that Ryou couldn't quite place. "If you change your mind later, though..."

"I'll call you," Ryou said. "I promise." He hoped he could hold himself together until Marik left, but he knew he wasn't doing that great a job as it was.

"I'll just leave, then," Marik said, walking to the door.

"I'll see you another time," Ryou said, throwing off the spirit to go lock the door behind him. He leaned against the door for a moment afterward.

The spirit stood in front of him, looking him over. You've barely made it through the day. Do you really think you can resist forever?

I can try, Ryou said, running to the bathroom for his second cold shower of the day.

Though, if he were honest with himself, he didn't think he could take it much longer at all.