Mew: I'm horrible for torturing Ryou so damn much.
Draiku: True, that.
Mew: Is that it? No insults?
Draiku: -nods- I'm tired and I want to sleep. –falls over and sleeps, as predicted-
Disclaimer: Mew Draiku sadly doesn't own Yu-Gi-Oh because she sucks. –insert sad face here-
Badass Boyfriend
Chapter 29: Tryout
When I called my dad to tell him about my legs, he seemed shocked.
"You can't walk?" he asked.
"Yeah. I still have sensation in them, and my toes still move, so hopefully with a bit of work they can start moving again," I explained. "The doctor says that there's a chance that they can fix them, but I won't be able to run too fast or jump to high." He sighed.
"Well, it could be worse," he said. I nodded, agreeing. "Should Mai and I move your room to the guest room, since you don't need to go up any stairs to get to it?" he asked.
"That would help a lot," I said. "Thank you."
"No problem. We'll also try and build a makeshift ramp on the porch for you," he added.
"It probably won't be permanent, so don't make it too hard to build," I said.
"Still, after all you've been through, I want to make your life a lot easier."
"It's fine, really, but thanks."
"Anyway, is there any news on when you can come home?" he asked.
"They said that they wanted to keep me here a while until they're positive I won't go into another coma. Apparently, there's a chance that I could re-enter it while I'm asleep or something, so they're monitoring me," I explained. "However, it wouldn't be as bad as last time." He paused again.
"Please don't go into another coma," he said softly.
"I won't. I promise," I said. He sighed.
"Thank you. I should let you rest, son, so goodnight," he said. I smiled.
"Alright. Goodnight, dad. See you tomorrow." We hung up, and I lied down, closing my eyes.
-
A few days later, I was finally released from the hospital. My doctor (whose name I learned to be Doctor Pegasus) was convinced that I was healthy enough to go. However, I'd have to return every other day for therapy.
"So it's just your legs?" Marik asked while we sat together at lunch. I nodded.
"Yeah. I can still move my toes and ankles, just not my knees or much anything else," I explained. "They said that they'd be able to fix it, but it'd be painful." Bakura frowned a little. "It's alright, I'll be fine," I said with a smile.
"If you need anything, anything at all, after your therapy, just tell me," he said.
"Thanks," I replied. "But I keep wondering something. Did you ever tell your mom about us?" He nodded.
"Yeah, just three days ago. She asked me why I'd bought the ring, since she saw the receipt, and I told her," he explained. "She was happy for me, and she said that she knew since she first saw you that we were in love."
"So she didn't mind?" I asked. He nodded.
"Yep. She even said that she was glad I finally 'came out', because otherwise she'd have to do it for me." He laughed a bit. I smiled at him.
"Good," I said.
"Hey, Ryou? Can I ask you something?" Marik said. I nodded. "What was it like, being in a coma?"
"Yeah, I was wondering that too," Malik commented.
"Same here, actually," Bakura added. I blinked, and tried to remember.
"I don't know," I said. "It's just…blank. It was like I never was in a coma at all. But when I got home last night, I looked on the fireplace mantle and saw mom's picture. For some reason, I felt this weird connection."
"Maybe she visited you while you were comatose?" Bakura suggested. I chuckled.
"I doubt that," I replied. Bakura chuckled as well.
"Yeah, you're right. Did you feel different afterwards, aside from that?"
"Not really," I said. "Sorry, guys. I can't remember a single thing."
"That's alright," Malik said with a laugh. "For some reason, I had a feeling that you wouldn't. Oh yeah, and I almost forgot. Marik and I visited you every few days, and we recorded what we said so you could listen to them and get filled in, basically. I'll bring the tapes to you tonight, if you want."
"Thanks," I said, grinning. "I really appreciate that."
"No problem." The bell rang and Bakura handed me my backpack.
"Here, you hold this and I'll take you to our next class," he said. I smiled.
"Thanks," I said again. He wheeled me to the elevator, and we headed up. It was a slow ride, to say the least. Bakura gently hugged me from behind, kissing my cheek.
"I'm glad you're back," he murmured. I smiled and touched his hand gently.
"Me, too," I said. He turned my head with his gentle hand, and kissed my lips tenderly. I kissed him back, and his tongue slid into my mouth. I opened my eyes to look at his expression, and mentally smiled as I returned the favor. He tasted delicious, as always. The elevator door slid open. We gasped and pulled away a few seconds later, even though it was just Mai.
"You two know that you aren't allowed to have personal displays of affection, right?" she said while she helped some kid on crutches.
"It wasn't exactly public," I explained. "We were in the elevator."
"Alright, I'll let it go, then," she said with a wink. I laughed and Bakura nervously wheeled me out, thanking her. He probably wasn't used to that just yet.
-
After school, Marik, Malik, Bakura, and I gathered around a paper taped to the wall. It was about the upcoming school play—a musical about a princess who falls in love with some peasant man.
"So are you going to sign up?" Malik asked Marik.
"Sure. I've been in every school play, right?" Marik replied with a grin, signing his name.
"If there's no dancing, I'll sign up," I said. I'd been in most of the plays too.
"I suppose I will if you are," Bakura said, signing our names down. Malik shrugged and jumped onto the bandwagon.
"Tryouts are tomorrow," he said. "And we all signed up for a main part. This'll be interesting," he added, chuckling. To say the least, I agreed with him.
-
Bakura and I watched Marik and Malik while they tried out for the parts of the peasant man and the prince who was originally supposed to marry the princess. Marik was the peasant, and Malik was the prince. It was fun to watch—they were great actors.
"What did you say?" Malik asked in a demanding voice, reading off the script.
"I need to repeat myself? My, a man of your position cannot understand such simple words. I love her, and she loves me. You have no chance with her," Marik replied in his most stubborn, arrogant voice. Which, I may add, was very, very arrogant, and equally stubborn.
"And what does her father say about you?" Malik answered, glaring. "Tell me; has he said anything?"
"I've no clue what the man thinks of me, and I could care less," Marik said. "Words will never get in the way of our love."
"Well, I know what he thinks of you, you pig. He believes that you are nothing more than a stray dog—a man wandering the streets, begging for spare change. You are worthless! You are nothing more than a mud-wallowing swine!" Malik yelled. Marik recoiled in character.
"A swine, am I? Look at yourself, you wasp! You're nothing more than a jealous insect!"
"A wasp still stings the swine, peasant. And such a sting can kill the swine, be it in large quantities."
"And there is only one of you. Sting, if you will, it will do no harm," Marik said.
"Oh, please," the girl, who was acting as the princess said. "Do not harm my, uh, my love?" Marik and Malik paused to stare at her. She was, to be polite, the worst actress there ever was. It was painful.
"Then I shall take you up on that offer!" Malik said, grabbing the wooden spoon he was currently using as a sword. Marik gasped dramatically as Malik let out a cry and charged.
"Wait!" the director yelled. "That's good. Excellent, actually. Malik—do me a favor and read the princess' part?" Malik blinked.
"Um, okay," he said. "Prince Reginald, please don't harm my beloved! I beg of you—I would die without him! Please, Reginald, if you truly love me, then don't!" Surprisingly, he did an excellent job for the girl part. The director scribbled something down, and looked to Marik.
"You do the prince's part," he said. Marik nodded.
"But Marianne! How could I possibly refrain from killing this swine??! He stole you from me—he stole my everything! I love you, Marianne! Can you not see that??!" he said, looking to Malik desperately.
"Good, good," the director mumbled. "Bakura, get out here!" he called. "You do the peasant's part."
"Reginald, there is nothing you can do about it," Bakura read. "I've seen what you did to her family."
"What are you saying, Ashton?" Malik asked, turning to Bakura. "What has he done to my family?"
"This insect has killed your brother—and he blamed it on the village blacksmith! He killed the blacksmith to gain your father's trust and respect!" Bakura explained, pointing at Marik.
"You bastard! How dare you sputter such blatant lies!" he snarled.
"Reginald, is this true?" Malik asked, stepping towards Marik and placing his hands on Marik's chest, like the script said. "Tell me the truth. Did you kill Henry?" He gazed up into Marik's eyes, and Marik glanced away. Finally, he gave a depressed sigh, and turned away from Malik. He held his head in a hand, bowing it. His shoulder slumped, and his "sword" clattered to the floor. He pretended to cry.
"Y-yes, Marianne, it's true. I killed your younger brother," he murmured, just loud enough to be heard. Malik gasped.
"You…you! But why??!" he demanded angrily.
"I loved you, Marianne! The ends justify the means…don't they?" Marik yelled, turning to Malik. Malik narrowed his eyes at him.
"No, Reginald, they don't," she whispered. Marik collapsed to his knees, staring at Malik while he returned to Bakura's side.
"Swine, you murdered an innocent child for your own, selfish desire," Bakura hissed. Marik gazed up at Malik.
"Despite your feelings towards me now, Marianne, I still love you," he said softly. He lifted the wooden spoon, and "stabbed" himself in the stomach. Coughing and choking and gasping, he keeled over, and "died". The director stood and applauded loudly.
"Wonderful! Absolutely magnificent! Malik, you will be Marianne, Marik will be Reginald, Bakura will be Ashton, and Ryou…Ryou, since you can't walk at the moment, you can work the spotlight with Yugi, on the other spotlight," the director said.
"What??!" Malik demanded. "I have to play a girl??!"
"You're her, Malik! Just cooperate—none of the girls who tried out were very good at all. You're the only one who can do this part! Please, for the sake of the school!" the director said. It was compelling enough to make Malik accept.
This would definitely be an interesting play.
-
After school that day, when I stared up at the mantle, I felt an odd connection with the photos. There were five up there—one of Jonathan and Mai together, one of mom, one of me, and one of Angel. I blinked, wondering why the picture of Angel was right next to the one of my mother.
"Dad?" I asked. He was sitting on the couch, reading, but he looked to me.
"What is it?" he replied. I pointed at the mantle.
"Why is Angel next to mom and not you?" I said. He paused and walked over.
"Well, I'm marrying Mai now, for one thing," he said. "It might be rude to do that. I still love your mother, Ryou, but she's gone now. I need to move on. For another thing, the picture of Angel just looks like it works there, doesn't it?" I smiled and nodded.
"Yeah. It almost looks like they're partners in crime or something," I said with a laugh. He laughed as well.
"Your mother loved Angel quite a lot, Ryou," he said. "Maybe that's why Angel doesn't seem to age, and that's why we call her our 'kitten'."
"Yeah, I was wondering about that," I said. "How old is she really?"
"She's older than you," dad replied. "And still going strong. I wonder how old Angel will grow to be." He and I looked at Angel just as she stepped into the room. She looked at us, and seemed to smirk while she winked at me. She padded away, and for a second, I thought I saw two very small wings made of light come out of her back.
-
"Do you believe in guardian angels?" I asked Malik before school the next day. He shrugged.
"Sure, why not? I mean, we must have some sort of guardian. We've been through a lot of shit, much more than the average high school senior," he said. "All three of us were kidnapped, I was raped, you went into a coma, Marik's dad died, your dad was attacked by Yugi's crazy dad, Kaiba obviously had a thing for you, and a whole lot of other shit. Not in that order, though. Anyway, what I'm saying is that it's a wonder we're still alive." I laughed.
"Yeah, you're right," I said. "We're probably insane to still act normal. Where's everyone today, anyway? They're usually here by now." Malik nodded.
"Yeah. Bakura's always a little late, but Shizuka, Mana, Marik, and all the others should be here," he said with a frown. "Rishid did say that he wanted to talk to Marik about something, though."
"Rishid? You mean your older brother?" I asked. Malik nodded.
"Who else? Anyway, he sometimes forces Marik to work in the garden, clean the house, things like that. He and Isis never really liked him that much. They're friendly with him, just…wary, I suppose," he said, rolling his eyes.
"Well, you two are marrying, so they may want to keep watch on you," I said. He nodded. "Oh, and how's your album doing?" I asked.
"We're still recording," he replied. "It's taking a long time, since our manager is kinda picky with how it sounds and stuff," he explained. "He even stopped a recording just to suggest to add one beat of silence to part of a song."
"Sheesh. Well, he wants you to be successful, right?" I suggested. He shrugged.
"Sure, I suppose, but it's still annoying. Oh well; at least he doesn't yell at us."
Just then, we spotted something strange.
Mana and Shizuka were running towards us, screaming. We hurried over, and Mana crouched behind my wheelchair.
"What's wrong?" Malik asked while Shizuka clutched Mana's arm.
"There's this weird, mutated animal in the parking lot!" Mana whispered. "It was tall, like a regular human, and it had fangs and green eyes! Its ears were back and it looked like it was snarling! It had horns, and claws and wings, too! And its tail had an arrow-shaped spike on the end, too!"
"Are you sure this isn't just a joke?" Malik asked, though he sounded sort of convinced. She nodded.
"We're not kidding!" Shizuka promised. I, however, was not as superstitious.
"I'll go check it out," I said. I started to wheel forward, but Malik grabbed the handles on my wheelchair. "Hey!" I protested when he kicked the locks down.
"You're not going anywhere for now. This seriously could be dangerous. There is a nuclear power plant a mile out of town, you know," Malik said in a serious tone. Mana and Shizuka nodded. "What color was it?" he asked, looking to them.
"It had black fur, but it looked soft," Mana said. "And a white belly, and this deep red color on its paws. It looked like…like blood."
"Let's go in," Malik said. "It probably can't open a door." He forcefully wheeled me inside, while Mana and Shizuka followed. We waited patiently.
"There! There it is!" Shizuka cried, pointing towards the bushes in the school garden. I looked, and gasped. There was a tall, dark, animal-like shape in there, slinking around.
"What the hell?" was all I could manage. Then, it turned towards us, and advanced. We were frozen stiff.
TBC
Mew: Have I crossed the line, Draiku?
Draiku: Depends. Is this going anywhere odd?
Mew: -sighs- Well, we'll just have to wait, then.
Draiku: You didn't answer the question.
Mew: It's a surprise. –grin-
Yoko: -stares at them- They're speaking in code, everyone. Decipher it while you still can, and while you're at it, leave a review! Please?
