Disclaimer: I don't own anything. If I did… I would be on bad rich female.

Notes from your stalker: Hello loves! Yes, Yes, I am back with another chapter of Mentality and I did this in class while my teacher was gone for the day so yeah! This chapter was found in the back of my Pharmacy book and I decided to type it up. Be lucky I love you guys because I didn't have to do this you know! Rwaar! Lol so. Enjoy. Review. Rant. Bitch. I don't care.

Read on!


Chapter 25

Different!

Poke.

"Wake up…"

Poke.

Poke.

"Wake up…"

Bakura could've sworn he was still dreaming when he felt something tickle along his sides but when he felt something soft poke him in this face, he knew he wasn't dreaming. Slowly, he opened his eyes only to see Panya staring at him with a smile on her face, Asa cradled in her arms.

"Panya?" Bakura yawned as he sat up, his eyes half mast. "What are you doing here?"

The publicist grinned slightly and placed her niece beside the editor. "Did you forget I had your daughter for the day? I had to bring her back earlier than I expected because I have to go in for work tomorrow." She explained and pushed her hair back from her face.

"That isn't a problem is it?"

"No, No…" Bakura groaned with a wave of his hand before reaching out to grab his daughter's hand and smiled when she gripped it tightly. "I missed her anyway."

Panya smiled at the tender moment before sighing. "Well, I better get going. I left the things I bought for Asa in her bedroom. Be sure to call me this weekend alright?"

"Can do," Bakura muttered before standing from his bed and grabbed Asa along the way as he followed the woman out of the room. "The girls aren't here?"

"Um, I didn't see Kisara or Rie. Rei let me in, but she said that she had somewhere to go she said."

"Alright. Well, I will see you later then Panya."

"You bet! Goodbye my little butterfly!" Panya cooed lightly to Asa before she walked out and closed the door gently behind her.

Sighing, Bakura looked down to his daughter and pulled her small hat off, revealing her frizzled patch of white hair.

"Well kiddo, I guess it's just you and me for a little while."

Asa seemed to understand what her father said because the corner of her small mouth curled up into a smile while her eyes closed.


Ryou couldn't say what time he fell asleep because when he woke up, his brown eyes immediately came into his alarm clock which read 8 am. The bookkeeper groaned while throwing his legs over the corner of his head and stretched lazily. He couldn't say he had a good night's rest because he didn't. His hair was a complete mess; and he felt like he joints ached badly.

Sighing, he slowly got out of bed and made his way to the bathroom to relieve himself.

'This sucks...' Ryou thought tiredly as he washed his hands, staring at himself in the mirror. 'I look like complete shit.'

He still felt restless from last night and he mostly blamed himself because of it. Thinking about that stubborn head editor haunted his thoughts throughout the day and sometimes even haunted his dreams at night.

Sighing once more, Ryou pushed his hair back with his wet hands and braided it back so that it rested on his shoulder.

"I might as well go into the bookstore this morning and get some of those invoices taken care of."

Now somewhat motivated; Ryou hurried back to his room and got dressed. Making sure he had everything, the former nurse left the house and climbed into his truck and sped off, heading downtown.

It didn't take him that long to get to his bookstore, and he was surprised to see his friend Mahad exiting his car and unlocking the door.

"Hey there Mahad!" Ryou called, surprising the brunette.

"Ryou…" he greeted carefully. "What are you doing here? I thought you weren't coming in today."

"Yeah, I changed my mind. Besides, I just need to get these invoices checked and cleared." Ryou said as he walked past his employee; opening the blinds while doing so.

"Okay," Mahad said carefully still. "Did something happen yesterday?"

Ryou paused in his actions and looked back to the taller man. "Why do you ask that?"

"Because," Mahad said while crossing his arms. "When you called me yesterday and told me that you weren't coming in today, you sounded like a complete zombie. I would've come over to your place if it wasn't so busy yesterday."

Ryou smiled slightly. "Nothing happened yesterday. I just didn't feel like coming back after lunch with Malik. I didn't know it was busy either; I would've come back in to help."

Mahad waved his hand dismissively. "The store was only crowded due to high school and college students getting ready for finals and wanting to use the copier. It was nothing I couldn't handle." His dark eyes softened and looked his boss in his eyes.

"Ryou, you know if there's anything on your mind; anything at all you know that you can come and talk to me. I'm not just your employee but your friend as well."

Ryou couldn't help but smile softly. "Thank you Mahad; that means a lot."


Clattering sounds is what woke Bakura up around 11'oclock that morning; followed by laughter and playful shouting. Groaning, the editor sat up carefully and ran his hand down his face. Of course the girl's would always wake him up using some kind of loud noise.

As if on cue, his bedroom door opened and his sister's head pop in; smiles wide on their faces.

"Hey there little brother; about time your up." Rie called and shoved her twin inside.

Bakura lay back down on the bed and grabbed a pillow to cover his face with. "Go away; it's too damn early to see your faces."

"Oh ha ha. That's so funny." Rie muttered before sitting on her brother's bed and began to bounce up and down much to the latter's annoyance.

"Uggh. What do you want?" Bakura almost cried.

"We're just letting you know that we're leaving today. We're going back home."

This made Bakura peek around his pillow before sitting up. "What?"

Rei and Rie smiled brightly. "Yeah, you heard us. Mother is expanding her business in the states and she needs us to be the representatives for her."

Bakura frowned slightly and tilted his head. He had honestly forgotten that his sisters did work for their mother. Even though they didn't look like it; his two sisters meant business when it came to their mother's business.

"So," Bakura yawned tiredly. "When are you two leaving?"

"Right now actually; that was all that loud noise was about. Kisara was trying to help us take our luggage to the car."

Bakura could only smile. "Well, I guess I will see you gu-"

Before Bakura could even finish his words, he was tackled to the bed by his big sisters.

"Oof! Get off of me god damn it!" Bakura cried as he tried to push the two girls off. They were skinny but both of their weights combined on top of his rip cage made him gasp for his breath.

"We're going to miss you little brother!" Rei said.

"We're going to miss our little niece too! Be sure to bring her to visit us once in awhile!" Rie added.

"Fine. Fine! Now, get off of me before you two kill me!" Bakura roared, and effectively pushed the laughing girls away.

"Come on sis, let's get going." Rie pouted and grabbed her fallen phone. Giving the editor one lazy salute; she left the room with the other twin following. But as soon as they walked out, Kisara walked in with Asa in her arms.

"Sorry for the inconvenience Bakura; but I'm heading back with the girls. I will be back next week though! I promise." The white haired girl said sadly while handing her cousin over.

"It isn't a problem Kisara; you go and have fun and take care of business. I'm pretty sure Asa and I can live without you guys for awhile." He looked up and saw his cousin smiling. "Go, on. You guys call me once you've made it to Asakusa."

"Alright!" Kisara cried happily and ran out the room; only to run back in and place a tender kiss on both her cousin's cheek. "Bye you two!"

Bakura sat in the middle of his bed, Asa nestled between him while he heard quick footsteps and the loud sound of the front door slamming shut.

Sighing again, Bakura looked down to Asa and grinned. "I guess since we have nothing to do today; how about we take a quick trip downtown?"

Expecting no sort of answer from the two month old, Bakura placed her in the middle of his bed and prepared himself for the day.


"Thank you!" Ryou said happily as he handed a wrapped book to his customer. "Please be sure to come again! The new edition of this book should be in soon!"

The customer nodded and said his thanks before leaving the store; letting another customer in while doing so.

Ryou left from behind the counter and walked into the walkway of his store, ready to help the customer and froze right in the middle of the store.

By the entrance was a bright pink and yellow stroller; a small girl happily gnawing on her fist her focus nowhere else. As for the one who was pushing the stroller-they were nowhere in sight. Feeling slightly panicked, Ryou walked over to the stroller and knelt down before the girl with a cocked head.

"Well hello there; aren't you a cute one?" Ryou asked and shook her dry hand before standing and quickly looked around the store.

"Are you looking for me Ryou?"

That voice…

Freezing once more; Ryou slowly turned to the reading area of his store and swallowed hard. "B-Bakura…"

Bakura smirked. "Yo."

"W-what are you doing here?" Ryou asked; suddenly nervous. He looked up when he heard a sudden cough and saw Mahad coming from the small kitchen area of the store; a small tea cup in his hand.

"O-oh I'm sorry… I didn't mean to interrupt you two I'm about to head-"

"Don't you dare!" Ryou cried but to no avail; Mahad was already gone.

Whining slightly; Ryou nervously turned back to Bakura and smiled slightly. "Can I help you with something?"

"You told me I could come and visit your bookstore remember? Or am I no longer invited?" Bakura asked as he stood and make his way over the fumbling bookkeeper.

"U-um W-well you k-know y-you're invited here when ever you want Bakura." Ryou stuttered shamelessly and turned red when Bakura stood right directly in front of him. Ryou scolded himself when a small squeak escaped from his mouth when he looked up right into Bakura's chocolate brown eyes.

'That look…in his eyes...' Ryou thought while losing himself in the editor's eyes. 'They look exactly the same from when…'

"Mmmwaaah…"

Both Ryou and Bakura froze and looked over to Asa whose face seemed to turn red. Her amber brown eyes were directly on them both and her small cheeks seemed to be puffed up in frustration.

"Ah..." Bakura chuckled and walked over to his daughter and picked her up and swayed her slightly. "Is Asa getting jealous over here?"

Ryou stood in the same spot as before and watched Bakura interact with his daughter. He seemed happy holding her in his arms. Slowly, he titled his head slightly and frowned. So, this was Masika's and Bakura's daughter. She had her mother's skin and eyes while it was clearly evident that it was Bakura's child with the small girl's white semi-spiked hair.

His heart thumped uncomfortably.

Ryou wondered if Bakura missed the mother of his child. He wondered what it would've been like if she was indeed still alive; what it would've been like if the two were married.

Since he was in his own little world; he didn't notice Bakura make his way over to him and tapped him slightly.

"Ryou."

Jumping out of his thoughts; Ryou looked back up at the editor then to the outreached arms.

"Here," Bakura said softly and placed the girl into the smaller's arms. "I want you to hold her."

"O-oh okay." Ryou said nervously and carefully held Asa in his arms and smiled slightly. "She's so light. And she smells so good." Ryou laughed and swayed her gently.

"Hey there… I forgot her name…what is it again?" Ryou asked softly; staring back up at Bakura.

Bakura chuckled slightly. "Sato Asa."

"Asa." Ryou repeated and smiled and began swaying the girl again; his smile becoming brighter when he noticed the small smile on the baby's face. "Your name is so cute! You're so cute…" Ryou gushed happily and tapped her nose.

As Ryou continued to make silly noises and compliment the child in his arms, Bakura stood on the side line and watched. To him; this was sort of a test. With everything that happened between Masika and Ryou; he wanted to see if he would scorn her child. He already told himself there would've been no point in a relationship with Ryou there would be any tension with having Asa in his life.

So far so good Bakura thought.

"Say," Bakura said suddenly. "How about we grab some lunch from that café down the street? I heard it's pretty good."

Ryou looked uncertain for a moment; bouncing Asa up and down before nodding and smiling. "Sure Bakura; lunch sounds fine."

Bakura smirked and Ryou blushed and smiled.


Okay, this is over. I was kind of iffy of this… I don't know… blah. Be sure to review. I want this story completed before I graduate in March. So Review loves!