A/N: This is just to let you know there will be no update of Incomplete on Tuesdays until further notice. Enjoy!

She was still sitting there, staring off into space, when her phone beeped about half an hour later. Automatically, Yuugi pulled her cell from her pocket and flipped the top up, fully expecting to see a message from Yami or possibly her grandfather, who might want to know how things were going between the two of them. What she wasn't expecting was to see a text message from her mother. Yuugi stared down at her phone, her thumb hovering over the button that would open the message. Her heart was pounding.

Did she dare look at it? Did she want to read anything from the woman that had slapped her and called her an "it"? She knew that the smart thing to do would have been to delete the message. The bruise on her cheek was only just starting to fade, but it would be some time yet before the damage was fully gone. Every time she saw her reflection, it was a brutal reminder than her mother had the capacity to be more than just emotionally cruel. And yet, she couldn't bring herself to delete it. This was her mother, the woman who, along with her grandfather, had been the focus of her world for a long time. Slowly, she pressed the button.

Yuugi, I'm at the Starbucks on Main Street. I'd like to see you. Meet me here at 1:00pm if you want to speak to me. - Mom

That was it. Yuugi read and re-read the message a half dozen times in the span of a minute. Her eyes flicked up to the clock. It was just past noon, meaning she didn't have much time to decide whether or not she wanted to go. She closed her phone without responding and held it to her chest, feeling overwhelmed. Koto hadn't sounded angry, though it was hard, of course, to discern emotion from a text message, but maybe she was hoping that she and Yuugi could smooth things over.

That was a question that Yuugi didn't know how to answer, all things considered. Could she forgive her mother? Did she want to forgive her mother? She didn't know. She'd done her best to avoid thinking about Koto and apparently she had succeeded a little too well. Chewing nervously on her lip, she slipped her phone back into her pocket. Would it hurt to go and hear Koto out? She could at least listen and then make an informed decision. But she couldn't go by herself: Yami had made her promise not to be alone with Koto, and anyway, that wouldn't be the safest of decisions with Yami Malik around. But she had no idea how long it would be before Yami and Ryou returned.

And then, like an answer to her internal conflict, the bathroom door swung open again and Bakura emerged, now fully dressed in low slung jeans and a t-shirt that did little to hide the definition of his body. He scowled at her when he noticed that she was looking at him, even though it had been his idea for her to stay, and moved across the room towards the window. Yuugi touched her phone again and licked her lips, wondering if she had lost her mind. Still, it couldn't hurt to ask; the most he could do was say no.

"Bakura," she said tentatively. He grunted and she took that as an invitation to keep speaking. "My mother texted me and said that she wants me to go meet with her."

"And?" Bakura didn't turn away from the window.

"I can't go by myself."

He did turn around to face her then, an incredulous expression on his face. "You seem to have forgotten that I am not one of your friends." He spoke the word 'friends' with an air of distaste, like it was the worst insult he could think of.

Yuugi frowned, wondering how to respond to that. The old Bakura was definitely not one of her friends, no, but this Bakura? The one that had returned from the dead, who was no longer possessed by an evil demon, who had had sex with one of her best friends? "Please," she said quietly. "All you have to do is come with me to Ryou's house and then to Starbucks. You won't have to say or do anything but sit there. I'll buy you whatever you want, even."

There was a long pause during which he just stayed at her, his expression cold, and she thought for sure that he was going to say no. Incredibly, he said, "Fine."

"Really?" Yuugi's eyes widened.

"You heard me. Don't push your luck." He swung around and stalked over to the door, and she leapt off of the bed and hurried after him. The mansion was even quieter now and she spared a moment to wonder where everyone else had gone as they made their way down to the front door. There was a limo idling down by the gate and Bakura threw the door open and climbed in. Yuugi hesitated and leaned forward to speak to the driver.

"Could you take us somewhere?" she asked.

"Anywhere you like, little lady."

Okay, the "little lady" remark burned, but they needed his help. She gritted her teeth and forced a smile as she gave him Ryou's address, then climbed in back with Bakura, who was staring pointedly out the window. Yuugi put her seatbelt on and wondered if this had been a good idea, but it was too late to turn back now. She put her hands in her lap and pressed her nails into the soft flesh of her palms, watching as the more expensive mansions gradually turned into houses and apartment buildings. It seemed like they were at Ryou's far too quickly. Her heart was pounding heard as Bakura picked the lock and let them both in.

"Right, I'll just be a moment," she said, dashing up the stairs. The clothing was right where she and Ryou had left it, the boxes partially unpacked with their contents strewn about in every direction. Yuugi grimly stripped off the borrowed clothing she was wearing and picked through until she found the bra she'd worn before. She put it on and then kept looking for an outfit that would fit reasonably well but did not contain glittery pink butterflies she'd have to attack with scissors. She found it in a white tank top that had a pattern of little violet stars stitched in a diagonal slash across the front and a flared violet skirt. Both of them were simple but unmistakably girly and it was exactly what she wanted.

She was sorely lacking Ryou's skill with a hair straightener, but with the help of some water and ten minutes of struggle she managed to make her hair to lay reasonably straight around her shoulders. It was almost disturbing to look into the mirror and see a teenaged girl looking back at her. Normally she wouldn't have been caught dead in something like this, but she wanted to make sure Koto knew that Yuugi was still a girl. She couldn't help feeling a perverse pleasure in shoving this into her mother's face.

It was also sheer fun to see the look on Bakura's face when he caught sight of her. His mouth actually opened a few inches and he blinked a couple of times like he thought she might do a disappearing act. Yuugi paused just long enough to savor the knowledge that she'd rendered Bakura speechless before she walked carefully across the living room floor (the flattest pair of white sandals she'd been able to find had an inch heel and were a half a size too big, but the alternative was a three-inch heel and, well, she didn't count that as an alternative).

"Come on," she said. "It's almost 1:00pm. I'm going to be late."

INC

The nausea had been growing steadily worse on the drive back to the mansion. Ryou sat in the corner of the car and rested her head on Yami's shoulder, simply because the effort it took to hold it up was too much. She didn't really feel like she was going to be sick; it was more like there was a whirlpool in the pit of her stomach that wouldn't stop churning. She rested her hand lightly on her belly and grimaced. If this was what it felt like to take the birth control pills, Bakura was going to be getting a lot of practice time in with cucumbers in the near future.

Yami shifted and turned his head slightly. "Alright?"

"Yeah, I think so," she said. "I think it will be better once we're back at the mansion and I can lie down for a while. Every time the car hits a bump it's worse."

She felt him nod but he didn't say anything else and for that, she was grateful. Actually she was just relieved that he was there period, and that Anzu and Mai had been around, because Ryou didn't want to think about the mess she would have been in if they hadn't been. For a moment, she tried to imagine what it would have been like if she'd been trying to deal with this on her own and inwardly shuddered. The sexual education classes she had attended had taught her all about the morning after pill, though she'd considered it useless information at the time, and she was thankful that her friends had stepped in to get it for her. She wouldn't have had the slightest idea of where to get it, and depending on the cost she might not have been able to afford it. Thank the gods for friends with the right kind of connections, or she might have ended up with a nasty surprise she wasn't equipped to deal with in nine short months.

"Ryou? You feeling okay?"

Distracted, Ryou glanced up and realized that Anzu had turned her head to look at her. There was a concerned expression on the brunette's face and Ryou managed to smile. "I'm okay. My stomach just hurts, that's all."

"It's normal," said Mai, adjusting her central mirror so that she could see the two of them without having to turn around. "One of my friends took it and she was sick for like a week afterwards. They say it usually goes away within twelve hours or so of taking your last pill."

Great, so that meant she had another twenty-four hours or so of this to look forward to? That was wonderful news. Ryou curled up and silently decided that she and Bakura were going to have a very long talk before they didn't anything else. There was no way he was getting anywhere near her until they'd both brushed up on modern birth control. "I hope so," she muttered. "It feels like someone reached inside of me and is jumping up and down."

"It could be because you're not, you know, fully settled yet," Anzu said helpfully. "You and Yuugi haven't been girls for very long."

"No," Ryou agreed. She was going to say something else but all thoughts fled her mind when she heard her phone ringing with a very special tone. Her heart sank and she swallowed hard as she reached into her pocket and pulled the phone out. Sure enough, the display was lit up with her father's name and picture. Oh god, what the hell did he want? Reluctantly, knowing he would keep calling until she answered, she held the phone to her ear and pressed the button to speak, remembering at the last minute to drop her voice to a more reasonable pitch. "Um... hello?"

"Ryou-kun!" Bakura Osamu's voice blasted down the line and Ryou jumped. "Good to hear from you, son. How are things over there?"

"Hi Dad," Ryou said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "Things are going pretty good."

"Still making straight A's in school?"

"Yes, of course.'

"That's what I like to hear. Say, Ryou-kun, there's a reason I'm calling."

A sickening feeling that had nothing to do with the pill gripped her tummy. "Oh, and what would that be?"

"I'm coming home for a visit in five days."

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