Disclaimer: I don't own Yugioh.
The pairings introduced right now:
Anzu/Yami no Yuugi
The crushes introduced right now:
Jounounchi/Ryou
Thanks again to Relinquished.
Chapter de Third: Clown
There is one thing I'm going to do before even considering going back to Kaiba's. I'm going to learn more about Mokuba. There are few people I know of who have an idea of how the kid really is. In fact, I think there's only one. This explains why I'm heading for Yuugi Motou's.
I reached the game shop in little time. I usually pass the place on the way to school and walk with everyone. I'm alone now though, and quite glad. No one knows I baby-sit Kaiba's little brother except Yuugi. I think all of them would have something to say, save Jounounchi, who hates the Kaiba. Jounounchi wouldn't talk if he knew, just kill. First Kaiba, then me. I can't say I don't worry about his opinion because of this.
"Hello Yuugi," I greet as I enter the game shop. He's sitting at the counter, talking with Otogi Ryuuji. I'm surprised to see our famous Mr. DDD inventor here, but I guess this game shop is the only really good one now since the Black Clown burned down.
"Nice to meet you too, Bakura," Otogi smarts when I failed to greet him. I frown at him a little. I don't really want to have a talk with an ego in my time of need.
"So how are you doing, what's new?" he asks, to my frustration.
"I'm here to talk to Yuugi. There's a reason I didn't bid you buon giorno," I scowl at him in annoyance. He's the only person I will publicly detest.
"Sorry, I don't speak Spanish," he smirks.
"Good, because it's Italian. There's yet another reason I didn't wish you good morning," I correct him. So what, I took a foreign language's words? Shoot me, I said good morning.
This is usually how Otogi and my conversations go. We both have different intellectual strengths and he has a habit of challenging mine. Otogi's power against me is that he's good at strategy and planning things out. This is why he is often prepared for almost anything while I'm completely washed out. This has also made him quite the superego when it comes to moments when he turns out to be the only one ready. On the other hand, there's me. I have a great memory when not being pressured by an angry Literature teacher. Everywhere I go I pick up things, words and phrases, understanding of how certain things work. Last week I read some books on Italy, including a few Italian translation pamphlets. This is an example of just how bored I get. I memorize large facts and act superior with them, not just small pieces like those annoying people who try to tell you how many times a person blinks a lifetime. I'd be the one to tell you exactly why they may blink that much or why they would blink more or less. Otogi hates this and I think he tries to plot against me in his spare time.
He needs a life.
But then, so do I.
"Yuugi," I turn to the Motou, not paying attention to the annoyed Otogi. Otogi's always annoyed. Just give him time and he'll find something.
"Yes, Bakura?" Yuugi asks, smiling. Yes, he'll know what to do.
"Can I talk to you--" I glance at Otogi, who leans forward in mocking interest at the side, "--somewhere else?"
Otogi smirks while I almost fail in resisting the impulse to rip his little die earring out.
"If it's about Mokuba Kaiba, I already know," he says.
I look at Otogi in shock. No, that wasn't what he just said; I'm imagining things here. Yuugi would never do that to me.
"Actually, Yuugi told me," Otogi remarks. Oh man, I think he just read my mind.
Why can everyone do that? I think I'll go kill myself now.
"Yuugi, how could you?" I ask piteously. Yuugi blushes and grins.
"You never said it was a secret," he replies. I don't want to hurt Yuugi, but I don't want him alive a second longer either. I really need to get my priorities in order.
"How many people did you tell?" I ask as the room starts to fade from view. I'm getting dizzy now, is this suppose to happen after you watch your greatest fear topple over you? Everything is jumping out of focus, not quite unlike the feel of hopping off a merry-go-round.
Merry-go-rounds aren't merry; I dislike them greatly as they make me sick. I wonder if I'll throw up. If I do, I'm aiming the best I can for Otogi.
"Only Otogi, before you walked in," he answers.
Suddenly I can see again. The world stops spinning and I'm okay. Two thoughts keep repeating over and over: Only one new person knows about this mess, and; thank God it wasn't Jounouchi.
Otogi sneers at me again and I lift a hand to smack him lightly on the side of the head. He laughs.
"Is that your best effort?" he mocks. I growl at him angrily. To my distress, he starts to laugh even harder.
I imagine myself grabbing Yuugi's cash register pencil and attacking Otogi with it, stabbing him in the eye, ripping at his chest. I can see myself ripping his heart out and shoving it up to his face right before he dies. That is how frustrated I am at him now. I think it could happen too, if he keeps this joke up. Good thing for him I'm not a violent person.
Well, not physically.
"What do you want to talk about, Bakura?" Yuugi asks, trying to divert my attention.
I decide I'm ignoring Otogi now. It's little hard, as he all but collapses to the floor, laughing. I watch unamused as he slowly calms down. Why is he doing this to me?
"Uh, yeah…." I mutter as Otogi straightens up again. I turn to Yuugi.
Lets just pretend Otogi wasn't born.
"Should I baby-sit Mokuba later on tod—"
"Yes." Otogi rudely interrupts me. I sigh, roll my eyes, and continue. Remember, Otogi was never born.
"If you want to, Bakura," Yuugi answers.
"But I don't know if I want to, after what happened yesterday," I say. The I sigh. I try to look as forlorn and torn up about this as I can.
"Well, what happened yesterday?" Yuugi asks.
"Yes, Bakura, do tell!" Otogi breaks in energetically. I raise my eyebrows and look at him like he is the most disgusting thing I've ever seen, next to my lobster. He's got to have a death wish.
Otogi was never born.
"Otogi, please go away," I order politely. I don't want him listening to this recent tale of shame. I'll just let Yuugi tell him later.
"Oh don't worry, I'm not listening." He informs me, quickly becoming fascinated with his fingernails. I turn back to Yuugi, warily.
"Yesterday was horrible. Mokuba was eating lunch and--" I scowl at Otogi. He is watching me with an intense face of concentration, nodding at every word I finish. I find this is very annoying.
"Do you mind, Otogi?" I ask.
"Why do you care?" he smirks, jumping onto the counter and sitting down, crossing his legs. How does he know I hate that?
"Mokuba was eating lunch and…" Sorry, I can't continue. I look at Otogi to see he's not doing anything but sitting. His air, though, is sarcastic and I know he has something planned.
"Oh, don't mind me…." he says, mock studying a pack of Pokémon cards. I think I know what he's getting for his birthday now. I never though Pokémon could be so fascinating for him.
"Mokuba had his servants lock me outside the house because I wasn't eating his food." I tell Yuugi.
"Good, that's what I heard too," Otogi interjects.
"What?" I ask, I've wanted to kill him several times over, but I have amazing self-control. Now I'm fraying. Who is he to find all this out? Am I being stalked?
"I heard that you were locked out from--" he pauses and grins at me, "--sources."
"I'm going to kill you and Jounouchi, and Honda," I tell him, just so he knows. I don't want poor Otogi to be unwarned when he feels the knife in his back. God knows it's more appreciation than he's ever given me.
"Who are you killing, Bakura?" a voice asks behind me. My heart stops in nanoseconds. That better just be someone who sounds like….
"Hello, Jounouchi, nice to see you." Otogi greets, smirking. Jounouchi growls, not much differently from his stereotype relation of a dog.
"Bakura here just said he was going to kill me and you and Hiroto," Otogi says.
I wonder what I'd do if I were a duel monster? Maybe I'd choose to invoke my special ability right now and lower Otogi's attack strength to zero? Then maybe I'd obliterate him from the field. Yes, I would, and then I'd move on to the weak little puppy in the doorway. I'd have to sacrifice Yuugi, but I'd destroy my enemy.
"Jounouchi," Otogi continues, "Did you know a secret about Bakura? That baby-sits Mokuba Kaiba? He doesn't want you to know because the think you might freak out or something."
I can't believe I let Otogi get away with all this. I can't believe after all my threats he's still alive. I can't believe after Jounouchi hears this I'm still alive.
"HE WHAT?" Jounouchi snaps. I glare at the smug Otogi before I cower in fear. Jounouchi is soon right in my face. All I can see is his head. Being so close, you'd think I could hear him if he whispered, right?
Jounouchi doesn't think so.
"KAIBA IS THE ENEMY! HOW DARE YOU EVEN ENTER HIS HOME! WHY DO YOU WANT TO BABY-SIT THAT BRAT? ARE YOU CRAZY? WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL HIM TO GET A SERVANT OR SHOVE IT UP HIS—" Jounouchi is cut it off by St. Otogi, who, sitting on the counter already, kicks the raging monster that used to be Jounouchi in the chest. Jounouchi falls back, winded. But, it's not like I see much of this more than I hear it, I'm cowering and hiding my face. I am aware that I'm wet. Jounouchi really shouldn't spit like that.
"Jounouchi, give him a break!" Yuugi scowls as the loud dog recovers and gets ready to holler again. I'm not standing till I'm sure he's not going to punch me out.
Jounouchi turns to me, glowering.
"Why?" he whispers angrily.
"Money?" I squeak. I know he's going to shoot that answer down fast.
"But you have money, Bakura! And if you didn't, you could ask us!" he says me loudly, but not so infuriated as before.
I can't tell him the reason. I don't know why I agreed to baby-sit a kid. Something about the way Kaiba asked, like it's not really anything to do with watching a child for hours, but some plan I haven't been told yet. Mokuba really doesn't need a nanny or anything, as he's proven that many, many times. No, Kaiba is trying to get some something out of my being at his house that I can't see. He probably thinks, though, that I am convinced I'm having to watch his brother. This really gets confusing. I know that the businessman is using me for something and I want to find out, not just give up because he insists to paying me for doing nothing.
And that's my predicament and what I would like to tell Yuugi, but now there's an audience and I've lost my nerve.
I'm quiet and again, Otogi comes to my rescue.
"Oh, look at the time," he remarks. Cliché, but still effective, "Bakura and I really must be going! We can't miss that thing at that place we're going to now because we don't want to be late and annoy those people we are going to meet," he announces, signalling for me to go along.
"Uh, yeah," I add as Otogi pushes me out the door.
"Goodbye, seeyoucan'tbelateciao!" he beams at the others, closing the door and sprinting me away. We are soon far from sight of the game shop and, most importantly, Jounouchi.
"Why did you tell Jounouchi?" I ask as we walk down the street.
Otogi smirks, which I hate. I glare at him. He is so lucky I'm not an explosive personality. Otherwise, he'd be six feet down at my insistence, not coming up any time soon. I hope he'll start to realise this.
"Felt like it," he grins.
"But he'll kill me! I'm marked now. I hope you know that unless you were planning on guarding me for the rest of my life, that little slip gives you nothing. And don't we all know you're such a genius when it comes to planning! What did you think you'd get out of that?" I ask, demanding to know. I'm not yelling, nor am I near it; I'm just frustrated at him. Believe me, you'd be too at this point.
"Oh, don't you see?" he mocks me, "This is just an excuse to follow you around! I'm guarding you now from Jounouchi."
I want to growl at him angrily, but I know he'll just crack up laughing again. Why isn't he taking me seriously? Am I like some pathetic child he has randomly chosen to torment?
Why can't he annoy Yuugi? Honda? Why do I get the attention of all his great attacks? Is it because I'm smarter than him? I'm not. There's a reason I don't play chess. I'm not great at strategy. He's known this for as long as he's known me and always uses it to my disadvantage.
"Don't you realise what you've done?" I ask seriously, "Jounouchi will tell everyone. Honda and Anzu think of Kaiba as the enemy too. They'll all hate me for just watching Mokuba!"
"So?" he asks, with his crazy grin officially plastered to his face.
"So? So? What do you mean so? My life is going to fall apart now!" I cry loudly. I don't mean tears or anything; I'm raising my voice. I'm taking one last glance of my molasses life as it's cleaned up. I'm in the helter-skelter again. It's strange now, I wanted out so bad, now everything falls.
I can't blame the lobster either. I'll convict Kaiba. The crime: ruining Ryou Bakura's existence. The punishment: Bakura will kill Mokuba.
Okay, maybe not, but if that boy eats rice and sugar again, with a little baby's porcelain spoon, I'll reconsider.
(So many death threats.)
I blink at the Spirit's voice. So? All I can do is threaten, it's not like I'm going to kill anyone for real. I'm just being dramatic. It's what I do.
"Geez Bakura, I didn't know you took Jounouchi's anger so seriously. I'm sorry I 'ruined your life'. I just was trying to get you to move around, change your views. From where I'm looking, you're at an all time low. You can sit through Anzu! That's when you should know you've hit a low." He says, serious for once.
"So? What if I don't want people angry at me so I can transfer to another planet?" I snap. I feel like I'm going to cry, as in tears, soon.
"But you need to. Sometimes it helps to have others not agree with what you do. You have to realize that working for Kaiba may not be the one small thing to ruin your comfortable surroundings, but the great explosion that messes everything up. In a good way. Eventually. Your method of pleasing everyone wasn't meant to work forever, so I'm helping you tear it down. Cool, right?" He says to me.
Otogi should consider writing a book, "Phrases and Speeches To Drive Your Already Bipolar Friend Up the Wall". He always seems to quote, and come up with, metaphors and similes that leave me behind. Hey, I memorize things, I don't invent. I think this comes from my insane mother's side. The only reason my father looked so weird around her family was that he was the only normal one in the group.
"So? If I want to ruin my life, I don't really need you helping out. I assure you that I'm fully capable of all this myself," I try to remind him as my eyes water.
"So, I like to help people," Otogi sneers, with a shrug that bites at my nerves. No, he's not hitting one nerve. No, this is plural.
"Well I'm not 'people', Otogi, I'm nobody, so leave me alone." Otogi just shakes his head. Before he opens his mouth, I realize my crucial error.
"And don't you dare recite Emily Dickinson!" I command as he starts to laugh. (A)
"Damn, you read my mind, Ryou!" he cheers, laughing.
"Don't call me Ryou either!"
"Sure," he shrugs, "Any more orders?"
I blink at him now as an idea comes. "Say your father's a clown," I order, trying not to start laughing or crying in mid-request.
Otogi grins at me, remembering the last time I brought up clowns when we were together.
"My father's a clown," he says, grinning at me. I can't help but laugh slightly.
"Say you're the son of a clown." I request as he all too willingly complies.
"I'm the son of a circus clown," he replies, adding the one word that almost makes me bail.
"Tell me you're a clown!" my final order rings, while he is grinning.
"I'm a clown," he tells me.
"You want to be a clown?" I ask, to make sure.
"I am a clown," he corrects in a playful growl.
"Quit clowning around!" I order, sounding like the school dean of discipline who nearly got me expelled.
"But I am a clown!" he protests mockingly, like the day we almost got me kicked out of school for the rest of eternity.
Okay, I see this may not make much sense to you because none of you were there. The clown thing has to do with the day I befriended Otogi. We we're sitting in Literature class across from on another. I started doodling pictures in my pamphlet when the teacher turned away. Otogi saw this and convincingly threatened me that he would tell. That was the first big hoax he played on me. To my relief and frustration, he took my book and drew in it. The end result was a clown by a circus tent, quite well done. I wrote below it "Great Clown". Otogi wrote around that so it read "Otogi, Great Clown's Son". I told him he was a clown and he told me he was a clown. For almost the entire class we mouth the word 'clown' across the room at each other.
The teacher caught my book and looked through it when I started to laugh at one of Otogi's gestures. She wasn't too happy about the picture. I was to be chewed out in front of the class. For a brief few minutes I felt lost. I was in trouble, and I was the quiet kid in the class. That had never happened before. The person who had gotten me in trouble was being ignored (like all rich people in Domino High are) and I was to get written up.
I was surprised as the teacher started to yell at me and hit her desk when Otogi stood up in defense. He stated quite loudly that he was a clown. I would have started to laugh at him, had I not been so terribly shaken. The teacher didn't know what to do, since Otogi had so much power. She sent us to the dean's office like he was supposed to know.
The dean wasn't too sure what to do, either. For some reason, he told us to stop clowning around in class. Otogi looked at him desperately and said, "But I am a clown" to the man.
I was nearly expelled afterwards, but I think Otogi threatened the school. Afterwards, I had tried to avoid Otogi, since he did things like talk out in class and in public, but he went after me, catching me in the lunchroom by myself one day, cornering me and telling me, quite frankly, he was a clown.
That was funny and I laughed.
But you must think I dislike Otogi now, since I want to kill him an all, right? Well, one thing about me, no matter how many times I curse Otogi, I don't really hate him. Whenever I do, you can just sigh and roll your eyes at me. We're actually great friends. Out of all the people I know, Otogi is the only one I've ever truly been myself around all the time. While it takes me a while to warm up to Yuugi, Otogi is different. Otogi and me are quite alike, even though he's more out there and loud.
And we're friends, okay? There is nothing going on between Otogi and I. We did try once to experiment with a relationship, but we got bored. There was no point really, it's not like I could ever be madly in love with Otogi and the thought is now hilarious to both of us. We laugh at each other, try to outsmart each other, but there's no passion. In fact, while we we're "dating" both of us tried to see how long it was till the other found out about how we were "cheating" on each other, from things ranging in actual human beings (males and females), who never asked to join our little joke, to items such as cars and mouthwash.
"So, how long till you finish clown college?" I ask him now, knowing the answer.
"I'm already a clown," he snaps, smirking and putting an arm around my shoulders as one of my frustrated tones break out in my voice.
"You really should join the clown cult, you know," he informs me, as both of us make our way down the street. He's ignoring the strange looks thrown our direction.
"Why?" I ask glumly.
"Cause then you won't have to baby-sit annoying rich brats," he tells me. I blush, remembering the Kaibas.
"But I don't want to be a clown, Otogi," I confess with disappointment.
"But you know," he whispers in my ear, "You already are one. And you can't change what you already are, Ryou."
So you know, Otogi treads a delicate line all the time with that word. Usually, he's the only person who can get away with calling me such and not getting hollered at. The name gives me chills when Otogi whispers it, and he knows. He does this to annoy me, always.
Suddenly, a large car pulls up next to us. I look at it curiously as it parks. Out walks Kaiba's driver.
"Mr. Bakura?" the man asks. He raises his eyebrows slightly at Otogi's arm lain across my shoulders.
"Yes?" I ask. I know what he's here for.
"Are you coming?" he asks.
Yes, I'm going to try to "baby-sit" Mokuba Kaiba again.
"Good luck," Otogi smirks, "Kaiba needs all the baby-sitting available. You're watching Seto Kaiba, right?"
"Don't tell anyone I told you," I say back before climbing into the open door to the inside of the long car. I wave once to Otogi before he can no longer see me through the tinted glass.
I glare at Mokuba as he tries to get the guards to send me out. They don't move and he starts to whine, pleading and making promises I don't think he could ever keep.
--Most Peruvian are mestizos, or descendents of mixed marriages between the native peoples and the Spanish settlers.
I look up from the encyclopedia long enough to smile as I turn the page.
Immigrant nationalities include the Chinese, brought into work on the railroads, Africans to work on the sugar plantations, and the Japanese, who are now the largest ethnic minority.
Amazing, I had no idea Japanese people immigrated to Peru! Just proves that you tend to learn new things everyday, I suppose.
"Bakura! Go away, get out of the library!" Mokuba orders me. I don't get it. I was in the parlor and he storms in and tells me to go. I reside in some chair in the hall and I'm told that sitting there bothers him. Through all this migration I just happen to find the one room I really wanted to see somewhere in my mind, then Mokuba wants to read a book. I think he's trying to annoy me into not coming again.
If he keeps it up, it might work.
I do not have a stubborn streak that will make me stay just to contradict little Mokuba. When I get annoyed, I go (or watch Otogi attack the frustration since we get put off at the same things all the time). Ergo, I think that unless Kaiba locks me in the house with him, I'm not coming to watch Mokuba again.
"I'm going to tell my brother!" he warns me. I cock my eyebrow challengingly. The boy growls at me and storms out quite ungracefully.
Peruvian currency consists of—
So what? I'm reading an encyclopedia. I've already told you, this is how boring I am. (B)
Maybe that's why Mokuba dislikes me. I'm boring.
Yeah, tell me something I don't know.
Now, Mokuba isn't a bad kid mostly. He's just hasn't realized the world isn't made out of steamed rice and canned fruits. Mokuba has yet to except the idea that there are certain ways one must behave if they really want to be taken seriously.
Being born simply is not included.
Once the boy realizes this, he will be able literally not only to grasp the way of chopsticks, but also an idea of why people hardly respect his presence when servants aren't forcing them to (or just why I'm behaving like he's five or doesn't currently exist). His brother is stone cold to people, and that's all right and dandy, since he almost runs the country, but Mokuba is just his little brother.
The fact that he's halfway spoiled doesn't help.
Mokuba enters again calmly. I wonder what he's up to? The child is not stupid, and would maybe outsmart me just as well as Otogi could. I could never see plots and strategies well. There's a reason my other self always duels and not me. I just memorize facts about what each cards does.
"Want to play catch?" he asks me innocently.
There's something going on. In the doorway I see two tall guards. They watch me through their thick tinted shades. Or they watch the window. Or the far away wall. I can't see their eyes. I can't tell.
"I'm going to the park now anyway," Mokuba tells me, "You'll have to come too."
I watch the guards nervously. Kaiba gave the order not to lock me outside or anywhere else in the house. This is not locking, this is leaving. I have to consent or be dragged away with Mokuba.
I nod and rise slowly. I'm right in the middle of reading about the Peruvian financial system, but I think I'll survive.
Mokuba has the two of us driven to the park, smiling sweetly the entire time. I can't shake the feeling that something is going to happen against my benefit. I just can't see what it is, though. There's a wall keeping me from the plan he must have. As we walk across the grass to a clear spot, I can only wonder.
Mokuba holds up the catch ball. It an average sized blue one that looks normal enough. He tosses it and I try to catch. The ball slips right through my fingers and lands at my feet. I toss it back underhand.
"You can't play catch?" he asks me in awe. I blush and nod. Hey, I'm not going to lie, I have zero hand-eye coordination. I can see something come at me and dodge it, but I can't catch.
"Really?" he asks and throws the ball well aimed right at my head. I block it and almost break a finger. Mokuba throws too hard.
The blue evil ball has already rolled back to Mokuba. He picks it up and tosses it again. This time I duck and it soars into the trees.
"Go get that, it's your ball," he orders. I'm about to protest when I notice the guards. They nod at Mokuba's request and point to the trees.
Feeling like everything has spun completely out of control, I walk slowly over the leaves and grass under the three to find the ball. I can't see it anywhere but I'm afraid to go back without it.
Look how wonderfully scared I am of Mokuba and his two cronies. I guess I'm easily intimidated.
Okay, that ball is nowhere! I'm ready to turn and tell Mokuba this when I notice I suddenly feel very alone. I turn around in time to see the car pull away and get lost in the traffic. Mokuba has his hand out the window, waving with the little blue ball mockingly.
I think I want to hurt that child.
There are so many things I think I want to do right about now that I never considered humane. I still don't think the ideas are morally right and that's part of the reason why they cross my mind. My list of who to kill has grown: Honda, Jounouchi, Otogi, and Mokuba. Maybe I should schedule a road trip to Kaiba Corp and push them all out the window? I could blame it on the ghost of Gozabaru Kaiba.
Well, I'd need to get them all together for that, and then everyone knows it won't work. Jounouchi won't remain stable for long under the pressure of Mokuba, Otogi and entering Kaiba Corp. He'd most likely vanquish all of us before he gets off the elevator up.
"Hey kid, watch it!" a voice yells behind me. I turn to see a Frisbee soaring towards my head. Before I can move, a dog leaps up and catches it.
"I'm so sorry!" the man apologizes as I just blink. I think I better go somewhere else; in case there's no-one's Labrador to save me from projectiles.
I walk out of the park and onto the sidewalk. I have no idea where Kaiba's mansion is from here. I don't even really know where here is. I'm in some strange section of downtown I've never seen before.
I wish I had money for a taxi right now. Stupid me thought I'd be babysitting all day (go figure), not getting abandoned by my charge. I should have known it wasn't going to go as I thought.
I should have known lots of things.
"Hello, you look lost, do you need help?" a voice asks behind me. I turn around to see a short fat man with eyes that are so small I wonder if he's blinded by their large, fleshy lids.
"Uh, yeah," I mutter, not sure what to think. I'm giving up on worrying. If this guy is going to rob me, he has nothing to steal.
"Well I know someone who will drive you wherever you want to go if you agree to do one thing for him," the short man tells me. I don't like the offer.
"No thanks, I'm not interested," I reply nervously, trying to get away.
"Please, he says you could," the man tells me. This makes no sense to me. Is the short guy crazy?
"What?" I ask since I can't see any other way out. If I listen and still turn him down, he has to let me go, it's polite.
"He wants you to watch Mokuba tomorrow," he recites. I gape at him.
"Okay, where's Kaiba?" I ask desperately. I hear a smirk behind me that I recognize as the billionaire's own.
"I'm sorry, I just saw you wandering and had to do that," he tells me, "because I don't see Mokuba anywhere."
I turn around to face him. Oh, he wants to know where his little brother is, eh?
"Sorry, Mokuba is most likely at home, eating chocolate glazed rice with a baby's spoon," I can't help but snap with an edge, "He left me in the park. I saw him drive off, mocking me."
Kaiba's face brightens in amusement at his brother's behaviour and I want to lock the expression in a dark room to see if there will suddenly be light. I've never seen the man so near an actual smile.
"You don't say?" he asks as he mocks me, "well you did your best, so, oh God…I'll have to pay you or something."
I want to destroy today right now. I want to chop it to unreal smoothness in a blender of dreams and pour it into my sleep so that I can wake up to another chance at correcting all the errors I've made in twenty-four hours.
Now I set the blender on high and….
VROOM!! SPLAT!
Insert sounds of goo flying everywhere.
Oh, wait, is there suppose to be a lid or something?
I'd probably end screwing the day up even more though, if I tried that. If that was even possible. A blender? Am I mental here?
"Come, Bakura, I'll talk with Mokuba," Kaiba commands as his car pulls up. I glare at him slightly as we get in and he tells the driver to go to the mansion from Hell, except he calls it home. He fails to notice me. I stare out the window and angrily count the painted lines on the road, sitting as far from Kaiba as is humanly possible without completely merging with the window and door.
Mokuba greets us happily as we enter the house. He naturally hugs his brother and gives me an energetic hello. I'm not in the mood to reciprocate.
"Mokuba, did you leave Bakura in the park?" Kaiba asks his brother. I stare at the wall and start giving numbers to each of the lines on the wallpaper.
"Yes," Mokuba answers.
Kaiba sighs at Mokuba and ruffles the boy's dark hair. He speaks and his tone is that of one lightly scolding a child for teasing the new puppy.
"Mokuba, you shouldn't do that to Bakura, he doesn't know the city as well as you and I do. He could get lost."
I have the urge, once again, to run at Kaiba shrieking 'DIE' at the top of my lungs. I'm not sure now who was watching who. Am I under the false illusion that I'm baby-sitting Mokuba, when he's supposed to keep a check on me? I'm confused. People on my level of the financial pyramid probably shouldn't even look at those ruling the world, much less try to figure what they are planning. I'd rather just go home and sit with my lobster in the middle class world, where I belong. It's easier to understand that place.
"I think I'll be going now, Kaiba" I mutter, making for the car. I climb inside and Kaiba takes the wheel, to my ultimate annoyance. Is he going to do this every time?
"So," he asks as we reach the apartment complex, "are you going to baby-sit Mokuba tomorrow?"
I frown, but I don't have a reason to refuse now do I? Whether I stop watching the kid or not, Jounouchi is still going to kill me. At least I know at Kaiba's I'm safe from that monster dog-man.
"Yes," I reply a little strongly.
Kaiba looks confused for a few seconds and I suddenly find the asphalt outside my window very interesting. Too interesting. I think I just saw Elvis Presley's face in the ridges.
"Really?" he asks in surprise. I can't believe what I'm hearing. I look up and can't believe what I'm seeing: Kaiba genuinely surprised.
I need a camera. Maybe before Jounouchi kills me I can show him the photograph and pray he'll find it funny.
"Yes," I begin quietly, calmed slightly by the fact that I was able to change Kaiba's expression, "Now, let me out please."
Kaiba unlocks the door silently and I step out. I don't think he believes me. Tough luck, I'm not lying.
I watch Kaiba drive away. I remember the shock and confusion as he tried to see through my yes. There was nothing to see; I'll watch Mokuba tomorrow.
Seriously, some people think too much. I don't and I'm fine. Sorta. I guess Kaiba thought I was stubborn or something. I'm not, just stupid at times. The sad thing is, being in his economic status, he's probably lied to twenty-four seven. I suppose he thinks I want something or another now because I'm agreeing. I probably could use this to my advantage, the fact that he wants me with Mokuba all the time, but I'm terrible at scheming for myself. Someone has to give me something and I know it's mine, I can't craft a plan to get what I want out of people, it isn't my nature to be entirely self serving.
My lobster smacks the tub as I enter. I throw some food at him and he goes for it. I wonder if he planned on annoying me at the restaurant so that I would save him. I'd be sad if so, that a crustacean can choose what he wants and devise a method of attaining it, while I can't, even when opportunity is looking me in the face, most likely holding a staring contest to see who blinks. I know a chance is here, if I could have the heart to work together a strategy, but I don't want anything. I don't think I need anything that Kaiba could give, not even money. And Kaiba has a lot of money.
I just realized something: Kaiba forgot to pay me.
He must have been really shocked.
Notes and stuff: Uh. they got lost...
Okay, like, yay, there's the third chapter. Kinda hard to believe you read the first on three weeks ago, eh? It's travelled so far now. Please review. I'd really appreciate it and I will respond, no matter how short.
I hope Otogi isn't too weird. I see he's not that big a character, so I tried to make him a human as the anti OCC will allow. Please let me know. I may have really messed him up here. I just thought Ryou needed a good friend and Otogi was looking so very neglected in my story plot universe in a dark corner all by himself. I had to do something because bug-boy, dino-dude, and the trout scout didn't seemed to fit. Neither did Mai (go figure).
Anybody know and good not-very OCC fics on Seto or that center around him? I need to read some of those. Can you all go so far as to locate a Seto/Ryou? I haven't read any yet and I need some good ones so I don't screw up what everyone thinks of Kaiba-kun. That would not be good, though I don't doubt it will receive many reviewer complains.