Author's Note
Peacenikky: Hey, everyone! It's me with part two of my fic, and I am so thrilled that you guys reviewed my first chapter. It's great to know that you guys care! ^_^
Megami Kinshin- Thanks! It's good to know that this sort of thing isn't hated or anything!
Yami Vegeta Yaoi Goddess- Okay, I'm working on it!
HotaruMaxwell- Well, Bakura won't be beating up Sharpner in the actual fic, since he's the bad guy here and he won't be sticking up for Ryou anytime soon. But you've given Judi an idea for something in the Author's Notes...
Tiamet- Aw, thanks! And thank you SOOOO much for BETA reading this fic! Sorry I forgot to mention it last chapter!
Crazy Assed Person- Mirai Trunks, huh? Maybe in a sequal, but not right now. Sorry. And thanks for pointing out the fact that everyone knows about the Bibidi Babidi Buu thing.
nagareboshi- Ta da! Here's Part Two!
And to everyone else who reviewed: THANK YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-- Ow! Who threw that?
Judi: Get to the point already!
Peacenikky: Okay, now I have something to say that will greatly affect future reviews.
Judi: And the likelihood of my carrying out my promise to any flamers!
Peacenikky: What I have to say is this: I am going to do my best to keep this Mary Sue free. THERE WILL BE ABSOLUTLEY NO ROMANCE BETWEEN REBECCA AND RYOU IN THIS FIC, NO MATTER HOW SUSPICIOUS IT MAY SEEM. Trust me on this one. The only romance will be between Gohan and Videl, Yugi and Tea, and. well, you'll just have to read the next chapter to find out! Same rules about the characters apply as in the first chapter.
Judi: And the same rule concerning flamers! ^_^
Peacenikky: .Whatever. And now, the ever-present disclaimer.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! or Dragonball Z, nor do I pretend to. Big surprise. All is own is Rebecca.
Peacenikky: Now that I've got everything else out of the way, it's time for the chapter to begin!
CHAPTER TWO
"Ryou, are you all right? You seem really stressed out about something." Yugi said gently. The six of them, Ryou, Yugi, Joey, Tristan, Tea, and Kaiba, were crowded in the elevator with the group from Orange Star High, and because Yugi was standing next to him, it was natural he'd notice something like that.
"Oh, it's nothing, just the tight squeeze, that's all." Ryou replied hastily.
"All right, then..." Yugi said uncertainly. Yugi didn't know that Ryou's Yami was back, or how he treated Ryou, and it would stay that way as long as Ryou kept his cuts, bruises, and scars hidden. Of course, even if Yugi did know, there was nothing he could do, unless he wanted to get hurt as well.
'Ding!' went the elevator as it reached the third floor.
"Okay, Tea, this is where the girls get off." Videl said. The rooms had been arranged so that the chaperones would be on the first floor, girls on the next, and boys on the top floor.
Even though there were only four girls in the elevator, Tristan and Yugi had to get out in order for them to move towards the door. Once they were out of the way, the two moved back into the elevator, but Yugi gave the girls' retreating figures one last glance before the doors closed.
//There's something odd about those girls, Yugi, but I can't place it.//
/What do you mean, Yami? They seem nice enough. Rebecca's a bit of a smart aleck, maybe, but nothing out of the ordinary.../
//Well, Videl has an extremely strong energy force around her, and Rebecca has a similar one. I've never sensed this sort of thing before. Yugi, be careful around those two.//
/And what about Erasa? Is she a big, scary demon that's gonna kill us all in our beds?/ Yugi replied sarcastically. From inside his Soul Room, Yami shook his head.
//No, she's like Tea, but those other two are hiding something, something big. And the same goes for Gohan and his father.//
/Yami, no offense, but you're just being paranoid. There's nothing strange at all about any of those people./
"Hello, Earth to Yugi, wake up! We're at the fourth floor, where the guy's rooms are. Of course, if you'd rather stay in the elevator all week, I understand..." Gohan teased. Yugi turned beet red and looked down.
"Sorry, I was just daydreaming, that's all."
"Sure..." Sharpner muttered sarcastically.
/Great, now Gohan and Sharpner think I'm nuts./
//Sorry, Aibou.//
Yugi shook his head as he walked out of the elevator and towards the room where he'd be staying. Ryou, whose problems were also related to his Yami, walked with Shaprner, Tristan, and Kaiba down towards the other end of the hallway, to their room.
'Tonight at midnight outside the lodge... why do I have to put up with this torture every day?' It seemed as though Ryou's whole life was nothing but one large series of beatings and threats. To top it off, now there was Sharpner to deal with. As Sharpner and Tristan yammered about the girls that they had noticed, a tear welled up in Ryou's eye. He wiped it away before anyone, his Yami especially, could notice it.
Meanwhile, back on the floor below, Rebecca, who was getting a bottle of water from the mini-fridge in the room she shared with Tea, Erasa, and Videl, looked up, a confused look on her face. Tea, who was unpacking her clothes, quirked an eyebrow.
"Beck, what's up?" Rebecca shook her head.
"Oh, it's probably nothing, but I just got this weird feeling all of a sudden, like I had to go and do something. But, that's ridiculous; forget I said it, okay?" She chuckled, unscrewed the lid of the bottle, and took a sip of water. 'He's just fine; quit worrying. If he was in trouble, you'd have known in a heartbeat. So why do I feel this way?'
She shook her head again to clear the thought, and grabbed her ski jacket. "I'm gonna hit the slopes. Does anyone wanna join me?'
"Sure, that's the reason why we came on this trip." Videl said as she came from the bathroom.
"I'll come, too. Where's Erasa?" Tea asked.
"Last time I saw her, she was sitting in the hotel café, sipping a mocha and wondering who she was gonna go with to the dance Friday night." Videl said. Rebecca made a face. "What's wrong? Don't like coffee?"
"To put it simply, no."
Tea chuckled and said:
"Well, I'm glad your teachers said the Domino kids could come to the dance they were holding."
"It just wouldn't be right to exclude you guys because you're from a different school." Videl pointed out.
"You're right. Come on; let's do some skiing!" Videl grabbed the key card, and they left the room.
Meanwhile, Gohan and Yugi were talking about what it was like at each other's schools as they walked down the hall towards the slopes as well.
"So, what's with that necklace anyway? I thought only girls wore them!" Gohan asked Yugi.
"Well, sometimes guys wear necklaces too, Gohan!" Yugi said defensively.
"Yeah, but then it's usually just a chain, or a medallion, not a three-dimensional pyramid."
"Well, I guess you could say it's my good-luck charm."
"If you say so... so why were you spacing out in the elevator, anyway?"
"I told you, I was just daydreaming."
"All right, then..." Gohan said, but he still doubted the explanation. 'There's definitely something odd about Yugi. I'll talk to Beck, Videl, and Dad about it later. But for now, I'm gonna tear up the slopes!'
***
After a busy day filled with skiing, snowboarding, ice skating, and snowball fights, the teenagers and the exhausted chaperones all headed back to the hotel for a good, long rest. Tristan, and Erasa, however, seemed to be acting somewhat strangely.
At 11:20, Ryou, who hadn't slept a wink, partly because of his Yami's threat, and partly because of Tristan's snoring, picked up the key card that would let him back into the room, and crept out the door. He would be outside the lodge by 11:25, but his Yami would probably be out much earlier than midnight, and no reason or logic could cool his rage if Ryou wasn't there by then.
As he walked down the hall toward the elevator, a small chill ran up his spine for no apparent reason. 'Maybe tonight's the night I get freed from this curse of a life.' Ryou thought. 'Yeah, right. Like that'll ever happen.' With that dismal thought, he stepped into the elevator, and went down to the lobby. Because there was no one on night shift there, he would be able to slip outside unnoticed.
He was surprised to find that the lights in the hotel game room were still on. If the staff had bothered to turn off the video games for the night, why would they leave the lights on? The reason was Rebecca, who was sitting on the sofa, staring at the pieces of a partially completed jigsaw puzzle and muttering incomprehensibly.
"Um, excuse me?" Ryou asked.
Rebecca gasped and jumped up. "OhmygoshI'msosorryprofessorbutIcouldn't sleepsoIfiguredI'dburnoffalittleenergybyworkingonthispuzzlebutI'llgo." she continued until Ryou threw his hands in the air in surprise.
"Hold on now. I'm not one of the teachers." Rebecca, once she was finished panicking, sighed.
"That's a major relief. If one of teachers found out I was out of my room this late, I'd be dead. Hey, that reminds me. What are you doing out, anyway?" she asked, placing her hands on her hips and cocking her head to the side. Ryou was trying to come up with a decent half-truth when Rebecca laughed. "Don't worry, I won't tell if you won't."
"Er, thanks, I guess." Ryou looked at the clock on the wall. It was 11:29.
"You know, I don't believe we've been properly introduced." She stuck out her hand. "My name's Rebecca Faith. And yours is?"
Ryou gulped. He couldn't get too friendly with this girl; his Yami'd hurt her if he did. 'But, then again, what's the harm in telling her my name? Besides, she'll think something's wrong if I don't.' "Ryou. Ryou Bakura." He said, shaking her outstretched hand.
"Now, was that so bad, Ryou?" Rebecca asked, grinning.
"I guess not."
"Good. Now, could you please help me with this puzzle?" I'm stuck."
Ryou looked at the clock again. 11:30. Half an hour at the most.
"Well."
"Good. Sit down." she said, yanking him by the collar into a sitting position on the sofa. Scattered bits and pieces of the puzzle lay about on the table, depicting a few flowers, a patch of yellow, and a chunk of green and brown. A notepad, pencil, and a camera also sat on the table. Rebecca placed a piece in the flower patch.
"Don't you want to put together the border first?" Ryou asked. Rebecca shook her head.
"No way. That's the way safe people play it, but I'd rather challenge my brain."
"Okay, then." Ryou was a little shaken. Play it safe? What did that mean? "May I ask, what are the paper and camera for?"
"Easy. I'm an author, born and bred, so I carry them around in case I'm inspired. The paper's for notes, and the camera's for preserving the moment." Rebecca grinned.
"Okay... um, that's a nice ring." He said, indicating a silver ring with a pair of outstretched wings engraved on it that rested on her thumb.
"Thanks. I've had it since like, forever."
They worked on the puzzle in silence then, and amazingly enough, they'd managed to complete it in about twenty minutes. Now that it was finished, it depicted an angel with blond hair wearing a chest plate and helmet, fireball in hand, facing off against a dark purple demon, holding a black spear. Rebecca gasped.
"Oh my gosh, I know that angel!"
"Beg pardon?" Ryou asked. Rebecca turned scarlet and cleared her throat.
"Oh, I mean, I know the girl who modeled for the angel character. She's a friend of mine from up north."
"But how can you recognize her? That helmet's covering half her face!"
"Easy. She's really hardcore, so she got that tattoo ages ago." Rebecca replied offhandedly, pointing at a pair of wings on the angel's bicep that were similar to the ones on the chest plate and on Rebecca's thumb ring.
"Oh, I see. you know, this scene kind of reminds me of something I'm going through. You know, light versus dark."
"Really? What do you mean?"
'Doh! Yami's gonna kill me for that!' Ryou thought quickly. "Oh, it's just your typical teenage angst. Nothing really deep or anything."
"Whatever." Rebecca picked up her camera and snapped a couple shots of the completed puzzle, then jotted a few things down in her notepad. "Listen, about what Sharpner said back in the lobby, about you not possibly having a girlfriend, forget about it, 'kay? He's just a big jerk. We're all praying that if we ignore him long enough, he'll melt or something."
"Thanks."
"Hey, why don't we meet again during free time? I'm sure my friends would like you."
"Um, well..."
"And I'm not going to buy any 'I'm not really a people-person' stuff. I'm going to make sure you don't spend your entire trip here alone, got it? Good. See ya later, Ryou." Rebecca winked and picked up her things.
"You do have your keycard, right?" Ryou asked. Rebecca pulled it from her pajama pocket. "Okay, just making sure."
"Well, good night."
As soon as she was out of earshot, Ryou heaved a sigh. The clock read 11:50.
'Great, I'm now going to be a social butterfly. He's really not going to like that.' Ryou looked at the puzzle again. The silver helmet came down to the angel's nose, and where her eyes were, there were two small white visor-like slits, but he could still sense the grim determination on her face, like she'd either win or die trying. The demon had the same look on its face. 'It really is like my Yami and me. Always fighting, me for freedom, him for dominance.'
The Millennium Ring started to glow. In a moment, Bakura was standing in front of Ryou.
"Well, it looks like you've got yourself a little girlfriend, Ryou. We can't have that now, can we?" Bakura hissed. Ryou let out a small moan. "I'm going to have to think about your girlfriend and that ring of hers. There's something familiar about it... but don't worry. I'll find out what it is soon enough." Ryou bit back a gulp.
"Please, leave Rebecca out of this. She doesn't know anything, I swear!" Ryou instantly regretted his words as Bakura slapped him hard across the face.
"Don't you tell me what to do, you pathetic fool!"
"I'm sorry..." Ryou said weakly before he was punched in the nose.
"Weak, worthless mortal...
"Oh, and one more thing, about that puzzle. You're right, it is like us, but in this scenario, you'll never win. Remember that." Bakura sneered. Then he disappeared back into the Millennium Ring.
Ryou sighed as he checked his face for any signs of bleeding. Finding none, he slowly got up.
'What is it about Rebecca and her ring that's so familiar to my Yami?' he asked himself as he got up and headed back for the elevator.
After the doors closed, a shadowy figure quickly retreated back to the stairs. He had seen enough to push his curiosity about the students from Orange Star High to a higher level, and he also knew that Bakura was active again.
That had to be stopped, at all costs. He couldn't let anyone else get hurt.
Authors Notes
Peacenikky: Ta da! End chapter two! No, Rebecca is not all-powerful, or a raving beauty, and she will not hook up with Ryou Bakura, or anyone else, for that matter. She...
Judi: I'll say! You only gave her one decent...
Peacenikky: (claps a hand over Judi's mouth) Shut up! You wanna give it away? Anyway, like I said before, I'm trying my best here to keep this Mary Sue free. And no, the thumb ring is NOT an eighth Millennium Item. What is it, then? Take a guess, then check back when I post some more chapters, 'kay? Good.
Judi: Remember, any flamers will be dealt with accordingly! ^_^
Peacenikky: (rubbing her temples) Please review, or she'll go berserk and soak everyone. Remember, have a nice day!
Peacenikky: Hey, everyone! It's me with part two of my fic, and I am so thrilled that you guys reviewed my first chapter. It's great to know that you guys care! ^_^
Megami Kinshin- Thanks! It's good to know that this sort of thing isn't hated or anything!
Yami Vegeta Yaoi Goddess- Okay, I'm working on it!
HotaruMaxwell- Well, Bakura won't be beating up Sharpner in the actual fic, since he's the bad guy here and he won't be sticking up for Ryou anytime soon. But you've given Judi an idea for something in the Author's Notes...
Tiamet- Aw, thanks! And thank you SOOOO much for BETA reading this fic! Sorry I forgot to mention it last chapter!
Crazy Assed Person- Mirai Trunks, huh? Maybe in a sequal, but not right now. Sorry. And thanks for pointing out the fact that everyone knows about the Bibidi Babidi Buu thing.
nagareboshi- Ta da! Here's Part Two!
And to everyone else who reviewed: THANK YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-- Ow! Who threw that?
Judi: Get to the point already!
Peacenikky: Okay, now I have something to say that will greatly affect future reviews.
Judi: And the likelihood of my carrying out my promise to any flamers!
Peacenikky: What I have to say is this: I am going to do my best to keep this Mary Sue free. THERE WILL BE ABSOLUTLEY NO ROMANCE BETWEEN REBECCA AND RYOU IN THIS FIC, NO MATTER HOW SUSPICIOUS IT MAY SEEM. Trust me on this one. The only romance will be between Gohan and Videl, Yugi and Tea, and. well, you'll just have to read the next chapter to find out! Same rules about the characters apply as in the first chapter.
Judi: And the same rule concerning flamers! ^_^
Peacenikky: .Whatever. And now, the ever-present disclaimer.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! or Dragonball Z, nor do I pretend to. Big surprise. All is own is Rebecca.
Peacenikky: Now that I've got everything else out of the way, it's time for the chapter to begin!
CHAPTER TWO
"Ryou, are you all right? You seem really stressed out about something." Yugi said gently. The six of them, Ryou, Yugi, Joey, Tristan, Tea, and Kaiba, were crowded in the elevator with the group from Orange Star High, and because Yugi was standing next to him, it was natural he'd notice something like that.
"Oh, it's nothing, just the tight squeeze, that's all." Ryou replied hastily.
"All right, then..." Yugi said uncertainly. Yugi didn't know that Ryou's Yami was back, or how he treated Ryou, and it would stay that way as long as Ryou kept his cuts, bruises, and scars hidden. Of course, even if Yugi did know, there was nothing he could do, unless he wanted to get hurt as well.
'Ding!' went the elevator as it reached the third floor.
"Okay, Tea, this is where the girls get off." Videl said. The rooms had been arranged so that the chaperones would be on the first floor, girls on the next, and boys on the top floor.
Even though there were only four girls in the elevator, Tristan and Yugi had to get out in order for them to move towards the door. Once they were out of the way, the two moved back into the elevator, but Yugi gave the girls' retreating figures one last glance before the doors closed.
//There's something odd about those girls, Yugi, but I can't place it.//
/What do you mean, Yami? They seem nice enough. Rebecca's a bit of a smart aleck, maybe, but nothing out of the ordinary.../
//Well, Videl has an extremely strong energy force around her, and Rebecca has a similar one. I've never sensed this sort of thing before. Yugi, be careful around those two.//
/And what about Erasa? Is she a big, scary demon that's gonna kill us all in our beds?/ Yugi replied sarcastically. From inside his Soul Room, Yami shook his head.
//No, she's like Tea, but those other two are hiding something, something big. And the same goes for Gohan and his father.//
/Yami, no offense, but you're just being paranoid. There's nothing strange at all about any of those people./
"Hello, Earth to Yugi, wake up! We're at the fourth floor, where the guy's rooms are. Of course, if you'd rather stay in the elevator all week, I understand..." Gohan teased. Yugi turned beet red and looked down.
"Sorry, I was just daydreaming, that's all."
"Sure..." Sharpner muttered sarcastically.
/Great, now Gohan and Sharpner think I'm nuts./
//Sorry, Aibou.//
Yugi shook his head as he walked out of the elevator and towards the room where he'd be staying. Ryou, whose problems were also related to his Yami, walked with Shaprner, Tristan, and Kaiba down towards the other end of the hallway, to their room.
'Tonight at midnight outside the lodge... why do I have to put up with this torture every day?' It seemed as though Ryou's whole life was nothing but one large series of beatings and threats. To top it off, now there was Sharpner to deal with. As Sharpner and Tristan yammered about the girls that they had noticed, a tear welled up in Ryou's eye. He wiped it away before anyone, his Yami especially, could notice it.
Meanwhile, back on the floor below, Rebecca, who was getting a bottle of water from the mini-fridge in the room she shared with Tea, Erasa, and Videl, looked up, a confused look on her face. Tea, who was unpacking her clothes, quirked an eyebrow.
"Beck, what's up?" Rebecca shook her head.
"Oh, it's probably nothing, but I just got this weird feeling all of a sudden, like I had to go and do something. But, that's ridiculous; forget I said it, okay?" She chuckled, unscrewed the lid of the bottle, and took a sip of water. 'He's just fine; quit worrying. If he was in trouble, you'd have known in a heartbeat. So why do I feel this way?'
She shook her head again to clear the thought, and grabbed her ski jacket. "I'm gonna hit the slopes. Does anyone wanna join me?'
"Sure, that's the reason why we came on this trip." Videl said as she came from the bathroom.
"I'll come, too. Where's Erasa?" Tea asked.
"Last time I saw her, she was sitting in the hotel café, sipping a mocha and wondering who she was gonna go with to the dance Friday night." Videl said. Rebecca made a face. "What's wrong? Don't like coffee?"
"To put it simply, no."
Tea chuckled and said:
"Well, I'm glad your teachers said the Domino kids could come to the dance they were holding."
"It just wouldn't be right to exclude you guys because you're from a different school." Videl pointed out.
"You're right. Come on; let's do some skiing!" Videl grabbed the key card, and they left the room.
Meanwhile, Gohan and Yugi were talking about what it was like at each other's schools as they walked down the hall towards the slopes as well.
"So, what's with that necklace anyway? I thought only girls wore them!" Gohan asked Yugi.
"Well, sometimes guys wear necklaces too, Gohan!" Yugi said defensively.
"Yeah, but then it's usually just a chain, or a medallion, not a three-dimensional pyramid."
"Well, I guess you could say it's my good-luck charm."
"If you say so... so why were you spacing out in the elevator, anyway?"
"I told you, I was just daydreaming."
"All right, then..." Gohan said, but he still doubted the explanation. 'There's definitely something odd about Yugi. I'll talk to Beck, Videl, and Dad about it later. But for now, I'm gonna tear up the slopes!'
***
After a busy day filled with skiing, snowboarding, ice skating, and snowball fights, the teenagers and the exhausted chaperones all headed back to the hotel for a good, long rest. Tristan, and Erasa, however, seemed to be acting somewhat strangely.
At 11:20, Ryou, who hadn't slept a wink, partly because of his Yami's threat, and partly because of Tristan's snoring, picked up the key card that would let him back into the room, and crept out the door. He would be outside the lodge by 11:25, but his Yami would probably be out much earlier than midnight, and no reason or logic could cool his rage if Ryou wasn't there by then.
As he walked down the hall toward the elevator, a small chill ran up his spine for no apparent reason. 'Maybe tonight's the night I get freed from this curse of a life.' Ryou thought. 'Yeah, right. Like that'll ever happen.' With that dismal thought, he stepped into the elevator, and went down to the lobby. Because there was no one on night shift there, he would be able to slip outside unnoticed.
He was surprised to find that the lights in the hotel game room were still on. If the staff had bothered to turn off the video games for the night, why would they leave the lights on? The reason was Rebecca, who was sitting on the sofa, staring at the pieces of a partially completed jigsaw puzzle and muttering incomprehensibly.
"Um, excuse me?" Ryou asked.
Rebecca gasped and jumped up. "OhmygoshI'msosorryprofessorbutIcouldn't sleepsoIfiguredI'dburnoffalittleenergybyworkingonthispuzzlebutI'llgo." she continued until Ryou threw his hands in the air in surprise.
"Hold on now. I'm not one of the teachers." Rebecca, once she was finished panicking, sighed.
"That's a major relief. If one of teachers found out I was out of my room this late, I'd be dead. Hey, that reminds me. What are you doing out, anyway?" she asked, placing her hands on her hips and cocking her head to the side. Ryou was trying to come up with a decent half-truth when Rebecca laughed. "Don't worry, I won't tell if you won't."
"Er, thanks, I guess." Ryou looked at the clock on the wall. It was 11:29.
"You know, I don't believe we've been properly introduced." She stuck out her hand. "My name's Rebecca Faith. And yours is?"
Ryou gulped. He couldn't get too friendly with this girl; his Yami'd hurt her if he did. 'But, then again, what's the harm in telling her my name? Besides, she'll think something's wrong if I don't.' "Ryou. Ryou Bakura." He said, shaking her outstretched hand.
"Now, was that so bad, Ryou?" Rebecca asked, grinning.
"I guess not."
"Good. Now, could you please help me with this puzzle?" I'm stuck."
Ryou looked at the clock again. 11:30. Half an hour at the most.
"Well."
"Good. Sit down." she said, yanking him by the collar into a sitting position on the sofa. Scattered bits and pieces of the puzzle lay about on the table, depicting a few flowers, a patch of yellow, and a chunk of green and brown. A notepad, pencil, and a camera also sat on the table. Rebecca placed a piece in the flower patch.
"Don't you want to put together the border first?" Ryou asked. Rebecca shook her head.
"No way. That's the way safe people play it, but I'd rather challenge my brain."
"Okay, then." Ryou was a little shaken. Play it safe? What did that mean? "May I ask, what are the paper and camera for?"
"Easy. I'm an author, born and bred, so I carry them around in case I'm inspired. The paper's for notes, and the camera's for preserving the moment." Rebecca grinned.
"Okay... um, that's a nice ring." He said, indicating a silver ring with a pair of outstretched wings engraved on it that rested on her thumb.
"Thanks. I've had it since like, forever."
They worked on the puzzle in silence then, and amazingly enough, they'd managed to complete it in about twenty minutes. Now that it was finished, it depicted an angel with blond hair wearing a chest plate and helmet, fireball in hand, facing off against a dark purple demon, holding a black spear. Rebecca gasped.
"Oh my gosh, I know that angel!"
"Beg pardon?" Ryou asked. Rebecca turned scarlet and cleared her throat.
"Oh, I mean, I know the girl who modeled for the angel character. She's a friend of mine from up north."
"But how can you recognize her? That helmet's covering half her face!"
"Easy. She's really hardcore, so she got that tattoo ages ago." Rebecca replied offhandedly, pointing at a pair of wings on the angel's bicep that were similar to the ones on the chest plate and on Rebecca's thumb ring.
"Oh, I see. you know, this scene kind of reminds me of something I'm going through. You know, light versus dark."
"Really? What do you mean?"
'Doh! Yami's gonna kill me for that!' Ryou thought quickly. "Oh, it's just your typical teenage angst. Nothing really deep or anything."
"Whatever." Rebecca picked up her camera and snapped a couple shots of the completed puzzle, then jotted a few things down in her notepad. "Listen, about what Sharpner said back in the lobby, about you not possibly having a girlfriend, forget about it, 'kay? He's just a big jerk. We're all praying that if we ignore him long enough, he'll melt or something."
"Thanks."
"Hey, why don't we meet again during free time? I'm sure my friends would like you."
"Um, well..."
"And I'm not going to buy any 'I'm not really a people-person' stuff. I'm going to make sure you don't spend your entire trip here alone, got it? Good. See ya later, Ryou." Rebecca winked and picked up her things.
"You do have your keycard, right?" Ryou asked. Rebecca pulled it from her pajama pocket. "Okay, just making sure."
"Well, good night."
As soon as she was out of earshot, Ryou heaved a sigh. The clock read 11:50.
'Great, I'm now going to be a social butterfly. He's really not going to like that.' Ryou looked at the puzzle again. The silver helmet came down to the angel's nose, and where her eyes were, there were two small white visor-like slits, but he could still sense the grim determination on her face, like she'd either win or die trying. The demon had the same look on its face. 'It really is like my Yami and me. Always fighting, me for freedom, him for dominance.'
The Millennium Ring started to glow. In a moment, Bakura was standing in front of Ryou.
"Well, it looks like you've got yourself a little girlfriend, Ryou. We can't have that now, can we?" Bakura hissed. Ryou let out a small moan. "I'm going to have to think about your girlfriend and that ring of hers. There's something familiar about it... but don't worry. I'll find out what it is soon enough." Ryou bit back a gulp.
"Please, leave Rebecca out of this. She doesn't know anything, I swear!" Ryou instantly regretted his words as Bakura slapped him hard across the face.
"Don't you tell me what to do, you pathetic fool!"
"I'm sorry..." Ryou said weakly before he was punched in the nose.
"Weak, worthless mortal...
"Oh, and one more thing, about that puzzle. You're right, it is like us, but in this scenario, you'll never win. Remember that." Bakura sneered. Then he disappeared back into the Millennium Ring.
Ryou sighed as he checked his face for any signs of bleeding. Finding none, he slowly got up.
'What is it about Rebecca and her ring that's so familiar to my Yami?' he asked himself as he got up and headed back for the elevator.
After the doors closed, a shadowy figure quickly retreated back to the stairs. He had seen enough to push his curiosity about the students from Orange Star High to a higher level, and he also knew that Bakura was active again.
That had to be stopped, at all costs. He couldn't let anyone else get hurt.
Authors Notes
Peacenikky: Ta da! End chapter two! No, Rebecca is not all-powerful, or a raving beauty, and she will not hook up with Ryou Bakura, or anyone else, for that matter. She...
Judi: I'll say! You only gave her one decent...
Peacenikky: (claps a hand over Judi's mouth) Shut up! You wanna give it away? Anyway, like I said before, I'm trying my best here to keep this Mary Sue free. And no, the thumb ring is NOT an eighth Millennium Item. What is it, then? Take a guess, then check back when I post some more chapters, 'kay? Good.
Judi: Remember, any flamers will be dealt with accordingly! ^_^
Peacenikky: (rubbing her temples) Please review, or she'll go berserk and soak everyone. Remember, have a nice day!