Author's Notes: Warning, this chapter contains spoilers for September
13th's episodes, the first round of the Battle City finals, Bakura vs.
Yugi. So if you haven't seen them yet, two things: A) Don't read this if
you don't want it ruined, and B) See them ASAP, they rock. Anyway, on to
the plot, which gets more angsty by the minute.
Chapter Nine: Naked
~~Mai's POV~~
A month passed rapidly for the two of us. For a week or so, we were afraid that Ryou would tell everyone about us, and Joey would get upset. Ryou, however, turned out to be an excellent secret-keeper, aside from the blushing and stammering and lame excuses.
I started staying over at their house most nights. No, we didn't /do/ anything, beyond a little kissing. I swear it. Bakura turned out to be a bit old-fashioned. Little dork, he is.
At the one-month mark from the point where Ryou had discovered us, we met the others in a little coffee-house near the mall. Tea fed Joey caffeine for an hour, then dragged him off for some shopping. I was delighted to discover that her obvious crush on him no longer bothered me.
Ryou and Yami Yugi struck up a conversation about the Shadow Realm, while Tristan and Yugi started trading cards. I quietly slipped out of my seat and into the one next to Bakura, resting my head on his shoulder.
"We could try telling /them/," I said tentatively. "It's just Joey I don't want to know."
"But watching Ryou sweat over the secret is just so much /fun/," he whined. "Besides, I'm not speaking to them."
I poked him. "You are such a dork, Bakura. Why do you hate them so much?"
"They're pathetic, they're annoying - "
"Then why did you save Ryou's life in Battle City?"
He cleared his throat and blushed. I pulled away when I realized that we had an audience - all four of the others. "I was kind of wondering that myself," Ryou said.
"We thought you needed him to survive," Yugi added. "But it turns out that you and Yami both could have split apart from us at any time, like you do now. Yami didn't because he wanted to stay with me and be able to help me all the time. But you - "
"Shut up."
"You," Yugi continued, as though Bakura hadn't said anything, "never particularly liked Ryou's body, did you? I mean, you could have had anyone."
"Yeah," Tristan said. "You can move that Ring around - I threw it off a cliff once, and it was back in a few minutes. With you in it. So why - "
"Shut up!"
"You just aren't making any sense, that's all I'm saying."
Yami Yugi nodded, his chin resting on his hand, his eyes glittering with thought. "We would have forfeited, in all probability. Yet you felt the need to step in again, and - "
"I'm dating Mai!"
That finally shut them up. I immediately blushed. He slipped an arm around my shoulders and said, quietly, "I'm dating her."
**I wake up in the morning
Put on my face
The one that's gonna get me
Through another day
Doesn't really matter
How I feel inside
This life is like a game sometimes**
For about a minute, they just stared at us. Tristan looked too furious for words. Yugi and Yami had identical expressions of shock, which might have seemed funny if it weren't for the comical way Ryou was trying frantically to hold Tristan back from leaping at us across the table.
Eventually, Yugi croaked out, "Dating?"
Yami, sounding a great deal more composed, quickly added, "How long?"
Bakura coughed delicately. "I...actually don't remember. More than a month." He cast a sheepish look at me. "Depending, um, on when you consider..."
I tried to smile, but ended up hitting him. "I can't believe you don't remember!"
"I'm sorry!" he squeaked. "I'm an ancient Egyptian spirit, we have memory issues, okay?"
"A month," Yugi said weakly. "And we didn't know...oh, what will Joey say?"
"You can't tell him!" Ryou cried, clinging with a death grip to Tristan's arm. "He'll kill Yami! Just like Tristan's trying to! Tristan, quit it, you're hurting me - "
"So that's why you've been so nice to us lately," Tristan snarled. "You were trying to stop us noticing that you were sneaking around with Joey's girlfriend!"
"I'm not Joey's girlfriend!"
"She's /my/ girlfriend, you moronic - "
"Please stop the fighting!"
"Dating...oh, poor Joey, /what/ is he going to say?"
Yami Yugi somehow managed to remain calm despite the chaos. "Which brings us back to the original point. Ryou, since when do you /care/ if Tristan kills your Yami? I mean, he did control you, almost get you killed, and he's been generally cruel since the day you got the Ring, correct? Excepting the time he saved your life."
"Gah," Bakura muttered. "Why are you harping on that?"
"I'm not," Tristan growled.
"I noticed," Ryou offered.
I sighed wearily. Sometimes being around all that testosterone makes me wonder why exactly I decided to be friends with them. I leaned across the table, grabbed Tristan's collar, and gave him my best glare.
"Tristan Taylor, you will stop threatening my boyfriend /right/ now!"
He blinked and sat down very quickly, almost crushing poor Ryou. "Right. Well. Even if /I/ don't hurt him, you know Joey will - "
"Joey will what?"
All of us, even Yami Yugi, flinched and turned guilty eyes to the doorway, where Joey was struggling with several of Tea's shopping bags. She gave us her most innocent look. "Hi guys, what's up?"
Tristan looked at me, then attempted to grin. "Nothing!" He was echoed by Ryou, Yugi, and Yami. Bakura, however, ducked behind me.
"And you're afraid of him /why/?" I hissed.
"Well, he...I dunno, I...just protect me."
**Then you came around me
The walls just disappeared
Nothing to surround me
Keep me from my fears
I'm unprotected
See how I've opened up
Oh, you've made me trust**
There was some awkward silence, and then I decided that, however much I would have enjoyed the lame excuses, it was probably time to go. "We'll just...be going," I said, shoving Bakura along as I walked toward the other door. "To...er...practice duel...see you tomorrow..."
"Aaugh," Tristan said. "Are they going to - "
"Shut up shut up shut up!" Ryou shrieked, clapping a hand over Tristan's mouth.
We missed the rest, because Bakura threw the door open and we stumbled out, laughing. "Oh, Ra, they're going to /kill/ us," Bakura said.
"Not if we run away to Switzerland!"
We wandered into the park and sat down on a bench. I automatically moved to lean on Bakura, and he stroked my hair.
After some comfortable silence, my curiosity decided that it couldn't wait any longer. "So, why /did/ you save Ryou's life that day?"
"Oh, he wouldn't have /died/," Bakura snapped. "I just - I'm not having this conversation, all right? I'm not like that anymore, I don't control him. Things have changed. I've changed."
"I thought you never changed."
"Well." He blinked. "You, uh, changed me. For the better. Or something."
I raised an eyebrow. "Really?"
"Yeah. You just - I mean, being with you - it's like there's no more secrets. I feel like you know everything, and I don't mind, and oh, Ra, I forgot to feed Atenna, let's go."
He dragged me down the street, then stopped suddenly and ducked behind a car. "Don't look. Joey's trying to find us."
I peered around a tire and saw Joey, accompanied by a panicked Ryou, stalking down the street in the direction of Bakura's house - away from us, luckily. "Ugh."
Bakura slipped a hand into his pocket, closed his eyes, and said in a very depressed tone, "He's got homicide on the brain."
"Ugh," I repeated. "Look - I'll stop him. You need to get to Atenna. I'll call later."
"Unless he kills you."
"Oh, come on, not /everyone/ is as dark and violent as you seem to think."
I emerged and ran after Joey and Ryou. Ryou heard my approach first and half-turned, then gasped and attempted to cover Joey's eyes. It didn't work - Joey saw me.
"You," he said in an emotionless tone.
"I need...to talk to you," I panted, catching up and grabbing Ryou for support while I regained my breath.
"Yeah, well, I - "
"Joey, please. Alone."
Ryou caught sight of Bakura sneaking down the sidewalk and quickly backed away while I dragged Joey back toward the coffee-house.
**'Cause I've never felt like this before
I'm naked around you - does it show?
You see right through me and I can't hide
I'm naked around you
And it feels so right**
Yugi, Yami, Tristan, and Tea were still there. They noticed us, and the look on Joey's face, and decided to leave well enough alone. We took seats near the door, Joey with his back to the others.
"Look," I said, trying to remain calm during the first real conversation I'd had with him since we'd broken up. "Tell me what they told you, first of all."
"You're /dating/ Ryou's Yami," he said. "Is that why you left me? Because of him?"
"No! I left because...God, I told you this. I didn't feel like you cared."
"Oh, and he does?" Joey leaned forward and took my hand, his dark eyes glittering with pain and concern. "Mai, that spirit does not care about anyone but himself. He's bad news. We can't get rid of him, but that doesn't mean we have to like him, and - "
"And I love him."
He stared at me. I couldn't meet his eyes. Right then, I didn't feel like I could look at /anyone/ without blushing bright, tomato red.
"You /liar/."
That wiped away any embarrassment. "What? I'm not lying!"
He pushed his chair back and stood up, trembling with emotion. His eyes were tearing up, and for a moment I almost wanted to comfort him. Almost.
"I love him! He sees me like you never did! And he loves me, too!"
"Oh, really? Did he ever tell you that?"
I became aware that not only were our friends watching, but the few other patrons and the two workers behind the counter seemed very interested. Thus, I lowered my voice. "He was about to. And then his cat - and you - and we never /actually/ got around to it - "
"So that's the way it is." He turned and walked over to the others. I got there first and grabbed Tristan's arm.
"Be nice to him. And - don't let him kill Bakura." I cast a cold glance at that irritating ex of mine, then stormed off, trying to act as though I'd won the argument.
Really, though, I wasn't sure I had.
**I'm trying to remember
Why I was afraid
To be myself and let the
Covers fall away
Guess I never had someone like you
To help me fit in my skin**
I decided not to call, and instead went immediately to Bakura's house. Ryou answered the door.
"Mai, back so soon? How'd it go?"
"Oh, /God/," I moaned, hugging him out of desperate need for someone to hug. He patted my back awkwardly. "This all happened so /fast/ and I just..."
Bakura entered the hallway then, Atenna cradled in one arm. She ate cat food out of his other hand. "Ah, Ryou. That would be my job."
Ryou carefully pushed me at Bakura, who made a courageous attempt to hold cat, food, and girlfriend before managing to drop the food and Atenna, who ate as though neither of us were there.
"He wasn't supposed to find out so soon," I wailed into Bakura's shoulder. "Now he's going to hate both of us forever and we'll have to move to Switzerland to escape his wrath..."
Ryou, to his credit, chose not to ask.
I stayed the night. We slept in the same bed, though fully clothed. And it felt...nice. Very nice.
Around midnight, I finally managed to process it. I loved Bakura. And I was fairly certain that he felt the same way.
How did I feel about that?
Well, that was the part I couldn't figure out. I should have been delighted and passionate. Instead, I found myself dwelling on Joey's words - that Bakura was bad news, and evil, and didn't care about anyone else but himself. And Yami Yugi, who probably knew him best: 'he's been generally cruel since the day you got the Ring...'
Ryou peeked at us several times during the course of the night, presumably to ensure that we weren't "doing anything." I managed finally to stop pondering my relationship with Bakura, and start thinking about Ryou and his Yami. We'd never gotten a straight answer out of either of them. I knew Bakura wasn't speaking to Ryou, and I believed that Ryou was unhappy about it, but...well, you couldn't be sure with those two. As different as night and day, but so similar underneath it all, sometimes.
It was near four - and yes, I was still awake, I /am/ that pitiful - when I realized that if Bakura happened to touch that Millennium Eye of his, my doubts would be telegraphed to him. I couldn't think about that anymore, because what if he thought I didn't love him, and then it would be terrible, because I did, only it was /him/ I wasn't sure of...
Oh, God, if he /didn't/ love me, Joey would gloat for the rest of our /lives/ over it...
**I've never felt like this before
I'm naked around you - does it show?
You see right through me and I can't hide
I'm naked around you
And it feels so right
I'm naked - does it show?
I'm naked**
As a result of my circular thinking, I got about a half-hour of sleep and walked around like a zombie for the rest of the day. I saw Joey with Tea in the park, though they didn't see me, and I talked with Yugi and Ryou for a few hours in the coffee-house before I had to go to work. I actually got through the day and slept until noon the next, in my own house, for once.
Life went on around us. We signed up for the new tournament, all of us but Bakura, who muttered something about "damn dumb luck" in relation to Joey and Yugi. And by "all" I do mean all, even Tristan and Tea. Now that the world wasn't at stake, they were much more into the Duel Monsters game.
Days turned to weeks, the tournament drew closer, and life went back to normal - except that Joey still glared at Bakura whenever they were anywhere near each other, and Bakura continued to ignore all of our friends.
Finally, I couldn't take it anymore. "Why don't you just /try/ to be nice to them?" I demanded. We were in his bedroom, having a practice duel, and he was winning by six hundred lifepoints.
He played a monster, face-down, and said calmly, "You've been having doubts about us."
"Changing the subject again?" I asked scathingly, equipping my Harpie Lady with the Rose Whip and eyeing his monster warily. Then I realized what he had said and blushed. "Uh...no?" Dammit, he /had/ been using the Eye on me!
"I haven't been using the Eye, if that's what you're thinking," he said, and set down a Magic Card that took away the rest of my lifepoints. I sighed and gathered up my deck.
"Then how can you tell?"
He shrugged. "I just can." He swept the cards off of the bed, leaned forward, and kissed me.
It wasn't anything like our previous kisses. Those were chaste and sweet. This was - warm. And if I'd been standing, I would have fallen over. I could taste the passion, hidden for so long, and I clung to him, running my hands through his silky hair, and -
"OH MY GOD MY EYES!"
We quickly let go of each other and stared at Ryou, who was leaning on the wall opposite our door, his eyes covered. "OH, God, do you HAVE to do that with the door OPEN?"
"We were dueling," I said helpfully.
He shuddered. "No...please no...not the bizarre euphemisms..."
"Anyway," Bakura said, completely ignoring his other half. "Do you still doubt me?"
"Not one bit." I smiled and touched his face. "I love you."
"Arrgh," Ryou moaned, sliding to the ground and trembling. "In my own home...I have been traumatized."
"Oh, grow up," Bakura snapped. "Mai, I love you too. And - Ryou, for Ra's sake! Get up and stop whining! It's not like we were /doing/ anything."
"We might have," I added innocently. "If you hadn't stopped us. In fact, what does it matter? You could use the education." I moved to kiss Bakura, and out of the corner of my eye saw Ryou flee.
**Oh oh
I'm naked around you - does it show?
I'm so naked around you
And I can't hide
You're gonna, you're gonna see right through
See right through me and I can't hide
I'm naked around you
Oh yeah yeah**
What can I say about the tournament? I lost, of course, to Yami Yugi - but I took out Joey and Tristan first, a feat I am quite proud of. They both spent days after muttering about the influence of evil spirits on "third- rate Duelists." Those boys are such /idiots/ sometimes!
Yugi somehow managed to beat Yami. I'm not sure how - I didn't watch, because I was busy attempting to stop Atenna from scratching my eyes out. Bakura had, at the last minute, decided to come watch, and of course he had brought that demon-cat with him, and she'd decided that kissing simply wasn't allowed, and had taken it out on me. Joey looked delighted with that.
We celebrated Yugi's victory with ice cream and coffee. Neither Yami nor Bakura had ever chosen to try coffee before, despite our many visits to the coffee-house, and...well, spirits don't do very well on caffeine.
Which is to say, they each had half a cup and proceeded to play an impromptu clapping game in Egyptian. I think Bakura won, but they were both giggling so hard at the end, we couldn't tell. Then Joey and I had a friendly duel, which I /would/ have won if Yami hadn't helpfully stolen my cards and finished for me. He proved to be a miserable player when high on coffee.
I had to support Bakura on our way home. Ryou walked alongside us, looking faintly amused.
"I can't believe one cup of coffee can do that to a person," I whispered.
"Good night," Bakura said suddenly. He looked at me, his eyes glazed over, and continued, "I wuv you."
"Yes, I know."
"I can see right through you!"
"Yes, I'm sure you can..."
He held his hand up in front of his face and examined it with what amounted to mild interest. "Lookit my fingers. I can see right through them, too. Cool."
Ryou and I burst out laughing. The word "cool" coming from Bakura was just too ludicrous for words.
**I'm so naked around you
And I can't hide
You're gonna see right through, baby**
Chapter Nine: Naked
~~Mai's POV~~
A month passed rapidly for the two of us. For a week or so, we were afraid that Ryou would tell everyone about us, and Joey would get upset. Ryou, however, turned out to be an excellent secret-keeper, aside from the blushing and stammering and lame excuses.
I started staying over at their house most nights. No, we didn't /do/ anything, beyond a little kissing. I swear it. Bakura turned out to be a bit old-fashioned. Little dork, he is.
At the one-month mark from the point where Ryou had discovered us, we met the others in a little coffee-house near the mall. Tea fed Joey caffeine for an hour, then dragged him off for some shopping. I was delighted to discover that her obvious crush on him no longer bothered me.
Ryou and Yami Yugi struck up a conversation about the Shadow Realm, while Tristan and Yugi started trading cards. I quietly slipped out of my seat and into the one next to Bakura, resting my head on his shoulder.
"We could try telling /them/," I said tentatively. "It's just Joey I don't want to know."
"But watching Ryou sweat over the secret is just so much /fun/," he whined. "Besides, I'm not speaking to them."
I poked him. "You are such a dork, Bakura. Why do you hate them so much?"
"They're pathetic, they're annoying - "
"Then why did you save Ryou's life in Battle City?"
He cleared his throat and blushed. I pulled away when I realized that we had an audience - all four of the others. "I was kind of wondering that myself," Ryou said.
"We thought you needed him to survive," Yugi added. "But it turns out that you and Yami both could have split apart from us at any time, like you do now. Yami didn't because he wanted to stay with me and be able to help me all the time. But you - "
"Shut up."
"You," Yugi continued, as though Bakura hadn't said anything, "never particularly liked Ryou's body, did you? I mean, you could have had anyone."
"Yeah," Tristan said. "You can move that Ring around - I threw it off a cliff once, and it was back in a few minutes. With you in it. So why - "
"Shut up!"
"You just aren't making any sense, that's all I'm saying."
Yami Yugi nodded, his chin resting on his hand, his eyes glittering with thought. "We would have forfeited, in all probability. Yet you felt the need to step in again, and - "
"I'm dating Mai!"
That finally shut them up. I immediately blushed. He slipped an arm around my shoulders and said, quietly, "I'm dating her."
**I wake up in the morning
Put on my face
The one that's gonna get me
Through another day
Doesn't really matter
How I feel inside
This life is like a game sometimes**
For about a minute, they just stared at us. Tristan looked too furious for words. Yugi and Yami had identical expressions of shock, which might have seemed funny if it weren't for the comical way Ryou was trying frantically to hold Tristan back from leaping at us across the table.
Eventually, Yugi croaked out, "Dating?"
Yami, sounding a great deal more composed, quickly added, "How long?"
Bakura coughed delicately. "I...actually don't remember. More than a month." He cast a sheepish look at me. "Depending, um, on when you consider..."
I tried to smile, but ended up hitting him. "I can't believe you don't remember!"
"I'm sorry!" he squeaked. "I'm an ancient Egyptian spirit, we have memory issues, okay?"
"A month," Yugi said weakly. "And we didn't know...oh, what will Joey say?"
"You can't tell him!" Ryou cried, clinging with a death grip to Tristan's arm. "He'll kill Yami! Just like Tristan's trying to! Tristan, quit it, you're hurting me - "
"So that's why you've been so nice to us lately," Tristan snarled. "You were trying to stop us noticing that you were sneaking around with Joey's girlfriend!"
"I'm not Joey's girlfriend!"
"She's /my/ girlfriend, you moronic - "
"Please stop the fighting!"
"Dating...oh, poor Joey, /what/ is he going to say?"
Yami Yugi somehow managed to remain calm despite the chaos. "Which brings us back to the original point. Ryou, since when do you /care/ if Tristan kills your Yami? I mean, he did control you, almost get you killed, and he's been generally cruel since the day you got the Ring, correct? Excepting the time he saved your life."
"Gah," Bakura muttered. "Why are you harping on that?"
"I'm not," Tristan growled.
"I noticed," Ryou offered.
I sighed wearily. Sometimes being around all that testosterone makes me wonder why exactly I decided to be friends with them. I leaned across the table, grabbed Tristan's collar, and gave him my best glare.
"Tristan Taylor, you will stop threatening my boyfriend /right/ now!"
He blinked and sat down very quickly, almost crushing poor Ryou. "Right. Well. Even if /I/ don't hurt him, you know Joey will - "
"Joey will what?"
All of us, even Yami Yugi, flinched and turned guilty eyes to the doorway, where Joey was struggling with several of Tea's shopping bags. She gave us her most innocent look. "Hi guys, what's up?"
Tristan looked at me, then attempted to grin. "Nothing!" He was echoed by Ryou, Yugi, and Yami. Bakura, however, ducked behind me.
"And you're afraid of him /why/?" I hissed.
"Well, he...I dunno, I...just protect me."
**Then you came around me
The walls just disappeared
Nothing to surround me
Keep me from my fears
I'm unprotected
See how I've opened up
Oh, you've made me trust**
There was some awkward silence, and then I decided that, however much I would have enjoyed the lame excuses, it was probably time to go. "We'll just...be going," I said, shoving Bakura along as I walked toward the other door. "To...er...practice duel...see you tomorrow..."
"Aaugh," Tristan said. "Are they going to - "
"Shut up shut up shut up!" Ryou shrieked, clapping a hand over Tristan's mouth.
We missed the rest, because Bakura threw the door open and we stumbled out, laughing. "Oh, Ra, they're going to /kill/ us," Bakura said.
"Not if we run away to Switzerland!"
We wandered into the park and sat down on a bench. I automatically moved to lean on Bakura, and he stroked my hair.
After some comfortable silence, my curiosity decided that it couldn't wait any longer. "So, why /did/ you save Ryou's life that day?"
"Oh, he wouldn't have /died/," Bakura snapped. "I just - I'm not having this conversation, all right? I'm not like that anymore, I don't control him. Things have changed. I've changed."
"I thought you never changed."
"Well." He blinked. "You, uh, changed me. For the better. Or something."
I raised an eyebrow. "Really?"
"Yeah. You just - I mean, being with you - it's like there's no more secrets. I feel like you know everything, and I don't mind, and oh, Ra, I forgot to feed Atenna, let's go."
He dragged me down the street, then stopped suddenly and ducked behind a car. "Don't look. Joey's trying to find us."
I peered around a tire and saw Joey, accompanied by a panicked Ryou, stalking down the street in the direction of Bakura's house - away from us, luckily. "Ugh."
Bakura slipped a hand into his pocket, closed his eyes, and said in a very depressed tone, "He's got homicide on the brain."
"Ugh," I repeated. "Look - I'll stop him. You need to get to Atenna. I'll call later."
"Unless he kills you."
"Oh, come on, not /everyone/ is as dark and violent as you seem to think."
I emerged and ran after Joey and Ryou. Ryou heard my approach first and half-turned, then gasped and attempted to cover Joey's eyes. It didn't work - Joey saw me.
"You," he said in an emotionless tone.
"I need...to talk to you," I panted, catching up and grabbing Ryou for support while I regained my breath.
"Yeah, well, I - "
"Joey, please. Alone."
Ryou caught sight of Bakura sneaking down the sidewalk and quickly backed away while I dragged Joey back toward the coffee-house.
**'Cause I've never felt like this before
I'm naked around you - does it show?
You see right through me and I can't hide
I'm naked around you
And it feels so right**
Yugi, Yami, Tristan, and Tea were still there. They noticed us, and the look on Joey's face, and decided to leave well enough alone. We took seats near the door, Joey with his back to the others.
"Look," I said, trying to remain calm during the first real conversation I'd had with him since we'd broken up. "Tell me what they told you, first of all."
"You're /dating/ Ryou's Yami," he said. "Is that why you left me? Because of him?"
"No! I left because...God, I told you this. I didn't feel like you cared."
"Oh, and he does?" Joey leaned forward and took my hand, his dark eyes glittering with pain and concern. "Mai, that spirit does not care about anyone but himself. He's bad news. We can't get rid of him, but that doesn't mean we have to like him, and - "
"And I love him."
He stared at me. I couldn't meet his eyes. Right then, I didn't feel like I could look at /anyone/ without blushing bright, tomato red.
"You /liar/."
That wiped away any embarrassment. "What? I'm not lying!"
He pushed his chair back and stood up, trembling with emotion. His eyes were tearing up, and for a moment I almost wanted to comfort him. Almost.
"I love him! He sees me like you never did! And he loves me, too!"
"Oh, really? Did he ever tell you that?"
I became aware that not only were our friends watching, but the few other patrons and the two workers behind the counter seemed very interested. Thus, I lowered my voice. "He was about to. And then his cat - and you - and we never /actually/ got around to it - "
"So that's the way it is." He turned and walked over to the others. I got there first and grabbed Tristan's arm.
"Be nice to him. And - don't let him kill Bakura." I cast a cold glance at that irritating ex of mine, then stormed off, trying to act as though I'd won the argument.
Really, though, I wasn't sure I had.
**I'm trying to remember
Why I was afraid
To be myself and let the
Covers fall away
Guess I never had someone like you
To help me fit in my skin**
I decided not to call, and instead went immediately to Bakura's house. Ryou answered the door.
"Mai, back so soon? How'd it go?"
"Oh, /God/," I moaned, hugging him out of desperate need for someone to hug. He patted my back awkwardly. "This all happened so /fast/ and I just..."
Bakura entered the hallway then, Atenna cradled in one arm. She ate cat food out of his other hand. "Ah, Ryou. That would be my job."
Ryou carefully pushed me at Bakura, who made a courageous attempt to hold cat, food, and girlfriend before managing to drop the food and Atenna, who ate as though neither of us were there.
"He wasn't supposed to find out so soon," I wailed into Bakura's shoulder. "Now he's going to hate both of us forever and we'll have to move to Switzerland to escape his wrath..."
Ryou, to his credit, chose not to ask.
I stayed the night. We slept in the same bed, though fully clothed. And it felt...nice. Very nice.
Around midnight, I finally managed to process it. I loved Bakura. And I was fairly certain that he felt the same way.
How did I feel about that?
Well, that was the part I couldn't figure out. I should have been delighted and passionate. Instead, I found myself dwelling on Joey's words - that Bakura was bad news, and evil, and didn't care about anyone else but himself. And Yami Yugi, who probably knew him best: 'he's been generally cruel since the day you got the Ring...'
Ryou peeked at us several times during the course of the night, presumably to ensure that we weren't "doing anything." I managed finally to stop pondering my relationship with Bakura, and start thinking about Ryou and his Yami. We'd never gotten a straight answer out of either of them. I knew Bakura wasn't speaking to Ryou, and I believed that Ryou was unhappy about it, but...well, you couldn't be sure with those two. As different as night and day, but so similar underneath it all, sometimes.
It was near four - and yes, I was still awake, I /am/ that pitiful - when I realized that if Bakura happened to touch that Millennium Eye of his, my doubts would be telegraphed to him. I couldn't think about that anymore, because what if he thought I didn't love him, and then it would be terrible, because I did, only it was /him/ I wasn't sure of...
Oh, God, if he /didn't/ love me, Joey would gloat for the rest of our /lives/ over it...
**I've never felt like this before
I'm naked around you - does it show?
You see right through me and I can't hide
I'm naked around you
And it feels so right
I'm naked - does it show?
I'm naked**
As a result of my circular thinking, I got about a half-hour of sleep and walked around like a zombie for the rest of the day. I saw Joey with Tea in the park, though they didn't see me, and I talked with Yugi and Ryou for a few hours in the coffee-house before I had to go to work. I actually got through the day and slept until noon the next, in my own house, for once.
Life went on around us. We signed up for the new tournament, all of us but Bakura, who muttered something about "damn dumb luck" in relation to Joey and Yugi. And by "all" I do mean all, even Tristan and Tea. Now that the world wasn't at stake, they were much more into the Duel Monsters game.
Days turned to weeks, the tournament drew closer, and life went back to normal - except that Joey still glared at Bakura whenever they were anywhere near each other, and Bakura continued to ignore all of our friends.
Finally, I couldn't take it anymore. "Why don't you just /try/ to be nice to them?" I demanded. We were in his bedroom, having a practice duel, and he was winning by six hundred lifepoints.
He played a monster, face-down, and said calmly, "You've been having doubts about us."
"Changing the subject again?" I asked scathingly, equipping my Harpie Lady with the Rose Whip and eyeing his monster warily. Then I realized what he had said and blushed. "Uh...no?" Dammit, he /had/ been using the Eye on me!
"I haven't been using the Eye, if that's what you're thinking," he said, and set down a Magic Card that took away the rest of my lifepoints. I sighed and gathered up my deck.
"Then how can you tell?"
He shrugged. "I just can." He swept the cards off of the bed, leaned forward, and kissed me.
It wasn't anything like our previous kisses. Those were chaste and sweet. This was - warm. And if I'd been standing, I would have fallen over. I could taste the passion, hidden for so long, and I clung to him, running my hands through his silky hair, and -
"OH MY GOD MY EYES!"
We quickly let go of each other and stared at Ryou, who was leaning on the wall opposite our door, his eyes covered. "OH, God, do you HAVE to do that with the door OPEN?"
"We were dueling," I said helpfully.
He shuddered. "No...please no...not the bizarre euphemisms..."
"Anyway," Bakura said, completely ignoring his other half. "Do you still doubt me?"
"Not one bit." I smiled and touched his face. "I love you."
"Arrgh," Ryou moaned, sliding to the ground and trembling. "In my own home...I have been traumatized."
"Oh, grow up," Bakura snapped. "Mai, I love you too. And - Ryou, for Ra's sake! Get up and stop whining! It's not like we were /doing/ anything."
"We might have," I added innocently. "If you hadn't stopped us. In fact, what does it matter? You could use the education." I moved to kiss Bakura, and out of the corner of my eye saw Ryou flee.
**Oh oh
I'm naked around you - does it show?
I'm so naked around you
And I can't hide
You're gonna, you're gonna see right through
See right through me and I can't hide
I'm naked around you
Oh yeah yeah**
What can I say about the tournament? I lost, of course, to Yami Yugi - but I took out Joey and Tristan first, a feat I am quite proud of. They both spent days after muttering about the influence of evil spirits on "third- rate Duelists." Those boys are such /idiots/ sometimes!
Yugi somehow managed to beat Yami. I'm not sure how - I didn't watch, because I was busy attempting to stop Atenna from scratching my eyes out. Bakura had, at the last minute, decided to come watch, and of course he had brought that demon-cat with him, and she'd decided that kissing simply wasn't allowed, and had taken it out on me. Joey looked delighted with that.
We celebrated Yugi's victory with ice cream and coffee. Neither Yami nor Bakura had ever chosen to try coffee before, despite our many visits to the coffee-house, and...well, spirits don't do very well on caffeine.
Which is to say, they each had half a cup and proceeded to play an impromptu clapping game in Egyptian. I think Bakura won, but they were both giggling so hard at the end, we couldn't tell. Then Joey and I had a friendly duel, which I /would/ have won if Yami hadn't helpfully stolen my cards and finished for me. He proved to be a miserable player when high on coffee.
I had to support Bakura on our way home. Ryou walked alongside us, looking faintly amused.
"I can't believe one cup of coffee can do that to a person," I whispered.
"Good night," Bakura said suddenly. He looked at me, his eyes glazed over, and continued, "I wuv you."
"Yes, I know."
"I can see right through you!"
"Yes, I'm sure you can..."
He held his hand up in front of his face and examined it with what amounted to mild interest. "Lookit my fingers. I can see right through them, too. Cool."
Ryou and I burst out laughing. The word "cool" coming from Bakura was just too ludicrous for words.
**I'm so naked around you
And I can't hide
You're gonna see right through, baby**