DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fanfiction produced for entertainment purposes only. Yu-Gi-Oh! and all related characters are the creations of Kazuki Takahashi.
AUTHOR'S NOTE 1: *Text* indicates a character's thoughts.
AUTHOR'S NOTE 2: The Millennium Ring has the power to put a little piece of Bakura's soul into an item. When he uses that power on the Millennium Puzzle, Bakura ends up inside Yami's soulroom. That's my understanding of it anyway, from what I know of what happened after Marik defeated Bakura during Battle City.
Chapter 2: The Challenge
By Shadow's Mirror
"Hello, Yugi!" Ryou smiled at his friend as he slipped into the seat next to him at the lunch table.
"Oh, hi Ryou!" Yugi grinned back at him, but Ryou noticed that his smile didn't quite reach his eyes. Something was bothering him.
"What's going on? Is something wrong?" Ryou asked, concerned. Yugi had a naturally cheerful disposition, so anything that worried him was usually well worth worrying about. If there was some sort of trouble or problem, Ryou wanted to know about it.
Yugi blushed slightly and shook his head, seeing how worried he'd made Ryou. "No, it's nothing… at least…" He paused, suddenly uncertain. "At least, I don't think it is." He eyed Ryou thoughtfully. "I don't suppose… Has Bakura been acting… I don't know… odd at all?"
Ryou chuckled softly. "Define odd. He's always doing things that don't make the slightest sense to me!" An offended 'Hey!' came from Bakura's soulroom. *Well it serves you right for listening in!* Ryou mentally teased his yami.
*Yugi was asking about me. Of course I listened in. He's talking to you, by the way.* Ryou could hear the smug grin in Bakura's voice as he returned his attention to Yugi. "Um… I'm sorry Yugi, would you mind repeating that." Ryou grinned sheepishly at Yugi's knowing smile. One good thing about talking to Yugi and their other friends, they were always willing to repeat themselves since they knew how often yamis interrupted to speak to their lights.
"I said that Yami's been spending all his time in his soulroom for the past couple of days. He didn't even come out for our nightly duel last night! That's not like him at all. I'm… probably worrying over nothing but…" Yugi stared down at his lunch and sighed heavily. Ryou gently patted his friend's shoulder.
"You're right, that doesn't sound like Yami. I suppose you've asked him what's wrong?"
Yugi nodded, not looking up. "He said that everything was fine, he was just busy with something. But… he couldn't look me in the eye as he said it." The small boy lifted his head, his wide amethyst eyes filled with anxiety and pain as he met Ryou's troubled gaze. "Ryou, I… I think he might have been…" Yugi shook his head quickly, trying to deny what his heart and mind were telling me. "No! There's no way that he'd… lie to me…" He shivered at the thought.
Ryou rested his hand on Yugi's shoulder and squeezed it lightly. "Surely he can feel how worried you are through your… Oh dear…" Yugi's eyes told Ryou the rest of the story without Yugi having to say another word. "He's closed the link?"
Yugi nodded and looked down at his lunch again. He listlessly poked at the brown stuff on the plate. "Yesterday afternoon. Remember when Joey and Tristan started teasing Kaiba about his A- in History? Well, he said that there was too much noise for him to concentrate and closed the link. He's done that before, although he really sounded irritated this time. But… he didn't open it again. It's been closed ever since and I can't get anything out of him. Every time I try… I get this funny warm feeling in my mind. It's kinda hard to explain." Yugi frowned unhappily. He distractedly speared a piece of brown stuff on his fork and started eating it.
Ryou thought for a moment. "Is it something like the feeling you get when you snuggle under a warm blanket on a cold night… and your yami comes out of his soulroom and makes himself touchable just so he can cuddle up beside you in the warmth and take you in his arms and…"
Yugi choked and started coughing. Ryou blinked and came out of his daze with a soft gasp. He patted Yugi on the back and tried to ignore the heat that he could feel rushing into his face, and the howls of laughter that he could hear echoing inside his mind. "Um… I mean… Oh dear…"
When Yugi could finally talk, he gave Ryou an amused look. "That was more than I needed to know, but…" A faint wash of colour coloured his cheeks as he looked away. "Yes. It's exactly like that," he admitted softly before glancing shyly at Ryou again. The two lights traded grins.
Ryou shook his head and tried to concentrate again. "Well… in that case, I don't think you have anything to worry about, Yugi. Whenever I get that feeling, it usually means that Bakura is in an especially happy mood." He grinned wryly. "Of course, the sort of things that put Bakura in such a mood are usually things that I definitely need to worry about. But that's just Bakura."
Yugi managed a small smile, but he still looked worried. *Bakura, would you mind…* Ryou didn't have to finish his thought. His yami knew what he wanted.
*Sure Ryou. I never say no to an excuse to poke around in Yami's mental labyrinth.* Ryou smiled at his yami's cheerful reply.
"Yugi, Bakura say's that he'd be happy to check on Yami, if you want him to." The moment the words were out of Ryou's mouth, he knew the answer. Yugi's head snapped up and his eyes fairly shone with sudden hope.
"Oh! Would he? That would be great!" Yugi sighed softly. "He won't let me in his soulroom, but I have a feeling that he wouldn't be able to keep Bakura out so easily."
Ryou chuckled softly and nodded in agreement. "Yes, getting inside places where he isn't supposed to be is something of a specialty of his."
A determined look settled on Yugi's face. "I'm ready whenever Bakura is." He stabbed his fork into another piece of brown stuff and only then seemed to notice what he was doing. "Um… what is this stuff anyway?"
Ryou wrinkled his nose as he looked at his own plate. "If you squint, it vaguely resembles fruitcake, so I think it's supposed to be meatloaf."
"Your light is worried sick about you."
Yami sighed as the husky voice echoed through his soulroom. He turned and irritably eyed the figure leaning casually against the doorframe. "Don't you ever knock?"
Bakura smirked. "Not usually, no." He sauntered into the room and over to the table where Yami was working.
"Our lights sent me to find out what's wrong with you. Yugi's fighting a losing battle against believing that you've been lying to him and Ryou is worried that something serious is happening. They both think that you don't want to worry anyone, so you're trying to keep whatever's wrong to yourself until you…" Bakura trailed off as he got a good look at what Yami was doing.
"What in the Shadows is that?" He stared at the piece of paper in confusion.
Yami frowned at him, annoyed. He folded his arms and leaned against the desk. "What does it look like, Bakura?"
Bakura blinked at the piece of paper and studied it for a long moment before he eyed Yami thoughtfully. "It looks like you're writing poetry. Very bad poetry," he elaborated with a smirk.
Yami glared at him. "How would you know? You've probably never even seen a poem before!"
Bakura mirrored Yami's stance, knowing how much it infuriated the Pharaoh. "I certainly have!" He didn't feel the need to add that it had been the three-line thing Ryou had written for his English assignment the night before. "Anyway, it doesn't take an expert to know that…" he flicked his hand at the page on the desk, "is hopeless." His smirk widened at the frustrated look that flashed through Yami's eyes.
Bakura couldn't resist. "Even Kaiba could write something better than that!" The moment he said it, he knew he'd made a mistake. Yami's eyes lit up as he grinned.
"Oh, he could, could he? So I suppose you could do better, also?" He straightened, his gaze locked relentlessly on Bakura's face.
"Of course I could!" Bakura really had no choice but to bluff his way out of the corner he found himself in. But Yami was an expert in games and Bakura had a sneaking suspicion that he could recognise a bluff when he saw one. That left him with only one option. "I'll even prove it!"
Yami studied Bakura for a moment, thinking. Making up his mind, he suddenly relaxed and nodded to the other spirit. "Very well. Yugi mentioned that he likes poetry, so I am writing him a poem as a gift. Why don't you write one for Ryou as well? We could make it a game. When we are finished, our lights can decide which one is best."
Bakura was about to try to get out of it when he realised something. "A gift? You mean… like our lights gave us during that Talent thing?" When Yami nodded, he thought about it. He'd never admit it, but the thought of surprising his light with a gift was surprisingly tempting. Beating Yami in a game along the way was just an extra incentive.
"All right. You're on! But our lights can't be the judges. They'll each pick their yami's poem as their favourite, no matter how bad it is. We need someone impartial."
Yami nodded thoughtfully, forced to concede that Bakura had a valid point. "Perhaps… Téa?"
Bakura pulled a face. "Are you insane? There's no way she could ever choose a winner! She'd probably insist that both poems were equally as good, or some rubbish like that."
Yami frowned. "You suggest someone, then." He was annoyed because he knew that Bakura was right. Téa most likely would insist on a tie so that neither of them would feel badly.
After a moment's thought, Bakura started to grin and Yami suspected that he was not going to like what Bakura was going to say.
"How about Kaiba?"
Yami shuddered at the thought, but then he paused and reconsidered. Seto Kaiba actually wasn't a bad choice. He'd be impartial, that was for certain. He disliked both of them, after all. "Very well. Kaiba it is! I'll have Yugi ask him once he's read my poem."
Bakura nodded. "All right. So when did you want to do this? I take it you want us to keep it a secret from our lights, so it will have to be soon. Our lights are already worried about what's going on."
Yami nodded. "We have Kaiba's charity tournament on this weekend. He should be in a fairly good mood once that's over. If we do it early next week, say… Tuesday after school, he should still be in a good enough mood to oblige us without too much comment."
Bakura chuckled. "Yeah. Sounds good. We'll each write a poem for our light and Kaiba will judge the best one next Tuesday." He eyed Yami thoughtfully. "What's at stake?"
"Isn't our pride enough?" Yami grinned as Bakura laughed. "How about…" He thought for a moment. His eyes gleamed as he got an idea. "I know! The loser has to pin his poem up on the school's bulletin board, so the whole school can read it!"
Bakura whistled. "Pharaoh, I hate to say it, but that's not half bad. All right, it's a bet!"
Yami grinned. "Good. Don't forget to close the door on your way out." Bakura laughed but headed for the door anyway.
"I'm out of here. Oh…" He paused at the doorway and looked back. "Did you want me to tell Yugi anything special?"
"Hmm…" Yami eased open the connection between his and his light's minds and winced at the barrage of worry, fear, sadness and doubt that immediately assaulted him. "I think perhaps we had best try to do this without being… quite so secretive. I had no idea that Yugi would be so concerned. I did not mean to worry him."
Bakura shrugged. "He's a light. Lights worry and fuss. That's normal for them." He started to leave. "I'll tell Yugi that you're fine. Then I'll pick a fight with Ryou."
Yami blinked. "Why?"
"Because if he's mad at me, and if he thinks I'm mad at him, he won't be suspicious when I spend all my time in my soulroom with our link closed." Bakura left Yami's soulroom, the Pharaoh's laughter ringing in his ears.
When he reached his own soulroom, after reassuring Yugi and Ryou that Yami was fine, Bakura threw himself down on his bed to think. He'd never written a poem before.
"Bah. How hard could it be?"