Midmorning Confrontations
Ryou woke up to find Bakura staring down at him. Not glaring, just watching… "H'lo," he mumbled, rubbing sleep from his eyes. "Something on your mind?"
"Mine," Bakura said – so softly that Ryou almost didn't hear it – running a hand down the front of the black tank top that Ryou was wearing. Ryou rolled his eyes. Leave it to Bakura to stare at him over a shirt.
"I probably bought it."
"That's not…" Bakura straightened up and pulled his hand back as though he had touched something forbidden; his tone lost the fleeting softness it had held. "Shouldn't you be at school or something?"
"I'm skipping today," Ryou replied. It was barely nine AM, and he didn't feel like being awake yet. "Now, if all you want to talk about is the ownership of the shirt, it can wait until I've gotten more sleep." He rolled over, burying his face in the throw pillow he had been resting on. His eyes were closed approximately three seconds before he had an epiphany. He sat up, looking around. Where had Bakura gone?
It wasn't hard to find him; he had been in the kitchen, looking for something to eat.
"What did you mean by 'mine' if you weren't talking about the shirt?" Ryou demanded.
"I meant the shirt," Bakura retorted, not leaving the fridge.
"No, you didn't."
Ryou was done playing games, tip-toeing around his issues like they would bite – they tended to do so whether he pushed them or not. Maybe it was Yami telling him that he misunderstood, or perhaps it was the priest that had wished him well, but Ryou felt frustration well up inside him.
He hadn't been afraid of the dark as a child. Seemed ridiculous to start as a teenager.
As if he could feel Ryou's glare, Bakura demanded, "What?" He was still half-buried in the fridge, muttering curses under his breath.
"I feed you. I clothe you. I submit to you. I l…" Ryou paused, and Bakura didn't move, didn't appear to notice Rou's almost-slip. He quickly came up with words to replace the one he had almost let fall. "I let you bring your fuck-toy in this house."
Bakura straightened up, and he closed the fridge, looking at Ryou. "Let me?"
"Yes. Now the LEAST you can do is answer my questions honestly."
"Well, aren't you cute when you think you're powerful," Bakura spat, advancing on Ryou. He backed the teen against the kitchen wall, tucking a finger under Ryou's chin and forced him to look up at him. "Feeling brave?" His voice took a mockingly loving quality as he purred, "How many times have I used you, your body? How often have I taken control, absolute power over you without you being able to fight back? And you think you can defy me now with a few well-chosen words?" He laughed.
Ryou's glare hardened and he retorted, "You don't think I could've fought you? Go ahead and ask how often I actually tried."
Bakura seemed taken aback by that. It was only a half-truth; Ryou hadn't tried very often, but the few times he had, he'd been overpowered. Bakura didn't know that, though, and Ryou could use that.
"What makes you think I ever particularly cared that you were so eager to take me?" Ryou almost smirked at the double meaning of his words. He mimicked Bakura's tone, lied through his teeth as he purred, "Given the daily activities of this house, what makes you think I value my body so much anyway?"
That made Bakura's eyes open wide, and Ryou didn't bother trying not to smirk. It felt nice, taking the initiative for once, catching the damn spirit off guard. But those eyes narrowed quickly, and Bakura shoved him back into the wall even more painfully, snarling: "You're a horrible liar."
"You're even worse," Ryou retorted quickly – another lie. Ryou rarely knew when Bakura was lying. "You've picked up one of my characteristics. You're eyes can't lie when your mouth does."
"Fuck you," Bakura growled, taking a step back; he looked vaguely horrified. Ryou pushed him back further.
"No, fuck you," he shouted, his anger gaining momentum. "I'm the one getting fucked around here, day after goddamned day!"
"You don't complain."
"Of course not – you bitch enough for the both of us! It's not in my nature to complain, and you're so damn content with the situation that I keep my mouth shut! But you know, I've got no reason to take this, I've done nothing wrong in my life to deserve to be your or Yami's whore. So… Fuck. You."
Bakura turned and tried to walk away, but Ryou followed. To hell with it if making Bakura mad endangered his life; it wasn't like he was getting very far with it anyway, and he wanted answers. "Why do you just hand me over? How did I make you so angry that you went from owning me to being some demented pimp?"
"I don't even know what a pimp is," Bakura muttered angrily. He stopped in the middle of the room, but Ryou ignored the action, continuing his tirade.
"And what do you want from me, anyway? Total obedience, utter submission? You want to see exactly how far you can push me before… before something like this happens? And why do you have Yami around anyway? Why – "
Bakura spun around, and Ryou was silenced just by the look on his face. He looked pained. Torn. Even slightly disturbed. But despite those obvious emotions, he looked dangerous too. He stepped forward, touched Ryou's cheek – the caress wasn't as mocking as usual. The spirit leaned down, surprising Ryou was a gentle kiss.
Ryou had never been kissed quite like that.
"You aren't meant to understand the inner workings of darkness, hikari." Bakura's voice was soft again, emotion indiscernible, and Ryou was shaking as he pulled away and stormed out the front door.
Bakura had just become ten times more confusing in Ryou's eyes. But more significantly, for once, the word 'hikari' hadn't felt like an insult. In fact, it had even felt like an endearment.
notes
There are only two reasons why this is going so quickly:
A - It's not very long; it's like a glorified one shot or something.
B - I went on a binge the other day and finished MOST of it.
C - I'm proofing it on my own.
On that note, thanks to Ceresi for pointing out some typos in the last chapter! *thumbs up* I went back and fixed those. :)
Hmmm... I'm not sure if I have many thoughts thus far. But look, its a whole new side of Bakura. Well, a slightly new side. Or something. XD