A.N.-Gomen for the wait, here's a chappie in Malik's p.o.v. :)I hope you all like it^_^ ^_^This chapter is also a very late b-day present to R Amythest, whose b-day was the sat. before last btw...^_^
Dedication-R Amythest, Dark, Bakuraluva, The Girl who Sways Like Water, Fyredra, Celes-Snow, Mizu, MarmaladeGirl, Spark-gurl, Guess, Seashell1, Thockie, and Moshi. Thank you all of you! You all are SO encouraging! Whenever I have a writer's block or somethin' I read ya'all's reviews and ZOOM! I'm back to writing...so thank you!^_^
Disclaimer-I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh or this song "Everything You Are" by Goo Goo Dolls
~You're cynical and beautiful
You always make a scene;
You're monochrome delirious
You're nothing that you seem~
~I'm drowin' in your vanity
Your laugh is a disease
You're dirty and you're sweet
You know you're everything to me~
He's like water.
That's how I see Ryou. Nothing is as soft as water...but who can survive the raging flood? Not many. And from what I've seen of Ryou-chan's anger at Bakura and from what my Yami told me happened at the bar the night before last, it's a force to be reckoned with. He's different now from before. He used to be still, placid...so calm...there was barely a ripple no matter what you did. Now it's like someone threw a boulder into it along with a bunch of other rocks to keep the water from returning to its original state. And even if it did, it's forever changed. Like Ryou...I don't think he can ever go back to being the way he was.
Gone is the shy, quiet, naively sweet boy I had known both in this life and the last. Replaced by a cynical face with eyes of unending tears held back. His eyes...I loved looking into his eyes back then. They were always so *open*, so innocent...not like Yuugi-kun...but there was a light in them that could not be buried. Until now. An inferno of rage and betrayal mixed with sorrow is all I can see now. I miss his eyes.
I closed my eyes, leaning into the dark embrace of my Yami next to me. The blaring rock music was comforting to my ears, sweeping everything away...making it so unreal that it didn't matter to me. Ryou means a lot to me, to me and Yami actually. We both love him as a lover, though in his weakened state not even my Yami or I would try to make our relationship much deeper. Though holding back is like standing on quick sand. We're going to sink eventually. And I don't care.
His kisses are so addictive, too, and he keeps giving both me and Yami ones at random. Each one leaving me hungering for the next. If Ryou chose to want to join both my Yami's relationship and I...that's fine. I don't mind, nor does Yami. I doubt he'll want to take it to the physical level for a long while, though. It doesn't bother me that much...though if he was ready I'd pounce on him in an instant. The boy is so provocative and he doesn't even know it! Innocently seductive...most of the time...other times I think he does it on purpose!
I sighed, snuggling under my Yami's arm. I looked aimlessly around us at the moving bodies of those around us, each swaying to the tempo of the music, of life. Their eyes shone with youth, happiness, innocent wonder. An irrational urge to grab my Sennen Rod, blade extended, and slit the throats of all of them nearly overwhelmed me. Pure fiery hatred for each and every one washed over me like an ocean. I loathed them all so much...so very much...why should they be happy when a Hikari was in suffering? Why should they have light when one of the purest had his covered in deceit and lies?
My Yami tightened his grip on me, nuzzling his head against my neck. He was warning me not to. True, he loved a massacre more then me...but we were in the open with too many victims in an unconfined space...and chances are one of the fools would get to a phone and call those police people. Not to say I feared law enforcement, they were no real threat...but I was tired mentally and didn't feel like using my Sennen Rod on everyone in a ten mile radius. It was rather draining.
Abruptly the image of spiky silver haired fiend with diamond hard eyes and sharp yet handsome features flashed in my mind's eye. I felt my lips lift in a sneer. My hate for him made my momentary murderous intent on the unsuspecting mortals near me a mere nothing. There was the prize I wanted nothing more than to torture and kill the sorry bastard...spear him through, watch his blood run down my hands...sit on top of him as the light faded from his eyes...his last breathe coming out in a gasp...
But I can't, for numerous reasons. The first and foremost being that if Bakura dies so does Ryou, and vice versa...one of the downsides to being joined to a Yami. Death affects you both. Well...the Yami'll just get sealed back into their Sennen Item...but to them that is a fate worse then death. A never-ending darkness as they await someone to done them and release them into this miniature world of hell.
Still, a single question kept nagging at the back of my mind, forbidding itself to be forgotten. Why? Why had Bakura done this? What in nine hells was so fascinating about her? Yes, she had a bodacious figure, yes she was mildly attractive if you got past the irritating vindictive personality...but what was it that drew Bakura? He had hated her back then for driving a wedge between him and his koi, what had changed? What?
I leaned further into my Yami's embrace, loving the feel of his hands on my body. Like warm fire erupting through every passage of skin, his hands grazed. To be with your other half is to transcend levels that others can't even dream of. It's absolute, you fall into each other, merging, shifting, mixing together until it's hard to tell where you end and they begin. How could anyone give up such a paradise?
Ryou meant more to my Yami and I then anyone else. He was closer then anyone could ever be, closer than even Isis was to us and that is saying a lot. We love him, in our own way. Everything about him, screamed for us to protect and make him ours before the world tried to do just that before us. They would break him and this time there would be no recovery. We liked Ryou pliant beneath our hands, but we wanted what small measure of sanity he had left to stay right where it was.
I sighed, glancing up out of the corner of my eye at the lavender-eyed bastard that held me in his thrall just as I held him in mine. None could beat the beautifully deadly creature before me. Molded in utter darkness, shaped and twisted in a night that would drive another completely off the bridge of sanity and into death from pure, petrifying fear.
I hate him. I love him. I'd kill him if I had half the chance, I'd protect him from anyone who dared to attempt to take him from me. Ah, what a paradox he and I live in. I hate him more then anything in the world, my heart all but screams it. But at the same time his kisses leave me weak-kneed and unable to think. His touch frazzles my nerves in a way no one can. He and he alone has seduced me in ways my other lovers would have been to *shy* to. Is this love? Perhaps. But I don't really give a damn either way.
I sighed, it's not really worth thinking about. I'm tied to him on a tight-rope on the edge of a cliff so that if one of us falls the other falls. No matter what. I licked my lips and focused absently on some of the American music that was spouting out from the speakers. Some brand of rock music. Hard and fast, the voices screaming out lyrics that made sense what you caught on to the meaning. I liked it, and from the grin I couldn't see but feel from my lover, so did he.
Frozen in time. That's what we all had been. The thought came abruptly, without any sort of warning. I agreed with it, musing over it. At Ryou's death it was...like everything had been frozen until his rebirth and having the Ring. Was I the only one that thought after a hundred and some years that the reincarnations of Yuugi and everyone all looked alike and had similar names to before, that we were all mysteriously in Domino City?
It was like we had all been kept in the eye of the whirlwind of life, watching everything pass until a single, right moment that coexisted with the past was suddenly whirling by. Only then were we thrust back into life, back into the murderous raging winds. We all had similar histories to back then even...and we had all become friends again...it was too strange. Too accurate. Too...planned, even. I shifted uncomfortably. I didn't like the idea of some higher power toying with my destiny. Not one bit. I was in control...and maybe Marik at some times, but mostly me! Still...the coincidence was too much to just be forgotten...
~Everything you are
Falls from the sky like a star
Everything you are
Whatever ever you are~
~I wanna kill the machine
That made you piss away your dreams
Tear down your defenses
'Till there's nothing left but me~
~You're angry when you're beautiful
Your love is such a tease
I'm drowning in your dizzy noise
I wanna feel you scream~
Ryou Bakura.
I couldn't stop thinking about him. The lush waves of white hair around his smooth, lean face. And his eyes...they almost scare me now. I missed the softness, missed the sight of dreams that had once dwelled in them. Missed the way his voice had been so kind. Hardness was all that filled those areas now...well most of his areas...he's still as lean as ever...in *some* places...hehehe.
Still...I missed him. Missed him so much it actually hurt a little bit. This Ryou...he was so different. So like...Bakura in some ways. His actions, the way he sat on the sofa at times, the way he chewed his food, the way he'd suddenly abruptly say something, even his entire body language had been changed.
Oh it was still Ryou, under it all...under the pile of lies and masks it was still little Ryou, he's just hiding right now...trying to shut out the world so he could deal with this pain. I understood that. I had done it many times myself, it buried the pain but it was always there. An open wound never heals.
Hate stirred in my very soul as I remembered the reason why Ryou-chan had lost himself in this dark wake of emotion. It was because of Bakura! He made Ryou-chan lose his dreams; crushed them away without a second thought. To be able to kill him with no strings attached would be a wondrous thing. My hate runs deep, more boundless then the ocean. Forgiveness is something I cannot give to any, once you've lost my trust it is not something to be regained. Ever. Not that I could ever really forgive Bakura for what he has done. I loathe him beyond words, and that will never change.
Still, the question whirled right back. What had caused this? What had changed Bakura's feelings? I shoved the thought away. It didn't matter. He had hurt Ryou, and for that I will make him pay. I will. My koi and are masterminds of pain, and he and I will find a way to make him suffer for this. Somehow.
Ryou. He's off at his house right now, probably in the middle of a confrontation with Bakura. That's good. I don't like the idea of that sonofabitch anywhere near Ryou, but I knew Ryou had to do this. He had to show Bakura that he was strong, that he wasn't going to fall for that same ol' mumbo jumbo he had before. He had to prove to himself that Bakura held no power over him.
A lie, but not a lie is that. Bakura still holds some control over the white haired Hikari, deep down beyond the anger, he does. But it is a power that Ryou will never again let him access. Ever. Betrayal burns deep, too deep to ever really be forg---
The Pharaoh!!!
I forced myself not to move and instead simply looked calmly over at him. Shadow Magic was rolling in waves off of him, anger slashed across those regal features of his as he moved over to Marik and I's booth. Mortals moved away as they felt or saw him coming, feeling the malevolent rage that all but reeked from the once Pharaoh. Fearing, perhaps, his rage may just fall upon them. From the look on his face, maybe they weren't wrong.
Yugioh slumped down across from us in the leather seats of our booth. His face looked drawn, contemplative and angry. So very angry. Despite my self-restraint, I could feel a flicker of a smile twitch my lips. Though I care for Ryou deeply, the sight of seeing Yugioh in such a helpless rage *is* kind of funny. I felt an agreement echo through Yami and I's link. Marvelous thing that. It never closes between he and I. Everything I feel, he feels and vice versa. It was so natural to have him connected to me that way, the mere thought of being like the "normal" people around me without Yami made my heart jump in my throat and a fear I could not deny rise within me. I stamped it down quickly, hoping Yami hadn't noticed. He had. His arms tightened around me, his lips brushing my ear comfortingly. Bliss.
"We have to do something." Yugioh all but snarled the sentence, sharp white teeth flashed and gritted at he spoke.
"We could just kill the bitch," I said, shrugging slightly as several gleeful ways of doing just that danced through my mind. That would be so much fun...
Yugioh gave me a look, "True. But...I don't know, something about this whole situation...it bothers me. I mean, you saw Ryou before in the beginning of this and the last life. He loved Bakura. He did, and I'm sure it was mutual..." Yugioh rubbed his nose warily. "It sure as hell felt real."
I snickered and felt my Yami echo it. The memory shot through my mind like it was yesterday. Bakura nailing Yugioh hard in the nose...blood runnin' down his face as he tried to keep his calm...I felt the laughter die in my throat as I remember why Bakura had struck Yugioh. Because Ryou had just died. The thought sobered me completely. The pain of that moment rang hard through both me and my Yami. Neither of us wanted to live through that again.
~Everything you are
Falls from the sky like a star
Everything you are
Whatever ever you are~
~Everything you are
Falls from the sky like a star
Everything you are
Whatever ever you are~
"Besides...haven't you noticed the energy fluctuations coming from Anzu lately?" Yugioh questioned.
Come to think of it...I had been feeling a sort of power from her recently...especially whenever Bakura was near. At my expression Yugioh nodded.
"You think she cast a spell on Bakura?" I asked, raising an eyebrow cynically. "Doubtful. Where would she even get the spell idea? And much more, she's not that smart anyway."
Marik rubbed his head against mine lightly before pulling away. "Don't underestimate her," he said, his voice drawling the words in that growl underneath it, "any baka mortal can harness some powers."
Yugioh smiled slightly, his eyes glazing in a way that I knew he was communicating with his lighter half. Yugioh looked around carefully, and after confirming that no one was looking, Yuugi appeared in his lap. The small, sweet Hikari wrapped his arms around his dark's neck and buried his face there before looking over at us.
"Have you noticed that pendent Anzu's been wearing? It glows sometimes...especially around Bakura...maybe that has something to do with it."
"You think maybe she's using it control Bakura's feelings?" I asked thoughtfully, "I suppose that's possible...though it would have been quite a spell to do that...and if that's what she did...how can we break it?"
"Difficult," my Yami responded, "It's like opening a floodgate...how can we stop the flood?"
"Slam the dam back down," I said.
Yugioh chuckled, wrapping his arms around his Hikari and rubbing his face in the tri-colored strands of his hair.
"It's not that simple," he murmured, wrapping his fingers around his Hikari's hands as he spoke.
I leaned up to catch a chaste kiss from my darker half, sighing in pleasure as his teeth caught my bottom lip and tugged ever so gently...I pulled away quickly. Focus. I had to focus...and not on the incredible sex god behind me but on Ryou's future...and on Anzu's spell...yes...focus...mmmm...another yummy kiss...I love his kisses...they're addictive. Yami would protect me from anything in the world. Do anything for me to make me happy...which is partly why he still obsesses about trying to take over the world. He can shape into what he wills...and what I will for that matter.
"Then what do we do? Kill the bitch? That would help," I said, a longing smile lifting my lips.
To see her mangled corpse on the carpet floor of her home, or maybe her bed, her blemishless skin a beautiful carved treasure of my own making. He body, a grotesque reminder of what happens when you screw around with a Yami's emotions and try to destroy a Hikari. I licked my lips ferally. She would pay. She would. For all of this. The hoe would die at my hands.
"Yes, we could do that. But that may not break it either, depends on how far gone Bakura is to her. If we could get her to do a binding spell it'd definitely help."
"Couldn't we just do that?" I replied.
Yuugi nodded, agreeing with me, "Yeah, I mean you two probably know lotsa spells anyway."
The ageless Pharaoh nodded, "We could. It'd probably work better that way anyway...maybe."
"When do we do it?" Yuugi asked, violet eyes of innocence piercing through me as he spoke.
It was an innocence that reminded me instantly of Ryou and made my heart jump into my throat. A protectiveness I didn't understand filled the bond between my Yami and I. We didn't want what happened to Ryou to happen to Yuugi. Yuugi was...far more delicate then Ryou. Ryou was strong, stronger then anyone would really think. To lose his Yami would send Yuugi skirting off the edge, into a dark abyss to which nothing could ever rise him from.
Ryou's so strong, but so weak as well. Fragile, but not. He has risen above his anguish with vengeance born of hate and anger. Hiding behind the image his Yami had held when first released form his shadow prison of the Ring. Dance around the subject as much as you like, but the truth of the matter is that Ryou is not the same as he once was. His innocence has been shattered, and the only way to retrieve that which was lost is to restore his Yami to him. Easier said then done.
I hate him for this, it doesn't matter that he is under the spell Anzu cast. He hurt Ryou. And I'd kill anyone else for doing such a thing. He's my best friend, my lover, the second closest person to me in this world. But if having Bakura back will make him happy, then I'll do it.
"Yugioh and my Yami can cast the spell tonight...I'll go to her apartment and kill her while you're doing that."
My Yami shook his head, "No, I'll do it. You go with Yugioh to do it. He'll need your powers more then mine."
"But I want to do it!" I shouted, anger seething through me.
More then anything I wanted to be the one to spill her blood, see the light fade from her treacherous eyes as I sent her to the Underworld. I wanted her dead more then anything in the world.
"I know, Hikari," he murmured. "But it would be suspicious if you went. In the last life I tricked her into being with me, and she seems to only have a real interest in us Yamis. I'll be able to get in to kill her. Don't worry, I'll keep the link wide open so you can feel every second of her end."
He made sense, but I still wanted to be the one to do it...yet I knew he was right.
"Fine. I'll go with you Yugioh, Yuugi. We'll make sure her spell is removed."
They nodded. I smiled wickedly. Tonight's the night.
Worry suddenly filled the naive face of Yuugi, "What if Bakura's there? Won't he try to stop you?"
"He won't be. Ryou...he went to his house tonight...and Marik and I saw him leave after him. No doubt he's getting royally chewed out by Ryou at the moment. Besides, with as much as we saw him drink tonight...he'll probably pass out before he can interfere."
Yuugi nodded, "A-alright."
Poor boy. I know he doesn't really want to be involved in the death of another, even if it is the evil bitch Anzu. He holds compassion for everyone, just like Ryou. I shoved the thought away. Yuugi didn't want to do this, but he wouldn't interfere. I knew that much. Besides...we have to do this or Ryou will just...wither away completely. We'll never get the real him back...if he isn't already too far gone...
The time's come. I smiled over at Yuugi and Yugioh ferally and rose off my Yami's lap. We've got work to do. By morning Anzu will be dead, and her spell from Bakura removed...maybe then everything will be as it should be.
Maybe.
~Everything you are
Whatever ever you are
Whatever ever you are
Whatever ever you are~
A.N.-'n' we stop there. I hope you all enjoyed this chappie:). Yup, Anzu's about ready to die 'n' all...but don't worry, this fic soooo ain't over yet...I've plans for Ryou n' Bakura in store^_~. Review onegai:)I live off ya'all's reviews^_^ ^_^ ^_^ ^_^
Dedication-R Amythest, Dark, Bakuraluva, The Girl who Sways Like Water, Fyredra, Celes-Snow, Mizu, MarmaladeGirl, Spark-gurl, Guess, Seashell1, Thockie, and Moshi. Thank you all of you! You all are SO encouraging! Whenever I have a writer's block or somethin' I read ya'all's reviews and ZOOM! I'm back to writing...so thank you!^_^
Disclaimer-I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh or this song "Everything You Are" by Goo Goo Dolls
~You're cynical and beautiful
You always make a scene;
You're monochrome delirious
You're nothing that you seem~
~I'm drowin' in your vanity
Your laugh is a disease
You're dirty and you're sweet
You know you're everything to me~
He's like water.
That's how I see Ryou. Nothing is as soft as water...but who can survive the raging flood? Not many. And from what I've seen of Ryou-chan's anger at Bakura and from what my Yami told me happened at the bar the night before last, it's a force to be reckoned with. He's different now from before. He used to be still, placid...so calm...there was barely a ripple no matter what you did. Now it's like someone threw a boulder into it along with a bunch of other rocks to keep the water from returning to its original state. And even if it did, it's forever changed. Like Ryou...I don't think he can ever go back to being the way he was.
Gone is the shy, quiet, naively sweet boy I had known both in this life and the last. Replaced by a cynical face with eyes of unending tears held back. His eyes...I loved looking into his eyes back then. They were always so *open*, so innocent...not like Yuugi-kun...but there was a light in them that could not be buried. Until now. An inferno of rage and betrayal mixed with sorrow is all I can see now. I miss his eyes.
I closed my eyes, leaning into the dark embrace of my Yami next to me. The blaring rock music was comforting to my ears, sweeping everything away...making it so unreal that it didn't matter to me. Ryou means a lot to me, to me and Yami actually. We both love him as a lover, though in his weakened state not even my Yami or I would try to make our relationship much deeper. Though holding back is like standing on quick sand. We're going to sink eventually. And I don't care.
His kisses are so addictive, too, and he keeps giving both me and Yami ones at random. Each one leaving me hungering for the next. If Ryou chose to want to join both my Yami's relationship and I...that's fine. I don't mind, nor does Yami. I doubt he'll want to take it to the physical level for a long while, though. It doesn't bother me that much...though if he was ready I'd pounce on him in an instant. The boy is so provocative and he doesn't even know it! Innocently seductive...most of the time...other times I think he does it on purpose!
I sighed, snuggling under my Yami's arm. I looked aimlessly around us at the moving bodies of those around us, each swaying to the tempo of the music, of life. Their eyes shone with youth, happiness, innocent wonder. An irrational urge to grab my Sennen Rod, blade extended, and slit the throats of all of them nearly overwhelmed me. Pure fiery hatred for each and every one washed over me like an ocean. I loathed them all so much...so very much...why should they be happy when a Hikari was in suffering? Why should they have light when one of the purest had his covered in deceit and lies?
My Yami tightened his grip on me, nuzzling his head against my neck. He was warning me not to. True, he loved a massacre more then me...but we were in the open with too many victims in an unconfined space...and chances are one of the fools would get to a phone and call those police people. Not to say I feared law enforcement, they were no real threat...but I was tired mentally and didn't feel like using my Sennen Rod on everyone in a ten mile radius. It was rather draining.
Abruptly the image of spiky silver haired fiend with diamond hard eyes and sharp yet handsome features flashed in my mind's eye. I felt my lips lift in a sneer. My hate for him made my momentary murderous intent on the unsuspecting mortals near me a mere nothing. There was the prize I wanted nothing more than to torture and kill the sorry bastard...spear him through, watch his blood run down my hands...sit on top of him as the light faded from his eyes...his last breathe coming out in a gasp...
But I can't, for numerous reasons. The first and foremost being that if Bakura dies so does Ryou, and vice versa...one of the downsides to being joined to a Yami. Death affects you both. Well...the Yami'll just get sealed back into their Sennen Item...but to them that is a fate worse then death. A never-ending darkness as they await someone to done them and release them into this miniature world of hell.
Still, a single question kept nagging at the back of my mind, forbidding itself to be forgotten. Why? Why had Bakura done this? What in nine hells was so fascinating about her? Yes, she had a bodacious figure, yes she was mildly attractive if you got past the irritating vindictive personality...but what was it that drew Bakura? He had hated her back then for driving a wedge between him and his koi, what had changed? What?
I leaned further into my Yami's embrace, loving the feel of his hands on my body. Like warm fire erupting through every passage of skin, his hands grazed. To be with your other half is to transcend levels that others can't even dream of. It's absolute, you fall into each other, merging, shifting, mixing together until it's hard to tell where you end and they begin. How could anyone give up such a paradise?
Ryou meant more to my Yami and I then anyone else. He was closer then anyone could ever be, closer than even Isis was to us and that is saying a lot. We love him, in our own way. Everything about him, screamed for us to protect and make him ours before the world tried to do just that before us. They would break him and this time there would be no recovery. We liked Ryou pliant beneath our hands, but we wanted what small measure of sanity he had left to stay right where it was.
I sighed, glancing up out of the corner of my eye at the lavender-eyed bastard that held me in his thrall just as I held him in mine. None could beat the beautifully deadly creature before me. Molded in utter darkness, shaped and twisted in a night that would drive another completely off the bridge of sanity and into death from pure, petrifying fear.
I hate him. I love him. I'd kill him if I had half the chance, I'd protect him from anyone who dared to attempt to take him from me. Ah, what a paradox he and I live in. I hate him more then anything in the world, my heart all but screams it. But at the same time his kisses leave me weak-kneed and unable to think. His touch frazzles my nerves in a way no one can. He and he alone has seduced me in ways my other lovers would have been to *shy* to. Is this love? Perhaps. But I don't really give a damn either way.
I sighed, it's not really worth thinking about. I'm tied to him on a tight-rope on the edge of a cliff so that if one of us falls the other falls. No matter what. I licked my lips and focused absently on some of the American music that was spouting out from the speakers. Some brand of rock music. Hard and fast, the voices screaming out lyrics that made sense what you caught on to the meaning. I liked it, and from the grin I couldn't see but feel from my lover, so did he.
Frozen in time. That's what we all had been. The thought came abruptly, without any sort of warning. I agreed with it, musing over it. At Ryou's death it was...like everything had been frozen until his rebirth and having the Ring. Was I the only one that thought after a hundred and some years that the reincarnations of Yuugi and everyone all looked alike and had similar names to before, that we were all mysteriously in Domino City?
It was like we had all been kept in the eye of the whirlwind of life, watching everything pass until a single, right moment that coexisted with the past was suddenly whirling by. Only then were we thrust back into life, back into the murderous raging winds. We all had similar histories to back then even...and we had all become friends again...it was too strange. Too accurate. Too...planned, even. I shifted uncomfortably. I didn't like the idea of some higher power toying with my destiny. Not one bit. I was in control...and maybe Marik at some times, but mostly me! Still...the coincidence was too much to just be forgotten...
~Everything you are
Falls from the sky like a star
Everything you are
Whatever ever you are~
~I wanna kill the machine
That made you piss away your dreams
Tear down your defenses
'Till there's nothing left but me~
~You're angry when you're beautiful
Your love is such a tease
I'm drowning in your dizzy noise
I wanna feel you scream~
Ryou Bakura.
I couldn't stop thinking about him. The lush waves of white hair around his smooth, lean face. And his eyes...they almost scare me now. I missed the softness, missed the sight of dreams that had once dwelled in them. Missed the way his voice had been so kind. Hardness was all that filled those areas now...well most of his areas...he's still as lean as ever...in *some* places...hehehe.
Still...I missed him. Missed him so much it actually hurt a little bit. This Ryou...he was so different. So like...Bakura in some ways. His actions, the way he sat on the sofa at times, the way he chewed his food, the way he'd suddenly abruptly say something, even his entire body language had been changed.
Oh it was still Ryou, under it all...under the pile of lies and masks it was still little Ryou, he's just hiding right now...trying to shut out the world so he could deal with this pain. I understood that. I had done it many times myself, it buried the pain but it was always there. An open wound never heals.
Hate stirred in my very soul as I remembered the reason why Ryou-chan had lost himself in this dark wake of emotion. It was because of Bakura! He made Ryou-chan lose his dreams; crushed them away without a second thought. To be able to kill him with no strings attached would be a wondrous thing. My hate runs deep, more boundless then the ocean. Forgiveness is something I cannot give to any, once you've lost my trust it is not something to be regained. Ever. Not that I could ever really forgive Bakura for what he has done. I loathe him beyond words, and that will never change.
Still, the question whirled right back. What had caused this? What had changed Bakura's feelings? I shoved the thought away. It didn't matter. He had hurt Ryou, and for that I will make him pay. I will. My koi and are masterminds of pain, and he and I will find a way to make him suffer for this. Somehow.
Ryou. He's off at his house right now, probably in the middle of a confrontation with Bakura. That's good. I don't like the idea of that sonofabitch anywhere near Ryou, but I knew Ryou had to do this. He had to show Bakura that he was strong, that he wasn't going to fall for that same ol' mumbo jumbo he had before. He had to prove to himself that Bakura held no power over him.
A lie, but not a lie is that. Bakura still holds some control over the white haired Hikari, deep down beyond the anger, he does. But it is a power that Ryou will never again let him access. Ever. Betrayal burns deep, too deep to ever really be forg---
The Pharaoh!!!
I forced myself not to move and instead simply looked calmly over at him. Shadow Magic was rolling in waves off of him, anger slashed across those regal features of his as he moved over to Marik and I's booth. Mortals moved away as they felt or saw him coming, feeling the malevolent rage that all but reeked from the once Pharaoh. Fearing, perhaps, his rage may just fall upon them. From the look on his face, maybe they weren't wrong.
Yugioh slumped down across from us in the leather seats of our booth. His face looked drawn, contemplative and angry. So very angry. Despite my self-restraint, I could feel a flicker of a smile twitch my lips. Though I care for Ryou deeply, the sight of seeing Yugioh in such a helpless rage *is* kind of funny. I felt an agreement echo through Yami and I's link. Marvelous thing that. It never closes between he and I. Everything I feel, he feels and vice versa. It was so natural to have him connected to me that way, the mere thought of being like the "normal" people around me without Yami made my heart jump in my throat and a fear I could not deny rise within me. I stamped it down quickly, hoping Yami hadn't noticed. He had. His arms tightened around me, his lips brushing my ear comfortingly. Bliss.
"We have to do something." Yugioh all but snarled the sentence, sharp white teeth flashed and gritted at he spoke.
"We could just kill the bitch," I said, shrugging slightly as several gleeful ways of doing just that danced through my mind. That would be so much fun...
Yugioh gave me a look, "True. But...I don't know, something about this whole situation...it bothers me. I mean, you saw Ryou before in the beginning of this and the last life. He loved Bakura. He did, and I'm sure it was mutual..." Yugioh rubbed his nose warily. "It sure as hell felt real."
I snickered and felt my Yami echo it. The memory shot through my mind like it was yesterday. Bakura nailing Yugioh hard in the nose...blood runnin' down his face as he tried to keep his calm...I felt the laughter die in my throat as I remember why Bakura had struck Yugioh. Because Ryou had just died. The thought sobered me completely. The pain of that moment rang hard through both me and my Yami. Neither of us wanted to live through that again.
~Everything you are
Falls from the sky like a star
Everything you are
Whatever ever you are~
~Everything you are
Falls from the sky like a star
Everything you are
Whatever ever you are~
"Besides...haven't you noticed the energy fluctuations coming from Anzu lately?" Yugioh questioned.
Come to think of it...I had been feeling a sort of power from her recently...especially whenever Bakura was near. At my expression Yugioh nodded.
"You think she cast a spell on Bakura?" I asked, raising an eyebrow cynically. "Doubtful. Where would she even get the spell idea? And much more, she's not that smart anyway."
Marik rubbed his head against mine lightly before pulling away. "Don't underestimate her," he said, his voice drawling the words in that growl underneath it, "any baka mortal can harness some powers."
Yugioh smiled slightly, his eyes glazing in a way that I knew he was communicating with his lighter half. Yugioh looked around carefully, and after confirming that no one was looking, Yuugi appeared in his lap. The small, sweet Hikari wrapped his arms around his dark's neck and buried his face there before looking over at us.
"Have you noticed that pendent Anzu's been wearing? It glows sometimes...especially around Bakura...maybe that has something to do with it."
"You think maybe she's using it control Bakura's feelings?" I asked thoughtfully, "I suppose that's possible...though it would have been quite a spell to do that...and if that's what she did...how can we break it?"
"Difficult," my Yami responded, "It's like opening a floodgate...how can we stop the flood?"
"Slam the dam back down," I said.
Yugioh chuckled, wrapping his arms around his Hikari and rubbing his face in the tri-colored strands of his hair.
"It's not that simple," he murmured, wrapping his fingers around his Hikari's hands as he spoke.
I leaned up to catch a chaste kiss from my darker half, sighing in pleasure as his teeth caught my bottom lip and tugged ever so gently...I pulled away quickly. Focus. I had to focus...and not on the incredible sex god behind me but on Ryou's future...and on Anzu's spell...yes...focus...mmmm...another yummy kiss...I love his kisses...they're addictive. Yami would protect me from anything in the world. Do anything for me to make me happy...which is partly why he still obsesses about trying to take over the world. He can shape into what he wills...and what I will for that matter.
"Then what do we do? Kill the bitch? That would help," I said, a longing smile lifting my lips.
To see her mangled corpse on the carpet floor of her home, or maybe her bed, her blemishless skin a beautiful carved treasure of my own making. He body, a grotesque reminder of what happens when you screw around with a Yami's emotions and try to destroy a Hikari. I licked my lips ferally. She would pay. She would. For all of this. The hoe would die at my hands.
"Yes, we could do that. But that may not break it either, depends on how far gone Bakura is to her. If we could get her to do a binding spell it'd definitely help."
"Couldn't we just do that?" I replied.
Yuugi nodded, agreeing with me, "Yeah, I mean you two probably know lotsa spells anyway."
The ageless Pharaoh nodded, "We could. It'd probably work better that way anyway...maybe."
"When do we do it?" Yuugi asked, violet eyes of innocence piercing through me as he spoke.
It was an innocence that reminded me instantly of Ryou and made my heart jump into my throat. A protectiveness I didn't understand filled the bond between my Yami and I. We didn't want what happened to Ryou to happen to Yuugi. Yuugi was...far more delicate then Ryou. Ryou was strong, stronger then anyone would really think. To lose his Yami would send Yuugi skirting off the edge, into a dark abyss to which nothing could ever rise him from.
Ryou's so strong, but so weak as well. Fragile, but not. He has risen above his anguish with vengeance born of hate and anger. Hiding behind the image his Yami had held when first released form his shadow prison of the Ring. Dance around the subject as much as you like, but the truth of the matter is that Ryou is not the same as he once was. His innocence has been shattered, and the only way to retrieve that which was lost is to restore his Yami to him. Easier said then done.
I hate him for this, it doesn't matter that he is under the spell Anzu cast. He hurt Ryou. And I'd kill anyone else for doing such a thing. He's my best friend, my lover, the second closest person to me in this world. But if having Bakura back will make him happy, then I'll do it.
"Yugioh and my Yami can cast the spell tonight...I'll go to her apartment and kill her while you're doing that."
My Yami shook his head, "No, I'll do it. You go with Yugioh to do it. He'll need your powers more then mine."
"But I want to do it!" I shouted, anger seething through me.
More then anything I wanted to be the one to spill her blood, see the light fade from her treacherous eyes as I sent her to the Underworld. I wanted her dead more then anything in the world.
"I know, Hikari," he murmured. "But it would be suspicious if you went. In the last life I tricked her into being with me, and she seems to only have a real interest in us Yamis. I'll be able to get in to kill her. Don't worry, I'll keep the link wide open so you can feel every second of her end."
He made sense, but I still wanted to be the one to do it...yet I knew he was right.
"Fine. I'll go with you Yugioh, Yuugi. We'll make sure her spell is removed."
They nodded. I smiled wickedly. Tonight's the night.
Worry suddenly filled the naive face of Yuugi, "What if Bakura's there? Won't he try to stop you?"
"He won't be. Ryou...he went to his house tonight...and Marik and I saw him leave after him. No doubt he's getting royally chewed out by Ryou at the moment. Besides, with as much as we saw him drink tonight...he'll probably pass out before he can interfere."
Yuugi nodded, "A-alright."
Poor boy. I know he doesn't really want to be involved in the death of another, even if it is the evil bitch Anzu. He holds compassion for everyone, just like Ryou. I shoved the thought away. Yuugi didn't want to do this, but he wouldn't interfere. I knew that much. Besides...we have to do this or Ryou will just...wither away completely. We'll never get the real him back...if he isn't already too far gone...
The time's come. I smiled over at Yuugi and Yugioh ferally and rose off my Yami's lap. We've got work to do. By morning Anzu will be dead, and her spell from Bakura removed...maybe then everything will be as it should be.
Maybe.
~Everything you are
Whatever ever you are
Whatever ever you are
Whatever ever you are~
A.N.-'n' we stop there. I hope you all enjoyed this chappie:). Yup, Anzu's about ready to die 'n' all...but don't worry, this fic soooo ain't over yet...I've plans for Ryou n' Bakura in store^_~. Review onegai:)I live off ya'all's reviews^_^ ^_^ ^_^ ^_^