Ryou was just sitting down to finish his second cup when the doorbell rang. He looked up curiously, but shrugged and put his book on botany down in favor of answering whoever it was that wanted to see him.
He unlocked the two deadbolts and the handle of the door before swinging it open as far as the chain lock would allow. "Yes, how can I help you?" He asked, taking another sip from his mug before sticking his head out so that he could see.
"Bakura, would you let us in please?" Yami asked, and Ryou blinked as he realized that it was a very disgruntled Seto Kaiba that was standing behind him. "We- I need your help." He corrected when Kaiba gave him a nudge in the back.
Ryou blinked and closed the door, unlocking the chain lock on the door and opening it all the way. The two young men entered and Ryou closed and fully locked the door behind them. He noticed that Kaiba was looking at the locks strangely. "Habit." Ryou explained before taking a gulp from his mug and led them into the living room.
"So, what can I help you with? Can I get you a cup of tea?" He asked, letting the two chose a place to sit on either the couch or the armchair. Yami shook his head, but Kaiba nodded so Ryou walked to the kitchen to make up another mug.
When he got back, he set the mug, sugar and cream down in front of Kaiba, noticing that he was looking at his botany book. Ryou said nothing, but sat down on the couch again next to Yami with his mug held tight in one hand.
"I'm assuming that this isn't just a visit to say hello. What's gone wrong this time?" He asked, curious and cautious at the same time. Yami looked over at Kaiba, but the brunette was drinking from the mug and wouldn't answer. Yami sighed and realized that Kaiba really didn't want to be here.
"There is an entity shadowing Kaiba, and I'm worried that it may be malevolent. I know that you have quite a bit of interest in the occult Bakura, and I was hoping that you could help us determine what this spirit wants." Kaiba sent a sidelong glare which Yami neatly parried and ignored.
Ryou sipped pensively from his cup, then looked over towards the stairs. "Well, we could try the Ouiji Board. I've been able to talk to spirits before, if you want to." He offered, putting his cup down on the coffee table carefully. Kaiba sighed looking over at some picture of Ryou when he was young.
"Thank you Bakura, we would be most thankful if you could try." Ryou shrugged and let the room to head upstairs, supposedly to get the Ouiji Board. Kaiba stared at Yami as though he was an idiot, but the dark spirit ignored it.
Ryou bounced down the stairs happily, the ornate Board in hand. He rushed off the small layer of dust and placed it carefully down on the coffee table. It looked old, and valuable. There were small inlays of gold and the black ebony wood that formed the letters, numbers and Yes or No were tastefully and artfully done.
"I haven't used it in forever, but it's not that hard." He said, sliding a small drawer open on the side and taking out a large ivory triangle that had the edges rounded off. "So, shall we do it the right way, or the safe way?" He asked, placing the ivory triangle down in between the Yes and No.
Kaiba was just about to say the safe way, but then he realized that that would make him seem like a coward in front of his rival, and he knew that he couldn't do that. His pride was damaged enough. "The right way." He said, looking over at Yami to see the smirk of victory on his face. He realized that Yami hadn't spoken up so that he would have to agree to this himself, and that he wouldn't bail out at the last second.
"Alright then, I'll have to go get the candles." Ryou said to himself, standing up again and going off somewhere else in the house. Kaiba glared at Yami, ignoring the little scraping noise that was coming from the coffee table.
When Ryou got back, Kaiba realized how much of a mistake he'd made. Ryou was carrying five large black candles, already having been lit at some time or another, each having a five pointed silver star on the front of each one. Ryou set these evenly spaced around the Ouiji Board and lit them with a black lighter that had the same silver star symbol as the candles.
Ryou got up, presumably to turn out the lights, when they turned off on their own. Ryou walked over to the light switch and flicked it a few times, but nothing happened. "Must be a power outage. Oh well, this works in our advantage." He said, secretly cheerful that it seemed that some other force was already with them. He sat down on the floor, kneeling next to the coffee table and the other two joined him at his command.
Ryou placed the tip of his fingers on one of the corners of the chillingly white ivory and the others did the same. "Is someone not of the living in the room with us?" Ryou asked, keeping all of his concentration on the little triangle of white. It jerked suddenly, but Ryou could tell that it was Kaiba moving accidentally.
"Is anyone not of the living in the room with us?" He asked again, and this time it began to move on its own. He could feel the force coming from directly opposite himself, and he knew that Yami was on his left at an angle, and the same with Kaiba on his right. He looked up just to verify it, and it was true, there was no one sitting opposite as it was pulled onto the 'Yes'.
"Are you the one who has been following Kaiba?" Yami asked, though Kaiba looked ready to stand up and leave. Their hands didn't move from the 'Yes', and Ryou smiled. They were making progress.
"Why have you been following Kaiba?" He asked, and for a moment or two, nothing moved. Ryou asked his question again, but they got no reply. Kaiba removed his fingers from the board and snorted, and Yami removed his hand a few seconds later. Finally, after the fourth time of asking it, Ryou took his fingers off the board, wondering what he'd done wrong.
Kaiba was just about to make a comment, when the rare and expensive triangle began to move. Kaiba took a quick look under the table, but there were no magnets to be seen. Yami was staring, wide eyed in disbelief at the air across from Ryou.
"H... E... H... A... S... F... O... R... G... O... T... T... E... N... M... E.... He has forgotten me? Has he forgotten you?" Ryou asked for confirmation. It moved once more to 'Yes' and stopped.
"Who are you?!" Kaiba demanded, angry as hell and ready to crush Ryou's neck for pulling a trick like this. Nothing moved for a moment,
then, slowly, achingly slow, it moved to a single letter. Kaiba stared for a moment, then leveled an all out Death Glare at Ryou. "If this is some kind of sick joke...."
He was distracted from threatening Ryou when the planchette swung almost deadly fast over to the 'No'. Ryou leaned backwards slightly, grabbing a camera from a desk drawer. Quickly, he leveled it and snapped a picture. There was a slightly vibration in the air, and Ryou toppled over backwards, clutching at his throat.
Several of the candles bounced around when Ryou kicked the table by accident while he was thrashing around, and Kaiba quickly grabbed them and extinguished those that were in danger of starting a fire. Yami had quickly jumped up to Ryou's side, but he was unable to see what it was that was attacking Ryou, and stood helplessly by while Ryou tried to gasp for air.
The Puzzle began to glow ominously, and the Ring gave a sudden flash of light. Suddenly, there was another, much more visible spirit in the room. The dark spirit of the Ring grabbed something and flung it off Ryou, then jumped after it, attacking it where they landed on the floor.
Yami Bakura cursed several times, and Kaiba was quite preoccupied trying to tell which way the fight was going. Suddenly, Yami Bakura went flying across the room and into the stairs, landing with a frightful crash and a few cracks from his back and head. Yami stood in front of Ryou, hoping to be of at least some protection now that he couldn't at least see the entity.
However, the planchette shuddered on the board to 'Goodbye', and the lights flickered on again. Ryou crawled over to the ghostlike form of his Yami, afraid that he'd been hurt badly during his fight. Yami Bakura had slumped down the stairs and was sitting, almost reclining, against the carpeted corners.
"Yami, Yami, are you going to be alright?" Ryou croaked fearfully, laying a hand his Yami's arm. Yami Yugi watched the scene for a moment, wondering how Yami Bakura had managed to get inside his Puzzle without his knowing.
Kaiba was blowing out the remaining candles, and then walked over to the doorway of the living room. Yami Bakura was slowly waking up, a few choice curses on his lips as he regained control of his senses.
"You damn, foolish, useless lump of flesh. Why is it that every time you get into trouble, I have to come and save you? Stupid son of a jackal and a camel." He muttered, trying to stand up. Ryou ignored the curses and helped his Yami to his feet. "Well Kaiba, you picked a great spirit to anger." He retorted, and Kaiba let out a mild, curious glare that would've killed someone with heart problems.
"You got a demon following you Kaiba. Unless you figure out what it wants with you, it's gonna haunt you for the rest of your life." Kaiba didn't look too perturbed about the idea, so Yami Bakura decided to enlighten the stupid mortal.
"You know those people who go around walking the streets talking to themselves? Those are the ones with the lesser demons. And, judging from the fact that your demon threw me over here like a piece of paper, you're gonna kill yourself within days to get rid of the torment." Yami Bakura grinned at the prospect like he was the one who would get to kill Kaiba, though he really didn't look like he could handle it at the moment. Ugly bruises were starting to show on the surface of his skin, most dark purple or black.
Yami Bakura, tired with his game of 'Bait Kaiba', reached out and grabbed the Ring, pulling himself inside the familiar metal, leaving the mortals to figure out what they were going to do next.
LMK: That's it.
Zatken: I fixed it.
Split Persona: I'm glad my summary was good for something. I have done more. I do not know if you have read it though.
Delta V: Thank you, but I cannot show you a picture. I'm sure you could imagine it though. And I have obviously continued. But I do not know if you have read it or not.
BlackScarab: I have continued. I do not know if you have read my continuation though.
Shadowy Fluffball: If you have nothing to say, do not say anything at all. I will obviously continue, but that is no reason to give me pointless reviews. It is annoying. By the way, I continued.
Excel9732: I have continued, obviously. Why is it that people do not think that I will continue unless they repeat it dozens of times? It's annoying and a waste of a review.
TIMSBABE: An interesting name. I have a question for you. What does 'this is really goD!!' mean? By the way, I have continued. You didn't need to worry about it.