Change of Heart
Authoress: Aisling Kaiba
Aisling: I'm back! I know I've taken forever to update this, gomen nasai!!!!
Yami: Why do you even bother, hikari no baka?
Aisling: You know, you could be nice to me for once, Pharaoh-boy. Or I might just have to tell Bluefire your little secret...
Yami: *Blushing* You wouldn't dare!
Aisling: Oh, really? Wouldn't I? You willing to bet on that?
Yami: *Grumbles* No.
Aisling: That's what I thought. Hey, Ryou-chan? Can you come do the disclaimer for me? Please?
Ryou: *Sigh* I suppose so, love. Aisling-chan does not own Yu-Gi-Oh, but anything original does belong to her.
Aisling: *Glomps Ryou* Thank you! In other words, oh rabid lawyers, me no own, so you piss off, okies? Oh, and this chappie is dedicated to Draggy-chan, who so graciously made fanart for the last scene in chapter 3 of this! *Glomps Draggy* It's absolutely beautifully done! When I get around to making a site, I'll put it up so you can all see it. So I'm dedicating this chapter to her as thanks. And now, onto the fic!
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(Chapter four: The Hospital)
About ten minutes later, Bakura heard someone knocking on the front door. He stood up, lifting Ryou into his arms and shouting to Kaiba to come in, and that the door was unlocked.
A moment later, the door opened to reveal Seto Kaiba. The Pharaoh and his Light stood behind him to either side, flanking the CEO. Jonouchi hadn't come with them because Seto had asked him to stay at the mansion and keep an eye on Mokuba until they knew what exactly was going on. Bakura cursed viciously under his breath in ancient Egyptian and shoved his way past the trio, pointedly ignoring the glare that Yami gave him. Yami was on the verge of confronting the other spirit, but he stopped when Yugi gently touched his arm.
"No, Yami. Please, don't," Yugi said softly.
"Why not?" Yami asked, raising an eyebrow at him.
"Didn't you see it, Yami?"
"See what, Aibou?" Yami asked.
"Bakura was crying," Kaiba muttered, shocked.
Just then, the aforementioned Tomb Robber realized that the others hadn't moved from the doorstep. He turned back around, his brown eyes still glistening with his tears. He glared daggers at them, annoyed at the fact that they were just standing around like that while Ryou was dying.
"What is this, a Ra-damned committee meeting?! Why the hell are you bakas just standing there with those dumb looks on your faces?! I don't have time for this shit! Move your asses and let's go, damn it!" Bakura snapped.
This snapped the others out of their shock. Seto shut the front door, making sure that it was locked so that no one could break in while no one was home. Then they got into Seto's limo and drove off.
The short ride to the hospital was spent in uncomfortable silence. Bakura held Ryou in his lap protectively, trying desperately to reach him through their slowly fading bond. Yugi stared out one of the car's tinted side-windows, watching the passing traffic. Seto and Yami both seemed to be lost in their own thoughts, staring at seemingly nothing, though all three of them kept glancing over at the two albinos every few moments or so.
After what seemed like an eternity to the limo's four occupants, the driver pulled up to the hospital, stopping right in front of the Emergency Room entrance. Seto stepped out of the vehicle, followed by Yami and Yugi, then Bakura, who was still holding onto Ryou's motionless form.
"I'll call you when we need a ride back. We're going to be here for a while," Seto told the driver.
"Yes, sir," the man replied formally.
Seto closed the door and watched in silence as the limo disappeared into the traffic that was heavy even at this late hour of the night. Then he turned and walked through the sliding glass doors to join the others who had already gone inside.
As he got closer to the Nurse's station, he could hear Bakura arguing heatedly with the receptionist who seemed to either be hell-bent on making the spirit angry, that, or she had a death-wish. Yami and Yugi both had a huge sweatdrop forming at their heads as they held Bakura back and tried to calm him down before he sent the woman to the Shadow Realm.
Seto shook his head in bemusement and decided to chance tapping the enraged spirit on his shoulder as he came up behind them. Bakura turned and glared at Kaiba in annoyance. Seto pointedly ignored the look.
"What?!" Bakura snapped.
"Let me handle this," Seto replied calmly.
Bakura opened his mouth to say something, looking like he was about to protest, but then he realized that they were getting nowhere this way, and he reluctantly backed down. Yugi and Yami let go of their hold on Bakura as Seto stepped up to the receptionist's desk, turning his attention to the young blonde woman who was shaking her head and staring up at the group over the top rim of her round glasses as though she thought that they were all crazy. She was partially right.
"What seems to be the problem here?" Seto asked, trying to keep the frustration out of his voice.
"Sir, there are other patients ahead of you. Now, if you don't calm your friend over there down and stop him from threatening me, I'll have to call security," she said snobbishly.
That did it. Seto's anger flared and he narrowed his icy blue eyes at the girl, causing her to shudder inwardly. "Do you have any idea as to whom you are dealing with here?" he demanded quietly, his voice taking on an almost dangerous tone.
She didn't answer at first, but then her gray eyes went very wide in shock and recognition as the realization struck her. She gasped, one slender, pale hand covering her mouth for a moment.
"S-Seto K-Kaiba! G-Gomen N-nasai, sir!" she stuttered rather intelligently.
"That's right. I'm Seto fucking Kaiba. (A/N: There's the gutter, get your minds out of it, you hentais!) Now, if you don't get someone out here to help Ryou right now, I'll not only have your job, but you'll have a lawsuit against you personally. Just in case you didn't realize it, I own this hospital and your so-called security!" Seto snapped. "So unless you want to risk trying my patience, I'd suggest you do as I say."
"Y-yes, sir! R-right away, sir!" she yelped, leaping to her feet and knocking over her chair in the process as she scurried away to find a doctor.
Seto smirked triumphantly as he turned back to the others. The look on his face clearly said, 'That is how you handle *that*.'Bakura shook his head ruefully, but the relief in his eyes clearly showed his gratitude. He glanced down at the angel in his arms, trying to hold back his tears. Yami noticed this and put his hand on the other spirit's shoulder.
Surprisingly, Bakura didn't shrug him off. Instead, he offered the Pharaoh a faint smile-a genuine one rather than one of his cruel smirks that he usually reserved for Yami alone-and turned his attention back to Ryou. He was still breathing, though it was labored and slightly shallow still, almost as if the boy were caught in the throes of a terrible nightmare. Perhaps he was.
The towels had slipped from his wrists somewhere between the car and the waiting room, but it didn't matter now. The bleeding had long ago stopped, leaving only a few scars on his pale wrists where he had cut himself with the knife and stains of dried blood around the wounds. The sight of the scars and his Hikari's blood made him cringe inwardly, though he gave no sign of it to the others.
Suddenly he was startled out of his reverie as two doctors rushed over to them, pushing a gurney. One doctor tried to take Ryou from Bakura's arms, and after a tense moment, he handed Ryou's motionless form over to the doctor, who laid him down gently onto the gurney. She gave Bakura a reassuring smile, then she and the other doctor hurried away, pushing the gurney through a set of double doors at the other end of the room and disappearing from sight.
Bakura stared after them, feeling strangely as though he was watching all of this from outside of his body. All of his fear, grief and guilt threatened to overwhelm him. He barely noticed Yami guiding him over to the other side of the room, didn't notice when he was gently pushed down onto one of the hard, uncomfortable chairs. He just stared out into nothingness, his mocha-brown eyes glazed over and unseeing. He wasn't even aware of the tears that now streamed freely down his face, leaving shimmering silvery trails in their wake on the pale flesh.
Yami sighed, shaking his head sadly. As much as the two rivals claimed that they hated each other, Yami really couldn't help but feel some sympathy for the white-haired tomb robber, despite the fact that it was more than likely that it was Bakura's fault that Ryou was even in this situation in the first place. It had amazed him that Bakura was capable of feeling anything besides anger and hatred, really. But he had to admit that he'd be devastated if anything ever happened to his beloved Yugi, so perhaps Bakura's current state of mind wasn't quite so far-fetched after all. And Yami had the feeling that there was something more going on here than he was hearing.
Yami shook his head again, pushing those thoughts aside for the time being, and turned his attention back to Yugi and Seto, both of whom stood staring at the two spirits in silence, Obviously wondering what was going through their minds at that moment.
"Yami?" Yugi asked quietly, his timid voice suddenly breaking the unsettling silence that lingered in the air between the four of them.
"Yes, Yugi?" Yami said softly.
"Do you think Ryou will be all right?" Yugi asked sadly.
Yami glanced back at Bakura, who was still lost in his own thoughts, decided he wanted some answers from the tomb robber, then turned back to his Hikari.
"I'm sure he will he will be, Aibou. Why don't you and Seto go and get something to eat? I know neither of you have eaten anything yet, and besides, I need to talk to Bakura alone for a few minutes. I'll contact you through our link if there's any news about Ryou," Yami replied.
Yugi seemed to hesitate for a moment, and looked over at Seto. The millionaire nodded, and Yugi relented, albeit reluctantly. He didn't want to leave, but he also knew that Yami would keep his word to let them know if there was any change at all in Ryou's condition.
"All right. Do you want us to bring back anything?" Yugi asked finally.
Yami shook his head and watched as they walked away. As soon as they were out of earshot, he turned to Bakura, laying a hand lightly on the tomb robber's shoulder to get his attention.
"It wasn't supposed to be like this," Bakura muttered finally, his voice the mere ghost of a barely audible whisper.
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To Be Continued...OOOOH!! Evil cliffie!!! I know it's been forever since I've updated this, and it's really late *like after 3 in the morning* but I finally got this part done. It's 4 pages long. I hope this was worth the wait. I want to send a quick thanks out to all my reviewers for making this my most popular story. Thank you all so much! I hope you like this new part. Reviews and constructive criticism is welcome, but no mindless flames like "this sucks!" If you don't like the pairings or whatever, leave. *Sorry, had to get that out. No offense to anyone who's reviewed this* It just ticks me off when ppl decide to be stupid biggots. Anyway, any and all flames will be used in my friend's flamethrower against pegasus or duke devlin and his cheerleaders. (sorry to those who like them). Oh, and I'm also looking for a beta reader for my stories, so if anyone's interested, let me know in a review. Wells, I'm going to shut up now, and I'll try to get the next part up as soon as I can. Promise. Ja ne!
*Aisling Kaiba*
Authoress: Aisling Kaiba
Aisling: I'm back! I know I've taken forever to update this, gomen nasai!!!!
Yami: Why do you even bother, hikari no baka?
Aisling: You know, you could be nice to me for once, Pharaoh-boy. Or I might just have to tell Bluefire your little secret...
Yami: *Blushing* You wouldn't dare!
Aisling: Oh, really? Wouldn't I? You willing to bet on that?
Yami: *Grumbles* No.
Aisling: That's what I thought. Hey, Ryou-chan? Can you come do the disclaimer for me? Please?
Ryou: *Sigh* I suppose so, love. Aisling-chan does not own Yu-Gi-Oh, but anything original does belong to her.
Aisling: *Glomps Ryou* Thank you! In other words, oh rabid lawyers, me no own, so you piss off, okies? Oh, and this chappie is dedicated to Draggy-chan, who so graciously made fanart for the last scene in chapter 3 of this! *Glomps Draggy* It's absolutely beautifully done! When I get around to making a site, I'll put it up so you can all see it. So I'm dedicating this chapter to her as thanks. And now, onto the fic!
****************************************
(Chapter four: The Hospital)
About ten minutes later, Bakura heard someone knocking on the front door. He stood up, lifting Ryou into his arms and shouting to Kaiba to come in, and that the door was unlocked.
A moment later, the door opened to reveal Seto Kaiba. The Pharaoh and his Light stood behind him to either side, flanking the CEO. Jonouchi hadn't come with them because Seto had asked him to stay at the mansion and keep an eye on Mokuba until they knew what exactly was going on. Bakura cursed viciously under his breath in ancient Egyptian and shoved his way past the trio, pointedly ignoring the glare that Yami gave him. Yami was on the verge of confronting the other spirit, but he stopped when Yugi gently touched his arm.
"No, Yami. Please, don't," Yugi said softly.
"Why not?" Yami asked, raising an eyebrow at him.
"Didn't you see it, Yami?"
"See what, Aibou?" Yami asked.
"Bakura was crying," Kaiba muttered, shocked.
Just then, the aforementioned Tomb Robber realized that the others hadn't moved from the doorstep. He turned back around, his brown eyes still glistening with his tears. He glared daggers at them, annoyed at the fact that they were just standing around like that while Ryou was dying.
"What is this, a Ra-damned committee meeting?! Why the hell are you bakas just standing there with those dumb looks on your faces?! I don't have time for this shit! Move your asses and let's go, damn it!" Bakura snapped.
This snapped the others out of their shock. Seto shut the front door, making sure that it was locked so that no one could break in while no one was home. Then they got into Seto's limo and drove off.
The short ride to the hospital was spent in uncomfortable silence. Bakura held Ryou in his lap protectively, trying desperately to reach him through their slowly fading bond. Yugi stared out one of the car's tinted side-windows, watching the passing traffic. Seto and Yami both seemed to be lost in their own thoughts, staring at seemingly nothing, though all three of them kept glancing over at the two albinos every few moments or so.
After what seemed like an eternity to the limo's four occupants, the driver pulled up to the hospital, stopping right in front of the Emergency Room entrance. Seto stepped out of the vehicle, followed by Yami and Yugi, then Bakura, who was still holding onto Ryou's motionless form.
"I'll call you when we need a ride back. We're going to be here for a while," Seto told the driver.
"Yes, sir," the man replied formally.
Seto closed the door and watched in silence as the limo disappeared into the traffic that was heavy even at this late hour of the night. Then he turned and walked through the sliding glass doors to join the others who had already gone inside.
As he got closer to the Nurse's station, he could hear Bakura arguing heatedly with the receptionist who seemed to either be hell-bent on making the spirit angry, that, or she had a death-wish. Yami and Yugi both had a huge sweatdrop forming at their heads as they held Bakura back and tried to calm him down before he sent the woman to the Shadow Realm.
Seto shook his head in bemusement and decided to chance tapping the enraged spirit on his shoulder as he came up behind them. Bakura turned and glared at Kaiba in annoyance. Seto pointedly ignored the look.
"What?!" Bakura snapped.
"Let me handle this," Seto replied calmly.
Bakura opened his mouth to say something, looking like he was about to protest, but then he realized that they were getting nowhere this way, and he reluctantly backed down. Yugi and Yami let go of their hold on Bakura as Seto stepped up to the receptionist's desk, turning his attention to the young blonde woman who was shaking her head and staring up at the group over the top rim of her round glasses as though she thought that they were all crazy. She was partially right.
"What seems to be the problem here?" Seto asked, trying to keep the frustration out of his voice.
"Sir, there are other patients ahead of you. Now, if you don't calm your friend over there down and stop him from threatening me, I'll have to call security," she said snobbishly.
That did it. Seto's anger flared and he narrowed his icy blue eyes at the girl, causing her to shudder inwardly. "Do you have any idea as to whom you are dealing with here?" he demanded quietly, his voice taking on an almost dangerous tone.
She didn't answer at first, but then her gray eyes went very wide in shock and recognition as the realization struck her. She gasped, one slender, pale hand covering her mouth for a moment.
"S-Seto K-Kaiba! G-Gomen N-nasai, sir!" she stuttered rather intelligently.
"That's right. I'm Seto fucking Kaiba. (A/N: There's the gutter, get your minds out of it, you hentais!) Now, if you don't get someone out here to help Ryou right now, I'll not only have your job, but you'll have a lawsuit against you personally. Just in case you didn't realize it, I own this hospital and your so-called security!" Seto snapped. "So unless you want to risk trying my patience, I'd suggest you do as I say."
"Y-yes, sir! R-right away, sir!" she yelped, leaping to her feet and knocking over her chair in the process as she scurried away to find a doctor.
Seto smirked triumphantly as he turned back to the others. The look on his face clearly said, 'That is how you handle *that*.'Bakura shook his head ruefully, but the relief in his eyes clearly showed his gratitude. He glanced down at the angel in his arms, trying to hold back his tears. Yami noticed this and put his hand on the other spirit's shoulder.
Surprisingly, Bakura didn't shrug him off. Instead, he offered the Pharaoh a faint smile-a genuine one rather than one of his cruel smirks that he usually reserved for Yami alone-and turned his attention back to Ryou. He was still breathing, though it was labored and slightly shallow still, almost as if the boy were caught in the throes of a terrible nightmare. Perhaps he was.
The towels had slipped from his wrists somewhere between the car and the waiting room, but it didn't matter now. The bleeding had long ago stopped, leaving only a few scars on his pale wrists where he had cut himself with the knife and stains of dried blood around the wounds. The sight of the scars and his Hikari's blood made him cringe inwardly, though he gave no sign of it to the others.
Suddenly he was startled out of his reverie as two doctors rushed over to them, pushing a gurney. One doctor tried to take Ryou from Bakura's arms, and after a tense moment, he handed Ryou's motionless form over to the doctor, who laid him down gently onto the gurney. She gave Bakura a reassuring smile, then she and the other doctor hurried away, pushing the gurney through a set of double doors at the other end of the room and disappearing from sight.
Bakura stared after them, feeling strangely as though he was watching all of this from outside of his body. All of his fear, grief and guilt threatened to overwhelm him. He barely noticed Yami guiding him over to the other side of the room, didn't notice when he was gently pushed down onto one of the hard, uncomfortable chairs. He just stared out into nothingness, his mocha-brown eyes glazed over and unseeing. He wasn't even aware of the tears that now streamed freely down his face, leaving shimmering silvery trails in their wake on the pale flesh.
Yami sighed, shaking his head sadly. As much as the two rivals claimed that they hated each other, Yami really couldn't help but feel some sympathy for the white-haired tomb robber, despite the fact that it was more than likely that it was Bakura's fault that Ryou was even in this situation in the first place. It had amazed him that Bakura was capable of feeling anything besides anger and hatred, really. But he had to admit that he'd be devastated if anything ever happened to his beloved Yugi, so perhaps Bakura's current state of mind wasn't quite so far-fetched after all. And Yami had the feeling that there was something more going on here than he was hearing.
Yami shook his head again, pushing those thoughts aside for the time being, and turned his attention back to Yugi and Seto, both of whom stood staring at the two spirits in silence, Obviously wondering what was going through their minds at that moment.
"Yami?" Yugi asked quietly, his timid voice suddenly breaking the unsettling silence that lingered in the air between the four of them.
"Yes, Yugi?" Yami said softly.
"Do you think Ryou will be all right?" Yugi asked sadly.
Yami glanced back at Bakura, who was still lost in his own thoughts, decided he wanted some answers from the tomb robber, then turned back to his Hikari.
"I'm sure he will he will be, Aibou. Why don't you and Seto go and get something to eat? I know neither of you have eaten anything yet, and besides, I need to talk to Bakura alone for a few minutes. I'll contact you through our link if there's any news about Ryou," Yami replied.
Yugi seemed to hesitate for a moment, and looked over at Seto. The millionaire nodded, and Yugi relented, albeit reluctantly. He didn't want to leave, but he also knew that Yami would keep his word to let them know if there was any change at all in Ryou's condition.
"All right. Do you want us to bring back anything?" Yugi asked finally.
Yami shook his head and watched as they walked away. As soon as they were out of earshot, he turned to Bakura, laying a hand lightly on the tomb robber's shoulder to get his attention.
"It wasn't supposed to be like this," Bakura muttered finally, his voice the mere ghost of a barely audible whisper.
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To Be Continued...OOOOH!! Evil cliffie!!! I know it's been forever since I've updated this, and it's really late *like after 3 in the morning* but I finally got this part done. It's 4 pages long. I hope this was worth the wait. I want to send a quick thanks out to all my reviewers for making this my most popular story. Thank you all so much! I hope you like this new part. Reviews and constructive criticism is welcome, but no mindless flames like "this sucks!" If you don't like the pairings or whatever, leave. *Sorry, had to get that out. No offense to anyone who's reviewed this* It just ticks me off when ppl decide to be stupid biggots. Anyway, any and all flames will be used in my friend's flamethrower against pegasus or duke devlin and his cheerleaders. (sorry to those who like them). Oh, and I'm also looking for a beta reader for my stories, so if anyone's interested, let me know in a review. Wells, I'm going to shut up now, and I'll try to get the next part up as soon as I can. Promise. Ja ne!
*Aisling Kaiba*