Thank you for your kind reviews. ::huggles Dark Necrophear plush::
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Chapter 5: Cold emotions at the core of body heat
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I wondered if it was really that obvious that something was wrong with me. Yuugi was so concerned, I was almost touched, but unlike him I don't see the problem with my situation. Yami is keeping something from me, but he's always like that. I can trust him as much as any "real" person. He's as real as the rest of them, to me.
Part of the problem, maybe? I don't give a fuck. It chafes at my skin how Yuugi and the rest of the world think I'm nuts- he's too polite to say anything but I've been around him long enough to tell. He thinks he's got life on a chain because he's the king of games.
King's sidekick, more like it. Yami Yuugi is the one who deserves the glory, if anyone. He acted too noble to claim it. Bet he didn't really feel that way, probably wanted to kick the little pisser halfway to America.
Ha. This is impolite of me, after all. Yuugi came all the way up to see me and I'm tuning out his prissy voice so I can think about what a little shit he is.
"Ryou-kun?" Yuugi frowned at me. Eh, time to pay attention. "Are you listening?"
"Sorry," I edged out. "I'm just a little sleepy. This semester's class schedule is getting to me." He believes me, the idiot, the way he's smiling sympathetically. Or maybe he knows I'm lying and doesn't make a point of it. That's just hypocritical enough for him.
"Like I was saying...." He continued. "I don't think I was very clear on the phone two weeks ago, but I'm really... concerned about you. Whenever I talk to you, it seems like you're not all there. Yami says that your other self has been more active around lately and I don't..."
He paused and stared up at the ceiling. "It feels like there's something wrong, and I don't understand."
He's nice. Really. Staring back at his round little face with those saucer-shaped eyes, I just have to keep telling myself that.
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I smirked at him. Seemed to have picked up that habit from Yami. "We've never been close, Yuugi-kun," I said. "Not for a very long time, in any case. There a reason you think I'm behaving strangely, when you aren't around to observe my behavior most of the time?"
He literally shrieked. "That's it! That's it," he said, pointing at me and fairly leaping off the floor, though he set his pinprick ass back down anyway. "That's how the spirit talks! He's taking over your body, isn't he? Just like the other Malik did during Battle City!"
Huh? I rolled my eyes. "No score, Yuugi-kun," I said. "Nice try, but that's pretty off the mark... I mean, I hadn't even thought of that. Not all evil yamis have the same crooked plans."
Yuugi shrank. Pretty amazing- one of these days he's going to do that and disappear. "Sorry," he said. "But you know... if the spirit of the ring was planning anything, you wouldn't find out until it was... too late, would you?"
I raised an eyebrow. "Kind of like you didn't realize that doing your yami was a bad idea until after the fact?" Cold, I admit, but no more so than I usually acted these days- and I'm still showing restraint. I just hoped that he hadn't caught my slip- emphasis alluding that I had been doing mine? Haha.
He frowned. "You're not going to get me with that, Bakura," he said. So the little guy's angry. "You don't even know what happened to me."
"So are you going to enlighten me, then?" I asked. Now here was a chance.
Yuugi looked at me strangely again. "That's how the spirit of the ring talks," he said slowly. "I won't tell you anything."
I heard a door opening, and Yami stuck his head out of his spirit room and snorted at Yuugi. Tell the little bastard to can it, he yawned. If I want to talk to him, I'll make sure he knows it's me, and in no uncertain terms. I don't play with my food until right before I eat it.
I made a face at the mental image, and Yuugi screwed his forehead in confusion. "Yami says... if he wants to talk to you he'll tell you it's him."
"I don't trust him," Yuugi said. "And I'm not sure I trust you anymore, either."
"So leave," I retorted, indicating the door. See if he really does.
He leaned up, then wavered and sat back down on the floor. He was frowning to himself and his eyes were blinking rapidly- I could tell he was talking with his yami, because he always gets all funny when he does. I, being more refined, can just zone out as I please. I haven't seen that in a long time. When did the other Yuugi get back in Yuugi's head?
"I'm not giving up on you just because you want me to," Yuugi says finally.
"I see," I drawled out. "So how long did it take for you to think of that response?"
I'm pushing, I know, but I want him out before he can make me feel sorry for him- again. There's no reason I should be feeling bad for him. Better to take out all the feeling in my shell than do that, when he's condescending enough to pity me... hell, do I even know what I'm saying?
"You're still siding with your yami," accuses Yuugi. "Don't... well, look, it's fine to do that, Ryou-kun but I just... think that maybe since university started... well, the gang hasn't really all gotten together..."
"You mean I haven't gotten with the rest of you," I interjected.
He nodded slightly. "Well... do you have friends in Osaka, Ryou-kun?"
I threw down the pillow I had been playing with before I realized what I was doing. And then I had to explain it- "Why the hell are you asking that?" I almost cried. "Kami, of all the prying..."
Yuugi winced- doesn't like it when people curse. He should hear my mouth lately. "I'm... sorry?" he ventured.
I rolled my eyes. "Right... well, continue. And, when did the spirit of the puzzle start talking to you again?" This is a new... puzzle, fuck the expression, to figure out. That spirit may have given Yuugi and Anzu his blessing, but he wasn't at the wedding. He hasn't been around...
But Yuugi shook his head and stood up, looking down at me. He sighed. "I can't... I'm sorry. Ryou-kun, don't get involved with the spirit any more than you have to, I did once and you know how it turned out, well I guess you don't really know but I don't... there's... Ryou-kun, I have to go!"
He fairly scooted away and looked like he was about to split. Maybe the spirit of the puzzle is on to him- or else he's just constipated. Heh.
I feel like I should do something more. He's not such a bad little bastard in the end, after all. Just manages to fuck up, but then that's a common symptom around me. "I'll walk you out," I said with a final kind of tone.
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Why do I almost hate him now? I can barely even remember how I was his friend when we were young. He gets on my nerves, so annoying that it stirs up some pretty violent imaginings.
But aside from that... I wonder what more Yuugi was trying to tell me. He called my bluff and he was right- I really don't know if there was any hot, steaming smut going on with those two- I winced at the mental image. I don't know much- more than the Friendship train, though, because of Yami.
Yuugi would die if he knew how much Yami can pry into his life without even trying. I never encouraged him, but spirits would do those shadow realm things. Now that I think about it, maybe it's not such a surprise that Yami didn't react to all that. He sought it out, after all.
So Yuugi and his yami were in love. And it didn't work out. Yuugi went a little crazy there, for a bit, but he pulled through like he always does.
Kind of like how I feel like I'm going crazy some of the time recently- except Yuugi actually was. He... well, Yami said he couldn't handle the dualism? I don't even know what he means by that. I guess it takes an odd duck to fall for a metaphysical reality.
Unlike Yuugi, I don't mind going crazy. I pretty much decided on that this past week. I think I got to that conclusion with Yami's help... unless, like Yuugi is accusing, he "helped" me without my realizing it... I've always been a little more out of reality than Yuugi. Jesus, though, I think I know my own yami pretty well.
Yami Yuugi left Domino. I haven't seen back or front of him for three years... If he's even alive. I marvled at how Yuugi could possibly survive without a darker half. I know I couldn't.
But our spirits are different.
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Yuugi got into his pink sports car and looks up. I'm trying not to smile, but that thing just kills me- it's perfect for him and the other half of the lovebird pair. Kaiba does some good things once in a while.
"I'm sorry this didn't work out," he said. He did sound apologetic.
"I'm sorry you had to waste your time driving up here," I said, "when a phone conversation would suffice. Perhaps you'll learn the meaning of 'no' now." Ah, right on target. Four years ago he would have pulled the tears act if someone said something that "mean" to him.
He shook his head. "I don't want to do this," he says. What, does he expect me to hop in the car with him? "But maybe it's for the best, somehow..."
"That's the spirit," I said sarcastically. I almost wanted to add something more encouraging, but my pride stopped me from stooping that low. I settled for waving at him pointedly.
Yuugi grinned- it looked a little forced. "I'll see you in the future, Bakura-kun?" he called as he started the engine. He shifted back and then slowly started down the street.
I shook my head at him, grinning to myself. "Sayonara, Moutou," I told him.
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A/N: You probably noticed that I figured out a way to make paragraph breaks that Document manger actually accepts! Yay! That thing is driving me crazy. It's reading my word counts wrong and chopping things off. X (
Uh-oh. Ryou's turning into kinda a dark bastard. Must... write... happy... ending...
Ok- important- I always thought that "sayonara" just meant goodbye, but I was recently told that you only say that if you never plan to see the person again in this lifetime. If you have any idea if that's correct (or not) please tell me, because I plan to write a one-shot about it!
XD Yeah, another story soon. Like, in the next month. Awesomeness.
