Dream with me

Chapter 10:

It wasn't more than ten minutes later when Bakura and Marik went into Bakura's room to start his 'training'. Ryou said previously that he'd be at Jazzercise class until three. That meant that Marik had about two hours to whip Bakura into 'Hikari handling' shape.

"Lesson number one," Marik said, sitting on the bed across from Bakura, "Be firm."

"Firm?"

"Yeah, you can't not have a strong hold on Ryou or else he'll run all over you."

"Ryou isn't like that."

"No, he wasn't like that. Now that he is, you've got to work to get him back. Or risk losing him forever."

"Why do you have to make it sound so final?"

"So you'll listen to me, dammit!" he cleared his voice, "Back to lesson one. When he does something you don't agree with, you've got to tell him no. If he does it anyway, then you'll have to-"

"You're not suggesting that I hit him, are you?!"

"No. But, I remember when I was training Malik... I used a squirt gun."

"A squirt gun?"

"Whenever he did something bad, I'd squirt him twice. After a while I didn't need it anymore. Now, I wish I had it again. But I threw it away last year."

"That sounds... odd."

"I know, but it works. Just look at how obedient Malik is now."

"I guess you can't argue with good results. Okay, so... I've gotta be firm. But what if he starts to cry?"

"Cry? Well, I don't know... Malik's never cried before. I think if you make him cry, you've gone a little too far."

"Right. Got it."

"Good. On to lesson number two. Be smart."

"Smart. Uh..."

"I can see I'm going to have to explain this too..." he thought a second, "Like earlier when you tried to talk to Ryou about his problem and he got you on the subject of squirrels. That was just sad. You need to concentrate more, Bakura. Like I said, you've got to be in control. You are a yami! Let me hear you roar!"

"Huh?"

"Roar, Bakura. Go ahead. Show your masculinity!" He cleared his throat, "ROOOAAAARRRR!"

"Uh... roar."

"See, don't ya feel better?"

"I feel stupid." He sighed, "So, what's next?"

"Next? Oh yeah, lesson number three. This actually ties in with lesson number one. You can't be... seduced."

"Seduced?"

"You know, falling for their looks. Malik uses his relationship with me to get me to stop being mad. Ryou will probably try it, too. Kissing and touching you and stuff."

"Does it work?"

"Hell, yeah. But you have to be stronger than that, Bakura. Don't get distracted. When they start getting all close to you and stuff I find it helpful to hum."

"Hum? How does that help?"

"You'd be surprised. I like the song 'Lucky'. It's easy to remember and you feel happy afterwards."

"Uh-huh. Hey, can I ask you something?"

"Go ahead."

"Well, did Malik ever seduce you?"

"...Yeah..."

"How often?"

"Like every time." He sighed, "The only reason I won today was because he was half asleep when we were arguing and he was too tired."

"Jeez, man. Well, if you couldn't resist Malik, how expect me to resist Ryou? He can be really seductive when he wants to be."

"I know."

"What do you mean by that?" he asked suspiciously.

"What? Me? Nothing, man, I was just agreeing with you."

Bakura opened his mouth to say something but just then Malik opened the door, "Hey you guys, Ryou's home early. He said the dance instructor broke his hip so class was canceled."

"That's okay," Marik said, "Bakura's already ready. Go on, Bakura. We'll be watching."

Bakura sighed heavily and trudged out of the room and down the hallway. Once he entered the living room he saw Ryou sitting down on the couch.

"Hey, Ryou."

"Hi, Bakura! Malik said you might want to talk to me, so here I am. What did you need?"

"I, uh..." he sat down next to him, "Well, I wanted to..."

Marik and Malik then walked into the room and sat in the chairs on opposite sides of the couch, "Don't mind us," Marik said, "We're just here to watch."

Bakura rolled his eyes then turned back around, "Ryou, I really think that all this running around you're doing isn't good for you. You've become... I dunno... different."

"Bakura, I thought you'd understand."

"Understand what?"

"Since I died... I realized something."

"..."

"I was always so quiet and never did anything interesting. I never lived! But now that I almost got my life taken from me, I realize how important it is too try anything and everything! I'm gonna eat life, Bakura! I'm gonna enjoy the time I have left, whether it be 50 years... or 50 hours! I'm not gonna die without realizing my true potential!"

"..." Bakura was silently stunned.

"Okay..." Malik said, "What I got out of that was that Ryou is gonna 'eat life.' But my question is... how do you do that? Do you intend on eating someone? There by taking their life?"

Marik shook his head, "No, that's not what he means. He's going to eat his own life. Uh... I think."

"I don't care what you want to eat, Ryou!" Bakura looked back at his hikari, "But this is enough! You stay out, you never sleep, you're way too peppy, and I miss the old Ryou. You didn't die! If you were dead, we'd be at your funeral right now instead of here arguing about stupid things!"

"It isn't stupid to me! Wouldn't you be sad if I died, Bakura?"

"Well, duh! Of course I'd be sad! But you're not dead! You're insane!"

"I'm not insane. I've seen the light!"

"What light?" they all asked in unison.

"The light of god! I've got an announcement to make!"

"..." They waited for him to continue.

"I've called my mom and I'm taking her up on her offer."

"Offer?" Bakura tilted his head, "What offer?"

"I'm going back to church with my mom. She's been insisting for a long time, and I think it'd be nice to pick back up on being a Christian again. It's been so long since I've been there... My mom was really thrilled."

"You're doing what?!" Bakura stood up, "You must be joking! Ryou, tell me you're joking!"

"And I've told mom that you're coming too, Bakura. She was rather surprised but happy. I think this'll make you two closer."

"I don't want to go to church!"

"Sure you do. It'll be fun, Bakura. Just wait and see." He turned towards Malik and Marik, "You guys can come, too. You'll really like it."

"Uh, okay." Malik nodded.

"Yeah, sure... why not." Marik agreed.

"Great!" Ryou headed for the hallway, "We can go next Sunday. Come on, Malik. I'll fill you in on everything that's going to happen."

Malik followed Ryou down the hallway and they were both soon out of sight.

Once Marik was sure they were gone, he sat next Bakura, "I don't think you were firm enough."

"Tell me about it. This is awful. Ryou's mom is the last person I want to spend my Sundays with... Oh, and at church?! I hate the very thought!"

"Uh, yeah... about that. What's church? Does it hurt?"

"You mean to tell me you've never heard of church?"

He shook his head.

"It's a place where people worship some god. I've seen it on T.V before. You shouldn't have volunteered to go, man. You could have gotten away."

"I'm sure it won't be that bad..."

He shrugged, "Eh... maybe you're right. Maybe I need to trust Ryou a little more. He wouldn't make me go if it was something I wouldn't enjoy, right?"

Marik nodded.

"I suppose I'll go without a fight. And hey, maybe his mom will like me a bit more this time... Maybe."