Denial

"I want to talk to Ryou." The assembled group looked up in surprise as the ghost dropped down from the ceiling to hover in front of them.

"He's right here." Harry said, cruelly pushing Ryou gently towards Myrtle.

"I meant privately." Myrtle pouted.

"I don't think-" Harry started.

Myrtle's eyes filled with tears and she began to wail. "You don't like me. You don't trust me." Then she took a shuddering breath and moaned piteously.

"No, Myrtle, that's not what I meant. I'm sorry." Harry waved his hands in the air frantically. "Seriously, it's all right. I didn't mean-" He looked at her hopefully as her crying began to subside. "Go on Ryou," He added in an undertone. "It won't kill you – I think."

"Great," Ryou muttered. "Very supportive." He glared back at Harry as Myrtle led him into a room he hadn't known was there. Some friend he was.

Her expression surprised him, but her words were even more shocking. "How can he miss you if you're here?" She asked him this as though he should know what she was talking about; but truly he had no idea. What was going on here?

"I don't know what you're talking about." He told her coolly, and then thought of a question of his own. He wouldn't ask her because it was definitely an improvement, but her attitude had just changed completely. On minute she's this spoiled, bratty, whiny girl, and the next she's acting like anyone else.

"Why would Bakura say he misses you when you're right here?" Myrtle repeated impatiently.

"I... don't know..." Ryou stared up at her. She'd better be telling the truth. If this was some sort of cruel joke he didn't know what he'd do. But why would Bakura have told her anything anyway? It couldn't possibly be real. "Now that you've had your little joke I'm leaving." He told her dully, and headed for the door. She couldn't possibly understand how much that had hurt.

Myrtle darted in front of him, blocking his way. "I wasn't joking and I want to know." Ryou's eyes darted to the side, and she moved to intercept him. "You are going to explain it or else."

"Look," Ryou began patiently. "First of all, if it was true Bakura would never have told anyone. Secondly, it couldn't possibly be true because he never saw me as a person. And thirdly, even if he did say that, which, as I've just said, is impossible, I wouldn't want to make him angry by telling you anything about him. So forget it."

Myrtle glared at him, and then started to wail again, incoherent sobs making Ryou cringe and cover his ears, trying to shield himself from the awful noise. He couldn't bear it. 'Come on,' he told himself. 'She can't keep this up forever. You just have to wait her out. It's not that bad. It can't possibly last for much longer.'

Finally, though, he had to give in. "All right, all right. Just... stop it. Please."

Myrtle instantly cheered up. "You're going to tell me?" She asked him hopefully. "It really isn't a joke."

Ryou looked up at her. "No, you wouldn't care so much if it was a joke. But that means that he was joking when he said it."

Myrtle rolled her eyes. "You are so untrusting." She pouted. "I think he meant it. He was more than half asleep at the time, so I don't think he could lie."

"There's no reason for him to miss me." Ryou repeated, trying to keep himself from going into raptures over it. Bakura didn't miss him. It was just a misunderstanding. If Bakura really thought he was worth something as a person he would have shown some sign of it before.

"You are a stupid stubborn boy, and I don't care what you think. It's still true." She glared at him. "Now tell me why he would miss you when you haven't gone anywhere."

"I – still don't think I should tell you. He'd get mad at me." Ryou had accepted it now. He couldn't deny that Myrtle at least thought she was telling the truth. But now he really didn't want Bakura to be unhappy with him.

"I don't care." Myrtle insisted, seeing that he was weakening. "Tell me."

"Fine." Ryou closed his eyes. "We used to have a mind link, so that we could each hear what the other one was thinking; but the link's been severed."

Myrtle stared at him. "You could hear what he was thinking?" she repeated, sounding for once completely at a loss.

"Not all the time." Ryou clarified hastily. "Only when he wanted me to. So if he misses anything, he's missing the mind link."

"Oh." Myrtle still looked a little shocked, but she was recovering. "Wow. I've never heard of anyone except Harry who has something like that."

Ryou looked up sharply. "Harry has a mind link? With who?"

"Harry can sometimes feel what you-know-who is feeling because of his scar. Dumbledore says that it creates a bond or something between them, so that when you-know-who feels any emotion really strongly Harry feels it too. But yours sounds much cooler."

"Promise not to tell anyone?" Ryou begged.

Myrtle smirked. "I'm not promising anything." She told him smugly. "But I promised Bakura I wouldn't tell anyone but you and a couple other people who I don't know. Ta!" She laughed and spiraled up through the ceiling leaving Ryou alone with his thoughts.