Disclaimer: Yu-Gi-Oh! belongs to Kazuki Takahashi.
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#8: Strength
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Two days later, Ryou was shaving in the bathroom. Once he was done, he rinsed everything off, snapped the blade out of its casing, and sliced across his forearm with it.
Bakura said nothing, but Ryou could feel the Ring warm slightly, leaving the thief only a hair's breadth from taking over if he deemed it necessary.
Ryou set the blade on the counter before he lifted his arm and licked the blood away. There wasn't even a twinge of pain when he ran his tongue over the cut.
But something about his blood tasted . . . odd. Stale.
(You can't feed off yourself, landlord,) Bakura commented, his words sarcastic but his tone neutral.
Look, Ryou said. It's already almost healed.
(It wasn't a deep cut.)
But it's already healed, Ryou repeated. And my wrist was fine after I woke up that . . . and when I slammed my hand into my locker yesterday, it stopped hurting after just a couple of minutes. And I slammed it really hard.
(So?)
Ryou pulled his boxers down enough that he could see the bite mark on his hip. This hasn't healed. The scab fell off, but it's still scarred. He ran his finger idly over the mark.
(I'd wondered about that,) Bakura said, and he surprised Ryou by appearing in the room, the wall visible through his folded arms. (Especially after he bit you there. There're no major arteries or veins in that spot.) The spirit raised an eyebrow. (And he seems straight. . . .)
Ryou frowned at the scar in the mirror, because it kept him from having to see the thief. "You're right. . ." he murmured.
Bakura raised a second eyebrow. "You didn't think it was odd?"
"No. . . ."
The thief snorted. "I guess you wouldn't," he replied. "Slut."
Ryou tugged the elastic of his boxers back up, staring at the counter. That was before I met you, he said. I don't see why you care -- I stopped after you showed up, so it's not interfering in your use of my body.
(Don't mouth off to me, host,) Bakura replied darkly. (Unless you feel like spending another week in your soul room again.)
Ryou didn't apologize, but he didn't say anything else either. He just began brushing his teeth.
When he finally glanced up a couple minutes later, Bakura was gone.
Ryou tossed the broken razor in the trash on his way out.