Disclaimer: Yu-Gi-Oh! belongs to Kazuki Takahashi. The quote in italics belongs to Saiyuki.
Ceresi: Heh. That's probably a good thing; I don't think I could finish this story sans eyes.
DreamingChild: Your review for chapter ten cracked. me. up.
Sam: A fight between vampire!Honda and Yami Bakura would be really short, because I think Bakura's learned his lesson from Duelist Kingdom. He'd just be all: "Shadow Realm for you, bitch," and then there would be a Giant Man-Eater Bug, and then there would be no more Honda. And that would be sad.
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#12: The Hanged Man
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If only you didn't exist . . .
I could have lost myself sooner.
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Honda ditched him a block away from the apartment complex.
Ryou stood on the corner, waiting for the light to change. When it did, he wrapped his arms over his chest and walked across the street. Night had fallen completely, and Ryou moved down a sidewalk that was bathed in artificial light from street lamps and neon signs and cars' headlights, wishing that there was a darker path he could take to go back home. He slowly retraced his path towards the convenience store.
(You're not shaking as badly this time,) Bakura commented. (What are you thinking about, landlord?)
Ryou let one of his arms fall to his side, but he kept the other pressed against his stomach, his hand gripping the elbow of his loose arm.
. . . He was someone else.
(Death changes people.)
But he's not always like that, Ryou said. I've been watching him. And sometimes he's the same person he used to be. It's like . . . like. . . .
(Like all his humanity is tied to one person,) Bakura finished. (Jounouchi, it seems.)
I don't want to be like that, Ryou said, biting his lip. Not like I just saw. But . . . I . . . I don't have anyone like that. I don't have anyone as close to me as Honda-kun is to Jounouchi-kun. Ryou's fingers tightened on his arm. But I don't want to be like that! Not like that!
There was a long silence, and Ryou crossed another street.
Then Bakura said, (You have me.)
Ryou faltered, before freezing in place. He was consequently elbowed to the side by the person behind him, and he stepped back until he could slump against the wall. His breathing became a little strangled.
(And I'm all you'll ever have,) Bakura finished, and the vicious amusement in his tone made Ryou nauseous. (So there's no need to worry, Bakura Ryou -- you'll never be as paltry as Honda is.)
Ryou sank down onto the sidewalk, stifling a cry as he covered his head with his arms. A moment later he fled from his consciousness to the dubious sanctuary of his soul room. Bakura was annoyed to find himself in control when he hadn't wanted it, but he let Ryou hide.
He used the opportunity to clean up the crime scene, again, before buying the soda from the convenience store and returning home.
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Ryou tried to skip school the next morning. Bakura, however, had gotten sick of this tendency and followed up on his threat; and when Ryou found himself back in control of his body, he was sitting at his desk. He avoided talking to anyone and doodled in his journals, hoping it would look like he was taking notes.
It was during fourth period a day later, just after lunch, when the police arrived and called Jounouchi to the office.
The class had a field day speculating. Watanabe, who had never liked Jounouchi much, even gave them a whole three minutes to talk before calling them to order and returning to the lesson plan.
The period was almost over when Jounouchi returned to the room. The teacher ignored him and continued speaking, until Jounouchi pulled his books out of his desk and started to walk back out again.
"Jounouchi-san, what are you -- Jounouchi!" Watanabe stared in shock, but the blond wrenched the door shut behind him.
Then the bell rang, and after the teacher left the class had even more of a field day.
"He so got arrested!"
"They wouldn't have let him come back to class if he was arrested."
"Maybe there were police in the hall, waiting for him?"
"It was only a matter of time, the loser. . . ."
"Then why didn't they take him to one of the police cars?"
"I bet they took him to a car on the other side."
"No, he walked out the front door. And there weren't any cops around him."
"How do you know?"
"I'm sitting by the window!"
"Oi, Mutou-kun, what's going on?"
"Will you guys shut up?" Honda snapped.
Mizushiro, who had gone to the same junior high as Honda and Jounouchi, sneered at him. "Hey, watch it. If your gangster buddy got arrested, they're probably coming after you next."
Honda's expression was cold. "After school, you're dead."
The pencil Ryou was holding snapped in two, but no one noticed.
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News spread fast.
By the end of the day, Yuugi, Kaiba, and Anzu knew what had happened -- Yuugi and Kaiba because Mai was a duelist, and Anzu because Jounouchi's open relationship with an older and higher class woman had been a piece of the sophomore girls' gossip for the days that nothing particularly exciting happened in the school. When Yuugi and Anzu broke the news to the rest of them, Ryou didn't know how to react, so he stayed quiet and stared at the ground.
". . . Shit," Otogi said, and that seemed to sum things up.
"We need to find him," Anzu said quietly. ". . . We can't leave him alone right now. That's too horrible."
"But where would he have gone?" Otogi asked.
Yuugi shook his head. "I don't know."
"Where did he go before?"
"I never found him."
"The beach," Honda said. "He'll be at the beach."
Otogi looked skeptical. "Are you sure? It's not about Shizuka-chan this time."
"It's as good a place to look as any, I guess," Yuugi said. "We can look there, and then . . . split up?"
"Okay." Anzu nodded.
They stood on the sidewalk for a little longer, before finally beginning to walk toward the bus station. Nobody really knew what to say.
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Ryou didn't know what kind of intuition Honda had used, but he'd been right. They found Jounouchi sitting on the beach, a good distance away from the area that the bus station let them out at. The blond had his legs pulled up to his chest, with one arm folded over them and the other hanging down, the hand curled into a fist. He was staring out at the sea. A copy of the day's newspaper was next to him, the paper growing a little damp from the humidity of the ocean.
"Jounouchi-kun?" Yuugi said quietly.
The muscles in the blond's back twitched slightly, but he didn't move.
"Jounouchi . . . I'm so sorry," Anzu murmured.
He looked away at that, and Anzu stepped forward and knelt down next to him, wincing slightly at the feel of the abrasive sand on her knees. She placed a hand on his arm, but couldn't seem to find any words to say that wouldn't be either trite or useless.
Yuugi sat down next to him as well, and Honda followed a moment later. Ryou took a couple steps forward, but lingered behind, the same as Otogi. For a long time, there was no sound but that of the ocean.
Before any of them could think of the right thing to say, Jounouchi finally spoke up. He was still looking away. ". . . She wanted me to go to college. That's what we were fighting. . . . She said I was better than this, better than some two-bit punk in some two-bit city. . . ." He clenched his fist tighter, and Ryou was sure that his knuckles had turned a strained white by now. "I was gonna make up with her. Her birthday was next month, and . . . I. . . ."
Jounouchi's voice had been fading with each word he said, and finally he quit talking all together and pushed his head against his arm. He brought the other hand up as well, fist still clenched, and hid more of his face with it.
Anzu murmured sympathetically, draping an arm over his back and pressing her cheek against his shoulder. Yuugi said something, but it was too quiet for even Ryou to hear.
Otogi, not a close enough friend to Jounouchi for the blond to be able to salvage his dignity if seen crying by him, had decently taken a few steps back and looked away. Ryou toyed with the damp newspaper.
Soon, a shift of weight told him something had fallen out of it and onto the ground, though it took Ryou a few moments to see it since the ring was nearly the same color as the sand. When he spotted it, Ryou surreptitiously picked it up and held it in his cupped palm before glancing down.
It was just a thin ring, and there were no jewels or other metals in it. The only adornment was a faint etching of a flowering vine that ran along the middle of the band. But, thanks to Bakura's influence, Ryou knew jewelry -- and the ring was real gold. 10 karats, at the most, but real gold.
He closed his hand over the ring and held it for a minute, watching Yuugi and Anzu try to comfort Jounouchi, before setting it on top of the newspaper. Then Ryou thought better of it and hid the ring between the folds again.
He glanced over at Honda, but the brunet was staring at the ground and it was hard for Ryou to see his expression.