Bakura: X.X Oh help me...
WSJ: :p No such luck, my muse. More fluff, ahoy!
Hiei: .....
WSJ: pokes Ryou Do disclaimer!
Ryou: sigh WSJ does not own YGO or YYH. Yay.
Hiei: ....Hn....
/blah/ - Ryou to Bakura
//blah// - Bakura to Ryou
'blah' - private thoughts
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Like a Thief in the Night
Part Two: Growing Up Human
Chapter 2 -- Moving Day
Ryou yawned and blinked his eyes open, slightly surprised to find himself back in his own bedroom. Sunlight was streaming in through his window, and he sighed slightly. So it had just been another kind of dream, after all...
//Are you calling me a hallucination?//
Ryou grinned, his good mood restored. "How are you doing that?" he asked out loud, sitting up in bed and stretching.
//Just think about what you want to say, and pretend to say it out loud, only in your head.//
/Like this?/
//Very good! Just like that!//
Bakura lapsed into silence then, and Ryou grinned. Rolling out of bed, he unzipped the large backpack that was sitting by the door and quickly dug out some clothes to wear. As he changed out of his pajamas, Bakura made himself known again.
//What's with all the boxes?//
Ryou jumped a little, startled by the mental speech that had seemingly come out of no where. The floor of his room was covered by a maze of boxes, and there literally wasn't anything in there except boxes, his bed, and his backpack. /We're moving today. Daddy got a new job in Kyoto./ Bakura could feel sadness through the Mind Link. /I don't want to leave all my friends.../
//I'm sure you'll make new ones.// Bakura told him. //And you've got me. So if you're moving to Kyoto, where are you now? Who's we?//
Ryou giggled as he finished packing his pajamas into his bag. /You ask a lot of questions. This is Domino City, Japan. We're really close to Tokyo, so Kyoto's almost 300 miles away. 'We' is daddy and Amane and me./
//Who's Amane, your mom?//
Ryou was quiet for a minute. /No, mommy died a few years ago. Amane's my little sister, she's six./
Bakura, who was lounging in his soulroom and watching what was going on outside through Ryou's eyes and ears, blinked. //Oh,// he said quietly. //I'm sorry about your mother, I know what it's like to lose someone close to you.// He tried not to think about Kurama.
Ryou sensed the sudden sadness coming through the link, and felt an unexplainable urge to cheer the demon up. /Do you want to go meet Amane?/
//Umm... It might not be a good idea to tell your family about me yet, Ryou.// Bakura said, obviously wary. //We don't know what they'll do, or even if they'll believe you.//
/They'll believe me,/ Ryou said, smiling a little. /But I guess you're right./
"Ryou!" A voice yelled up the stairs. "Hurry up, the movers are ready to start loading boxes!"
"Okay daddy!" Ryou yelled back, grabbing his backpack and slinging it over one shoulder. He snatched the stuffed animal that was sitting on his pillow and headed for the stairs. Bakura noted with amusement that the animal Ryou had been cuddling with in his sleep was a wolf. Irony. Heh, you gotta love it.
Downstairs several men in movers uniforms were already loading the boxes from the livingroom and kitchen. A tall man with dark purple hair and glasses was directing them. The couch was out on the front lawn, and a little girl with lavender hair was sitting on it, playing with a doll. A taller woman with short black hair was sitting next to her.
"Aunt Shiori!" Ryou ran outside and all but pounced onto the couch, hugging the woman around the neck. She laughed and hugged him back as the little girl giggled.
"Good morning Ryou," she said, smiling at him. "We were afraid the movers were going to have to load up the bed with you still in it."
Ryou looked a little sheepish. "Sorry..."
His aunt smiled and ruffled his hair, sitting him down on her lap. "Your father said you're going to get breakfast on the way to the new house, so just be patient, okay?"
Ryou nodded. "Okay. Morning Amane."
The little lavender haired girl smiled, leaning over to give him a hug. "Morning 'niisan."
/That's Amane,/ Ryou pointed out to Bakura unnecessarily. /And mommy's sister, my Aunt Shiori. And that's daddy./ Mentally he pointed to the tall man with glasses.
"I'm sorry Suuichi couldn't come," Shiori said apologetically, snapping Ryou back into the present. "He left for summer camp last night."
"It's okay," Ryou said, though he looked a little sad. "He can send me a postcard at the new house."
Shiori chuckled. "I'll make sure he does." She ruffled her nephew's hair and stood up, plopping him down next to his sister. "You guys sit quietly here and stay out of the way, all right? I'm going to go make sure the movers don't break your mother's china."
"Okay auntie," the two children chorused. Ryou set his bookbag down at his feet and unzipped it, putting his stuffed wolf inside and pulling out a book. He settled back against the couch and opened it up, pretending to read, while in reality talking to Bakura. It was a ruse they would go on to use a lot in the coming years.
//Suuichi?// Bakura asked, wondering why the name sounded so familiar. Maybe it was someone he'd robbed once, or something.
/My cousin,/ Ryou answered. /Aunt Shiori's son. They live in an apartment down the street. Uncle Masao died a few years ago, so it's just the two of them. Suuichi's my best friend in the whole world./
Bakura chuckled, but then blinked as he registered what Ryou's eyes were seeing. //Ryou, what are you reading?//
/Oh, this? It's just something I found at the library.../ Ryou turned the book so he, and therefore Bakura, could see the cover where the title was written. /Beginner's Guide to Demons, see? I'm gonna be a ghost hunter when I grow up!/
Bakura blinked, and then blinked again, wondering if this kid's interest in demons had sparked from having one sleeping in the back of his mind. Closing his metaphysical eyes for a minute, Bakura focused his senses on the child and realized with a start just how powerful Ryou would become. Why, when he hit puberty and gained control of all that Spirit Energy stored up inside him, he could go nose-to-nose with any of Koenma's so called Spirit Detectives and probably win! Hell, he'd probably give a whole bunch of B class demons trouble! That is, if he was properly trained...
Settling back against the wall of his soulroom and tuning out Ryou for awhile, Bakura thought on this notion. Here he was, a demon bonded to a kid with at least as much raw power as a mid-B class demon. Ryou was interested in demons anyway, so that took care of the problem of him freaking out when he found out what Bakura really was. If Bakura took him on as an apprentice of sorts, taught him how to use his power...
The only real problem was how Bakura could teach him. They could do it at night, of course, while they were both in the soulrooms, but that left their minds and souls without any rest. Maybe there was a spell Bakura could use to create a physical form outside of Ryou's body. That could be very handy. Bakura made a mental note to chase Ryou into the New Age and spellcasting section of the next bookstore they came across.
He wasn't even aware when Ryou and Amane and their father piled into a small car stuffed with duffel bags and started out toward Kyoto. Ryou seemed to sense he was in a brooding mood, and left him alone.
So off they went, into a new life, with new trials awaiting them. They were blissfully unaware that they'd left someone very important behind, sleeping inside of a small boy at a summer camp...
()()()()()
WSJ: Next chapter will be longer and with more action, I swear! This was just a sort of introductory/filler chapter. Sorry for the crappy shortness! Forgive! Forgive!
Hiei: *whacks her*
WSJ: X_X Ugh... Anyway, reviews minna!
Next time: Ryou writes a letter to Suuichi, Bakura reads spellbooks, and both of them have fun with plants! ^_^
God bless minna-san!