Hiei: *scowl*
Ryou: *sigh* WSJ doesn't own YGO or YYH, for which we are all glad.
WSJ: On to the chapter, minna!
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Like a Thief in the Night
Part Two: Growing Up Human
Chapter 3 -- Ryou's Green Thumb
Three weeks had passed, and everything had begun to settle to normal. Or as "normal" as it ever got, anyway. It was still the middle of the summer, so Ryou and Amane didn't have to go to school. Shen Bakura had started his work at the local museum, and the children were watched by one of their new neighbors while their dad was at work.
Ryou and Bakura spent those weeks experimenting and getting to know one another better. Bakura soon discovered that he could 'take over' Ryou's body when he wanted to, and when he did he could either let Ryou see and hear what was going on or block him out completely.
Ryou managed to find several books at the Kyoto Public Library that had to do with what Bakura called Spirit Energy, and Bakura would sit up at night when Ryou was asleep in his soulroom and read them.
"Aha!!" Bakura crowed early one morning, jabbing his index finger at the page he was reading. "I knew I'd heard of that spell somewhere before!!" He read over the incantation several times to make sure he had it memorized, then closed his eyes and focused inward. Taking hold of his Spirit Energy, he put it into use as he cast the spell. He'd only need the incantation this once. After the initial set-up he could activate it just by a thought.
He finished the spell and opened his eyes, and bit back a cry of triumph. Ryou's body was now tumbled back on the bed, asleep. Bakura himself was sitting cross-legged next to it in a transparent spiritual form. Bakura frowned a little when he noticed this, and leaned over to read the fine print on the Demonic Separation spell he'd just cast. "Hm. 'Demon may appear spiritualistic at first, only seen by psychics and his host. As time passes and bond with host grows, separated form will become more solid. Rare cases have reported complete mortality and solidity of separated form.' Huh. Interesting."
Most ignorant humans would believe demon possession to be an act of evil, but it was not so. A good deal of demon-human possessions were formed only after mutual consent, and benefited both. Most of the time the demon and human became life-long partners, if not friends. It was only in rare cases that a human was possessed against his will and actually fought against the demon's hold.
"Mmph?" Ryou sat up, rubbing his eyes. "Bakura? How come you're see-through?"
Bakura grinned a little. "I found the spell I was looking for. Now I can exist outside of you, and we can start training."
Ryou blinked, and instantly became much more alert. "Training?"
"You want to be a ghost hunter, right? I can teach you ten times what any stupid book could."
"Wow, really? I mean, you'd really train me to be a ghost hunter?"
Bakura nodded and reached over to ruffle Ryou's hair. "But only after you've had a good night's sleep."
Ryou nodded and obediently lay down after closing the book Bakura'd been reading and setting it on the bedside table. Still smiling fondly, Bakura let himself fade into his soulroom and flopped onto his bed. A moment later Ryou crept in and curled up beside him, as he had for the past three weeks. Bakura opened one eye to look down at him, then wrapped an arm around his host and pulled him close. It reminded him a little bit of when Kurama was younger, and the kitsune would curl up against him at night. In this manner, Ryou and Bakura soon fell asleep.
Dear Suuichi,
I finally found someone to be my sensei! His name is Yami Bakura, but I don't think he's related to me at all, even though he looks like me. I asked him if he was related to me, but he only laughed and ruffled my hair. He does that a lot. He's really nice, even though he gets kinda sad sometimes. I think something really bad happened to him before he met me, but he won't tell me what. He just says he'll tell me when I'm older. I hate being so little! Anyway, Bakura's training me to be something he calls a Spirit Detective. He thought it was really funny to call me that. I asked him why, and he said there's someone else that trains Spirit Detectives, too, and that he and Bakura don't like each other. I dunno why, anyone who knows all the cool stuff Bakura does has to be all right. He's teaching me all sorts of neato things, like how to sense this magic he calls Spirit Energy, and how to meditate, and stuff. He's also teaching me martial arts. He says there's a way to use your Spirit Energy in martial arts attacks, but hasn't showed me how yet. And he hasn't taught me to sense demons and ghosts yet, either, which is what I really want to do. He gets really nervous when I ask and says I'm not strong enough yet. I wonder if demons had something to do with why he's so sad all the time. I hope you had fun at summer camp Suuichi, I miss you. Write back soon!
Your cousin, Ryou Bakura
Ryou put down his pen and smiled at the letter. He and Bakura had officially been in training for four days, and Ryou could tell already he was going to love it. Most of what they were doing so far was just sitting on the bed and meditating, and the martial arts lessons were taking place in the soulrooms, since they couldn't really do anything else with Amane and the baby-sitter downstairs.
Rummaging around in his desk drawer for an envelope, Ryou caught a glimpse of the potted aloe vera plant sitting on his window sill. Ryou'd always loved plants, his room back in Domino had been something of a jungle before he'd had to start giving them away before the move. He hadn't had time to rebuild his collection yet, but daddy had given him this aloe plant to start out with.
Getting up from his seat, Ryou moved toward the window and frowned. No matter how much he watered it or how carefully he cared for it, this little plant seemed determined to die. Ryou reached out a hand to touch one of the curled leaves, and then something strange happened.
A silver-blue spark seemed to jump out of his finger, and the leaf uncurled a little, regaining some of its healthy green color. Ryou's jaw dropped, and he jerked his hand away. Fascinated, he moved his fingers closer, only to have the same thing happen again. Getting braver, Ryou ran one finger down the stem, and the plant suddenly sprang up over an inch, and spontaneously sprouted several new leaves.
/Bakura!!/
Bakura, who'd been napping in his soulroom, jerked awake and immediately separated from his host. "What, what's wrong?!"
"Look!" Ryou said excitedly, moving his hand along the plant and watching as it grew some more. "It likes me!"
Bakura's jaw dropped. If Yami had seen such an expression on his face, the Hunter would have howled in laughter. "Holy Anubis, Ryou! You shouldn't be able to do that!"
Ryou moved his hand away from the plant, his smile fading. "I shouldn't?"
Bakura shook his head a little. "It's not a bad thing that you can, Ryou. But controlling plants is one of my powers, and it's a really rare power, too. It must have transferred to you when I-" he stopped and paled.
"When you what?" Ryou asked, blinking in confusion.
"When I possessed you." Bakura finished, his transparent face white. "Shit."
"When you possessed me?!" Ryou squeaked, his eyes wide.
Bakura nodded, obviously distracted. "Yeah. Sorry I didn't tell you, kid. I'm a demon, and you're kinda stuck with me."
Had he been in a better frame of mind, Bakura might have been more amused when Ryou's face broke into a grin and he exclaimed "Coool!"
"Maybe not." Bakura said, still pale. "I'm an okami, Ryou. A wolf demon. And tonight's a full moon."
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WSJ: *cackles*
Ryou: *blinkie* So I'm a Terra Mage and werewolf too?
Bakura: Looks that way.
WSJ: *grin* Reviews, minna!
Next time: It's the first full moon of Bakura's conscious possession, and it looks like everything is destined to go wrong. Shen takes the family out for dinner, and even after Ryou manages to get away, it looks like he's being stalked by a demon. What can he and Bakura do? Find out next time!
God bless minna-san!