Heeeeeey! Another chapter done! I barely have any time to write during the week anymore—not much time on the weekends, either, come to think of it. I've been extremely slow with email; I must be driving quite a few people crazy ::grin:: Well, here's the next chapter, and it's kinda scary, despite the title of it (I was going for a little irony, ya know ::shrug:: ).

Chapter 6: Nude Bunnies and Children

While Ryou was gone, Kinou merely sat on the bed in deep thought. She tried thinking of happy things to distract herself whenever she got too depressed, and for some odd reason she could only think of an expression one of her friends used to say whenever he was trying to cheer someone up. It always made her laugh, and she found it still somewhat amusing as she attempted to untangle the jumble of thoughts in her mind.

Bakura was still controlling Ryou, that was for sure. But he said that he could keep him under control… didn't seem that way back there… well, now I'm kinda stuck here until… until… "Until what?" she wondered aloud.

Until Seto stops acting like a lunatic? Until Setokku stops controlling him? Until I feel like going back? What!

She made a noise of frustration and put her head in her hands, realizing that she had come yet again to a familiar point in her thinking; she had been going in circles for quite some time. Why is life so fucking complicated? Why couldn't I have just let Seto's guard get rid of the Rod? I kinda believe in the whole repeating history thing… but why couldn't this have happened to the next person who's a reincarnation?

The necklace on her was untied and gazed at in her palm. "Why the hell did I have to be the one to find you, eh?" she said to it. "Are you some seventh Millennium Item or what?" She turned it over to look for some sign of a Millennium Eye, but saw none, and went back to glaring at it. "Item or not, I really don't like that you chose me as your new carrier, Anji. Leave me alone! Yargh!" She squeezed the bird in her hand and shut her eyes, feeling a fresh wave of exasperation threatening to engulf her.

No, no can't have that happening. "Nude bunnies!" she shouted.

Her proclamation echoed slightly in the next room, followed shortly by a small fit of giggles. It wasn't as funny as the first time she had ever heard it, but it distracted her for a few moments with the weird mental images it brought to her mind.

"Nude bunnies?"

Kinou jumped at seeing Ryou in the doorway of the bedroom with a mildly puzzled expression. In her fervent thinking she had not heard him come home, and now felt a slight blush rising to her cheeks. "Erm… yeah…" She coughed and looked at the wall.

He came and sat down beside her. "I thought bunnies were nude anyway," he said contemplatively.

"Well… they are, but… I don't know."

"And you just randomly decided to yell that out, then?" he asked.

Kinou nodded. "So!" she said somewhat loudly. "Did you have fun on the errand?"

"Oh, not really," he said with a smile. "I actually got rather lost somehow on the way and forgot why I even left. I suppose I was just thinking too hard."

"Ah."

A silence settled between them, and Kinou shifted a little on the bed, choosing to instead pretend as though her fingernails were interesting enough to look them over. She could feel Ryou's eyes stray to her every now and again, and she began to think that Bakura's were as well. The strange flash of imagery she had seen swam through her mind like a whirlpool and somehow she began to doubt it had even happened. She started again when Ryou shifted also to face her.

"So, where did you get that necklace?" he asked, glancing at it.

"This thing?" Her hand rose up to slightly toy with it, rubbing her thumb over it as she had grown accustomed to doing. "I don't really know, actually. I think my mom got it for me somewhere."

"How long have you had it?"

"At least 3 years, I'd say." She tilted her head. "Why?"

He straightened up slightly. "It's just very nice; now I know how other people felt when they kept asking me about my Millennium Ring," he said with a slight laugh.

"I see." She clenched her fist around it inadvertently. "This isn't quite as interesting, though; I mean come on… it's a little pipsqueak of a bird and I'm not even sure if it's real metal or if it's cheap stuff with paint on the surface—"

"It's gold."

She blinked at him. "…yeah," she said slowly. She was again feeling the need to get away from him, as he was definitely giving her a weird feeling that she didn't like at all. "I… think I should go out for a short walk."

"Why?" The question was sharply shot at her.

"Well, you know, the whole thing with Seto and… the spirit…thing…" She trailed off, getting up off the bed.

"I don't think you should leave," Ryou nearly growled, standing up as well.

"Why not?"

"It's not safe out there. Besides, don't you want to stay here and try to find more about Setokku before you go back to face him?"

Kinou was surprised that he remembered the spirit's name, and he also spoke it with a strange accent, as Seto had in the vision. She tried to keep her voice steady. "Walks tend to clear my head and… if it's all blocked up like it is now, there's no way I can even start to try and figure anything out."

"You don't need to clear an already thoughtless head," he said, taking a step towards her. "I, however, know far more about the spirit of the Millennium Rod than any one else, almost more than he may know about himself. All I need is a link to him in the past."

Kinou backed up slightly and felt her back touch the wall behind her. "W-Well I don't know how you'd—"

"You are the reincarnation of Princess Anji," he cut her off harshly. "She wore that same necklace; I know because I stole it and was nearly sentenced to death by the high priest himself because he was so infatuated with that wench. I was nearly sentenced to death by a betrayer, and a foolish one at that! You are a way for me to study that spirit and harness the source of his power…" He slowly reached out his hand. "You will be the key to my revenge for what that fool put me through."

"Don't—I—I don't—" Kinou stuttered, flattening herself against the wall.

"You think you have a choice in the matter?" he sneered. "You couldn't defend your way out of a paper bag, let alone out of my reach." His hand shot out and caught her roughly by the arm, and she cried out as a fresh wave of energy surged through her.

A bright light blinded her senseless, and she felt a strong pull, though she could not tell what it was. Shouts reached her ears—shouts for help coming from a young child. The voice was shouting for someone, anyone, that would come to help; all the while a second child was screaming out in pain. A scene also flooded by light began to emerge, but as it did so, Kinou could have sworn that her soul was being torn from her body; she cried out loudly as well and forced herself to sense her real body. She practically flailed her arm and felt her fist collide with something solid—as soon as the grip faltered the screaming of the children halted, and she stumbled blindly sideways as Bakura brought a hand to his cheek, grimacing.

Before she knew what she was doing, she ran out of the bedroom and shut the door behind her. Not seeing a lock, she threw herself against it to hold it as the enraged yami gave a yell of anguish and rammed it, nearly throwing her off with its force. Pounding soon followed, and Kinou flinched each time the door was struck, praying that it wouldn't break into pieces before she could think of a way to help herself. She stood for what seemed like an eternity against the wooden barrier before the spirit of the Ring calmed down and stopped his barrage.

"Ki-nou," came a voice disguised with a soft tone that parents frequently used on their children. It sent fear bolting into her stomach. "I'm not angry with you, I just want to talk about the spirit. If you let me out I might tell you why I feel the need to find out about him." He spoke as though to a frightened animal to coax it before its slaughter, and Kinou kept a hand firmly latched onto the doorknob, getting down on one of her knees to rest her legs and keeping her shoulder firmly planted against the door.

"Really, I won't hurt you. Just let me out and we can talk like civilized people; just trust me." Kinou couldn't find her voice, but there was no way she was about to let him through to her. When he didn't hear a response, he kicked the door hard again; Kinou yelped. "Let me out, Kinou! You're only making things worse for yourself! You're a dead fool if you think that this will be your way out of here!"

She shut her eyes as he slammed his fists into the door a few times, though his words made her realize what a hole she had dug herself into. Glancing around the apartment, she saw the front door, but it was locked, and there would be no way to reach it and get through before she was caught. A faint noise emanated from the room, and Kinou was surprised to hear an extremely weak voice.

"Whoa… where am I?" A slight shuffling of feet and a jiggle of the doorknob—her hand still clenched it and prevented it from turning. "Hello? Is anyone there?"

Is that Ryou? she wondered, furrowing her brow.

"Hello?" he called out a little louder. "Kinou? Are you here? Can you let me out? The door's stuck or something. Can you hear me?" Kinou kept her mouth shut. "Kinou! Help me! Please! Open the door!"

She drew her mouth in a straight line. Ryou wouldn't know whether I'm here or not… that's Bakura still.

"Hey, Kinou! Did something happen while I was out? Hello! You don't need to worry; the spirit went into his soulroom or something; it's only me!" Silence for a few moments. "Kinou…"

She heard some harshness creeping its way back into his voice as he realized she wasn't going to let him out, and her eyes skimmed the apartment again, instead looking for a phone. Who she would call, she had no idea, but she looked anyway; one was on the counter of the kitchen, about six feet from her.

"I don't know what you hope to accomplish with this," he growled at her. "You really can't do anything, you foolish girl. You've put us in a stalemate."

She slightly held out her arm towards the phone, but it was out of her reach by a few feet. Even if she stood up, she wouldn't be able to get to it without stepping mostly away from the door, and her foot alone would not be able to keep the yami at bay.

"Ki-nou…" His tone switched slightly to amusement, her name rolling off his tongue in mockery, his voice dropping. "Let me out, Kinou… you can't do anything now except hope that I give up. Pretty far-fetched… why don't you think of nude bunnies or something to calm yourself down and think straight?"

She bared her teeth, tears of fright starting to fall from her eyes as she tried to again stretch to the phone in vain, her fingertips not even coming close to grazing the counter upon which it sat.

"…you have to sleep sometime, Kinou."

Her motion froze as his statement reached her, settling in the pit of her stomach to twist it into a gnarl. She heard the creaking of a bed and realized that he was going to wait as long as he needed to for her to let him out. Her arm came back slowly, and she buried her face in her hands as she started to cry to herself. The belligerent spirit's laughter at her from within his temporary prison made her dread the next time she would see him.