September Skies
Chapter 5
Confronted
HACK!
"Jeeze, Ryou, you okay? You're not dying are you?" Amane asked, concerned about her older brother. Ryou removed his hand from his mouth then looked over at her with a smile. "I'm fine."
"Maybe you got to see the doctor-"
"NO! I mean, no. I'm okay. It's just a cold -HACK-....or maybe the flu. Either ways it can be cured here." He replied. Amane smirked. "Ah, I see. Someone doesn't like the doctor...Why?!" She said. She had him cornered now. Ryou frowned. He just didn't want to go. What did she think it was, that he was actually afraid of the doctor? Yeah, right.
"I don't want to go out. And I need to finish a book. I'm almost done and I have no time for distractions." Truth was he was lying. He already finished the book that he had written for Amane. He just had to call Yaten and if he gave the ok to give it to her, he would. But Yaten wanted to tell Amane about her comma since he was there when it happened. So the least Ryou could do was respect his father's wishes.
Amane scanned his face for any signs of guiltiness. "I don't believe you."
Ryou growled. "Just...leave me alone!" Ryou shoved her away from him and quickly walked up the stairs. 'Oh yeah, real mature, Ryou.' He scolded himself. Suddenly there was a knock at the door. "Who could that be?" He asked himself, then, it hit him. Last night's phone conversation. "Yugi?" He asked as he opened the door. Yugi smiled at him. "Ohayo." He replied.
"Morning. Here to see Amane, right?" Yugi nodded as Ryou let him in. Amane, who was in the kitchen, turned to see who it was. She suddenly dropped the cookie she was about to eat and let it hit the counter. "Whoa...Yugi? What happened to you?" She asked, stuttering in her sentence. She was surprised, shocked. Yugi grew five inches taller since yesterday?
Yugi scratched the back of his head. "Uh, well, I got taller..."
"In one day?" She asked, Yugi turned to Ryou; Ryou narrowed his eyes as if telling him he better not spill. Yugi glanced at Amane nervously. "Yes. Strange, I know, but uh, I had a growth spurt?" He now felt like he didn't want to be there. Ryou turned to Yugi.
"I need to show you something."
"All right." Yugi replied rather quickly. He had felt so awkward being in that room with Amane, especially the fact that here everyone aged but she looked almost the same from before she fell into a comma. The only difference he noted was that she had gotten slightly taller and bigger. There were no signs of age on her. She still looked like a high school student. Maybe that's why she hadn't noticed? Yugi asked himself as he followed Ryou up into his room.
Once inside Ryou's room, Ryou closed the door behind him. Yugi looked at him. "What did you want to show me?" He asked, Ryou pulled out a manuscript and handed it to him. "I want you to read this..."
Yugi blinked. "Why?"
"Because there's more than the nice side to Amane. I just wanted you to know that...and what you think of the story. That's it, really."
"Why? What are you talking about?" Yugi clearly did not see the point in this. "I'll read it, but what did you mean about 'there's more than the nice side to Amane'?"
"You'll see. And after you read it, I want you to tell me if I should let Amane read it." Ryou said in almost a whispered voice. Yugi looked down at the manuscript. "Did you like write about her life or something?" He asked, Ryou nodded. Yugi stood. "And you're turning it into a book?!" He gasped, Ryou looked at him.
"It's undecided yet." He replied.
Yugi couldn't believe this. "You're just going to write about her life and pretend it's okay? What if this hurts her? What if she doesn't want this published?!"
"Calm down! That's why I want you to read it." Ryou put it simply. Yugi nervously looked at the manuscript once again. "I want you to read it and tell me if it would be appropriate to show to Amane."
"I don't know...I feel like it's wrong...Like I'm reading her diary or something. I mean, this is her life, her private life....How could you come up with this idea, Ryou?"
Clearly Yugi was over-reacting to the situation. But he knew this was only a minor-reaction comparing it to what Amane's reaction would be. He knew the day they told her she might go ballistic or hell, she might even want to kill herself. At the thought of that Ryou shuddered. After all these years of waiting- after all these years of suffering through hurt, betrayal, and pain Amane left behind- if she just killed herself...he wouldn't know what to do. He supposed he'd cry, like any other regular person, but honestly, what would he do? He couldn't kill himself too- then he'd hurt Bakura and if Bakura killed---he had to stop thinking like this. It was wrong to think like that.
"It wasn't...It wasn't my idea. No...It was Chitose's idea." He whispered, lost in thought.
"You mean the lady doctor that married your dad?"
"Yeah."
"Hmm...Well...she is a doctor, right? So then, if it was her idea and if it's for the good of Amane-"
"That's the thing. How do we know it'll do her any good?"
"Wha-"
Ryou quickly pulled out his cell phone and dialed Chitose's number. After three rings finally she picked up.
"Hello?" Chitose's voice rang through the speaker.
"How do you know it's going to do her any good?" Ryou snapped. "What if it kills her?!" He fought the urge to shout out. Yugi froze and dropped the manuscript, the manuscript's pages scattered across the room. Ryou glanced at him, immediately Yugi dropped to the floor and began to pick them up while Ryou was on the phone.
"Ryou? What are you talking about? Kill who?." Chitose asked, confused. Ryou's anger level went up five levers. He clenched his fist so tight that his skin began to turn an even paler white. "Amane." He stuttered from anger. "The book you told me to write! Don't be stupid!"
"Ryou!" She said, startled.
"The book! Will it kill her?! I need to know!" He muttered into the phone then coughed.
"Calm down Ryou! Please! For goodness sakes! I- I don't know if it will kill her b-BUT! You must let her read it, she needs to know what happened to her!" She said in a panicked voice. First this call, but he now mentioning something about Amane killing herself startled her! Sure, she wasn't their real mother, but she did care about them a whole bunch.
"From my point of view?!" He coughed again.
"You knew her best."
"Will this...kill her?" He asked. He just wanted a straightforward answer.
"It depends on her heart. Her new heart."
"Answer me!"
"I-I don't know, Ryou." She replied quickly as she was being pressured to answer him. Ryou gritted his teeth and took in a deep breath then paused for a moment. "Don't tell me you don't know, DAMMIT!!!!" Ryou screamed and threw the phone on the floor with all his might. The phone crashed into millions of pieces.
Yugi literally jumped off the floor. Did these thoughts just now occur to him? Why didn't they ever cross his mind when he was writing the document? Either ways, he was as scared as hell and just wanted to get out of the room.
Suddenly the door opened and Amane stepped in. "Ryou? Yugi? What's gotten into you two?!" She asked, Ryou quickly turned around in the corner so that she couldn't look at him. Finally, gathering all of his senses, Yugi stood back up and walked to the door. "Uh, he just got angry at me for dropping his story! It's okay Amane." He replied then looked back at Ryou. "I'm just going to go now, okay? I'll make sure to read it, I promise." He said then took Amane by the hand and closed the door as they walked out of the room and down the stairs, leaving Ryou alone to think.
Ryou's heart beated faster with every second he stood. He leapt onto the bed and buried his face in his pillow and quietly began to sob. He just wanted to do the right thing- he didn't want his right thing to do the wrong thing and kill someone. 'You need to calm down.' He kept telling himself. 'Just calm down. No one's dead. Calm down. You haven't given it to her yet. It's ok....arrgh...these thoughts- they crossed my mind several times when writing it- but i didn't really think it'd have that much of an impact on her- gah! I'm talking like it's actually happened! No. I'll just give it Yugi and he'll see whatever's not suitable. I can just take whatever he doesn't see suitable out so...Yeah. It's okay. It's okay...' Once he took the time to think, his tears stopped and he drifted off to sleep.
"That's strange..." Bakura replied, looking at his cell phone. "Why isn't Ryou's cell phone getting through I need to- I need to talk to him…" He said, looking at the flashing screen that said DISCONNECTED. Finally giving up after his fourth try he dialed the house number.
"Moshi Moshi!" Amane replied happily, Bakura felt like fainting. He was already in a hell of trouble with the law, now he was most likely going to be in trouble with Ryou. "Amane, put Ryou on."
"Bakura!!! Mmm…I don't think I can do that. He's sleeping."
"A-Amane, this is serious, put him on the phone."
"I told you, he's sleeping!"
"DAMMIT I DON'T CARE! GET HIM ON THE PHONE NOW!" He snapped, there was a silence on the other end of the phone. "Fine!" She said, a bit hurt that Bakura would yell at her. On the other end he heard a door open and then Ryou's voice in the background.
"Ryou, your good for nothing boyfriend's on the phone."
"Don't talk about him that way. What does he want? I was sleeping…" He coughed.
"Here, just take it. I don't wanna talk to him anymore."
"What?" Ryou asked, Bakura felt his heart stop.
"Ryou, I'm so so sorry. I knew I should have did it earlier but I didn't! I'm sorry- I- I don't know what to do; I've never been in this kind of trouble. I-I-Ryou, you have to help me---"
"Calm down Bakura, calm down. Now what kind of trouble have you managed to get us into this time?" Ryou coughed once again.
"Ryou…" He paused. "We're…no…I'm…I'm getting sued…"
Mob: Wow… That was interesting for the next chapter. Do you want me to stop there or do you want to continue on reading? It's really up to you…Okay, I'll tell you what, since I haven't updated in who knows how long, I'm going to continue. But you got to promise to review, all right? All Right. Continue reading.
"WHAT?!!!!!!!!! BY WHO?!!!!!!!!" Ryou screamed Bakura jumped.
"Look, let's talk about this at home- please?"
"You better hope to God I don't kill your ass when you get here, you stupid, good for nothing boyfriend!!!!!!" Ryou shouted, repeating what Amane had said moments ago then clicked the phone off. Bakura stared at his cell phone, fighting the urge not to cry. He clicked his cell phone off then looked down at his feet. He was ashamed, not to mentioned hurt. Suddenly he felt two silver tears fall from his face and drop to the ground. He quickly felt his face. 'Crying is for the weak! Stop it!' He scolded himself, suddenly the manager walked out from behind him. Bakura threw his apron at him then ran out the doors of the restaurant and to his car where he threw himself on the hood and began throwing punches at it.
"Damn him! Damn him and everyone else on this stupid fucking planet! Aghh!! I wish everyone were dead! Where does he get off doing this? I can't believe he would do this to us! Why?! Why us?!" He stopped for a moment and examined the damage he had done to his and Ryou's car. There were three different dents. He grabbed at his head and began to pull at his hair. Now he'd be in even more trouble! "Why?" He asked, also noticing the blood on his knuckles. "Why am I so stupid?"
"Because you just are."
Bakura's eyes narrowed as he climbed off of his car and took two steps back. "Get the fuck away from me! You've already done as much damage as you can!"
"No, I haven't, at least, not nearly enough as you have, my friend." Yami replied bitterly. Bakura gritted his teeth. "You have some nerve coming up to me after you and your damned lawyer hand me something and say-"
Now Yami's eyes narrowed. "You had the chance to pay me for the repairs after you fucked up my car, don't blame this on me! You had lots of stinking time to pay me, but did you?!"
"Dumbass! It's just a car! It's just a bloody car!" Bakura shouted to the top of his lungs. Yami paused for a moment while Bakura got inside his car and put the key into the engine then putting on his seatbelt. The headlights to the car turned on and shone against the pavement that was darkened by the night.
Yami suddenly walked in front of the car. "I'm not done with you, Bakura!"
Bakura looked down at his lap then laughed. "Really? Because I am." He placed his foot on one of the petals, the engine making speeding noises. "Now get the fuck out of my way before I run your ass over."
"You wouldn't-"
"Oh, I would."
Yami clenched his fist. "You know, you're not so big and mighty as you think you are! You will find that there are people who aren't afraid of you!"
"Get out of my way, now, Yami!"
"NO! I'm not afraid of you, albino!!!"
"Fine, but remember, you chose your ending, not me." Yami jumped back, startled after Bakura's car moved up a few inches. Bakura laughed. "No, I think you are afraid, Yami….very afraid." He said as he drove out from his parking slot. As he was about to take off, he glared at Yami. "You stay the fuck away from Ryou, Amane, and you stay the fuck away from me!!!" He said then speeded off, leaving Yami standing alone in the parking lot.
When Bakura arrived home he saw Ryou was already awaiting his presence. Now he felt even more ashamed. "Ryou…"
"Get over here." Ryou muttered loud enough to where the other could hear. Now Bakura wished he could disappear. He was actually frightened of what Ryou would do to him! His mind raced as he walked up to him. "I-I-I understand if you don't want to be with me anymore." He blurted out. Ryou froze for a moment, a moment that lasted like an hour to Bakura. Suddenly Ryou made a disgusted face then stomped on Bakura's foot. Bakura fell back and yelped.
"You stupid, stupid moron!" Ryou coughed.
"…I know." He said from the floor, about to get up when Ryou turned and gave him an icy glare. "Don't get up."
"…"
"Of course I wouldn't want to leave you, but right now, I'm seriously considering it. Now, who was it, what did you do, and why?"
Bakura froze. He would have to tell him sooner or later. "It was Yami-"
Ryou slowly looked at him, a frown coming upon his face. "And? Continue."
"I damaged his car all because I thought he stole my parking space and I got angry…I swear I didn't know that Kai- the boss changed the parking spaces."
"How much is he suing us for?!"
"$10,000…" Ryou quickly snapped his head around and stared at him, a great emotion of shock flew over him. He placed both his hands on his mouth to prevent himself from screaming his lungs out at Bakura. "Bakura-…" He gritted his teeth. "Do you know how hard it is to pay $10,000?! Money just doesn't pop out of nowhere!"
"Ryou, I know that. Believe me, I do. I know how hard it is to work for money, and I know that that amount of cash is hard to get, but trust me, I'll find a way to make sure you don't pay for any of it." Bakura said then got up from the ground and headed over to Ryou who now sat at the couch, face in hands, arms on his knees.
"Don't be stupid! You can't possibly pay all that by yourself-"
"I'm not being stupid, Ryou, I'm serious!"
"Well your plan is idiotic! No- in fact, it's murderous. Only a person such as you would come up with a bogus plan like that!"
"Don't you dare criticize me! I'm capable of taking care of myself. I will pay this by myself, hell, I don't care if I have to get three jobs, I'll do it, I'll prove to you that I'm responsible like you!" Bakura said then walked outside of the house and collapsed into a chair, which sat on the porch. He needed time to clear his head, to think about how he was going to do this. He knew he would be found guilty, no doubt about it, there was proof, and he had been caught on videotape!
"Don't you dare criticize me! I'm capable of taking care of myself. I will pay this by myself, hell, I don't care if I have to get three jobs, I'll do it, I'll prove to you that I'm responsible like you!"Responsible? Bakura thought him high and mighty? Was he inferior to him? Bakura acted like he was a perfectionist, and he wasn't. He had times where everything went disastrous and yet he didn't do anything nor did he care. "Bakura! Please come back here!" Ryou said through a weak voice. After a moment of waiting he realized he wasn't coming back. When coming upon this conclusion he dug his face into his hands and began to weep.
Fighting back tears, Bakura clenched his fists. Jumping out of his chair and dashing to his feet, he began to run to Malik's place.
Once arriving at Malik's residence about an hour later he pounded on the door. "Please be home…please…" He mumbled, the door opened and a tan Egyptian wearing nothing but black stood there confused. Immediately Bakura clung to him, knocking the boy over in surprise. "Ba-bakura?!"
"I need your help…"
"Ryou, you sure you should be working on you story just after you had a fight with Bakura?" She asked, Ryou shook his head. "It's the only thing I can do that will take my mind off of him. And right now, I really need that."
"You're doing this so that you can help him pay it off, right?"
"No…Besides, he may not even be guilty!" Ryou said, trying his best to defend Bakura. Amane shook her head and sat down on his bed. "Ryou, he confessed. He told you that he did it, right? He didn't deny it."
"So he's…not going to lie to the court? He's going to plead guilty and he's going to pay off the money he owes Yami?" He asked, Amane nodded, filing her nails. "Looks like it." She replied. Ryou looked down at his keyboard. This was…this was strange. But it definitely was a change…Bakura actually being responsible. He guessed the old saying was right. Time definitely changed people.
"So, what is it? You in trouble? Do you need me to kill someone for you?" Malik asked, being way over protective of Bakura. After all, he was Malik's first love- until he met Marik. Bakura got up and walked over to Malik's couch where he sat down. Malik stared at him, waiting for a reply. Finally Bakura spoke up. "I need to crash here for a while."
"Huh?"
"Look, I'm probably the last person Ryou needs to see right now…And…I need your help." He replied, Malik frowned then got up and sat down next to him. "And now I'm asking what you need my help with?"
"I need money…I need to find a job that will get me a lot of money."
"And how do you plan to do that? You never even went to college, and the only way you can make that kind of money that you want is by actually going to college and graduating. Without that then I see you're stuck." Malik replied. He knew this because he was still in college, trying his best to graduate. Right now he was trying to become professional chef.
"I'm a bit ashamed of what my conclusion is." Bakura replied then stood up and walked over to a full-length mirror sitting in a corner in the living room. Looking at himself, he turned to face Malik. "Hey, Malik?"
"Hmm?"
"Do you…Do you still like me?"
If you're not a poseur, you're a fake. If you truly believe that you're life isn't worth living and you're able to smile the next day as if nothing ever happened, that those thoughts never occurred to you, then you're life isn't worth living anyways. It's a waste of pure life.
I'm not asking you to think life is bright and is worth living to the fullest everyday.
I'm not asking you to kill yourself if you're unhappy.
As a matter of fact, I'm not even sure what I'm asking for. The point is that you're here. That you're alive. If you want a good reason to continue living, think about the people who care about you, no matter how few those are. Live for them, because most likely, they cannot live without you.
Ryou finished typing in a passage then saved his document. He got up and stretched then walked towards the stairs, looking for Bakura who still hadn't returned. "What? Why-" His knees grew weak and he collapsed, tumbling down the stairs. After a while, waiting to see if Amane would come to help him, he remembered she had went out to the store. He sat up, wincing from the incredible pain in his back. "Shit!" He cursed then crawled over to the phone where he knocked it off the hook by the cord, picking it up and holding it to his face to see if there was a dial tone. He dropped the phone and punched in the number to Chitose's house. After three rings she picked up.
"Moshi moshi, Chitose, what can I do for you?"
"Chi- HACK! –tose-"
"Um…hello?"
"Is Bakura there?" He asked, Chitose suddenly recognized the voice. "Ryou? Are you okay?" She asked, Ryou coughed again. He looked down at his body which when he tried to move it stung horribly. "I'm fine." He lied. "Is Bakura there?"
"No, he is not. Why?"
"He's not? Okay. Well, thanks." He said then hung up, not caring to answer her question. Chitose who was on the other line frowned. 'Those kids of Yaten's. They treat people like scum.' She quickly let it go then hung up. Ryou coughed again and again until finally it got so bad that he could hardly breathe. 'Maybe it is time to see the doctor…'
HACK
HACK
Splurt!
Eyes scattershot, he looked down to see what that noise was that came from his body. On the light blue carpet and on his right hand he found a puddle of spitty blood. "Cr-crap…!" He cried then forced himself to sit up. HACK! 'No! No- I can't let Amane find out!' He once again forced himself to stand up although it ached horribly. He ran to the kitchen and put a balled paper towel in his mouth. He grabbed the roll of paper towels and grabbed the stain remover and dashed over to the puddle of blood he left on the floor. He fell to his knees and yelped, quickly dismissing that he frantically began to clean the mess up. Once it was gone, he ran into the laundry room and threw his shirt inside the washing machine since the right sleeve was spattered with a few traces of blood. After making sure it was washing, he ran back up the stairs, fighting the urge to cry out loud with every step he took. He ran into his room and dumped the used paper towels in his closet. He pulled out a green sweatshirt and quickly put it on. Falling to the floor, he yelped again and removed the blood soaked paper ball from his mouth. He wrapped it with the other paper towels and threw it in his closet. He would clean that mess up later. Quickly crawling to the bathroom, he shut the door behind him.
"Ah- it hurts so much-…" He cried as he tried standing up so he could use the sink. Knowing it was no use, he crawled over to the tub and turned the water on, clogging the drain. Once gathering enough water, he got both of his hands and swooped up the water and slurped it into his mouth. He swooshed the water around then spit it back out. He discovered that most of his bleeding was done. He unclogged the drain then opened the bathroom door, crawling out and crawling to his room.
Once inside his room, climbing onto his bed, he collapsed. "Bakura…"
Malik moaned as Bakura's tongue forced it's way into his mouth. Malik suddenly pushed the boy off of him, Bakura fell off the couch and onto the floor, landing with a thud. "What the fuck?!"
"Stop it!" Malik shouted, covering his ears with his hands. "Stop messing with my mind!" He continued, now rocking back and forth. Bakura blinked. "What the hell is your problem?"
"You love Ryou! And I love Marik! So stop!"
"…"
"That shitty romance that I had for you is over! It was always over because you never returned my feelings! And that's what had driven me to this!" Malik rolled up his sleeve, Bakura's eyes widened. Along his arm was a deep pink scar. "And you never even cared! Do you think I'm desperate enough for you that I'd pay you just for you?!"
"Well, you weren't like that when I asked."
"Bakura, you should be ashamed! You betrayed the trust of your partner! You know, you're lucky enough that kissing was the only thing we did!" Malik got up and marched over to the phone, Bakura's eyes widened. "Malik, what are you doing?"
"I'm calling Marik. I'm going to apologize for what I've done!"
"WAIT! Don't! No! He'll want to know who the other person was and-"
"And what?!"
"We'd both be kicked to the curb…" Bakura's voice went silent. Malik frowned then dropped the phone on the counter. He sat back down on the couch and covered his eyes. "I can't believe I did that!"
"Me either…" Bakura was now in total shock. He couldn't believe he was that desperate to get money…all so that he wouldn't loose Ryou… "DAMMIT! And I had just gotten better!" Malik muttered. "I had just convinced myself that I was important, that I didn't need you! That life had light on it!"
"I'm sorry…I better go now…I'm sorry, Malik."
"Yeah? Well I am too…" He muttered then looked at the floor with narrowed eyes. Bakura quickly walked out of the house and began walking back home. The long trip home…where Ryou would be waiting…he felt so miserable.
Malik was right.
He had betrayed the trust of his partner.
And when Ryou found out…
That would be it.
That would be the end…
He couldn't handle that kind of situation…that's why…
Ryou…would never find out.
"I don't deserve to live…"
Mob: …OMG!!!!! I can't believe I chose to end the chapter by writing this! I'm a bad person! (bangs head on wall, killing all brain cells that are left) I'm sorry! But I decided that it was really time to update. Well, I guess the plot thickens. Romance troubles, trust issues, health issues, being in trouble with the law? Who writes these kinds of things? Okay, that would be me…..even if you hated it, please review.