Disclaimer: I'll own it when I stop calling my teachers bakas behind their backs. Three guesses as to how long it's gonna take for that to happen. If y'all review me and guess right, you'll get imiginary hot chocolate with marshmallows and whipped cream and all that good stuff. I love hot chocolate. .
Cry of the Black Magician
Chappie Four: Mr. Bakura
"Ah!"
"It's a blackout!"
"Stay calm, it's just a blackout. The door is right there," Atemu held Anzu's hand tightly. "It's okay. Come, follow me."
When the whole gang got outside, the storm was raging. "HOW... ARE... WE... GOING... TO... GET... HOME?" Otogi shouted over the harsh wind. They all huddled together.
"Don't worry. You guys can all come over to my place until after the storm clears. It's just a five minute walk from here."
"No objection to that."
Making sure to all hold hands so as not to lose each other they trudged through the storm, which was getting worse by the minute, until they finally got to Ryo's apartment building. He led them up to his third-floor apartment and brought out his key from the pocket of his school uniform jacket, to find the door already open.
"That's odd..."
"Ryo!" A VERY tall, VERY broad-shouldered man with VERY black hair stepped out of the doorway to the kitchen.
"Father?" He looked nothing like the kid.
"Who else would have your spare key?"
"Father!" Ryo ran to the man and threw his arms around him. The man patted his son's mane of white hair, dripping with snow. "You've grown so much, Ryo! And who are these?" he asked, noticing for the first time Atemu, Yugi, Anzu, Jou, Mai, Shizuka, Honda and Otogi.
"Oh, you guys have never met my father!" He then grinned. "You probably do know who half of them are actually, Father."
The tall man looked over the group, then did a double take. "Yugi and Atemu Mutou, Ryuuji Otogi, Katsuya Jounouchi and Mai Kujaku? Ryo?"
"Yes! And this is Shizuka Jounouchi, Jou's little sister, and Hiroto Honda, and this is Anzu Mazaki. She just finished an audition for the ballet at the local theatre, but it's snowing so hard that there's no way they could've gotten all the way home on foot. Could they stay here until this storm is over?"
"It's your apartment, my boy. Maybe you should consider hanging their coats, though. I'll go make tea." Ryo blushed.
"Oh yes. Sorry. Here, let me take those." He hung their soaking coats on hooks near the door as they all respectfully removed their wet shoes.
"The living room is this way," he said to Mai, Shizuka and Otogi, who had never been to his apartment before. He sneezed and went to bring an extra box of tissues into the living room. They sat down and chatted for a while, and then Ryo and Shizuka disappeared into the kitchen to help Mr. Bakura bring in mugs of steaming tea.
When everyone finally held a mug, Mr. Bakura took a seat next to Atemu on one of the couches. The teens (and Mai) were all talking amongst themselves. He, Atemu and Anzu sat in that order on one couch, Otogi, Shizuka and Honda on another. Jou, Mai and Yugi were conversing on the floor and his son had brought in a chair from the kitchen and moved it so that he could be seated next to his father. It was cozy, all of them watching the snow swirl outside through the living room window.
"How's school been, son?"
"Oh, very good! I'm really enjoying it!" He was very enthusiastic but also very tired from the walk home, and failed to supress a yawn, a sneeze following that.
"All right?" the older Bakura asked as his son blew his nose.
"Yes, fine. If you could've seen the state Atemu was in the other day, you wouldn't think twice about it." He sneezed again, not exactly convincing his father,
"Speakin' o' 'Temu, how come neither him or Anzu's said anything since we got in?" asked Jou in a slightly stuffy voice.
"They're asleep! Oh, that is so KAWAII!" squealed Shizuka. "Does anybody have a camera?"
Ryo rushed into his bedroom and came back with a disposable camera. "Everyone give them bunny ears! You too, father!"
"No, let me take it."
"All right then." Ryo handed the camera over to Mr. Bakura and squeezed in between Shizuka and Otogi. Mr. Bakura snapped the picture. Everyone agreed it was a moment to remember. Anzu had one arm across Atemu's shoulders, and both his were around her waist. Her head was resting on his shoulder, and his head on hers. His eyes had that lovable catlike scrunch to them.
"Awww!" cooed Mai. "They make the perfect couple!"
"You mean they aren't already?" asked Ryo's father, raising an eyebrow.
"Oh, they are," said Ryo, sitting back down on the floor with Yugi and sniffling a bit.
"Here. Drink your tea, Ryo." Mr. Bakura handed Ryo his mug and the boy sipped the hot liquid slowly.
"Thanks." He yawned. "I'm tired. Those auditions were quite long. It's really no wonder Anzu and Atemu fell asleep."
"Did Atemu also audition?"
Ryo laughed. "No, but he played in the band and orchestra." He got a puzzled look from his father. "It's a long story." He yawned, and so did everyone else, except for the already-asleep Anzu and Atemu.
Mr. Bakura turned on the television to catch the seven o' clock news. It was all about the storm.
"-until at the absolute least mid-day this Sunday, so if you're anywhere near Domino City, we strongly advise you to stay where you are up until it lets up. Now on to the local-" Ryo's father flipped it off.
"You had all better call home, those of you that live with parents. Is that any of you?" he asked, eyeing the group.
"I'm staying with my big brother for a while," said Shizuka. Honda, Otogi and Mai all lived on their own, more or less.
"Can I call my Jii-chan (It's annoying how it slips out, eh Electric Fire?) for Atemu and me?"
"Sure. What about Anzu?"
"Her parents went on a business trip. Thay won't be home for a while," Otogi spoke up.
"How d'ya kow dat?"
"She told me."
"Oh."
"Silence.
"Hey Father? We need to figure out where everyone is going to sleep."
"Well, let's see..."
"There's the bed, armchair and inflatable matress in my room and the two couches in here that can open up to fit two with enough space to have a good comfortable foot between two peple. So that's... seven. There are eight of my friends, plus you and I also need to somewhere to sleep. I've got two sleeping bags, so that's nine..."
"And I brought one because I didn't know whether or not you actually had furniture in here yet. Ten."
"Okay then. Let's see... The three girls can have the bed and armchair and I'll inflate the blow-up matress in my room."
"And da rest o' us guys battle it out for the spots in here!" shouted Jou, enthusiastic all of a sudden at the chance to let a fist fly.
"Hey," said Otogi slyly, "Someone should wake up 'Temu and Anzu."
Shizuka lightly shook the two and in half an hour everything was settled. Mai, Anzu and Shizuka went in Ryo's room and closed the door with a soft snap.
Mr. Bakura and Ryo had insisted on taking sleeping bags and Otogi took one as well. Jou and Honda had one opened-up sofa while Yugi and Atemu got the other. Atemu had borrowed some slightly old sweat pants of Ryo's and Yugi had borrowed some REALLY old sweat pants from Ryo. Actually, they were surprised Ryo even owned sweat pants, considering he never wore them. Otogi, Jou and Honda, actually being normal height, borrowed some stuff from a chuckling Mr. Bakura. Ryo lent the girls some old things of his mother's and little sister's, who had each passed away in a car crash a few years ago. He had high-tailed it out of the girls' room, not wanting to break down crying in front of them. He ran out, smack into his father. The tears spilled. Ryo ran to the bathroom and locked the door. He knew his father knew what it was about. He just wanted to be alone.
A knock came at the door. "Ryo?" It was his dad. "Are you okay?"
Ryo slowly opened the door. The older Bakura took a cautious step forward, then pulled his smaller-than-average son into a tight hug. The boy cried until his voice went dry.
"I miss Mom and Amane so much."
"I do too."
"I love you."
"I love you too. Let's get to bed," Mr. Bakura said gently, pushing Ryo in the right direction. They each got into their sleeping bags. Around them they could hear Honda and Otogi's snoring, Yugi's barely audible breaths, Jou mumbling in his sleep about an evil anchovie pizza, and Atemu's unsteady wheezing.
"I'm going to find blankets to put over those four on the couches. Your friend Atemu isn't sounding good."
"I'll help you."
They came back the next minute, arms heavy with blankets that they draped over the sleepers. Then they settled back down.
"So school's going well?"
"Oh yes, I'm getting ever so much more out of it this year. Also the food seems to by some strange, inexplicable phenomenon taste better."
"Any girls?"
Ryo laughed. "I'll have to grow a little first. Most of them are taller than me. And I need a deeper voice, minus the accent if possible."
"You may be Japanese, but you grew up in England. You are never going to lose that accent, my boy. But that is besides the point. You're beating around the bush. I know you. So who's this girl?"
Ryo blushed a healthy shade of red. "Must I tell you?"
"You will if you don't wish to be tickled to death."
Ryo made a face. "Fine. Shizuka."
"Seriously? Wait, you were born serious." He smirked. "You know, she smiled when you held her hand to show her the apartment."
"Really?"
"Mm hmm."
-yawn-
Nine AM the Next Morning:
"BREAKFAST! YOU SNOOZE, YOU LOSE!" shouted Jou. He, Honda, Mr. Bakura, Yugi, Otogi, Mai, Anzu and Shizuka had all practically torn apart poor little Ryo's small kitchen making tons of pancakes in a huge assembly line. They now had made somewhere between fifty and sixty in about ten minutes. Atemu and Ryo were still asleep.
"Whoa, they even slept through your hollering, Jou," joked Honda. He stepped over a few sleeping bags and Ryo to where Atemu slept, curled in a tight ball and wheezing as he breathed. Honda noticed that a red flush had spread across the boy's cheeks. He pushed a hand to Atemu's forehead, and it felt like flames erupting under him. Then again, he'd just been holding a glass of ice water, so he really couldn't tell what 'warm' was.
"Hey Mr. Bakura?"
"Yes?"
"Could you come over here for a second?"
"Sure." The tall black-haired man walked over to Honda. "What's wrong, son?"
"He is." Honda pointed to Atemu, shivering, cheeks flushed and forehead sweaty. The man put his hand to the boy's face, causing Atemu to cough a bit.
"Yes, he's got a fever." Then he turned and felt Ryo's forehead out of fatherly instinct. "Ryo's a bit warm, but I noticed he had what seemed like a cold last night, so that's probably all that that is.
"What about Atemu though? He was pretty sick a few days ago, and he had to go to the hospital. It scared the heck out of all of us."
"Oh? Well, we'll deal with both of them when they wake. Waking Ryo when he isn't feeling well is NOT a good idea, take it fom me. He has a tendency to thrash out at you, shouting something about an evil ring or something whenever he's woken and has a fever. But for right now, let's have breakfast. You kids need to eat."
Honda smiled. "I like your thinking!"
As they were clearing the breakfast dishes, a very tired-looking Ryo and Atemu came into the kitchen.
"You're up!" exclaimed Anzu. She gave Atemu a hug and kiss on the forehead, but quickly withdrew. "Your forehead's burning!"
Atemu reached up a hand and rubbed his temples. "Owww..."
Mr. Bakura, seeing this, strode over to the two boys and firmly stuck a thermometer in each of their mouths. I'll leave it up to my readers to decide why Ryo had two. Include a good reason in your review and y'all get the first seven volumes of YGO manga, translated but unsanitized. GOOD stuff.
"Ryo is one hundred degrees flat, and Atemu-" He read Atemu's- "One hundred and four point nine! Great Scott, no wonder you were shivering like mad last night!" He cast a worried look outside the window. "But there's no way we could possibly go more than a few feet in that storm." He grimaced, trying to make the wisest decision possible in that situation. The shorter boy was deathly pale, apart from scarlet cheeks and nose, shivering in Ryo's thickest pair of old sweat pants.
"You two are going to stay either in bed or not doing anything tiring all day, do you understand?" Ryo was probably just sick from the snow and cold, which he had always been sensitive to as a boy, but Atemu needed medical attention that was impossible to acquire in the storm. It was a wonder the power was still on in the apartment building.
The two nodded.
"Ryo, isn't there a drug store right across the street?"
"There is. Why?"
"I need to get a few things, and it's now or never the way this blizzard is turning out. We're lucky it's so close, otherwise it would be suicide going out in that weather. I'll be back in a bit." He donned a coat and boots and left.
Mai, Anzu and Shizuka continued cleaning up the kitchen and then Ryo's room, and the boys went to work on the living room. By the time Ryo's father came back, a bag under each arm, the place was practically spotless.
"Can I help you with those?" offered Yugi.
"Sure. Unload this one." Mr. Bakura handed Yugi one of his bags. Anzu joined Yugi and they pulled out a few loaves of bread, tissues, eggs, flu medicine, a bag of cough drops, and hot chocolate mix. Mr. Bakura's bag held tea bags, milk, more bread, more tissues and crackers.
They put everything away except for some milk and hot chocolate mix, and Mr. Bakura made a huge pot of hot chocolate. He rooted around for some little mint candies, dropping one into each steaming mug. Yugi and Anzu helped him carry them all into the living room, where everyone had subconsciously gathered. Jou and Otogi sat on the floor on opposite sides of the coffee table between the two couches playing a laid-back game of Duel Monsters, watched by Ryo, Shizuka and Honda on one sofa and Mai, and Atemu on the other. Mr. Bakura chuckled to see Shizuka timidly reach out a hand to Ryo, who took it, blushing furiously. He was never going to let his son hear the end of that one.
Yugi, Anzu and Mr. Bakura finished handing out the hot cocoa and sat down, Anzu next to Atemu on the sofa and Yugi and Mr. Bakura on the floor next to Jou and Honda respectively.
"I'm playing the winner," said Atemu rather scratchily. This made Mr. Bakura remember the flu medicine and tissues he'd bought, so he forced some medicine down Atemu and Ryo's throats and set the tissues on the coffee table. That medicine always made Ryo's nose run like crazy, and the older man was amused to see Ryo having to break away from Shizuka in order to hold a tissue up to his nose.
"Ha! I win! All right 'Temu, it's you an' me! YES!" exclaimed Jou gleefully. Atemu and Otogi switched places and the match between Jou and Atemu started.
Like Two Seconds Later:
"Black Magician Girl, attack his now vulnerable Panther Warrior. I win."
"Wow."
"Go, 'Temu!"
"All right then. I'll challenge Atemu" said Yugi.
There was silence. The two had never competed against each other before, never.
"Aibou, I don't want to-"
"No, Yami. I want to find out for myself. Don't go easy."
"Fine."
Like Another Two Seconds Later:
"The Winged Dragon of Ra attacks your Slifer the Sky dragon, dropping your life points to zero because of the added attack points my equipment card gives Ra." Atemu's voice choked. "I am so sorry Yugi."
"It's okay Yami. I know that I can play you in an honorable duel. I proved to myself all I wanted to."
"Cad I play you dow Adebu?"
"Sure Ryo." Ryo and Yugi switched places.
"Ryo, you sound horrible," said Ryo's father. Ryo didn't reply; he was too busy grabbing another tissue.
"Ready?"
"Uh huh. Achoo!"
"Let's go then."
Like Another Two Seconds Later:
"-to form Black Skull Dragon. Black Skull Dragon attacks your life points directly. You lose."
"Wow, 'Tebu. Dat was... fast," said Ryo stuffily. He yawned, as did Atemu, and took a sip of his not-so-hot-anymore cocoa.
"Both of you need to get some rest," commented Mr. Bakura.
"I'b goidg to take a dap, all right?"
Mr. Bakura nodded. "Atemu, would you like to do so as well?"
Atemu nodded.
"'Cub od, thed. The air batress id by roob should sdill be blowd up." (In case y'all didn't get that, he said, "Come on then. The air matress in my room should still be blown up.") He stopped, sneezed, and took one of the tissue boxes out of the living room. "Okay, cub od." (Okay, come on.") Within two minutes each was asleep.
Back in the Livning Room
"So... How do you all know my son, exactly?"
Yugi answered, "Atemu, Jou, Honda, Anzu and I met him at school, and got to know him even better during the Duelist Kingdom tournament, which is where Mai met him, and Shizuka and Otogi met him around the beginning or middle of the Battle City tournament."
"Ah. He does love that card game. I haven't seen him in so long..." He laughed a bit. "He looks more like his mother. Everyone expected him to shoot up and come to be taller than me, but it's always been obvious to me that he's like his mother. Complexion, eyes, height, eyes, hair- No scratch that, no one has his hair. I am completely without a clue as to where he got it."
"At least it's not as weird as mine or Atemu's. We don't even use gel."
"Seriously?"
"Yup." To prove his point, Yugi ran his fingers through his mass of spikes. The hair parted easily. "See?"
"Wow."
The room was pleasantly quiet for the next half hour. Shizuka and Anzu were chatting, as were Honda and Otogi. Mai and Joey had snuggled together on the couch, just sitting, watching the snow fall outside.
Mr. Bakura sat lost in thought. Ryo's grown so much since I last saw him. It's almost like he's a completely different person. He chuckled to himself, which in case you haven't figured out by now he has a thing with doing. That madicine still makes his nose run, though. And if he takes after me, it should make him sneeze like heck whenever he wakes up from sleeping.
He was snapped out of his thoughts by a sound from Ryo's room. He pushed open the door silently to see Ryo half-sitting, half-slouching in bed, sneezing like heck and holding a nearly empty tissue box in one hand. Atemu had been jerked awake by the sound and was rubbing slow circles on his poor miserable friend's back.
Mr. Bakura could think of one word to describe the scene in front of him: kawaii.
"Achoo! Achoo! Achoo! Achoo! Achoo! Achoo! Achoo!" Ryo finally stopped. So he does take after me, Mr. Bakura thought.
Ryo sniffed and held a tissue up to his nose. "Dadks Adebu. The rubbidg helbed be breathe." (Thanks Atemu. The rubbing helped me breathe.) He laid back in bed.
"No problem."
Silence.
"... Hey 'Tebu?"
"Mmh?"
"Could you... but be to bed like a bother would?" ("Could you put me to bed like a mother would?")
"I... don't really know what a mother would do. Tell me."
"Well... Bide used do bull the covers ub do my chid, and sidg a song... kiss by forehead ad rub by stobach... I dunno. She died a year ago." He blushed furiously. "Ub... dat brobably didn'd bake sedse..." ("Well... Mine used to pull the covers up to my chin, and sing a song... kiss my forehead and rub my stomach... I dunno. She died a year ago." He blushed furiously. "Um, that probably didn't make sense...")
"It made perfect sense. Remember, while I am your friend, I am also technically three thousand years old. You need not feel uncomfortable asking me anything. Here." He gently tucked Ryo into bed. "I really can't sing at the moment, but does humming work for a motherly thing to do?"
Ryo nodded, relaxing and closing his eyes.
Atemu leaned forward a bit and hummed an aimless tune, rubbing a warm, confident hand over the teen's slim stomach. When Ryo's breaths became smooth and rhythmic, Atemu brushed his lips to his finger, and pressed it on Ryo's cheek. He didn't want to spread to the fragile boy any more germs than he already had, but Ryo had said a mother would kiss their child. Satisfied that he had brought a slight smile to the boy's face, he crawled under the covers of the air matress on the floor, unaware of Mr. Bakura watching him, wide-eyed.
The older man could not believe it. In all my years... That had to be the kindest thng he had ever seen. So he did the only thing he could think of to express his gratitude towards Atemu for what he had done. He did the same thing for Atemu.
Hey, I hope that wasn't too annoying or anything, but I'm writing this for my own enjoyment and I personally love fluffy sick-fics, so that's basically all I write. Hope ya didn't mind the Ryo/Shizuka-ness, but Mr. Bakura needed something legit to tease his teenage son about, ya know? How many dads do y'all know who don't love to tease their son about a girl? Ne?
REVIEW REPLIES!!
SonicYugiShadow, sorry to bother you about Sonic the Hedgehog, but I really am a clueless person. What makes him/her/it supersonic? What can he/she/it do that makes he/she/it special? I am so clueless... Thanks for reviewing and tolerating my annoyingness though. Is annoyingness a word? Anyway thanks a lot.
Yo Electric Fire, how are ya dion'? Dress rehearsal Wednesday and Thursday, kinda depressing ne? I still need to get the darn ballet shoes. I HATE ballet shoes, though I love ballet-stlye dancing. Come to think of it, I love all dancing! And all music and acting twenty minutes later ... and playing instruments! We hafta find a way to communicate with the others from the play somehow. At least Kevin, he is like the Walking Yu-Gi-Oh Card Encyclopedia Extraordinaire. Have you heard him go on about his cards? He can recite every single word of ALL the cards in his deck, and the kid's got a GIGUNDO deck! Stacked up, the thing's like SEVEN INCHES TALL! I won't miss those Puppy Eyes from Heck though. Ra that kid could melt armies just by unleashing those eyes! You think he could beat Yugi ten times over? I was thinking maybe one hundred... I'm SO glad y'all liked Fire's Voice, and I had a blast writing it. Yup, I wrote chappie three a weeks ago, and now it'a a matter of typing it up and just how slow my compy decides to run! Luv your review! .
Thanks SO MUCH for your review, violet eyes rika. Productive criticism like that really does help make a story better. Ya know, when I was writing the The Glare scenes, I felt like something was missing... The Grunt! Thankies SO MUCH for reminding me of The Grunt! Where am I goofing up? Spelling? Grammar? OOCness?(I pray not.) You put me on your alert list? Wow, I think my stuff really stinks, I'm honored.
BobGod, wow, you reviewed all three separately? Do ya know how happy that made me feel? I feel all warm and fuzzy inside now! Tb? Maybe. I don't really know what he's got. A flu or cold or virus like we all hate getting... nah, who am I kidding? Tb works! Seems a little harsh though, when all he needs to kill him is another one or two colds... I kinda feel guilty for killing him off like this, but it's being done lovingly... I just said I'm killing off one of my favorite anime characters in the world lovingly. Heh. By the way, I love Masquerade!
THANKIES ALL FOR REVIEWING! THE SECRET AND THE START OF A SEMI-ACTUAL PLOT START VERY SOON! PLEASE CONTINUE TO REVIEW! -Lotsa luv, BlackCharmgirl, and remember, a review can be as simple as clicking the wee little button in the lower left corner and typing either 'good' or 'bad'.