Disclaimer: Blew all my money on books. That money was allowance, the only way I make money except for finding it on the ground or really good report cards. But even then I just get a new book, the money is never actually handed to me. Does that tell y'all somethin' about whether or not I own it?
Cry of the Black Magician
Chappie Five: The Truth
Ryo awoke to the smell of sugar and cinnamon. He smiled. At least he could smell that much. They must have used -or spilled- a lot of the stuff, if even Ryo could smell it.
He rolled to the side to see Atemu curled in a tight catlike ball on the floor, shivering fiercely. His breath came in short rasps that made his chest rise and fall far too quickly and caught in his throat, wheezing its way out slowly and painfully.
Ryo shuffled over and pulled the blankets further up over the shivering ex-pharaoh, then changed into fresh clothes. He made his way to the kitchen, where everyone seemed to have gathered.
"You're finally up! Well, one of you," stated Mr. Bakura. "You two have been sleeping the whole day! It's dinner time!" He chuckled at his son's bewildered expression.
"Bhat are you all bakidg? I sbelled ciddabid." ("What are you all baking? I smelled cinnamon.")
"Cidda- oh, cinnamon. You actually smelled that?" Mai asked.
"Agdually, I did." ("Actually, I did.")
Mai smiled. "Geez, you sound bad. We can only wonder what Atemu's gona sound like."
"Did someone say my name?" Atemu's voice was soft and scratchy, but surprisingly not nearly as bad as poor sick miserable fluffy cute adorable sweet cuddly lovable beautiful charming kind wonderful delightful divine lovely little bunny sweetie-pie baby Ryo's. (A/N: Thank you , but I don't own you.)
"Now everyone's finally up, and dinner's ready! French toast!"
All ten of them squashed around the table ment for four or less. Not an easy task, but possible.
"So, who cabe ub wid the ideagh to bake Fredch doasd?" ("So, who came up with the idea to make French toast?") asked Ryo.
"Who do ya think?"
"Joud ad Hodda? ("Jou and Honda?")
"Yup."
Mr. Bakura filled everyone's plate, making sure that everyone at least had seconds before Jou and Honda were on their tenths.
"How many pieces?"
Atemu held up one finger.
"Hurt to talk?"
Atemu nodded.
"Okay, but just one piece? Growing boys need their calcium, ya know." (A/N: Anyone here ever seen the crazy fish helmet guy on that Mega Man show? He. Scares. Me.)
Atemu: O.o;;;
"All right then..." Mr. Bakura tipped a piece of the gooey goodness onto Atemu's plate and leaned over to serve Mai. He stopped when he saw Atemu take one bite of the food, chew forever, and wince as he swallowed. A very nauseous look crossed his face and he hacked dryly into a pale fist.
"Are you feeling all right, son?"
"Um..."
Mr. Bakura crossed to where Atemu was seated across from him and felt the boy's clammy forehead, making tsk-ing noises with his tongue.
"Mmh. Well, you have a fever. Here." He handed the boy the thermometer, and Atemu held it under his tongue, waiting for it to beep. When it did, Mr. Bakura grabbed it and read it.
"ONE HUNDRED AND FIVE POINT TWO! GREAT SCOTT BOY, NO WONDER YOU'RE PRACTICALLY PASSING OUT ALREADY!" He washed and put another cover thingy on the instrument, and handed it to Ryo. When it beeped Ryo read it out loud to his father.
"Didedy-eighd boid zevedgh."
"Close enough, though by the way you're talking you wouldn't know it," the older Bakura said, chuckling at his son's look of mock indignation. "You did say 'ninety-eight point seven,' didn't you?"
"Father!"
Couldn't resist."
"You are a bead(mean), gruel(cruel)- Hey, where's Adebu(Atemu)?" Everyone looked about them for a second, until the sound of someone being VERY violently sick came from the bathroom.
"Ugh. Who's got a strong stomach?" asked Mai.
"I'm going to see if he's all right," said Mr. Bakura, hurriedly getting up from his seat.
He entered the bathroom to see Atemu kneeling on the ground, clutching his stomach and emptying all of its contents into the toilet, and then some. For a minute the rush subsided, and Mr. Bakura patted the gasping boy's back. Atemu gagged, and again vomited. When his stomach was finally empty and stopped causing him to retch dryly and painfully, a cold shudder ran through his body and he fell limp, practically knocked out.
Mr. Bakura grabbed the boy before he fell face-first into the toilet, and reached up and pulled the toilet flush. He washed off Atemu's hands and face and scrubbed his own hands down, then led Atemu back into the living room and laid him down on one of the couches.
"T-t-thank you s-sir," Atemu said, shivering.
"No problem. Want a blanket?"
"If it's n-not too much t-trouble."
"Definitely not." Mr. Bakura found a deep blue comforter and draped it over the uncontrollably shaking ex-pharaoh. He left as the exhausted boy closed his eyes.
"How is he?" asked Anzu worriedly. "Is he all right?"
"Truthfully? No, not by the longest shot in the world is he all right. He's exhausted, and he can't stop shivering. He needs help, but with the storm..."
"May I be excused?"
"Sure."
"Aww, Anzu wants to be with her boyfriend," taunted Honda.
"I notice you haven't even GOT a girl," she snapped back, putting her plate in the sink.
Anzu walked through the door to the living room, where Atemu lay tightly curled up in his usual sleeping position on a couch.
"Hey... Are you awake?"
"Yes."
"How are you feeling?"
"Very nauseous," he replied, shifting uncomfortably under the blanket given to him by Mr. Bakura.
"Maybe you should sit up. Here," she said, helping him ease into a more comfortable position. He shivered and pulled at the blanket.
"Thanks, Anzu."
"No problem."
He smiled, but Anzu was still worried. Apart from Yugi and Sogoroku and maybe Jou and Ryo, Anzu knew Atemu the best of anyone on earth. Everyone saw him as Yu-Gi-Oh, the Game King, a huge fire ready to crush anything in its way to a pulp. But right now, all Anzu saw was a glowing ember. His cheeks were flushed and his normally vicious blood-colored orbs were dull, staring blankly at the ceiling.
She realized just how short and skinny he really was. Facing gaming opponents, his mere presence was enough to knock down buildings. But now that his guard was down...
"Is something wrong, Anzu?"
"Oh- no... You just... look so... different..."
"Pathetic? Helpless?"
"Not entirely... Everyone gets sick sometimes."
Silence.
"Anzu, I need to tell you something."
His voice shook as he shivered, nowhere near reaching its normal smooth, confident quality.
"What?" the brunette asked, startled.
"I should have told all of you before now, but..." He sighed. "I didn't want the few months I would get to spend here to be ruined by people being worried about me."
"Wha-"
"Just listen to me, Anzu, and promise not to tell anyone until what I'm about to tell you cannot remain hidden any longer. Even Yugi. Especially Yugi. Will you do that for me?"
She nodded.
"Okay, here goes...
When I was born, I was smaller than other babies, and weaker. I didn'y walk until nearly six months after others my age did."
"But what does that have to do with-"
"Just listen. When I grew, I was always shorter than other children. It hurt to run, and I'd have to rest for hours after simply being out-of-doors. People just believed that I was sensitive to exercise. But then one day I fell in the Nile and got sick... That fever lasted nearly two months, and I never really got better."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, every time I caught the smallest cold, or a tiny bit of a fever, or anything minor and common like that, the effects would last so long that they would never completely wear off... and they would just keep adding up inside me. What I mean is that if I hadn't sacrificed myself to banish the shadow magic from Egypt, I would have been dead within months anyway." He bore into her deep azure eyes with his own crimson of blood, waiting for everything to sink in.
"No... not... You're lying!" But Anzu knew it was true. With much difficulty, Atemu moved to a sitting position on the couch and held open his arms. Anzu ran into them and cried for a minute that would forever be a knob in the wood of sorrow. When they finally broke apart, Anzu hiccoughed.
"You will tell the others, won't you?"
Of course. I'll have to do it soon enough. I can't hide it for much longer. Just promise me- Don't breathe a word of this to anybody until I do."
"I promise."
They didn't see the tears illuminating wide amethyst eyes, slowly shuffling their way down pale cheeks.
So? Likies? I feel so darn GUILTY now, making both little baby Ryo and Atemu sick... but Atemu's the only one that's going to die. I feel so GUILTY! In case y'all haven't noticed, I hopelessly am in love with Ryo. Sorry for the shortness y'all but I had that cliffie thingy planned for a while, and today was a double update, so... forgive me? AND it didn't end with Atemu sleeping, as I seem to be cursed with my chappies ending as! I am kinda proud of that one... not really.
Just one thing I forgot to respond to last chappie, violet eyes rika, yeah, what IS up with the way they draw Yugi? And did y'all notice those one or two or three episodes, like around the Battle for the Bronze, where all the black lines are really thick and EVERY SINGLE PERSON has their face drawn in a way that makes them seem wicked peeved off? Ne? What's up with that? They should have definitely fired those artists. And is it just me, or does Yami's hair seem... squashed... this season around? And now for your chappie four review reply! For your thermometer reason, you get imaginary hot chocolate loaded down with marshmallows! If you don't like hot chocolate, tell me and I'll change it to something alse cool and wintery! Did that last one kinda drag, ne? Bland, yes, sorry. I felt it sagging too. My stuff is really just fluff and more fluff and more fluff... but there's some actual plot next chappie! He comes out with the truth! And that one's shorter too, because I planned a cliffy and just wrote up to a good moment to it (Or so I thought, anyways. Watch all my readers go "THAT'S her idea of plot???"), so we'll see if that's any better. It's okay if you're totally honest in your reviews. If the whole chappie totally stunk, SAY SO! I don't take it offensively, as long as it's not a flame. Just tell me why. Flames don't give a reason, good reviews do! That's my ultra-goodie goodie motto, but it works, I think! Thanks for reviewing!
Electric Fire, how do you always find and review my stuff so fast?? No seriously how do you do it? Where do you check or look or whatever? I'm still figgering the whole site out, but I really wanna read and review your stuff but I'm having trouble finding what and when y'all update. Thankies for reviewing and being do loyal! A cough anywhere NEAR nasty would kill the poor dude off, probably by suffocation, methinks. You were serious about that story? Fine by me! D'you want one about you and Beast Boy? I love writing Beast Boy! Yeah, I'm surprised Ryo didn't just say I was his girl too, but... I usually don't use OC's in 'serious' stories, unless they're for the PURPOSE of having OC's, like in your story. I feel that too many OC's in my writing clog it up even more than it already is clogged up with fluff. And apparently, if Ryo DIDN"T want me, two guys in school who are like best friends are fighting for the rights to ask me out... Too bad I'd turn 'em down. Me, dating? You know me, it would probably turn out with nothing short of catastrophic results. Ya know, you probably GOT that cough when you were shoveling that snow instead of your nii-chan, ne? Honestly, shouldn't he be like, a noble man and do the work for his sis? Ne? Didn't think so. Remember the week I got that cold from Kevin on Wednesday and couldn't sing AT ALL on Thursday? That was funny, even I think. You have a huge deck too? Geez, I got a stinkin' Yugi starter and that was it, I wasn't allowed to buy any more for some dd reason. Depressing, ne? See ya Wednesday.
Whoa, those were long. Oops. Sorry y'all. I just talk so much, and talk and talk and... I'm starting up again! No! Bad BlackCharmgirl, bad! THANKIES AGAIN TO MY BELOVED REVIEWERS! -huggles-