Disclaimer: See first chapter.
(A couple of weeks later, Ryou's POV)
I mewed and batted playfully at Bakura's knee. Bakura chuckled and fed me a strip of bacon. It had taken a while to get here but I had finally found a way to both keep Bakura happy and prevent me from having to abase myself too much. I refused to act the part of the obedient slave, which was the role Malik played, but I also didn't want to be constantly in pain. It was lucky for me that Bakura was willing to arrive at a compromise as long as I continued to be his pet.
I was trying to think of something that would let me be less of a slave when I remembered something Bakura had said about wishing he could have a cat but not being able to spare the attention that a cat demands. So I'd decided I'd rather pretend to be his cat in this kind of situation than his slave. It's not too bad actually. Much like the games I used to play as a little kid. He's taken the handcuffs off now and as long as he's not in the room I can do whatever I want.
Once when he was out I had practically destroyed the house to test that theory. It was quite fun actually. He ended up adding an exception to that rule. Now I can't do anything that will cause harm to myself or anything else. He was quite amused though, and said that if I didn't like the furniture could I try to show it some other way than destroying it.
Marik's come over a few times and brought Malik with him. Now that I see what he meant about being a slave I've apologized for my attitude that first day. I see now that I was being extremely rude as well as annoying questioning him like that. He says I'm lucky that Bakura's willing to let me do what I want instead of having to do what he wants all the time.
He also says that I'm lucky Bakura didn't want a bed toy. Now that I most definitely agree with. I do not want to be... that, and I hope I'll never have to be anything of the sort. I'm definitely better off than Malik. He seems to lead the most miserable life imaginable and I don't know how he manages to act so casual about it.
There have been a number of visitors coming in and out lately, and I'm starting to understand what Marik and Bakura were talking about that first day. Apparently vampire politics are extremely complicated seeing as vampires aren't the only supernatural creatures around. They are the most powerful though, and that's why the vampires are the ones who rule over all the rest. Each city of any type has a vampire ruler and the one who rules over all creatures is the king of the vampires.
The king of the vampires is the one who can defeat all contestants for the throne, and once every ten years there's a festival during which anyone can challenge the king. Traditionally the challenge fight is always a duel to the death but that rule has been waived lately as shown by what happened when the last king, Pegasus, was dethroned by the Yami they had talked about earlier. I had never seen him but he didn't sound too bad.
The reason for the sudden increase in activity, Bakura told me, is that there are only two weeks until the challenge day, when Yami will face anyone who wishes to fight him for the throne. I hope he wins. Bakura wants him to after all.
I'm rather hyper now but I have a good reason to be. Bakura says that he'll take me outside next time Malik and Marik come over. I haven't been outside or seen the sun since I woke up here. I'd thought at first that I could see sunlight if I opened the curtains but it turns out it's just an automatic light that's built to mimic the sunlight. So going out is going to be a wonderful treat. I wonder how we're going to get there though, and what he's planning to do outside. He'd never do anything like that just because I wanted it. Would he?