Walking into her apartment, Ria sighed. Rolling her head on her shoulders to get rid of any kinks left over from work, she stepped into her kitchen. Putting her keys on the counter, she pressed a button on her answering machine.
" Hello", the voice said. " You have…3 new messages. Please input your password." Pause, as Ria keyed in the password for her answering machine. " Thank you. You have…2 messages in mailbox one. First message."
Ria waited as a male voice came from the machine. "Hello. Congratulations! You qualify for…" Ria rolled her eyes and pressed another button.
"Second Message… Ria-Chan!" a voice squealed. Ria grinned as she recognized the voice of her best friend. "Oh My God! You won't believe what happened to me! Damn! I got to go, talk to you later sweetie. Bye."
Still grinning, she pressed another button, waiting impatiently for the next message. " Message Three." The voice said. The message started.
"Hey babe. What's up? I know you miss me. Whatcha doing? I'm might be able to visit tomorrow. If it works out that I can, I'll meet you at work, K? Miss you sweetie. See ya!" Ria gaped, then a slow grin lit up her face. Sai was coming to visit… This was great!
* * * *
Isis was working in her office at home when she heard the front door open. No one had knocked, so it was either her brother, his Yami, or Bakura. She was betting on the latter. As she heard her office door open and close softly, she knew it was Bakura. Marik never came in her study, and Malik would have slammed the door, hoping to surprise her.
"Hello." She said without turning around. "If you wait until I finish this…" She signed the paper in front of her, then put her pen down. She turned around. " Yes…" she said coolly, at the same time silently laughing. She was surprised he had managed to stay away this long.
Bakura gave her his famous stare. "Care to explain?" He didn't have to elaborate, they both knew what he was talking about.
" Not really. I explained it already. Whether or not you were actually listening to me is a different matter entirely." Isis crossed her arms over her chest. She started to tap her foot, then stopped. Was he actually growling at her? She laughed then, a short barking laugh designed only to annoy him further. It worked.
"I'm glad this amuses you, however, the situation holds no humor for me." Bakura leaned against Isis desk, hands in his pockets and legs crossed in front of him.
"And why not? I told you…no, warned you about it. You felt it, I saw it on your face." Isis really did try to keep the smugness out of her voice, but she wasn't very successful.
Bakura snorted. " It? What are you talking about?"
Isis grinned. " I saw your face… she surprised you. You saw something in her eyes, and it surprised you."
"What do you mean? She didn't surprise me at all."
"Really? "
Bakura gave Isis a suspicious look. "What exactly did you see in that vision of yours? You never really told me what it was you saw."
Isis did a little half laugh, it was obvious he was trying to change the subject. "Ah, the million dollar question…what exactly did I see. What if I said that I wasn't going to tell you?
"I would tell you that you were bluffing"
"Too true, my friend." The amusement in Isis voice was unmistakable.
"Well….?" His impatience was beginning to show.
Isis shifted." Actually, it was more that one vision. Each of them didn't make sense until I put them together." Isis mentally crossed her fingers, hoping Ra wouldn't strike her down for her lie.
"You had multiple visions that were connected?"
Isis nodded. "Ya, it was the first time something like that had happened."
"So what did you see?"
Isis took a deep breath. "If you and Ria don't get together, in the alternate timeline, she dies."
Bakura stared at her in amazement. "You never said anything about ... about ...that." His tone indicated his distaste.
Isis laughed then, a real laugh, not the sarcastic one of earlier. " Well, I guess you are human after all. I was starting to wonder. I have a feeling that the whole dying thing makes it totally different."
Bakura pretended not to care. "So what if she dies?"
Isis raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Oh?…. I know you better than that."
Bakura snorted, the replied, "Really?", mimicking her earlier words mockingly.
Isis continued, ignoring his tone. "I also know you well enough to know that if you do become involved with her, it will be out of a sense of duty. Which is something most people don't know you have. However, if you get together with her just so she doesn't die, it accomplishes nothing."
Bakura rolled his eyes. "Please don't go all Professor on me, you stopped teaching years ago, remember? I know what it all means."
Isis walked closer to him. " Then you understand why I have to do this, right?"
Bakura gave her a look. "Do what?"
"Sorry Bakura, but I'm going to have to wipe your memory." Isis really was sorry, she hated having to do this sort of thing.
Bakura snorted. 'And how do you plan on doing that?"
Isis pulled out the Millennium Rod.
"You'll remember again when it is time. "
Authors note: The Millennium Ring can modify peoples' memory. If Isis uses the Rod on Bakura, she can make him modify his own memory. Make sense? Any more questions, put them in a review. The feedback I got on my last chapter was pitiful. Only 2 review. Come on people, I don't care if you flame me, just something for me to work with, okay? Try it, I bet its not as painful as you think it is. And thanks to Crissy the Amazing for her wonderful support.
