WSJ: ^_^ *humming to herself as she types*

Unmei: Oh no...

Sekil: What?

Chiot, Unmei, and Yami: Christmas carols.

Sekil: *blink* Christmas whats?

Chiot: *dryly* Be glad you've lived under a rock all your life. Christmas carol parodies are the bane of muses everywhere.

Sekil: Yeah, I kinda learned that at Ebony's... 0.o I'm a muse?

Unmei: You are now.

Sekil: -_- Joy.

Yami: YuGiOh belongs to Kazuki Takahashi. Sekil, Arca, and Lark belong to Ebony Kuroneko. Amoura, Yunet, Lisa, and various others belong to Brood Mayran. Kawari, Nozomi, and any other Negative Realmers mentioned belong to High Crystal Guardian. Sailor Moon belongs to Naoko...whatever her last name is. And last but not least, Gwen, Hiro, Fate, and various other original characters belong to WSJ.

Unmei: Is it just me, or is the disclaimer getting longer?

Other muses: -_-;

WSJ: *still humming*

Small note: If you want a really fascinating read into the world of blindness, try Sight Unseen, by Georgina Kleege. It's a very inspiring book, and really influenced this chapter (as you can tell from the title), so check it out!

(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)

The Yamis of Tokyo U: Sophomore

Chapter 3 -- Sight Unseen

Quote of the chapter:

"Tenderness and kindness are not signs of weakness and despair, but manifestations of strength and resolution."
~(Kahil Gibran)

Once again, thanks to Ebby for all her help!
I'd be lost without you, girl.

The party lasted well into the night. Food was consumed, playful (for the most part) fights broke out, and summer stories exchanged. By nine most of the other students had left the cafe, and Takeo had gone off back to the dorm he and Yugi shared claiming to be tired. Bakura and Ryou then took turns filling everyone in on their adventures in the True Realm, with Sekil adding in the small bits he'd been around for. By the time they'd finished, Yami and Malik were bursting with questions on what the True Realm's ancient Egypt had been like, and how it had differed from their own. As a result, nearly everyone else had already gone to bed before Yami, Yugi, Bakura, Ryou, and Sekil had even left the cafe.

Tristan and Duke were the first to wander off, bickering good naturedly about who got to claim the bed nearest the window in their dorm. Duke was staying on campus this year, and when Joey had found out that Duke and Tristan had gotten stuck as roommates, he'd had just shook his head and commented that the campus wouldn't survive. Joey himself was rooming with Hiro, and they plus their girlfriends and Arca were the next to wave goodbye and head off to the dorms. Amoura and Tea stayed another hour or so, snuggling against Bakura and Yugi respectively, and then they yawned and left as well. Malik wanted to stay even longer, but Ishtar rolled his eyes and dragged his little brother-turned-roommate off to bed by eleven thirty.

It was nearly midnight before the manager of the cafe finally kicked the last of them out. Yami and Sekil were still comparing notes on Egyptian court when Ryou and Bakura dragged them to their rooms. Yugi just laughed and bade them all good night before quietly slipping into his own dorm.

Sekil grinned and shook his head as he shut the door to his and Ryou's dorm. "Your realm is messed up, 'mei. A Hebrew Bakura and a Yami with no kids..." he smirked, obviously amused.

Ryou laughed around a yawn. "Yeah, I guess ours would be, but to us, yours is the weird one."

"Of course, everyone thinks their own realm is normal, even if it's the most whacked up one out there."

Ryou rolled his eyes a little, then yawned again. Still chuckling, he rummaged around in one of his boxes, and after a moment pulled out a pair of sweats and a t-shirt to sleep in. He paused, waiting for Sekil to turn his back in his own search for pajamas, and then Ryou quickly slipped off his shirt, grabbing the t-shirt to replace it.

But he wasn't quite quick enough.

"Hey 'mei..." Sekil turned around, and his voice trailed off.

Ryou gulped quietly as he sensed Sekil's aura darkening, and he made to put on his shirt to cover the scars across his body. Before he could, though, Sekil put out a hand and motioned for him to stop. His face, though Ryou couldn't see it, was serious, and a sharp contrast to his usual smile. "Say Unmei... Who gave you those whip marks...?"

Out of nervous habit, Ryou lowered his face so that his bangs fell in front of his eyes. Of course Sekil would recognize scars left by a whip, he had lived a previous life as an Egyptian priest-mage, after all. Ryou gulped quietly again, twisting his t-shirt in his hands. "It... doesn't matter."

Sekil snorted and reached out to tilt Ryou's chin up so he could look at the other telepath's face. His frown deepened when Ryou flinched slightly. "Like hell it doesn't. Don't make me read your mind."

Ryou flinched again, and Sekil was slightly surprised to see the other telepath blinking back tears. "It... it really doesn't matter, Sekil-san. It was a long time ago."

"I don't care," Sekil said, keeping Ryou's chin in a firm but gentle grip, not allowing him to lower his face again. "I want to know who did it."

Ryou paused for a moment, and then he pulled himself out of Sekil's grip and turned his back on him, resting his trembling hands on the edge of the bed. Sekil chewed on his lower lip for a moment, his brows lowered in anger as he looked at the scars that crossed Ryou's back under the thick mane of white hair. They were old scars, none of them recent, but that didn't change the fact that someone, sometime in the past, had hurt Ryou badly, and Sekil wanted to know who. When he spoke again, Sekil's voice held a note of warning. "Ryou..."

Ryou's fists clenched at the use of his real name instead of his nickname of Unmei. He'd figured that Sekil would find out about his scars sooner or later, he just hadn't been expecting it quite so soon. Frankly, he was surprised that Sekil hadn't outright asked about the scars on his arms, but then again, Sekil was the kind of guy to respect one's privacy. Ryou just wished this conversation could have happened at a slightly later date. But then again, in a strange way Sekil did have a right to know, with him being another telepath and Ryou's "tutor" in the mental arts, not to mention another Egyptian reincarnate. And he knew all about Bakura troubles. At last Ryou spoke, very very softly.

"Bakura."

For a moment, Sekil was sure he'd heard wrong, and he just blinked. "Bakura?" There was a pause. "This Bakura?! Chiot?!?!"

Ryou nodded, turning to face Sekil again with a meek expression on his face. Sekil just gaped, unused to seeing the normally confident Ryou so submissive.

Sekil sputtered incoherently a few times. "Chiot? Chiot did all that?! Why, for the love of Allah?!" He didn't wait for an answer, and put a hand over his eyes. "Ohh someone stop me before I go kick his ass..."

Ryou's eyes widened slightly, and he darted forward to grab Sekil's arm. "Don't! Please don't... He's not the same person he used to be."

Sekil's expression softened as he looked down at his roommate and friend. It was easy to see how Ryou cared for his "big brother", but if it was true that that same "brother" had beaten him so badly, how in the world... Sekil sighed heavily. "I know 'mei, that's why I won't. But good Allah! I just don't understand! You two are so close, I'd never have guessed..."

Ryou smiled faintly. "Then that's good. We've been through so much together..."

Sekil just shook his head in disbelief. ".....Geez Unmei.... I had no idea Chiot was ever like that son of a sand louse back in the True Realm."

"Why do you think I was avoiding him like the plague?"

Sekil snorted. "Because he is a plague." He moved forward to pat Unmei on the shoulder. "You're lucky I like Chiot or I might be inclined to beat him into the next century."

Ryou managed another weak smile. "Yami said the same thing, more or less..."

"I'd expect that from the Pharaoh, though the fact that those two are friends still weirds me out a little." Sekil chuckled.

Ryou smiled slightly and shrugged. "Well... like I said, we've all been through so much..." He turned and pulled his shirt over his head so Sekil wouldn't have to look at his scars anymore, and then sat down on his bed. It took him a moment to realize that he was gently rubbing the rose scar on his left arm, like he always did when he was nervous or stressed out. He blushed lightly and quickly crossed his arms over his chest.

Sekil just looked at him, a musing and slightly sad expression on his face. "....You know 'mei, you can think of those scars kind of like....badges of valor."

Ryou blinked, caught off guard by the comment. "What?"

"Well, you made it through the bad times, the Gauntlet and you came out stronger for it. Reminds me of a game kids used to play in Egypt...."

Ryou just 'stared' at him. "They chased each other around with whips?"

"No no. Kids would line up in a double row and would throw whatever was at hand at whatever kid had been chosen to go through the 'ritual'. It was kind of like an initiation. If the kid could get through this gauntlet without falling or crying out, they would be considered stronger by his peers." Sekil smiled. "And you made it through your own gauntlet....you and Chiot both, by the look of things."

Ryou smiled, unconsciously reaching out to brush Bakura's already-sleeping presence in the next room. "Yeah... I guess we did. You'll probably hear the whole story sooner or later, but it's a long one."

Sekil shrugged and began to change into his own pajamas. "Maybe another time, when I've got the both of you in a room together. I'd like to hear the full story from both sides.....wow, that makes me seem kind of morbid, doesn't it?"

Ryou chuckled softly. "Not really. You do have a right to know." He thought of something, and winced a little. "But here's hoping Lark never finds out."

"Here here," Sekil agreed. "But on to a different topic, like... your earring. It resonates."

Ryou blinked. "It does? I hadn't noticed. I can sense it, which for a rock is special in itself, but I hadn't noticed much beyond that."

"Well, it doesn't resonate very strongly, but it definitely has a 'tone' to it. Let me guess, off one of the mage's staffs?"

"Yep, Mana's." Ryou nodded. "Bakura has an earring from... his. We're the ones who ended up setting them free, so we decided it was best if they left a little legacy."

Sekil grinned. "Very noble, I salute you." He then did so, and Ryou laughed.

"You're so weird, Sekil."

"Hey, if you'd grown up with Lark and Arca as your siblings, you'd be weird too."

"Probably," Ryou agreed.

Sekil grinned. "Not to say you're not weird yourself."

"Me? Weird? Perish the thought."

"Well, something just perished, but I'm pretty sure it was just brain cells."

"You have too many of those anyway," Ryou quipped, grinning.

Sekil snorted lightly. "Well Lark's a few blocks short of a pyramid, so I'm the brains of the operation."

"Luckily for the world," Ryou said, frowning slightly at the mention of Sekil's temperamental twin brother.

"I've heard THAT one before." Sekil said. "Fate was on my side when they were dishing out telepathic powers." He winked at Ryou and grinned.

Ryou chuckled, flopping over onto his side and propping himself up on one elbow. "I'm sure she was."

"Actually, I'm not sure she had anything to do with it, but either way, I'm not complaining." Sekil flopped down onto his own bed, hitting his head against the wall. "Ow!"

Ryou started laughing at him, and Sekil growled playfully as he righted himself, rubbing his head. "All right laughing boy, here comes your first lesson."

Ryou blinked as the last of his chuckles died away. "My first what?"

Sekil grinned. "Well, I'm here to mentor you telepathically or some other rot like that, right? Here's lesson one. Turn off the light without getting out of bed."

For a minute Ryou just gaped at him. "Er, Sekil? Blind telepath over here. I don't 'see' metal or plastic, which makes light switches a no go."

Sekil frowned. "Hm. That is a problem. We'll have to work on that. Oh well. Night 'mei." Reaching out telepathically, Sekil flipped off the light switch, then settled down to sleep.

Ryou smiled into the darkness, before rolling over and settling in as well. "Good night Sekil-san."

~*~

The next morning Sekil was awakened rather rudely by somebody sitting on him. He groaned and cracked one eye open, raising an eyebrow when he beheld a grinning, gi-clad Yami sitting on his stomach. "What do you want?"

Yami smirked. "Up you get, priest. Time for the morning work out."

Sekil groaned again and turned his head to see Bakura leaning against the door frame, also wearing a gi, and Ryou shrugging into his own. "So early?"

"Bakura has a seven-thirty class on Mondays." Ryou said, tying his gi shut with his black belt. "So sparring starts at five. Other days we'll probably start around six. You did say you'd join us, Sekil-san."

"I said I'd think about it," Sekil grumbled, but he sat up, playfully pushing Yami off of him. The pharaoh rolled off the bed and to his feet quite easily, grinning at Sekil.

Ryou chuckled and pulled his hair back away from his face, tying it into a loose ponytail. "Come on Sekil, get up."

"I'm up, I'm up," Sekil muttered, swinging his legs over the side of the bed.

"Catch,"

Sekil barely had time to blink before a bundle of white material hit him in the face. "What-?" Pulling it off his head, he saw it was a gi.

Bakura grinned. "We'll get your sizes and order you one from Raiden-san later. For now you can just borrow my spare one."

Sekil frowned slightly, recalling his and Ryou's conversation of the night before. Ryou must have sensed it, because he sent Sekil a pleading look. Sekil shook his head in answer and quickly changed into the borrowed gi. Like Ryou, he pulled his hair back, and then the quartet headed outside. Sekil sighed as he noticed that Ryou and Bakura both wore blackbelts, and Ryou's had the gold-banded ends that indicated he was a blackbelt in more than one style of martial arts. Something told Sekil that these so called "sparring" sessions were going to hurt.

The four of them formed up in a loose square at the center of the field near the dorm buildings. "Bakura and I are going to spar first, since we're a little bit above you guys in terms of skill," Ryou said. "Then we'll work with you two." Without waiting for an answer, he and Bakura bowed to each other, and then jumped head first into their fight, punching and kicking at each other viciously.

Yami snorted as he and Sekil watched the two go at it. "A little? They're light years ahead of us."

Sekil nodded. "No kidding. I have to say though, it's strange to see a Ryou fight."

"If you'd known him a few years ago you'd say the same thing." Yami said. Sekil turned to look at him with a raised eyebrow, and Yami shrugged, not taking his eyes off his two friends. "I don't know if Ryou himself has made the connection, but Bakura and I both have. He fights because he has to protect the ones he loves from the True Pharaoh, of course, but it's more than that. He's afraid of returning to the way he used to be. Before the Locking Rituals, the entire time I'd known him Ryou was always quiet, polite, and utterly submissive. I learned later that was because of Bakura. Ryou and Bakura have both learned to hate those years, and have left them without looking back. But subconsciously, Ryou's still fighting against the image of a weak little mouse that Bakura always made him be. That's why, more often than not, Ryou wins these spars. Most of the time it is because of his skill, but sometimes Bakura just lets him win so Ryou will never have to worry, subconsciously or otherwise, that he's reverting back into what he used to be."

Sekil frowned and turned his eyes back to the fight, repeating his comment to Ryou from the night before. "I never would have guessed that they had bad history just from looking at them. They seem so close."

Yami smiled a little as Ryou managed to pin Bakura to the ground and crowed in triumph. Laughing, Bakura pushed him off and began to tickle the blind telepath, who could only laugh helplessly. "They are that close, Sekil-san. Whatever the past was, it's far behind them now. And if it was hard for Ryou to trust at first, that's not an issue anymore."

Sekil smiled, glad that Yami had confirmed what Ryou had been insisting. "Good."

Once Bakura got done tormenting his ticklish little brother, the two of them set about giving Sekil and Yami bruises that would probably last a week or more. Sekil, used to fighting with a staff in his hands, had cruddy defense, and Ryou found plenty of opportunities to demonstrate it. As for Yami, he wasn't used to being attacked from his years of having bodyguards, and Bakura took a special, almost malicious delight in showing his new friend that body guards didn't exist in this century unless you were Seto Kaiba. By the time Ryou and Bakura called it quits, Yami was limping slightly and Sekil was whining about a sore bottom from falling down so much.

Bakura just snickered at them. "You'll never get any better if there isn't pain involved," he said, wiping a trickle of blood away from his lip where one of Ryou's punches had gotten through during their spar. "It doesn't work that way."

"Is your leg all right, Yami?" Ryou asked. "Bakura kicked you a bit hard."

Yami waved him off. "I'm fine. I'll be walking straight by this afternoon."

Sekil smirked. "Pharaoh, do you have any idea how wrong that sounded?"

Yami and Bakura both scowled, and Ryou started laughing.

Back in the dorm, Ryou graciously offered to let Sekil shower off first, claiming he wanted to read over his schedule again. When Sekil came out of the bathroom twenty minutes later with a towel over his hair, Ryou was sitting on his bed, running his fingers over the braille on the schedule the main office had given him the day before. Craning his neck, Sekil could see that below the rows of braille were (presumably) the same lines written in standard kanji, in case Ryou needed help from a sighted person. "Shower's free."

"Thanks." Hopping off the bed, Ryou tossed the card (1) onto the desk and grabbed his clothes from where he'd laid them out over a chair. He headed for the bathroom, and Sekil wandered over and picked up the schedule. Curious, he closed his eyes and ran one finger over the first row of braille type. He couldn't distinguish one bump from the next, much less separate it into individual letters or even words. Gently, Sekil put the card back on the desk. He was still staring at it, musing, when Ryou got out of the shower with his hair tied up into a towel turban.

"Sekil? You okay?"

Sekil jumped slightly, startled out of his thoughts by Ryou's words. "Huh? Yeah, I'm fine.... Is it hard, Unmei?"

Ryou blinked at him. "What?"

Sekil waved his hand at the card. "Braille. Is it hard?"

"Not really." Ryou said, shrugging. "It took a little getting used to, but no, I wouldn't say it's hard."

"Oh. What do you do about text books?"

Ryou grinned. "Well, last year I generally had to have Bakura or Hiro read the lessons aloud, which was a pain, and I used my computer to do the actual assignments. Hopefully this year they'll actually have some braille text books, or I can take my courses online."

Sekil frowned. "How would that work?"

Ryou grinned and leaned around Sekil, flipping up the cover of the laptop sitting on the desk. "Seto and Mokuba put their heads together and custom built me a laptop. It has a braille keyboard, a printer that can print either in braille or romanji, and a screen that's made of some sort of gel. It can actually mold into braille so I can read what's on the screen. Yami's magic had something to do with its construction too, but I'm not sure what."

"Ahhh... modern magic." Sekil nodded, then blinked as his eyes drifted to the clock on the wall. "Oh damn."

"What?" Ryou asked, closing the lid on his laptop. He took his hair down from its turban and grabbed a brush, beginning to work it through his thick white hair.

"I have a class in fifteen minutes all the way across campus."

Ryou laughed. "I've got one over that way too, hang on a minute and I'll go with you. We can get a ride from Joey, I think he's in my class." Abandoning his hair for the moment, Ryou pulled it back into a ponytail and stuck his brush in his backpack, which was sitting by the desk. Slipping his computer into its case, Ryou zipped it shut and reached for a staff that Sekil hadn't noticed before. It was leaning in the corner.

Sekil blinked and looked again. It wasn't a staff, it was a cane. Tall enough to reach Ryou's stomach, it was made of polished, dark wood. The end Ryou held was slightly thicker, and carved with an intricate, almost hieroglyphic design. A leather loop adorned that end as well, and Ryou slipped it around his wrist. The other end looked like it had been dipped in paint, the bottom six or seven inches were white. "Unmei..."

Ryou smiled sadly and reached for a pair of sunglasses sitting on the desk, slipping them on over his clouded brown eyes. "I'm blind, Sekil-san. People notice if I walk around without a cane, but don't bump into things. We found that out the hard way last year with Hiro-kun. I'm surprised more people haven't noticed. Bakura and I thought it would be better to be safe than sorry this year."

Sekil nodded, but still looked slightly puzzled. "Why do you bother? With your telepathic powers you could easily pass yourself off as sighted. Why point out the fact that you're blind when most people wouldn't even notice?"

"Not everyone can be a hero," the telepath answered, slinging his backpack over one shoulder and his laptop case over the other. "But someone has to be. Society looks at blindness in strange ways, Sekil. A lot of blind people are hated or feared, mistreated or ignored. Most people who are legally blind aren't even blind like me. Most of them can see, but only colors, shapes, movement. They get along fine, and hide their impairment because they're afraid of what people might think. I'm not afraid of what people think. I want to show them that you don't have to hide disabilities."

Sekil grinned at him. "You're a regular saint, 'mei."

Ryou chuckled. "Thanks. Now come on, we're going to be late."

~*~

At first, Bakura thought it would be just another class.

After their morning spar, he and Yami showered off and then took turns rubbing vaseline on each others' tattoos (with Bakura grumbling about how he wished it was Amoura). Yami had then gone back to bed while Bakura got ready for his first class, which he shared with Amoura, Yugi, Tea, and Gwen. It was, in fact, a drama class. Amoura had somehow managed to convince him to sign up for it last spring after she realized how much Bakura had enjoyed acting in Sound of Music, Director-baka or not.

The five of them met up outside the dorm building, intending to drive over to the drama building together.

"It's so nice out this morning," Tea sighed. "And our class isn't even that far away. Too bad we can't walk."

"Sure we can," Bakura said, grinning. "Amoura, give your crutches to Gwen."

Giving her boyfriend a puzzled look, Amoura did so, balancing precariously on one leg with her big pink cast off the ground. Bakura grinned, and before she had a chance to protest he crouched down in front of her, looping his arms around her knees. Amoura barely had time to shriek before he stood up again, and she flailed for a moment before wrapping her arms around his neck with a laugh. "Bakura!"

"Well, now we can walk." The ex-thief grinned and started off, leaving the other three to catch up.

"You two are so cute," Yugi grinned, rolling his eyes slightly at Bakura. "But ridiculous-looking with that big pink thing sticking out in front."

"Not my fault," Amoura said, smiling and laying her cheek against the back of Bakura's head. He only snorted. (2)

They were a tad early, so when they reached the drama building the teacher was not in the classroom yet. The room was pretty good sized, but apparently the class was small, because only a dozen or so two-person tables littered the room. On the wall opposite the door were two windows and between them an old-fashioned chalk board. At the front of the room was a small stage raised about a foot off the ground. Beside it was the teacher's desk, complete with computer and stacks of clutter. A triangular tag bore the teacher's name, Lindsey MacIntire.

The five friends took seats near the front, and within the next few minutes the rest of the class straggled in and found seats of their own. Right on the stroke of seven-thirty, the teacher stepped into the room. As soon as he saw her, Bakura growled and jumped to his feet. "You!"

Director-baka sighed and rolled her eyes a little. "If you would take a seat, Mr. Bakura, we can begin class."

"I'm not staying in a class taught by you! Come on Amoura."

Amoura grabbed Bakura's sleeve, looking up at him with big eyes. "Zis is zee only drama class offered zis zemester. Please, Bakura?"

Bakura looked at her for a long moment, then sighed and plopped into his seat. "Fine. But she makes one prejudiced move toward you and we're out of here."

Director-baka rolled her eyes again and crossed the room to her desk. "Well, now that that little melodramatic episode is out of the way... My name is Miss MacIntire, and I'm your drama professor, obviously. Some of you," she eyed Bakura, "Know me already from last year's play, which regretfully ended in disaster."

"What happened?" piped up a wide-eyed freshmen from the back of the room.

Director-baka looked thoughtful all of a sudden. "Everyone seems convinced the boiler room blew, but I seem to remember some sort of attack..." She shook her head as Bakura half turned around to exchange a wide-eyed look with Yugi. Why did she remember that? So far the only people they'd come across who hadn't been caught in Ryou and Fate's mind wipe were people who already knew what was going on anyway, plus Hiro, Gwen, Amoura, and Scott. Why would Director-baka possibly...?

This... could be bad.

~*~

That afternoon Bakura managed to catch Ryou and Sekil in their dorm after classes. "We've got a problem, Ry."

Sekil's face went carefully blank, and he motioned for Bakura to come inside and shut the door. "I'll say we do."

Bakura blinked, closing the door behind him. "What?"

"We've got to talk. About you and Unmei's past, and to be exact, what has to do with his scars."

Bakura winced. "Oh."

Sekil's face was carefully neutral. "So I want the story."

Bakura sighed softly and ran a hand through his hair. "This could take awhile..."

"I figured it would," Sekil answered. "I've got time if you guys do, since I want you both here."

Ryou shrugged. "I don't have any more classes today. You niisan?"

"Nope, I'm good." Bakura sat down on one of the beds, and Ryou quickly joined him. Sekil sat down on the other, folding his legs up under him. Bakura sighed again. "Oh boy, where to begin..."

Ryou smiled and laid a hand on his shoulder reassuringly. "The beginning always works."

"Yeah..." Bakura paused, collecting his thoughts. "As you know, Fate-sama disguised herself as a human and married Ryou's father, Shen Bakura. While in this mortal guise she had two children, Ryou and his little sister Amane. When Ryou was eight, she and Shen were on a sort of second honeymoon in Egypt, and saw the Ring for sale by an antiquities dealer we later manged to track to Shaadi. She pointed it out to Shen, who bought it and gave it to Ryou. For the next two years or so, I was pretty quiet. I'm sure Fate-sama knew about me, but for her own reasons she never made herself known to me. At that time I was..."

Ryou actually smirked a little. "A real bastard?"

Bakura blushed. "Yeah, something like that... Anyway, after Ryou turned ten, Fate-sama got called back to her duties by a big skirmish in another realm. She faked her own death so she could go back to being a goddess and help. Shen was at a dig at the time, so Ryou and Amane were alone for nearly a month with no way to contact Shen..." Bakura stopped and looked off to the side, clearly uncomfortable with whatever came next.

Sekil made a 'hm' noise and glanced at Ryou, and was surprised to find the blind man's face blank. His eyes seemed darker than usual, like he wasn't there at all. After a moment he picked up the story where Bakura had left off, his voice soft. "I don't have many memories from that month. Bakura and Yami aren't sure if I just blocked them out because they were too painful, or if I actually got hit hard enough somewhere in there to give me selective amnesia. But I do remember the day Amane died..." He shuddered, shutting his eyes as a few tears leaked down his cheeks, and Bakura squeezed his hand reassuringly.

"With Shen gone and Angeline dead, I made myself known to them, and beat both him and Amane. One morning they were out trying to find food, and Ryou fell. Amane was on the opposite side of the street from him, and when she saw him fall she tried to run to him..."

"There was a car," Ryou said softly, his hands clenched around the material of his shirt. His eyes still carried that eerie, far away look. "It was red, I remember that... Just like her blood..." More tears trailed down his cheeks, and Bakura put an arm around him, gently soothing his one-time hikari.

After a minute, Bakura continued. "It was just after Amane died that Shen returned home."

Sekil tilted his head slightly, his blue eyes fixed on Bakura. Seeing Ryou cry was unnerving him slightly, but he could understand. It hurt to remember things you'd much rather forget, especially when it involved the death of loved ones... He shook his head slightly and concentrated on the Ring holders in front of him. "And of course, you couldn't be misbehaving with Ryou's father around, right? So you waited for Shen to go somewhere?"

Ryou nodded slightly, wiping his tears away with the back of his hand. "And he always did. I think losing mom and Amane both at once really hit him hard, and seeing me just made it worse. For the next seven years or so he was hardly ever around."

"Which left Ryou at my mercy." Bakura said softly, not looking at either telepath.

For a moment Sekil was silent, his brow furrowed. "But what I really want to know is, why? I think I know why the True Realm Bakura is like that, he's always been a bit unstable and now he's Shadow Mad, but you don't have one whit of taint..."

Bakura shrugged uncomfortably. "Sometimes I don't know myself. For those first two years Ryou had the Ring, I did a lot of watching. I saw a happy little boy with so much light it sickened me. So when I finally had free reign, I wanted him to suffer just like I had. I wanted to break that spirit and make it bow to me." He clenched his fists. "Three thousand years in the Ring had made me bitter. I'd been brooding over the bad things, until it became hard to remember love, hard to remember the good times."

"....I see."

Ryou smiled and squeezed Bakura's shoulder slightly. "The story doesn't end there."

"No..." Bakura agreed. "It doesn't." He sighed, obviously remorseful. "Ryou's scars are the result of seven years of tyranny. My favorite form of punishment for any imagined wrong was tying him down and whipping him... Until finally one day I went too far."

Bakura and Ryou both shuddered slightly as Sekil's eyes widened in realization. "And you blinded him."

"Yes..." Ryou said softly. Getting up from his place beside Bakura, he kneeled down in front of Sekil and tilted his head slightly, pulling his hair back and parting it. Sekil sucked in his breath at the long scar across Ryou's temple, which stood out against the pale skin and hair. After a moment Ryou smiled sadly and let his hair drop, covering the scar again.

"I - I don't know what was so different about that day." Bakura said, staring down at his hands. "But instead of reaching for my whip I pulled out a knife instead... Honest to the gods Sekil, I never meant for it to happen! I hit him, and he fell and cracked his head against the windowsill..." He shuddered, and Ryou returned to sit beside him, wrapping one arm around his big brother's shoulders in an unconscious reversal of their earlier position.

Sekil bit his lip, glancing off to the side for a few moments, and then looked back at Bakura. "You regret it now, which is the only reason I haven't tried to rip you apart, but I still felt I needed to know all this..."

Ryou nodded, smiling faintly. "Hai, you did. But thankfully it doesn't end there. You haven't heard how me came to be so close, and that's the most important part."

Sekil nodded. "I'm still listening."

"That day sparked off a whole chain of events, starting with a demon named Kuroi posing as my brother Jonathon and taking my place in the Ring." Bakura said. "The Shadow Realm needed a pure heart to sacrifice, and they'd chosen Ryou. Kuroi was just a distraction. Yami and Ishtar were busy chasing him all over town while I was in the Shadow Realm trying to get Ryou back. I'd always beaten him, maybe even hated him for his purity, but when someone else tried to take him from me I realized how much I needed him. Yami and Ishtar eventually managed to kill off Kuroi, and made it back to Ryou's house in time to jury-rig a spell and pull Ryou and I out of the Shadow Realm. In the process, I accidentally gained a mortal body."

"Ahhh," Sekil nodded in understanding. "The Locking Rituals. Gotta love those."

Ryou shuddered lightly and rolled his eyes. "After that we actually got a few weeks peace, but the Rituals still hadn't been completed, so the Shadow Realm decided to try again. They didn't want the Item Holders to interfere again, so they put a curse on all the Millennium Items that locked both the yamis and the hikaris into their soulroom. Then they kidnapped Serenity to be their sacrifice. Luckily for us they'd forgotten that our Ring is "dead" and that Bakura and I don't have soulrooms to be locked into. The two of us, along with Joey, went to the Shadow Realm and managed to rescue Serenity."

Bakura sighed softly, absently rubbing his chest. "Of course, the Rituals had to be done or the Shadow Realm would be loose. To rescue Serenity we had to fight our way through hoards of demon Duel Monsters and two higher demons who called themselves Firas and Briar-Rose. Jonathon sacrificed himself to save my life during that battle, and I figured I could only return the favor. I killed Firas, and then..."

Bakura trailed off, and Ryou spoke up in a slightly strangled voice. "Briar-Rose shot him. The damn bitch shot him, but it worked..."

Sekil frowned. "I don't quite understand. The Locking Rituals need a pure heart, don't they? And not only is Chiot here, but... his heart is far from being pure."

Bakura didn't take offense to the comment. In fact, he actually chuckled bitterly and shrugged. "We don't really understand either. Perhaps in the very act of sacrifice I managed to atone myself, but I don't know. And as for being here, Ishtar and Yami managed to resurrect me."

"Ahh, that makes a bit more sense, then." Sekil said, then paused. "Wait... the Pharaoh is a necromancer?"

"Sort of," Bakura said. "As far as I can understand he used the Puzzle to... I dunno, turn back time to when my body was alive," he shrugged. "You'd have to ask him."

Sekil nodded. "Right then."

Ryou smiled. "And after that we actually got to finish high school in peace until the whole fiasco with the True Pharaoh started last year."

"So, at what part did you explain why you two are so close? Because of Chiot's sacrifice?"

Ryou nodded. "Yeah, and just the fact that when I lost my sight he knew he'd gone too far and began to repent. The rest was just time."

"Ah ha, now I get it." Sekil nodded sagely. "I'm so much wiser from this conversation."

"You'd better be!" Bakura threw up his hands and rolled his eyes. "Now no smothering me in my sleep!"

Sekil laughed a little. "I won't. I'll never be able to look at you in quite the same light, but I still consider you a friend, and that's a feat, considering what you're like back in my home realm. I much rather it here, frankly. The tomb robbers are actually kinda cool, if weird."

Bakura just snorted, and Ryou grinned. After a moment, though, his grin faded as he remembered something. "You said we had a problem, Bakura?"

"Do we ever," Bakura said, nodding grimly. "Amoura convinced me to take a drama class with her, and Director-baka's our teacher."

Ryou rolled his eyes slightly. "That's not so bad."

Bakura shook his head. "It gets worse. Somehow she remembers at least that there was an "attack" during the play last year. No idea if she actually remembers you were involved or not."

Ryou frowned. "That shouldn't be possible!"

"Yeah," Bakura said. "I know."

~*~

(1) card - since braille is a system of raised dots, you can't just type them onto regular paper. Usually, either a heavy card stock or a thin sheet of rigid plastic are used. And yes, I can read braille.

(2) - If I may butt in here... Awww! ^^ How cute is the picture of Bakura giving Amoura a piggy-back ride?

(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)

WSJ: ^_^ On the first day of Christmas, Bakura gave to me, someone's dead body!

Sekil: _X That is so not even remotely funny...

Unmei: We warned you...

Chiot: Well, since SJ is busy singing about how I used to be, I get to handle notes. *sigh* SJ now has a DeviantART account, if anyone is interested in seeing her drawings. She'll also be posting scraps of story at times too, so check often and maybe you'll catch a preview of some future story. It's , so go check her out.

Unmei: And for those that have read SJ's Christmas story Ties of Blood, yes, she did get home in time for Christmas.

WSJ: *bounces through wearing an elf hat* Yami got run over by a reindeer, walking home from my house Christmas Eve! Kaiba says there's no such thing as Santa, but as for me and Yugi, we believe! ^o^

Yami: -_- Merry Christmas everyone!

Unmei, Chiot, and Sekil: *wave* Happy holidays!

WSJ: ^o^ See you after the New Year!

Chapter 4: WSJ: (V/O) Against his better judgment, Bakura stays in the drama class to try and figure out how Director-baka escaped the mind wipe.

Director-baka: Well now, Mr. Bakura, I hear you and Miss Letazaut had a very eventful summer...

Bakura: *gulp*

WSJ: (V/O) And someone unexpected shows up at Tokyo U...

Ranma: Oi! Ryou! We never finished our fight!

WSJ: (V/O) Make that two someones...

Tenchi: Wait for me!

WSJ: (V/O) Or three...?

Arca: Larky!

WSJ: (V/O) Uh oh... All this and more, next time!

God bless minna-san!