Sekil: *sitting in SJ's office chair with his mouth stuffed full of chocolate* Okay, I bite. Why you die?
WSJ: *spasms, clutching at her throat in a supposed death scene* Because this chapter is going to be hell to write. I die. *goes limp*
Sekil: *can't help but laugh*
Unmei: *he and Chiot come in, sweatdropping and carrying a short and genki Yugi between them* SJ, we found him stuck in a snowdrift outside...
Little Yugi: Loff!
WSJ: *immediately sits up* Naosuuuu!!!
Naosu: ^_^ SJ-samaaaa! *bounces out of Unmei's arms to glomp her*
WSJ: *giggles and hugs him* How'd you know I'd need loff for this chapter?
Naosu: *looks at her with big eyes* This chappie not loff?
WSJ: *makes a face* One word. Lark.
Unmei: *twitch* ...I'm leaving.
Chiot: *collars him* No you're not.
Unmei: *siiiigh*
WSJ: *cuddles Naosu* Well, let's get this over with...
Sekil: SJ doesn't own YGO in any way, shape, or form. Naosu, me, and my siblings belong to Ebony Kuroneko. Kawari, Nozomi, and any other Negative Realmers mentioned belong to High Crystal Guardian. Amoura, Lisa, and Amoura's family belong to Brood Mayran. Sailor Moon belongs to Naoko Takeuchi... or whatever. Ranma Saotome belongs to Rumiko Takahashi. Tenchi Masaki belongs to his creator, whoever he is. 0.o Various OCs belong to WSJ.
Naosu: Loff!
(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)
The Yamis of Tokyo U: Sophomore
Chapter 4 -- The Good Fight
"You're mental."
"Yeah, I know. I get that a lot."
~(Draco Malfoy and Malik Ishtar; Skyla Doragono, A New Generation of Priests)
The week passed like any other. Or at least, any other in the lives of a half-god and his mortal-but-not-quite-normal friends. Arca seemed to be fitting right in with campus life, bouncing all over the place and driving Sekil crazy. As for Sekil himself, he and Ryou were fast on the way to becoming very good friends. They'd seen neither hide nor hair of Lark, for which Ryou and Bakura were thankful. According to Sekil, he was living in an apartment on the outskirts of Domino, and was looking for a job.
The morning spars were business as usual. That is, Ryou and Bakura beat each other up for awhile, and then took whatever they had left and turned on Sekil and Yami. Slowly, though, the two were beginning to improve, and by the next Sunday morning Ryou and Bakura had them fighting practice spars against each other. Sekil enjoyed this immensely, because (he said) it was probably the only time he'd get to fight a pharaoh and not get killed for it. And after all, technically the Fates Realm Yami wasn't his pharaoh. Yami just grumbled, but it was better than fighting Bakura.
Unfortunately, Monday morning came all too soon for a certain ex-yami.
"Well class, today you'll receive instructions for your first project, which will be due next week." Director-Baka grinned, ignoring the groans of her class. "You are to write and perform a 5 - 10 minute sketch that illustrates what you did this summer. Tea Gardner and Yugi Moto have special permission to work as partners, and so do Amoura Letazaut and Yami Bakura." Her smile changed to a smirk as she glanced at Bakura. "I especially look forward to seeing what you two come up with. I've been told that you had a very interesting summer."
Bakura resisted the urge to bang his head against his desk, and settled for sighing instead. He'd figured that tales of his and Amoura's misadventures would get around campus eventually, he just wished that Director-Baka hadn't found out about them quite so fast.
After class, he and Yugi headed back to the dorms, while Gwen, Tea, and Amoura went on to their next class. "This is going to be fun," Yugi laughed, tucking his hands into his pockets. "Tea and I are going to have our work cut out for us figuring out what to tell and what not to tell."
Bakura rolled his eyes. "'My yami became mortal' is definitely out. Amoura and I aren't going to have a much easier time of it."
Yugi smirked, elbowing the thief in the ribs. "Suuuure, all you two have to do is get up there and start making out for five minutes. That pretty much sums up your summer." Still laughing, he dodged the whack Bakura sent his way.
"C'mere you overgrown midget," Bakura growled. "When I get my hands on you..."
"Er... excuse us..."
Yugi and Bakura paused, turning to look at the owner of the voice. It turned out to be a tall man with black, spiked hair, dressed in black pants and a tan jacket. Beside him stood another man with black hair pulled into a pigtail, wearing red and black Chinese clothes, and a girl with short blue hair dressed in a jumper-style school uniform.
Bakura blinked. "Can we help you?" What in the world were three high school students doing at Tokyo University?
"Yeah," said the first man, scratching the back of his head sheepishly. "Um... Are you related to Ryou Bakura?"
Bakura rolled his eyes and flicked his white bangs out of his eyes. "Obviously. I'm his older brother, Yami Bakura. This is a good friend of ours, Yugi Moto." Yugi bowed, and Bakura raised an eyebrow at the visitors.
"I'm Ranma Saotome," the pigtailed man said. "And this is Tenchi Masaki, and Akane Tendo. Bakura-san trains at my uncle's dojo, and over the summer the three of us were supposed to get together at my dojo-" he got elbowed in the side by Akane. "Fine, Akane's dojo, to spar. Bakura-san never showed."
Bakura grinned. "Ahhh, I see. Sorry about that, Ryou had a busy summer. He got called away to Egypt for a family emergency." He glanced around. "Actually, if you'd like to finish your fight, Ryou should be just getting out of class."
Tenchi grinned. "That's what we came for."
It didn't take long to find Ryou, Sekil, Yami, and Joey, who were just returning to the sophomore dorms from their respective classes. "Oy, Bakura-san!" Ranma called. "We never finished our fight!"
Ryou turned, his face breaking into a grin when he beheld the familiar auras. "No, we didn't. Sorry about that, Saotome-kun."
Ranma waved him off. "No big deal. We're here now, so let's finish it!"
"Give me a minute to change," Ryou said, nodding. "I hate having to fight in jeans." Tenchi and Ranma nodded, and Ryou hurried inside.
Sekil sidled over to Bakura, a curious look on his face. "What's up with these guys?"
"Apparently, the dojo that Ryou and I train at is owned by Ranma's uncle. Sometime over the summer he and Tenchi dropped by and started up a spar with Ryou, but had to stop in the middle. They were going to recommence at Ranma's dojo in a week or two, but then Ryou got called to Egypt."
"Oooo, okay." Sekil grinned. "So we get to watch Unmei kick butt, eh?"
Bakura chuckled, rubbing his hands together in anticipation. "Probably."
A minute or two later Ryou returned, tying the gold-banded black belt of his gi. Ranma's eyebrows went up when he saw it, and he whistled quietly. "That's impressive."
Ryou smiled. "Thanks. I've worked hard to get it."
"Of course, all the black belts in the world won't save you from us." Tenchi grinned, and Ryou chuckled.
"Hai, of course."
"So let's start already!" Ranma said, cracking his knuckles. "I'd like to get done sometime before sunset!"
"Hai, of course," Ryou repeated.
Everyone else backed away, leaving the three with a large grassy space to fight in. By now a crowd of students and a few teachers was beginning to form, and Yami and Yugi exchanged glances. Bakura stepped forward. "As a black belt in martial arts myself, I will oversee this match." He raised his hand over his head. "A three-way battle, anything goes."
The three fighters backed into a rough triangular formation, and bowed. Bakura brought his hand down in a slashing motion. "Begin!"
They hesitated for just an instant, and then all three jumped forward at once. Just before he reached the other two, Ryou dropped to the ground and swept one leg around in a wide arc, trying to trip them up. Both of them managed to avoid it, but Tenchi stumbled a bit, allowing Ranma to get in a solid hit to the back of his head. "Hey!"
Ranma grinned, but a split second later he yelped and dodged to the side as Ryou came out of no where to attack while he was distracted. Ryou and Ranma exchanged blows for a minute, before leaping away from each other to regroup. Tenchi moved in to assail Ranma, leaving Ryou a moment to catch his breath and plan his next move. With so many people around, he didn't really want to employ his powers too much. He hoped Ranma and Tenchi would have the sense to do the same.
Ryou crouched, waiting for the right moment. Covertly he reached out, dampening their aura-sense with his own powers. That, combined with the fact that they were so focused on each other, meant that Ranma and Tenchi didn't even notice when they danced past Ryou. Smirking, the telepath leaped, managing to land several solid hits on each of them before they realized what was happening.
"Yay Ryou-chan!!"
Sekil glanced off to the side, and couldn't help but grin. He nudged Yami in the side. "Check out the cheerleaders."
Yami looked over, and laughed softly. Arca and Yugi were bouncing up and down, waving their hands over their head like cheerleaders. If Gwen hadn't been in class, she probably would have been doing the same. "If they manage to find pom-poms I'm disowning them."
"I think Joey already has," Sekil chuckled, pointing out where the blond was standing and trying hard to pretend he didn't know them.
Yami smirked. "If it was Mai fighting he'd be doing the exact same thing."
Sekil stifled laughter at the idea of Joey bouncing around like Arca and Yugi currently were. "That'd be a sight to see."
Yami grinned. "No kidding."
Behind them, in the dorm parking lot, a green Mitsubishi pulled into a parking space. Cars came and went all the time, and Sekil and Yami were too caught up in watching the fight to notice that the driver of this one was very familiar. He turned off the car and got out, frowning and looking vaguely annoyed. He started across the grass toward Sekil, looking decidedly uncomfortable in jeans and a cotton shirt. When he saw the fight he paused, watching Ryou with a curious expression on his face.
Out in the center of the field, things were beginning to heat up. None of the three were willing to visibly show their powers with so many other people about (not to mention the fact that someone stupid could get themselves hurt), but that didn't mean they weren't using them. All three had subtly stepped up their speed, throwing punches and kicks and dodging away faster than what was technically humanly possible. Ranma was using a very mild version of the Hiryu Shoten Ha to super-heat the air directly around his fists, delivering punches that stung with more than just impact. Tenchi had summoned very small versions of the Light Hawk Wings, though in an invisible form, and was using them to block various attacks. Ryou was making good use of his telepathic powers, dampening and scrambling his opponents' senses to throw them off balance.
After one particularly vicious mental "attack", Ranma found his sense of balance screwed and ended up falling over. At just the same moment, Ryou grabbed Tenchi by the collar and tossed him on top of Ranma. Then, grinning triumphantly and breathing hard, Ryou put one foot on Tenchi's back. "Checkmate."
Bakura couldn't help but grin as he raised his hand over his head again and declared Ryou the winner. Ryou kept his opponents on the ground for just an instant longer before he removed his foot and leaned down to give them a hand up.
"That was awesome," Ranma said, dusting himself off after bowing to Ryou. "Guess I'll have to train more."
Ryou chuckled. "Then come back and challenge me again. That was a great work-out."
Tenchi grinned. "You bet we will."
Akane smiled as she made her way over to them. "That was amazing, Bakura-san!"
"Thank you." Ryou said politely, nodding to them. He waved as they turned to leave, then headed over to where Bakura, Yami, and Sekil were waiting with water and a towel. Perhaps it was all the adrenaline still in his system, but he didn't notice the aura that was once again coming their way.
"That was a good fight, Ry," Bakura commented as he handed Ryou his water. "Your defense looked a little sloppy, though."
"Yeah," Ryou agreed, taking a long drink. "I was having so much fun I kept forgetting to concentrate on what I was doing."
"You still won," Yami said, looking amused. "No wonder you have multiple black belts."
"Well, I cheated a little," Ryou admitted, tapping his temple.
Sekil chuckled and winked. "That's acceptable."
"Someday it'll be you out there so I can kick your butt," Ryou challenged with a grin.
"Maybe, I have to get better first. For now, you should go shower. You smell like an icky tomb robber." Sekil grinned and ignored Bakura sticking his tongue out at him. He slung an arm around Ryou's shoulders. "Here's to stinky roommates!"
The man that had been approaching them was, in fact, Sekil's twin brother Lark. It's not easy to sneak up on a telepath, let alone two, so Lark was prepared to go with it. He was just behind them, and reached out to put a hand on Sekil's arm. An instant before Lark would have grabbed him, Sekil moved, taking Ryou's wrist to raise it up in a victory pose. Lark's hand landed on Ryou's shoulder instead, several of his fingers resting against the skin that was exposed by the loose fit of the gi.
Something very interesting happened then.
Ryou jerked, as though an electric shock had gone through him. Then he froze, whimpering softly in pain or fear. Bakura frowned, obviously concerned, trying to figure out what was wrong. "Otouto?"
Lark blinked and removed his hand, taking a step back. As though some sort of circuit had been broken, Ryou collapsed to his hands and knees, breathing heavily. Sekil just stared at him for a moment with his mouth open, then turned on his brother. "Lark! What'd you do?!"
"I did nothing!" Lark insisted, unconsciously clenching his hands into fists.
At just that moment, Joey, Arca, and Yugi ran up, clamoring and asking if Ryou was all right. Yami had to raise his voice to tell them to move back and give him some room.
"I'm all right..." came Ryou's voice faintly. He was still on the ground, but had steadied himself. Now he was kneeling with his head in his hands, cringing away from Lark. "Just... pray don't touch me again."
Yami and Bakura exchanged startled looks as they suddenly understood, and Bakura cursed. "We should have thought of that!"
"Thought of what?" Lark snapped, and they all noticed how Ryou cringed again at the sound of his voice.
Bakura growled softly. "You're scaring him," Stepping forward, Bakura shoved Lark backwards, stepping between the mage and Ryou. "Never, ever touch my hikari again, Mahaado!"
Lark snarled as he regained his balance. "Impertinent tomb robber!" Raising his hands, the mage prepared to call down his magic.
Bakura gulped, instinctively throwing up his arms to shield his face, though that was barely any protection at all against magic attacks. Perhaps getting Lark angry had not been such a wise idea. Sensing the build up of the magical energies, Ryou gave a muted scream and buried his head in his hands, visibly shaking.
Sekil muttered a curse, reaching out telepathically to grab a hold of his twin's mind to keep Lark from attacking. To his surprise, he found a protective barrier already in place, locking Lark away from his magic. He blinked, but didn't have time to think about it as he suddenly sensed Ryou calling up his own powers, no doubt to throw Lark across the lawn. Switching tactics instantly, Sekil turned to his roommate and gently contained his powers, frowning at the way Ryou whimpered when he felt his powers being surpressed.
Bakura heard it too, and after peeking at the furious but unmoving Lark, he moved to kneel by his brother. "Shh, shh, Ryou, you're all right..."
After a moment more, Sekil felt Ryou's mental battering against his barriers lessen, and then cease entirely as Ryou collapsed against Bakura, burying his face against the ex-yami's shirt and shuddering with surpressed sobs. Sekil spared him a pitying glance, then looked over at his brother.
Lark was glowing ever so slightly golden, and wasn't blinking. Looking around, Sekil noticed that Yami had taken the Puzzle back from Yugi, and was currently locked in a staring contest with Lark. The Puzzle was glowing the same shade as Lark, confirming Sekil's suspicions that it was the former pharaoh who'd held off Lark's attack. After a long moment, Yami stepped forward. "Come, Lark, is it? We have much we should discuss."
The glow from around Lark faded, and he twitched slightly, but made no move toward Bakura other than to give him a contemptuous sneer. He gave another to Sekil, then turned to follow Yami. "Yes... pharaoh."
Sekil breathed a quiet sigh of relief, then looked at Bakura and Ryou. "Is he gonna be all right?"
Bakura nodded, rubbing Ryou's back gently as the hikari slowly regained control of himself. "When Lark touched him it must have set off the aftereffects of mage poisoning. Damn, I thought that was only an issue with our Mahaado! Guess not. Then, when Lark tried to attack me, I think he actually flashbacked for a moment."
Sekil must have looked confused, because Yugi stepped over to explain softly so Ryou wouldn't hear just as he was beginning to calm down. "Before, when niisan and Bakura and Ryou went to Egypt to confront Mahaado, he attacked Bakura and knocked him unconscious, then tortured Ryou by touching him and making him relive the pain of being poisoned. Ryou must have thought that was happening again."
Sekil shook his head. "In a way, it was. You were wrong about one thing though, Chiot. I don't think it was just Lark that caused that. He may look like your Mahaado, but he's only half our soul. I think it was me and him touching Ryou at the same time that set it off. As long as we're careful, it shouldn't happen again."
Bakura looked oddly serious as he hugged the trembling Ryou against him, making Sekil think of a wolf protecting its cubs. "It better not."
Seto Kaiba leaned back in his chair, stretching his arms over his head until his back cracked loudly. He winced, then sighed, dropping his arms so that his hands rested in his lap. He eyed what was displayed on the computer screen, then sighed again. Spinning his office chair, he brushed some of his - no, Mokuba's - hair out of his eyes. Outside the window, the sun was setting in spectacular shades of red and gold, and Seto sighed for a third time as he watched it.
Another school day was over, and here he sat in Kaiba Corporation's CEO office while Mokuba catnapped in his soulroom after a hard day of flirting with Rebecca. He'd come here straight after school despite Mokuba's protests, and had been working ever since.
That was partially because he'd been slacking the past few days, allowing Mokuba to go off with his friends. But it was also to get his mind off the dream he'd had last night. Ever since he'd "died" and taken up residence in Mokuba's body, Seto had never dreamed.
Last night, for the first time in nearly four years, he had.
It had started out fuzzy, indistinct. The gentle caress of a hand, a whiff of some exotic perfume, silky hair splayed across his chest as its owner rested against him. Then it had all sharpened, into one visible image and one half-heard conversation. A woman, pale, with bright blue eyes and a ready grin. "Can you believe it?" Seto had the distinct impression that she had been the one speaking.
"No," a voice had replied, one that was both familiar and different, both his own and not. "I can hardly wait to announce it to the world!"
A giggle then, and a hug, and a head laid against his shoulder, her body fitting easily against his but for the swell of her belly, still small but not unnoticed. "At least your loins are looser than the former pharaoh's." she'd teased.
A chuckle. "That Atemu had no children is the will of the gods. Shahi is a darling and I know 'Temu would never have traded her, even for a child of his body."
"I suppose not," his lover, wife? had said. "Although yesterday she threw such a tantrum that Teana was nearly ready to throw her off the balcony."
"Why am I not surprised? I certainly hope you are never so rough with our child." He'd run a hand over her belly then, and she'd giggled again.
"Of course not," she'd said, standing on her toes to kiss his cheek. "How could I ever be rough with any part of you?"
Here, Seto had begun to wake. But half-heard, on the very edge of his consciousness, was one more whispered phrase from the man he feared he knew the identity of.
"My beloved Kisara..."
Seto shook himself out of his thoughts, growling softly. He'd long ago abandoned his ideals that magic wasn't real, but that still didn't mean he had to like it. He hated the thought of being controlled, especially by some past life he didn't even remember.
But still...
The way the woman named Kisara and the man he knew to be his former self had spoken to each other... Seto, in the seventeen years before his "death" had never been in love. And now, being a spirit stuck in another's body, he was likely to never love at all. The way the two had teased and jibed, always with a warm fondness coloring their tones, had made him a little jealous for the woman he couldn't remember loving as he so obviously had. That Mokuba now had a girlfriend only made it worse.
Something else occurred to Seto and he blinked, sitting straight up in his chair. Over the years, Yami and Bakura had spoken a lot about reincarnation. According to them, the souls of those reincarnated didn't pass on to the afterlife, but were reborn. The two of them were an exception, since they'd been sealed away but had somehow managed to be reborn in Yugi and Ryou anyhow. But...
If Seto really was the reincarnation of a priest and later pharaoh, as Yami seemed so sure, then that ancient-priest part of him was still locked away in his mind somewhere, meaning he hadn't passed on to the afterlife. Was that woman, that Kisara, waiting there for the man she loved? Pining year after year in a place that was supposed to be paradise? Seto hoped not. But if Yami were to be believed, that was probably the case.
Seto frowned, brooding. His past self had loved that woman. That woman had probably been waiting three thousand years in the afterlife for him to join her.
...And after all, Mokuba didn't need him. He was sixteen now, and even if he didn't show it, he had to be getting tired of his big brother always hovering over his shoulder. He certainly wouldn't want Seto around when he really fell in love, got married. Even if Mokuba hadn't really thought about that yet, Seto knew it would come up one day.
If Seto had died that day when Kuroi Karasu tried to kill him, he knew Mokuba would have been devastated. But they'd all grown up since then, had time to get used to this... this... half-death that Seto was living. Surely just one more step to real death wouldn't be so much of a shock... And if in the afterlife, he could find Kisara, and maybe remember what it was like to be loved...
Perhaps...
Perhaps now, on the edge of so much change, it would be easier to say good-bye.
(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)
WSJ: ;_;
Sekil: What's your problem?
WSJ: *bursts into tears and buries her head in Naosu's shoulder* Waaaaahhh!!
Naosu: 0.o; Loff?
WSJ: This chapter's so shoooort!! *wails*
Unmei: *sweatdrop* "Short", she says...
Chiot: *snort* Suuure... Short to HCG, maybe...
Sekil: *pokes WSJ with a handy stick* Come on, quit blubbering, you have notes to go over.
WSJ: Waaaaah!!!
Naosu: O.o Um... Naosu think SJ-sama only cry 'cause she not want to let Naosu go...
Unmei: Hm... Knowing her, that's probably right.
Chiot: Peachy. We should start counting how many times we get stuck doing notes...
Yami: *speaks up for the first time* WSJ's DeviantArt name is Archangel-Unmei, for those interested.
Naosu, Sekil, and Chiot: *look at Unmei*
Unmei: .... *sweatdrop*
Chiot: Hmm... I smell a spoiler... *shrugs* Ah well. For the next month or so SJ won't be writing much, because two of her favorite teachers are pregnant, so she's making baby blankets for them. AND she's trying to get her fledgling illustration and design business off the ground. AND if that doesn't work out, she'll be looking for a job, now that exams are over.
Sekil: SJ! You got this done before your deadline! You said you'd finish it before February 1 and you did. You should be proud, not sobbing.
Unmei: You may as well give up, Naosu's right. If she keeps crying, she gets to keep hugging the kawaii little sugarball, so therefore she's not likely to stop anytime soon.
Sekil: *sigh*
Yami: SJ had considerable fun writing all of Seto's dream sequence, and yes, you should look forward to more of that in the future. There's a big huge subplot in the works featuring Seto, but I'm not allowed to say any more than that at this present time.
Nozomi: *stalks in, looking around for Naosu* Aha. So this is where you ran off to.
Naosu: ^_^ Loff, mou hitori no boku! *waves as best he can with SJ clinging to his neck*
Chiot: *dryly* You're going to need a crow bar.
Nozomi: Hmm... And I suppose after that fiasco with Ebony I'm not allowed to Mind Crush her...
Unmei: Sorry, but no. We need her sane. Who knows what kind of horrible things she'd do to us if she were out of her mind?
Nozomi: She has a mind to be out of?
Unmei: Good point.
Nozomi: *glances upward* Well, these notes have stretched on for several pages too far anyway, so I shall have to kidnap my aibou and return before Ebony misses us.
Sekil: Good luck.
Nozomi: *snorts and wanders over to WSJ, and taps her on the back of the head*
WSJ: *sniffles and looks up* Hmm?
Nozomi: *sigh* May I please have my Worthy Light back? Ebony needs him.
WSJ: *instant sparkly eyes* Nozomi!!! *grins shrewdly* Only if I get oooone little thing in return...
Nozomi: Yes yes, just be quick about it.
Sekil, Unmei, Chiot, and Yami: *face palm at Nozomi's stupidity*
WSJ: Wheee!! *glomps Nozomi*
Nozomi: *twitches*
Naosu: 0.o
WSJ: *backs off, grinning* Sorry, couldn't resist. You guys can go now.
Nozomi: *another small twitch* ...Thank you. Come, Worthy Light.
Naosu: ^_^ *gleefully waves to the Fates Realmers as he leaves* Loffu!
WSJ: *calls after them* Tell Ebby to hurry with chapter nine of TU!
Chiot: -_- Just get going on the preview already...
Chapter 5: WSJ: (V/O) Thankfully, Ryou's all right after his little run-in with Lark.
Ryou: I am reminded why I can't stand your brother...
Sekil: *sweatdrop*
WSJ: (V/O) And... Not much else happens. Oh, except for a date.
Duke: *hums softly as he gets ready*
WSJ: (V/O) And more classes.
Ryou: *sighs*
WSJ: (V/O) And more complications, of course!
Bakura: What do you mean she has "second sight"?!?
WSJ: (V/O) All this and more, next time!
God bless minna-san!
