/At Bakura's house/ "Here, catch!" Bakura threw a fluffy towel at Yami. Yami had been unbuckling his boots, and looked up just in time to get the flying towel full in the face.
"You're terrible!" He began toweling his hair off. Bakura did the same for himself, and then started laughing when Yami twisted around and tried to dry his wings off. "What's so funny?" Yami asked.
"Do you want help?" Bakura asked. "Looks like you're having a bit of trouble." Yami stuck his tongue out at the taller boy.
"Thank you Captain Obvious. Yes, I could use some help." Bakura grinned and walked over to give Yami's wings a brisk rubdown. "Thanks."
"No problem. Um…I don't think Ryou would mind if you slept in his old room."
"Actually, I didn't intend to tell you, but he gave me permission to sleep in there anyway." Bakura chuckled.
"That's just like him. He probably assumed that I wouldn't let anyone in there, in honor of his memory." He sneezed.
"Regardless of that, you should put some dry clothes on. I'll stay down here." Bakura nodded and sneezed as he left. Now the real work starts. I just hope that this time I don't royally screw things up. This guy is too important for that. Yami thought. Once he was sure that the shower was on, he pulled a trunk out of thin air and surveyed its contents. After some obvious thought, he selected a pair of black jeans and closed the trunk once more, pushing it out of the way. When Bakura had finished showering, he went back downstairs to find his Guardian sound asleep on the couch. Unable to resist a chance at a joke, he crept closer to the couch, then leaped up from beside it with a yell. Yami's response was to leap to his feet, giving voice to a blood-curdling war cry and then to drop into a defensive position, hands balled into fists in the absence of something else.
Judging by his posture, I'd say he's a knife wielder. Bakura thought. He seems quite good. I don't think I could move that fast.
"Don't scare me like that! I could've-"
"Gutted me before I could say 'boo', right?"
"How could you tell?"
"Several reasons: One, your posture is that of someone skilled with a knife. Two, your hands were in fists only because you didn't have something else to hold in them, most likely a good blade. Three, that's a position only a knife fighter would use. Four, the calluses on your knuckles aren't old, so you aren't a practiced fist-fighter. Five, you have the tiny scars on your hands that are collected during training in the use of fighting knives. And, six, I can always tell another of my kind." Noting Yami's confused expression, Bakura dropped into the same crouch, and brought his hands up to protect his face. Held in each hand was a sturdy knife. Yami cracked up.
"Oh, that's too good! I should have known!" he cried, rolling on the floor, clutching his ribs and laughing like a hyena.
"What, may I ask, is so funny?" Bakura asked dryly.
"Well…you see, a Guardian is usually assigned to someone who is like them. When I got here, I wasn't really sure how we were similar. They picked the one attribute that they haven't been able to match to anyone for nearly one thousand years, my knife work!"
"I take it there aren't many up there who can fight with the knives?" Bakura asked, interested.
"Are you kidding me? Nobody up there can fight with a knife!"
"Then where'd you learn?"
"I said I was half demon, right?"
"Oh."
"Enough said. D'you mind if I shower?"
"No, go right ahead. If the hot water shuts off, kicking the wall helps. I need to do some maintenance on the water heater when I get the time."
"Okay." This said, Yami headed upstairs. Bakura put some soup on the stove to defrost and flopped on the couch. He was reading the 'Pendragon' series (I love these books!), and only paused in his eager reading to sneeze. Several times he heard the familiar thumping noise that meant that Yami was kicking the wall, and, if the muffled yelling was any indication, he was also trying to reason with the stubborn water heater. Bakura managed to make out several of the louder curses. He was mildly impressed by his Guardian's language. Yami returned to the living room almost 45 minutes later. He'd hidden his wings again, and he was shirtless. Bakura wasn't really surprised, as he had the same habit. Besides, he'd seen shirtless males countless times. He was a lifeguard for heaven's sake! He did pay attention, however, when Yami's back was turned to him. The Degamelon was selecting a shirt from his trunk. It wasn't what he was doing that caught Bakura's attention. It was the markings on Yami's back. Bakura gaped, and only managed to catch himself when Yami turned around and pulled on a shirt.
"Ready for dinner?" Bakura asked, and sneezed.
"Mmhm. Sorry I took so long. I'm as bad as a woman when it comes to shower time."
"Don't worry about it. I do the same thing." Yami laughed, and then noted the expression on Bakura's face.
"What?"
"Huh? Oh, nothing." Bakura said quickly. Too quickly.
"You saw my marks, didn't you?" Yami whispered. Bakura nodded dumbly. He had the feeling that he had just gotten a lot more that he'd bargained for. "That is something we will discuss on a later date. Cheer up, I'm not mad at you. You were bound to see them some time, and I suppose sooner is better then later."
/After supper, and after Yami force-fed Bakura some cold medicine/ "Alright. I suggest that you get some sleep. It ought to help get rid of that cold."
"I'm n-ACHOO!"
"Not sick, right? I'll believe that when I don't have wings. Bed."
"You can be awfully annoying, did you realize?"
"Yup. I'm just that way. Now, good night." Yami said forcefully, dragging Bakura toward the stairs.
"Okay, okay. I'm going, no need to be pushy!" Feigning annoyance, the white-haired young man wriggled out of his guardian's grip and stomped up the stairs, Yami right behind him.
"Er…this might not be the best time to explain, but…uh"
"Spit it out." Bakura encouraged
"Well…I sleepwalk…and…I talk in my sleep. So, if you hear something at night, it's probably me."
"Heh. Yugi used to sleepwalk too. Good night" Bakura contemplated the sudden turn his life had taken as he climbed into bed that night. He decided that it was a good change, and was asleep as soon as his head touched the pillow. He slept soundly, instead of being plagued by nightmares, as he had been in recent weeks.
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