Notes: I don't know what you guys think, but I SO prefer it when all I need
to do in life is write. Unfortunately, I can't, and while it sucks, it's
understandable. But it still sucks. Anyhow, I'm trying to make this chapter
sad, but I'm not sure how it'll come out. Enjoy.
Warnings: I am indeed overtired while I write this. Might not make sense. Please review.
Sleeping Demons and Crying Angels - Ice
He watched the two of them through his closed eyes; sensing them rather than actually watching them, and smirked. This was going to be all too easy.
But lately, his life had just seemed so messed up. He had been seeing things that just couldn't be there, and dreaming things that just couldn't be real. He never woke up hurt from them; in his dreams, all he did was hurt other people.
The only weird thing was, now he was having the weirdest thoughts, and doing the strangest things. He would get violent tendencies and they wouldn't go away until he had cut something, so he had resorted to cutting himself.
But now . . . he was still watching the other two, who he was sure where in his dreams, but he didn't have a clue why. There was something foreboding about all of this, and he just couldn't put his finger on it.
'Come to me, my body.' He didn't think it, but he heard it. He was seriously starting to believe there was another voice in his head. One that made him do weird things. He had woken up on a hospital bed, unaware of anything that had happened in the past few days.
A sudden urge to kill the two he was watching came over him, and he struggled to not pull out his knife (which he had no clue when he started carrying that) and chuck it at them.
Instead, he carefully took out the knife, and pulled up his sleeve on the long-sleeved violet t-shirt he was wearing. Scars, mostly pink, fresh scars, crisscrossed his skin. Choosing an area of relatively unscarred skin, he brought the knife down in a quick motion. It sliced through his skin faster than a knife cuts through butter. The flesh throbbed pink, and then red blood started rushing out.
With every drop, he didn't realize he was becoming more and more of a pawn in a game he had no clue about, let alone control over.
-=-=-=-=-=-
Yugi grinned as he heard Joey's voice - Joey was talking to Triston. "Yeah, I gotta get to the hospital," Joey was saying.
They could hear the eagerness in the others voice as he said, "Oh, to visit Serenity?" The underlying tone screaming out, 'Let me come! Let me come!'
"Nah, I'm gonna visit Yug, and Ryou. They're both in there, got roughed up pretty badly," Joey said.
"Oh, are they ok?" Triston asked, obviously worried about the two, but sounding mildly disappointed.
"We're fine," Ryou assured them as he and Yugi jumped out of the bushes, totally surprising Joey and Triston, both of whom had expected to see them at the hospital.
"You guys got outta the hospital?" Joey asked in amazement, "But you were cut up pretty badly!"
"Cut up?" Triston asked, now sounding worried.
Yugi gave a reassuring smile, "We're fine, really. Just a few small cuts." But even as he said that, he could feel his chest constrict in pain; the scab over his wound hadn't fully set yet, and it was painful to talk a lot, Yugi realized.
"Yes, the nurses just told us we could go whenever we wanted to," Ryou added, "And we thought, well, we're fine, so no worries there. We left and got some hot chocolate and then, obviously, we came here in hopes of catching you before you went to the hospital."
"Ahhhh, ok," Joey said, grinning. "You're sure you're alright then?"
"Yup," Yugi and Ryou said at the same time, and smiled together.
Ryou frowned thoughtfully, "Yeah, it was weird, but now I do feel a ton better, so I'm just going to put all of this behind me, and so, I have to ask you, Joey, to please pretend like this never happened, ok?"
Joey shrugged, "Ok, but if you ever get like that again . . ." He grinned and patted Ryou on the back, carefully, as not to open the wounds. "Now, what was that about hot chocolate? Perhaps you have some for me and Tristan, eh?"
Ryou laughed a little, and replied, "Sorry, Joey, I'm afraid Yugi and I had the last of it. Hey, I just remembered I had something to do at home, so I've gotta go now. I'll catch up to you guys later, ok?"
Yugi, realizing that Ryou wanted some time alone, nodded, "Go ahead, Ryou. We'll probably be dueling again. Just be careful, ok?"
"Of course!" Ryou assured them, waved and ran off.
-=-=-=-=-=-
Ryou got home without incident, and not once did he notice anyone watching him. Once inside, he sat down on a chair, and started breathing heavily. /I'm glad they didn't ask questions/ he thought to himself /Because I feel like I'm going to pass out soon and that wouldn't be good for me/
//Or me either//
Ryou blinked. He knew he wasn't feeling the greatest, but that didn't mean he should be hearing voices, right? Right?
//Oh, sure, call me a voice//
/Umm, who are you?/
//Heh.//
Ryou blinked again. What the heck was going on anway? He was feeling a bit stronger, and could almost stand again. It was as if this voice was giving him strength.
//You're so naïve. I can't believe you're my host. Out of all the people in the world, you had to be my host. Well, it could have been worse. Or not// The voice seemed to get reflective // I still can't believe he betrayed me like that//
/Betrayed you? What? Who?/ Ryou grimaced. This was quite confusing, and the fact that there was some random voice in his head didn't help.
//You wouldn't know him. Stupid bastard betrayed me and tried to say I betrayed him. Goddamn bastard.//
Ryou took a few steadying breaths, and then realized something. /I'm going to pass out again/
//Don't you dare!// The voice screamed angrily at him. //Don't!//
/ . . . sorry . . ./
-=-=-=-=-=-
//Stupid boy! Having to fall asleep!// "Dammit!" He spat, glaring at nothing.
"Back again?" The spiky white haired teen pressed up against him.
He glared. "Fuck off; you stupid bastard!" He scowled, "I fucking hate you."
"No you don't," replied the teen, wrapping his arms tightly around the other, a somewhat sinister embrace. "Do you not remember?"
"I don't want to remember! You betrayed me! We were partners, and then you betrayed me! Stabbed me!"
"Don't you want to die?" Rough hands traveled down the others body, forcefully.
"Not by your hands, Marik, never by your hands!"
"Even if said hands do this . . ." Marik said sensually, undoing the others pants, and sticking his hands in. "You remember now, don't you, Bakura? Nothing you do will stop you from remembering."
Bakura's eyes widened, and he gasped. "Stop it right now! I don't want this."
"Oh, do you now?" Marik's violet eyes flashed dangerously, and he took one hand out of Bakura's pants to pull out a knife. "Say that again, will you?"
Bakura glared, and said firmly, "Stop. It. Now."
"You're dead." At the same time Marik forced Bakura to come in his pants, he slashed Bakura across the chest.
Eyes wide open in a mix of pain and pleasure, Bakura screamed soundlessly.
"And you love it, don't you?"
Blackness swirled around him.
"Only a matter of time . . ."
-=-=-=-=-=-
Ryou awoke with a start; his chest was hurting again, and his breathing was ragged. That dream . . . could it even be called a dream anymore? . . . was so vivid . . . and now the silver haired and blonde teens had names . . . Bakura . . . Marik . . .
Realizing that his chest was bleeding again; the wound had opened up; Ryou dragged his body to the kitchen, cleaned it off, and did his best to bandage it. He collapsed into a chair, and groaned.
In these visions, or whatever they were, a few things were becoming clearer. There were three people in them, always the same three people. . . one of them looked strangely like him, the other was blonde and the third almost looked like Yugi . . .
It was obvious that Bakura and Marik hated each other, but used to like each other, and that Marik wanted to get out of his host body . . . whatever that meant.
Ryou sighed deeply, and tried to keep the room from spinning.
/Bakura?/ He thought quietly, wondering if he'd get a response or not.
//You fell asleep//
/I'm sorry . . . so where are you anyway?/
//In your soul, more or less. Whenever you pass out like that, I get let out into a Shadow Realm, more or less. I can't die because right now I'm only a spirit, but in a bit of time, if your body gets any weaker, I can possess it and then I will be reborn//
/That would involve my death, wouldn't it?/
//Well, duh//
Ryou shivered. This did not sound good for him. He sighed again, and wondered what to do now.
//Mmmmm, blood// he faintly heard Bakura say. Ryou shivered again.
/This is so screwed up . . . how come I've never heard you before?/
Ryou could almost hear Bakura shrug. //You've probably never been aware. That, and until your sixteenth birthday, I was very weak. Sixteen is a very important number here//
/That's . . . great . . . sure . . . is there any way I can think without having you hear?/
//You'd have to put up a mental block, and in your present state, that's not gonna happen.//
/Damn./
Ryou closed his eyes in frustration.
-=-=-=-=-=-
When he opened his eyes again, it was morning, and Ryou blinked. "I must have slept in this chair all night!" he muttered aloud, looking around. The sun was just starting to shine through the window, so it must have been fairly early. He looked down at his chest; he had on no shirt, and his wound was staring right back at him. The blood had crusted over into a makeshift scab, and Ryou sighed.
It would be interesting trying to clean that up. He glanced at his hands. At least THEY were almost healed.
Breakfast took only ten minutes as Ryou heated up oatmeal and ate it with sugar and cinnamon. He got dressed in a school uniform quickly, scrubbing his wound as best as he could. With the white shirt on, however, you couldn't see it unless you looked right down his shirt, so he figured it would be OK.
/I hope Yugi is ok./
//God, not that fern headed pharaoh!//
/Bakura! I thought you were sleeping . . . or whatever it is you do for most of the day! And what do you mean, pharaoh??/
//Oh, that. Yugi holds the soul of a pharaoh. Long, boring story. I don't care much for it. The point is, I don't care.//
/Gee, thanks./
//Always willing to help// Bakura replied sarcastically.
Ryou said and thought nothing, but went to school.
"Hey, Ryou!" Yugi called, walking up behind him.
"Hey Yugi," Ryou replied, turning around, "How are you?"
Yugi looked at the ground a moment, "You mean . . . with . . . that and all?"
"Yeah."
"I'm . . . ok . . ."
"It happened again, didn't it?"
". . . yeah . . ."
"Me too."
There was a long pause of silence.
"Let's go to class, ok?" Yugi finally said, "We can talk later, I guess."
"Yeah," Ryou said, almost whispering.
They made it to their classroom without incident, and then a familiar voice came behind them. "What are you to up to anyway?"
Ryou and Yugi turned around. "Seto Kaiba," Ryou sighed. "What's it matter to you?"
Kaiba gave a small laugh, and rolled his eyes. "You two are almost late. You two are almost NEVER late. So what's up?"
Ryou blinked, "What does it matter to you?" he replied.
Kaiba shrugged. "I just feel like knowing. Anyhow?"
"It's nothing, really," Yugi said, "So leave us alone."
He and Ryou turned to enter the classroom. They were almost in all the way, when Kaiba said something that made them both stop in their tracks. "I know more than you'd like to believe, Ryou. Trust me, and come over to the front of the school directly after last class, got it?"
Ryou didn't turn around, but he demanded, "Kaiba, tell me what you mean by you know more than I'd like to believe."
"Sorry, I can't say anything right now," Kaiba said, smirking. "If you dare to trust me, you'll meet me out front after school." The bell rang, and Yugi and Ryou silently entered the classroom and sat down before the teacher could yell at them.
-=-=-=-=-=-
/Bakura/ Ryou thought tentatively, trying to see how his link would work out at school.
//What now?// Bakura's impatient voice came.
/Do you know anything about Seto Kaiba?/
//Who the hell is he?//
/Ok, just wondering./ Ryou thought. And to himself he added aloud very quietly, "And that means he doesn't have anything to do with this. Right?"
//Ryou?//
/Hm?/
//I need you to know one thing. If you ever see a blonde Egyptian with violet eyes, do not go near him. He's the enemy here, so stay away.//
/Whatever/ Ryou tried to concentrate on the lesson the teacher was teaching, but Bakura continued to talk.
//I need to clear some things up with you now. Listen, you might be my host body for now, but when I can, I'll take over your body and your soul will be lost. So start saying your good byes. Also, I. Hate. Marik.//
/Of course/ Ryou shrugged it off, not wanting to bother with Bakura at the minute. He was too confused as it was. What he was confused about was, when would this person claiming to be part of his soul have a relationship with another part soul? It confused him just to think that, so he decided to concentrate on school. For once, it wasn't as confusing.
-=-=-=-=-=-
"I can't meet up with Kaiba," Yugi said quietly after school.
"Why not?" asked Ryou.
"I promised my grandfather I would help out in the game shop. No, it's not an excuse. Will you please go and tell me what he says?" Yugi asked, silently pleading for his friend to understand.
"So you trust Kaiba then?"
"I don't know who to trust. Be careful, Ryou."
"I will."
He walked up to Kaiba and nodded. "Hey."
"Where's Yugi?" Kaiba said, looking down.
"Couldn't make it. Now, what do you need to tell me?" Ryou asked, almost impatiently.
Kaiba continued to look down, and then he sighed a little. "Come with me," he said, impatiently leading Ryou to his limo.
"Where are you taking me?" Ryou asked immediately.
"Don't worry yourself, I'm not going to kill you," Kaiba replied. In an odd way, this comforted Ryou, and he got into the limo.
-=-=-=-=-=-
"Now, I guess I should start from the beginning and tell you what I know, but only if you promise to do the same thing," Kaiba said after a period of silence. The only noise, really, was from the limo; the faint sound of tires going extremely fast.
"Why do you care?" Ryou asked suddenly. "I mean, you've always been such a loner, and you've hated us as far as I know, so what's up with all of this?"
"Well, it'll make sense once I explain," Kaiba finally replied. "Well, anyhow, I don't know how long the dreams have been happening to you, but . . . two days ago, a lady came to my mansion, demanding to talk to me. I let her in, and she told me of three boys who were going to have a huge clash over the fate of the world, and all that shit. The point is, she described three people, and I knew at once it was you and Yugi. So I told her I'd bring you two to talk to her today."
"I'm going see some lady I don't even know?" Ryou said incredulously. "Great."
"Her name is Isis," Kaiba said shortly. "And I don't know. She says she can help you understand what is happening to you."
"Right, whatever," Ryou muttered.
"Ok, we're here," Kaiba finally said.
They got out of the limo and walked into Kaiba's large mansion. Ryou didn't bother to look around or anything; he just stared straight ahead. Kaiba brought him to a room where a tan lady with black hair and blue eyes sat. She was wearing a simple white dress.
"Ryou Bakura and Seto Kaiba. Thank you for coming. Where is Yugi Moto?" Isis said. She had a lilting voice, and Ryou found himself sitting down with Kaiba in chairs around the room.
"Yugi couldn't make it today, Isis," Kaiba said, "But I'm sure Ryou will tell him everything."
"Alright then." Isis said.
Isis turned to Ryou. "Ryou, as you might know, my name is Isis Ishtar." She smiled warmly at him, sort of like a mother to a child. "You've been having the dreams, haven't you?"
"What do you mean?" Ryou replied instantly.
Isis lowered her head, and smiled sadly. "I realize you are confused. What I might say may make you even more confused, but you must know this. A long time ago, there were three people of extreme power. One was good, one was evil, and the other was at first neutral, but then was swayed to the side of darkness."
Ryou nodded, getting into the story a little.
"Now, since the two that were evil were able to overpower the one that was good, an even more powerful person decided that they must be stopped. He sealed them all away, to be reborn in other people 5000 years later, in hopes that by then they would be able to live peacefully together. As it turned out, you, Yugi and a third, named Malik, were born with their souls."
"You're kidding," Ryou muttered, but Isis gave him a look, and continued.
"Now, you have activated their souls by turning 16, and they are able to think for themselves, act almost on their own, at times, to a degree. Whenever you get knocked out, they are released into a soul room and they become slightly more powerful. They can't die in this place, but any damage done to their body will occur to yours." She paused, and then said, "Ryou, could you please remove your shirt?"
Ryou blinked, and then complied, realizing she wanted to see the injury he had. How she knew about it was anyone's guess, but he took off the white shirt. Isis's eyes widened a little, and Kaiba blinked.
"Huh, it's deeper than I remember," Ryou muttered.
"Oh my," Isis said, "I didn't realize it was this bad!" She looked right at Ryou, "If too much damage is done to your body, you are in grave danger. However, I can help you control this, with some special items."
Ryou pulled his shirt back on, and shrugged. "I feel fine now . . ."
"No, this will help you. It will put your other soul, your Yami soul, into it's own Shadow Realm when you fall unconscious. We must separate them." She handed Ryou a gold pendant, a ring with several points. "This is the Millennium ring. It will help you control Bakura."
"Why is this so important anyway? Why aren't you all worried about Yugi and that Malik person?" Ryou demanded, looking at the ring.
"Because. Malik right now is beyond hope, Yugi holds the soul of the good pharaoh, but you, Ryou, hold the soul of neutrality. We mustn't let him fall back into the dark!" Isis said passionately.
Ryou blinked; the world seemed to be swirling around him. He looked at Kaiba, who was just tying to understand all of this too, and then Ryou looked at Isis.
Her mouth opened, and she was saying something, but Ryou couldn't hear.
For yet another time, he let the darkness claim him.
Warnings: I am indeed overtired while I write this. Might not make sense. Please review.
Sleeping Demons and Crying Angels - Ice
He watched the two of them through his closed eyes; sensing them rather than actually watching them, and smirked. This was going to be all too easy.
But lately, his life had just seemed so messed up. He had been seeing things that just couldn't be there, and dreaming things that just couldn't be real. He never woke up hurt from them; in his dreams, all he did was hurt other people.
The only weird thing was, now he was having the weirdest thoughts, and doing the strangest things. He would get violent tendencies and they wouldn't go away until he had cut something, so he had resorted to cutting himself.
But now . . . he was still watching the other two, who he was sure where in his dreams, but he didn't have a clue why. There was something foreboding about all of this, and he just couldn't put his finger on it.
'Come to me, my body.' He didn't think it, but he heard it. He was seriously starting to believe there was another voice in his head. One that made him do weird things. He had woken up on a hospital bed, unaware of anything that had happened in the past few days.
A sudden urge to kill the two he was watching came over him, and he struggled to not pull out his knife (which he had no clue when he started carrying that) and chuck it at them.
Instead, he carefully took out the knife, and pulled up his sleeve on the long-sleeved violet t-shirt he was wearing. Scars, mostly pink, fresh scars, crisscrossed his skin. Choosing an area of relatively unscarred skin, he brought the knife down in a quick motion. It sliced through his skin faster than a knife cuts through butter. The flesh throbbed pink, and then red blood started rushing out.
With every drop, he didn't realize he was becoming more and more of a pawn in a game he had no clue about, let alone control over.
-=-=-=-=-=-
Yugi grinned as he heard Joey's voice - Joey was talking to Triston. "Yeah, I gotta get to the hospital," Joey was saying.
They could hear the eagerness in the others voice as he said, "Oh, to visit Serenity?" The underlying tone screaming out, 'Let me come! Let me come!'
"Nah, I'm gonna visit Yug, and Ryou. They're both in there, got roughed up pretty badly," Joey said.
"Oh, are they ok?" Triston asked, obviously worried about the two, but sounding mildly disappointed.
"We're fine," Ryou assured them as he and Yugi jumped out of the bushes, totally surprising Joey and Triston, both of whom had expected to see them at the hospital.
"You guys got outta the hospital?" Joey asked in amazement, "But you were cut up pretty badly!"
"Cut up?" Triston asked, now sounding worried.
Yugi gave a reassuring smile, "We're fine, really. Just a few small cuts." But even as he said that, he could feel his chest constrict in pain; the scab over his wound hadn't fully set yet, and it was painful to talk a lot, Yugi realized.
"Yes, the nurses just told us we could go whenever we wanted to," Ryou added, "And we thought, well, we're fine, so no worries there. We left and got some hot chocolate and then, obviously, we came here in hopes of catching you before you went to the hospital."
"Ahhhh, ok," Joey said, grinning. "You're sure you're alright then?"
"Yup," Yugi and Ryou said at the same time, and smiled together.
Ryou frowned thoughtfully, "Yeah, it was weird, but now I do feel a ton better, so I'm just going to put all of this behind me, and so, I have to ask you, Joey, to please pretend like this never happened, ok?"
Joey shrugged, "Ok, but if you ever get like that again . . ." He grinned and patted Ryou on the back, carefully, as not to open the wounds. "Now, what was that about hot chocolate? Perhaps you have some for me and Tristan, eh?"
Ryou laughed a little, and replied, "Sorry, Joey, I'm afraid Yugi and I had the last of it. Hey, I just remembered I had something to do at home, so I've gotta go now. I'll catch up to you guys later, ok?"
Yugi, realizing that Ryou wanted some time alone, nodded, "Go ahead, Ryou. We'll probably be dueling again. Just be careful, ok?"
"Of course!" Ryou assured them, waved and ran off.
-=-=-=-=-=-
Ryou got home without incident, and not once did he notice anyone watching him. Once inside, he sat down on a chair, and started breathing heavily. /I'm glad they didn't ask questions/ he thought to himself /Because I feel like I'm going to pass out soon and that wouldn't be good for me/
//Or me either//
Ryou blinked. He knew he wasn't feeling the greatest, but that didn't mean he should be hearing voices, right? Right?
//Oh, sure, call me a voice//
/Umm, who are you?/
//Heh.//
Ryou blinked again. What the heck was going on anway? He was feeling a bit stronger, and could almost stand again. It was as if this voice was giving him strength.
//You're so naïve. I can't believe you're my host. Out of all the people in the world, you had to be my host. Well, it could have been worse. Or not// The voice seemed to get reflective // I still can't believe he betrayed me like that//
/Betrayed you? What? Who?/ Ryou grimaced. This was quite confusing, and the fact that there was some random voice in his head didn't help.
//You wouldn't know him. Stupid bastard betrayed me and tried to say I betrayed him. Goddamn bastard.//
Ryou took a few steadying breaths, and then realized something. /I'm going to pass out again/
//Don't you dare!// The voice screamed angrily at him. //Don't!//
/ . . . sorry . . ./
-=-=-=-=-=-
//Stupid boy! Having to fall asleep!// "Dammit!" He spat, glaring at nothing.
"Back again?" The spiky white haired teen pressed up against him.
He glared. "Fuck off; you stupid bastard!" He scowled, "I fucking hate you."
"No you don't," replied the teen, wrapping his arms tightly around the other, a somewhat sinister embrace. "Do you not remember?"
"I don't want to remember! You betrayed me! We were partners, and then you betrayed me! Stabbed me!"
"Don't you want to die?" Rough hands traveled down the others body, forcefully.
"Not by your hands, Marik, never by your hands!"
"Even if said hands do this . . ." Marik said sensually, undoing the others pants, and sticking his hands in. "You remember now, don't you, Bakura? Nothing you do will stop you from remembering."
Bakura's eyes widened, and he gasped. "Stop it right now! I don't want this."
"Oh, do you now?" Marik's violet eyes flashed dangerously, and he took one hand out of Bakura's pants to pull out a knife. "Say that again, will you?"
Bakura glared, and said firmly, "Stop. It. Now."
"You're dead." At the same time Marik forced Bakura to come in his pants, he slashed Bakura across the chest.
Eyes wide open in a mix of pain and pleasure, Bakura screamed soundlessly.
"And you love it, don't you?"
Blackness swirled around him.
"Only a matter of time . . ."
-=-=-=-=-=-
Ryou awoke with a start; his chest was hurting again, and his breathing was ragged. That dream . . . could it even be called a dream anymore? . . . was so vivid . . . and now the silver haired and blonde teens had names . . . Bakura . . . Marik . . .
Realizing that his chest was bleeding again; the wound had opened up; Ryou dragged his body to the kitchen, cleaned it off, and did his best to bandage it. He collapsed into a chair, and groaned.
In these visions, or whatever they were, a few things were becoming clearer. There were three people in them, always the same three people. . . one of them looked strangely like him, the other was blonde and the third almost looked like Yugi . . .
It was obvious that Bakura and Marik hated each other, but used to like each other, and that Marik wanted to get out of his host body . . . whatever that meant.
Ryou sighed deeply, and tried to keep the room from spinning.
/Bakura?/ He thought quietly, wondering if he'd get a response or not.
//You fell asleep//
/I'm sorry . . . so where are you anyway?/
//In your soul, more or less. Whenever you pass out like that, I get let out into a Shadow Realm, more or less. I can't die because right now I'm only a spirit, but in a bit of time, if your body gets any weaker, I can possess it and then I will be reborn//
/That would involve my death, wouldn't it?/
//Well, duh//
Ryou shivered. This did not sound good for him. He sighed again, and wondered what to do now.
//Mmmmm, blood// he faintly heard Bakura say. Ryou shivered again.
/This is so screwed up . . . how come I've never heard you before?/
Ryou could almost hear Bakura shrug. //You've probably never been aware. That, and until your sixteenth birthday, I was very weak. Sixteen is a very important number here//
/That's . . . great . . . sure . . . is there any way I can think without having you hear?/
//You'd have to put up a mental block, and in your present state, that's not gonna happen.//
/Damn./
Ryou closed his eyes in frustration.
-=-=-=-=-=-
When he opened his eyes again, it was morning, and Ryou blinked. "I must have slept in this chair all night!" he muttered aloud, looking around. The sun was just starting to shine through the window, so it must have been fairly early. He looked down at his chest; he had on no shirt, and his wound was staring right back at him. The blood had crusted over into a makeshift scab, and Ryou sighed.
It would be interesting trying to clean that up. He glanced at his hands. At least THEY were almost healed.
Breakfast took only ten minutes as Ryou heated up oatmeal and ate it with sugar and cinnamon. He got dressed in a school uniform quickly, scrubbing his wound as best as he could. With the white shirt on, however, you couldn't see it unless you looked right down his shirt, so he figured it would be OK.
/I hope Yugi is ok./
//God, not that fern headed pharaoh!//
/Bakura! I thought you were sleeping . . . or whatever it is you do for most of the day! And what do you mean, pharaoh??/
//Oh, that. Yugi holds the soul of a pharaoh. Long, boring story. I don't care much for it. The point is, I don't care.//
/Gee, thanks./
//Always willing to help// Bakura replied sarcastically.
Ryou said and thought nothing, but went to school.
"Hey, Ryou!" Yugi called, walking up behind him.
"Hey Yugi," Ryou replied, turning around, "How are you?"
Yugi looked at the ground a moment, "You mean . . . with . . . that and all?"
"Yeah."
"I'm . . . ok . . ."
"It happened again, didn't it?"
". . . yeah . . ."
"Me too."
There was a long pause of silence.
"Let's go to class, ok?" Yugi finally said, "We can talk later, I guess."
"Yeah," Ryou said, almost whispering.
They made it to their classroom without incident, and then a familiar voice came behind them. "What are you to up to anyway?"
Ryou and Yugi turned around. "Seto Kaiba," Ryou sighed. "What's it matter to you?"
Kaiba gave a small laugh, and rolled his eyes. "You two are almost late. You two are almost NEVER late. So what's up?"
Ryou blinked, "What does it matter to you?" he replied.
Kaiba shrugged. "I just feel like knowing. Anyhow?"
"It's nothing, really," Yugi said, "So leave us alone."
He and Ryou turned to enter the classroom. They were almost in all the way, when Kaiba said something that made them both stop in their tracks. "I know more than you'd like to believe, Ryou. Trust me, and come over to the front of the school directly after last class, got it?"
Ryou didn't turn around, but he demanded, "Kaiba, tell me what you mean by you know more than I'd like to believe."
"Sorry, I can't say anything right now," Kaiba said, smirking. "If you dare to trust me, you'll meet me out front after school." The bell rang, and Yugi and Ryou silently entered the classroom and sat down before the teacher could yell at them.
-=-=-=-=-=-
/Bakura/ Ryou thought tentatively, trying to see how his link would work out at school.
//What now?// Bakura's impatient voice came.
/Do you know anything about Seto Kaiba?/
//Who the hell is he?//
/Ok, just wondering./ Ryou thought. And to himself he added aloud very quietly, "And that means he doesn't have anything to do with this. Right?"
//Ryou?//
/Hm?/
//I need you to know one thing. If you ever see a blonde Egyptian with violet eyes, do not go near him. He's the enemy here, so stay away.//
/Whatever/ Ryou tried to concentrate on the lesson the teacher was teaching, but Bakura continued to talk.
//I need to clear some things up with you now. Listen, you might be my host body for now, but when I can, I'll take over your body and your soul will be lost. So start saying your good byes. Also, I. Hate. Marik.//
/Of course/ Ryou shrugged it off, not wanting to bother with Bakura at the minute. He was too confused as it was. What he was confused about was, when would this person claiming to be part of his soul have a relationship with another part soul? It confused him just to think that, so he decided to concentrate on school. For once, it wasn't as confusing.
-=-=-=-=-=-
"I can't meet up with Kaiba," Yugi said quietly after school.
"Why not?" asked Ryou.
"I promised my grandfather I would help out in the game shop. No, it's not an excuse. Will you please go and tell me what he says?" Yugi asked, silently pleading for his friend to understand.
"So you trust Kaiba then?"
"I don't know who to trust. Be careful, Ryou."
"I will."
He walked up to Kaiba and nodded. "Hey."
"Where's Yugi?" Kaiba said, looking down.
"Couldn't make it. Now, what do you need to tell me?" Ryou asked, almost impatiently.
Kaiba continued to look down, and then he sighed a little. "Come with me," he said, impatiently leading Ryou to his limo.
"Where are you taking me?" Ryou asked immediately.
"Don't worry yourself, I'm not going to kill you," Kaiba replied. In an odd way, this comforted Ryou, and he got into the limo.
-=-=-=-=-=-
"Now, I guess I should start from the beginning and tell you what I know, but only if you promise to do the same thing," Kaiba said after a period of silence. The only noise, really, was from the limo; the faint sound of tires going extremely fast.
"Why do you care?" Ryou asked suddenly. "I mean, you've always been such a loner, and you've hated us as far as I know, so what's up with all of this?"
"Well, it'll make sense once I explain," Kaiba finally replied. "Well, anyhow, I don't know how long the dreams have been happening to you, but . . . two days ago, a lady came to my mansion, demanding to talk to me. I let her in, and she told me of three boys who were going to have a huge clash over the fate of the world, and all that shit. The point is, she described three people, and I knew at once it was you and Yugi. So I told her I'd bring you two to talk to her today."
"I'm going see some lady I don't even know?" Ryou said incredulously. "Great."
"Her name is Isis," Kaiba said shortly. "And I don't know. She says she can help you understand what is happening to you."
"Right, whatever," Ryou muttered.
"Ok, we're here," Kaiba finally said.
They got out of the limo and walked into Kaiba's large mansion. Ryou didn't bother to look around or anything; he just stared straight ahead. Kaiba brought him to a room where a tan lady with black hair and blue eyes sat. She was wearing a simple white dress.
"Ryou Bakura and Seto Kaiba. Thank you for coming. Where is Yugi Moto?" Isis said. She had a lilting voice, and Ryou found himself sitting down with Kaiba in chairs around the room.
"Yugi couldn't make it today, Isis," Kaiba said, "But I'm sure Ryou will tell him everything."
"Alright then." Isis said.
Isis turned to Ryou. "Ryou, as you might know, my name is Isis Ishtar." She smiled warmly at him, sort of like a mother to a child. "You've been having the dreams, haven't you?"
"What do you mean?" Ryou replied instantly.
Isis lowered her head, and smiled sadly. "I realize you are confused. What I might say may make you even more confused, but you must know this. A long time ago, there were three people of extreme power. One was good, one was evil, and the other was at first neutral, but then was swayed to the side of darkness."
Ryou nodded, getting into the story a little.
"Now, since the two that were evil were able to overpower the one that was good, an even more powerful person decided that they must be stopped. He sealed them all away, to be reborn in other people 5000 years later, in hopes that by then they would be able to live peacefully together. As it turned out, you, Yugi and a third, named Malik, were born with their souls."
"You're kidding," Ryou muttered, but Isis gave him a look, and continued.
"Now, you have activated their souls by turning 16, and they are able to think for themselves, act almost on their own, at times, to a degree. Whenever you get knocked out, they are released into a soul room and they become slightly more powerful. They can't die in this place, but any damage done to their body will occur to yours." She paused, and then said, "Ryou, could you please remove your shirt?"
Ryou blinked, and then complied, realizing she wanted to see the injury he had. How she knew about it was anyone's guess, but he took off the white shirt. Isis's eyes widened a little, and Kaiba blinked.
"Huh, it's deeper than I remember," Ryou muttered.
"Oh my," Isis said, "I didn't realize it was this bad!" She looked right at Ryou, "If too much damage is done to your body, you are in grave danger. However, I can help you control this, with some special items."
Ryou pulled his shirt back on, and shrugged. "I feel fine now . . ."
"No, this will help you. It will put your other soul, your Yami soul, into it's own Shadow Realm when you fall unconscious. We must separate them." She handed Ryou a gold pendant, a ring with several points. "This is the Millennium ring. It will help you control Bakura."
"Why is this so important anyway? Why aren't you all worried about Yugi and that Malik person?" Ryou demanded, looking at the ring.
"Because. Malik right now is beyond hope, Yugi holds the soul of the good pharaoh, but you, Ryou, hold the soul of neutrality. We mustn't let him fall back into the dark!" Isis said passionately.
Ryou blinked; the world seemed to be swirling around him. He looked at Kaiba, who was just tying to understand all of this too, and then Ryou looked at Isis.
Her mouth opened, and she was saying something, but Ryou couldn't hear.
For yet another time, he let the darkness claim him.
