DevilsPrincess- Even if you weren't so lazy this time, your review still made my day well worthwhile. I shall take your suggestion about keeping it more in 3rd-person gravely:) Thank you for continuing to aid me with helpful suggestions and by pointing out what parts of my style you enjoy:) As for "Gothic Chick"… I did have that sort of thing in mind for her, he he. And I'm thrilled that I surprised you! I tried hard to make it suprising… (notice all of the ellipses? (sweat drops))

Akio the Dragon Master- What was so scary about him again? (sweat drops) Eheh. I hope this DOES turn out interesting…

I will not toss paper wads at fat, ugly, insecure girly-girls in school, but instead I shall wait until I am out of school AND off-campus to throw sticks/rocks/tiny children at them instead.

"There!" A broad smile spread across Bakura's face, and he signed his name at the top of the paper with a flourish. He hopped out of his seat. "Ya-hoo!"

Bakura quickly went out and, feeling lighthearted, sought out his new friend Otagawa. Bakura was in a good enough mood to call him a friend. After all, Yugi called his lackeys friends, so why couldn't he tell the same lies?

Bakura recognized the way that Yugi's friends suppressed him. Because they expected so much of him, he wasn't allowed to fail, unless they expected him to fail, in which he would try very hard to keep up. He had to fail at least once in awhile, to keep his friends on their toes, or else they would get bored and seek out other company. The only time Yugi felt readily at ease was with his Yami.

It was the exact opposite with Bakura and Ryou; he didn't expect anything of Ryou, and Ryou, knowing that Bakura was full of surprises, never expected anything of him. It was better that way. It was even possible that Ryou might miss him in-between make-out sessions with his new girlfriend.

Possible, Bakura thought morosely, and probable. But I still hope he's having fun. :)

"Your grin is creepy, Bakura," Otagawa professed. Bakura's grim smile of glee dropped like a bucket. Behind him, somebody crashed into a bucket, making it drop, so the effect was quite nice.

"Yeah, well… same to you. You smile so… happy…" Bakura shuddered. "It's like my brother's, but a million times worse."

"You have a brother?" Otagawa said, taking books out from his locker and placing others into it. "Deposits and withdrawals," one student council member had said, "like a textbook bank!" From then on their lockers were called book banks, and everybody hated the name, so it was only used for formalities. Sometimes a person would occasionally call their locker "my mini-library," but absolutely no guy's did that.

"Yeah, his name is Ryou," Bakura found himself saying. Maybe he would tell Otagawa all about Ryou. He couldn't help wondering how Ryou was doing. Ryou had been gone for… hm. Like, three weeks or so. Bakura didn't remember exactly how much time had passed since he had last seen the only person that could crawl under his skin and cause his blood to boil just by being an acceptable person.

And he also plain missed Ryou.

A tomb robber, but also a person very deep down, Bakura was not immune to emotions.

"I thought you said that was your cousin," Otagawa said. Bakura blushed.

"C-Cousin, that's right," Bakura stammered—mentally cursing himself for doing so. "Ryou's my first cousin. He… uh, could pass for my twin though."

Otagawa laughed. "Yeah, you told me that. I can't believe you messed up and said he was your brother--!" Otagawa laughed as the two of them ran out of the hallway like gangbusters, cutting their very last class, which happened to be an integrated physics and chemistry class.

Bakura, vulnerably lost in his thoughts for only a moment, tripped on one of the school's crooked brick steps, which stuck out like teeth in a goofy grin—the type that dentist's have nightmares of. He was sent flying across the path that divided the southeast and southwest parts of the schoolyard, imagining Ryou's echoing in the crooks and crannies of his brain.