Okay, soooooo, here we go again. I don't know if anyone out there liked my first chapter, but I'm gonna put the second one up anyway. And here it is:D
But first thing's first:
I DO NOT own Yu – Gi – Oh or any of its characters. Though, there are times where I wish I did. That way there'd be A LOT of Ryou and Bakura and Marik, Malik and yeah. I'm not gonna repeat myself from my first chapter.
And speaking of my first chapter…… I don't own the song 'I Must be Dreaming' by Evanescence. A Goddess named Amy Lee and her band of musicians owns it. I'm saying this just in case, 'cause I'm not exactly sure if I'm supposed to, but just to be safe. I don't own it.
Innocent Until Proven GuiltyHe grabbed the millennium ring from around his neck, which he couldn't remember putting it on before going to bed, and threw it across the room as hard as he could, just as he had done his pillow. It hit against the mirror hanging against his wall near his door, smashing it to pieces.
A sudden dizziness began screwing around with Ryou's head at the sight of all the broken glass. Of it all falling against the ground. But this dizziness wasn't an ordinary dizziness. It was more like a flashback.
Amane's head getting smashed against the bathroom mirror.
……………………………………………..
Amane laughed and hugged him tightly in her arms.
"Yeah. Yeah, maybe you will, squirt." she kissed him on the cheek, "I promise you, Ryou. You, me, and Dad will go to Egypt together. One big happy family."
"Yeah." Ryou replied with a wide grin.
The next mourning, Ryou had tied a long, thick string of leather he had found in his closet to the hole ontop the millennium ring. He had proudly worn it to his kindergarten class.
Ryou thought that it was going to be a normal, fun day for him. He thought it was going to be another good day; a day to show off his new ring.
He thought wrong.
It was only the calm before the storm.
A small boy with white hair and wide sparkling brown eyes, dressed in blue jeans and a long green ninja-turtles T-shirt, and had a 'Fairly Odd-parents' lunchbox, quickly hugged his sister before running off towards the playground by his school. There was still time to play around for a few minutes before he had to go inside with the rest of his classmates.
The brand new Millennium Ring was shining with the reflection of the warm sunlight.
"Hey Curtis! Jeff!" Ryou called out to his two friends that were one year older than him.
Two young boys on the jungle-gym turned their heads to the direction of the voice who had just called them. Both of them smiled and called him over, but Ryou didn't see the look that they gave each other before doing it. A look of disappointment and disgust.
Both boys looked like they were raised in a non-wealthy family.
Curtis was a really thin boy with short black hair and light brown eyes. His clothes consisted of baggy black pants, a long, a really long, plain black T-shirt, and red shoes.
Jeff was a bit of a plump boy with a faded looking blue jeans, a yellow Spongebob Squarepants T-shirt, and red and white shoes. He had short light- brown hair and blue eyes.
"Hey, Ryou!" Jeff called back to their 'buddy', "Good morning!"
Ryou caught up to the jungle-gym and climbed up, with his lunchbox on the ground beside the jungle-gym, until he was basically in front of the two older boys.
"Happy Birthday." Curtis said with a fake happiness, though Ryou couldn't see it. "Sorry we couldn't make it for your birthday party yesterday. I bet there was a lot of other kids there though, right? With lots of presents? Just for you and nobody else?"
With sadness showing on his face, Ryou shook his head slowly with his eyes lowered.
"That's okay that you guys couldn't make it. You guys had to be getting some food for your parents." The two boys smiled, "And no. No other kids came. There was only me and my sister."
The boys let out a small chuckle at this. Ryou was such an idiot to them.
Ryou heard the small laughter and before he could look up at them in confusion, the boys stopped. Ryou frowned but made himself forget about it.
These two were his friends. His best friends. His only friends. They wouldn't laugh at him. At least, he didn't think so.
His mind then became pressed on different matters and he looked his millennium ring. Excitement and happiness filled him up once again.
"Look what I got for my birthday, you guys." Ryou held up his gift to show his friends, "My daddy sent it to me from Egypt. It's really awesome!"
At first, Jeff and Curtis were expecting something cool, like Pokemon cards or some kind of other neat toy that had just come out in stores. But instead, what they saw was a circle with, what looked like, sharp spikes hanging off from around it, and a triangle was in the middle of the circle with a weird, and somewhat creepy, looking eye in the middle of it. Anyone can tell that it was made from solid gold. Anyone but the kids at school. They didn't even know what gold was.
This wasn't something they were expecting.
Staring at it, both boys lifted an eyebrow.
"Kinda' weird looking, if you ask me." Curtis replied.
Feeling a little hurt at that comment, Ryou shook his head at them.
"But it's not. I think it's really cool. It's from Egypt. None of us has ever been to Egypt. Have you guys ever been to Egypt?"
Beginning to feel angry at the question, Jeff spoke up. How dare he ask such a question to them.
"You can think it's cool if you want. But it's really not, Ryou. It looks really stupid. Why would you think it's cool? And what kind of kid would want that thing for their birthday? A really stupid kid, that's what. And we don't hang around with stupid kids. Are you stupid, Ryou?"
Speechless, and feeling even more hurt, Ryou shook his head.
"Well then, don't wear that….that….whatever that disgusting thing is, and then you won't look so stupid. We don't like it."
Feeling a slight stinging in his eyes, Ryou could think of only one thing to say.
"But I like. My daddy gave it to me. And I barely get to see my daddy."
"Well, if you barely see you daddy then he won't know that you're not wearing it. And whenever you do see him just say that the disgusting thing hurts your neck. And then maybe he will take it back where he got it from."
Ryou blinked.
Before he can say anything else, the school bell rang.
Groaning, the two boys jumped off the jungle-gym and landed on the ground, leaving Ryou sitting there.
"Take the disgusting thing off, Ryou, or we're not gonna talk to you anymore." Curtis told him before both boys ran off for their doors to get into the school.
Wiping away a small tear and sniffling a couple times, Ryou sat there, speechless.
"It's a millennium ring." He said to himself, but wanting to tell Jeff and Curtis.
He then hopped off the jungle-gym, picked up his lunchbox, and ran for his own door.
Keeping his head down to avoid any eye contact with anyone, Ryou walked into his classroom, put his lunchbox on his assigned shelf, and sat down at his own little desk beside the window. He sat there, quietly, with his hands laid out in front of him on his desk.
He was having trouble getting over the words that had been said to him by his two friends. How can they say that to him? They both knew how much he misses his daddy whenever he went away on his digs. And they both knew that everything that his daddy sends to him from where he works is important to him.
Ryou gritted his teeth in frustration.
Jeff and Curtis were his friends! How could they say this stuff to him? Why would they say this stuff to him?
(Because they're not your friends.)
A sharp intake of air became lodged into Ryou's throat. He began to cough. Repeatedly he coughed, holding his hand in front of his lips like his father had told him to do when coughing or sneezing, trying to breathe in the oxygen that his body was beginning to lack more and more as he continued coughing.
His teacher, Mrs. Moore, noticed this. She quickly went and leaned down next to his desk, lay a hand on his back in comfort, and looked at him in concern.
"Ryou, what's the matter?" she asked.
"Can't cough catch my cough breath! cough"
"Did you swallow anything, Ryou?" Mrs. Moore frowned.
Ryou shook his head, only able to take tiny amounts of air inbetween coughs.
Mrs. Moore began patting his back lightly, not too hard.
"Ryou, you have to try to stop coughing. Try to stop coughing and breathe. It's okay if you cough even more after that but you got to try and stop."
Ryou tried as best as he could to follow Mrs. Moore's instructions. Though he found it rather difficult he managed to stop coughing for more than a couple of seconds and he took in a deep breath of the much needed oxygen. The air made it easier for him to cease the coughing and now, Ryou was panting softly. His throat felt dry, and raspy.
"May I go get a drink of water, Mrs. Moore?" he asked, his voice proving how dry his throat felt.
"Yes, you may. But don't take too long. We're going to start soon, okay?"
Ryou quickly nodded before getting up and walking over to the nearest water fountain in the hallway.
Once he got there, he bent down a little bit and took the water into his mouth, enjoying the cool feeling of water sliding down his throat, making him feel better. When he was done he stood up and began walking back to his classroom. On his way back he passed Jeff and Curtis's classroom. He stopped to look inside the room and saw them talking to each other, one of them smiling. Ryou wanted to hear, he wanted to know, what they were talking about, but he couldn't just go in there and listen.
With a sad and pouted look on his face, Ryou just continued walking back to his classroom.
It was then when he remembered why he suddenly had a coughing fit. He remembered why he suddenly had taken in too much air for his little lungs at once.
He had heard a voice in his head. A deep, penetrating, commanding, smooth voice. But it also had seemed to be calm, soft, and somewhat soothing. But was it really in his head? Or was it just another kid somewhere in the classroom talking to his friend? Surely it couldn't have been in his head. The only things he could ever hear in his head were his own thoughts. And Ryou knew for a fact that he had not thought up the words that he heard.
What were the words again? 'Because they're not your friends'? Yeah, that's it. He was thinking of Jeff and Curtis before he heard those words. About how and why his two friends could've said what they said to Ryou before the bell rang……..
Ryou nearly fell over. The connection was too close. Too deep. It was like someone had responded to his very thoughts. But how was that possible? Ryou knew for a fact that it was impossible for a person to read minds. It had to have been another kid talking to a friend. Or just his imagination. Yeah, that's it. Only his imagination.
The meaning of the words, however, and what they were responded to, seemed to cram themselves in the back of his mind.
He quietly walked to his classroom and sat down, before Mrs. Moore began reading another chapter of a book called 'Pinocchio'.
It was lunch-time and the bell rang, making it okay for all the hungry children in the school to grab their lunches and eat. This caused Ryou to become full of excitement. He even forgot all about the Jeff and Curtis incident, and the 'voice-inside-his-head' incident. The only thing that mattered to him at the moment was his sister's grilled cheese sandwich.
Ryou grabbed his lunchbox and went, sat down on the table nearest to the window, and began eating his awaited sandwich.
Alone.
Ryou always sat alone at the one table nearest to the window. He didn't really know why but he liked looking out the window. He liked looking outside, at his surroundings. He liked looking up at the sky, watching the birds fly, watching other people, young or old, walking by. He liked watching everything. Maybe he just liked the way human nature worked on the outside. Mabye he liked the sight of open spaces, the sight of freedom, the sight of other beings' freedom. Ryou didn't know. He just liked watching everything move around him.
To him, the human nature was beautiful. The way humans worked, the way humans operated on a daily basis. How busy, friendly, wonderful, affectionate, how peaceful people were. Especially to him. Ryou knew that, one day, he was going to have to be just as kind, friendly, and busy as everyone else around him. And with a whole life of school waiting for him, Ryou would become prepared.
(You're wrong.)
He didn't know how or why but Ryou began to choke on a bite of his sandwich while it was on its way down. He managed to avoid another coughing fit, and after only a couple of coughs a soggy object made its way back into his mouth. Not knowing what else to do with it, Ryou quickly swallowed it back down, successful at making it all the way down this time.
It was that voice again! That same voice that he heard earlier.
This was no coincidence. It couldn't have been his imagination this time. And there was no way it could've been one of the other kids in the room. This was the exact same voice he had heard earlier, and now he knew for a fact that it wasn't one of the kids, because none of the other kids had such a voice. A deep, mature voice. Only this time, the voice had some kind of bitterness to it, a slight hint of sharpness.
But Ryou was smart. He knew that there had to be some kind of logic to this voice. So if it wasn't one of the other kids, than it had to be his imagination. There just had to be. What else could it be?
But it was then Ryou took into account a certain connection. Just like last time, the connection to his thoughts and the 'voice' he had heard had been close.
But wait? Was it really that close?
He had been wondering to himself about why he liked looking outside the window all the time. Just like almost any other day, he had come to the conclusion that he liked the way human nature worked. And then he gave himself his own thoughts about what he thought about human nature.
And then, the voice was heard.
'You're wrong.'
Ryou frowned.
Wrong? What was so wrong about human nature? He knew that human nature was perfect. Unless 'the voice' was talking about his own thoughts of human nature. But what was wrong about that, too?
Ryou held his breath when he finally figured out the connection.
It was like earlier before his teacher began reading her book to the class. Either it was in his own mind or not, someone or something had responded to his thoughts.
But then Ryou was left with the question, 'What was so wrong about his own thoughts on human nature'? Every moment he got the chance to, he always looked around him, mainly outside, and observed everything little thing he could. The birds, the insects, the animals, the sky, the clouds, even the people. And everything about it was just beautiful to him. With the experience of everything he has seen so far, how could he be wrong thinking that way?
A chuckle rang in his head.
(Kid, you've seen nothing yet.)
Ryou gave out a short cry of surprise and abruptly, he stood up on his feet, knocking the chair to the floor behind him. Everybody in the room was silenced.
What was going on? What was this voice? Why was he hearing it? There was no way it was his imagination! And not only did he hear a voice, he heard a laugh. Or something similar to a laugh.
He suddenly started to feel light-headed; his hands became cold, as everything in the room began to spin. Slowly at first and then it got faster. A queasy feeling had settled itself in his stomach. He wanted to throw up. The room started to spin so fast that he couldn't stay on his feet any longer, and he felt his entire arm, side, and head contact with the floor.
The last thing he saw before darkness covered up his vision was feet coming up alongside beside him. He could've sworn that he heard someone call out his name.
TBC
Sooooooo……what do you people think? Good? Bad? Okay? Not okay? Do you want more?
I was actually only planning on making one more chapter on Ryou's life from where I left off at the ending of my first chapter, to when Ryou was crying in the school bathroom. But as I was starting this chapter I was like, 'Hey! I know! I'll go into actual detail in this story!' And well, here you and me are.
Please review, plz :D Just tell me if it's good or bad. I want to know if people are actually reading this fic. Please?
Thank you Masami, Mistress of Fire and totalanimefan12 for reviewing my fist chapter Much appreciated.