Yami's koi: heh. I have returned! JACKASS! VIVA LA BAM!
Neutral Man: She claims Bam Margera to be her husband because he is 'supposedly' hot. When really he looks like a piece of kack.
Yami's koi: he is hot! I love him; he's so cool. When I grow up I wanna marry him and we'll have kids and -- Anyways...I loved your reviews!
Bakura: and just why did Ryou nearly get raped?
Yami's koi: well, it all falls into place, doesn't it? It'll all unravel later, my dear Bakura of the Tomb Robbers... More at the end, dudes!
"Jou?!"
He lowers his weapon as he hears his name from my lips. He regards me almost darkly, though the light is making it very difficult to tell. He looks different now, much more different now that I have seen him kill another. He looks gaunt and so... so tainted. It sets him apart from the Jou I used to know.
"How do you know my name?" He growls quietly.
Again he has shocked me. And not only by that comment, but also by his voice. It's so emotionless, so dead. And how can he not recognise me, a friend who's always been there, when I have been at Domino for about two years?!
Something dirty is underway here, I can feel it. And it's all because of Ra and his stinking companion, Osiris. And let's not forget Anubis! They were all in on this, and I can see them now, in my mind, laughing at me for the decision I so foolishly made on that bloody day. It seems so long ago now.
Speaking of which... I glance down at my wrists. The mars I made have gone; no visible mark can be seen, the skin is clean and pale, just like they should've been. I can't even make out a pink scar line.
"Hello? Are you gonna answer me or what? How do you know my name?" Jou demanded, his impatience shining through his thick accent.
"I'm your friend," I answer, gazing up at him in a slightly panicked way. I back away slightly, terrified that I may lose my second life to a close friend. "I have been for two years now!"
"No," he whispers, putting more distance between us, "how can you? You only just arrived here in Domino. Sensei introduced you today, you forgotten? Or just trying to pull a fast one?" He says then, dangerously as he draws a new, clean blade from his jean pocket.
"JOU!" I shout, shaking his shoulders, "Get a grip! I'm Ryou, remember? We went to the Shadow Realm at Battle City, have you forgotten that? We duelled each other, we-"
"The Shadow Realm? Is this supposed to be some sort of a joke? What the hell is the Shadow Realm? I don't know why you're so disturbed, but you sure ain't any of my concern," Jou snarls, sheathing both his knifes in his scabbards. My eyes widen as I stare up at him in horror. He begins to walk away.
"No, JOU! JOOONNOOUUUUCCHHIIIIIIIIII!!!" I scream, my knees hitting the ground in defeat. As he nears the beginning of the street, I see him turn. His dirty blonde hair sways slightly in the breeze.
"Go home!"
Bakura
I've finally managed to shed the tears I have, which is most probably the best thing I can do. I hear a knock on the door, and get up shakily. I walk to the door and let them in, Yugi's arms full of the shopping I'd dropped.
At this I break down again. I sob again, releasing keen after keen for the soul I've now lost. The Pharaoh, surprisingly, takes me into his arms and begins to murmur comforting words to me. And yet naught that he says can make me stop my unearthly screams, no amount of solace can quell the flow of tears that now have drenched my face with its stickiness. My stomach aches with what I often mocked, it being both because of tears and depression. Already I feel our link weakening into naught.
And yet why would it be otherwise? Why would there still be a link, only to find a blank nothingness that drains me of more energy?
"Bakura?" Yami at length starts, noting that my tears had long since been spent, "What's happened?"
I wipe my sore eyes wearily. "Twice now you've asked me that today and twice it's been shit news. It's about Ryou..."
"Bakura..." The Pharaoh moans, his eyes staring at me in pure pity, "He's gone, Kura. Do you want us to help you move his body?"
I shake my head. "There's one slight complication with that, Yami..." I sigh, knowing that he would never believe me, or think I am maddened by grief, "I don't know where his body is...its not in his room. I haven't moved it and you two haven't...so who has?"
Ryou
I decide that I have sobbed enough tears today to rival the ocean and I shakily rise. Where can I go to now? Obviously my old home is not an option. And what if I go to my own house, which I have with Bakura? Or... would he shunt me, too?
Then it suddenly hits me, and I scowl at my own stupidity. Of course. Jou had said I'd only just moved to Domino. My 'new' home would be someone else's. And evidently they wouldn't take kindly to a lodger with no money to give them.
'This society is really fucked up,' I think, staggering out of the alley. I fear this strange place more so, now that the night is casting its eerie blanket across our city. I contemplate who would take me in.
Honda? No, he never seemed to trust me after I went to Bakura. Would Yugi? He cares not for the money from other's pockets, but who can question this place and its altered inhabitants? Even though I may have just done that, I figure there's no harm in trying. And if that fails... I'll have to find Bakura.
Of course, that's if he's even here.
Hold up... I glance down at my chest. The Millennium Ring hangs still around my neck, glimmering in the fading light. I remember how Ra said he would try to contact me to give me assignments, and wonder if he would communicate with me through this. Surely they would. After all, it is a heavenly object, their magic installed into it. Yes, that would be logical. Otherwise I would simply banish any crazy thought from my mind and call myself an illusionist.
I stride down the foul smelling street cautiously and yet with slight haste. If Yugi is not to have me in his house... then I would need to find someplace else to go.
I then freeze. When I rounded the corner, I had expected to see the Kame Game Shop as it always has been: the green words shining proudly amidst the yellow background, with the brightly coloured walls and doors open slightly for the late customers.
And how foolish I have been. My old house was even more so a wreck, alleys lurk everywhere, garbage in the street... and I expected Yugi's house to be as it always was? Ra must have addled my brains when I got reborn here.
As if in a trance, I slowly advance to the door. I see that the shop is closed early, probably because of the shifty looking characters and society. I tentatively knock on the door, and I hear a low mutter and a loud click before someone approaches the door.
The door opens and I am faced with the worst end of a gun. I step back and hesitate, but the door opens a crack more.
And what I see aches my heart more so. Ah, Gods, it's Yugi! Has he too succumbed to this level of insanity? Please don't tell me he's turned out like Jou has! He lowers the gun slightly, yet holds it nonetheless.
"You... Are that new boy in our class, right?"
I nod, my stomach now feeling really heavy and ill.
"I am. My name's Ryou Bakura. Um... I know this is kinda sudden, but is it okay if you let me lodge here for a while? My home's gone off the tracks and I no one else will give me shelter. I haven't any living relatives here in Japan, and I just don't know what to do..." I confess, a tear welling in my eye. I bite my lip and refuse to let it fall.
Yugi's expression softened and he opened the door further, gesturing for me to enter. I shoot him a watery smile – quite literally – and walk through the shop and into the house part of this building. I feel his look of pity never leave my back, even as he locks and bolts the door. Numerous times.
Yami casually leans against the arm of a wooden chair, shooting me a mildly interested glance until Yugi comes back in.
"Spill already," Yugi says, sitting beside me. Yami rises also and sits next to his light, now finding it hard to suppress his curiosity.
I pause, thinking of where to begin. I've got to have a decent enough case so that my presence here will be granted. Conclusively, I guess that means I can't go telling them that Ra granted me life again after I suicided.
"My Otousama has rarely been kind to me. When I was four my mom died, she'd been doing some grocery shopping and was shot by an escaped convict. After that... well, I was too young to understand fully why my Dad was crying, but I could feel he would never be the same again. I just didn't know, at that point, how right I would be.
"When I was about seven, he took to drinking and began to let his depression and his anger vent out on me. He'd beat me and blame me for my mom's death. And I would lie down and take it, purely because I would have no where else to go. I didn't dare tell anyone, he'd always made sure of that, and I doubted if anyone would believe me, a kid." I draw in a heavy breath, my hands trembling as I relive those moments.
"One day I came home from school and he... tried to rape me." I say quietly.
Yugi grabs Yami's arm, squeezing tightly. The Game King himself seems to frown, as if trying to prove that I'm lying by staring at me. I break that eye contact and continue my sad tale.
"At that moment he passed out. It seems that even drunks have their limits when it comes to alcoholic consumption. For a while I'd known this person who had hit me in the past, but had learned the errors in his ways and apologised. I moved in with him then, but now he's gone away and when I tried to go back home, Otousama tried to rape me again."
I feel a hand on my own and I look up into those amethyst orbs. He pities me. Well, so he should.
It's not as if I'd actually lied there, either. I did not speak one word of a lie.
Bakura
He stares at me. Swiftly he turns to Yugi and warns him not to enter the room where Ryou's body was supposed to lie.
"Bakura... so this is why you told me to bring these books..."
I nod numbly, irritably brushing back the bangs that had fallen into my eyes – again. "Yes... though I just don't know why his body would just disappear like that! Even his blood has gone. And you saw how thick that blood lay, Pharaoh."
His crimson, power-demanding eyes widen. "His blood has gone..." He repeats, closing those eyes in concentration. "Now where could that have gone?"
In spite of myself, anger bubbles inside of me.
"Well if I knew that, jackass, then why would I have called you here?"
Almost automatically his hand reaches for his Deck, but Yugi lays a hand on his and entwines their fingers to stop him.
"He's right, Yami. Bakura wouldn't have called us, of all people, to help him if he were desperate." He turns them to me. "Bakura, I know that this is the worst, or most often heard form of comfort, but daijobu. Daijobu Bakura. We'll help."
I glance at him drunkenly, then gather my shattered senses. My head reels with so many tears being shed. I open a drawer, find some tablets and pour myself a glass of water. Placing the tablets on the back of my tongue, I take a short gulp of water, using the rest to rid myself of that vulgar after taste. Regardless of whatever any medicine labels say, they do not taste that way. It all tastes like you've just eaten grit mixed with the diluted piss of a camel.
"Right," I begin, trying desperately to keep my voice steady. "Let's find some answers."
Ryou
"I don't believe you."
Yugi turns to look at his lover. Yami joins his gaze. "And neither do you, Yugi. I can see it in your eyes. And I never mistake a look, especially when it's from you."
His voice sounds so harsh, and as I glance into Yugi's eyes, he averts the look. So he doesn't remember me, know me or like me? Tears fall, unbidden, from my eyes.
"ONEGAI, TASUKETE!" I scream, pleading with him, "ONEGAI!"
"Iie," Yami hisses, kicking me and then grabbing my collar to pull me to my feet. "I suggest you leave this house. You are breaking an entry, so just PISS OFF!"
"YAAAMMMIIIIIIII!!" I sob, and at that he stops. He regards me quizzically, no doubt wondering how I know his name.
And that was when Yugi began to shove me out.
"I don't know how and why you know our names, or why you came to us for rest. Or even how you know where we live. But we're not having you, no matter how hard you beg! NOW, GET OUT!"
With that, Yami grabs my waist, opens the door and pushes me outside so forcefully that I fall and cut myself. He snarls one curse, another, and slams the door shut in my face.
Using a bleeding hand to touch the side of my face, I wince, more tears falling. 'Is this the price of Ra?' I muse as I weep uncontrollably, 'To have no friends? To relive my worst moments only to be called a liar?'
The silent night does not answer me, or any other rational explanations enter my head, and I tremble at the greatness of my punishment.
If only Ryou knew, that was merely a half of the penalty.
Yami's koi: meanings of daijobu in the two senses: in this sense it means don't worry, this meaning it's okay. Source – Shonen Jump.
Neutral Man: again, review if you want, if you don't then... no plushie. This time the plushies are Kurama and Hiei from Yu Yu Hakusho!
Yami's koi: I'm gonna be doing a fic about them shortly, so look out for that! Now, here are some people who I would like to thank more than I can say:
Dark Magician Girl / Hikaru, for the constant reviews and being an all round good dude. You were one of those people who I just had to make this continue for. Thank you so much!
Himiko-da-evil-witch, for cool reviews and the many huggles of plushies. I gotta apologise though that I didn't mail you directly with an answer about Ryou's funeral, but I will mail you sometime, I promise.
Yami Insomniac, For the lovely reviews, and for...well, encouraging me. You're another who I had to carry this on for – Thank you! o Anyone who I've missed will get a mention next time! Oh and... another thanks to the people who put me on their favourite authors list! LUVVIES! Next chapter will be dark and angsty, just the way you like it! Ryou's first task is set! BYE! X