I own a deck of dueling cards. Not Yu-Gi-Oh itself.

Ryou

Finally, we drove up to their upper-middle class home, in their upper-middle class car, in a good section of the city, to see his averagely pretty wife open the door to greet her husband. A chaste peck on the cheek, and in we went. Ryou was at school, unfortunately for me, so I stayed in the bottom of the bag, catching just bits of the conversation above me. It was utterly dull, and I only woke up when he said something about unpacking.

My bag was carried down the hall to the master bedroom, and much to my annoyance, I was tossed into a drawer. A drawer full of mystery keys, odd pennies, a truly horrendous tie, old receipts, and other, obviously forgotten items. I'd have to find Ryou, and convince him that it was a good idea to go rummaging through his father's drawers to find something that talked to him in his head.

No problem.

Of course, what I didn't expect was Ryou's single-minded determination to do his homework. He sat right down in the living room and pulled out a set of books. And when he was done that, his mother just had to get something out of her room, and then it was suppertime…

The next week and a half went like this. You'd think that I'd be used to waiting, have good patience by now. I'll tell you this: it's a lot easier to be patient in an empty tomb, than it is to know how close you are to freedom, and yet be unable to bring it about.

So… I lost my patience. I dug through Mrs. Bakura's mind, and pulled up an image of a restaurant she loved. She, of course, kept hinting at her slightly dense husband to take her. Eventually, with a little prodding of my own, he did one night. Leaving Ryou to watch the house. Luckily for me, he wasn't much of a socialite, and decided to spend the evening playing video games in his basement bedroom.

He picked up marvelously fast on my whisperings, looking around the room when I'd barely started. "Hello?" he asked, softly.

-Come here, Ryou,-

He shut off his game and stood up. "Who's there? Where are you?"

-I'm a friend, Ryou. I need your help.-

"What do you mean? I don't know you. Where are you hiding? I'm- I'm warning you, I'm armed!"

I chuckled. He'd picked up one of his mother's exercise weights and was clutching it like he thought it would actually do some good. On second thought, if I'd had a skull, or anything bruiseable, it would probably leave quite a dent. –I'm not here to rob you, or hurt you. Your father brought me back from Egypt.-

"From Egypt? What are you talking about? He came back alone. What am I doing, talking to you… get out of my house!"

-Ryou, you couldn't do me any damage with that …interesting club you have. You'd do better with your dueling deck.- I saw him start to jump to wild conclusions, almost wistfully hoping that I was some kind of magical being connected to duel monsters. Most of the time, that would be just some childish fantasy, to be buried before any laughed at it. But for once in his life… -That's it Ryou, you're starting to think now.-

"What are you talking about?" He kept his fist closed around the weight, sensible boy that he was, but also dropped a hand down to his deck. I could tell from the ache in his soul how much he wished it could be real, how much he wanted me to exist.

-Listen to your heart, Ryou, your soul. They tell you more true than your mind what is out there. You know I'm no human thief or criminal.-

"… I'm… I'm not actually hearing you, am I?" he asked, eyes widening, and his death grip on his weapon loosening.

-No, not with your ears. I'm a spirit, Ryou. I came back with your father from Egypt, and I've been stuck in this stupid drawer since I got here.-

"In… the drawer?" he didn't quite giggle, didn't quite let himself believe me yet. "The one he keeps his awful ties in?"

-Yes, yes, I've been looking at this revolting pile of purple and red checked fabric for a week and a half now, so come get me out!-

To my immense joy, he came slowly up the stairs, turning all the lights on as he went just in case. I felt him come closer, open the door to his parents' room, and stand directly in front of the dresser. His hand came up and rested on the handle… and didn't move.

-Ryou, what are you doing? Open this Ra-damned drawer!-

"This can't be real… Not really. And if it were, it wouldn't happen to my family. We're too normal, too ingrained in today's world," he said bitterly.

But I could feel his soul, feel just how badly he wanted it, needed it, how tired he was of the world as it was. –Ryou, just open the drawer.-

"But as long as I don't open it…" he trailed off, but in his mind finished, I will always be able to believe it was real.

-But it is real, Ryou.- I said softly, pleadingly, praying to the multitudes of gods I knew that he would believe me.

Apparently, the whole 'reading of minds' trick paid off again. He swallowed, tightened his hold on the handle, and pulled. There was no need to tell him which piece of paraphernalia I was. My solid gold construction alone was enough to draw notice. As his hand picked me up, I could finally see, for the first time since I left Maya. I saw our hand, holding the Ring, a drawer well padded with revolting ties, a strange kind of carpet of an uncanny shade of purple, an odd sock… Our eyes traveled up, seeing a belt, jewelry box, and a pile of papers on top of the dresser, and a mirror. I flicked our gaze up the whole way, to see what Ryou actually looked like.

White hair, golden skin, eyes just a shade below chocolate… delicate features, even teeth… I tried to refocus our eyes, not believing what I saw. I did see a few differences, a gentler mouth, softer eyes, a little paler than living under an Egyptian sun had made my skin.

I had never truly believed in reincarnation. And I certainly never believed that I would be reincarnated, since I was still sort of alive. But there was no doubt, that Ryou was my intended host, the one meant to take up my destined role opposing the Pharaoh. This would make locating him easier too, if his destined host was also his look-alike.

-Bakura? Is that really your name?-

-Yes, Ryou. Or at least, this millenium's version of it. You pick this up fast, I'm impressed.-

I felt his slight pleasure at my praise color his soul. –Thank you. I guess… it's because I've always wanted something like this to happen. Deep down, I trained myself… 'what would I do if this happened?' I always thought it was just a childish dream.-

Despite myself, I was starting to get attached to this boy. So sweet and honest, maybe even a bit vulnerable… And yet we were kindered spirits, I had no doubts. Two different people, but with something the same, some basic thing matched with us. –Well, luckily for you, it's not a dream. I'm very real, and so is all my magic.-

-You can do magic?- He sounded so much like a little child seeing his first street musician that I laughed.

-Yes, Ryou. Real magic. For instance… You know what a Kuriboh is, yes?-

-Of course.-

-Then watch.- I held out our hand, and concentrated. A moment passed, a puff of Shadow appeared, and a Kuriboh formed, sitting right in our palm. The next second, I was completely shunted aside in our mind as Ryou squeaked with excitement and petted it. –I'm glad you're so happy.- Oddly enough, I actually was.

-It's so soft, and warm… it's real, isn't it?-

-Yes, real to a point at least. It's created from Shadow matter, which comes from a different realm. I could summon a real one, but it would be a lot more draining, and it would also act like a Kuriboh, multiplying and blowing up at any opportunity. And, it would be real, a living creature enslaved to my will. I don't like doing that unless absolutely necessary.-

-Good. I'd worried about that, you know, because in the stories, the spirit trapped in a magical item for thousands of years is usually pretty…-

-Barbaric and violent?- I filled in.

-You said it, not me.-

I laughed again. Twice in five minutes… I must be getting soft or something. –Well, I don't think I'm barbaric, not compared to some at least. And violence tends to be a waste of energy, and completely blow your cover, too. Imagine if your school mates suddenly saw me mugging a little child, for instance.-

-True.- We walked out of the parents' room, and I was finally able to look around the house. Ryou's mind filled in the rather embarrassingly frequent gaps in my knowledge. Like a TV, radio, stack of CDs, a computer… all things he took for granted, which hadn't even been wild dreams in the minds of my previous hosts. And then, he asked the really dangerous question: –So, what're you doing here?-