Warnings and Disclaimers: Strange emotions and half-baked magical theories.
When Shinigami opened the door the next morning, he found not one, but two Itemholders standing on the front porch. "Skippin' school?" he asked with a smirk and a quirked eyebrow. "I thought we were s'posed ta be the troublemakers around here."
Yami scowled, while beside him Bakura chuckled, the pale spikes of his hair waving in the breeze. "The Pharaoh here felt like watching today," the ancient thief replied, stepping past Shin into the house.
The braided boy transferred his amused gaze over to the tiny, leather clad Itemholder, who flushed. "I've been through high school once before," he growled. "I don't need to do it again."
Shin flashed him a bemused look. "None of my business," he answered. "Frankly, I'm wonderin' why you're still goin' to school. I mean, from what he said," he gestured inside the house at the departed yami, "the only reason you went was to find us. And you kinda already did."
A minute later, the yami was smirking again as he went back inside, making sure to leave the door hanging open for whenever the speechless pharaoh decided to come inside.
-
"So what's up for today?" Duo asked, the coffee mug Bakura was beginning to suspect was inseparable from him in the mornings clenched tightly in his hands. That was the only outward indication of the anxiety the hikari had to be feeling after what had happened during their last lesson.
"Shielding first, of course," the tombrobber said dryly, startling a grin out of the American.
They were all seated in the living room they'd held the previous lesson in. Duo was sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of the couch Shin had claimed, while Yami no Yugi had stolen Bakura's previous chair, sending him to the second couch.
Trust the pharaoh to go for the closest thing to a throne available.
"All right, Shinigami's already gone through the first steps of this, so first we need to catch you up to speed," Bakura said, looking at the hikari.
Duo nodded. "Okay. Um, what do I need to do?" he asked, finally setting his mug down on the floor.
"First, get comfortable. This might take a while." He waited until the teenager had shifted a bit. "Hands on your knees, in your lap, it doesn't really matter. Right, now close your eyes. Can you see the darkness behind your eyelids?" Duo nodded again. "Usually, I'd tell you to visualize your soul room, but since you don't actually have one anymore, just sort of picture yourself floating in that darkness."
"You're being wonderfully clear, tombrobber."
Bakura gave the pharaoh a deliberate sneer. "It's your turn, then."
The tri-colored head nodded regally. "Very well." Crimson eyes studied the young American, still sitting there with his eyes closed. "You're floating in the darkness. Are you a part of that darkness, or separate from it?"
For a moment the boy didn't seem to hear them, but finally his lips parted. "I'm not... sure," Duo murmured, and somehow it seemed his voice came from far away, breathy and almost indistinct. "We kind of... bleed together?"
The two veteran Itemholders shared a worried look. It wasn't supposed to be that way at all. Bakura shook his head in answer to the silent question; that hadn't happened with Shin, the day before. "Duo, I need you to concentrate, okay? Concentrate on your skin. Make it a barrier, between you and the shadows. Can you do that for me?"
Duo nodded slowly. "I think so."
"Now, push the darkness inside of you outside of your skin." Yami leaned forward, watching intently as beads of sweat appeared on Duo's forehead. Shin started to speak, but the pharaoh stopped him with an upraised hand.
"It's hard..." The boy's voice was just as distant as before, but now it was strained as well.
Yami gentled his voice. "I know it is, but you need to keep trying. Just keep pushing, get it all out."
It took a couple more minutes, but they knew Duo had at last managed it when his shoulders slumped and his eyes half-opened. "Damn..." he murmured. "That was harder than it looked. It didn't want to leave."
Shin tucked a strand of hair behind his hikari's ear, a concerned look on his face. "Are you all right?"
Duo gave him a reassuring smile. "Yeah. I just feel kind of... empty." He turned to look at his teachers. "What's next?"
"Next you're going to let some of that energy back in, but control the flow." Yami frowned. "You should probably take a breather first, though."
Duo nodded, grabbing his mug again and taking a swallow. His yami couldn't suppress a snicker at the face he made as he discovered his coffee had gone cold. "Excuse me," the young man said, shooting his yami a dirty look. "I'll be right back."
"So," Shin drawled as soon as he was out of earshot, "I take it that wasn't normal, either?" He narrowed his crimson eyes in their direction, very clearly not at all happy about the situation.
"We've… never run into it before," the tombrobber answered after a cautious moment.
Shin glared at him. "Great. So ya don't even know if it's good or bad." He would have continued, but Duo reentered the room just then, sipping happily at his newly-steaming cup.
"'Kay, ready!" the hikari chirped, collapsing back into his lotus position. The yamis stared at him, eyes wide, and he grinned. "Caffeine rush. I am now officially awake."
Bakura shook his head, smirking. "All right, then, let's get on with this. Close your eyes again and feel the darkness around you. Is it still all outside your skin?"
Duo nodded. "Yeah."
"Now, what I want you to do is make a hole in that barrier, a very small hole, and let a bit of the shadows in. Don't let it spread out, keep it all in one bundle."
For a moment Duo sat there, perfectly still. "…Okay. Like this?" he asked, opening his eyes and glancing at the two senior Itemholders.
Who stared in surprise and dismay at his totally black eyes.
"Duo," Yami said slowly as Bakura leaned in closer to get a better look, "just how much of the shadows did you let in?"
The braided boy looked startled, blinking those shadow-filled orbs. "Um, not a lot. It feels like… what I could hold in my hand, about?"
Bakura twitched and whistled silently. Isis had been right, then. The kid was a natural conduit, if enough shadow magic to physically affect him while only being held instead of used was so very little of his potential.
The pharaoh nodded, his face calm as stone, but so many years of forced contact with the man made it easy for the Ringbearer to see the unease he hid away. "Release the magic for now," he commanded quietly. "Now that you've got the hang of it, it'll be much easier in the future."
"Okay." Duo didn't close his eyes this time, and they could all see the black slowly bleed out of the violet. His yami breathed a sigh of relief and reached down, grasping the boy by the arm and pulling him up to cuddle by his side. Duo didn't protest, though his bemusement at his alter ego's antics was obvious.
"That's as far as we got with Shinigami," Bakura said. "Shall we go on to the next part?"
They all agreed and got down to work.
-
Heero dropped his bag to the hallway floor with a near-silent sigh of relief. Domino High wasn't the most unpleasant school he had ever attended as a cover, but it wasn't too far off the mark. He suspected that too many more days of it and he would be tempted to take a page out of his partner's book and start blowing bits of it up.
The sound of voices drew him towards the doorway to the living room. Shinigami and the twin of the short kid in his literature class looked up as he entered, the first nodding hello, but Duo and his white-haired tutor didn't look up from their conversation. The pilot felt a surge of something go through him as he saw the way their heads were bent so intently together as they spoke, a burning, unpleasant sensation that ended up in the vicinity of his guts.
"The others will be here in a few minutes," he told Shin, still watching Duo as he tried to figure out the unfamiliar feeling.
The American jumped as he heard his voice, finally looking up. A bright smile flashed over his face as he saw Heero, and to the boy's surprise the feeling lessened a bit. "Heero," Duo acknowledged, still smiling.
Heero nodded, moving further into the room and sitting down on the free couch. "You're not unconscious this time," he observed.
Duo blushed. "Yeah, well, things actually went right this time."
"Mostly right, anyway," Shiraga commented. "There's still the little matter of adjusting proportions, but that'll just take practice."
The opening of the front door stopped Heero from asking just what that meant, in a tone he had no doubt would not be appreciated. He already found himself not liking the ancient albino, no matter how well he and Duo seemed to be getting along.
As the rest of the pilots wandered in, a perplexing thought murmured at the back of his mind that their camaraderie might be why he didn't like the man.
"So how did the lessons go today?" Quatre asked, his voice cheery as he smiled at his friends.
"Not bad," Shin answered. "No overloadin', no faintin', and we actually got pretty far."
Wufei looked curious. "Just what are learning, anyway? How to use..."
Shin smirked. "Ya can say it, Wu-bear. We're learnin' magic."
The Chinese pilot winced. "Right." Shaking his head, he turned and left the room.
Heero could understand how the other boy felt. Learning magic existed had very nearly been eclipsed in his own mind by the discovery he actually had partners, plural, but he'd had his own little break down in the privacy of his room that same night. That something so illogical could exist... The thought was both terrifying and strangely exhilarating.
"Would you like to see some?" Duo offered, practically bouncing in his seat. Heero and Trowa found themselves nodding, and Quatre gave him an enthusiastic yes.
The American grinned happily and leaned forward, putting his long-empty coffee mug on the floor. Tossing his braid behind him, he held his hand out of it and closed his eyes.
For a few seconds, nothing happened, but then the air seemed to chill. Quatre shivered, wrapping his arms around himself. Duo frowned in concentration, and then something caught Heero's eye. He leaned closer, squinting, and was amazed to see little tendrils reaching out from the shadow cast by the couch on the carpet.
The shadows gathered beneath the mug, and slowly it began to rise, supported by the darkness underneath. It rose until it reached eye level, as the pilots gaped, and Heero couldn't immediately tear his eyes away. But he finally did, and a chill went down his spine as he met, not his partner's familiar amethyst gaze, but two orbs of swirling darkness.
"What the hell?"
A/N: Um. Don't kill me, please? If you do, there'll be a much longer wait until the next chapter... No maiming, either. Maim me, no writie, comprende?
Where the story is now: this is Thursday, and the last day of the suspension. Tomorrow they head back to school.
Our most sincere gratitude to …, AlterEthereal, blackash, Chara13, cheerful-pinkstar, Fate, gatogirl1 (A polite conversationalist, actually. And yes, I'm pulling everything to do with the magic out of thin air), Herald-Mage Brianna, Hikagi, Jen Red Robe, Jewelle2, jordan, Kaaera, Kaori, Kimpatsu no Hoseki, kirallie, kivrin, LassyD (Welcome back, hon. Don't worry, willpower's overrated), Mithros, mystik, Pihorist, Rena Lupin, Rika Heartilly, Sailor Bluestar, silver kitcat, Silvermane1, skeren dreamera, spellhorn, Spinny Roses, The 4 Elements and the Creator, Tora Tigera, Triste Nanashi, Ultra Rodimus, Windy River, and Yami no Hikari-Chan for reviewing.
Is wondering how many of you are actually still reading this…
22 September 2005