Notes: This one might be kinda choppy, most of this fic is written, just in bits in about ten different notepads. This is one of those exciting filler chapters anyway.
DreamingChild - He's sort of an emotional pushover, but he's going to get more and more unhinged as the fic goes on. And I probably won't hurt him... too much. Seto doesn't believe he's really crazy, he thinks Bakura's putting it on.
Blackangeltwin1 - I've had my hand stepped on too, it hurts like hell! Glad you got your own back, nothing is better for pain than sharing it.
Poor Twisted Me
Chapter 3
Bakura POVThis house is bigger than the pharaoh's palace was, I bet there's rooms in this place he's never even been in.
Ryou handed over the keys to our tiny, crap little apartment today so this place is officially our home now. My light has been living here for a few days, but I stayed to take care of the flat and let my hand finish healing until today, so this in my first time inside the Kaiba mansion. Thankfully that bastard Kaiba is off at work right now, so he doesn't know I'm here yet. Mokuba showed me around and I can just about remember the route from my room to the kitchen, which is all I need. Every room has its own en suite bathroom, so I can probably hide out in mine for days if I have to. Right now, though, I'm going to find something interesting to do before I die of boredom.
I've been in this house less than three hours and already I'm banging my head against the wall. Amazingly enough, I haven't even seen Kaiba yet, either. The fact is I'm lost, and I realise how incredibly fucking stupid that is. Since Seto-darling isn't here I figured I'd have a better look around the place on my own before he turns up and I find myself avoiding him like the plague. I left my nice safe path from the kitchen to my room, like a total idiot, and wandered around looking in all the rooms until I stopped and realised I had no idea where I was. So now I'm walking through this pointless fucking maze, wondering how the hell someone can be dumb enough to get lost in a house. Then again, the same thing happened to me in the pharaoh's palace, which is how I found out how to get to the treasure room.
At this moment I'm getting sick of having no idea where I'm going so I'm just standing here, banging my head against the nice, smooth wooden panels of one wall. Between each bang I'm cursing in my old language, digging my nails into the wood. The words sound sharp and hissed in the silence surrounding me – words that have not been said in thousands of years. I know this because the pharaoh rarely curses. He's too good for that.
After a while I slide down to my knees and pray to the gods to deliver me, because I can't think of anything else to do and I hate being lost. At least inside the Puzzle there were traps and things to make it more interesting.
Well, what the gods send me is not deliverance, and I'm fairly certain they only keep me around to entertain them with my misfortunes.
"Damaging my property already, and praying to a wall." Seto is standing in the doorway, smirking at me as I kneel here glaring at the wall through my hair because I don't want to look at him. I swear once more with added venom and stand up, pressing my palm against my forehead because I've managed to give myself an incredible headache. I ignore Seto and stalk away towards the other door at the opposite end of the long room. I hear him walk up behind me and I jerk to a halt as he grabs my arm, spinning me around to look at him. He still looks amused, and I snarl at him with bared teeth, yanking my arm from his grip.
"Wrong way." He tells me in his smooth voice, and I wish I didn't have to restrain myself from hurting him because I really, really want to right now.
"Go choke on caviar or something." I hiss, then see stars as he backhands me across the face.
"You're not helping yourself." He says lowly, as I yank away again and growl like an animal.
"And you're not helping my headache." I tell him, making my exit quickly, before he can stop me again. I think that went well. I didn't kill him yet.
It takes me another hour to find my way back to the bottom of the staircase, but I'd rather wander around this place like a lost soul for a thousand years than call Seto back to help me. I think I'm being childish, but I don't care. I could murder him in one of those endless rooms and nobody would ever find him; I could tell Mokuba and Ryou he ran off with his bitch of a secretary. I wish I'd thought of that back when I had him alone in the bang-head-on-wall room.
Anyway, I'm at the bottom of the big staircase now and I don't know what to do. It's only about six in the evening so if I go to bed now I'll wake up at four am and probably get myself lost again. I'm not going upstairs yet anyway, because Seto's office is up there and I don't want to run into him again. I dither about like an idiot for a few more minutes, then give up and sit on the second step of the staircase. I'm just going to stay here until something happens or it gets late enough to go to bed.
I don't actually have to sit there like an abandoned mental patient for very long before Ra gets bored with my lack of activity and sends me something to do. My light discovers me and walks over, looking puzzled.
"What are you doing?" He asks, although I thought it was obvious.
"Nothing at all. It's getting really boring." I tell him, although if I sit completely still nothing horrible can happen to me. Well, other than Seto coming down the stairs. Ryou smiles sympathetically at me and takes my hand, pulling me up. He's used to my weirdness by now, which saves me a lot of hassle and medication.
"Well, everyone's coming over in an hour or so, it's kind of like a housewarming. Kaiba said it would be alright as long as nobody bothers him, so why don't you make something for everyone to eat?" He suggests. I stamp down the urge to get myself lost again and shrug at him, letting him lead me to the kitchen. Seto wouldn't just let those freaks in his house, therefore he's only doing this to torment me. Well, at least cooking for many idiots is something to do – I can probably find a good place to hide when they get here. Unless I get lost again.
I'm cooking now, which I seem to do a lot lately. Ryou can just about boil an egg without setting himself on fire, and from the times Mokuba stayed at our apartment I know he's not much better. I'm making fried rice with chicken because everyone likes that. I've cooked for them all before – every time Ryou used to invite them over I ended up getting roped into making them dinner. I don't mind, it keeps me out of the way and it's something simple, I can just switch my mind off and work on autopilot.
Not much happens while I'm making the food – Mokuba wanders in, watches me cook for a while then wanders out again. Ryou comes in for a drink a few minutes later and tells me that the idiots have all arrived, then takes cans of soda back into the other room for them all. I finish up and turn the electric oven off, scooping the rice into a big bowl and putting it on a tray with enough small rice bowls for everyone. I wait around for a few minutes for Ryou to come back in here and take the food in to them, but he doesn't turn up so I figure I'll have to do it myself. I don't want to go in there and see them, but I suppose I can just leave the food and go.
I take the tray – it's fucking heavy – and head out of the kitchen and back to the staircase. I can tell which room they're in from here because I can hear them, so I let myself in by kicking the door open. I ignore the morons and put the tray down on the coffee table, then turn around to leave without saying anything.
"Did you make this, Bakura?" Pharaoh pipes up, sitting in an armchair while everyone else is crowded on the couch or on the floor. Marik, Malik and Otogi – people I can actually deal with – are on cushions on the floor.
"No, obviously the fried rice fairy did it." I sneer at him, because I've cooked for them many times before and he knows full well I made this food. He's just trying to find something to say to me that won't start a fight.
"You having any, 'Kura?" Marik asks me, breaking the tension that I doubt he even noticed. I take a bowl and scoop some rice into it, then grab a pair of chopsticks and slip them into my back pocket.
"Aren't you eating with us?" My light asks, and I know he's going to be doing those pathetic guilt-trip eyes, so I avoid eye contact.
"Yes, leaving so soon?" A voice I do not want to hear says, and I turn towards the door to find Seto standing behind me.
"Definitely." I mutter, scowling up at him. I hate that he's taller than me.
Ra finally allows me some mercy and Seto steps aside with a smirk, letting me pass. I escape while I can, and retreat up the stairs to eat my food in my room where my fragile sanity won't suddenly collapse in on itself from too much shit happening to me. Yes, I'm a coward.
TBC
The fun starts soon. Three updates in three days, go me! On more than just one fic! Winter is good for writing. It's too cold to go outside for anything other than work.