Eh... I felt like updating before TAKS. (TAKS, for those of you who don't live in my state, is the standardized, end-of-the-year tests. But not finals. No, we have finals on top of that. Gah. Good thing we can get exempt from them...) So, yeah. Updating in hopes of drawing new readers! pumps arms And new reviewers! flexes arm and pokes muscle Hm... I'm weird. So, enjoy this. Anyhoo, this chapter may not seem like much, but be forewarned: it becomes VERY important later on. Mucho important. ...That's why I don't take Spanish. So, yeah. I had a structure for this fic here, blew it up, now it's much longer and the main events won't be happening for a couple more chapters. But I'm hoping to reinsert some structure into it... so, yeah. Have fun reading this. And for my sake, review. Goodness knows I need something to cheer me up after this week and all of its exams.

Part 3

Allocation

"Choice of attention - to pay attention to this and ignore that - is to the inner life what choice of action is to the outer. In both cases, a man is responsible for his choice and must accept the consequences, whatever they may be." -W. H. Auden, A Certain World

Chapter 9: He

We weren't going to Joey's house, but were heading in the direction of it. Our plan was to go past it, to see what hangouts we could find. We were just passing by Joey's apartment building, though, when we saw him exit it.

Bakura Bakura didn't live anywhere near here; it didn't make sense for him to be in Joey's apartment building. I found myself hoping that he wasn't stupid enough to have tried to go to Joey's apartment to see him. I've only been there once, with Tristan and Tea, to look for Joey. When Tristan opened the door Joey's father threw a beer bottle at it.

"'Ey Bakura," Joey says. "What are you doing here?"

Bakura's desolate face perks up. "J-Joey!" he says. "And Yugi."

"Thanks for acknowledging me," I joke. "I know I'm short, but--"

"How can you miss somebody with Yugi's kind of hair?" Joey finishes my joke for me. I laugh.

"Sorry," Bakura apologizes. "It's just I've been looking for Joey all afternoon, is all."

Without asking, Yami takes over. "Oh?" he asks. "Have you?"

"Y-Yes." Bakura apparently isn't comfortable around my darker side. I don't blame him. Yami's crossed his arms and has his weight on one hip and one eyebrow cocked. He looks kind of like an angry girl.

"Don't make me look like that."

"Not now, partner," he brushes me off aloud. Bakura and Joey can hear them, and they stare.

Not now? He's using my body. And he has the nerve to tell me not now? I love my other half, make no mistake about it... not like that, obviously, but still a brotherly love. But he can't just do that.

Using a mass amount of spiritual power, I thrust Yami out of control of the body. Once I'm in control again, I fling Yami far into the recesses of my mind and basically bar him there.

Bakura and Joey are still staring at me like I'm standing there talking to myself, like "I" was a few minutes ago. "Sorry," I apologize. "Bakura, if you need to talk to Joey, I'll leave. I have some things to do..."

"I thought you said you had nothing to do today, Yug'," Joey points out.

"I did say that, didn't I?" I laugh. "Sorry. I just thought of something I'm supposed to be doing right now. I'll see you later, okay?"

"Uh... sure." Joey looks doubtfully at me.

Bakura nods. "Alright, Yugi."

"'Kay. See ya."

I'm being kind of anti-social today. Oh well. It can't be helped, for now.