Welcome back! I have returned! (crickets)…- - Fine, be that way. See if I update this soon again…which I most likely will…I'm such a weakling. I'm just too excited not to post chappies approximately a week apart. (sighs) Self…control…
Well look at the fine collection of reviewers!
StormySkys: Glad you liked the soda scene. I enjoyed writing it. (snicker) Anyhoo, you're still wondering about Ryou…well, I explain my reasoning about two paragraphs down…continue to review! (hugs)
Freak In the Shadows: I'M WRITING! I'M WRITING! (love ya!) Awesome poems on your profile page, by the way!
xKokurox: Welcome dearie! So, you don't want it to be Kura/Yami? (grins) Well, you're just gonna have to wait and see like everybody else! Thanks for the review!
Dragonlady222: Yes yes, dear, you want to know about Ryou. Everyone seems to. Like I told StormySkys, look down two paragraphs or so above the poem for a brief explanation. Love ya! Continue to review!
Silver Mirror: (shrieks in delight) Oh my gosh it's YOU! I loved Differences and After All This! You were done writing them by the time I read them...(shivers in awe) Yes, Ryou's "dead"…his soul is, not the body. You've got it right…. I am honored by your reviews! (kowtows)
I've had a number of reviewers tell me they want to know what happened to Ryou. You're not supposed to know yet. That's the idea of the plot. It is starting to be revealed in this chappie. Really, if you know it right away it'll ruin everything! Fear not! I'm not planning on forever leaving you all in the dark. (smiles)
This particular poem is written on Ryou's behalf. It fits what he was feeling in this story: Trapped.
Haulocaust
Cannot sleep
Cannot fly
Cannot scream
Cannot cry
Icy eyes
Cold as stone.
Crowded together,
Yet always alone.
Pain all over
Bloody hands and feet.
Covered in bruises
No food now to eat.
Counting out ribs.
No water, all's dry.
Cry out for mercy,
Receive no reply.
Cower in corners,
Huddle in holes.
Dig under fences
Like blind, helpless moles.
Want to escape;
Pray every prayer.
Plead all you want
Nobody's there.
Chapter Three: Allies
I appear in spirit form before Ryou who is sitting at his desk in his room, apparently studying. He doesn't look up to acknowledge my presence. I smirk at this.
"What are you doing, dear light?" I sneer, leaning over his shoulder.
"B-Bakura!" he starts. "You…you startled me."
"Just keeping you on your toes," I chuckle, eyeing him.
Something is wrong. I can see it in his eyes. He looks back down at his work, trying to ignore me, I suppose.
"Something's…different about you," I whisper, grasping his chin and forcing him to look at me. "You're hiding something."
I can see the unease set in. I look deep into the bowels of his soul. So it's true. He is masking something.
"You are hiding something," I smirk, circling him and his desk slowly. "Anything you'd like to share, dear light?"
He's sweating, eyes nervously watching me. "I don't know what you're talking about, yami."
I scowl. "You never were good at lying."
I stop when I notice him glancing warily at his backpack out of the corner of his eye. He quickly averts his gaze from it, but not quickly enough. I smirk. In a flash I've sealed him in his soul room; leaving me in full control of the body.
(Y-yami! What are you doing?)
I don't answer, scrounging around in the bag, searchingly. I don't really know what I'm looking for. I'll know it when I see it. I unceremoniously toss papers and pencils onto the floor, creating a pile of rubbish next to the desk. Ryou doesn't protest any further, knowing that will only get him into more trouble; he can't, however hide his anxiety.
I've basically emptied the contents now. Near the bottom is an old, shabby, blue binder. I reach down to pull it out and feel an incredible amount of panic radiating from my lighter half. Well, what do we have here?
(Y-yami…)
I ignore him, opening its wrinkled cover. Inside is what appears to be old homework assignments. I pull out a stack of papers, shuffling through them slowly. Ryou's on the verge of tears in his soul room, begging me to stop.
Nothing that interesting yet. Hmm, an "A" on a math paper. Not surprising in the least. "A" on a history project; "A+", "A",…uh oh: A-. I smirk at this. Bet that's what he's so concerned about. My light is quite a perfectionist. He'll nearly kill himself studying an entire weekend for some stupid…
My hands still as I spot a creased piece of paper at the back of the pile. It looks like a note. Ryou's pounding frantically on his soul room door by this point, begging me to let him out so he can explain. Explain? Explain what?
I feel my expression darken as I read the note. My hands are trembling violently in barely contained rage by the time I've finished it. Focusing on my energies, I blast Ryou out of his soul room, forcing him into spirit form in front of me.
He's quavering, looking like the pathetic, harmless hikari I'd always assumed him to be. How wrong I was. The kid's put on quite a show.
"B-bakura…" he stutters when he sees the paper in my hands, fear filling his eyes.
"Host," I whisper venomously, holding the note in front of his face. "What is this?"
I jolt awake, feeling perspiration lining my brow. Stupid hikari. Stupid mortal. My hands clench the blanket that I've managed to kick off. Pulling it around me, I sit in silence, unsure of what to do. I want to kill something. Slowly. Yet I know I can't right now. First, because the body is incredibly weak at the moment. Second, Yami would come looking for me. Damn.
I stop when I hear something in the kitchen. Burglar? A very noisy burglar.
I stand shakily to my feet. I don't really know what I'll do when I come face to face with the person. Perhaps I'll just flat-out laugh at them. It'd be rather amusing to see the reaction that would bring.
Walking stealthily like only the King of Thieves could, I make my way to the kitchen doorway. It's pretty dark, but I can make out the outline of someone right across the room from where I'm standing. Glancing about in an uninterested manner, I notice a light switch on the wall next to me. Grinning, I flip it up. The room fills with light, the hunched figure tensing.
"Midnight snack?" I ask in an amused tone.
"Ryou! You startled me!" Yami smiled nervously. "I—I didn't hear you come in."
"Something I picked up from my yami," I say shrugging. "So when Yugi's hungry in the middle of the night he makes you feed him?"
He blushes slightly. "He's asleep in his soul room, actually. I was very fidgety so I decided maybe a snack might help."
I glance around him to where the largest sandwich I've ever seen is sitting; double decker, at that. There must be six layers of meat on it!
"So when he's wondering how he gained ten pounds overnight what shall I tell him?" I grin, leaning against the counter.
His face turns bright red. "I…uhh…"
Heh. I love to watch him squirm. "You've been really uptight lately. What's on your mind?" I ask, genuinely curious.
He looks up at me, face serious. "I….I don't really know."
"Is there anything in particular that's been bothering you?" I press.
He looks away and murmurs something.
"What? What'd you say?"
"I said I…I've been worried about you; about your safety." He looks me straight in the eye at this.
"My safety?" I ask, trying to look truly confused.
His eyes darken. "Don't even pretend you don't know what I'm talking about."
Oh, this must have something to do with that. I can see that he doesn't want to discuss it any further, picking up his sandwich and trying to march around me out the door. Like hell I'll let him leave now.
"Yami…" I begin, blocking him.
"What do you want from me, Ryou?" he whispered hoarsely, not meeting my eyes.
I freeze. What do I want from him? He looks beaten, thoroughly worn by this conversation.
"Good night," he says softly, walking around me out of the room.
(Yami's POV)
I wake up early in the morning before Yugi. Not feeling like facing Ryou, I take spirit form and sit on the bed next to my hikari. The sun's just beginning to peek in between the buildings, a few ruby rays slipping through. Everything's quiet. No one wants to get up this early on a Saturday.
I sigh, looking down at my see-through hands. What I'd give to have my own life. Maybe that's what's bothering me so much lately. I must be really out of it if all these people are questioning me.
Ryou's forwardness last night was shocking to say the least. Is he trying to make me feel guilty? I just want to forget I ever gave…
"Morning Yami."
"Oh, good morning, abiou," I whisper, not sparing him a glance.
"…Something's wrong." Here we go again.
"No, nothing's wrong, abiou," I insist, still not turning from the window.
"Then why won't you look at me?"
I can't answer. I don't know how to answer. All I can do is sigh, watching the sun creep over the buildings in the distance. I have to squint slightly, its brightness making my eyes water.
I hear him get up and leave the room. I know I won't be able to remain in this form with the puzzle so far away, so I'll have to go back to my soul room; to my prison. I watch in humorless fascination as I begin to disappear; just like the stars as the sun covers their faint glow.
(Yugi's POV)
I slowly clamber down the stairs, quite hurt by my conversation with Yami. What's gotten into him? I can only hope it's not something I've done. How the heck am I supposed to help if he won't tell me anything?
Glowering, I enter the living room to find Ryou sitting on the couch in a nest of blankets, a mug in his hands. There's a tray along with the "throw up" bowl on the coffee table.
"Whoa, what's with the sour look?" he asks when he catches sight of me.
"Huh? Oh, nothing," I whisper.
"Ohhhh no you don't," he says slamming the mug on the table. I jump, startled by this sudden boldness in him. "I've already put up with Yami giving me that answer earlier this morning. Like hell I'm gonna take it from you too." Did Ryou just say 'hell'?
I suddenly realize what he's said. "You talked to Yami?"
He nodded, still eyeing me. "Yup. Wouldn't say what's bothering him."
I scoot over and sit down on the couch next to him. "That's what's bothering me! He won't confide in me! What should I do?"
(Bakura'a POV)
Oh this is utterly delicious! Little Yugi coming to me for help…
"Let me take care of it," I say quite seriously. "I'll get to the bottom of it."
His eyes double in size. That's not natural!
"Oh thank you, Ryou!" he grins, rushing forward to…hug me!
I dodge him, plastering an apologetic look on my face. "S-sorry Yugi. I just don't want you to catch this flu!" I say quickly to the questioning look. He grins giddily.
"Right. Umm…so how should we do this?"
I think about it for a moment. I internally smirk as my plan begins to fall into place piece by piece. It's like the portions of that puzzle around his neck. They're all jumbled up, but eventually they find a way to fit together Perfect.
"You'll have to give me some time alone with him. No spying or anything or he'll think something's amiss," I wave my hand dismissively.
He nods.
"You also have to make sure he's in control, but do it subtly. Tell him he needs some free time or something; y'know, innocently enough. We can't have him suspecting something or I won't be able to get anything out of him."
He can't contain his excitement by this point. "Oh thank you, Ryou! Thank…!"
I put a finger to my lips. "Easy now. Try not to get too energized, or he'll start surmising something. You'll have to make sure also that he doesn't read your thoughts or emotions too thoroughly for the time being."
He grins mischievously. Ra, I never thought I'd see that look on Yugi's face of all people. It's quite surprising. And amusing. Who'd of thought?
"Leave it to me," he states simply, rising and going into the kitchen.
I lean back in my heap of blankets. This is all working to my advantage. Could they possibly make it any easier than this? I grin wickedly, clearing my throat as more bile rises, forcing it back down. It appears that my current physical state won't deter any of my plans. In fact, I could play off of it to my gain.
Running a finger over the smooth rim of the mug, I focus on the warmth that's radiating from it. Finally, I can sit back, relax, and scheme. All I have to do is wait for things to fall into place. I have them right where I want them…in the center of the lion's den…the palm of my hand.
Hmm... How was that? I hope so. I tried to capture Ryou and Bakura's relationship in that opening scene. Did you like that peoples? I'm beginning to tell what happened to our dear white-haired hikari.
School's being horrible to me. I've got a college visit on Friday. wooopeee...- - Yeah, can't you feel the enthusiasm radiating off me?
Review peoples, you're doing awesome!