A/n: 'Allo. The second chappy is right here, and before we begin I'll just fill you in on a couple things:

/Ryou to Bakura/

-/Bakura to Ryou/-

For some stupid reason, I don't think question marks show up next to slashes. So questions will be left as open-ended sentences, I guess.

And someone found an error in my last chapter (which I later corrected)! GASP! I shall be more careful this time. I hope.

Ah heck, just read and enjoy people.

beep beep beep beep Beep Beep BEEP BEEP BEEEP BEEEEE- WHAM!

Ryou slowly forced his sleepy eyelids to part after strenuously silencing his alarm clock. Muttering as one who is not fully awake does, he fell clumsily out of bed and readied himself for school. Systematically pulling the Sennen Ring over his neck and then veiling it underneath his uniform, he grabbed his books and headed to Domino High, prepared for being late... again.

In the hallways, some of the bigger students purposely strode into him. But he said nothing, and only looked down and continued walking. A few giggly girls batted their long, black eyelashes and followed him around, which, to Ryou, was worse than the pushing. He had tried to make it clear that he wasn't interested, but this made some all the more determined.

Ryou sighed.

He just didn't really like girls...

Fortunately, he managed to lose one particularly persistent female on the way to lunch by ducking into a crowd. Wondering what the students had gathered around for, he crept forward a little to see.

Two boys, one of average height and weight and the other rather large in both areas, were playing some kind of card game. Curious, Ryou eyed the cards, feeling... drawn to them. As he watched the odd game commence, he felt a familiar tugging at the back of his mind. The darkness that rested within him was also intrigued by the game.

Suddenly the larger of the boys leapt up and cheered "I win I win I win!"

Ryou blinked. Unless he was mistaken, the card that boy had chosen had a lesser number on the part marked "attack" than the defense of the card on the other boy's side of the field. And he could have sworn that the other boy had claimed that his card was in defense mode. That attack couldn't possibly have won him the game.

"No you didn't," Ryou muttered quietly, realizing his mistake only too late.

The boy wheeled around and loomed over Ryou threateningly.

"What?"

"I-I...you...nothing."

'Couldn't just keep my stupid mouth shut, could I!'

"You think you know the game better than I do?"

"N-no. Of course n-not," Ryou couldn't help but stutter as the young man glared at him threateningly.

"Alright, let's take this out in a duel then. See if you can beat me. I'll show you how it's done."

"But I don't have a deck-"

"Take his."

"Hey!" the 'loser' protested as his deck was wrenched away from him and shoved into Ryou's trembling hands.

"C'mon pretty boy. Let's see you do better!"

Sitting nervously across from the dangerous teen whom he wished for all the world he had not spoken up to, Ryou listened to a helpful soul explain the rules more elaborately to him.

'Okay. I can do this. Just need to calm down...'

-/You won't win./-

/Yami/ Ryou found himself a little startled that the spirit was bothering to communicate with him. /Why not/

/Not alone, anyhow. Play this interesting little game for me. I need... to know something. You will follow the instructions I give you, is that clear/-

/Hai, Yami./ Ryou nodded obediently to his darker self, who was sitting in spirit form next to him (invisible to everyone else) and eyeing the cards eagerly, as though they were a long lost treasure that he had at last found.

-/Now.../- Bakura pointed. -/This one in defense mode, this one face down on the field, and that one face down on the field./-

Ryou did as he was told. Under the instruction of his yami he found himself winning almost immediately. When had Bakura learned to play a game so recently released?

-/Summon this monster -yes, that one- and attack his with it. Then attack his life points directly with the one already on the field. He doesn't even have a trap or magic card to protect him, so that should win you the duel./-

He was right. After sending his opponent's monster to the graveyard, Ryou attacked his life points directly and won. He even earned a congradulatory cheer or two from the crowd, causing him to blush and smile meekly. The teen across from him stood, furious, and insisted that the boy had cheated.

Sensing havoc readying itself to appear, Ryou quickly slipped away from the crowd and made for his last class, hoping that duel had not caused him to be late.

When the class was at last over, Ryou walked unsuspectingly out of the building and headed home. On the way, he hummed something to himself. He'd heard it somewhere recently- in a dream perhaps. It was calming, and he closed his eyes for a moment, completely at peace.

He didn't hear the shuffling of over-sized feet following him, and had already forgotten the fury of his opponent from earlier, but was quick to remember when he felt a gruff hand grab his collar. Snapping his eyes open, they met with two familiar and very angry eyes.

"That duel was mine to win, pretty boy. You're paying for what you did to me in there!"

After being smashed into a wall that he hadn't even realized was there, Ryou curled up and braced himself for the beating he saw that he was about to receive.

Bakura was pacing excitedly in his dark soul room.

Those cards... they were replicas of the ka tablets! These cards contained a great, hidden power that would aid him in the achievement of obtaining all seven sennen items. At last! Plotting would be so much easier now that he had some idea of which direction to take.

But all his plotting and scheming paused when a jolt rippled through the mental link between his lighter half and he. It was a jolt of pain.

'Yadonoushi...'

The furious young man kicked the teen curled against the wall, and he groaned weakly. Ryou was bleeding in several places, and it was becoming harder for him to see. The bully grabbed him by the neck and lifted him above him, the boy choking from the grip, and Ryou felt his head collide forcefully with the wall.

Before seeping into unconsciousness, he thought he felt something at the back of his mind.

Anger.

The ancient spirit within him was sending strong currents of anger through their mental link, and there was even a light ripple of... something else. It was unrecognizable midst the pain. Ryou felt himself slipping away into the darkness.

Smirking, the bigger man decided to see if there was anything worth taking on the unconscious boy. Feeling for valuables that might have been concealed, his hands made their way up to the boy's neck. He felt something under his shirt, reached in and discovered the sennen ring. His smirk widened.

But then he looked up with something other than anger or triumph in his eyes when he saw the opportunity he was left with, and a finger slowly left the cord holding the ring and slid down the boy's soft cheek, continuing downwards and stroking his small neck. It got no farther, because a voice sounded quietly behind the oppressor.

"Get off of the omote."

The bully whirled around to meet the eyes of a materialized, and severely angered, Yami no Bakura.

A/n: Dun dun dun dun da duun da dun dun duun!

Yea, the materializing thing will be partly explained in the next chapter (I made it up).

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