If the format's compacted, I apologize. This whole edit/preview thing always drives me crazy
The sudden darkness and loss of reality had cast Bakura into a dark place: his mind. The walls loomed to the stormy sky. The darkness wasn't complete yet, Bakura realized as he opened his eyes wearily. The sandstone floor could still be seen. His whole body felt heavy, smashed to the rough floor by air, heavy with sin.
He just lay there. His mind drifted and he began a mental examination of his body. Being a thief and having to hide and be still on missions, also known as 'playing dead', had caused him to develop an acute sense of his conditions. Thieves had to be quick to kill. Knowing where and when to place a hit on the human anatomy could easily put you ahead of the game. His left wrist tingled. His right leg felt heavier than usual. His vision swirled as he took shallow breaths.
He could tell now that he had lost too much blood from the breathing, likely from the wrist since it tingled and that his bandages on his left leg had become overly soaked with blood.
Bakura gave a small grunt as he tried to push himself up. He quickly collapsed after nearly becoming parallel to the floor; breath coming now in short gasps. His forehead felt like it was going to split open as he violently threw up.
"Fuck." The word came out despairingly and he closed his eyes once more. His mouth had a bitter taste, and the passing thought about how good a glass of water would be at the moment filtered through the mind of the thief. The shadows of the room came forth from the little light that had been captured by the darkness. They scampered in playful circles around their master, delighted that their master would join them soon. The white haired man was engulfed by the shadows.
Green eyes just continued to watch as the darkness completely swallowed the room.
Awaking with a start, uncharacteristic of the white-haired man, a stabbing pain shot through his side. Other than this excruciating pain, nothing else was hurting like before. Bakura easily stood and checked his surroundings. His leg ached a little, but it was understandable.
It appeared to be a normal room that Bakura had fallen into. It was much lighter in atmosphere than the previous chamber. The shadows that tried clinging to the wall were vastly out-numbered by the flickering torchlight coming from a nearby doorway.
"So, you've awakened."
Huh? "Who the hell are you and what are you doing in my mind?" Bakura's voice came out as a low growl, overly defensive, the words couldn't really be heard but the message was clear. Who are you?
A feminine figure was more visibly seen, compared to the mere blur it was before. Bakura filed that down as strange. Perhaps it was a trick of the light, if of course he was unlucky enough to have a concussion.
"Are you feeling better?" A clawed hand extended out. It was meant for reassurance but to Bakura it was a threatening gesture.
The Woman looked strange, wrapped in a green forest cloak. "What are you?" Crimson eyes narrowed taking another step back, noticing the large brown ears and the swishing tail.
"I'm surprised you don't remember me," The women murmured, bring her long claw hands to her throat. This action allowed the gem she wore around her neck to shine. The Woman was obviously used to flaunting her body; each action was like a show. "We met a few hours ago; you could say two days if the time that you were unconscious counted. That young man, the one that looks strangely like you, has been looking for you."
The facade of a cool street thief came into play. Bakura brought his arms to himself in a haughty display and crossed them. "You mean my reincarnated self? What exactly has that got to do with you in my mind?" The fear of her that was in his eyes had vanished to be replaced with another emotion: confidence. A mortal Bakura could be expected to fall victim to death; a spirit who signed a contract with death could not.
"Excuse me," her voice came as a soft submissive whisper, "I did not mean to upset you; I only wanted to explain what had happened."
"Then explain. I've never preferred to spend time with the other sex, especially when they have claws."
"I am Neko Girl number one: a shadow beast. Much like when the pharaoh was called by the Black Magician Girl, I have called you. You and I are both bound to the shadows." She explained.
"Is that so? I'm afraid that you still haven't answered my question, once again."
Neko Girl lowered her eyes in a submission. "You found me lying in the alleyway. I had tried to oppose the shadows that were binding me and was cast out."
"So why are you back within the shadow realm? If you're saying that you too have played the games the shadows throw at us and lost, than why are you back here among them? I am a shadow, a spirit." Bakura didn't understand this. Here was a creature that had broken a shadow pact and was still alive to tell the tale.
"Do you think I want to be back here among the shadows? Because you picked me up and didn't let the shadows finish devouring me is the reason why I can't be free. You too! You stupid arrogant spirit," the soft voice came out scratchy, more of a hiss, "By having the balance of light to your dark, the shadows had a difficult time controlling you. Now look at you! They have enough power to get you to kill yourself!"
He didn't know what made him do it. The female was to slow to register the fact that a fist was being swung at her before it was too late. A dark flush of red pooled to her left cheek and slowly ran down before stopping at the angular jaw bone. The drop clung there for a second before falling on green.
"You shouldn't tell the dead that they are damned. You shouldn't correct them. I know what I did and I don't care. You can tell my fucking Hikari that his world is fucking messed up."
"I don't have to. You're dead." The green eyes spoke deep seriousness. She didn't care if she got struck again. What the spirit did screwed them both.
"Nice, except you don't get it. In case you didn't notice I signed a contract just like you did. Unless I disobey the shadows and don't give them power than I will always reincarnate." A smug look crossed Bakura's face. He had betrayed many to keep the shadows at his command.
"No, I mean it. You are really dead."
"What do you mean dead?"
Bakura had just recovered from the shock of being corrected. Was he really dead? Long ago, when he had signed the shadow pact, the exchange had been his soul for immortality. The shadows always rewarded their benefactor; they devoured their enemies.
Was that why the shadows tried to consume him?
There were so many questions.
"I believe it is my fault the shadows have come to hate you…well, even more so." Claws made a motion for a chair. Light gathered and was pulled into what looked like an oddly formed mushroom.
Bakura did the same, unused to using light magic, and was rewarded with an equally disturbing piece of furniture.
"Just what do you mean by that?" He took a seat on the backless stool.
"My disobedience was based on the fact that I did not carry out a precise order." She brought her face to her claws, which were set in a prayer-like position, and sat silently, waiting for the shadow master to respond.
"I was never good at filling in the blanks."
"Ryou! Over here Ryou!"
The called boy glanced up from his book. It was a beautiful day, one of those, 'let us be lazy days' were you jut wanted to run around with a group of friends and grab some ice cream. Too bad Ryou had school.
The blonde immediately began to call him again. Jou was beginning to attract a lot of attention with all his yelling. Ryou gave a meek little wave back at Jou, where it was acknowledged that Ryou would join them for lunch shortly.
These past few days had been tiring. Ryou had walked into his home one night to find his Yami gone without a word. He had become a bit frantic with the blood stains and had called Yugi and Yami Yugi right away. Speaking with them had helped considerably, however, when the two had come over to try to decipher out what happened he realized that perhaps he had made things a bit worse when Yami Yugi just said that perhaps the Tomb robber had finally flipped out.
Yugi's anxious eyes had not helped one bit either. It was seen that this was probably a good thing; the thief had finally succeeded into destroying himself. Ryou was oblivious to the fact that Bakura was very suicidal, as did most, but the smell of blood is very difficult to hide from a spirit, and naturally, Yugi discovered the truth too.
"Ryou," he had said, "why don't you stay at the game shop with us for a bit?"
It was such an inviting offer. Ryou gladly snatched it up.
It was understandable that Ryou was not getting enough sleep in his new environment: the game shop, so when he pulled himself up from his grassy spot, gathering his textbooks as he did so, it was done sluggishly. Let us see, biology here, English reading there…but, oh wait! Where had that stupid geography book go to? Ryou gave the area a quick once over. It was not possible that someone took it. He had had it right before lunch, right?
"Here, are you looking for this?"
Ryou turned around, a bit startled, and very embarrassed. Seto Kaiba held out the geography text.
"Um, thank you very much Kaiba. I didn't realize I had misplaced it 'till a few seconds ago." He accepted the book gratefully, a small blush tinting the bridge of his nose.
"Don't worry about it." It was so uncharacteristic of Seto Kaiba to say, that it caused Ryou's blush to spread. "What you should be worrying about, though, are those bags underneath your eyes. They aren't doing anything for you." With that, he smirked and began to walk to wherever he went to eat lunch leaving Ryou with his mouth agape.
Hello! I just found this chapter on my hard drive! So everyone gets an update. I am sorta' down at the moment due to the testing I am undergoing at school. We get to take these lovely evaluation tests for next year, oh joy.
About the shadow and darkness thing going on, as well as the light…I seriously know where it is going. However, conveying it is rather difficult, so if it doesn't get cleared up next chapter feel free to interrogate me for answers.
Vera has been on me about these tests, urging me to study for them. I really want to, I swear! But it's just so boring!
