Next chapter's up! I only updated sooner because I finished the fourth chapter. It's always good to be a chapter ahead.
I want to say that anonymous people can now review! Anei Aikouka pointed out to me that I didn't have it on the right setting, so after ten minutes of going through my account I finally enabled anonymous reviews. So, yeah.
I forgot to say last time but here are the different kind of writing styles I use in this fic:
/Is Ryou speaking to Bakura./
/Is Bakura speaking to Ryou./
'Is someone thinking.'
And this is just normal stuff.
Also, I'm trying to make it so Bakura and Ryou have the same amount of time. Don't worry if there's a lot of Ryou, I'll try and put more Bakura in later to even it up. As for their relationship, I'm trying to make it so they're friendly with each other to some degree, but when it comes to other people the thief acts differently. I hope I do it alright.
Anyway, to the reviewers:
Himig : Actually, he's going to go to Diagon Alley on chapter five...I think..? Anyway, thanks for sticking around for the second chapter!
Anei Aikouka : Really? You like that I portray Bakura and Ryou's relationship differently? I hope I am. I want to make Bakura act a little softer around his hikari than other people, but I'm not sure how it's going. ; Thank you so much for pointing out that the anonymous review thing was disabled.
Ryou VeRua : Yes, Marlen should be worried about the people who come in contact with Ryou. Thank you for the review, and I can't wait until you updated your story.
Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! or Harry Potter.
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Chapter three: Variation
It soon came time for Ryou to leave the comfort of his house and return to the hotel. The boy assumed he would just say goodbye and leave the house, but apparently he didn't know his relatives to well. He stood at the door where he had been for the past hour.
"Alright Marlen," his uncle said, prying the woman off Ryou. "I'm sure he needs to get back to his hotel now."
Ryou grinned sheepishly and turned back toward Nick, crouching down so they were the same height. "I'll see you later, okay sport? Remember to read that book."
Nick nodded, holding onto the book entitled, 'Astronomy made fun!'. "Okay." He smiled brightly. "Bye-bye Ryou."
"Thank you again for inviting me in your home," Ryou said, standing back up. "I hope to come visit you again sometime soon."
"We'd love that," his uncle said, holding onto his sobbing wife. "Wouldn't we, honey?"
"Of-of course!" Marlen sobbed. "Be careful son. Just be careful. Don't take candy from strangers and don't go into peoples cars because they've lost their puppy."
Ryou smiled. "Alright. Goodbye." He opened the door and stepped outside, thankful to finally leave. He was surprised, however, to find that it was already dark, the stars shining brightly in the sky.
He was tempted to go back in the house but he decided against it. There should be a normal bus running at this time. He grabbed the wrinkled piece of paper Tom had handed it him.
It had all the normal bus times in his area and written on the side was the name of the hotel/bar. 'The Leaky Cauldron.'
"The last one leaves in a few minutes!" Ryou yelped. "I have to hurry." He started running on the sidewalk, trying to remember where exactly the nearest bus line was. His roller suitcase made thunking sounds as it was not meant to go at fast speeds.
He started slowing down after several minutes of running non stop and looked around. He was sure the bus line was around here somewhere. Looking up at the sign, he was startled to find that it said 'Privet Drive'.
Had he gone the wrong way? Ryou let out an exasperated sigh. Of all the things to happen, he got lost.
He was about to turn around to see if he could find his way back when a sudden chill went down his spine. Wrapping his arms around himself, he looked at the sky to see if the weather had changed to try and explain the sudden coldness.
The sky was unusual dark even for night, the stars concealed in a black mist. Looking around he found that the shadows were more abundant and the street lamps, the only source of light, had dulled.
/Y-yami/ Ryou stuttered. /Are you doing this/
/No./ came the reply.
Ryou gulped and took a step back. He felt so cold and alone. This mist seemed to be sucking all the happiness out of him. It was foolish of him to think that but somehow he knew the mist was behind it.
There was a shout and bright light up ahead to the side. A light full of warmth that banished the cold mist. More shouts.
Ryou squinted and took a few steps forward, trying to see what was going on. Something was happening. Was it magic perhaps?
He stoped when that feeling came back. He could almost see a shape in the mist ahead of him, reaching a bony hand towards him.
His head was to numb to think. He just ran. He wasn't sure where he was going, only that it was far away from that thing, whatever it was. Closing his eyes, he pushed himself to run faster, trying to get a better speed while still holding the suitcase. He would just go back to his relatives house until tomorrow. Tom would understand, right?
He bumped into someone and stumbled backward into the suitcase. "I'm sorry!" he cried, looking up to find an elderly woman. "Are you alright?"
The woman looked at him, then the fading mist behind him. "What are you doing out so late?" she questioned.
"Erh," Ryou blinked and looked down at the piece of paper. "I was trying to find the bus line, but I got lost."
"You shouldn't be alone this late at night," she stated. "Come. I'll give you a place to stay for the night."
"No, I couldn't," Ryou protested. "I've got a hotel ready for me. I just need to find the bus line and I'll be leaving."
"What is the hotel called?" she asked, trying to push him inside her house.
He continued to protest and stood his ground. "It's called the Leaky Cauldron," he said shaking his head. "Do you know where the bus line is?"
"Leaky Cauldron?" She raised her eyebrow skeptically, then looked at his suitcase. "Seems like you're going somewhere."
Ryou paused, staring at her. "Please, ma'am. Could you tell me where the bus line is? I really need to get there."
"No. Get inside right now," the woman said sternly. "I will call the hotel and tell him you will come tomorrow."
"I never send the owner was a guy. . ."
"No matter," she said waving her hand dismissively. "I'm friends with Tom, the owner. He should understand. Now come inside. You can stay on the couch."
Ryou slowly allowed himself to be steered into the house by her. He wasn't sure what was going on and he couldn't help but be suspicious of the woman. Did she really know Tom? He could feel Bakura was tense but his attention seemed to be solely on the shadows creeping towards them. Perhaps if Bakura trusted the woman, she was really alright.
The woman shooed him into the house talking more about extra pillows and a comforter. She paused for a moment to glance nervously at the empty street before closing the door. She locked and bolted it.
Ryou just stood there in the middle of the little room not sure what to do. Off to his left was a room that looked like a dining room and to his right was the living room where a large couch and tv was.
She turned toward Ryou. "My name is Mrs. Figg. What's your name boy?"
"Erh. Ryou Bakura."
"Ryou?" she asked, testing to see if she pronounced it right.
He nodded and she lead him into the living room. "I'll go call Tom and tell him you're staying here. There are some blankets in that closet," she nodded her head toward a door in the corner. "Take as many as you want."
Ryou watched as the woman scuttled out of the room before putting his suitcase on the ground and going over to the closet door. He opened it and at once there was blackness.
He let out a muffled cry and stumbled backwards. Unfortunately, it turned out that his suitcase was close behind him and he fell over, landing on his butt.
"Ow," he mumbled, rubbing his backside. Quickly tearing off the comforter(the cause of the sudden blackness), he looked around to see if the woman had seen that fiasco. She didn't.
"Thank God," he grumbled. He stood up and grabbed a pillow from the closet before closing the door and putting them on the couch. He paused when he noticed the curtains covering the outside.
What exactly had happened? Bakura seemed so absorbed in the incident. Should he be worried to? He walked over to the window and pulled the curtain back to look out.
Night had fallen completely over the small road. No light was visible making it hard for him to see. The street lamps were out now. Not even the moon provided light.
He shuddered again. Such darkness. It reminded him of his stay in the shadow realm. It had been a horrible experience. One that he didn't what to repeat anytime soon.
"What are you doing?"
Ryou blinked and turned around to see Mrs. Figg running over to him. She shut the curtain, covering the window.
"I, erh, just wanted to look outside," Ryou said meekly.
She stared at him for several seconds before turning around and walking toward the couch where she started making his 'bed'. "Tom understands. He wants me to tell you he'll just make a bigger breakfast."
The tension that Ryou had been keeping ever since he entered this house released in that instant. She had to have known Tom. How else could she know he was going to make him a big dinner?
"Go to sleep now." She stood straight. "I'll send you to the bus station tomorrow morning. I believe there's a bus departing to there at eight forty."
Ryou nodded and walked over to the couch. "Thank you. Goodnight," he added.
"Goodnight." She turned the light off and walked out of the room. No doubt she was heading to bed herself.
He sighed and slid underneath the blankets. The couch was surprisingly comfy. He didn't know when he had fallen asleep, he just remembered he was thinking was how cold it was when the darkness finally consumed him.
There was screaming. Horrible screaming. It started getting louder and louder until it reached a high pitch shriek.
Someone was shaking him, trying to wake him up. There was another person trying to wake him up back in his head, shouting at him. But he couldn't hear them. The screams were just to loud.
Now someone was laughing manically, relishing in the others pain. More screaming. It was becoming unbearable.
A sudden realization hit Ryou has he dreamt on. It was him who was screaming. He was the one making those horrid cries.
"WAKE UP!"
/WAKE UP/
Ryou's eyes opened and he sat up immediately. The force of both his yami and the woman yelling at him finally got him awake. His eyes searched the room, adjusting to the darkness. They found Mrs. Figg staring at him worriedly.
"You alright?" she whispered.
"Yes." He was surprised at how raspy his voice sounded. His throat hurt so much. It dawned on him that he really had been screaming. It wasn't just in his dream.
"I'll be right back." She quickly disappeared leaving a confused Ryou. A few seconds later she reappeared with a glass of water. She handed it to him. "Here. Drink up."
"Thank you," he mumbled taking big gulps of water. At once the liquid soothed his throat. He put the glass on a coaster on the table.
"I heard you screaming and I came down," she started. "What were you dreaming about?"
Ryou blinked and scrunched his nose in thought. "I-I don't remember." He was shocked to find this out himself. The dream and been so vivid, yet he couldn't remember anything other than the horrible laughing and him screaming. What had happened?
"It's alright," she said, holding his hand. "You can tell me."
"I'm serious," he whispered, eyes wide and confused. "I can't remember what my dream was about. I -I don't know."
She paused staring deeply into his eyes before she stood up. It seemed as if she now believed him. "Get some rest. Maybe you'll remember it later this morning."
"Later?" His eyes searched the room and found the clock on the wall. He squinted at the little hands on the clock and was surprised to see it was one in the morning. "Sorry."
"It's alright," she said stifling a yawn. "Goodnight Ryou." She stood up and sleepily walked out of the room.
Ryou laid back down on the bed, staring at the ceiling. What was that all about? He never had a nightmare as horrible as that ever.
/What happened/
/It's nothing yami. Just a nightmare. That's all. . ./
He knew Bakura wasn't satisfied with that answer, but he didn't want to talk about it. Luckily, his yami had decided that he would question later if at all.
Maybe Mrs. Figg was right. Maybe he would remember it later. He yawned, eyes slowly closing. The last thing he saw before the darkness consumed him was a small shadow moving across the floor.
He felt pain in his chest, as if someone was hitting him. Then there was a rhythmic sound coming from on top of him.
"Nnn," Ryou moaned opening his eyes slowly. He was surprised to find an abnormally large cat kneading his chest, purring loudly.
"Meow?"
His eyes searched the wall and fell upon the clock. It read five forty-two. He groaned and closed his eyes again, putting his hand over his forehead. Why couldn't he just sleep in for once?
The cat rubbed its head against his hand, still purring.
He smiled at the cat and started petting its head. It was so soft and furry. He could feel the warmth on his chest, keeping him from going back to that cold place.
He still couldn't remember the dream. There was only the screams and laughter. He knew that he was the one screaming, but who was laughing?
There was a tug on his arm and he looked on the ground. He was surprised to find another large cat tugging at his sleeve. Another cat was quick to follow the second, then another one came.
His eyes widened. Where had all those cats come from?
"Meow?"
"Are you hungry?" he mumbled, looking down at all the cats huddled around the couch. "I bet that's it. Let me just get up." He slowly moved into a sitting position, giving the cat on his chest enough time to jump off and land on the ground with the rest.
He got up and easily found the door to the kitchen. It was medium sized kitchen with normal appliances and cupboards. He went to the side and started looking for some cat food.
A large box was on the ground that had 'kibbles n' bits' scribbled onto the side. Next to it were six bowls for the cats. He bent over and attempted to pick it up, but failed. He tried again, this time bending his knees.
It only raised an inch off the floor.
He paused and put his hand against his chin in thought. At his feet, the cats were purring and rubbing against his legs, eager to get some food.
Squatting, he tried to find an opening only to find it was on the bottom. "Oh my," he whispered. Of all the things to happen.
/Yami? I can't pick this up...Yami/
He was surprised that there was no reply. Even more confusing was the fact that Bakura had put up impenetrable blocks against their mental connection. He only put up the walls when he was thinking or plotting.
Sighing, he bent over and got into position. If Bakura didn't want to be bothered he made sure he wouldn't be bothered. Bending his knees, he put his hands on either side of the box.
"Ready?" he asked the cats.
The cats mewed in excitement.
"One," he mumbled, doing the usual countdown. "Two. Three. Lift!" He jerked himself up, the heavy box going with him. He wobbled over to the counter and bumped into it. It was then he realized that he wasn't lifting the box high enough.
His arms were starting to hurt and he didn't even want to think about the pain in his back. He arched his back and slowly started pushing the box onto the counter.
However, leaning back wasn't the best idea and he lost his footing. Both him and the box fell down on the ground. There was a cracking sound and he prayed that it wasn't his back or one of this bones.
He weakly got into a sitting position. Everything hurt from his head to his butt. Why did the box have to be so heavy?
He looked around and was horrified to find that almost all of the contents had spilled onto the floor. The cats were happily munching on their food.
He let out a yelp and scrambled over to the box. He started pushing all the food bits near the box back into it and set it upright. Picking it up, he was happy to find that it was light. Light enough that he could set it down on the counter easily. He stopped to look at the mess.
"There has to be something I can use to scoop up the food," he thought out loud. His eyes spotted two pieces of paper to the side. He quickly grabbed them and made sure that they weren't important.
Bending down, he put one paper on the ground tilted upward while using the other paper to push the food onto the first paper. When the first paper was full of food, he lifted the paper carefully and dumped it back into the box. Then he repeated the same thing again.
An hour and a half later he had finally gotten all the food off the ground; fed the cats a good meal; cleaned the floor; and made sure that the box was on the right side. When he had finished he could have sworn he felt something from Bakura's connection, but he just dismissed it. He now just sat there, leaning against the refrigerator all the cats curled up either next to him or on him.
It was surprisingly comfortable there and the cats served as a great blanket. Their fur kept him warm. He could almost fall asleep.
"What happened here?"
His eyes snapped open and he looked up to find Mrs. Figg standing there with a smile upon her face. "Good morning."
"Good morning to you too," she said, eyes scouring the room. "What did you do to my kitchen?"
Ryou gulped.
"It's never looked this clean before," she said, looking around. "Look at the floors. My, my. It's so clean I can almost see myself on the tile."
He sighed in relief. "I hope you don't mind but I fed the cats."
"You were able to?" she asked, eyebrows raised. "Yesterday I accidentally dropped the box on the wrong side. Did you pick it up?"
Ryou nodded. "Yeah, it was heavy but I managed to get it right side up."
"Well thank you Ryou," she said. She looked at the watch on her wrist. "You should get ready to go. The showers through that door. Third door on the right."
"Oh, thank you." Ryou slowly got up, making sure to give the cats enough time to jump off of him. He went towards his suitcase and grabbed some clothes and started heading towards the bathroom. He paused when he noticed a small article on the table right before he headed out of the living room.
On the front cover read 'You-know-who. Hoax or Real?'
It didn't take him long to get ready. He specifically made sure not to spend much time in the shower so he wouldn't use up to much water. Drying his hair with the towel, he paused to stair in the mirror.
The towel was hanging lopsided off his head and he wasn't wearing a shirt revealing the scar on his left arm from the knife. His yami had tunnel vision back then and had cared for nothing, not even the body he was living off of. He changed after he had almost gotten Ryou killed. That was the turning point.
Through the mirror, he watched the shadow behind him. It looked like his shadow, but he knew it wasn't. It was all that was left in this world of Bakura.
He slowly turned around to the face the shadow and stared at it. Maybe in this magical world he could find a spell to give his yami a body of his own. Living off someone was hardly what you call a life. Maybe he could give Bakura a second chance at living and with it came new beginning for him as well.
Smiling at that idea, he finished drying his hair and put on horizontal striped T-shirt. He would help his yami live again. The spirit deserved it. Everyone deserved a second chance.
He headed out and packed the outfit he was wearing the other day in the suitcase and looked around to find the paper. The article had disappeared to his dismay. He could have found out some information.
"Oh well," he mumbled. "I suppose I'll just have to wait until Tom tells me what's going on."
"You ready?"
Ryou looked up to see Mrs. Figg with her shoes on. "I'll walk you to the station then you're on your own."
"Thank you." He grabbed his suitcase and followed the woman out of her house. She locked the door and started down the street, walking briskly.
Ryou had a hard time trying to keep up with her, but he somehow managed to always stay a few feet behind the woman. The suitcase bounced behind him, not used to be going that fast.
They quickly reached the station and Ryou was surprised to find the bus already there. He quickly rushed over to the door, Mrs. Figg a few steps behind.
"I'm sorry I rushed you," she apologized. "I forgot that the bus left earlier today. The Leaky Cauldron is the third stop."
"Thank you," he said with a smile. "Thank you for letting me stay in your home. I hope I can repay you some day."
"Don't be silly," she said, brushing it off. "You take care now."
"You too." He walked up the stairs, dragging the suitcase with him. Handing the money to the bus driver, he walked over to one of the seats and sat down placing the suitcase on the seat next to him. He was surprised to see that there were only three other people on the bus.
He looked out the window to see that Mrs. Figg was already heading off back to her house. He had met so many nice people. He just hoped that his luck wouldn't run out.
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Alright, so what did you think? Please submit a review telling me what you think of this story. Flames, criticism, anything really.
Thanks for your time!