Ryou's p.o.v.
It was early morning when I woke up. Well at least I think it was early morning since that's when I usually wake up, but then again I can't exactly tell under who knows how many piles of sand so oh well. Anyways the point is I am awake right.
I sighed and got up out of my cot and looked around. Yugi was still sound asleep and the room was still how I left it when I went to sleep. Absolutely bare. 'God hasn't anybody around here ever heard of decorations' I thought looking around.
As I stood up, I stretched out a little bit before completely getting up. I was still in the same clothes that I had been wearing yesterday except without the shirt, it was too sweaty. I looked down at my chest and frowned.
Black and blue. Two colors in which I despised somewhat. For it covered most of my body. 'Black, blue, paler skin then usual, god I look terrible.' I thought while looking myself over. Scars also covered my body. Scars that would never fade.
'This and the millennium ring was all that Bakura had left me with.' I thought bitterly. I looked over to the side of the room, there stood a mirror, and within it was my horrible reflection.
I looked at my reflection with sad eyes. "Will I ever be happy, ever find love that would be returned, would I ever truly be able to smile again," I asked quietly to mirror, not expecting an answer.
I then looked around for my shirt that I had carelessly tossed somewhere. I had to put it on before Yugi woke up, or else he might see something I would rather him not seeing.
Finally I found the missing article of clothing. It was dirty with grime and sweat from yesterdays exercise. I scrunched my nose as I put it on. 'Damn Kyofu and her fucked up training' I thought in disgust as I finally got the shirt on. Just in time too.
"RYOU YOU BETTER GET YOUR ASS UP OR ELSE I WILL MAKE YOU," screamed Kyofu's voice as she pounded on the door as if it were a punching bag. I growled.
"I'm up you bloody twit, now quit banging on the god damn fucking door," I growled out as I looked at the piece of wood that separated me from the crazy lunatic on the other side.
Did I mention that I am not a morning person. Well here you go, I am so not a morning person. I looked over at Yugi. The boy was still sleeping soundly. I looked at him enviously. 'I wish I could be that lucky.' I thought to myself.
I then looked back at the door. I could hear shuffling behind which indicated that Kyofu was a) doing something suspicious b) fidgeting or c) being just plain weird. I kinda went with the a) thought. It seemed most reasonable.
I sighed and then walked over to the door and slowly opened it, but I didn't step out. My eyes must have widened twice their size as they watched a big grey piece of metal drop down to the floor, ice cold water spilling from the water pail.
I just stared at the puddle forming at my feet, then the metal bucket, and then the sheepishly grinning Kyofu. I then looked back at the water, the pail, and then the idiot standing before me, eyes narrowed.
"Eh heh heh heh, good morning Ryou," Kyofu said nervously. I just stared at her. I opened my mouth to say something but no words came out. Then suddenly white hot lightning rage struck me. 'Why that little, oh I am going to kill her' I thought.
"Kyofu, why did a pail of water just come falling from my doorway," I asked in a calm, icy voice. I looked at her straight in the eyes. Her eyes widened to try and get an innocent look to them. It wasn't working.
"Huh, oh um wow I don't know," Kyofu said.
"You don't know why suddenly a pail of water suddenly came out of no where, intending to splash with icy cold water." I said in a slightly annoyed voice, though it was mostly still calm.
"Eh heh heh heh, um well you see, uh..." she stopped for a second to think of a good excuse then said, "well er maybe its uh raining buckets of cold water today, heh heh strange weather huh," she said in a fake cheerful voice.
My eyes narrowed even more that now they were mere slits. "I highly doubt that such a thing as raining buckets can be possible," I said, now feeling extremely annoyed.
"Really, well uh ya see, this kind of occurrence happens all the time," Kyofu said. Suddenly as if on cue, a door opened down the hall and screaming of pure terror could be heard through the many halls of the secret hideout.
My eyes widened as I looked at Akuun. He was soaking wet and a grey metal could be seen lying at his feet. I once again, for the second time of that day did a circular rotation of my eyes from looking at Akuun, the pail, and then Kyofu.
"Er, eh heh heh, see it happens all the time," Kyofu said. I just stared at her with wide eyes. Ra can my eyes get any wider. Wait don't answer that.
"KYOFU, I'M GONNA FUCKING MURDER YOU, THEN I'M GONNA CHOP YOUR HEAD OFF SO THAT WAY YOU LOOK LIKE THE BRAINLESS TURKEY YOU ARE" Akuun roared as he started chasing after Kyofu.
"Eep," Kyofu squeaked before running like hell, Akuun right behind her. I stood there blinking, wondering what ever happened to my sane life. Then again when have I ever had a sane life?
I shook my head and watched as Akuun chased Kyofu around in circles, with what looked like a very deadly dagger in his hands. I sighed. I sure as hell wouldn't want to be Kyofu.
Suddenly I heard footsteps coming from the direction Kyofu and Akuun were. I looked over beyond the two but I couldn't see anyone. That is until I saw a hair of silver appear over the stair case. My eyes widened when I fully saw the person.
There just a few yards away was...Bakura and yet not Bakura. His skin was now more tan, and there was also a strange scar on his cheek, and he was also wearing Egyptian clothing.
I couldn't believe it. The man who had broken my heart and a few of my bones on several occasions was now walking closer and closer. But for some odd reason, seeing my old err infatuation as you may say, didn't exactly make me happy.
In fact it made me want to go find a dark corner and cry, just like I used to whenever Bakura would beat me or insult me too harshly. I blinked back tears, trying to force myself to, for once be strong.
'Remember Ryou, Bakura doesn't know you in this time period, you might not be his lover in this era or any other, but maybe, just maybe, Bakura will respect me for once and actually see me as something more then the ground he walks on' I thought as I stared at the past version of my old crush.
It seemed that Kyofu didn't notice the new arrival for she just kept running around blindly until...bang. I winced. 'Ra that's gotta hurt.' I thought as I stared at Kyofu.
The girl had been running straight at Bakura but unfortunately it was not a soft chest she banged against. Bakura had side stepped Kyofu, who thus ran straight into a wall. I looked closely at Kyofu. She seemed to have one of those swirly eyes.
"W-where am I," she asked before dropping to the floor as quick as a brick. 'Too bad her head isn't as hard as a brick though. I kinda felt sorry for her. Keyword: kinda.'
I then looked at Bakura. He was sighing and shaking his head, as if this were a natural occurrence. Now that I could believe more then raining water pails.
"You dumb moron, when will you learn to look where your going before you go running around like your ass is on fire." Bakura said. The irritated Egyptian then picked up the girls fallen body before he started looking around.
I gulped when his eyes landed on me. I could see in the corner of my eye, that Akuun was now standing beside me. I watched as Bakura's eyes widened as they stared at me with those menacing eyes.
It was then that I noticed something though. Bakura still might have looked evil but he looked a little bit more, dare I say, calmer then he was as my Yami.I kinda felt grateful for that, maybe that means he won't push me around like he used to.
I looked straight back at him, showing no emotion, just like he had taught me, for so many years. He seemed to stare at me for what seemed like forever. Then slowly he moved his eyes to my right where Akuun was standing.
"Akuun, who is this?" Bakura asked as he turned his gaze back on me. I heard Akuun swallow hard before answering.
"Bakura, this is Ryou, he is our new recruit, he is also under training of Kyofu," Akuun answered, in a warm voice, though I could somewhat sense his anxiety. I saw Bakura's eyes linger on me for just a moment before he turned his back to me.
"Is that so, well then, since he's in Kyofu's training then he must be stronger then most of the newbie's around here. I shall personally train him myself in any case since Kyofu is out of commission at the moment," Bakura said in a tone that left no room for discussion.
My jaw dropped. No way. Not again. Not Bakura's training. I winced. I had already been through more times then I could count and none of the training had ever ended up pretty either. I looked at Kyofu, my eyes pleading for her to wake up.
I bit my lip and looked at Akuun with nervous eyes. Akuun looked at me and just shrugged his shoulders, indicating that there was nothing he could do in the matter. I sighed and then looked at Bakura.
Bakura was standing a few feet in front of me, his back facing me, and Kyofu was still in his arms. I could tell he was waiting for me to follow. He always did that back when...never mind, better not think of this now.
I gave out a little sigh before walking up to him, leaving Akuun behind me as I followed Bakura. I could see a little smirk play on Bakura's lips. Even after all this time I have known him I just sometimes can never figure him out.
I followed him till he stopped by a door. The door looked like any other door except instead of gold numbers on it, there was silver. I blinked. Bakura looked at me with sharp, narrowed eyes.
"Open the door," he commanded. I nodded before doing so. I couldn't help but wonder how Yugi was doing. I haven't talked to the poor guy since yesterday and I knew he was starting to feel pretty lonely without some he knew around.
When I opened the door, Bakura immediately went inside. I didn't go in though to see what he would do. If there was one thing I learned from Bakura after all the years we have been together it was that he never liked anyone being in his room.
I waited for a few minutes and soon Bakura came out. He stared at me for a minute. He seemed to be doing that a lot. Wonder why. Well it could be the fact that I look like a more innocent version of him, who wouldn't stare if they were seeing someone who was looking exactly like a twin or whatever.
"Your not from around here are you," Bakura asked suddenly. I blinked. 'How the hell did he know that?' I asked myself silently. Better stay on the safe side and answer truthfully.
"No I am not from around here," I answered bluntly. I kept eye contact with him. Ra this is like old times, and here I thought that the bruises were actually going to start healing.
Bakura nodded. "I thought so. Your skin is way too pale to have been around here," Bakura said accusingly. I blinked. 'That's how he figured out I wasn't from around Egypt. Because of how light colored my skin was!' I thought uneasily.
"O-oh really well um I guess you're the first to have noticed then huh," I said nervously. 'What am I doing. Bakura always said never to speak with emotions and here I am talking like a nervous wreck.' I looked up at Bakura.
He was walking away down the hall. I took in a deep breath before following him. Most likely to my doom. I sighed and followed Bakura. 'Oh well, I have been doomed since the start, why should this surprise me.' I thought, depressed to where my thoughts were going.
Too soon we arrived back at the place Kyofu had taken me yesterday to train. I looked at Bakura as he observed me for a second, before he threw something at me. My eyes widened as I caught it out of reflex.
Bakura smirked. "You would make a good thief indeed if trained properly," He said before turning around. "Get changed and be at the arena as soon as your done changing," he said before walking off. I stared at him before staring at what he threw at me.
It was a new pair of clothes but this kind was navy blue baggy pants, kinda like sweat pants and a white top. I blinked then smiled. Finally I could put on some new clothes. I looked for a shadowed corner then changed in it, not wanting anyone to accidently see my scars.
When I was done changing I walked over to the arena, not wanting to waste my precious energy that I knew I would need during this entire training session.
When I got to the arena, Bakura was standing in the middle waiting for me. When I finally right in front of him Bakura handed something to me. I stared at it...a ribbon. I looked up at him, confused for a moment when realization hit me.
Bakura used to always give me a ribbon to hold my hair back during our training so that way he wouldn't "accidently" cut it off. I smiled somewhat. A ribbon was one of the only gifts Bakura had left to me, whether it was on purpose or not.
I smiled up at Bakura before putting my hair up in a high ponytail. I watched as Bakura did the same. And then everything started to suddenly speed up. The next thing I knew Bakura was teaching me how to accurately throw daggers and other dangerous weapons.
:TWO HOURS LATER:
I was panting like no tomorrow, Ra, I almost forgot how ruthless Bakura can be during training. I had my hands on my knees as I tried to regain our breath. I looked over at Bakura. Like me he was drenched with sweat.
I blushed when I finally noticed something. 'BAKURA'S TAKING HIS SHIRT OFF' I thought, blushing full force as I stared at Bakura's beautiful tanned chest. 'Almost forgot what he had looked like' I thought silently to myself.
I then did a once over of Bakura's body. His chest was glistening in sweat and the sun that was gracing him with its sparkling golden rays made him look like a fierce warrior god, specially with his hard core muscles being shown off.
'Ra am I drooling yet' I thought, aroused by the god standing before me with his back facing me. I blinked. 'What the hell is wrong with me, do I have a death wish or something. I can't just go off ogling at his chest like some dog in heat, the last thing I need is Bakura beating me to a bloody pulp because of something like THAT' I thought angrily to myself as I drank a cup of water that someone had kindly left for us.
"Ryou why don't you take off your shirt," Bakura asked curiously as he massaged his sore shoulders. I blushed.
"W-what do you mean, why would I want to take off my shirt." I said, embarrassed by the very fact that he had asked such a question.
"Well for one your hot and sweaty, and two you might dehydrate if you wear too much clothing while under such hard labor." Bakura said to me, his voice full of annoyance though also a hint of wisdom. I sighed.
"I can't take off my shirt," I muttered aloud, not knowing I had, while thinking about all the scars and bruises that littered my torso. I saw Bakura roll his eyes before walking towards me.
"W-what are you doing," I stuttered, slowly backing away from the fast approaching tomb robber. Then suddenly out of nowhere Bakura grabs my arm and pulls me over to him. In one quick movement, I felt my shirt removed from my body.
A cool wind brushes against my bare chest as I stood to the straight to the spot, frozen in place. My eyes probably were as wide as Kaiba's Duel disk by now. I bit my lip as I slowly turned around to look at Bakura.
Slowly I looked up into his eyes and I could see they were now possibly as wide as my eyes right now. I could see his eyes trace every inch of my bare chest, taking in all the scars and bruises that littered my body. The scars and bruises that he made.
"Who did this," he asked quietly as he lightly brushed his fingertips against on of my scars. I was tempted to say, you fucked up faggot, you did this, but I held my tongue. I instead just stared at the ground, praying harder than any other time in my life for the sand to just open up and swallow me whole.
Never, not once had Bakura ever seen the scars he had inflicted upon my person, I always made sure I was wearing some sort of clothing to cover it. Now though, in a different time era of all places, Bakura finally sees the pain that he caused me.
I felt Bakura's calloused hand gently grab my chin and forced me to face him. I blushed in embarrassment and shame. What was I to say or to do. Tell him, Hi I'm Ryou your future Hikari that you will punish and abuse in about 5000 years from now.
'Ra why me, why of all people must I be the one who has to be cursed with these unfortunate events. WHY.' I silently questioned as I stared into those concerned eyes.
It was moments like these that I had always remembered the most. These tender rare moments when I could just stare into his eyes and not be worried to get slapped. It felt so nice.
"Ryou, what happened, who did this and this wound here," he pointed to my wounded arm I had gotten from some random bully. I looked up at him once more.
"Tell me," Bakura asked soothingly.
My eyes widened. Never Ever had Bakura used that voice with me, not once. It sounded foreign coming from Bakura's lips. My lips quivered as I thought of what to say. I couldn't tell so...I'll do the next best thing. Maybe not the smartest thing in the world but damn it what else am I to do.
I tilted my head a little, letting my bangs cover my eyes before I began speaking.
"Bakura sir, I do not believe such information about my past is any of your concern nor anyone else's. What happened to me back then was the past, and the past can not be changed. These scars and wounds you see here are scars of my own stupidity. Forever reminding me why I should and could never possibly be happy." I said, my voice devoid of all emotion just like Bakura had taught me.
Bakura just stared at me for a moment before removing himself away from me. His eyes had now turned their cold menacing color.
"Of course, I understand what you are saying, it is of no business of mine, now lets get back to training, you have had a long enough break," Bakura said. I looked up at him, his back was once again turned towards me.
I wanted to cry. 'I am so stupid. I had a chance of a lifetime right in front of my face but I just gave it up like an idiot because I didn't want to tell the truth, but then again was that so wrong, was it so wrong to want to be a little secretive?'
Slowly I walked up behind Bakura. We were now on the racing track where I knew we would do quite a few laps of running. We stopped walking at the starting line that had been engrave on the track of sand. I looked up at Bakura, waiting for him to talk.
"We are going to run about 35 laps today, I will be running with you, try and keep up will you, I don't need a wuss in this team of bandits, if you can't fulfill what I am asking of you then I will personally kick you out of this place and make sure you never return.
My eyes widened and I blanched. '35 LAPS, IS HE TRYING TO KILL ME' I thought to myself with despair. I then looked around myself. Sand. That's all there was out there. I gulped and hardened my eyes.
I couldn't back down. I have to take care of Yugi. I have to keep a roof over our heads until I can figure out a way to get us back home. I just can't loose. I have to do this thirty five laps or else, Yugi and I could starve out there in the desert.
I looked into Bakura's eyes with a determined look. "Alright Bakura, I will run 35 laps and I WILL keep up with you, I can't leave this place, I have to stay, and I won't let someone like you chase me away with my tail between my legs.
'No I will not let the same mistake happen twice. I will succeed in this, I have to or else Yugi and I could starve out here in this foreign unknown land. I won't allow that to happen. I also won't allow Bakura to go on thinking I am weak. I am strong and I can prove it, right here and now' I thought determinedly.
Bakura smirked. "Try and keep up then," Bakura said. I nodded. We got read to run, 1, 2, 3...GO. I thought and then we both took of running.
At first it started out with a simple jogging pace. I understood what bakura was trying to do. He use to do it to me a lot when training me back in my own era. He would start off with a slow pace so it would make me think I got an advantage and I would go running off ahead, but then after a few miles I would get too tired from the energy used while Bakura was still running with out breaking a sweat.
Bakura seemed impressed that I saw past his trick. I sent him one of his famous smirks. His eyes widened even more before a playful grin made its way on his face. I blinked and then grinned back. We then began racing faster.
It was about another hour later and we were on our 26th lap. Both of us were panting like no tomorrow but we still kept up well with each others pace. I still kept running, but now it seemed for a different reason then protecting Yugi's life and my own.
Now it was from the pure joy of a challenge with Bakura. Never before had I had so much fun during his training. It was as if my spirit has for just a little while had been freed. I snuck a glance at Bakura who was now panting like a dog.
I could see the grin on his face and somehow deep down I knew he felt the same way I did. I smiled happily.
After what felt like hours we were both on our last lap, our legs were barely keeping us up as we ran somewhat sloppily towards the finish line. We were almost there. I was almost there.
The finish line was only half of the track away, I had to get there before Bakura did or else I might loose. I panted hard but then with all my might I ran off past Bakura towards the finish line.
I heard Bakura increase his feet power but I increased mine. 'Almost there' I thought as I saw the finish line coming into view. I closed my eyes against the harsh winds as I ran with all the power left in me.
After about five minutes of more running I was sure went way passed the finish line, slowly I opened my eyes and looked behind me, 'Yup I passed it alright' I thought happily before letting my legs give out from under me.
Something was wrong though. Instead of falling into dirty, hard ground, I fell into a nice, strong arms that soon wrapped themselves around my waist. I wearily looked up to see Bakura's smirking face.
"Good job kid, you did great," Bakura complimented me. I smiled tiredly.
"Heh heh I told you I could," I said before I finally fell into unconciousness, the last thing I saw was Bakura's beautiful brownish black eyes and the greatest treasure I could ever be gifted with. Bakura's smile.
So what did you guys think. Was it good or bad. Come on and review. Don't keep me in suspense damn it. Hope you enjoyed this chapter. bai bai