"Man, he's late again!" Jounouchi exclaimed, tapping his pencil on his desk repeatedly in mild agitation.
"Maybe he's finally taking full advantage of that doctor's note like you told him too," Honda pointed out
"After all, unlike SOME people, Bakura-kun actually likes to get his homework done," Anzu half glared. "And with you dragging him around town every night--"
"Hey!" Jounouchi glared, getting up to square off against the girl. "You dragged him around doing your girly shit before any of us even knew what was going on!" he accused, arms crossed. "Don't you try to stop me from winning him back!"
Yuugi blinked. "Winning...?" he repeated. "Jounouchi-kun, Bakura-kun isn't--"
"Sorry I'm late..."
The argument stopped as the boy entered the classroom, looking half asleep and somewhat disheveled. Yuugi's eyes widened, noticing Bakura's uniform state, and the very obvious signs of what lay underneath. He hadn't even...!
Both he and Anzu got up at the same time. "Bakura-kun, your chest---"
The boy looked down and winced, closing up his uniform unhappily. "I forgot to wrap it this morning..." he half mumbled, rubbing his eyes. "I slept through my alarm..."
Yuugi bit his lip in concern. Bakura had been seeming more and more tired and depressed as the week had gone on and it was very obvious to everyone in the group besides one, what was the cause.
Jounouchi gave a loud laugh. "You should have taken your time to get here, Bakura!" he grinned, putting his arm around the boy, who looked almost uncomfortable at the action. "Tonight's going to be awesome, you know that truck show that's been all over the papers this month? I managed to snab a pair of tickets for tonight's show!"
"Hey!" Honda exclaimed, getting up. "You said if you got those, WE'D be going!"
"Hey, this is a good cause, ya know?" Jounouchi defended, looking up again. "You can get your own ticket!"
"That's not the point!" Honda shot back, tone almost angry as Bakura buried his face in his hands miserably, looking as if he wanted to sink into the floor.
Yuugi gingerly walked around the argument to gently pull Bakura away. "C'mon, let's get you to the nurse," he said softly. "She should have bandages, right?"
Bakura nodded, giving a deep sigh of relief as they left the class room. "Maybe she'll let me just go home..."
"Bakura-kun..."
"I know he means well, but I---" Bakura hesitated before looking down, hugging an arm to his chest. "I can't take much more of this, Yuugi-kun... He dragged me out to his favorite burger place last night..."
Yuugi's eyes widened. "You-- you mean the one where-- with the outfits like--!"
Bakura nodded. "And every time I try and tell him I don't like that sort of thing, he keeps saying I haven't given them a fair chance!" he continued, voice upset. "And my chest hurts from being bound all the time... I know I should keep it wrapped for school, but I---" he looked down again.
"You didn't forget, did you?" Yuugi asked softly.
Bakura was quiet a moment. "The bindings are in my bag," he said softly. "I figured I'd put them on after homeroom." The pair paused outside the nurses office. "Would you walk me home?" the paler boy asked, looking up.
Yuugi nodded, giving a smile. "Of course. You're far more important then math any day!" he laughed.
The paler boy covered a small laugh, seeming much more relaxed. "Thank you."
Yuugi nodded again, watching his friend go into the nurses office before heading back to class to get his things.
Bakura gave a relieved exhale as she flopped down on the couch. "I never thought just a change of clothing could feel so stress relieving," she laughed.
Yuugi laughed as well. "You just went from Bakura-kun to Ryou-chan, it's a bit more then just clothing," he pointed out.
"True," Bakura acknowledged, adjusting her skirt slightly. "Jounouchi-kun keeps acting like 'Ryou-chan' is worse then the Ring was," she said, shaking her head. "Like how I'm going to stop being Bakura when I'm being called Ryou."
Yuugi rubbed the back of his neck, feeling a bit embarrassed. "Sometimes-- sometimes I wonder about that," he admitted.
"Eh?" Bakura blinked. "Yuugi-kun thinks that too...?" she asked, sitting up in concern.
"Sometimes," Yuugi admitted, fidgeting a little. "You are different when you're being Ryou-chan. Not a bad different, or even that much different, but..." He gave a small laugh. "Ryou-chan likes shopping with Anzu, which is something I never thought Bakura-kun would like," he smiled. "It's just something to get used to still. And everything's been so crazy... we haven't even had game night! How can Ryou-chan be Bakura-kun if Ryou-chan doesn't rival me in checkers?" he laughed.
Bakura laughed as well. "So that's it, eh?" she grinned, getting up. "Would being defeated by this girl make you feel any better?" she offered with an impish smile.
Yuugi gave a cheer, nearly jumping to his feet. "If that's a challenge, you're on!"
"Aaaa, not again!" Bakura exclaimed with a laugh as he watched Yuugi clean up the game board.
"Two and two, Ryou-chan," Yuugi smiled. "One more game or shall we call it a tie?"
"Save my pride and call it a tie!" the girl laughed. "Besides, even if I do win, if we tell anyone, we'll be in trouble," she smiled. "Skipping school to play games..." she shook her head. "I'd never have been able to do that before. Maybe I am different now."
"Jounouchi-kun's been a bad influence on you," Yuugi teased.
"He's been trying to be, anyway," Bakura agreed, getting up to put away the game board. "This past week I've gotten a far worse picture of Jounouchi-kun's hobbies then I ever wanted to see. If that's what he thinks it means to be a boy..." she shook her head. "Part of me wants to dress up like Mai-san and tell him that he's convinced me that that was how a girl should be," he laughed.
Yuugi's face went red at the mental image. "Bakura-kun could never dress like that!" he exclaimed.
The girl turned, giving a small smile. "I'd be sure to win at checkers then, wouldn't I?" she grinned with a wink.
"Evil, Bakura-kun!" Yuugi laughed, getting up. "Maybe you have been spending too much time with Anzu after all!"
"Maybe," Bakura shrugged. "Maybe I should spend all my spare time with you next week then," she smiled. "So Jounouchi can't say I'm giving Anzu an 'unfair advantage'."
"Advantage...?" Yuugi blinked. "You don't mean...!" His eyes went wide in realization. "Aaa! No wonder! It's a contest, isn't it!"
Bakura sighed. "He seems to think so..." she said softly, shaking her head. "He thinks Anzu-chan convinced me to let this happen, when it really isn't that way at all." She fidgeted with the edge of her shirt slightly. "But he doesn't want to hear that. He's convinced that if I become Ryou-chan, that I'll stop being Bakura-kun, and that Anzu will have stolen a friend from him or something." She sighed. "And he thinks I'm trying to seduce Honda-kun..."
"Eeeeh!" Yuugi exclaimed. "Because-- because of Honda-kun's crush...!"
Bakura nodded. "The first few times Jounouchi dragged me out, Honda-kun came with us, which-- which was kind of nice," she blushed softly. "With Honda-kun there, it was... it was almost like a date. Jounouchi-kun ran around showing things off while Honda-kun stayed by my side. He was showing me how to play pool and Jounouchi-kun had a fit because Honda-kun had his arms around me adjusting how I was holding the cue."
Yuugi fidgeted a little. "But Jounouchi-kun knew that you liked boys... You told all of us, right?"
Bakura nodded. "I guess it's just different when it's a boy specific instead of boys in general," she said softly. "And I couldn't help but think that if I had been a girl all along, he never would have cared..."
Yuugi gave a small, unhappy nod. "Jounouchi-kun... isn't very good like that," he admitted.
Bakura was quiet again. "I picked out a new school, for next term," she finally said.
"Eh?" Yuugi's eyes widened. "You're-- you're moving again?" he exclaimed.
The girl shook her head. "Not moving, just changing schools," she smiled. "I don't want to spend half my day as a boy and half as a girl longer then I have to. The doctors said the majority of the physical changes will have already happened by then, so I can just start being this full time," she said, putting a hand to her chest. "Maybe then Jounouchi-kun will realize I'm just one person who was just trapped between identities, not two people battling for control."
"Bakura-kun..."
The girl gave a soft smile. "You should get back to school, it's almost lunch time," she said quietly.
Yuugi hesitated a moment. "You'll be fine alone...?" he asked.
Bakura nodded. "I need to catch up on the homework still," she smiled. "I need to keep my grades up for my new school to still want to accept me."
"Ah! You're going to THAT school!" Yuugi exclaimed, eyes widening in realization. "You have the grades for that one!"
Bakura laughed. "I will if I can keep them together this term," she smiled. "Because of the medical circumstances I'm allowed to get a slightly lower score then without, so there shouldn't be any problems."
Yuugi shook his head slightly. "You're amazing, Bakura-kun," he smiled. "You'll still help me study for tests, right?"
"Of course!" the girl smiled. "You'll just have to take better notes so I'll have something to go by."
"Always a catch to it," Yuugi sighed, shaking his head in mock exasperation as Bakura laughed. "And don't worry about Jounouchi-kun. I'll try and explain things to him."
"Thank you," Bakura smiled.
-
Author's note: Sorry for the delay in updates. Kinda falling out of the fandom so I really don't know when this will be updated next. Sorry, all.