(A/N) I am so soooo sorry about my random erratic updates! I really don't mean to take so long! So, sorry! .
Let's get this straight, I do not, never will, and never have, owned anything that is not mine. If you recognize it from somewhere else, it belongs to someone else. KK? K.
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Chapter Four
Mousse
Ryou wagged his tail cheerfully as he led Ryoga along the deck of the ship. He glanced up occasionally, checking the room numbers so Ryoga wouldn't go to the wrong one.
Finally, he reached the door. He whined and scratched at it a bit with his doggy claws.
"Inu?" Ryoga asked, "Is this the right door?"
"Ip!" Ryou agreed, mildly annoyed at Happosai's name for him. Inu, indeed!
/I think it suits you, Yadonushi-sama/ Bakura murmered.
/You would/ Ryou retorted with a mental growl.
/Good doggy/ Bakura chortled.
/Yami-sama! You like me as a dog more than a human, don't you…/ the put upon hikari whined.
/It does give me a sense of mastery…/ the King of thieves conceded. /And it is pretty funny…/
/Oh, yes, very funny. Ha-ha and all that/
"Wrerf?" Ryou glanced up, only to find that Ryoga had wandered off again.
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When Mousse heard the scratch at the door, he hurried to find his glasses, crashing around the room in the process.
"Where are they…?" he muttered, peering nearsightedly about the room, even though his thickly layered glasses were around his neck on the chain his darling Shampoo had given him before he left Japan to train with Ryoga. However, all of this had temporarily escaped the Chinese man's mind.
Mousse was wearing his normal robe with sleeves that extended well past his hands and concealed assorted weapons. For Mousse was…the master of hidden weapons! He never fought without them…
"Arf! A canine complaint interrupted his meditations.
"Where could they be?" he exclaimed, striking his chest and thereby locating the item in question. "Oh," Mousse muttered as the world slid into focus around him.
The nearsighted Chinese warrior opened the door and looked down, only to find that the dog had already gone in. He sighed, and turned around.
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"Arf!" Ryou complained to the world in general. Did that directionally challenged man have to wander off at every opportunity?
Then he heard the crashes inside.
/Hnn…hikari, it seems that we aren't the only ones sharing a room with someone./
/Why didn't his roommate go and look for him, then/
/Maybe they're in the same boat/
/Scary thought./
Oh that note, the door opened and a Chinese man with shoulder-length black hair and his eyes hidden behind thick glasses.
Ryou trotted into the suite before he was spotted. It was nice, there were souvenirs from all over the world. He could also smell a hot bath. Perfect.
"Hey!" cried the man, startling Ryou. "Shoo! Out, out!"
Ryou looked back, a touch annoyed.
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"Hey!" Mousse tried again, waving his hands at the white dog. He glared behind his thick glasses. The dog had just sat down, it was not moving.
"Hhrrrnnn…" it whined, looking up at him with wide, brown eyes.
"Huh? You're…not a normal dog, are you? I have some spare clothes you can wear, and I'll keep your secret if you want."
Without another sound, the dog stood, tail wagging. The Chinese warrior sighed, and led the obvious victim of the Spring of Drowned dog to his bath. The white dog leapt into the hot water, and a slim, muscular man with a shock of white hair and the same pendant the dog had been wearing climbed out.
"Thanks, but you had better mean it about not telling," he smiled. His voice was soft, not the voice of a warrior.
"Heh…and what if I did tell…?" Mousse smirked. If he played his cards right, he could blackmail this fool into doing whatever he asked of him!
"Then Master Happosai would be furious. And I'm afraid I would have no choice but to help him have his revenge on you for neutralizing his secret weapon," Ryou sighed, with an expression suggesting that he would love to help the old man with his revenge.
"I see…" Mousse murmured. 'So…this boy is the old pervert's disciple. Funny…he doesn't seem to be the type.'
"By the way, I'm Ryou," Happosai's disciple commented to Mousse as he pulled on the spare outfit. "Should I wash this and return it tomorrow?"
"Huh? Oh…sure. I'm Mousse," the warrior muttered, distracted.
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/Ryoga's roommate doesn't seem very focused, does he, Yadonushi-sama/
/No, he doesn't…/
"Oh, Ryou?"
"Mm? Yes, Mousse?"
"Have you seen Ryoga?
"I'm afraid he got away from me. I was in my dog form, guiding him back here. When we arrived, he was gone." Ryou frowned. He should find Ryoga and get him back here. It was just cruel to leave him to wander.
"Then we should find him!" Mousse exclaimed. "It's not right to just leave him to wander!"
"Right!"
The two marital artists hurried out onto the deck.
"We should split up," Mousse suggested.
"Good idea," Ryou agreed, and with that, they split up to find Ryoga.
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Ryoga looked around. He seemed to be in the boiler room. That wasn't right…
He remembered following Inu to the room, then he'd wandered off, wondering if maybe there were other people he knew on the ship. Then, when he tried to retrace his steps back to his suite, he'd looked all over, but hadn't found it.
He was about to leave, and then he heard a familiar voice.
"Hey, Ryoga! Are you in down here?" It was Ryou!
"Yeah! I'm lost!" Ryoga called back.
"Well, stay put, I'll come get you," Ryou laughed. There were footsteps, and the white-haired disciple of the ancient pervert came into view, grinning ear-to-ear.
"Gonna take me back to my suite?" Ryoga asked, sheepishly. 'I don't believe I'm asking someone who willingly takes orders from Happosai for help…'
"Sure, but we should find Mousse, first. I asked him to help me look for you."
"Uh…you could always take me to my room, and then go find Mousse, and what happened to Inu, anyway? Hey, wait a sec! How come you're wearing Mousse's clothes?" At first, Ryoga had been afraid of getting lost again, but this was a new development. Ryou was wearing Mousse's clothing, and Inu had vanished…
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/Yami-sama…help/
/Oh, if you insist./
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Ryoga blinked as Ryou's ever-present pendant flashed, and his aura returned to the way it had been back in Happosai's chambers. This wasn't Ryou.
"Good question," the thing in Ryou's body grinned. "How about I answer it after we find Mousse?"
"Alright, but before we go anywhere, how about you tell me what you are. I know you're not Ryou, your aura's all different."
"Hnn…" the thing grinned, displaying its fangs again, "I'd forgotten that you pesky martial artists could sense me. I don't see why you need to know my name, though."
"Well, I'll have to call you something!" Ryoga exclaimed.
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Bakura growled, this martial artist was beginning to annoy him.
"Very well, Ryoga, you may call me Thief King Bakura." 'Heh, maybe he'll get off my case if I tell him to call me "Thief King" Bakura.'
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"Fine, Bakura," Ryoga grumbled. He would find out what this thing was, then he would free Ryou from its grasp! But first…he had to tell Mousse what had to tell Mousse what had happened to Ryou, and then the two of them could work together.
Bakura grinned, looking evil. "Let's get to Mousse, then."
"Alright, we'll find Mousse, get back to my suite, then you answer all of my questions."
"You and that nearsighted fool Mousse will learn what I think you need to know," Bakura hissed.
"Fine," Ryoga growled, feeling that Bakura could easily be the most dangerous thing since Happosai went on that rampage when under the influence of the Chinese hypno-incense.
Bakura grinned, his eyes flashing a bright crimson.
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Mousse whirled around when he heard the footsteps and sensed the powerful, dark aura. There was something very dangerous here, so the Chinese warrior was ready for battle.
"Mousse! There you are!" Ryou called. He had Ryoga with him, and seemed perfectly at ease.
"That aura…" Mousse murmured.
Ryou's face fell, then his hair whipped about in an intangible wind and he chuckled darkly, tipping his head so that his bangs shadowed his eyes.
Ryoga sighed and stepped forward. "Mousse," he began, "allow me to introduce you to Bakura."
"You mean…that's not Ryou…?" Mousse murmured, stunned.
"No, I'm not…" Bakura hissed, just loud enough for the two martial artists to hear. He looked up, grinning, displaying feral red eyes and sharp white fangs. "Heh, heh, heh…" he chuckled darkly.
"You want a fight?" Mousse asked, preparing for battle.
"Wait!" cried Ryoga, "he's promised to answer our questions once we get back to the suite!"
"Then what are we waiting for?" Mousse growled. 'I'll find out what it is, and just how to get rid of it. Even if Ryou is Happosai's disciple, he doesn't deserve to be taken over like that.'
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/Was that really necessary, Yami-sama/
/Oh…no. But it was fun! And Yadonushi, you'll be answering their questions./
/Why me/
/Jus remember to only tell them what I OK, and we'll be fine. And swear them to secrecy. Feel free to use the "gym sock" threat./
/Right, we can't let anyone else find out about you. I shudder to think of what Master Happosai would do./
Bakura smiled secretly to himself as he led the way back, the tip of Ryoga's umbrella pressed into his back.
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(A/N) Wow, so sorry that took so long. I really didn't mean to make you wait like that. From now on, I'm going to try to update something once a week. No guarantees, but I will make the effort!
Thank you to all of you who reviewed, and I may not have as much time to actually write these things, thanks to the necessary evils of my Spanish and Biology classes.
Please R&R, you can never have too many reviews. Suggestions will probably be used sometime eventually in a later class.