Title: Millennium Vessels

Summary- The fate of the Millennium Items has been tampered with and it is up to Ryou and Yugi to straighten it out while fighting each other's yamis the whole time.

Rating: M

Warnings: M/M, Yaoi, Shonen ai, Anal, Oral.

Pairings: Bakura/Yugi, Seth/Atemu, Seth/Bakura/Atemu, Ryou/Yugi

Feedback: Please!

Disclaimer: Yu-Gi-Oh is owned by Kazuki Takahashi. I do not make any money off these stories and only write for my enjoyment and the enjoyment of others.

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Millennium Vessels

Chapter Seven: Reunions

Yugi shuffled his deck as he watched unobtrusively a few of his classmates cluster in a group by the windows. He recognized two of them, Jonouchi and Honda, and could just hear them talking about some wild party that had happened a few nights ago. From what he could gather, the party was the reason the two of them had missed school yesterday and only now were they able to give their friends all the gory details about said party and the aftereffects.

Pulling his attention back to the cards in his hands, Yugi tuned out the conversation. It was reminding him why he had missed school and how miserable he had been for most of the day. He still expected to experience that odd brain shifting around in his head feeling that had plagued him all day yesterday any time he moved and the eye piercing pain that went with it. He was relieved though that his mouth no longer felt like it was stuffed with old gym socks.

He still wondered what it was that made him that sick.

He glanced up at the clock at the front of the room to check how much time he had before lunch was over. He felt a little out of step with things and could not figure out why Bakura had actually bothered bringing him to school today. Yes, he had felt better when he woke up this morning but not that great, so he had been more than surprised when he suddenly found himself sitting at his desk before his first class started. And early at that.

Thoughtful of Bakura to get him to school even if he still felt under the weather. Yugi had to admit, it wasn't as if he could afford to miss a day the way his grades were this year.

Stifling a yawn, Yugi was startled when a voice questioned softly, "Do you play Duel Monsters?"

Turning, Yugi found his new classmate, Ryou Bakura, looking at him hopefully. He could feel the spirit of the Ring stirring at the sound of Ryou's voice but instead of taking over, he seemed to settle just at the edge of Yugi's awareness.

"Um, yes I do." Yugi answered uncertainly.

"Would it be okay if I play against you?" Ryou said as he smiled brightly. "Sorry if I'm disturbing you but I haven't had a chance to play with anyone since I moved here. I'm Ryou by the way."

Yugi waited a moment to see if there was any response from Bakura then said, when the spirit remained where he was, "I guess so. I'm Yugi."

"Hi!' Ryou responded as he grabbed a chair and pulled it up to the desk so he could sit opposite Yugi. Settling into the chair, Ryou bent over sideways to dig into his book bag that was leaning against the side of the desk.

Yugi had to restrain himself from reaching out to tough Ryou's thick, wavy white hair; hair that was just like the spirit of the Ring's. He wondered briefly what hair like that would feel like in real life.

Finally straightening, Ryou produced his deck and a field mat, spreading it out over the table. He set his deck in the center and asked, "Do you want to play by tournament rules or just play?"

"Tournament is fine." Yugi answered as he placed his own deck next to Ryou. Picking up his opponent's deck to shuffle it he asked curiously, "Have you played in any tournaments?"

He was surprised when Ryou blushed and ducked his head in what looked like embarrassment, the hair just barely covering a slight blush on his cheeks. "A few when I lived in Egypt, and I won at Pegasus's Duelist Kingdom competition." Ryou said slowly.

"You won Duelist Kingdom?" Yugi said in surprise.

Ryou nodded.

Yugi felt a happy smile cross his face as he said, "That's cool! I've always wanted to know how I would do against someone at that level." Handing the deck back and retrieving his own he added, a little self-consciously, "Hopefully I can give you a little bit of a challenge."

A shy grin crossed Ryou's face. "I'm just happy to find someone to play against. Let's duel!"

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Yugi was giving Ryou more than just a little bit of a challenge. His occult deck was wreaking havoc and Ryou found himself immediately on the defensive.

Yugi was proving to be as good as Atemu.

He was also proving to be nothing like Ryou had expected. He knew Atemu was going to be angry with him for getting close after what happened the first day of class but Ryou had been watching Yugi closely all week. He found that the tomb robber left Yugi in charge during school, though he suspected the spirit of the Ring would take over if Yugi were threatened; the presence of the Puzzle was probably what set him off the first day. He knew Atemu would react in a similar fashion to the sudden appearance of a Millennium Item.

However, Ryou noticed the only person who interacted with Yugi during school was Anzu, and she was slightly defensive whenever she approached him, only relaxing when she was sure it was Yugi. Ryou never saw anyone else go near Yugi; instead, everyone purposely avoided him, or in the case of Jonouchi and Honda, hovered nearby waiting for the switch at the end of the day. And Yugi seemed quite aware of their actions. Ryou often caught sight of a lonely, lost look crossing Yugi's face; a look Ryou remembered seeing on his own face after his father and Amane died in a car accident, a look that had not disappeared until Atemu entered his life.

And it was a look he couldn't help but respond to. He found himself wanting to help Yugi in the same way Atemu had helped him.

Putting his monsters into defense mode and ending his turn, Ryou sat back and contemplated his next move as Yugi drew. He felt Atemu shift out and braced himself when the spirit asked, "Ryou, what are you doing?"

Ryou resisted the impulse to shake his head when he answered, "Its okay. It's just a friendly duel."

"You shouldn't be doing this, Ryou." the spirit stated.

"It's just a game, Atemu. I'm all right."

"I don't like it. I don't trust the tomb robber."

"He's not the tomb robber." Ryou pointed out.

Ignoring Atemu for a moment, Ryou turned his attention back to the game just as a delighted smile lit Yugi's face and he said, "I sacrifice the Headless Knight and Jowgen to summon the Black Magician!"

"What!" Atemu's shout startled Ryou, but before he could turn toward the spirit he found himself standing next to his body, watching Atemu reach out to snatch the card that had just been laid on the table.

Yugi gave a startled shout that was suddenly cut off as the Ring flashed under his white school shirt. Yugi's expression seemed to grow sharper, the eyes shifting toward a brownish tone as he grabbed the wrist of the hand holding the card.

"How dare you!" Atemu shouted, even as Ryou sensed him drawing power from the Puzzle, the Eye beginning to glow on his forehead. The emotions bursting out of Atemu were a tangled mix of fury, heartache, amazement and confusion and for a moment overwhelmed Ryou; Atemu had never let his feelings loose like this and had never taken over without some kind of warning before.

"Do you think I want him in my deck?" Yugi's voice was now the same as it had been on the first day of school and now Ryou had no doubts this was the tomb robber Malik had talked about. His voice was angry but Ryou realized even through his confusion there was something unusual about his anger.

What was it about this card that had set them both off like this?

Catching movement out of the corner of his eye, Ryou glanced back and saw the group by the window watching the exchange closely. "Atemu!" Ryou said under his breath in warning.

Atemu did not respond, nor did he finch when the tomb robber suddenly pulled him close to snarl, "Don't you think I haven't tried to get rid of that damn card? Do you really think I want to be reminded about what happened, about what he did to me?" Suddenly slumping back in his chair without letting go of Atemu he said in a soft, almost defeated, voice as he stared at the card, "But he always comes back. And he always comes to my vessel's hand no matter what I do to stop him."

The power around Atemu seemed to drop and Ryou could sense a small amount of uncertainty leaking out of the spirit, when a voice snapped, "What the hell are you doing, tomb robber."

Without looking at the figure that now stood beside him, the spirit muttered without any force, "Fuck off, priest."

Ryou sensed Atemu stiffen and his breathing growing short as he looked up at the tall form, asking softly, hopefully, "Seth?"

The spirit of the Ring stared at Atemu a moment in surprise, and then suddenly laughed. "What, you didn't know?" He looked up at the frown on Seto Kaiba's face and said, "You mean to tell me you haven't spoken to your precious Pharaoh yet? Shit, I'm amazed you didn't just throw him on the floor and fuck him blind the first day considering how you two used to go at it."

"Shut the fuck up, Bakura!" Kaiba snapped.

"Hey rich boy- back off!" a voice behind Ryou called out

The group by the window started moving toward them but before they got close, the tomb robber grabbed the card out of Atemu's hand, swept Yugi's cards up off the desk, and snagged the backpack behind his chair. "I can handle him, Jou."

The blond glared at Kaiba as he said, "Aw come on, he's been asking for it, Bakura."

"Like you've got a chance, mutt." Kaiba answered in a cold flat voice. Frowning, Ryou realized Kaiba now looked a little thinner and younger than he had a moment ago. He was beginning to feel a little dazed by all of this. And from the feelings he was getting from Atemu, so was the spirit.

The tomb robber chuckled low in his throat as he grabbed Jonouchi and brought him to a halt. "Leave him. He's doing more damage to himself right now than anything you could do to him." Pushing the blond ahead of him, the spirit said, his voice heavy with sarcasm, "Enjoy yourselves."

A little unsteady from all the confusion coming off Atemu, Ryou looked over at Kaiba who was watching the group leave with a hard glare. He was startled when Kaiba glanced down at Atemu and said with a surprising lack of emotion, "You should get to your next class; it will only play into that idiot's hands if you get sent to the principle's office." Turning without a backward glance, Kaiba strode quickly from the room.

"Atemu?" Ryou asked carefully.

Atemu took a deep, slightly shaky breath before saying firmly, "He's correct, you need to get to class." Standing up, Atemu looked at him and added in a matter of fact voice, "I should not have interfered, forgive me. Just let me know when you get home."

Ryou opened him mouth to tell Atemu he was not at fault when he suddenly found himself back in control of his own body, Atemu's presence quickly fading into the Puzzle. Sighing, Ryou cleaned up his cards and the playing mat and made his way to his next class.

He hoped Malik had a few hours to kill tonight because he really needed someone to talk to later about this.