Identityshipping (Bakura Ryo/Rishid Ishtar)

. . .

Ryo wasn't feeling so good.

His foot gave out on his way down the hallway and he swooned, knocking against the wall. It took everything he had to brace his hands against the wall to hold himself upright. He gasped for air. Why was it so hard to breathe all of a sudden? He felt dizzy, bile rising in his throat, and his stomach twisted. He...he couldn't remember how he had gotten here. Where was he? Was he dreaming? Was this another disassociation attack? His doctor had suggested that might be why he was having memory loss problems lately. Ryo had known it was because of something else, but...but what? His brain wasn't working. His necklace felt so heavy...

A door slid open down the hall. Ryo heard the snap of fabric as though it was far away, distant, down a long dark hallway instead of just a few feet away in a wide, brightly lit hallway. He barely registered the swish of dark robes as the tall man stepped into the hall, the door sliding shut behind. His head turned towards Ryo, and Ryo could see his dark face, shadowed beneath the cowl, and placid brown eyes that narrowed slightly with uncertainty as he found Ryo leaning against the wall gasping for breath. That was...Marik Ishtar, right? The man that Yugi had warned him about, the man with the Millennium Rod who had kidnapped Jonouchi and Anzu and forced Yugi and Jonouchi to duel to the death, a duel that they had both barely escaped from.

Ryo's thoughts stopped as a sudden wave of fatigue washed over him and his knees buckled.

Everything was a blur of white walls and dark fabric as Ryo felt like the floor was about to rush towards him—but he never reached it. For a moment, there was just black, and then he was opening his eyes again.

Hands gripped him under the arms, firm and yet somehow gentle, like the branches of a tree.

"Are you all right?"

His voice seemed far away, but it was deep, gentle, and quiet, like someone who was used to asking that question. Ryo blinked a few times. He could only half see through the sudden fatigue, but he could tell that it was that Marik fellow that was holding him up, supporting him gently.

"I...I don't know," was what he was able to say.

The man let out a tiny breath.

"You need to sit down," he said. "Which way is your room? We have time before the matches are determined."

Ryo waved his hand vaguely in the direction down the hall.

"Somewhere...over there? I don't...remember."

He couldn't even remember walking down this hallway and getting here in the first place. Where were they? His brain was saying that they were on a blimp, that they had gotten on a blimp for the Battle City finals, but that didn't make sense, why would he have gone there? His memory and his thoughts were a jumble.

The man let out another tiny breath, more like an exasperated huff. He shifted Ryo gently in his grip and leaned him against the wall, carefully helping him slide down to the ground.

"Try putting your head between your knees," he said. "It seems like you may have passed out for a minute. I'll get you some water. Don't move."

He rose with a ripple of fabric, and once Ryo did as he was asked, placing his forehead between his knees and trying to steady his breaths, Ryo heard him step quickly off. A door slid open like an echoing distant sound. Ryo tried to breathe. Passed out. He had passed out. He was worse off than he thought...

The man returned then, Ryo could see the hem of his cloak swirling across the floor. He knelt down in front of Ryo and tapped him once on the shoulder. Ryo lifted his head up to see a water bottle being offered to him. He glanced up into the man's face.

Was this really the kind of person that kidnapped Yugi's friends and forced them into death duels? His eyes looked so...placid. Nearly unreadable but for the faint tensity of concern wrinkled around them.

Ryo accepted the bottle gratefully; the cold condensation felt good against his palms and he wanted to press his forehead against it. He took a drink first, though; the top had already been removed so he didn't have to fumble with it.

"Have you eaten today?" the man said. "I find that skipping meals often results in this kind of fatigue."

Ryo shook his head.

"I don't...remember if I have," he said. "I'm afraid I don't remember much of today at all."

The man's lips pressed together, and all of a sudden, he looked just the vaguest bit irritated. He breathed something that Ryo didn't quite catch, but it sounded like an expression of anger. With Ryo? Or with someone else?

"Make sure you drink that," he said. "Will you be all right for a moment? I'll find something for you to eat in the gathering hall."

Ryo looked up at him. There was...something fatherly about the man's actions, he thought. Something...something wasn't quite adding up. His lips parted.

"Aren't you...Marik Ishtar?" was what he said.

The man blinked once. His face twitched.

"Yes," he said.

It was a lie, Ryo thought. That was a lie.

The man rose and walked swiftly down the hall, his cloak rippling around him. It didn't fit him, Ryo thought. Secrecy and darkness...it didn't fit him at all. Ryo's hands tightened around the cool bottle of water. He felt better already, if he was going to be honest. What would have happened if the man who wasn't Marik Ishtar hadn't been here?

Lies don't suit him,Ryo thought. He's...too kind...

. . .

A/N: I love Rishid so much guys. Next is Hydrashipping (Ryouta Kajiki x Dinosaur Ryuzaki). We're all done with the I's!