It's been two years, but I suddenly realized that I never posted my Tendershipping Week fics over here! I posted them on Archive of Our Own, but not here. So we're rectifying that, now.
These fics were all part of a week-long challenge that I participated in on AO3 in 2020, in which we wrote short stories relating to the Ryou/Bakura pairing and inspired by the day's prompt. (There was also an art portion of the challenge, but I didn't participate in that.)
So these fics are two years old, but I still like them and re-read them a lot myself. So, if you're reading this, I hope you also enjoy them! :D
Day 1: July 12
Prompt: "Ring"
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"the Vampire's Ring"
summary: Centuries ago, a living monster was denied a spouse and was laid to rest, and his marriage ring was buried in the sand along with him. Now, Ryou has dreams, both about the ring and the monster it belonged to.
rating: T
warnings: marriage to the dead, teen marriage, visions of the undead, attraction to the dead, mentions of crime, mentions of murder, mentions of self mutilation, a character takes their own life (kind of), just kinda weird in general
tags: Tendershipping Week 2020, Ryou Bakura/Yami Bakura, Ryou Bakura/Thief King Bakura, vampire au, Ryou has weird dreams, Ryou is lowkey necrophiliac, Ryou is obsessed with the dead, Bakura is a vampire, Bakura is a demon, Ryou accidentally accepts a monster's proposal in a dream, Ryou's father exists, nothing about this story is meant to be historically accurate in any way
word count: 5,455
written on: July 3—8, 2020
originally published on: July 12, 2020 (on AO3)
Ryou's eyes roamed around the new wing of the Domino Museum of Egyptian Antiquities. His father had let him know about the recent expansion just that morning – apparently, the Egyptian government had given the museum a few items on special loan, and Father was very excited to study them.
Of course, Ryou was eager as well. Not as excited as Father was, certainly, but it was always interesting to learn something new about bygone eras and cultures.
In the center of the room was a large, stone structure, shaped almost like a box. The structure appeared to be all one piece, like a single, enormous stone slab that had been shaped down into this peculiar object. Hieroglyphs were clustered around the corners and edges of the object's frame, placed there with a sense of urgency that Ryou had never seen in the ancient writing before. The eye of Wdjat was carved into every side of it, gazing back at on-lookers.
Ryou stood frozen, confused by the large shape in the center of the floor, his eyes wide and puzzled. He only looked away when Father entered the room behind him.
"Ah! Ryou!" Father's smile was wide, with that special sort of glee he got whenever he was surrounded by artifacts of the ancient world. "I was hoping you'd stop by if you got the chance."
"I decided to come straight here after school." Turning back to the strange, stone box, Ryou raised his hand and pointed to it. "What's that?"
"Oh, that's the star of the new exhibit!" One of Father's hands settled on Ryou's shoulder, while he gestured grandly with the other. "While it may appear to be an unassuming block of stone, you are looking at what's known as 'the Vampire's Tomb!' It was excavated last year, along with everything else it was buried with."
He brought Ryou over to a graph on the wall, where an image showcased the stone box resting inside a much larger stone box, half-buried in the sand.
"The entire thing is called 'the Vampire's Tomb,'" Father explained. "The outer structure had the same places for openings that you might expect, and gave easy access for the people who found it. Inside, it held many strange artifacts – you'll see them along the other wall – as well as the block you've already seen."
Ryou frowned. "Um... 'Vampire?'"
Father frowned as well, lifting his shoulder in a shrugging motion. "I'm not sure what that means either – the men from Egypt couldn't explain it. I suspect this is just the final resting place of an ancient lord or someone who had some eccentric or barbaric interests, or perhaps a man who drank the blood of his enemies as a display of power."
"Ah," Ryou nodded. "Less Dracula, more Vlad the Impaler."
"That's my assumption, anyway." Father looked at his watch. "Well, I have to finish sorting out the paperwork for all this, but you can look around if you like. I should only be an hour."
Ryou gave his father a smile and a nod, watching as the older man ducked out of the wing, presumably heading to his office downstairs. After he was gone, Ryou began to explore the new exhibit a bit more, intrigued by the idea of an ancient 'vampire.'
The display along the opposite wall showcased several artifacts, sorted by size and type. Many pieces of armor and weapons were clustered together on one end, while pieces of jewelry were near the other. A single canopic jar sat near the middle of the display, labeled 'the Vampire's Heart.'
Ryou admired the weaponry and armor for a minute. Everything about them proclaimed the proud warrior that their owner had been, every piece of metal oozing strength and battle prowess. A sword and sheath set caught his eye – a metal snake with jewel eyes was twisted around them, the body around the sheath and the head attached to the hilt, eyes glinting cruelly in the museum's light. Ryou could easily imagine it held in the hand of a soldier or general, bathed in the blood of their enemies, like a liquid sacrifice to the snake on the sword hilt.
The lone canopic jar was interesting. Usually, when someone was mummified, there were many jars buried with them, containing a multitude of organs that were removed from the body, preserved separately in the best way the ancients knew how. And it seemed as though this particular tomb had been discovered intact, and it struck Ryou as unlikely that any grave robbers who had entered the tomb would carry off jars of organs instead of the armor, jewelry, or weapons. But, for someone to be buried with only their heart preserved...? Very strange indeed.
Robes made of black silk were next, and Ryou couldn't help but imagine wrapping one around his own body. The thin, black robes mixed with the concept of a 'vampire' brought vivid images to his mind, images of a person standing beneath the moon with the night wind whipping their robes around their body. An image that intrigued Ryou, and brought a small smile to his lips.
Finally, Ryou reached the jewelry. Many necklaces and bracelets, rings and arm cuffs, anklets and earrings, dripping with gold and gemstones. If the weapons spoke of might and power, the jewelry spoke of wealth and extravagance.
While there were many rings in the display, there was one in particular that was ever so slightly separated from the others. It was made of gold, like the others around it, and had peculiar decorations – five asymmetric points on one side of the ring, with small spikes dangling from them; a triangle with an eye in the middle was molded into the other side of the ring. If Ryou looked closely, he could see a word molded into the inside of the ring, but he couldn't be sure what it said.
A small plaque next to the ring labeled it simply 'the Vampire's Ring,' and said that the word inside best translated to 'beloved.' There was no explanation for the ring's appearance, or why the word 'beloved' would be attached to it. It was as though the men who had studied it were simply unable to glean any information from it.
But... Something about the Vampire's Ring called to Ryou. He didn't know what it was, or why he felt the way he did, but he felt like he had to have that ring. As though the ancient piece of jewelry were made especially for him.
Or, perhaps... like he was made for it.
Shaking those thoughts from his head, Ryou moved on. He turned to focus on the ancient game board that had been found in the tomb, and the carefully preserved pet bats, and the other assorted oddities.
But, even when Father returned and the pair headed home for the evening, Ryou found that he couldn't quite shake the feeling of ownership that had come over him, or the image of the strange ring.
… Or the image he had concocted of the 'vampire,' a renowned warrior who moved like a shadow in the night, with eyes that glinted just as cruelly as the jewel eyes of the snake on his sword's hilt, both sword and wielder alike drinking their enemy's blood under the cover of darkness, seen only by the eye of the moon.
Ryou wondered if it was normal to have a crush on a person long dead, or if that was the sort of thing that only happened to him.
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Ryou had been fascinated by the dead for most of his life. It came with being raised by an archaeologist and a historian – Father had always talked with Ryou about the ancient world, answering questions and further fueling the boy's curiosity.
And then, there was the incident. When Mother and Amane had died. Ryou had found himself slightly lost, with his mother gone and his family cut in half, and he had begun exploring the world of contacting the dead. His attempts had been unsuccessful, but it had helped him grieve, and it gave him a handhold to move on with his life, albeit with a few arguably dangerous new interests and morbid hobbies.
Ryou wasn't sure if he believed in spirits, or in life after death, or anything along those lines, but he found the concept helpful. It was nice to imagine Mother or Amane nearby, watching over him in death as they had in life. He thought he could sense their presence sometimes, but he could never be wholly sure.
But, when Ryou began having dreams about the person resting inside 'the Vampire's Tomb,' that was something even he hadn't been expecting.
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It was a simple dream that came to him the night after Ryou had first been to see the new exhibit. It was one of those dreams you have where you know you're dreaming, but you can't do anything about it, so you just go along with it and see where it takes you.
In that first dream, Ryou saw himself, standing at the exhibit for 'the Vampire's Tomb,' standing in front of the jewelry display. The display glass shattered, and Ryou belated realized that he had punched it, breaking the glass with his own hand. Hand covered in cuts and shards, he took 'the Vampire's Ring' and slipped it over his finger. It fit perfectly, the gold gleaming warmly as his blood flowed over it.
Someone was standing behind him. Ryou didn't know who, but he found that he didn't care. He felt perfectly safe in the stranger's presence.
It was a strange man, Ryou realized. His hands threaded through Ryou's hair with gentle and loving attention, while his voice whispered in Ryou's ear. Ryou shivered at the warm breath that brushed his cheek, and the soft lips and sharp teeth that ghosted along the outer shell of his ear, but he couldn't understand a single word that was said to him.
Ryou felt sluggish in the man's presence, as though he could fall asleep at any moment. When he tried to turn around, to get even a glimpse of the person behind him, the stranger's hands would stiffen, holding his head forward, preventing him from turning. Wisps of white hair and black silk robes and golden rings skirted around the edge of Ryou's vision, but he couldn't see the man who stood with him.
He fell asleep in the stranger's grip in his dream, and promptly woke up in his bed back home. While he knew it to be a dream, something about it made his stomach flip, and he couldn't help but think about how real everything had felt.
He climbed out of bed and walked into the bathroom, turning on the water to scrub at his face, hoping to give himself something to ground himself with.
He stared at his hands, and forgot about the running water.
His hand was covered with cuts, just as it had been in the dream.
And a familiar band of gold with dangling spikes and a molded eye was wrapped around his ring finger.
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Ryou had never stolen anything before. And certainly not a rare, ancient artifact from a museum.
He supposed there had to be a first time for everything, but he wasn't expecting for such a thing to happen during the night while he slept.
Not knowing what else to do, Ryou hid the ring under his bed mattress, right between where he hid his Ouija board and his adult magazines. He didn't have any better ideas for what to do with it.
His hand was a little harder to hide. Perhaps luckily, he hadn't gotten around to doing the dishes the previous night, being too bogged down with his homework, and there was a pile of plates, bowls, and glasses waiting for him in the kitchen that morning. It gave him an excuse to wear his yellow cleaning gloves and submerge his hands under layers of water and soap, hiding the telltale cuts that marred his skin.
Father came into the kitchen while Ryou was doing the dishes. He'd just gotten off the phone, and had an upset look on his face.
"Someone broke into the new exhibit and stole a piece of jewelry," he announced. His voice was angry, but he also sounded almost puzzled.
"Did the security cameras catch them?" Ryou asked, trying hard to keep his voice steady. If even the back of his head appeared on the security footage, he was sunk – not that many young men had long locks of pure white hair.
"That's one of the stranger things about it," Father answered. "The camera pointing at the display malfunctioned – it doesn't have any footage from last night on it! And none of the other cameras picked up anything amiss."
Ryou furrowed his brow, but tried not to let out a sigh of relief. He had no idea what had happened last night, but he was glad he hadn't been caught... whatever he had been doing.
"It's also strange that the thief only took the one item," Father mused. He stroked his beard thoughtfully. "Out of everything in the museum, that one golden ring doesn't necessarily stand out as being worth more than anything else."
With the word 'beloved' etched into it, Ryou couldn't help but think that the ring meant a great deal to the person it was meant for.
He remembered the way the man in his dream spoke to him, and he felt himself freeze in place, a warm, blushing heat spreading over his face.
It wasn't until Father came to stand next to him and placed a hand on his forehead that he remembered how to move.
"Are you feeling alright, Ry?" Father asked. "You don't look well."
"I'm fine! I just – I didn't sleep well last night!"
Father frowned, but seemed to accept that answer. "If you aren't feeling well, you can always take the day off from school."
Thinking about the hand that he was hiding, Ryou nodded absentmindedly. "Maybe I will."
Soon, Father had left for work at the museum, leaving Ryou alone to stare at his hand and the Vampire's Ring and try to piece together what had happened.
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About halfway through the morning, Ryou found himself dialing a number on the phone. It had been months since he'd spoken to Marik, but he figured his faraway friend might be his best shot at understanding this mysterious 'Vampire's Tomb' and the oddities surrounding it.
Marik's family worked for the Egyptian government, working to study, catalog, and protect the nation's ancient past. They were present at many of Father's digs, including the ones Ryou had been allowed to go on; since Ryou and Marik were the same age, they'd become fast friends the first time they'd met, and still kept casual contact with one another.
"I have a question, Marik," Ryou began after the polite greetings were out of the way. The Vampire's Ring was back on his finger – it felt right there – and he was looking at it idly. "What do you know about 'the Vampire's Tomb?'"
Marik fell silent for a moment, just long enough for Ryou to wonder if he'd lost the signal. Finally, his friend's voice spoke once more. "There's not much to tell, unfortunately. All the information we really have to go on is hearsay and stories that have been passed down for generations or compiled for children's books. And the story is so ridiculous, no one really believes it, and no one's quite sure how to interpret it into facts."
Ryou nodded to himself. This kind of thing happened a lot when digging up relics from the bygone past. "Can you tell me about the stories, though?"
"I can tell you the main story, sure!" Marik fell silent for a moment, as though trying to decide where to start, then cleared his throat and began.
"The Vampire was a man who lived alone. He was called 'the Vampire' because of the barbaric customs that he kept..." Marik's voice took on an interesting note, like someone retelling an old fairy tale. If Ryou closed his eyes while listening, he could imagine the kind of man Marik was describing.
"The Vampire wasn't always a monster. Once, he was a simple thief, a highway man who stole anything he could off of wayward travelers. As he grew older and stronger, simply stealing the money of travelers wasn't enough – he began to attack men of wealth in their own homes, stealing their clothes, their wares and valuables, and, eventually, he began killing those who would fight back, or deny him of their riches. He slew those who opposed him with his sword and daggers, drinking their blood and eating their flesh. He always came in the night, like a nocturnal animal, and he wore black cloaks and robes, made from the finest fabrics money could buy. It's said that he often resembled a shadow slipping through the darkness because of the clothing he wore, like a demon more than a man.
"Soon, the Vampire had amassed his own amount of wealth. He erected a large home for himself overnight, seemingly by magic, and filled it with lavish luxuries that rivaled even the homes of the pharaohs of old! His home was filled with gold statues and jeweled cups, and a flock of bats he kept as pets. He put away his sword and dagger, and lost interest in stealing. Instead, he began coming to people's homes during the night hours, seeking to take a spouse – he had grown tired of living his life as a lonely monster.
"But he already had a reputation as a monster, a killer, and a demon. Because of this, no one would agree to marry him, and no one would give their daughters to share his bed. So he lived alone, only venturing out twice a year to seek a lover."
Ryou let out a breath that he hadn't realized he'd been holding. "What happened to him? Did he ever..." He gestured uselessly, forgetting that Marik couldn't see him. "... find someone?"
"No," Marik answered. "He never did. And the people never forgot how cruel and monstrous he had been in the past. So, one day, they decided that he must be sick, for they hadn't seen much of him in years – he didn't seem to age, but it was possible his health had declined. So they decided to storm his home, slay him within it, and seal his body and his ill-gotten possessions under the ground.
"But," Marik continued. "When they entered his home, the Vampire took his own sword, the blade upon which so many others had fallen before, and he turned it upon himself, cutting out his own heart. He placed his still-beating heart into an urn, saying that his enemies could take his body, but only his beloved could ever have his heart.
"With a hole in his chest where his heart had once been, the Vampire was slain. His body was sealed inside of a coffin, inside of a series of boxes, all sealed with prayers and blessings to keep his restless spirit from escaping. The tomb was constructed, and the Vampire, his heart, his pet bats, and many of his treasures were all sealed away, hidden under the sands of Egypt."
Ryou blinked and bit his lips together, trying to hold back the shiver that rose through his spine.
"... 'Beloved?'" he finally repeated. "Like what it says on the ring?"
"Yeah. Supposedly, the Vampire had that ring made special, and was planning to give it to his future spouse." Marik lowered his voice. "The people believed that, because of his words and actions, if someone were ever to claim the ring and become his spouse, the Vampire would return from the dead."
Ryou felt his body grow cold. He thought he might actually faint. "From... the dead?"
"Yup!" Marik laughed. "They say his soul was bound to the ring itself, and would be brought back to life by his god-given lover. No one really believes that anymore, but that's the story."
Ryou closed his eyes. His finger felt warm were the ring was, and he could have sworn he felt those fingers ghosting through his hair again.
"... I've gotta go," he muttered dumbly. "Thanks for talking to me, Marik."
"Mm-hm. Talk to you later, then."
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Another dream came to Ryou that night. Once more, he was in the new exhibit wing at the museum. Looking around, he could see where the doors were closed to the public, and precautionary tape ran around the display with the broken glass.
He looked down at his hand. The Vampire's Ring was around his finger again, even though he had hidden it back away. But now, it was moving, the five little tines swaying through the air. It was almost as though the ring were pointing at something, while the decorative eye simply looked up at him.
Ryou wished he were able to talk to the dead – as odd a skill as it was, it would have made his current predicament so much easier!
Something like a shadow moved out of the corner of his eye, and Ryou instinctively knew what it was. Or, more accurately, who it was.
"I asked a friend about you," he said out loud. He didn't know if the shadow would understand him, but, because this was a dream, he hoped his meaning would come across in some sort of dream logic manner. "He told me a lot. And he told me what this ring actually means to you."
The shadow shifted closer. Ryou could feel warm breath against the back of his head, and ghostly fingers wrapping around his shoulders in a loose grip.
Ryou held up his hand, turning it this way and that, looking at the ring from all angles. The tines were still moving through the air, and now Ryou could tell that they were pointing at the canopic jar containing the Vampire's heart.
'Only the Vampire's beloved could have his heart.'
He shook his head. "That's not a step I'm ready for. In fact, I didn't know what this step-" he pointed to the ring. "-meant until someone else told me! I liked the ring, and I was curious about it, but I didn't know that putting it on in a dream would mean I was agreeing to marry a dead guy!"
The grip on his shoulders pulled away as though taken by surprise.
Frowning, Ryou removed the ring from his finger, watching as the five tines drooped down, dangling uselessly once more. He set the ring back in its display case.
When he spoke to the shadow again, his voice was apologetic.
"I'm sorry," he said, and he could see the wisps of white hair from the stranger flutter through the air, and the glint of gold rings that caught the dim lights of the closed museum. "I can't be the person you've been waiting for. I can't marry a man who I don't even know."
He saw the stranger reach for him, but he closed his eyes and turned away, forcing himself to wake up.
And when he awoke back at home in his bed, he realized he was crying.
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The ring was gone, no longer in the hiding place where Ryou had shoved it.
It wasn't at the museum the next morning either. It was as though the ring had simply vanished into the night air. The Egyptian government wasn't happy, and Ryou couldn't help but feel responsible for all the trouble Father was getting into, even if he hadn't planned on any of it, and and even though he had done what he could to rectify the situation.
Ryou felt sick. His stomach hurt, and he felt like he might vomit if he thought too long about his dreams.
He had done the right thing, hadn't he?
And if he had, why did it feel so wrong?
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Ryou stayed home that day, too. And the day after that.
It was getting to the point where Father was genuinely worried about him, and threatened to call a doctor. Ryou protested against it, knowing that a doctor wouldn't be able to help his peculiar situation, and continued on with his own self-issued bed rest.
Regardless of how educated or skilled a medical professional may be, Ryou wasn't expecting one to have a miracle cure for "the spirit of a dead killer proposed to me in a dream and I accidentally accepted, and now I'm afraid I hurt his feelings by turning him down."
But, when a few nights had passed without any dreams or magically appearing artifacts (or anything worse), Ryou began to relax. Enough so that he finally returned to school, and began to go about his regular schedule once more. His hand healed up, and he didn't feel the need to hide anymore.
The Vampire's Ring was still missing. There wasn't a trace of it anywhere. Ryou didn't have an explanation for it, and neither did anyone else. The Egyptian government decided to take back the Vampire's Tomb and all of its treasures, wary of any other losses it might suffer.
Ryou watched from a chair in the museum lobby as everything from the exhibit was packed up and moved out of the building. There was a pang in his heart, and he felt sad to see it go, despite the trouble it had caused him.
Truthfully, he felt sad to know that there was a restless spirit attached to the artifacts, one that he had encountered and almost communicated with but had been ultimately unable to help. It made him sad to think of such a shiftless, lonely eternity.
The large stone tomb itself was the last thing to go, the giant slab carefully maneuvered through the loading doors out back. Ryou almost expected to feel a difference when it left, like for the air temperature to change suddenly, or for his heart to feel lighter somehow, but nothing happened. Nothing changed, and Ryou couldn't help but frown a little at the realization.
"You seem upset."
The sudden voice in his ear made Ryou jump in his seat, and he turned to see a young man standing nearby. The man looked to be about his same age and height, with long ash-colored hair and sharp brown eyes. He was wearing a traditional tunic and shenti, along with sandals, bracelets, and glitzy rings that caught the light. He wore many pieces of gold jewelry, and a long black robe over top of everything.
Ryou stared at the stranger in confusion, wondering when exactly the costumed man had managed to slip in without him noticing.
"What's with the outfit?" he asked dumbly.
The man frowned, looking down at his clothes. "Oh, these? I'm part of the exhibit. Or at least I was supposed to be."
Ryou nodded – while not customary, the museum was known to hire actors every once in awhile, staging them at certain exhibits to play roles for a day. "I see. Well... I guess that's not happening then, is it?"
"No, I suppose not." The stranger gave Ryou a scrutinizing look, then smiled, his lips quirking up at the tips and his eyes narrowing. "Has anyone told you yet today how soft your hair looks?"
"Oh!" Ryou felt himself blush, and he looked away shyly. He was used to hedging unwanted compliments from the girls at school, but handsome guys was a whole new experience. "Um, no?"
The stranger took a step closer, leaning down so that his face hovered just over Ryou's head. Shyly, Ryou tilted his head to look up at him, surprised to find the other male looking down at him so flirtatiously.
"You have a very handsome face," the stranger remarked, and Ryou sucked in a breathe, forgetting momentarily how to exhale. "My name's Bakura. Would you do me the honor of having dinner with me later, uh...?"
"... Ryou." He remembered how to breath. "I'm Ryou, and... I'd be delighted."
"'Ryou,'" the stranger repeated, and Ryou felt a shiver run up his spine, pleased with how his name sounded on Bakura's lips. There was that narrow eyed smile again. "I'll meet you on the museum steps at six, then, and we can decide where to go."
Bakura straightened up, his eyes landing on the shipping truck outside, the Vampire's Tomb wrapped securely inside the large vehicle. "Pity about that, though. It would have been fun to play Vampire with people."
He cast Ryou that flirty look again. "Especially with someone as attractive as you around to play the Vampire's would-be spouse."
Ryou rolled his eyes, then cast the other male a flirty look of his own. "Will you be wearing this outfit tonight?"
"Do you like my thighs and chest that much?" The stranger chuckled. An oddly familiar red glint sparked in his eyes, gone as quickly as it had come, leaving Ryou to wonder if it was even there at all.
In fact, so much of the strange man seemed familiar, as though Ryou had met him before... or, perhaps, had dreamed him before.
"I-I'm sorry..." he finally stammered, causing the stranger to look at him curiously. "But... have we met before?"
The stranger named Bakura looked down at Ryou for a moment. His eyes flashed red again and, just for a portion of a second, Ryou could have sworn the other male resembled a black shadow more than a person.
Leaning down, he took Ryou's hand in his own, pressing a small kiss to Ryou's barren ring finger. "You'll just have to meet up with me again later to find out, won't you?"
Ryou felt himself blushing anew, and he smiled. He was going to have fun getting to know this person.
"Oh!" Bakura held up his finger as though remembering something. "And I have something to give to you."
He pulled something out of his pocket and held it out, pressing it tightly into the palm of Ryou's hand, covering it with both hands and gently pushing Ryou's fingers closed around it.
Ryou looked up at him in confusion – he recognized the round shape and sharp tines of the Vampire's Ring. He felt his entire face turn red, and he began to sputter, trying to force words out of his mouth.
Bakura just smiled at him. "It's yours," he said in a way that left no room for arguments. "I wouldn't have wanted you to lose it – it says 'beloved' on the inside, so it must mean a lot to the person it's meant for, right?"
"... Right. And yeah, it does." Ryou smiled, a shiver running down his spine. It wasn't a bad shiver though. Not exactly. "But I can't let anyone see it."
Bakura nodded, but added "Wear it tonight."
He pressed another kiss to Ryou's knuckle, never breaking eye contact with Ryou. "Wear it for me."
Nodding, Ryou agreed. Perhaps he could wear it on a necklace under his shirt...? "I'll still have to hide it, but I'll wear it."
"So long as you wear it." The stranger's eyes flashed red, and his lips pulled back into a smile, revealing large, sharp teeth, too big for a human to grow. "I look forward to it, then. I'm excited to get to know you."
Ryou felt like his heart might jump out of his chest – honestly, the monster kneeling in front of him had no business being so attractive!
"I'm looking forward to it, too," he finally managed. And he wasn't lying when he said it, either.
With one final kiss, this time to Ryou's cheek, Bakura turned away, heading for the door. He vanished into thin air before he reached it.
Ryou blinked in surprise, then began looking around wildly, wondering if anyone else had seen it too, but there was no one nearby. And he still felt the ring in his hand, curled up tightly under his fingers.
Holding the ring in his fist up against his heart, Ryou smiled a secret smile to himself.
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Packed securely away inside the shipping truck, unheard by anyone, the Vampire's Heart began beating again, echoing softly against the urn it rested within.
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End note: Because I know they're a little strange and abstract, I wanted to add a note about Ryou's dream sequences, and I little of what I imagined to be going on with them when I wrote them. The way I described the dream sequences when a friend asked about them was:
They aren't dreams so much as out of body experiences - his soul is just as attached to the ring as Bakura is, and his soul wanders away from his body as he wills it. Ryou isn't aware of this, which is why he has no control over his actions in the first "dream." During the second "dream" he is more aware and more in control, but he probably still doesn't understand what's actually happening.
Bakura, on the other hand, functions completely as a soul who wanders away from his body for lengths of time, bound to the ring, which allows him to interact with Ryou the way he does in the story.
In short, they both have stronger connections to the ring and to each other than they do with their own bodies, and, if the museum cameras could have captured what was happening during the dream sequences, they would have seen what looked like two ghosts standing beside each other.