Okay I've been in a really big writing mood and I'm excited because that's three chapters in the same month. I'll be honest though, I had a lot of trouble writing this chapter. I just couldn't get a feel for this one. Anyways, on to the story!
"Today...Let me introduce another transfer student." Kiba didn't bother looking away from Asami's empty seat. The girl was absent today and though her excuse said she was out with a cold, Kiba knew that wasn't the case.
"I'm Bakura, Ryou. Pleased to meet you." At this Kiba's head snapped up so fast she was a little surprised she didn't hurt herself. Standing at the front of the class, next to the teacher, was indeed Ryou Bakura.
'Of all the days for Asami to be absent...'
"Now where shall we have you sit...ah, the seat next to Joey is open..."
"That's me! Over here!" Joey called out while a lot of the female population in the class told Ryou not to let Joey 'pollute' him.
"Nice to meet you, Joey." Ryou said as he sat down next to the blonde.
"Yo, same here. Let's be friends, huh?" Ryou smiled at that and the teacher grabbed their attention once more.
YGO~~~~~~~~~~YGO
"Bakura, these are my buds." Break had come and now Joey was introducing the white haired boy to the gang.
"Hi, I'm Yugi."
"I'm Kiba."
"This is Tristan, Tea and Miho..."
"Nice to meet you." Kiba glanced over at Asami's seat. The brunette had always had a soft spot for Ryou and knew she would have loved to meet him.
"Wow, Yugi...Your family owns a game store?" Ryou asked when Yugi told him about the Game Shop.
"Do you like games Bakura?"
"Yes, very much!" Ryou sounded pretty happy about it and his excitement made Kiba smile. It sorta reminded her of a younger Asami. "I especially like board games and tabletop games...My favorite is a game called Monster World...Have you heard of it?"
"What kind of game is 'Monster World'?" Kiba tuned out Yugi's explanation. She liked her brother and all but Monster World didn't interest her and it sounded a lot like Dungeons and Dragons.
"I'm impressed Yugi, you know a lot about games." Ryou praised.
"That sounds like fun! How about we all play Monster World tomorrow! Huh, Bakura?" Joey said looking pretty excited.
"Uh...O-okay..." Ryou looked down, not sharing Joey's excitement. Kiba watched him seem to shake the negative emotions off and look back up. "Um...By the way, there's something I've been wondering about..." He said as he looked over at Yugi. "Where did you get that pendant, Yugi...?"
"Oh this? It's called the Millennium Puzzle. It came from the tomb of an Egyptian pharaoh."
"Wow, can I see it?" Yugi nodded and slipped off the puzzle so that Ryou could look at it better. "Actually, I also..." Ryou trailed off as he suddenly clutched at his chest in pain.
"What's wrong Bakura?" Yugi asked as he saw Ryou's look of pain.
"Uh...no...it's nothing..." Ryou held out the puzzle to him. "Here's this back..." Kiba was about to say something but before she could a group of girls came over.
"Hey Joey! Don't hog Bakura all to yourself!" The group of girls then pulled Bakura away and out of the room, talking about how they would show him around. Kiba had to laugh a bit when she saw Miho pout at this. The girl had been pretty quiet compared to how she had been in the episode but she guessed since the popularity contest never happened, Miho was registering her crush on Ryou.
YGO~~~~~~~~~~YGO
"Hey Bakura!" Miho called when she noticed Ryou walking ahead of them, on his way home.
"Hi, you guys."
"I was talking to everybody and they'd love to play Monster World. What do you think? Can we go to your place?" Yugi told the white haired male. "If not, we could go to my house." Ryou stared at him. "You don't want to...?" Ryou was quiet for a moment before speaking up.
"The thing is...At my last school, I used to get together with my friends to play roleplaying games...but when I did, a strange thing would happen...People who played games with me would lose consciousness. They're still in a coma in the hospital...You may not believe me, but it's true..." The others all looked shocked and Kiba frowned grimly, knowing what had happened to them. "That sort of thing kept happening, so people started avoiding me...That's why I kept changing schools...Now I'm living in an apartment by myself, away from my family..." Kiba felt for Ryou, she really did. He hosted an ancient spirit within him like Yugi, but unlike her brother, the spirit within Ryou, wasn't exactly a nice one. "I want to be friends with you. And I want to play games but..." Ryou turned around. "I made a decision...I don't want to lose anymore friends...so you shouldn't get too close to me...Well...I'll see you..." With that Ryou ran off.
"Ah! Bakura!" Yugi called but the teen didn't stop. Kiba sighed and shook her head. She needed to call Asami.
YGO~~~~~~~~~~YGO
Kiba followed the others as they all made their way to Ryou's apartment. The others were talking, Kiba could hear them do so but she was a little preoccupied with her thoughts. When she had called Asami, she had noticed that the girl, while curious about and interested in meeting Ryou, had sounded...off...It sounded like something was bothering her but when Kiba asked, the girl had said to not worry about it, which only made her worry more.
"Lucky for him, Bakura's our friend! We're going to go play games until we prove that those people going into comas was just a coincidence!" Joey exclaimed, startling Kiba out of her thoughts. Kiba realized they had gotten to Ryou's apartment building and Kiba sighed, wondering if she should let the others go through with this visit considering what had happened in the manga. She glanced at the others and took in the determined expressions on their faces. Well, she probably wouldn't be able to stop them now...Kiba stayed quiet as they made their way into the building, stopping by the front desk to ask for Ryou's apartment, and heading up.
"Well, this is it..." Tea said once they got to Ryou's apartment. They gathered around the door and Yugi pressed the doorbell. They didn't have to wait very long before it was answered.
"Yes...?"
"Yo!" Joey said as Ryou caught sight of them.
"Y-Yugi! Guys..." Ryou looked shocked to see them.
"Miho and everyone came over to play with you, Bakura." Miho told him.
"Yeah, Let's all play Monster World together." Tea added. Kiba saw fear and horror flash through Ryou's eyes.
"No! Get out of..." Kiba saw his appearance change slightly and knew at once that Bakura had taken over. "...the hall and come in!" Bakura finished for Ryou. "I'm so glad you could all make it...Right this way..."
"Don't mind if we do."
"Sorry we didn't call ahead..." Kiba watched Bakura lead them in, taking her shoes off at the entrance like everyone else.
"I had this feeling that you might come over." Bakura continued. "You're my friends after all...I've already got the game all set up." He led them to another room and the others were all impressed by the size and look of the board game. Kiba looked up at Bakura, giving a fake smile.
"Um, Bakura, before we start, we invited another friend of ours that wasn't at school the other day. I hope that's okay." Bakura smiled.
"Of course. The more the merrier." Despite his words, Kiba could see that he had been startled by the additional person but she could also see that he didn't really think it mattered in the end.
"While we wait on your friend, why don't I explain the rules?" Bakura suggested. The others nodded, figuring they could let Asami in on the rules once she got there. Kiba listened closely to his and Yugi's explanations. Bakura handed out character sheets and they just finished them, Kiba choosing to be a half elf priest, when the doorbell rang.
"Ah, that must be her. I'll get it, if you don't mind...?" Kiba said.
"I don't." Bakura said, allowing Kiba to answer the door, his focus more on Yugi-well the Millennium Puzzle- at the moment.
YGO~~~~~~~~~~YGO
Asami looked up from the cell phone in her hand when the door was opened.
"Kiba." The brunette greeted, slipping her phone into her pocket.
"Asami, I didn't think you'd make it."
"Sorry, Seto's been keeping me busy." Kiba let Asami in and the girl traded her shoes for slippers.
"Do you think we'll be able to beat him?" Kiba asked quietly.
"We have to have faith in the others and in Ryou." Asami replied, avoiding the yes or no answer Kiba wanted. They really had no way of telling, for sure anyways, that they would win. Kiba frowned and was silent for a moment. Asami watched her open her mouth, about to say something else-probably to ask about what she was doing-before seeming to reconsider and close her mouth before motioning for her to follow as she led her to the others. With Kiba's back towards her, Asami allowed herself a small frown.
'I'm sorry Kiba but I can't tell you yet. I don't want to worry you even more.' She replaced the frown, with a reassuring smile when Kiba glanced back at her.
"Asami!"
"Hey, you made it."
"Hi Asami." The others all greeted when she and Kiba entered the room they were in. At her name, Bakura looked up and seemed to freeze as he caught sight of her.
"Hi guys." Asami greeted back before looking over at Bakura and smiling at him, though she wanted to shiver when she felt the shadow magic of the Millennium Ring around him. It was...darker, than that of the puzzle's. "Hello, I'm Son, Asami, nice to meet you." Bakura seemed to snap out of it but he looked a little confused and...flustered?
"B-Bakura, Ryou. Ni-nice to meet you too."
YGO~~~~~~~~~~YGO
Kiba blinked. Was she seeing this right? She rubbed her palms into her eyes in an attempt to clear them before looking back at Bakura. Yup. That small pink blush was still there on his cheeks. What?
"This is the friend we were waiting on Bakura." Joey explained. Bakura's blush was immediately replaced with a whitening of his face and Kiba once again wondered if she was seeing this right.
"A-Asami, you're playing?" Had she ever seen Bakura like this? His eyes looked like they were silently asking the girl to say no.
"Of course." Asami answered. "I'm happy to play with my friends." Kiba watched as Bakura forced a smile to his face.
"Ah, then you'll need to make a character." The white haired male still looked pale but it was slowly going away, though Kiba noticed his attention had switched from the Puzzle, to Asami and his eyes showed a lot of confusion in them, though she doubted the others really noticed. Yugi and the others filled Asami in on the rules as she created her character, choosing a birdtail martial artist. Once she was done, they all handed in their papers to Bakura who put the information into the computer and made them their own little characters. The game started and Kiba grew tenser and tenser, noticing Asami being the same, as the game went on and there was no soul transferring or Zorc fighting. They waited for it but it never came and the game ended as a regular game, with the adventurers defeating a different monster boss and winning the game. Kiba honestly didn't know how to feel about this strange development. She didn't even know what to think about Bakura, once they finished the game, saying that he wasn't feeling well and should probably rest and basically, politely kicking them out without even an attempt at taking the Millennium Puzzle from Yugi.
"How about we go out for burgers?" Joey asked as they left.
"Yeah!"
"Miho wants fries."
"That depends, are you offering to pay Joey?"
"I'll pay for your fries Miho!"
"Sure, I'll buy but just for today."
"Sorry guys, but I have something I have to do." Asami put in. Kiba stopped walking and turned to her, as did the others.
"Do you really have to go?" She asked. Asami nodded and apologized again.
"Yup, sorry about missing out on burgers, but how about the next time we go out, I'll buy?" The others agreed and said their goodbyes before Asami went her separate way. Kiba frowned as she watched the girl leave,
'What aren't you telling me 'sami?'
YGO~~~~~~~~~~YGO
Asami sighed as she stepped out of the car and let Kazuko close the door behind her. Kazuko Sakoda was the personal driver/bodyguard her brother had hired for her after the water park incident. It had been the only way Seto had been willing to let her out of his sight again, though she had gotten him to agree to her own terms about it too. Kazuko would follow her around everywhere, with the exception of school of course, but he would have to be in the shadows. Since Seto hadn't decided to publically announce her as a Kaiba yet, it'd be weird for her to have an obvious bodyguard and would only bring unwanted attention. Seto agreed and so she gained a new 'shadow'. Kazuko tailed her everywhere she went, dressed casually if she went out to public places, so as to blend in with the crowd. He also picked her up from school and dropped her off, though a bit away from the school. She supposed if this calmed her brothers down somewhat, that she could handle having a bodyguard and driver..
"This might take a while so I'll call when I'm ready to go." She told him. Kazuko nodded and Asami watched him get into the car and leave, knowing he was just down the street, before turning back to the building in front of her. She took a deep breath before forcing herself to enter. The bell above the door jingled, signalling her entrance.
"Hello, welcome to the Game Shop, can I-ah, Asami, Kiba and Yugi aren't here yet." Grandpa said catching sight of her. Asami gave him a weak smile.
"I know, I came because I needed to talk to you." Asami told him. Grandpa stared at her for a second before nodding.
"Of course, would you like to go upstairs? I can get you a drink." Asami considered this for a second before nodding.
"Yes please." She followed Grandpa upstairs and sat at the table collecting her thoughts while Grandpa got her a glass of tea.
"Now, what would you like to talk about?" Grandpa asked as he set her tea in front of her and sat down. Asami grabbed hold of her cup, looking down at it as she spoke.
"Do you remember when Kiba and I explained we were from a different world?"
"Yes, I believe you said it was just like ours, though it had some differences."
"Right. We also explained that this world was a TV show in that one. Part of the plot for the show was Seto Kaiba holding a huge grudge against Yugi. His grudge right now however, is an obsession and he's..." Asami trailed off. "Seto's a good person-I know he is, but...sometimes the darkness within him takes over and he...he just doesn't seem to care what he has to do to get his way..." The girl trailed off again and was immediately thankful for Grandpa's silence since it let her steady her nerves somewhat. "...I need to ask you for a few favors..."
End of chapter.