Title: Paradox
Author: Alice
Fandoms: Yu-Gi-Oh!
Spoilers: None since this is AU!
Pairings: Yami no Yuugi x Bakura Ryou. Side Jounouchi Katsuya x Mazaki Anzu and possibly others.
Summary: Bakura Ryou was always an average student, until his mother got a new job that required their family to move constantly. As a result, Bakura fell behind. His luck might change when he begins school at Domino High and finds himself sitting next to boy genius, Atemu Yami.
Part: 3?
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Shounen-ai and language.
Recommended Listening: None.
Disclaimer: Yu-Gi-Oh! Is not owned by me. Unfortunately.
Author's Notes: Oooh, encouragement! I was overjoyed to see most people believed I'd gotten the gang in character. You have no idea how happy that makes me feel. Now, the beginning of this chapter is a flashback and, though it may not seem like that big of a deal now, it will mean more later. Just keep that in mind.
Paradox
by Alice
Chapter Two
Twelve Years Ago
Life for a four-year old is confusing. Things go on and people say things that you simply don't understand. So when four-year old Bakura Ryou's mother started screaming and clutching her swelled belly and his father had to drive the three of them over to the hospital as quick as possible, poor Bakura was very confused. But he didn't argue at all. He got into the car, remained perfectly silent while his father tried to comfort his mother from the front seat. He had no objection when his father rushed into the hospital, put his mother in a wheelchair and let a nurse rush her away. And he most certainly did as his father told him when he put set him onto a seat in the waiting room, next to another boy who was alone as well, and told him to stay there and then rushed out. Instead, young Bakura simply sat there for a long time before finally, his small mind could not take not talking to someone and he turned to the boy sitting next to him.
The boy looked to be about the same age as Bakura, maybe even a bit older. He had crystal blue eyes and short cropped brown hair. He seemed quite pale and was staring ahead, looking a bit distressed. "Hello," Bakura said to him, cheerfully. The boy shot him a surprised look but did not answer. After a moment Bakura tried again. "My name's Bakura, you?" No response. After yet another minute of staring at the boy, who stared right back, Bakura asked, "So…why are you here?"
A strange look crossed the boy's face then, one that seemed to be a mixture of sadness and…was that fear? He once again didn't respond and Bakura was about ready to give up on him when finally he spoke. "My cousin is sick…" he said quietly, glancing off down the hall.
Bakura's mouth formed a perfect 'O' at that and he gave the boy a sad look. "Really? What's wrong with him? …Or her?"
The boy sighed and ran a hand through his short hair, still staring down the hall. "Him. And…I don't know. No one knows, I think…"
Bakura nodded. "That's really sad."
"Yeah…" the boy said, not turning to look at Bakura. "Yeah, it is sad…and what about you? Why are you here?"
"My mommy started having pains in her tummy or something. She's gotten really big recently so I think it probably had something to do with that…" Bakura explained matter-of-factly. At this the boy finally turned to face Bakura, a curious expression written across his face.
"Your mother is having a baby?" he asked, curious.
Bakura blinked at him for a moment, tilting his head to the side. "Is she? I don't know…maybe. Is that what happens when your mommy gets large?"
"Sometimes, yes. My mother is having a baby soon as well and she's gotten quite large." Bakura giggled a bit and the boy eyed him strangely. "What?"
"You talk funny."
"Do I?" the poor boy asked, looking quite confused by now.
Bakura nodded. "Yeah. You talk kinda like a grown-up."
The boy blinked at him before smiling a bit sheepishly. "Yeah, well, I haven't been around many kids my age…except my cousin, that is. So I guess I kinda picked up more adult talking habits. Why? Is that bad, do you think?"
Bakura shook his head, giggling a little. "No, no, it's fine! It makes you sound more…older. Yeah, that's it! It makes you sound older! Does your cousin speak like that too?"
A pained look crossed the boys face but he shrugged it off quickly. "Um, yeah. We both do. We both spend most of our time around adults…neither of us spend any time around kids our own age. Especially…" he turned once again to look down the hall sadly, "lately."
Bakura opened his mouth to reply but he never got the chance as at that moment his father, with tears in his eyes, came down the hallway towards him. Bakura watched as his father knelt down in front of him and took his small hands into his larger ones and smiled up at him. "Ryou," he said, his voice a bit shaky, "I want you to come with me. There's someone I want you to meet…" Bakura nodded at his father, hopping down off his seat and following as his father lead him away. Before they got too far, however, he turned and waved at the boy he had been talking to. The boy nodded to him but seemed to lost in his own thoughts, still staring down the hall sadly. As his father lead Bakura to see this new person who would become such a big part of Bakura's life, he couldn't help but hope that everything would turn out alright for that boy and his sick cousin. Even though deep down he doubted he'd ever see him again.
Present Time
The first two weeks at Domino High were quite lovely by Bakura's standards. He was still struggling to catch up but he was slowly progressing, in all classes except for mathematics. Those damn numbers and letters were still confusing to him, as they had always been.
But aside from his typical academic issues, Bakura was thrilled to have found very good friends in Yuugi, Jounouchi, Honda, and Anzu. Since that first day they had quickly sucked Bakura into their group of friends and by the end of the first week, Honda had even gone so far as to say it felt as though Bakura had been with them forever. Bakura, oddly, had to agree. The group had been very interested in hearing about all the different places Bakura had lived, all the people he had seen and Bakura had quite a lot of fun telling them. It was a great feeling to have friends after having had no one but his parents and his memories to look too, and Bakura even told the others so. They just smiled at him. Later that second week, Yuugi had even invited Bakura over to his family's game shop to play some games with them, and though Bakura had to decline seeing as that was the day he and his father were supposed to help his mother move into her new office, he was thrilled that he had been asked all the same. On schools days they all sat together during lunch break and Jounouchi would ask Bakura random questions about his past. And on this particular Monday morning, the routine was no different.
"Sooooo, Bakura! Did you have any girlfriends at your old schools?"
This earned Jounouchi a horrified look from Bakura. When he tried to speak he found himself stuttering, so surprised he was at being asked about his non-existent love life. "Wh-what! N-no, I didn't! I ne-never stayed in one place lo-long enough to get involved with a g-girl… Plus…oh, nev-nevermind. Just, no. Why?"
Jounouchi shrugged, looking amused at Bakura's reaction. "I don't know. Just wondering. You're a nice guy so it seemed fitting that you've had at least one girlfriend. Oh well. Guess not."
Yuugi rolled his eyes at this. "Jounouchi, you just want to talk about other people's love lives so that you don't have to think about your own."
Jounouchi turned to glare at the shorter boy. "WHAT'S THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN!"
At this Anzu spoke up. "Oh, Jounouchi, we all know you're still pinning over Mai. Honestly, Jounouchi, she's gone. Moved on to someone else. Get over it."
Now Anzu was the victim of Jounouchi's death glare. "I am so over Mai, Anzu! Honestly, it's not that big a deal! It was just…surprising is all."
Anzu rolled her eyes. "Sure, Jounouchi. Sure." Jounouchi glowered at her for a moment then stood and headed over to the lunch line, presumably to buy some cookies to take his mind off of what Anzu had said.
And poor Bakura was quite confused at this point, so he turned to Yuugi, Honda and Anzu to look for answers. "What was all that about? Who's Mai?"
"Kujyaku Mai. Jounouchi's ex-girlfriend. She dumped him about a month ago for someone else," Honda explained, pausing between words to stuff food into his mouth.
Bakura nodded, understanding in his eyes. "That's horrible. And Jounouchi still hasn't gotten over it yet?"
Yuugi gave Bakura a weak smile. "Well, I'm sure he would have gotten over it…if she hadn't dumped him for a girl."
Bakura's eyes widened and he stared at Yuugi in shock. "She did! Oh…wow. I bet…that must have been a real blow to Jounouchi's ego."
Anzu nodded, a small smile tugging at her lips. "Oh, but that isn't even the half of it! The girl Mai dumped Jounouchi for…was his own sister, Shizuka! Of course, Shizuka didn't know that Mai had been dating Jounouchi or she most likely wouldn't have gotten with Mai to begin with. She greatly looks up to Jounouchi and wouldn't want to hurt him. But when she did find out, Jounouchi put on a good front and told her that if she was happy with Mai then he was all right with it. It was oddly mature of Jounouchi but typical. He loves Shizuka and wants to see her happy so…"
Bakura nodded, absorbing all this information. While it was strange and slightly humorous, Bakura felt a little…proud of Jounouchi. In the short time he'd known the blonde boy, Bakura wondered if there was ever a time he truly acted his age. It seemed as though there was. But that didn't stop Bakura from bursting out laughing when Jounouchi sat back down.
Bakura had to stifle his laughter into the next day of classes. Jounouchi kept shooting him angry glares from across the room as the teacher carried on with their lessons. This continued on until Bakura's dreaded subject. Mathematics. Algebra. The most heinous of all subjects as far as Bakura Ryou was concerned. It didn't help that today they were given a review worksheet to fill out for an upcoming test and Bakura had no clue what most of the questions required him to do.
So it made perfect sense that much later into the class, Bakura had only gotten through about five of the problems. He was just congratulating himself on another completed problem when an unexpected voice spoke next to him.
"You're doing it wrong."
Bakura started, jumping slightly in his seat and turned to face the person who had spoken, clutching his heart. It was none other than Atemu, the silent boy who hadn't spoken one word since Bakura arrived at Domino High. Not one word. Thusly, Bakura just stared at the boy, who stared back, a blank expression on his face. "Did…did you just say something?" Bakura asked, sure he must have been imagining it.
Atemu nodded. "Yes, I did. I told you that you did the problem wrong."
Bakura blinked at Atemu, awe struck. Atemu spoke. ATEMU SPOKE! The boy, who Yuugi, and everyone else for that matter, said had never spoken a word to any of them in years, had just spoken. To him! Bakura was so surprised that he almost didn't notice when Atemu spoke again.
"You did the equation wrong. It's really very simple. Here, I'll show you."
And with that, Atemu leaned over and explained exactly what Bakura had done wrong and how to correct it. He then let Bakura try the next problem on his own and Bakura was thrilled when Atemu smiled and nodded at him. "Yep, you got it," he said before turning back to his book.
Bakura stared at the boy sitting next to him for a moment before glancing down at his paper. It…it seemed a bit easier now that Atemu had actually explained to him what he was supposed to be doing. He tried another problem on his own as was thrilled to see that that it made sense. A smile etched onto his face, Bakura turned and smiled at Atemu. "Thank you," he said happily. Atemu just nodded and kept on reading while Bakura went back to his work.
Neither of them noticed Jounouchi Katsuya gapping at them from across the room.
end chapter two
…Ta-da? Atemu spoke and we got a mention of Mai and Shizuka. I decided to mention them both solely because I have no intention to introduce them into this story but wanted to acknowledge that they were there. So I did.
Chapter Three: Jounouchi and Honda are amazed that Bakura got Atemu to speak, and Bakura has a favor to ask Atemu…
Alice