AN: I know this chapter took quite some time. I was sick for the past few days, and I couldn't edit to save my life. I'm better now, though, and hopefully won't be sick for the rest of the summer. (It sucked, staying in the house with nothing but a TV by myself…makes a face) Advice for summer: Don't go swimming at night!
Anyways! Thanks to…
ONIX-21: Ah! I'm sorry this chapter was late…Geez, never go swimming at night! I got sick for three days! Ehehe…anyways, I'm glad you liked it. Thanks for the review!
casaragi: I'm glad to hear it. Thanks for the review!
SV Green: Really? Thank you! I'll continue to try to improve my writing skills (and not swim at night). XD It took some time to work out the internal dialogue, and I've been playing around with it throughout this story. I'm glad it's showing. Thanks for the review!
dragonlady222: Yeah, Ryou can get quite serious when he wants to. And yes, Bakura does need to go back to school. He needs an education, too! Thanks for the review! (I'm sorry for the long wait).
Spirited-Lilly: Yup, yup, yup! Bakura's still trying to figure out how a child sees things, too. They're both growing up. Thanks for the review!
Superhumansaiyajin: Wow! So many reviews! Lol, I love getting reviews. Well…first of all, I'm sorry for this chapter's tardiness. ;; Don't go swimming at night! You'll get sick (or at least, I did). I'm really happy to hear that you like my story so far, and thanks so much for all the reviews! Now read on!
Chapter Twelve: Trace
The door slid open and Ryou shyly followed the teacher into the room. He always hated this part of transferring schools. Introducing himself always felt awkward, especially since the way everyone stared at him made him feel as if he had said something wrong.
"-going to welcome him warmly."
Ryou felt someone push him gently forward. "H-hi, I'm Ryou…"
The child couldn't bring himself to say anymore. His tongue was tied, and his insides felt like they were going to melt. Helplessly looking back at the teacher, Ryou knew he was blushing as the rest of the class remained silent.
"Why don't you sit in the third row? Next to Takui?"
Ryou hurried toward the seat that his teacher was pointing at, quickly hanging his backpack on his seat and sitting down. He glimpsed at his peers, as if to reassure himself that they weren't staring at him still.
"Hey," a kid whispered.
Looking at the person he was sitting next to, Ryou remembered the teacher calling him Takui. Ryou leaned in a little to show he was listening.
"Let me see your L.T."
Ryou blinked. "M-my what?"
"Your L.T.!" said the kid in a low voice, his eyes darting from Ryou to the teacher and back. "Let me see your laptop!"
Takui took Ryou's confused look for something else. "Oh, c'mon. It's not like I'm going to go out and buy the same one. Sheesh, I just wanna see if you have the newest Apple L.T."
"Why would I have a laptop?" Ryou whispered.
Takui frowned, looking impatient now. "Don't play dumb! You ought to know we do half our assignments on our laptops."
"Half our – what? Why?"
"Because-"
"Takui! Ryou! Don't use this time to talk, please. You have the fifteen minute break to get to know each other."
Ryou and his classmate fell silent as the teacher gave them a stern look. Then she moved on, saying with an air of authority, "Let's begin." There was a small scramble before utter silence once again. Ryou swallowed hard as he realized, with a quick glance, that everyone in the classroom had a laptop on their desk…except for him.
-
Malik was going crazy.
Running all over the campus of Shin Elementary, the Egyptian teen was worrying himself to death. Where the hell was Ryou? Why hadn't he established a 'pick up' place, to meet the child? Why were there so many little kids?
As Malik frantically looked this way and that for a tuft of white hair, his mind was going into overload. If I don't find him soon, some weird guy will whisk him away and Bakura will kill me and then Marik will bring me back and kill me, too, and Ryou's going to hate me forever-
"RYOU!"
Sitting on the front steps of his new school, the small child's head jerked up at his name.
"Ryou! Ryou, you have no idea how happy I am to see ya, kid!" Malik hugged the child so swiftly that he cut off the younger one's air supply.
Ryou gasped as Malik released him, smiling as he asked, "How was your first day?"
The child cleared his throat as he took a moment to think. "It was…surprising."
"Surprising?" Malik repeated, as the two started to walk toward the school gate.
"Er…" Ryou cocked his head to the side as he stared at the sky. "When Bakura said he would send me to a top-notch school, he wasn't kidding." Ryou smiled as Malik laughed, insisting it was true. "I really like it here."
"Well, that's good," said Malik, ruffling Ryou's hair. Then he told the child about his near-heart attack, and they decided to meet at the central staircase after the last bell.
Malik and Ryou passed the gate and started down the sidewalk, toward the general direction of the condo they shared. Chatting as they crossed street after street, Ryou found that walking home with Malik wasn't so bad. In fact, he was enjoying himself quite a bit.
As they turned onto the last stretch of cement, Ryou suddenly looked down at his shoes. "Hey, Malik?"
"Huh?"
"Are…are laptops expensive?"
"Laptops? Hm…good ones certainly aren't cheap." Malik scratched his head, trying to remember anything he could about the slim, portable computers. "I'd say…maybe two thousand dollars for a decent one? Why?"
Ryou jolted to a stop. "Two thousand?"
Malik frowned. "Why?"
"N-nothing," was the hurried reply.
Even though Ryou couldn't understand the value of two thousand dollars, he knew that it was a lot. After all, his school supplies alone cost about fifty dollars. If he did the math… Ryou bit his lip, concerned. He couldn't possible tell Bakura he needed a two thousand dollar laptop for school…
-
Keisuke Shiguro heaved a sigh as he rubbed his face, tired and wanting sleep. He adjusted his seat a bit before he looked down at the papers before him again. If I was working in a higher branch, I could make someone else do the filing… Shiguro carefully stamped the topmost file after briefly scanning it, then proceeded to go through the rest of the files. No one ever comes to my branch…why? he thought in vain, groaning as his eyes started to water.
There was a sound of a slam, and it nearly sent Shiguro jumping to his feet.
"Officer, I've got a problem," a strained voice hissed.
Policeman Keisuke Shiguro cleared his throat as he quickly repositioned himself on his chair before he pushed the stack of papers to the side, revealing a well-built man with both hands on the table.
"There was no need for you to, er, slam the table, sir," Shiguro mumbled, blinking rapidly as he tried to shake off the cobwebs shrouding his mind. Excitement made his hands shake, so he quickly clasped them together. "Name, please?"
"Utaka Teishin," the man said, straightening as he eyed the officer in disgust.
Shiguro quickly jotted the name down. "Now what can I help you with, sir?"
The man pulled up a chair as he said, "My two sons have run away from home."
Shiguro happily jiggled his computer mouse to bring the old piece of technology out of sleep mode. "Run away?" he repeated, starting to type the missing person report. Then he frowned, vaguely recalling the reasons for why most children run away; neglect in most cases, abuse in a few, even immaturity sometimes. "Do you know why they ran off?"
"The older one…didn't want the younger one to go to school."
"Eh?" Shiguro stopped typing for a moment, glancing at the man. "Could you explain the situation, sir?"
Mr. Teishin wanted nothing more than to knock this stupid policeman off his chair and tell him to just type the damn report, but he knew appearance was everything at the moment, especially if he wanted the police force on his side. So instead, Utaka coolly nodded and said in a sober voice, "My youngest, Ryou, is easily influenced by his older brother, Bakura. I wanted what was best for my child, so I decided to send Ryou to a private institute of education."
"And your eldest – Bakura – he didn't want his brother to go?"
"Bakura was jealous of Ryou. I believe I am partially to blame, since Bakura seemed to want to go to a private school as well. I should have sent them both, but…" Utaka sadly shook his head. "My mistake as a working father." As the officer sympathized with him, Mr. Teishin fought a smirk.
Soon afterwards, Officer Shiguro asked for dates and pictures, as well as descriptions, for the next half hour. Utaka patiently played the worried father as the policeman finished his report, appearing anxious and distressed.
"Mr. Teishin," the officer assertively said, "I can't guarantee we'll find your sons, but you have my word that we will aspire to locate them as soon as possible."
Utaka Teishin muttered a thank you, bowing. Then, as he turned to leave the station, he couldn't help but smile as he savored the sweet taste of triumph.
You can't hide forever. I'm coming, Bakura.
-
AN: Well, I added a page to apologize for the lateness of this chapter. (I haven't been this sick since third grade! And that was at least five years ago!) I hope you enjoyed the chapter. I'll update by Wednesday or Thursday night.