Ok guys, i just really have to say that I am SO SORRY that i haven't updated in the month of Febuary, but i was so swamped with homework and I KNOW that that is probably not an excuse but i really ahd no time to write so I'm really sorry D:
Second, THANK YOU guys soooo much for all of the love and support you guys are giving me :3 honestly it was a huge inspiration for me to continue this fic with the help of your reviews XD
Thirdly, i want to sincerely thank one of my friends (lol you KNOW WH OYOU ARE XD) who kept on pushing me and pushing me to write this chapter~!
This one is for you ~!
Disclaimer- i own nothing at all!
Now here is the Tendershipping chapter that you all wanted so badly ;)
Enjoy ~!
Ryou Bakura prided himself of two things. First, his was his kind and friendly personality and his philosophy of never judging anyone based on rumours and accusations and second, his punctuality.
Of course, his unaffected attendance record was soon going to be tarnished if he didn't get a move on and make it to his 3rd period, he thought, tightening the grip on his math calculus textbook, against his chest.
'I knew I should have gone to my locker during lunch' he thought ruefully as he sped walked thought barren and noiseless halls.
It was rather unfortunate that his locker and advanced calculus class were both on two different sides of the school, but the fates were nice enough to give him his lunch period to go to his locker and then make his way to his favourite class. He usually took advantage of that generosity.
However, after that incident between Yugi and the 'Pharaoh', he knew it went against his caring personality and morals to abandon his friend in after such an altering and critical incident.
And what an incident it was, he reminisced turning the corner into a new hall, feet making an echoing patter on the light grey linoleum flooring.
He had never actually seen Yugi angry let alone act on that anger, act in a fit of rage.
It was quite a new experience, however recalling the various stories that Joey told him in the past he knew that Yugi's temper was never one to test or experiment with, Joey himself learning from experience.
"It's kinda like that sayin' ya and Malik were talkin' 'bout, never judge a book by its cover. Yug' may seem all cute and defenceless but when he blows his top, better to run and let him cool off and blow some steam or else you're really in for it."
And boy had he been right, Ryou giggled as he re enacted the previous scenes over again in his head.
It was truly a sight to see, one might have even called one for the books. And Ryou knew he wasn't the only one who thought that.
Yugi doing something like that was one thing, but pouring soda on the 'Pharaoh', the ruler of Domino High was just something on a whole new level.
Though was the amazement worth the possible risks of being tardy to Mrs. Clannan's class and possibly missing her introductory quiz?
Recalling the various rumours of the woman and seeing her reactions first hand at students who were actually late, remembering her attitude towards tardiness. The woman was like an angry tiger demanding to be let about of its cage and tear up those poking at it with a stick. And those thoughts with the mixed feelings of fear and determination to make it were enough to make him speed up his walk and pray that he would make it.
Meanwhile, at the very end of the opposite side in the very same corridor, Bakura Tozokuo was leisurely making his way down the halls. Unlike Ryou, who was rushing to get to his class, Bakura was casually strolling down the barren and empty halls, calmly and relaxed, seemingly without a care in the world.
Long slightly messy white hair flopping behind him, his head tilted back as his crimson brown eyes were dead set on staring at the patterned tiles on the ceiling.
He knew he didn't have to watch out for others to be in the halls, since he knew that no one in their right minds would actually still be out in the halls out this time.
His left hand was tucked into the pocket of his navy blue jeans while the other was resting on his hip, cradling two textbooks at his side. However if one were to take a closer look at those books, they would have noticed that sandwiched between his two textbooks was a folder, hidden secretly to obscure it from view.
It was a creamy manila folder, with his name written neatly on the right hand corner. Though it was nothing but a cheap envelope, it was still Bakura's most prized possession. Not the folder itself necessarily, but instead, the contents inside of it.
Inside, saftely stowed away in the laminated folder, was a collection of all of his best art work. A portfolio of all the projects and pictures he worked on until now in the year.
Yes, The Bakura Tozokuo, the biggest scare of the school, tookart.
Now why might he have done such a thing, well the thing was, he loved art. He had an undying passion for it.
He had always had a natural talent in drawing, ever since he was about 4 years old.
But it was more than that. It was actually something that he inherited from his mother. And the only thing that he had left of her.
The only memories of her that he had were always of her sitting at her easel, facing an open window. She always looked so calm and content when painting, moving the brush against the paper with slow careful strokes, eyes shining of pure happiness. It was the only time that she ever looked content with her hellhole of a life.
But it was better not to dwell on that past. He had buried that hatchet long ago after, well that had happened, and he had no intention of ever bringing it up again.
But it was the only connection that he had to her, the only thing that left him connected with her, and he intended to keep that going.
It was also a secret that he would take to the grave. He would make sure that NO ONE would find out anytime soon.
It was risky enough just taking art class if you were a guy, and he did not want to ruin his reputation, or whatever minor credibility he already had.
Meaning that no one could find out, especially not his friends. He could practically already feel the headaches coming on just thinking about the never ending teasing he would receive from Mariku.
Which was the main reason he always walked the halls after the bell rang. HE knew that they would be clear and empty. Away from the spying prying eyes that followed him and his every move. It as the only time he was away from all of it. All the staring and such.
His art teacher Mr. DeSantis understood him perfectly. Which was why he was such a good guy and teacher.
And because of that, he let Bakura take his classes in private. 'I will not waste such a gift in this world' he stated, so he privately taught Bakura during his one period spare. Bakura was fine with that. It wasn't one full period, but hey, he got easy marks from it and he only ever had to hand in a project or two so he was happy.
Bakura started taking note of the various stains on the ceiling tiles, many different colours and sizes. Eye of an artist they called it, but he just called it lazy janitors ad a cheap school. He proceeded down the hall, staring up at the ceiling as he relished in the quiet atmosphere around him, not bothering to look around him.
They were both so involved in their own little worlds, that neither one of them noticed the bright yellow sign with large black words reading 'CAUTION, SLIPPERY FLOOR', and neither of them noticed the large puddle on the ground.
"WAHH", Ryou let out a loud yell as he felt himself slip and begin fall forwards. He clenched his tightly eyes shut and waited for the harsh impact of the floor, but all he felt himself fall onto was something hard and...warm?
A pained groan escaped his lips as he opened his eyes; his gaze was greeted by angry brown red eyes, blazing at him with unmistakable anger.
Ryou innocently tilted his head to the side, and blinked his eyes twice in confusion. He slowly let his wide chocolate brown eyes take in the mystery saviour's face.
He skimmed over the firm jaw line, thin nose, and messy and tangled silverfish hair. He was slowly taking in every detail, until he finally concluded that he was on top of the one and only Bakura Tozokuo, the 'monster' of Domino High.
Now Ryou was never one to judge anyone base off rumours but when he heard the pained groan that escaped the large, more muscular teen's lips, he had truthfully almost pissed his pants. Not only had he fallen on top of THE Bakura Tozokuo, probably soaking his uniform, but he had also apparently hurt him.
Oh why was nothing going his way today.
Now, while Ryou was inwardly freaking out, Bakura's eyes were taking in the innocent face right on top of him.
It was like looking into one of those strange carnival mirrors that gave you a completely obscene and different version of yourself. It certainly worked in this case he thought as he took in the boy's doe like wide brown eyes unlike his sharp, and defined cold crimson brown eyes, long fluffy hair, much more managed than his own and the porcelain white skin that they both seemed to share. It was a more innocent version of himself which was really disturbing to him considering he had to be the farthest thing from innocent. Although, he recognized the kid as being a friend of 'the little brat who poured soda on Yami' as he now knew him as.
However when he saw those gentle eyes widen in fear, he felt his mood immediately worsen.
"Get off of me", he hissed, venom dripping from his words. And then the boy was off him in a flash.
Muttering inaudibly to himself, Bakura gently shifted onto his right side, onto his elbow, pushing himself up off the floor into a sitting position, but as he did so, he immediately felt a stinging pain go off in his head. He let out a pained groan and cradled his forehead in his hand, gently rubbing it, trying to somehow sooth the pain.
"A-are you alright", he heard a gentle whisper in an unmistakable English accent. Bakura lifted his eyes to look at the boys wide and worried brown eyes. He was biting his bottom lip, and his big brown eyes were holding nothing but concern in them.
"Just peachy", he managed to grit out between clenched teeth. He saw as the kid flinched slightly, but he was in too much pain to feel guilty about it.
Instead, he closed his eyes hoping that that would somehow settle his throbbing headache.
He listened as he soon heard the scuffing of feet, and sighed. Of course the kid left him to fend here for himself, what else was he really expecting. For the kid to stay and help him?
Bakura snorted at that one. Anyone would have probably ran for the hills after doing exactly what he had done.
Of course he couldn't dwell too long on that fact. Instead, his entire mind was screaming at him to get off the soaking wet floor. His entire back and pants were soaking wet with ice cold water, making him chilled to the bone and making his uniform cling to him in a very uncomfortable fashion.
Sighing, he forced his eyes open, and it was certainly a surprise when he opened his eyes and saw a small hand, slim fingers stretched out, like they were reaching out to him.
"What are you doing", he questioned suspiciously.
"Ummm well I thought you could use some help", the boy stated as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, offering a small smile, and that's when it clicked in Bakura's head.
The boy was trying to help him up.
He didn't run, he didn't leave, instead he actually stayed and not only that, he was helping him, Bakura Tozokuo after what had happened.
"Why", he asked, eyes narrowing in suspicion. No one ever stayed long enough to try and help him. Most would have just ran and left in hope to save their own butts from a punishment that he never intended to give them.
The small boy looked shocked for a second but soon the tender, friendly look graced his features once again.
"Well you look like you could use some help, it was after all partly my fault."
"Partly", Bakura snarled "more like mostly."
However, despite his accusatory words he grasped the small, dainty hand with his own larger one and was slightly surprised when he felt a pretty strong tug hoisting him up to his feet.
Once he was upright, Bakura grasped his head once again when he felt the room spin. And the throbbing in his head returned. Head began to throb in a dull pain.
"Ohh well I guess you could say that, but I'm not the only one who didn't see the sign huh." The boy said, answering his earlier statement, then he turned around and started to scan the wet floors in search of his textbook.
And Bakura only let out a growl in response, smirking as he saw the boy's shoulders and back tense.
At least now he would get some quiet.
"Well...," nope not likely.
"Well ummm I'm Ryou, Ryou Bakura. So, ummm what's your name"? the boy asked timidly, attempting to keep the conversation going.
Bakura could only stare at the new mystery boy who had just identified himself as 'Ryou Bakura'.
Ryou meanwhile, finally spotted his calculus textbook, which somehow ended up all the way at against the wall of the hallway. He started to make his way over to it.
Once he made it he gently bent down and very gently and carefully picked up his textbook with one hand, watching water drip from the now soaking wet wrinkled textbook pages.
Lips forming a distasteful pout, he shook the book slightly in a pointless hope to dry it, since he knew he would have to purchase a new one regardless of what he did.
Well there goes my allowance.
Bakura, who was still observing the entire event, was still raking his head for possibilities of how the kid could not know who he was.
Great now I sound like Yami. He thought in pure disgust. Eyes refocusing back on Ryou, who was now looking at his shrivelled up book with lips pursed into a pout. Definitely a weird kid.
"Your joking right", Bakura deadpanned.
Ryou felt his face flush slightly in embarrassment. Of course he knew who Bakura was but he chose to ignore that fact. He couldn't base his first impression of the other white haired teen on rumours that floated around the halls.
"Ummmmm no?", the answer came out more like a question as Ryou furrowed his eyebrows slightly, confusion evident in his eyes.
Bakura snorted, not believing that for one second. Headache temporarily forgotten, he crossed his arms over his chest and raised one eyebrow in Ryou's direction.
"You seriously don't know who I am", the kid was getting weirder by the second.
"That's absolute bullshit, you must have heard all the shit going around in the halls about me."
He watched as Ryou slowly stared to nervously fondle with the now sorry excuse of a textbook in his hands. He watched as Ryou tried to look up at him and gave him a small little hesitant and shy smile.
"I guess but well I'm not one to go by rumours so...", Ryou trailed off, a bright red staining his cheeks, turning his head trying to get away from the stunned look Bakura was sending his way.
"I guess I'm just trying to say that ummm... well... ummm...". Ryou was silently cursing himself for now being an uncontrollable stuttering mess. There was just something in Bakura's gaze that made him feel like really shy.
Bakura however was unimpressed and losing patience very quickly.
"Just spit it out already", he growled.
"Well I guess... I just want... I mean... I did hear it but... I'd rather hear it... straight from... you", Ryou managed to force out.
And that sounded beyond stupid, he thought and quickly looked down to search for the other textbooks to avoid Bakura's sharp impatient gaze. Really what was he thinking? Biting his lip, he bent down to pick up the second textbook which was pretty close to where his had dropped. It really was a stupid idea to ask one of the most well known students their name. Well he did until...
"Bakura, Bakura Tozokuo," he heard a deep voice rumble.
Wide eyed, Ryou snapped his head to the side of fast that he was surprised he didn't get whiplash from the speed. He looked as Bakura, whose gaze was now pointedly focused on the floor, before letting out a small smile.
Bakura cursed at the small smile now formed on Ryou's face. Now he felt like the idiot. He had no idea what possessed him to actually tell the kid his name. It was the first time anyone had ever actually asked him for his name, like he said, most people already knew it from rumours. But the kid actually did try to help him, he didn't abandon Bakura and now he was going around and picking up all of the wet textbooks from the floor. Bakura had never had anyone treat him like this before. Usually he would snap and threaten the idiot who had managed to piss him off and then that idiot would have pissed his pants and ran out crying for his mommy. But it seemed that Ryou wasn't like that – especially considering the fact that he had actually talked back to him- and despite how stupid it sounded, he just felt like he owed the kid. At least owed him enough to go along with this whole little stupid conversation and tell the kid his name.
And now the kid was practically beaming with happiness, he noted sourly. The kid was too confusing, it made his head spin and hurt slightly, he winced at the slight dull rhythmic throbbing in his head.
Ryou noticed that something seemed wrong, picking up the third textbook; he turned to Bakura's direction and saw that he was wincing slightly and clutching his head yet again.
"Hey ummm, are you ok?" Ryou asked concerned.
He frowned when he didn't get an answer from Bakura, not even a growl. Ryou bit his lip in worriment. What if it was something serious?
"Is there something wrong with your head", Ryou reiterated louder this time.
"What does it look like", Bakura managed to force out. He was getting really tired of the kids annoying voice.
Well it seems to not have affected his attitude what so ever Ryou thought sourly, with slight relief. He shifted the textbooks into one hand, making his way towards Bakura.
"Here let me see," he said in a comforting tone, wanting to see how bad it seemed to be.
He started extending his arm to inspect Bakura's wound, but Bakura moved away slightly.
Huffing gently, Ryou tried to outstretch his arm again, but only getting the same result.
It seemed that every time Ryou tried to get closer, Bakura would just shift away. It was like two magnets that repelled each other.
Sighing in annoyance, Ryou placed his hands on his hips as his face contorted into one of stubbornness and irritation.
"Ohh come here I won't do anything", Ryou assured angrily.
Now Bakura knew he was acting like a huge ass little sissy. Backing up from a munchkin who barely reached his chin. Unfortunately, his pride kicked in at Ryou's challenging words and before he knew it he was toe to toe with the annoying brat, who was looking up at him with a smug expression. Curse him and his inability to resist a challenge.
Now that Bakura seemed to have finally relaxed (Ryou of course was ignoring the harsh glare he was receiving when he came to that conclusion), Ryou slowly began raising his hand, just in case Bakura would flinch away again.
When Bakura showed no sign of doing so, Ryou gently placed his hand on Bakura's head.
He gently felt around, running his fingers through Bakura's surprisingly soft hair, gently feeling around for any sort of bump or cut.
Bakura was having a trouble keeping his face from heating up. He really tried to not think about it, but he really liked the feeling of Ryou's fingers combing through his hair. It reminded him of how his mother did it for him when he was younger. His teeth clenched. Why did he keep thinking about her today?
Ryou, who was unknown to Bakura's inward emotion turmoil, continued to gently feel around until he finally felt something that seemed off. He gently messaged the bump tenderly with his middle finger, carefully measuring the size of it. Ryou cringed as he concluded that it was roughly the size of a small kiwi. It must have hurt like hell, Ryou thought, biting his lip, guilt washing over him in a huge way.
He moved his finger in a soothing motion, gently messaging the bump. Although he giggled softly when he felt Bakura subconsciously lean into his hand.
Bakura was in heaven, or well as close as he could possibly be. It felt really good and he meant reeaaally good. His body moved on his own accord, eyelids closing in bliss and sigh escaping his lips as the pain melted away. He didn't even care that he heard that little giggle that came from his massager. He was calm and relaxed, or well,that was until he pressed a tad bit too hard. The dull ache returned and Bakura hissed as he harshly slapped Ryou's hand away.
"That hurts!" He snarled, cradling his once again throbbing head.
Ryou, meanwhile, was cradling his now stinging hand.
"You do know if you hold still it won't hurt as much", retorted Ryou, tenderly rubbing his faintly red hand.
"If you hadn't had bumped into me this wouldn't have happened", Bakura growled back, not at all happy when the kid talked back to him.
He certainly didn't expect the kid to sass him and he certainly wasn't excepting what came next.
Ryou huffed and crossed his arms over his chest.
"It's not just my fault you know! YOU could have been more careful and WATCHED WHERE YOU WERE GOING TOO!"
.
.
.
Bakura had enough of the brat. he couldn't put up with it much longer. It wasn't like he was scared or anything. Of course not. How could he have been scared of the little brat, whose face was now covered by a tint of red from yelling, or chocolate brown eyes put into a glare very similar to his own signature glare. Nope, not scared at all.
He ripped his textbook out of the annoying brats hands, and abruptly turned and stormed out.
"Hey wait you should go see the nurse about that bump!"
"Mind your own business kid!" he yelled back as he dashed out of the hall.
He was in such a rush that he didn't even call the calling behind him.
"Hey wait", Ryou called after his larger doppelganger, but Bakura seemed to be in a rush and make a hasty exit.
Staring at the corner that Bakura disappeared through, Ryou let out a light sigh and frowned. Well more like pouted.
That guy was really something, not going to the nurse, especially with that kind of bump.
But of course it really was none of his concern, he tried to convince himself as he started to make his way to his class.
It actually was really odd. He had never yelled at anyone like that before, heck it was a rarity for him to ever snap at anyone. Well at least now he could experience what Yugi felt. It seemed that the populars brought out uncharacteristic rage explosions in him and his group of friends.
He began to walk to the end of the hallway until he spotted something in the corner of his eye. He squinted to get a better look at it, but all he could see was a slight shine, since whatever it was seemed to be reflecting the light produced by the seemingly cheap lighting system.
With quick steps, he crouched down to pick up the object, turning it and inspecting it he noticed that it was a laminated envelope, thus explaining why it was shinning. Ryou also noted that it was probably the only thing that did not get completely soaked and ruined wet in the chaotic fall. Which was a good thing since it looks pretty important Ryou thought as he took a closer look at it.
It seemed to be a plain manila white envelope, except for when Ryou turned it over and spotted the words 'Bakura Tozokuo' , which were scrawled in surprisingly neat handwriting in the top right corner.
"So it's Bakura's. Hmmmmm", he quietly mumbled to himself.
He began to fiddle with the flap slightly, slowly opening and closing it. He was really starting to wonder what exactly the important looking envelope had inside of it. He knew that it was probably wrong to look inside of it, but his fingers seemed to be having a mind of their own, considering they actually slipped inside of confides of the envelope.
"Hey!", Ryou yelled before yanking his hand out of the envelope as if it burned him and snapping it shut.
It was a major invasion of privacy to be looking through someone's files, especially if the person seems to not like you considering you got them soaking wet and gave them a bump the size of Texas.
However, after 5 steps, Ryou was practically ripping the envelope apart to see what was in it.
Curiosity killed the cat, he thought sourly, but he couldn't bring himself to care as he gave in the gnawing curiosity bugging him.
He pulled out the few papers that his fingers managed to grasp and gently pulled them out.
He gasped in awe as he took a look at what was on them.
Each paper had a beautifully drawn sketch on them.
Ryou, who was beyond surprised and impressed, began to flip through the sketches, taking time to look at each of them carefully.
The first that he saw was a simple drawing of a pure white lily drawn in what seemed to be drawn with a dark charcoal pencil. It was surrounded by what looked to a smudged black crayon. Ryou, completely enchanted, brought a finger and gently rubbed the smudged substance bringing his finger to his face, gently examining it. He couldn't identify what it was but the only thing he knew was that the black on the background was a real nice contrast to the pure white lily and gave it a really and made it really pop out at you.
The second picture was of a bowl of fruit. The third picture was of cat. And there were many more within the pile, each all drawn and each coloured in different ways, and each was more beautiful than the last. Ryou was frantically flipping through pages, childlike excitement overcoming him.
However it was the last picture that made Ryou freeze. Eyes widened to about twice his size, gasping lightly in surprise and awe.
The sketch that he was holding in his hand had to be one of the most beautiful pictures he saw, he looked at the last picture.
It was a rough sketch, a couple of pencil scratches, outlined with a black inked pen. It was not at all coloured, just a rough outline but it was the most beautiful.
It was a drawing of a woman, who was sitting in a profile position, so the drawing was only taken of half her body. She looked to be about 18 years old. She was sitting by a window, in a chair, back up straight and hands folded neatly in her lap. She was wearing what looked to be a smock, with some pencil smudges on it, so Ryou could only guess that she was a painter. Her hair was put loose against her shoulders, and it gently framed her thin face. A gentle and content smile was on her face.
Ryou could only stare at the picture. It was obvious that whoever this was had to have been important to Bakura, maybe a relative of some sort.
Maybe his sister, he thought, she looked young enough, but if that was the case, where was she? Why didn't she also go to their school?
There were just too many questions revolving around one person, and also way too many mysteries revolving around him.
He couldn't believe that one of the most hostile, person he met, heard rumours about actually had such a beautiful gift.
Never judge a book by its cover. It seems that that saying was popping up a lot, he thought.
There seemed to be more to Bakura Tozokuo than met the eye, but he would ponder it more after he got to calculus.
Well here's the chapter you guys wanted so badly XD
Hope it was good enough for you :) and that you like it XD
Yes guys I made Bakura the big misunderstood giant that has a passion for art XDD I couldn't help it. It just had to be done, of course that won't affect him that much. I'm sorry to of all you who don't like it but I just HAD to do it. there is also a slight story revolving bakura and his mother, you can probably tell he has some mixed feelings for her, you'll find out the story in the upcoming chapters :D
Lol i was watching beuaty and the beast while writing this and i kept replaying the argument scene ^-^ Perfect inspiration
Well please review and alert~!