*coughs* uh hi? It's been over a year since I've updated this thing. Whoops? Sorry guys life got in the way. I had to help my SO move across the country, oh and I got an SO to begin with. I also rewrote this chapter three times. The first time resulted in me rewriting and reorganizing all the chapters after this. But hey I'm back! And with a really long chapter! AND I have this fic outlined to the end! Which should be exactly 20 chapters. Unless one gets too long and I split it into two chapters. This chapter was beta'd by the wonderful help30cl here on fanfiction. They offered to help way back when I posted the previous chapter, so thank them for the help getting this chapter out to you guys!
I'd also like to give one little shout out to tumblr user somefxckingnerd. They wrote a one shot that is two years old as of yesterday. Said one-shot inspired this entire fic. The middle of this chapter includes a rehash of the kitchen scene and is the reason I decided to write this fic. So that whole idea was his. I'm not trying to just steal his idea. I tried to keep the scene from being word for word like his. Anyway hope you like this chapter and I recommend reading the one-shot that started this.
right here remove the spaces and change the p to an o fanfiction was being weird.
somefxckingnerd. tumblr. cpm /post/ 128508373773/ the-kitchen-incident
Enjoy this chapter!
Chapter 5
"Wake Up Mr. Spirit! Wake up! We're going to miss Krypto." Spoke Ryou, way too loudly at 7 am on a Saturday, as he shook the sleeping Spirit.
"Nuhg, it's too early go back to sleep," grumbles the sleepy Spirit into his pillow. That was the best sleep ever and he didn't want it to end.
"But if we go back to sleep we'll miss all the morning cartoons on the telle." Ryou said still try to get the Spirit out of bed.
"Why don't you go and watch the cartoons while I go back to sleep," offered the Spirit. Finally lifting his head out of his pillow.
"But I want you to meet Krypto. Krypto the Super-dog! Krypto! UP, UP AND AWAY!" Ryou started to badly sing the Krypo theme song.
"Ugh," the Spirit buried his head under the pillow again. "Fine, only if you stop singing."
"Yay! You're going to love it! I'll show you all my favorite shows and introduce you to all my favorite characters!" Ryou finally started to drag the Spirit out of the bed and towards the door.
The Spirit in that moment made the realization that the boy could touch him. He hadn't had a chance to test that out yet and made a mental note about it. Who knew when that would come in handy. Or more likely be troublesome.
The Spirit was happy to find out that watching the "telle" entailed sitting on a couch and pretending to be awake. At least that's what it ended up being for him since he didn't care much for the colorful children shows on the screen.
"Good Morning Ryou," greeted Mrs. Bakura as she entered the living room with Amane in her arms.
"Good Morning Mummy." Ryou was sitting on the very end of the couch, leaving a large space open. Mrs. Bakura noticed the slight chill in the living and was reminded of everything that had happened the day before.
"So Ryou how did you convince Spirit to join you for your shows this early in the morning?" Mrs. Bakura walked across the room to Amane's play pen and set her down.
"It was hard. Mr. Spirit wouldn't wake up and now he's hogging the entire couch to take a nap!" All of Ryou's attention was turned to his Mum since there was a commercial break happening.
"It's not the entire couch. I let you have a spot didn't I?" The irritated Spirit was once again woken up.
"It's not enough." Ryou tried pushing the Spirit's legs off the couch with little success.
"You do know the spot you're sitting on has a pull out right?" Mrs. Bakura asked coming over. The silence from both told her that no, they did not remember. "On your left Spirit there's a plastic piece in the couch pull it out and the leg rest will come out."
"Interesting," said the Spirit as he pulled the lever and the leg rest popped out.
"Thanks Mummy!" Ryou gratefully thanked his mother.
"You're welcome dear. I'm going to start on the laundry. Remember to get a pop tart for breakfast and remember to keep an eye on Amane." Mrs. Bakura left the living room to start her Saturday chores.
"Okay Mummy we will," answered Ryou for both of them.
At Mrs. Bakura's comment on Amane the Spirit turned and for the first time noticed the toddler in her playpen. Amane was playing with a stuffed animal and looked up when the Spirit looked over and smiled. The Spirit will deny smiling back. Ryou quickly got back into his shows, Sonic X was now on, and the Spirit went back to napping.
When Mrs. Bakura came back into the living room it was close to noon and the Saturday morning shows Ryou usually watched were over.
"I'm going to start lunch after I change Amane's diaper. Why don't you show Mr. Spirit one of the episodes you have on VHS while I do that." Offered Mrs. Bakura hoping to keep Ryou entertained until she had lunch done.
"Okay Mummy, I know! Mr. Spirit we can watch Courage the Cowardly Dog." Mrs. Bakura overheard as she left for the bathroom. The next time she walked past the living room she could hear the Courage theme song and Ryou explaining the show in that quick tone he got when he was excitedly explaining something.
Mrs. Bakura went into the kitchen, put Amane in her chair, and started on lunch. She had extra time since Ryou would probably want to watch an entire episode. Mrs. Bakura turned on the radio and got out the food she would be cooking; Chicken Alfredo seemed like a good choice. She put the frozen broccoli in the microwave and started cooking the chicken. Just as the chicken finished and she put the noodles in a pot to boil, her favorite song "I'm in the Mood for Dancing" started to play. Mrs. Bakura couldn't help herself she started to dance around the kitchen putting on a little show for her daughter whose eyes never left her mother's moving form.
When the Amane's eyes were distracted by something else Mrs. Bakura noticed and turned expecting to see Ryou in the doorway. Mrs. Bakura was surprised to see an empty doorway and a still staring daughter. She quickly figured out that the Spirit must be at the door and Amane was looking at him.
Mrs. Bakura smiled and just kept dancing to the song, until she got the idea to invite the Spirit that was still at the door to join her. She gestured for him to come dance with her. It took a moment, but she was surprised when she felt a cold feeling fill her open arms. He wasn't dancing with her, but she didn't mind he was joining in and that's all that mattered. They were nearing the last few lyrics when she felt him start to sway too. They were dancing!
"Mummy is lunch almost done?" Ryou asked from the doorway and with that the cold left Mrs. Bakura's arms and the song switched.
"Yes, sweetheart I just have to finish the noodles and add the sauce. Why don't you wash your hands and set the table." Mrs. Bakura answered moving past what just happened. Had she really been dancing with a spirit!? What had gotten over her?
Ryou went to the bathroom and Mrs. Bakura mixed the broccoli, chicken, and noodles into the Alfredo sauce. After the table was set and food served, Mrs. Bakura said the blessing and they started to eat.
"Mummy, why were you and Mr. Spirit dancing?" Ryou apparently hadn't missed what they had been doing when he came in.
"Well it started with me just dancing by myself and then Spirit came into the kitchen, so I invited him to dance with me and he did." Mrs. Bakura simply told him the truth.
"I didn't mean to make him leave." Ryou said quietly.
"Oh you just surprised him a little. He was probably embarrassed that you saw him dancing. He hasn't done it in a long while after all." Mrs. Bakura thought up an excuse, not knowing the Spirit's real reason for leaving so suddenly.
"I could help him if he isn't good at it. I'm already helping him with being polite!" Ryou said excitedly.
"Maybe you can. Next time we dance you can join us and give us pointers." Mrs. Bakura saw Ryou's enthusiasm as cute and decided to play along.
For once Ryou didn't have trouble finishing his vegetables and finished lunch quickly. He went up to his room while his Mummy to put Amane down for her nap.
The Spirit couldn't take it! He had no idea why the voices were this angry and he just couldn't stand the noise. The Spirit had planned to go into the Ring and staying there for the rest of the day pondering what had possessed him to dance with Ryou's mother. But with the non-stop noise he was finding it harder and harder to hear his own thoughts.
"Screw this," the Spirit thought. "It's quieter in Ryou's living room with all those stupid "cartoons". He'd have to face Ryou eventually anyway." The Spirit decided as he left the Ring.
"Why are we not in the Living room?" Questioned the Spirit after he identified his new location.
"Mr. Spirit!" cried Ryou joyfully as he grabbed the Spirit's arm. "I was worried since you were here watching shows with me this morning. You wouldn't come this afternoon and play with me." Ryou dragged the Spirit towards the bookshelf, he was excited to pick another game they could play.
"Fine I'll play a game with you, but whatever we play has to be quiet and not require talking. I came out here to find silence not pointless chatter." The Spirit looked at the offered games.
"Okay Amane's taking a nap so we have to be quiet anyway." Ryou was just happy to get to play with the Spirit. "Oh I know we can make this puzzle I got for my birthday! It has ghosts on it and if you turn of the lights it's supposed to glow in the dark!" Ryou grabbed the mentioned puzzle and showed it to the Spirit.
"Alright seems easy enough." The Spirit looked at the offered box and the picture on it.
"No it's 200 pieces. I've never finished a puzzle with more than a 100 pieces, so this is a super hard puzzle." Ryou poured out all the pieces onto the floor.
"That definitely looks like 200 pieces," thought the Spirit.
"How are we supposed to do this?" The Spirit was already getting frustrated with how little of an image was on each piece.
"My Mummy taught me that the easiest way to start a big puzzle it to find all the edges and make the frame." Ryou started going through all the pieces and picking out the edges.
"That makes sense," the Spirit joined Ryou in looking for the edges. The two fell into a comfortable silence sorting and building the frame. In comfortable silence it wasn't long until they finished the border. Unfortunately putting together the ghosts wasn't as quiet an endeavor.
"Do you have a white piece with a smidge of the corner of a mouth on it?" The Spirit had looked through his pile of pieces for the final piece of this ghost and couldn't find it.
"Let me check. What color of white?" Ryou started looking through his pile.
"I don't know. White. Not the gray white, a white white I guess." The Spirit didn't know how to describe the color of white.
"White White? Is this it?" Ryou offered the Spirit a piece he found in his pile.
"No that's a yellow white and that mouth is a smile. Mine just needs the half of a circle mouth." The Spirit handed back the piece.
"Ohhhh, an open mouth. Is this it?"
"Yes! You had it in your hand the entire time?" The Spirit was slightly frustrated with that fact.
"You didn't tell me it was a circle mouth! And I was busy looking at pieces on the floor!"
"Whatever where's the box? So I know where to put this ghost." The Spirit didn't want to argue about it.
"Here. I think that ghost goes in the corner by the old house." Ryou looked at the box as he handed it over to the Spirit to look at.
"No it's just like the ghost in front of the tombstone so it goes on the other side of the puzzle." The Spirit compared his ghost piece to the box.
"No the tails are different see. It goes by the house, besides that ghost is too big to fit in the little spot between the tombstone and the street lamp." Ryou pointed to different parts of the puzzle as he spoke.
"Then what's the gray thing in the corner of my ghost piece? That's the same color as the tombstone." Said the Spirit still believing he was right.
"That's the roof shingles." Ryou suddenly moved.
"Hey!"
"See it fits" Ryou said triumphantly after taking the ghost piece from the Spirit and put it in the place he thought it should go.
"No those pieces on that side don't perfectly fit."
"That's because the piece you put there is part of the tree trunk, not part of the side of the house." Ryou removed the offending piece and moved it to where it belonged.
"I'm pretty sure you put that piece there." The Spirit didn't want to be wrong two times in a row.
"No I put together the spires on top of the house you found the house side pieces remember." Ryou knew he didn't put that piece in the wrong place.
"So what if it was me all these gray pieces look the same and all of the white pieces look the same. How is anyone supposed to tell the difference between these pieces!?" The Spirit was frustrated that he was losing the game even though it wasn't an actual competition.
"That's what makes it a hard puzzle. This might be the hardest puzzle in the whole World! That's why all the pieces look the same so we can't solve it. If it's too hard for us we could go and pick an easier one. I have a few 100 piece puzzles I've never finished before."
"No we started this one. If we stop now, this was all a waste of time and we would have to waste more time doing a different puzzle we haven't sorted yet." The Spirit didn't want to give up on a challenge just because it was hard.
"Okay! Then do you have a sky cloud piece that has a little bit of leaves in the corner?" Ryou asked once they again got back into the puzzle.
"I have like nine pieces that fit that description. Ugh curse you Nut and your huge sky." The Spirit ended up just giving Ryou all the pieces that looked sort of like the right blue gray to be part of the sky.
"Nut is a sky goddess right?" At the Spirit's confused/surprised face Ryou continued. "My daddy told me about her. She turned into a cow in the sky right?" Ryou started looking through the sky pieces the Spirit gave him trying to find the ends of the trees.
"Um Hathor actually turned into the sky cow, her hide was covered in all the stars man could ever see. Nut was the sky goddess during the day and carried Ra the sun. Hathor held up the stars and carried the moon during the night." The Spirit corrected Ryou. He was surprised the kid knew so much about the gods. Most kids just learned about the big gods and there town gods, few at his age knew the stories behind the gods.
"Oh right! Hathor she turned into the sky, she's my favorite goddess." Said Ryou finally remembering the goddess and finally finding the tree/sky piece he was looking for.
"Really? What interest could you have in a goddess of love and beauty? Surely you like Isis better she is the Queen of the afterlife after all." The Spirit was curious as to why the boy identified with this goddess specifically. The Spirit was finishing another ghost and Ryou had moved on to the tombstones.
"Yeah, but Isis is mean she made a snake to bite Ra and Hathor is in the afterlife too. She gives food and drink to the souls that traveled all that way to be judged by a feather and a crocodile." Ryou thought for a moment about his answer. The Spirit had moved on to the moon and was trying to tell the difference between the ghost in front of it and the moon itself.
"I guess Hathor is the only welcoming party you get when you die, but Hathor isn't the nicest either. I mean you have heard of the story of when beer saved the world right?" The Spirit chuckled at the idea of Hathor being "nicer".
"Why would beer save the world?" Ryou obviously had never heard that story.
"So "daddy" didn't tell you this one huh."
"Daddy said there were some Egyptian stories he couldn't tell me until I was older. Said to wait until I was a big boy." Ryou once again reminded the Spirit how young his host really was.
"Well then do I have some stories to tell you! When you're older of course." The Spirit corrected himself when he saw how excited the kid got. He decided it wasn't a good idea to break his innocence this early. The gods could be pretty messed up sometimes.
"Aww, why can't you tell me the stories now? I won't tell my Daddy you told me pinky promise." Ryou forgot the puzzle and offered the Spirit his pinky finger.
"Sorry kid I'm not getting in trouble for ruining your innocence or whatever." The Spirit continued to look for the last few pieces they needed to finish the puzzle.
"Okay, but you have to tell me a story, one that won't ruin my innocence. Deal?" Asked Ryou still not returning to the puzzle.
"Hmm... Deal." I can probably think of few stories reasoned the Spirit. The kid had just made a deal with HIM not the other way around. Ryou didn't even know what he just did. "Hahaha."
"What's so funny? We can shake on it if you don't want to pinky promise." Ryou never understood what humored the Spirit.
"Nothing. It's nothing. We can just pinky promise on it I guess." The Spirit offered up his pinky after he had recollected himself.
"Okay," Ryou intertwined his pinky around the Spirit's. "Pinky Promise" Ryou said followed by the Spirit right after him as they shook their hands up and down once.
"Let's finally finish this "way more difficult than it should be" puzzle." The Spirit wanted to move passed the way to sweet almost sentimental moment.
"Right were really close!" Ryou finally got back to the puzzle and started putting in the pieces the Spirit was having trouble with.
"So why is it loud in the Ring?" Ryou finally asked when they were close to finishing the puzzle.
"What?" The Spirit was pulled from his musings about how binding a pinky promise actually was.
"You said you came here to "find silence" and you live in the Ring. So I was wondering, why is it loud in a Ring? What's making all the noise?" Ryou was a little too curious for his own good.
"Nothing you need to worry about, it's just louder than usual is all. The noise should quiet down soon." Answered the Spirit simply, trying to convince himself that things would return to normal in the Ring.
"Yeah, but what's causing the noise in the first place? How can there even be noise in the Ring? I can't hear anything." Ryou held the Ring up to his ear and tried to listen. The Spirit wouldn't admit to finding it slightly amusing.
"Hey! Remember when I said it had to be a no talking game. Yeah let's go back to that." The Spirit's mood swiftly changed and he grumpily threw a piece at Ryou.
"Ow! It was just a question." Ryou as he threw his own piece back at the Spirit.
"Well you should learn when to not ask questions." The Spirit frowned any amusement from the conversation was quickly evaporating.
"Well it's my Ring! I should be allowed to know if there's something wrong with it!"
The Spirit glared and stood. "The Ring only has one owner and that's Me. Don't you ever suggest you have a right to know what goes on in it!" The Spirit was royally pissed. How dare this kid interrogate him?
Ryou frowned at this leaning away from the Spirit. "I just wanted to help."
The Spirit snorted, "Like I would need help from a seven year old."
"Hey! Just, cause I'm seven doesn't mean I can't help!" Ryou yelled back at the Spirit.
"I have everything under control; I don't want to hear any more of your pointless questions!"
"Ryou? What's with the yelling? You're going to wake Amane up from her nap." Mrs. Bakura interrupted the heating argument by poking her head in the door.
Mrs. Bakura was surprised. Ryou's room was at least 10 degrees colder than the rest of the house. Ryou was sitting in front of a nearly finished puzzle glaring at thin air.
"Mummy!" Ryou turned around surprised. "Mummy, Mr. Spirit won't let me help him fix the Ring!"
"What's wrong with the Ring?" Mrs. Bakura was confused, why was the Spirit making the room so cold?
"Nothing that concerns either of you!" The Spirit was done. He was tired of people asking questions about the Ring. "In fact! I'm going back in the Ring! At least those voices don't ask stupid questions!"
The Spirit in his rush to leave lunged towards the Ring instead of dissolving into it like he usually did. Ryou on instinct flinched back away from the person lunging at him. Mrs. Bakura stepped forward just as there was a large flash of light and she was blinded for a moment.
"Ryou!? Are you okay?"
"Yeah Mummy I'm fine." Was the reply as Mrs. Bakura's eyes cleared up.
"What happened!? Did the Spirit hurt you?"
"No Mummy he just got mad. He went into the Ring, I think." Ryou was looking down at the argued about item.
"The Ring's never flashed like that before right?"
"No Mummy. There's something wrong with it, but Mr. Spirit won't tell me what!" Ryou was clearly frustrated by this fact.
"Well sweetheart maybe Spirit doesn't want to worry you." Mrs. Bakura absentmindedly tried to comfort Ryou, while her mind raced. What was wrong with the Ring? Why did the Spirit get angry and refuse to explain? Could whatever was wrong with the Ring hurt Ryou!?
This was bad, Mrs. Bakura thought. Not only did the Spirit freak out and "attack" the one allowing it in the house, there was also something wrong with its Ring. The problem was causing it to lash out. That settled it she decided as she fed and put Ryou to bed. She was going to pull out a few old tomes and find out more about this spirit. She had been to ignorant before and she couldn't let this continue. This was all running through her mind as she made a special call that night.
"Hello this is the Britain Excavation Team how may I help you?" A monotone voice came through the phone.
"Yes this is Mrs. Bakura calling. Could you put be in touch with my husband?" Mrs. Bakura hoped she wouldn't be waiting long.
"Oh yes he's waiting on another line Mrs. Bakura. Hold for just a moment while I connect you." The operator caused a click on the line before Mrs. Bakura could respond.
"Hello?" Greeted another man on the line.
"Hi Sweet Heart, just calling from England." Mrs. Bakura greeted her husband.
"Hi darling! How are things going? How are the kids?" Mr. Bakura asked.
"Great! The kids are great! Amane has another tooth growing in." Mrs. Bakura sat down at the kitchen table.
"Aww by the time I get back Amane will have her wisdom teeth coming in." Mr. Bakura joked, "And how's Ryou?"
"Good. He actually got a new imaginary friend." Mrs. Bakura said, hinting at the Spirit. She didn't know how else to mention it to her husband.
"Really? That's good! I'm glad he's doing that, it's good for kids his age to be imaginative and creative. What kind of imaginary friend did he think up?" Mr. Bakura was completely on board with Ryou having an imaginary friend and completely oblivious to it actually being a ghost.
"Well he calls it "Mr. Spirit" and says it came from the Ring you gave him for his Birthday. Also says Mr. Spirit doesn't have good manners. Mr. Spirit helped him build a puzzle today." Mrs. Bakura was cautious of what she told her husband. Maybe she shouldn't tell him her fears. It would just worry him and what if he didn't believe her?
"My gift huh? It's cool of him to think up an Egyptian ghost for his imaginary friend. I'll remember to tell him more about the common Egyptian people for his imaginary friend when I get back." Ryou's father quickly got behind the idea of an Egyptian imaginary friend.
"Yeah I'm sure Ryou would love to hear more about you work dear. Speaking of which how is the dig going?" Mrs. Bakura wanted to move the conversation away from Ryou's "Imaginary" friend that may or may not try to harm them in the near future.
"The dig's going good. We moved onto another house in the village and are ahead of schedule. Some of the guys and I are planning to go sightseeing in a few days. Like normal tourists." Mr. Bakura started talking fast like Ryou did sometimes.
"I'm glad you're getting to go sightseeing. It's sort of pointless to go all the way to Egypt and not see some of the temples and monuments. Make sure to take pictures," Mrs. Bakura was starting to miss her husband. It was difficult at times to deal with your husband being gone half the year.
"I will dear. I've got to go. Tell the kids that I love them." Mr. Bakura said as a beep happened over the line.
"I will. I love you!" Mrs. Bakura stood up from the table.
"Love you too. Bye."
"Bye." They hung up at the same time.
Mrs Bakura stood in the kitchen for a moment staring down at the phone in her hand. She decided she would tell her husband about the Spirit in person, when he returned from the expedition. He would hopefully take it better in person. Who was she kidding? he would think she was crazy for a second no matter where she said it. Maybe she will have gotten rid of the Spirit by then.
Then again Mrs. Bakura didn't know how that worked. Was this a spirit with unfinished business? Or a spirit that just needed to find peace and pass on. Or was it a dangerous spirit looking for revenge for its death? No it couldn't be that the Spirit was from an ancient Ring surely it would have already gotten revenge if that was the goal. Actually none of the traditional reasons really fit, except for the soul being attached to an object, which was definitely a thing. And perhaps a host? Ryou has been wearing the Ring and he's the only one who can really see the Spirit except for Amane. Why could Amane see it?
Mrs. Bakura realized how little she knew about this Spirit and how dangerous that really was. It had already had two freak outs what if there were more? What if it got violent? As Mrs. Bakura got ready for bed she decided that tomorrow she would figure out more about the Spirit. No more tip toeing around the issue. Mrs. Bakura would get her answers and if he was a risk to her family she would stop him.
Oh look the plot decided to show up. Yes there is a plot to this thing. Most of it will be Ryou and the Spirit playing games, but there is a planned plot in the background. The plot has to do with Mrs. Bakura so that will be fun! Reminder to check out the one-shot that started this fic if you haven't already read it. It's really good!
A few notes about this chapter.
One the myth about the goddesses Nut and Hathor are one version of the egyptian sky myths. There are others but I decided to go with this one. Sorry if that conversation seemed out of place by the way. I just really like the egyptian gods and their stories. I also wanted to show that Ryou knows a little more about Ancient Egypt than most kids.
Also I'm aware of how the timezones work between Egypt and Britain. Mr. Bakura was calling really late in the evening for Egypt but really early in the evening for Britain. I've been in a long distance relationship so I'm very familiar with that late night phone calls. Don't expect much Mr. Bakura in this just yet, he's going to be in Egypt for a little while longer. Also I hope it's obvious but I'm portraying him from what we knew before DsoD, so him going crazy and power hungry isn't going to happen here.
I hope to start updating more consistently now so expect the next chapter to not take a year.
Thanks for reading!
Darkhorse Out!