Chapter 6
The next night, Bakura called the others over while Ryou was asleep. He had gotten permission to use Ryou's body while he was asleep, as long as he didn't do anything to get Ryou in trouble. Even Kaiba had decided to come after Bakura's slightly sarcastic greeting over the phone "I need to get revenge on a certain someone who is not the pharaoh. I would appreciate your expertise on the subject. . ."
And so, Bakura, Yugi, Yami, Joey, Tristan, Duke, Marik, Ishizu, Odion, and Kaiba sat in Ryou's living room.
"So, you mentioned revenge? Let's hear it then!" Marik said, admittedly a little too excited over the coming bloodshed.
"To form a proper revenge, you need to know the circumstances first." Bakura stated, halting Marik in his tracks.
"But we already know the circumstances. Ryou's father abused him." Duke said, confused.
"Yes, and no." Bakura said, noting the confused looks still on everyone's faces. "There is more too it. Ryou's other personalities made sure he didn't notice exactly how many memory blanks there were. It was a lot more than seven."
"Then what happened?" Yugi asked him, looking worried.
"Here's a hint: how does someone loose their innocence?" Bakura told them.
"Well there are a lot of things; war, poverty, sex . . . oh no. Tell me his father didn't -"
"He did." Bakura interrupted Yami. Those in the room looked either devastated (Yugi and Ishizu) or pissed (everyone else).
"That son of a fucking bitch! I'm going to tear out his spleen and shove it right up his ass! Then I'm going to rip out his tongue and gouge out his eyes before pouring salt on his wounds! . . ." Marik just kept on ranting. It took him about five minutes to calm down, and even then it was only because Odion pointed out the absolutely murderous gleam in Bakura's eyes.
Of course, Odion didn't have to point out the looks of everyone else after that. Even Yugi looked ready to commit some serious homicide. With pain involved. Lots of it.
"So, now that everyone is riled up, what should we do to this pathetic excuse for a human? I will warn you now; there will be no mercy killing. He will die from pain and fear, not because we were too tired to see his dieing through properly." Bakura told them.
"We should . . .
Bakura walked into Ryou's soulroom only too see him laying on the bed, awake, listening to a melody coming from a small gold locket. (1) His eyes shifted to rest on Bakura.
"It was my mother's." he told him in answer to his questioning gaze.
"Why haven't I seen it around? Surely you would keep something like that." Bakura asked him. Ryou gave a slightly insane giggle.
"Why, father destroyed it in another drunken rampage of course!" Ryou half exclaimed, half cried. Bakura knew he was trying to distance himself from the incident. Ryou gave that same tittering laugh as Bakura pulled him into his arms. The song coming from the locket twisted into a darker, more haunting version of the melody, echoing in the room.(2)
"Ryou!" Yugi exclaimed happily, opening the door the rest of the way. "How is everything?" Yugi asked him, meaning 'is it your father again?'
"Everything is well, all things considered." Ryou told him, smiling slightly. They walked into Yugi's bedroom. Tristan, Joey, Tea, and Marik were there. "Hello everyone." Ryou greeted. Tea glared at him.
'Oh, get over yourself, you self-righteous bitch.' Ryou thought. He felt his yami agreeing with him.
"What is he doing here?" Tea demanded.
"Tea, we've been over this before. Things have changed. Bakura stopped being an evil bastard two weeks ago." Tristan reminded her, looking slightly annoyed. Hmm, Joey looked annoyed too. Marik just looked pissed. Yugi, of course, was oblivious.
'My, my, do I sense some Tea hatred going on?' Bakura asked, almost making Ryou laugh out loud. Instead he sent his amusement through the link.
"I don't care if he's changed; he's tried to kill us far too many times!" Tea exclaimed. Ryou snorted, cutting of Marik's remark before he even started it.
"Well, I see someone's being a bit more bitchy than usual." Ryou commented snidely.
"Why you-" Tea started, standing up.
"What? Can't handle criticism? I'm merely stating a fact. Your life consists of ogling Yugi or Yami, whichever one happens to be out at the time, and complaining or making friendship speeches that you don't even believe. It's quite disgusting actually. You truly are a useless creature." Ryou said, satisfied with the horrified look on Tea's face. He didn't miss the look of absolute joy on Tristan, Joey, and Marik's faces, either.
"I'm useless? I'm not the one who let my father abuse me!" Tea yelled at him.
Everyone's faces went cold. It was this moment in time in which Tea realized that maybe opening her mouth wasn't such a good idea. Ryou gave that cold, tittering laugh that Bakura alone had heard in the safety of his soulroom during Ryou's less sane moments. It made Tea's heart freeze over.
"Tea, get out." Yugi told her, his voice the coldest anyone had ever heard it. It left the others in the room wondering if perhaps Bakura and Yami had taken over for the time being. Then they realized nothing had changed, so it really was Ryou and Yugi.
"But Yugi-" Tea pleaded.
"Out." Yugi commanded. Tea paled and left, crying.
"Hmm. Perhaps I will let Bakura throw her into the Shadow Realm." Ryou commented, revealing just how angry he was at what Tea said.
"On the plus side, you channeled some pharaoh-ness without Yami's help! Isn't it wonderful?" Ryou exclaimed, shoving his dark thoughts away and becoming overly cheerful. The others looked at him suspiciously, but went along with it.
"Yeah! Maybe you won't need the Pharaoh to convince everyone to do what you tell them too all the time now!" Joey teased, grinning at Yugi's obvious embarrassment. They all settled down, Yugi and Joey sat on the bed, Tristan sat on a bean bag in the room, and Marik and Ryou settled down on the floor.
"Yami?" Yugi called. Yami appeared beside him. The others waited for Bakura to appear, as he usually did.
"He's not here." Ryou said, slightly confused.
'Bakura? Where are you?' he asked his Yami through the bond.
'I'm in the Shadow Realm, don't worry, I'll be back soon hikari.' Bakura answered him. Ryou shrugged, taking it in stride, like he seemed to with everything lately.
"He's visiting the Shadow Realm. It feels like he's looking for something." Ryou answered the silent questions directed at him. They still looked slightly confused, but Ryou really couldn't explain it any better.
"Have you got any leads on how to get the Yamis their own bodies?" Ryou asked Yugi and Yami. Yugi sighed.
"No, I'm beginning to wonder if there is a way." Yugi admitted.
"Well it has only been a week since we've started searching. Most of your adventures go relatively fast, but this one is different Yugi. You can't expect someone to jump out of nowhere and yell that they know how to give spirits bodies." Ryou told him.
"I know, it's just . . ." Yugi trailed off.
"You're impatient, or eager. Take your pick. It's understandable." Ryou said. Yami tilted his head like he was listening to something, before shaking it slightly to clear it. When asked about it he said that it wasn't important. Nobody believed him, but they left him alone.
When Bakura came back a few minutes later, he dropped a little gold locket on Ryou's lap. Ryou, startled, looked at his lap. Slowly, he picked it up. When he opened it, it played the same melody that his mothers locket had. He turned to stare at Bakura in shock.
"What? It's nothing special." Bakura said, turning away, blushing slightly. He only blushed more when he saw Yami's knowing smirk.
"You go to the Shadow Realm to recreate my mother's locket for me, and you call it nothing special?" Ryou asked him, sounding both amused and touched. Bakura just snorted and disappeared again.
"He actually risked seeing the Dark Magician to get that locket." Yami commented absently. Ryou smiled and shakily closed the locket, before putting it on. No one mentioned it after that.
"Perhaps we should ask the other item holders for help in searching for a way to get them their own bodies . . ."
Emerald-demoness: Finally! I thought I was never going to finish this chapter. I suppose what I really need to do is sit down and figure out my plot, otherwise it will just end up being a mess. Anyway, this chapter has two purposes; one, being a filler, two, my first ever romance-like scene! I know it isn't actually romance, but this is definitely what will start Bakura and Ryou's future romance. I am sorry about the slow updating, but unfortunately it can't really be helped. So, I hope you liked it, and any ideas are welcome!
1) I thought of "Lacie" from Pandora Hearts for the tune.
Also, does anyone know why my dividers refuse to work?