Hopefully, this will satisfy all of you who are Bakura fans! Squee!

Disclaimer: However much I would love (times a million) to own Yu-Gi-Oh!, I (sadly) do not.

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Ryou knew he was in trouble. He had known he was in trouble since yesterday afternoon, when Bakura had printed all of those papers at Kinko's. He should have given the camera phone to Anzu yesterday... oh, why didn't he? Curse his timid, forgiving nature. Curse it to heck! And now he was sitting in first period. He was not taking notes as he was supposed to. His stomach was tied up in knots, and he felt truly sick. He would see Anzu in fourth period. Should he cut the class? Cut the rest of the day? No, he had a presentation in fifth, and a project due in seventh. Also, today was the fourth period quiz. He couldn't skip. He would have to ride it out, and hope Anzu would take pity on him. Oh, how much he hoped. Deep in his mind, Ryou heard a barely repressed laugh.

'Bakura! This is all your fault!' Ryou shouted at his dark side. 'How could you drag me into this?!'

In his mind's eye, Ryou could see Bakura shrug and grin. Then the dark side spoke. "First off, foolish boy, I'm attached to you. I cannot split from your body, no matter how much I want to. Second, you could have stopped me at any time. You and I both know how loosely I was controlling your limbs whilst we were printing the papers. Third, you knew the consequences. You decided to keep at it, regardless. It is shared fault that you feel guilty now."

Ryou, sickened all the more that these reasons were all true, leaned his face on his desk. The cool metal soothed made him feel better, though he had no idea why.

'She's going to be mad as heck when she sees me,' Ryou told Bakura, who nodded and smirked. 'What do you think she'll do?'

"That's hardly any concern of mine, boy. I'll keep in here where I can't feel the hits you'll be dealt." Ryou saw Bakura's smirk grow wider. Ryou sighed deeply.

'I suppose. But I have a question...' Bakura lifted one of his pale eyebrows. 'Why did you sniff Anzu's undergarments?'

Bakura's smirk disappeared, but his face remained impassive. "Where did that question come from? I did no such thing." Ryou's turn to smile.

'But you did. I was watching you walk around the house through my eyes. It was like, we shared the eyes. You didn't notice.' Bakura was frowning now.

"How did you manage without my noticing?"

'I was only watching for a few minutes at a time. That way, my presence wouldn't be as strong as if I looked for a long time. But, back to my question.'

Bakura's frown deepened. "None of your business, fool."

Ryou's smile could be described as a smirk now. 'I believe it is. We do share the same body, mind and soul, you know. It's only fair.'

"We most certainly do not share the same mind and soul! I have no soul, and a much cleverer mind than you! It is only the body!" Bakura scowled. "I don't have to tell you anything, stupid boy."

Ryou laughed. He couldn't believe it. He had been so right about this... and it was hilarious.

"Boy! Stop laughing! It will draw attention to you!"

Ryou stopped with a bit of difficulty. "Alright... I've answered my own question. Thanks, Bakura."

Bakura snarled. "It is not what you think! I can see your reasoning, it is floating above me in your horrible handwriting! I can see it! It's not correct! It is false!"

'Really? I should keep a second journal in my imagination, then, so you can't see my thoughts floating in midair. Oh, bugger!' For Ryou had just remembered: his backpack. He had left it at school yesterday, and had returned for it after the run to Kinko's, but it hadn't been there. Yugi (who had been in an after school club) had told him Anzu had taken it home.

Ryou had been too embarrassed and consumed by guilt by then to return to Anzu's house, so he didn't go back that evening. Ryou had not thought about his journal being in his backpack! Suppose... oh, that was ridiculous. Anzu wasn't a nosy person... but...

Ryou assumed the worst. The period bell rang, and, spirits sinking lower and lower, Ryou gathered his textbooks and walked slowly out the door. He knocked smack into Anzu. Her face was a shade of dark pink, and she was scowling.

'Oh gods,' Ryou thought as Bakura laughed in the background of his mind, 'Oh gods, why me?'

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Anzu had barely picked up all of the horrid papers before the late bell rung. She had then roughly shoved Ryou's backpack into her locker, and slammed the door, fuming. She intended to shred all of these, these, awful papers in the privacy of her home. How could he have? How dare he have? It was so low, even for Bakura. She wondered, as she stamped down to her first period, how many more of those pictures Bakura had, and... the last thought was even too awful to imagine.

But Anzu had had to check. She would turn in a pass at first period. She ran all over the school, checking all of the bathrooms, hallways, bulleton boards, even in a janitors closet, for any more of the papers. None were plastered anywhere else, though she checked everywhere three times. By the end of her luckily fruitless search, she was very angry, and she knew by the heat of her face that her features were dark and pink.

It was way below the belt, what Bakura did. Even if he didn't place any papers anywhere else, Anzu thought that even printing the copies would earn the bastard her permanent distrust and hatred. He could have ruined her whole high school reputation for those papers. It was a very serious offense, one of the highest rules to never be broken, especially from a straight A++ student. She would have been kicked off all of her clubs and put into suspension. Even if she didn't do it on purpose. Not to mention how embarrassed and ashamed her parents would be of her... and she couldn't begin to think about how many of her friends would shun her.

When the first period bell had rung, she had not been in her class. She had been stalking down the science wing, checking it for a fourth time. Her anger had been calming down, but she was still pretty mad.

In fact, she must still have been furious enough to not watch where she was going, because she strode right into someone and his textbooks thudded to the ground. She was just about to mutter an apology and help the someone, when she recognized him.

"Bakura!!" She shrieked.

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Thankfully, Anzu knew that if she started a shouting match in the middle of the science wing she would cause a scene (and probably get suspended), so she dragged Ryou painfully by his forearm to the girls' restroom.

Ryou, scared but still in his right mind, tried to dig his heels into the tile floor outside of the restroom. He produced enough friction so that Anzu could not pull him forward into it. She tugged forcefully on his arm, but he would not give in.

"What is your problem! We need to talk about something very important!" Anzu squeezed his forearm until it hurt. He tried to free it, but Anzu had a tight grip.

"I know what you need to speak about Anzu, believe me, I do, but not in there." Ryou desperately twisted his arm, and broke it out of Anzu's hold. She snatched it back. Apparently, she was afraid he would run off. Ryou grudgingly accepted this fact.

"Why ever not? I could if I really wanted to, you know. To humiliate you like you would have done to me!" Anzu was very very angry. Her blue eyes practically spit fire at his. Bakura chuckled in Ryou's mind. Ryou ignored him. He knew he needed to explain his error.

"Anzu... I'm very sorry. Truly I am. But, you see, I convinced Bakura to not put them up, you see. I told him it would ruin your high school career." Anzu was glaring at Ryou with all her might. She clapped her hand over her mouth, subsequently releasing his arm.

"You knew! You knew he would put them up all over the school? It... that... that would have... You KNEW!" Anzu was now too angry to speak.

"I apologize profusly, Anzu. We didn't put them up..." Ryou bit his tongue. Bakura spoke up in a sly voice, "Shouldn't have said 'we', should you have?"

Ryou told him to shut up. Anzu suddenly turned around and walked away. Her color was back to normal, but quickly turning pale. Tears started to gather in the corners of her eyes. Ryou had made such a bad mistake. He had now officially lost a friend.

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A few nights later, Anzu was walking up her front porch with a satisfied smile on her face. She had performed wonderfully in the musical theatre rehersal, and had recieved a lot of praise from her dance teacher that afternoon.

Anzu had ignored Ryou since she had walked away from him four days ago. Now she wondered if she was ready to forgive him. After all... Ryou was such a nice person, and she was sure he wouldn't do it again. She had thought about his apology in the last few days, and he had sincerely seemed sorry. However, Bakura was another story. She just didn't know. But she was ready to accept Ryou back. On Monday she would tell him; let him wallow in her "contempt" until then. How forgiving she was...

"Ah!" Anzu stumbled over something and tripped, falling on her face. She sat up and rubbed her head, cursing. What in the heck made her do that?

She unlocked the front door and turned on the porch light that was just inside the entrance hall. She gasped. A huge gift basket, decorated so prettily with the words "I'm Berry Sorry" sown on a ribbon on top blocked a smooth pathway to the front door. She had no doubt who it was from, but read the notecard anyway:

Dear Anzu,

I hope you will at least read this card before tearing this basket to shreds.

I am very really truly sorry, and I hope you will get past what Bakura tried

to do, and accept my heartfelt apologies. If you cannot, I must at least

insist that you do not spread awful rumors about me, as Bakura tried

to do to you. Once again, I am sorry.

From,

Ryou

'Aw,' Anzu thought, finishing reading the card. 'He really does feel sorry. And he didn't really do anything. And there are lots of chocolates in the basket. Mmmm...'

Anzu picked up the gift basket, which must have weighed forty pounds, and carried it inside, setting it down beside the door, before throwing her back out. She thought she heard a rustle in the lilac bushes surrounding the porch as she was closing the door, but was too tired to investigate.

She crawled into bed half an hour later, not bothering to draw her shades. She fell asleep while working out the walk to Ryou's house.

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Sunday morning found Anzu up bright and early, at 7:00. Before 9:00, Anzu had showered, dressed, and eaten breakfast. Anzu had plans to hang out with Yugi, Joey, and Tristan at a brand new amusment park from 12:30 to 3:00, so she would pay a surprise visit to Ryou later in the afternoon. She could easily get Joey's mother to drive her to Ryou's house. Joey's mother was very nice. Then she would hail a taxi home. She didn't know what was going to happen in between. The thought made her nervous.

At 3:30, Anzu was dropped off at Ryou's house. It had been a farther drive than Google had said it would. Anzu felt a little betrayed by the search engine. Nevertheless, she waved goodbye to her friends and started up the cobbled sidewalk to Ryou's porch.

She knocked on the door. His porch was nice. It was better maintained than hers was, with all the rotting wood off to the sides...

The door opened. There stood a tall, thin man, with his finger in a book and round glasses perched on his nose. He looked sort of surprised to see her there.

"Er, can I help you, Miss?" The man had a charming British accent, just like his son.

"Yes, thank you. Is Ryou home?" Anzu felt an odd need to be as polite as possible.

"Why, yes, he is. He is in his room. Are you a friend of Ryou's?" Anzu was slightly taken aback by the man's crooked teeth, but kept her face as straight as possible.

"I am." The man pushed his glasses up his nose, then called over his shoulder:

"Ryou! A friend of yours is here to see you! A rather cute looking girl!" The man turned back to Anzu. "Won't you please come in, Dearie?"

Anzu nodded and thanked him. She stepped inside the house, and was greeted by a pleasant smell of cammimeale.

"I was just making tea. Afternoon tea, you know. Couldn't kick the habit when we moved to Japan... would you like some, Dearie?" Anzu smiled and said she would like a cup, thanks.

The man nodded, pushed his glasses up his nose, and bustled into the kitchen to pour her a cup. Anzu stayed in the hallway, looking at family photos. She didn't feel awkward, she just didn't know what to do with herself until Ryou's father arrived with the tea. Ryou hadn't come down the stairs yet, either, which Anzu found a little strange of him.

Ryou's father came back into the hallway, and gestured her into the kitchen. He assured Anzu that Ryou would be down soon. Perhaps Ryou was finishing an English essay or something, didn't she agree? Anzu nodded at each of the man's explanations. She finished her tea, as did the man, and they sat there for a few minutes, waiting for Ryou. He still did not come.

"Maybe you should pop in on him upstairs, Dearie, see if he won't rush downstairs to come talk to you. Third door on the left down the hall. I'll be down here if you can't find him."

"Alright. I will. Thank you again for the tea." Anzu got up and made her way to the stairs.

"No trouble, Dearie!" The man said as she ascended the staircase.

Anzu had no trouble finding Ryou's room. What she found inside was troubling. She had to blink twice then clap her hands over her eyes. Ryou was on his bed, lying against a bed head rest, with a magazine propped up on his stomach. The covers of his bed were thrown off, crumpled in a heap on the floor. His jeans were near his ankles, as were his boxers. And his hands were covered in a slimy substance, sliding sickeningly tenderly over his... this is what Anzu's eyes took in before she slapped her hands over them.

Ryou evidently heard the tiny sound, because a second later there was yelling, and she herself was giggling madly while trying to find the door.

Anzu almost fell down the stairs, but she remembered the stairs, uncovered her eyes, and flew down the mahogany steps. Ryou's father was placing cookies on a platter at the kitchen table, and he called to her while she rudely wrenched the front door open, but she didn't hear what he said. She would have been too embarrassed to reply anyway. Anzu found herself running aimlessly down a dark sidewalk before she stopped to rest her fast-beating heart. She looked up at the sky before thinking about what she had seen. The sky was covered with gray clouds, foreshadowing a heavy rainstorm. Anzu didn't care at this point, however.

Since there weren't any benches around, Anzu sat on the hot, dark sidewalk. She didn't care. It was all too mortifying. How could she face Ryou in school tomorrow, knowing what she saw? More importantly, how would he face her? He had every right to be angry. And she had just come over to forgive him. The tables had turned. Did fate hate her, or just want to teach her a disgustingly visual lesson? Oh, the very irony of it...

A fat raindrop landed on her head. Anzu stared up at the gray sky. In response, the sky spit down more raindrops, and one landed in her eye. It stung. 'That settles it,' Anzu thought, looking sadly at a green lawn across from her seat on the sidewalk, 'Fate does hate me.'

It started really pouring, and Anzu had no where to keep herself dry. She couldn't to go back to Ryou's house. She didn't want to use another person's porch roof. So Anzu had no other option than to sprint to the nearest commercial store, which would be hard to find, given her current location in a maze of a never-ending residential neighborhood. She had to try, though.

Ten minutes passed, and Anzu was too out of breath to put her right foot in front of her left. She was still in a residential neighborhood, and now soaked to her core. Why hadn't she brought her cell phone with her? Or any money? What had she been thinking?

Anzu was about to give up and knock on a stranger's house for help, when she heard a car horn. She ignored it, and instead concentrated on finding a nice house to ring on. The car horn honked again, longer and louder. What was the driver's problem? She was on the sidewalk, not on the road! A third screech of the horn sounded in the pouring afternoon, and Anzu turned around to motion to the driver to go away. She never raised her hand.

A limousine, glittering white through the dark rain, was driving slowly behind her. 'It couldn't be...' Anzu thought. 'Kaiba...?'

The limousine sped up, and for a second Anzu had a crazy thought that it would drive right past her and splash her with mud (just like Kaiba to do that, eh?) but it pulled up alongside her, and a black tinted window rolled down, confirming Anzu's suspicions.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Kaiba said in a bored tone. "Get in."

Anzu just stared.

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Will Miss Independent accept Kaiba's offer? Oh, the juicy details...