The windows in this house are large. So large that, during the day, the whole world seems to be lit in dazzling sunlight. Sure, the whole place might be old and damp, but at least it is not cramped and dark like that awful apartment.
"Ryo."
The child turns around at the call of his mother. His eyes are narrowed in annoyance, but he will forgive her for her mistake. As the boy turns around, canines flash in the golden light, and his eyes widen in some mockery of innocence.
"Yes, Mother?" The mocking tone causes her to look up from the moving boxes that have been occupying her attention for the past half hour. As she glances at her child's expression, her pale green eyes widen.
"Oh sorry, Bakura." She says. The blush of embarrassment on her face is refreshing. She has been so sad and her face so colorless for so long.
"Could you get your brother? I need his help deciding how to set up his room." She looks at him as he fidgets a little before deciding to cut his sightseeing of the windows short.
"All right." Bakura huffs before blinking once and-
-Ryo blinks a few times. The disorientation he feels is nonsensical. He is in the kitchen. How could one become disoriented from taking a step towards the fridge… Why is he in the outer hall?
"Ryo, come. We were just about to design your room." His mother says to him as she picks up one of the lighter boxes. It is almost like she does not expect him to know what is going on.
"Oh…Okay, Mother." The boy is still confused; however, he must have just got caught in a daydream again. Ryo walks quickly towards her. Some part of him pushes him to run towards her, and, once again, he is left disoriented as he finds himself suddenly in his room. There is something strange with it, though. The pale blue and lavender pattern wall seems to be fading into whiteness right before his eyes. The outlines of some of the objects that are scattered about blur when Ryo looks directly at them, and the rest of what he assumes are his belongings are covered in sheets. The air of the room seems to be pressing down on him with gradually increasing strength, and Ryo feels like the heaviness is seeping into his mind. The boy glances at his mother. Confusion is evident in every part of his face. His mother merely smiles at him and then places a hand on his shoulder.
The world is warm and the place Ryo lays is so soft and comfortable. It is too bad that once again, a new memory has caused coldness to creep along Ryo's heart. The boy stiffens for a moment. However, the warmth that surrounds him and the softness around him causes the need to get up and pace to fade away and causes his body to relax. As he snuggles deeper into the warmth, Ryo's eyes are still closed. Now that he thought about it, the dream itself was not so bad. At least, he had not woken up screaming. In a way, it was nice to see his mother content and calm like that. Although, the room that he saw was discomforting. Beneath closed eyelids, he swears he can still see the colored walls morphing into pure white and can still feel the heaviness pressing down on him.
Ryo sighs at his thoughts before opening blurry eyes. The first object he sees is a pillow covering his left arm. His glazed gaze travels from that pillow to the mounds of pillows around him. The boy wonders to himself why exactly he bothered setting this up last night, but he is too tired to think too much about that. Maybe he had less chores and homework than he thought last night, or maybe he felt the need to treat himself. The more he thinks about it, the less the reasons seem to matter.
Ryo yawns and draws his left arm from underneath the pillow to cover his mouth. The fresh bandages across his palm catch his eyes. Odd. He usually puts off changing them until after his morning shower. The boy just shrugs before shifting to an even more comfortable position. Even though the lighting of the room implies that it is at least mid-morning, Ryo's mind is still so fuzzy. It is almost like he stayed up all night. Which would not make sense since yesterday was Sunday- a day that Ryo never stays up late on. And it is mid-morning.
Wait, school.
Ryo's eyes shoot open. He leaps up from his mound of pillows and trips over a lumpy object on the floor. As he goes crashing to the floor, Ryo yelps, then groans from his place on the floor. Before his fall, he happened to catch a glimpse of the 11:56 A. M. on his clock. Missing two days of class during his first two weeks is definitely not a good impression, but it is rather late to go to school now. Although, on a good note, he is lucky that he did not use his injured left hand to brace himself and instead landed on his side.
Ryo glances over his shoulder to see what had tripped him. There are extra blankets and pillows by his bed that must have fallen off in the middle of the night. There is something off about them, but it takes until Ryo finally blinks the last bit of sleep from his eyes before he sees it. They are damp. Ryo can tell this because there is a clear imprint, like someone had lain there after a shower, of dampness on them. While carefully pushing himself to his feet, he frowns at this thought. He runs his right hand through his hair. It is dry. He walks up to his bed to see if the bedding on it is damp. It is not.
All right, this does not make sense.
Ryo walks over to the dampest pillow on the carpet and picks it up. He sniffs it. If he had showered last night, there would be a scent of cherry or apricot from his favored shampoos. It smells like rain. Like the rain from-
There is a bridge. Water is rushing down his throat. He cannot breathe, he cannot breathe. A flash of red appears before the darkness swallows him. A glint of gold is-
The pillow has not even hit the floor before Ryo dove back into the mound of bedding. It must be here. After a night like that, he would have clung to it in his sleep. One hand brushes against cool metal. Within moments, he unearths the Ring from the mound. As he holds it away from himself, the boy is breathing fast and hard. The spirit is back. The Spirit is back and there are so many questions that Ryo wants, no, needs to ask about those blank spaces in his memory that have just started to fill in, about the real reason behind Monster World, about Mother and Amane, about how much they knew about the Ring, about how the spirit treated them, and about the fact that Mother often called the spirit Ryo's brother.
"Spirit, are you there?"
The Ring is cold and silent.
"Ba…Bakura?"
Ryo's last name tastes odd on his tongue. He is uncomfortable with the fact that, if the memories are accurate, the spirit has stolen his last name. His discomfort leaves him a second after a brief warmth pulses through the Ring and into his hands. After a moment, the Ring turns cold again, but that temperature change was enough to know that the spirit was alive, in a sense, and had heard Ryo.
Ryo's breath slows and he relaxes. It might not be now, but he will finally get some answers.
A sharp, piercing noise startles the boy, and the Ring drops with a thump back onto the bed. As the telephone continues to ring, Ryo snatches the artifact back up and slips the rope around his neck before getting off of the bed and heading towards the door. Unfortunately, the telephone is in the living room. The ringing stops on the third ring, and Ryo freezes in the hallway.
"Hello?" Says a tense voice. Ryo does not move or even breathe. There is someone else in his apartment.
"Ryo's not available. He is sick. He won't be coming to school for awhile." There is a horrible silence.
"No, I already told you. He cannot come to the phone. Call later." The click of the phone echoes in Ryo's ears.
Ryo's heartbeat is pounding in his ears and his hands will not stop shaking. There is a stranger in his house. The boy leans against the wall. Where is the Spirit? Ryo's life is in danger. As demonstrated in memories preceding a blackout and in the few memories that Ryo has regained, the spirit has always taken over by this point. Why has he not taken over by now? Did something happen last night to weaken the spirit or did-?
"You're awake."
Ryo pushes away from the wall and steps sideways away from the intruder. His heart is pounding, and it's hard to breath. Pale green eyes flash to the red-haired stranger's grey eyes.
I know you.
In the darkness and ruin, there is someone holding him as his world ends again.
"Alister."
At Domino High, Miho is staring at her phone and having visions of the last time Bakura missed school. Miniature dolls and an evil, smirking, possessed Bakura dance across her vision.
"Yugi! Yugi!"
The boy in question looks up from his bland lunch to see a light-purple-haired girl speed towards him. In the cafeteria lights, the puzzle that hangs from his neck gleams.
Alister stares at Ryo from across the table while the boy tries to finish his bowl of cereal. The boy keeps glancing at Alister and then quickly looks back at his cereal. One small nibble later, the glance returns. Alister just stares.
Once a quarter of the bowl is eaten, the boy finally finds the courage to maintain eye contact and to speak.
"Thank you." The boy mumbles.
Alister just stares in reply. This time, the boy holds his stare. His right hand clenches the spoon, but his gaze is steady. He does not tremble.
You're different from last night, Ryo, or is it the spirit that stares at me through those eyes?
The boy speaks again despite the lack of response.
"You saved my life last night. Thank you. I do not know what I could do for you in repayment, but-"
"I have several questions for you." Alister curtly cuts in, his grey eyes simmering. Ryo blinks and finally looks away. He clenches his spoon even harder.
"Okay, you deserve that." The boy's voice is quiet and full of dread. Here comes the questions for his reasoning and the answers that he will be forced to give.
"Your words last night told me enough about your reasons."
Wide green eyes look back towards Alister.
I know that prying will make that pain worse.
"However, there is a few facts I need to know in order to see if there will be any problems while I am staying here." Ryo fidgets at the word "staying" and opens his mouth to ask-
"Let's just skip those questions and the long-winded talk that is bound to ensue." Alister cuts in.
"You tried to kill yourself last night due to personal reasons. Judging from what I have seen, you live here alone."
"I have friends who-"
"Who do not live with you." Alister's stare hardens.
"If I were to leave you alone and you were to decide to finish what you started, then I would be responsible for it." Ryo is silent and is wearing his owlish expression again. His bandaged left hand is curled into a fist. The clean, white bandages and pale hand contrast the chestnut table. His two wounds (one on his palm and one on top of his hand) are not bleeding through the bandages. This is a fact that Alister has noted many times throughout the night and this morning. Whether the boy is clutching at the blankets that cover him or clenching his hand like now, those wounds almost never bleed.
It had to have bled sometime under the bridge. Otherwise, there would not have been such a large stain on the sleeve of Ryo's tan coat nor would there have been so much blood to clean off the boy's hand and arm.
In an attempt to derail his current train of thought, Alister blinks a few times and shifts almost imperceptibly in his chair. There is a hint of calculation in Ryo's green eyes, but Alister ignores it for now.
"Now, back to those few facts." Alister glances at the bandaged hand. "That wound bled enough that I nearly took you to the hospital. I assume that, judging from its current condition, that is not necessary."
The boy stops blinking and breathing for a moment. Alister waits for a response. Will it come from the spirit who thinks that the manipulations of Alister's memories from last night actually worked- a green stone glitters from its protective place on a piece of lace- or will Ryo be the one to respond?
Pointing out some weird aspect like that hand will bring a rise out of the Ring's resident- if he is still active. However, it's likely that your recent battle with the Pharaoh and the events of last night drained too much out of you, Spirit.
"No" says a steady voice. For a single moment, Alister thinks that the spirit is responding to his thoughts. His muscles tense and his breath is shallow. But then-
"It won't bleed if I do not want it to."
Alister's eyes widen. The boy just stares back. His eyes are not flashing yellow, but there is something different about them. Some look, some glance that signals a possibility of something being very off.
You're testing me, aren't you?
"Good" says Alister. His voice does not betray the tension in his body.
"Also, is there anything that is a need to know before we continue on with the next few weeks?"
The boy exhales before he goes back to eating his now soggy cereal. He does not nibble this time but instead takes quick large bites.
"Not really, only that my friends come over quite often and that my RPG room is off limits."
While the boy devours his cereal, neither one speaks. Within a minute, the boy stands up and walks over to the dishwasher. He does not look at Alister. However, Alister trains his eyes on him. The expected flash of gold never comes. The boy turns towards the open door leading to the hallway and walks to it. Before he leaves, though, Ryo stops and looks back over his shoulder.
"The damp bedding on the floor was from you I take it." The boy's eyes are too observant, too focused. The Spirit, for that is who Alister assumes has been in control for a while now, has too many faces for Alister's liking
"Yes." Alister still waits for a flash of gold.
"I think you can stay then. Thank you for changing the bandages last night." With those words and a warm smile, the boy is gone. Alister waits until Ryo Bakura is out of earshot before removing his hand from the duel cards in his trench coat pocket and sighing.
Down the hall, Bakura leans against the bedroom door before opening it and stumbling inside. He should not have taken over. He does not have the energy for this, but it had to be done. Alister's questions about the wound had called forth a memory that would have made Ryo's real reaction rather unpleasant. As it is, Bakura grimaces as his landlord relives one of his more violent memories. The only positive thing about this situation is that, if the creeping whiteness at the back of his mind is anything to go by, Ryo will probably forget all this within a few moments.
Bakura falls to his knees while control of their shared body slips from him. For a minute, the body they share teeters on the edge of collapsing, but then Ryo is back in control. The boy stands, and his legs almost give out, but he manages to lean against his bed for balance. The boy blinks several times as the memory he just relived fades into a white, heavy haze. He tries to remember what he was just doing, but the last moment- the entire morning in fact- seems to be slipping away from him.
One glance at the damp bedding on the floor reminds him of Alister. Yet, for the life of him, Ryo cannot remember why Alister was on the floor last night.
That must have been uncomfortable. Ryo thinks as he picks up the bedding. I should drag the futon out of storage for him to use later.
As Ryo picks up and straightens the bedding, the memories of last night slip from his mind like a forgotten dream.
Meanwhile, at school.
"Miho, are you sure that Bakura was possessed again?" Tea sighs. The purple-haired girl nods vigorously.
"Yes, Miho is certain! The voice on the phone was rough and harsh like the evil Bakura. And he certainly did not like Miho at all." She finishes her words with another nod.
"Did the voice actually say that he was Bakura?" Tea asks with half-lidded eyes.
"No, but Miho is certain he wouldn't reveal himself like that!"
From his place to the immediate left of Tea, Yugi interjects with an obvious question.
"Are you sure it wasn't his father. He does work at the Domino Mus-"
"Yugi! How dare you lack faith in Miho's intuition!" says Tristan as he appears right next to Yugi's side and grabs his arm to make him stop walking.
"Miho has a terrific sixth sense. If she says that the creepy, evil ring-spirit has returned from the abyss, then return he has." Yugi shakes off Tristan's titan grip a second before Joey plows into the lovesick fool.
"It has been only six days since the creepy, evil ring-spirit's demise and I doubt that the Other Yugi's banishing spell whatchamacallit would disappear that quickly." Somewhere within the Puzzle, someone cringes at the word "spell whatchamacallit."
"So, no one start saying that its back." Joey states as he dodges Tristan's retaliatory shove. "Besides, everyone knows that it takes at least six years for a ghost or demon to return."
Tea directs her unamused gaze at Joey.
"That was from the horror movie we saw three weeks ago."
Joey glances at her as he dodges Tristan's punch.
"Yeah. And Egyptian curses and magic items are in the movies, too."
As Tea sighs, Yugi laughs at Tea's reactions to Joey's unshakable faith in the Word of Movies. Miho joins in the laughter, too. However, her reaction might be more from the fact that she has managed to rile up Tristan again. As the friends continue on their way, Bakura's apartment slowly comes into view.
Deep within the darkness, a prone form lies on hard ground. It is cold here. The cold is enough to make the figure's fingers, bare toes, and lips turn blue in color and to cause his body to tremble if it had the energy. It does not. Dull amber eyes stare sightlessly off into the darkness. If any person were to come by, this one would appear dead to them. His chest does not even noticeably rise with each shallow breath he takes, and his pulse flutters so weakly that, if one were to feel his wrist or neck for a pulse, one would not find it.
The figure does not care about his current condition. He is alive and that is all that matters. He fought and, due to a certain foolish boy, lost against a powerful Item. Yet, he is still alive. Even the magic of a supposed Pharaoh cannot kill him. If he had the energy, the Spirit of the Ring would smirk at this thought. As it is, the brief intensity of his emotions have used up the last of his energy. His eyes flutter shut. Before his conscious can leave him completely, his thoughts turn to his Landlord. If the idiot had not pulled his stunts last night and today, Bakura might have had the energy to observe and sense the outside world. Now, it might be weeks before he recovers even that ability.
By that time, all the memories will have most likely returned to his host. The spirit would cringe if he could. He would have preferred to wake up to a host whose sanity was intact.