A/N: So this fic has been neglected for far too long. More than a year since its last update and I don't have any excuse other than the usual that can be expected. Life, distractions, a move, a job change, a minor identity crisis - the usual. But, we're back now, and I'm actually quite eager to get back to my pen to write the next. :)

For anyone interested in having some music to go along with this fic, I have started a companion album on 8tracks. Look for me, raven dot ehtar and the mix is under the same name as the fic. :)

Warnings: Spoilers! Haven't made it through Yu-Gi-Oh!: Millennium World manga and don't want it spoiled? Read that first, then come back. Also, we will probably have a rating jump to M later on. I'll give a heads up before it happens, but be aware.

Chapter Specific Warning: Minor character death.

Disclaimer: Yu-Gi-Oh! and related characters are © to Kazuki Takahashi.

Haunted

Part VI

Raven Ehtar

Was it possible for dreams to come true?

It was something that Ryou had found himself wondering for some time now, and the best part was that he wasn't immediately tossing the notion out as ridiculous. It really did seem like it could be possible, that his heart's desires could be fulfilled, made a reality through some nameless force. And in this case, it came twofold.

The first had been the strange malady that had struck his school - and only his school - which had incapacitated so many fellow students, all of them bullies. The adults were calling it the Higashi-ku Strain, since it was a sickness that was limited to their area - in fact a single building. The students, on the other hand, had dubbed it the Kagome virus, after the little kids' rhyming game. It fit well enough, only targeting kids, and only kids who liked to play the ogre.

Ryou would never admit it to anyone, but this was as perfect a solution to his problems at school as he could have asked for. His bullies were gone, perhaps forever, and he didn't even have to change schools in order to escape them. He could stay where he had started to become comfortable and perhaps make some friends at last.

From this came the second half of his wish fulfillment. Since nothing the doctors did seemed to help those who had already fallen to the Kagome virus, nor could they say what it was, how it was spread or how anyone was to protect themselves from it, the school had decided to enact drastic measures. Only two months into the semester, and their doors had closed again to thoroughly sanitize the whole building, in attempt to scrub out whatever contagion was harming their students.

While normally a school-wide interruption like this would lead to students being shuffled to other schools temporarily to keep them from falling behind in their studies, Ryou's school was recommending their students take the time as an unplanned vacation. While some parents vehemently protested this kind of academic disruption, the school board was firm, explaining that while they still didn't understand how the disease was spread they couldn't risk sending possibly contaminated children to infect completely new schools. The practical upshot was that they got to have a nearly homework-free vacation before they were tired of the curriculum.

Normally whenever Ryou had time off he spent it on his own. He finished his homework early, and then distracted himself with games, puzzles and projects. Occasionally his mother allowed him to attend local game tournaments as a spectator - he would need much more practice against an opponent other than himself if he wanted to participate. When his father happened to be in the country he would take his son to his museum to see the exhibits, and not just those that the public saw. Ryou got to see the behind-the-scenes stuff, where the actual work of the exhibits went on, and got to see things that would never make it to a display case, but which were still fascinating.

Or so his father always insisted. Ryou had once thought so as well. Now he was more inclined to think that his father brought him to the museum as an excuse to keep working while spending the day with his son.

This time found Ryou in a completely new kind of situation. He had people - friends - who would come to his apartment and play games with him.

It was strange. A few weeks before the school closed its doors to undertake its sanitation regimen, one of Ryou's classmates had approached him, friendly and a little shy, looking for someone to play with. Ryou was so used to being a target, and to being shunned by others as a result of it - who in their right mind would hang out with the kid who was pummeled on a regular basis? - that at first he hadn't understood. He had wondered if it was some kind of prank, then when he had realized that she was being completely sincere he had worried and looked around to see if anyone had seen the girl speak to him. A girl daring to talk to him would only bring trouble down on them both. He'd forgotten for an instant that the bullies were all gone, all lain out in the hospital and far from being a danger.

He could make friends.

Ryou had gained a few friends, actually. Four in all, all of whom shared his interests and passions to varying degrees, and with whom he could more or less be himself.

It was wonderful. No bullies, friends at last, and now a vacation to spend whole days with them, playing the games he had played alone for so long.

His friends were over now, ant they were all playing a tabletop RPG. It was one designed to have a particular board, but Ryou didn't have that part. He'd never needed it before and his mother wouldn't buy it for him if he would never have occasion to use it. It was fine, though. They were making do without the board by using things found in Ryou's room as stand-ins for terrain and obstacles. They had the rule book, which had maps and layouts of what the miniature world was meant to look like, so it worked out quite well.

"My mom says they still don't know what it is," said one of the girls. Her name was Natsuko and she was a year older than the rest of them, but was still new to these kinds of games. She got interested because she liked to watch a lot of fantasy anime. "She thinks that it isn't a virus at all, and that's why they can't figure it out."

One of the boys, Manabu, picked up the dice and rolled for his turn. "What does your mom think it is, then?" He moved his figure around the makeshift board, mounting a set of stair-stepped textbooks.

Natsuko shrugged, showing that she didn't think it was important what her mother thought. "That it's a punishment for being bad."

Ryou looked up from his notes, frowning. "What, like God did it?"

She shrugged again, looking uncomfortable. "Yeah, I guess."

Manabu shook his head. "Yeah, but your mom thinks everything is because God did it. Everyone else says the devil did it, or the devil made them do it, your mom says it was God, every time." He grinned at Natsuko, teasing. He knew that she was sensitive about what people thought of her mother and was deliberately pushing her buttons. Ryou had learned those buttons quickly by observation and was careful not to push them himself.

It never stopped Manabu, though. Natsuko flared up right away, cheeks flushing bright red. "Shut up, she does not!"

"Wait," Rie, the second girl of the group said. She was a girl with freckles and glasses who was experienced with games, but only video games. Natsuko stopped, looked at her. "Your mom thinks the Kagome virus is a punishment? Does that mean she knows all the kids who got it were bullies?"

Hitoshi perked up in his corner. "Ooh, that's true," he said, waving his figurine around in the air. Ryou winced at the sight of a figure being handled so carelessly, but it wasn't his, so he couldn't really make him stop… "No one else knows that, no grownups, anyway," he went on, figure outlining patterns in the air with every move of his hands. "So how does Natsuko's mom know that?"

"Yeah, adults are usually dumb about that kind of thing," Rie said matter-of-factly. "They think their kids are little angels no matter what. It's not until it's one of their kids is picked on that they think someone else… oh."

The bespectacled girl trailed off, noticing Natsuko's expression. She had gone very quiet and was studying the playing board very carefully.

An awkward silence fell over them all, effectively halting the game as everyone tried to think of some way to smooth over the blunder Rie had stumbled straight into. Finally, shifting like she had sat on something uncomfortable, Rie said softly, "Sorry."

Natsuko shrugged like it didn't matter, but Ryou could see her face, could tell that it really did matter. He knew how she felt. Hitoshi, if he saw, either wasn't very good at reading expressions or just didn't care.

"It's no big deal," he said breezily. "I think everyone was bullied by those jerks. That's why you don't see anyone at school getting all sad that they're gone."

Natsuko didn't respond, but the rest of them nodded. The bullies, their experiences with them, and the mysterious virus were never very far from their minds. Even more than shared passions and hobbies, the surest way to camaraderie was in the sharing and comparing of battle scars. Figuratively speaking.

"It is really strange, though, isn't it?" Manabu asked after a minute, sounding hesitant. "I mean, it was only the bullies who got sick, and it was all of the bullies. Isn't that weird?"

Hitoshi rolled his eyes, snatching the dice out of Manabu's hand. "Duh, that's why everyone is so freaked out, genius. No one can figure it out. I hope when they do figure it out they spread it to every school in Japan, no, the world, and then there will be no more bullies at all."

Natsuko smiled. "That would be cool."

Rie looked a little scandalized, but Manabu interrupted her before she could say anything. "No, I mean it's really weird. Viruses don't pick people because they're mean. Viruses don't care what kind of person you are."

"So what?" Rie asked.

"I don't think it's really a virus."

This announcement was met with a thoughtful pause as four heads tried to wrap around it.

"What else would it be, then?" Hitoshi asked, confused.

Manabu shrugged. "I don't know. But I don't think it's a virus, it makes no sense." He paused, biting his lip. "Maybe Natsuko's mom is right and it's a punishment?"

"Like God or something?" Hitoshi was laughing again. "Like how Natsuko's mom says? That's so dumb!"

Natsuko scowled at him and kicked him in the foot, nearly taking out the mountain made out of textbooks in the process. Hitoshi squeaked and stopped laughing quite so hard.

"Noooo…" Manabu said, glaring at Hitoshi, "I mean what if it's a person doing all of this? That would make a little more sense, right? That someone was going around who didn't like mean kids and doing something to them?"

Rie shivered. "Makes sense, but that's scary, someone going around and hurting kids he doesn't like. Not even going around, but hanging around our school."

They all thought about that, Ryou included. He had contributed very little to the conversation thus far - he rarely did. He liked to listen and observe, a habit learned over years of having no alternative. He considered the idea of there being someone at their school, some teacher or janitor or cook, some adult who decided they just didn't like mean kids. It made him shudder as well, that there could be someone at his school, someone he had probably seen who would put a bunch of kids into comas. It was scary…

He wanted to personally thank whoever had done it.

He put down his book, a sign that he was joining the conversation. "If it's a person instead of a virus, then it's probably someone we know, who works there. And if it is someone, then we have to figure out how they're doing it."

Rie's face lit up. "Like a mystery simulator!" she said. "Or a detective show!"

The others brightened up as well, the somber mood of a few moments ago lifting at the suggestion of playing at detective in their very own mystery. "Wouldn't it be cool if we solved it when all of the grownups and all of the doctors couldn't do it?" Hitoshi said, though they were all certainly thinking the same thing.

It would be cool. To show up the all-powerful adults on something so important would probably be one of the coolest things any of them could imagine, a bit like being the superhero who saves the day. A hero in real life, that would be even more of a wish come true than Ryou would have dared imagine.

With daydreams of cheers and praise raining down on them, the five kids set aside their tabletop RPG to bend their minds around this new possibility in the riddle of the Kagome virus. Ryou didn't mind abandoning the game in the middle. So long as his friends were there, so long as he had friends, then he was content whatever they were doing.

Still marveling a little at how his fortunes had changed, at how much brighter every day was with friends to share them with, Ryou allowed himself another daring, selfish wish. He wished to himself that days like this would never end, so he might always enjoy them. He wished that these friends wouldn't leave him as he feared they eventually would. He wished that they would stay forever.

Beneath the cotton of his shirt, the golden ring clinked.

If having friends who would share his games with him and having all of his school life tormentors taken out of the picture was like having all of his wishes fulfilled, then this was a nightmare.

School was back in session, all of the classes resumed, and herds of students were trooping though halls that reeked of antiseptic and floor wax. Alcohol-based hand sanitizer dispensers had been mounted to walls inside and outside every door. Face masks, which many had already been wearing before the school had closed, were available at the front door and mandatory. Every teacher, every student, the janitors, the nurses, the people who worked in the offices, everyone sported a white mask across nose and mouth. Some had drawn silly faces on the outside of them and walked around with permanent grins, snarls or kissy faces. It was hard to understand what the teachers were saying, and the whole thing made it seem like they were in a giant Yanki gang. Or a hospital. Neither was a particularly comfortable thought.

"Ryou, wake up! Wake up, please, you have to wakeup!"

It would have been indescribably ridiculous to try and go on as normal, one class after another, to pretend that there was nothing at all wrong when quite obviously there was. All he had to do was look at his neighbor, or down the hall, or across the room. The sea of surgical masks would be enough to convince anyone.

But even without the masks, Ryou doubted that anyone would have been able to keep up the charade. Even with the school closed and having every wall and desk scrubbed to within an inch of its life, more kids had fallen into comas. While away from the halls and in their homes, with no bullies left, there were more students filling beds at the hospital. Four more, in fact - two boys and two girls. And it had nearly been five.

"Ryou!"

Ryou walked into his homeroom and was faced a wall of eyes and surgical masks all turning towards him. With half of everyone's faces obscured it was difficult to read expressions, but none of them seemed overly friendly. They seemed frightened, mistrustful… angry.

As he walked to his desk his classmates parted around him like the Red Sea. No one spoke to him, nor would anyone look directly at him. It was all sidelong and furtive glances, eyes sliding away from him as soon as he would return a look. Of this kind, Ryou was the recipient of many, many stares. He sat down at his desk, and when class began and everyone was meant to be at their seats, his neighbors were sitting as far from him as possible without physically moving their desks.

It was then that Ryou understood, or thought he understood, why coming back to school was a very bad idea for him.

They had never really gotten anywhere in their deductions, he, Manabu, Natsuko, Hitoshi and Rie. They had written down a list of 'suspects' and done their best to determine who would be the most likely to do this to the students based on motive, opportunity and their incomplete ideas of their personalities. How much did they know about the janitors anyway, or the lunch ladies, or even the principle? Who was to say that any of them couldn't go insane and start attacking the students, taking out bullies one after another? As for how kids were being put into comas so that even doctors couldn't figure out how it was done, that left all five of them stumped. In the end, though they all still dreamed of being heralded as deductive geniuses, they had set it aside, though Hitoshi would sometimes voice a new theory.

Instead of solving real life mysteries, which were much harder than the detective shows made it look, they had turned back to their tabletop adventures. Tabletop RPGs never frustrated them with dead ends, while still giving their imaginations room to stretch.

Ryou discovered that after all the solitary practice he had gotten in designing campaigns without ever actually playing through them, he enjoyed taking on the role of Game Master. The title was cool and he got to be both friend and antagonist to every player. It was better than he had ever imagined, having people to play his games with. The banter, the laughter, the way Natsuko and Hitoshi would tease each other. It was the best time Ryou had ever had.

"Ryou, wake up, wake up, please!"

His mother was shaking him by the shoulders, screaming at him to wake up over and over again. Ryou scrunched up his face and shook his head, seeking his pillows. He didn't want to wake up yet. There was no school today, so there was no need, and he was so tired

"Ryou!" Another hard shake that rattled his teeth.

Ryou groaned, rolling his head around until he thought he was facing his mother. He hadn't realized at the time that she was holding him up in a sitting position. "Mmmph… mother, I-"

The rest of what he had been about to say was cut off as his mother enveloped him in a crushing hug, nearly smoothing him. He tried pushing her away, but his arms were like noodles. When Noriko finally loosened her embrace, he noticed that he wasn't in bed like he had thought. He was on the floor of his room, sitting at the little table he brought in whenever his friends came over to play games. He looked around, confused, and it dawned on him just how drained and weak he felt. Even the alarm rising in him wasn't enough to snap him out of it, he just had no energy.

"Ryou, Ryou, I was so scared you wouldn't wake up, none of the others have, I don't know what I would do, what I would tell your father…"

Ryou shook his head, trying to clear it. It felt like a heavy helium balloon, if such things could exist. His mother continued to babble, making no sense in her ramblings, though he still tried to keep up with her, a lost swimmer in a tossing ocean.

Eventually his heavy eyes fell on the first of the bodies. Something - a scrap of dream - flashed in his mind and was gone. In his leaden tiredness, Ryou still went terribly cold at the sight.

"Mother, what happened? What's happened to them?"

It took several repetitions to get Noriko to actually hear him, and then still some more time to understand the reply she gave. After Ryou's friends had come over and sequestered themselves in Ryou's room as per usual, Noriko had let them be for several hours. It had taken that long for her to realize that no one had come out for snacks or to use the restroom, or that there was any sound coming from the room. When she walked in, all five children were passed out on the floor, still around their game table, the game in mid-progress.

Ryou's friends had fallen to the same virus that before had taken only bullies, and it had nearly taken Ryou as well.

All five of them were rushed to the hospital. The parents of the other four children were called in. The four were tested, and it was found that they were the same as all the other students they had gotten so far: physically fine, no wounds or visible trauma, no sign of infections or disorders, they looked as though they could open their eyes at any time. Despite appearances, nothing woke them up. They were unresponsive to any and all stimuli, and remained in their comatose states without so much as twitching.

As for Ryou, the doctors took an especial interest in him. Of all the cases they had gotten, he was the only one who had fought off whatever this disease was. They put him through a barrage of tests, drew phial after phial of blood, and asked him questions ranging from what he'd had for dinner the night before to what he remembered of the last hour before falling unconscious.

He couldn't remember anything important. He could remember his friends arriving and setting out the board they needed for their game, but after that… nothing. Which didn't seem right. The five of them had been in the middle of a game when they had all collapsed; he should remember the beginning of the game, his friends chatting… but no. There was nothing. The very last thing he remembered before his mother shaking him back into the world of the living was handing out the little figures that each of them had chosen as their favorites.

The doctors ran their tests on him, hoping that as the single known case of someone who had contracted and somehow trumped the virus, he might provide invaluable information. Ryou held still for them all and tried to remember what had happened in those few hours that were all blank to him. He tried to understand, to come to grips with the idea of his friends suddenly all being gone. Just like that, after years of yearning for them, to having them for a few bare weeks before they were taken away again.

It wasn't fair.

Three days after the hospital admitted him, they released him again. They could find nothing wrong save the few things he had complained of himself; extreme exhaustion, weakness and short term amnesia. They found one or two things in his blood work to explain the first two symptoms - he was low on some chemicals with long names that he couldn't remember. The knowledge failed to lead to any better understanding of what was going on or give them any clue on how to help those who hadn't fought off unconsciousness. They couldn't explain why Ryou felt the way he did or why he had been able to wake up. What they were able to say was that Ryou had no sign of infection of any kind, and that once he felt better and the school reopened, he could start attending as normal.

And so here he was, mask over his face and as normal as everyone else.

He hadn't been sure that coming back to school would be a good idea. He didn't want to come back, to be surrounded by classmates, all chattering together between classes and passing notes during. It would be a constant reminder of friendships that he was not a part of. Even more of a reminder, though, were the two empty seats in his classroom, Natsuko and Hitoshi's desks. Manabu was in a different homeroom and Rie was one grade ahead of the rest of them, but their desks would also be empty - scrubbed clean of any contagion and of the students that had once sat at them.

None of them had been safe from whatever was sweeping through the school.

But if he hadn't seen why going back to school could be a good thing - his mother insisted that it would be good for him, that he couldn't hide from what frightened him - neither had he seen all of the reasons of why it was a bad thing. In all his imaginings of this day he hadn't seen all of the hostile looks being sent over the ubiquitous surgical masks.

Rumors had already spread about how the latest four had gone into comas. Ryou wasn't surprised. Anything at all to do with the Kagome virus would spread like wildfire among those who attended his school. But the dark glances he was getting and the unspoken but apparently unanimous agreement to avoid him as much as possible told him that they all knew that those four classmates had been at his apartment when they collapsed. They knew that he had somehow escaped the same fate that was leaving no one else standing, and they were angry.

It wasn't fair.

The day went on uncomfortably, the teachers doing their level best to behave as though nothing was wrong and that their lessons were all that was on everyone's mind. The students were also pretending - pretending to pay attention, to care, to be learning anything at all beside how to put on a false face while their minds were miles away. Ryou was doubly uncomfortable, trying to do as everyone else was while being keenly aware that no one was glad to have him there. Even the teachers seemed less than pleased to have him in his seat today.

He didn't think it could get much worse, and was looking forward to the closing bell, when during art period their teacher required them to break up into three-person teams.

It was then that Ryou realized why it really was that everyone was looking at him with such hostility.

"No way, not here!" Toshi, a dark complexioned boy said when Ryou tried to join him and one other to make three. Groups had formed quickly, and after wandering the entire perimeter of the room, Ryou had found only one group still in need of a person. There was nowhere else for him to go, and now…

"Go find somewhere else!"

Ryou looked between Toshi and another boy, a child whose name he didn't remember and who was watching his partner worriedly. Ryou looked behind him, wondering if he had missed some other group with only two he could fit into. Determining that no, there was not, he turned back and made himself sound as apologetic as possible. "I'm sorry, but everyone else already has three. This is the only-"

"Well too bad," Toshi snapped, pushing his chin forward, trying to look down his nose at Ryou. He had drawn a kitty mouth and whiskers on his mask; it didn't suit the rest of his face. "We don't want you, so you'll have to find somewhere else."

"But there is nowhere else," Ryou protested.

"Then make a group by yourself!"

The dispute had already caught the attention of those who were close by, but Toshi's belligerent shout had made everyone in the room aware of their argument, including the teacher. He strode over to them, wading through the intervening sea of children, brows drawn low over his eyes and nose. Toshi refused to look away from Ryou to watch him approach, he was too focused on his glaring.

"Boys," he said, his words muffled by the mask. "What's the problem here?"

Ryou was at a bit of a loss to explain what was happening, why Toshi was being so unreasonable, or why the other boy was standing so silent behind him. Toshi, however, had no such trouble with working his tongue.

"He wants to be a part of our group!" He pointed at Ryou, who flinched away from it. When Toshi said 'he,' it was said with such venom that it really did feel like an attack.

The teacher's brows drew even lower. He looked from Toshi to Ryou and back again. "Yes?" His tone was just as confused as his partially visible expression suggested. "And why is that a problem? There are only two of you so far, Ryou can be your third."

Now Toshi did look up at the teacher, with such a scowl on his half face that was rare to see a student level on a teacher. "He can't be a part of our group, sensei," he said, as though stating the blindingly obvious.

The teacher was becoming impatient, and almost snapped, "Why not?"

The scowl was transferred to Ryou, its intensity clashing with the cuteness of the drawn mask. "He's infected."

The words weren't shouted, but they could not have had a greater impact on the room if they had been. Everyone froze, the few whispered conversations around the edges of the classroom cut off abruptly. It seemed as though every pair of eyes were fixed on the little drama unfolding in their corner, and more specifically on Ryou. All fixed on him, all echoing the look on Toshi's face: angry, distrustful, hostile.

Surrounded on all sides by such open aggression, all directed at him, Ryou felt a stab of fear.

"Infected?" The teacher repeated the word, as though he were unfamiliar with it. "What do you mean he's infected? You aren't sick, are you, Ryou?"

Ryou shook his head quickly, not trusting himself to speak and sure that nothing he could say would clear the rising tension. He had a pretty good idea what Toshi meant when he said 'infected' and it had nothing to do with catching a cold.

His suspicion was confirmed when Toshi practically shrieked, "He has the Kagome virus!"

The teacher went even blanker than before. He blinked. "Kagome virus?"

Toshi nodded emphatically, a motion that was mirrored all around as students came closer to see what was going on. The fear rose in Ryou a little higher. School had never been the safe haven it was meant to be for him, what with the number of 'fights' he got into and the innumerable petty intimidations, but the classroom itself had always been a safe place. Under the watchful eye of an adult and surrounded by witnesses, it was impossible for anyone to really mess with him and not get themselves into trouble as well.

Now even the classroom was filling with this sense of danger, of impending disaster. Looking around now, Ryou no longer felt protected by his fellows, but threatened by them. He was surrounded, boxed in, with nowhere to get away to.

Anger began to rise along with the fear, swelling up around his heart. How could they keep him out of things, just because he might have the virus or whatever it was? He was awake, walking around, that should be proof enough that he was fine. How dare they exclude him.

Ryou's face and the back of his neck felt too hot.

"Everyone knows that Rie, Hitoshi, Manabu and Natsuko were all at his house when they fell asleep. Bakura fell asleep too, but woke up again. That proves he's got it!"

More nods of agreement around the room. Ryou felt a little dizzy with the motion in his periphery. He shook his head again and, on finding his voice, pushed down the fear and anger to reply. "No, I don't. The doctors tested me, they said I didn't have it at all and I should be fine. No one will catch it from me. I don't have the virus!"

Toshi's brow furrowed, but it was someone else who spoke now, a lilting voice from a small girl standing behind Ryou. "But the doctors can't find the virus in anyone, even the kids who are asleep, so…"

"So how do we know for sure that you don't have it?" Another girl picked up when the first trailed away. "Maybe you have it, just like them and they can't find it in you, just like them."

"But I'm awake!"

"So?" Toshi picked up again. "Maybe you got lucky, doesn't mean the virus is gone. People who get sick can make other people sick even when they look fine." He glanced back at his partner, seeking even more support than the room was providing him with. "We don't want to catch the Kagome virus!"

"But-"

"Alright," the teacher cut in sharply. Several students jumped, forgetting that there was a teacher in the room with them. "That is quite enough of that. Everyone, I can assure you that Bakura is not infected. He will not give anyone the 'Kagome virus' or whatever it is that has been causing so many of our friends to fall ill. His doctors called the school before we reopened to assure us that he poses no danger to anyone. Ryou Bakura will not make anyone sick." He looked around the classroom, making eye contact and driving the point home to each of them.

When he was sure that everyone had heard him and understood, he nodded sharply. "Good," he said. "Bakura, you team up with Toshi and Nao. We'll begin our project in five minutes, so I want everyone," he looked around the room, "to be at their stations and ready by then."

The teacher went to stand at the front of the class again, watching all and ensuring that his instructions were followed. After a few moments hesitation his students went to work gathering what they would need from cabinets, cupboards and sinks. The classroom quickly became busy, though still a little too quiet for a class of twenty-odd children.

The only ones who were not so quick to jump were Ryou's group. They stood frozen for considerably longer, locked into a standoff, Toshi and Ryou being the main perpetrators, with Nao looking nervously back and forth between the two. Finally Toshi turned away to a cupboard to find the paper mache for their project station. An instant later and Nao followed suit, unwilling to stay so near Ryou without his friend.

Ryou turned away as well, relieved, and forced himself to take a long breath. He tried, without much success, to clear his mind of what had just happened and the emotions that it had brought to the surface. The fear he couldn't completely dispel, instead it settled into anxiety that gnawed quietly at the back of his mind. That was fine. Until very recently, that was how every day had been at school, and it was remarkably easy to slip back into it again.

Less easily gotten rid of was the anger. That still coiled around inside of him, unspent and sullen, looking for some escape, some sort of expression. It was like the day when he had lashed out at Taro, only instead of coming upon him suddenly and blindsiding him, he was aware of this anger and difficult as it was, he could rein it back. He was still in control of himself. It was more difficult than before the day with Taro, when controlling his anger was a matter of repression and extending his tightly held control out to whatever he could touch, but he could do it. The urge to lash out at Toshi and all of the others who stared at him was contained, and all would be well.

He went to the sink to pick up and fill one of many small buckets with water, being careful not to splash himself, and making a small game of not allowing any of the water touch the outside of the bucket. He didn't hear Toshi come up behind him over the sound of the faucet running, nor did he sense anyone behind him in time to do more than glance over his shoulder as a bag of dry paper mache mix was thrown in his face.

The parent-teacher conference that was called after the incident at school was long and exhausting for everyone involved.

No one could say that Ryou had started the fight, but his case was not helped at all by how willingly he had joined in after the first attack. To onlookers it seemed as though Ryou, shy and unassuming in every teacher's estimation, had become something of a demon after Toshi threw the paper mache. After that first blow, Ryou had taken the bucket of water he had been filling in the sink and tossed it at Toshi, container and all. That alone would have been enough to warrant disciplinary action for both boys, but from there it had only escalated.

Ryou had followed the thrown bucket of water with his body, intending to either strike or kick the retreating Toshi, and tripped over a chair. He got back up again quickly, but the extra few seconds had given the class enough time to process what had happened, and given Toshi time to regain his feet. When both boys were upright, they had gone at each other, one soaked to the skin, the other whitened with dust and clumps of paper stuck in his hair. They only traded a couple of blows before the most eager of their classmates joined the fray, throwing juvenile sized punches, pulling hair, some even taking the measure of tossing their water into the free-for-all.

Their teacher had been hopelessly outnumbered and completely unable to calm the pandemonium that had become of his normally well-behaved class. It had taken a shout into the hall to bring more adults to act as referees and pull everyone apart, keep them apart and in some cases sequester students away from the others to keep the fighting from starting up again.

Ryou had been one of those. Out of everyone in his class, Ryou had come away with the most injuries, including a bruised and swollen cheek, a split lip, and a twisted ankle. He was also given the most credit for inflicting damage on his fellows. If the rest of the class were to be believed, then every bruise on every other child had come from him, though the adults were more inclined to believe that at least half of it came from clumsiness or 'friendly fire.' Since Ryou had been everyone's primary target, it wasn't surprising that they would attribute their injuries to the common enemy among them. And as for Ryou himself, even with the addition of four more teachers to break apart the fighting, he had been unwilling to stop. Even with his homeroom teacher physically holding him back he had still been straining towards the classmate that had most recently attacked him by twisting at a handful of his hair.

Upon hearing of what had become of their children during their first day back, and what they in turn had been responsible for, most parents were outraged, some had been incredulous, and all had been surprised, perhaps none more than Noriko Bakura.

Of those gathered, she was the only one with sympathy for Ryou, let alone taking any sort of stand in his defense. It seemed impossible that her son would be capable of so much violence, even if he were provoked. He got into fights, she avowed, but they were rare, the kind of thing any school age boy might get into, not full scale brawls against his entire class. It was unthinkable, impossible.

Those of the school faculty who knew Ryou Bakura as anything more than a name on the class roster and a shock of white hair were inclined to agree with her. Ryou was not one to start fights, and this level of antagonism was as unprecedented as it was impossible to predict. It was generally agreed that while it was no excuse, the boy certainly never would have behaved as he did, had not Toshi provoked him.

Other parents were less inclined to be so understanding. They heard that Ryou had not acted first, had reacted to violence towards himself, but the boy had done so with unwarranted vehemence, causing injuries to their own children. They felt that if Ryou were not so naturally violent, if his parents had done a better job with him, or if the teachers had been more firm in controlling his class and those within it, then none of this would have happened. Their own children were not to blame, obviously, they had been victims all.

The school was ready to dole out minor disciplinary action for all the students, including heavier homework assignments and eliminating recesses for a time, save for the two who had started the brawl. For Ryou and Toshi, the school was disposed to be more stringent, beginning with detention over the weekend for several weeks and including more schoolwork and completely truncating rest periods. Most of the parents, while protesting a little the punishments of their own children, were in agreement with those of the two catalytic troublemakers. Not all was fair, but at least those most responsible who could be punished would be.

All save one pair of parents agreed. Toshi's mother and father, as well as protesting the punishment of their son, howled at what they perceived as light handling of the boy Ryou. In his fury Ryou had managed to break their son's nose, strained a muscle in his shoulder when he attempted to bear him to the ground, and one other semi-major injury that made it painful for the boy to walk properly. Toshi's parents were righteously angry, threatening to sue Noriko and her husband, sue the school, and to take the whole story to the media if that was what it took to receive some sort of restitution.

Once all of the parents save those of Toshi and Ryou were excused, the faculty did their best to placate the irate mother and father. They would not be soothed, however, and the best that could be negotiated was that they would pursue no legal action if Ryou Bakura were immediately expelled from the school to keep him away from their son and any other child that he had hurt.

Noriko protested on behalf of her son, whom she felt was being unfairly prosecuted, attacked again for the very act of defending himself. She argued and pleaded with Toshi's parents, fighting for Ryou's right to stay where he had finally grown comfortable and when he had not been completely to blame for what had taken place. Toshi's parents were unmoved, and would not compromise more than they had already done.

The school, while agreeing with Noriko's points, was not insensible to their own position in the matter. In the public eye they were already under scrutiny with the unexplained epidemic that had run rampant through their halls. Public funding was on a decline in an economy that was already proving difficult to weather. To have a large lawsuit to battle on top of all that, the publicity that would result from it, or just the publicity that the parents threatened to level themselves would be enough to cripple the school if not sink it entirely, taking a few careers with it. With these things weighing heavily in their consideration, they were not so motivated to side with Noriko, but instead advised her to consider the option.

When she turned on them and their attempt at mollifying her in betrayed disgust, they made an offer, as close to a compromise as they were able to give. Rather than expulsion, they would transfer Ryou Bakura to another school. This incident would still be on his record, they assured Toshi's parents, but an expulsion would not be, and it would save the Bakura family a great deal of time and effort in finding and re-enrolling Ryou in the middle of the year.

Toshi's parents were displeased, but more inclined to agree when reminded of their own son's unprovoked attack on a classmate and what kind of mark that could leave on his record, what it might mean for his future prospects for colleges and universities. Noriko considered the situation, the sets of angry eyes glaring at her from across the table, the seated men and women of the school board who were all so hopeful for a peaceful resolution that wouldn't cost them everything and so uselessly apologetic for what it would cost her family. She considered all of these things and wished her husband were home to help her make this decision. She had phoned him as soon as the school had called her and appraised him of the situation, but all she had received in return for her half-panicked international call was vague reassurance that she would be fine, that everything would be fine, and whatever came out of the meeting they could work through. He would support her in whatever she decided, and they would handle whatever came together. Later. When he had more time.

Noriko considered all of this, considered her reclusive, troubled son and how another transfer would affect him. She also considered what remaining in this school, and having to see these same children day after day might do. All of which might be moot if Toshi's parents made good on their threat and sued the school into oblivion. She considered the coma sickness that was still spreading through the school, that it had already touched Ryou once and how close to death he looked, and how very much like being dead those children who had been asleep for weeks already were.

She considered it all, and under the pressures coming at her from all sides, Noriko bowed her head.

Snow covered the ground in a thick, white blanket that muffled all sound and turned the world pure and sparkling in the afternoon light. It was very fresh snow, which was the only reason why it was still so perfectly white along a street. Even now it showed the first signs of contamination - a set of footprints, a winding, serpentine track left by an intrepid bicyclist. This was city snow, its beauty made all the more precious in its brevity.

Ryou looked at it all and could feel nothing but resentment. Resentment for the cold, for being made to stand out in said cold with nothing to do but be blinded by the whiteness, resentment for the set of circumstances that made him available to stand out in the snow.

It had been about two weeks since he had been 'transferred' to his new school, and he had yet to set foot in the place. A combination of paperwork and the nearness of Christmas break made it so that Ryou wouldn't be seeing his new school until a few days after Christmas. Until then he was at a loose end, his brain atrophying while his bruises healed. His lack of occupation - or any friends to otherwise fill up a portion of his days - was more of an irritation than he would have thought. There was nothing to do but watch TV and attempt to distract himself with his games. Television became dull and repetitive quickly. His own projects, once he had the experience of sharing them with others, felt empty now he was left alone to them again. He had almost thrown away the game board, books and pieces that he and his few friends had been using on the day they had fallen ill, but he just couldn't quite bring himself to. Instead he had packed it all away neatly in a box, then tucked the box into a far corner of his closet. He even included the four little figurines that his friends had been using as their avatars. They didn't belong to him, but staring down at them as they lay cradled in his hand, he couldn't part with them. He doubted that their parents would appreciate seeing him if he went around to return them, so he tucked the figures into the box along with everything else and did his best to forget all about all of it.

Remembering them now, and why he had been so unwilling to return them to the families of those they belonged to, made the resentment seethe in him even more.

He had been doing so well in keeping control of his anger, in making sure that the unexpected, frightening part of himself that had taken him over when Taro had pushed him too far wouldn't do so again. And then stupid Toshi had to ruin it all by tossing a bag of paper mache in his face. The surprise made his control slip, and the bucket was leaving his hands before he could even fully take stock of what had happened or why.

He had wanted to hurt Toshi and every other kid who came at him. The first few blows signaled to all that there was a free-for-all to be had, and anyone had carte blanche to take a swing. He had wanted it, had joined in more than willingly. A small portion of his mind watched in horror as he landed punches and kicks with far too much precision, and then as he had struggled against the adults, trying to inflict more pain before he was dragged away.

Ryou had been trying to reign himself in as well, with much less success.

His punishment for fighting was not to stand in the hall, not detention, but expulsion. Except that they weren't calling it an expulsion. It was a transfer, 'to find an academic setting more suitable to your personality.'

Which one? was Ryou's cynical thought.

His mother had explained that this was the most amicable, the most rational option available to them, and they ought to be glad that they could walk away from it all with so very little fuss. Ryou had only looked at her smiling, worried face without saying a word, and wondered how hard she had tried to keep him from being expelled before giving in.

So now, since he was at such loose ends, he had been delegated as Amane's chaperone on her walk back from school. She could just as easily take the bus home as she did going to school, but Noriko had decided that Ryou needed more fresh air while he was out of school, and that Amane would like to have her big brother walk her home like a gentleman. The fact that the two of them had to walk the distance through several inches of snow didn't seem to register with their mother, nor did the fact that Ryou was left standing in the cold, sneakers buried in miniature drifts until Amane was let out.

He could have gone inside to wait. He doubted anyone would mind a boy who was waiting for his sister choosing to do so where it was warm, but he suspected they would have an issue with Ryou coming into their halls. He knew that he would rather not go inside if it could be avoided.

Amane attended the same school Ryou had been so recently expelled from, and he doubted that anyone other than his sister would be happy to see him. And he didn't want to risk being seen by a classmate, or what sort of scene might develop after that.

Ryou sighed, a stream of white breath rising up to the sky and lost. Rather than retreat to where it was warm, he stayed outside, out of sight from anyone within. He wouldn't have to worry about any ex-classmates seeing him on leaving, at least. Amane's class let out an hour earlier than any he had once attended. He would be safe from that, but he was still nervous that someone would see him from the windows.

By the time Amane's class was over and the tide of younger children was let loose on the world, Ryou's toes were numb, along with his nose and cheeks, and he was sure that he could feel his old class somehow managing to stare at his back. Amane took a little more time than the first rush, making his wait even longer. When she finally did come out and spot him, she grabbed him around the waist in her usual greeting, the hug coming a little more heavily than normal with the addition of the pink and yellow backpack she wore.

"Nii-chan!" she squeaked, squeezing him tight. Even through his thick coat, it took Ryou's breath away a little. She was so strong, it was no wonder she was already showing an interest in sports.

"Hello, Amane," he said, much more dully than was his norm. He was cold, and he was tired in ways that had nothing at all to do with sleep. He just wanted to go home, get warm and escape into something, be it a book or an RPG design. "Have you got all of your things?"

Amane nodded, disengaging herself from him. She wiggled her backpack a little by way of demonstration. "Uh-huh, all in here, safe and sound. Can we stop by the candy store on the way home?"

The candy store was a block out of their way. The trip from school to home wasn't long, but it was made much longer than it seemed when slogging through snow. Adding an extra block for candy, and then the same block again in recovering their steps to return to their original route… "No, Amane. Not today."

"Why not?"

"Because it's too cold, it's too far, mom probably doesn't want you to have candy right before dinner, and I don't have any money."

"I have money," Amane said, seizing on the one objection that was any real obstruction between her and the sweet of her choice. "I have ¥500 pocket money that mom said I could spend on anything I want." She smiled up at him. "And I want candy."

Ryou frowned. He should just give in, go the extra figurative mile and let her get her sweets. He wanted to, he wanted her to be happy and keep smiling. But that want was weighed against his more selfish wants of warmth and rest and solitude, his own disinclination towards more exercise, especially on someone else's behalf, and it was swiftly losing that battle. "I said no and I meant it. It's too cold and I've already been waiting fifteen minutes for you. I'll get frostbite and you'll catch a cold if we stay out here too long, so we're going straight home." He felt guilty even as he said it, and even more put out and resentful at that stab of guilt. He grabbed her hand in its mitten and tugged her along after him. She whined but didn't try to pull her hand free, and though she pouted she didn't ask anymore about the candy store.

They made their way down the sidewalks covered in snow, what had so recently been pristine already churned to a mess from the stampede of children that preceded them. Ryou and Amane walked in pouting silence, hand in hand through the wreckage of those before them, no longer able to see the beauty of winter through the muddy prints of sneakers.

"What took you so long coming out?" Ryou asked at last, when his sister failed to begin jabbering at him. "Everyone else is long gone already and you're usually one of the first ones out the door."

For a minute she didn't reply, and he thought she was sulking too deeply to answer him, but eventually she lifted her head a little and answered, "I had to stay behind to talk to the teacher."

Ryou's gut did an unpleasant flip. Amane was never in trouble, her being asked to stay behind was unheard of. "What happened?"

"She talked to me."

"What about?"

"About getting into fights at school."

The flip in Ryou's stomach twisted itself into a knot. Amane was getting into fights now, too? Or was somebody picking on her like they had him? It would hardly matter either way in the minds of the teachers, who all knew Ryou's new record, and knew that they were brother and sister. They would see that and draw their own conclusions about Amane's potential as a troublemaker. Unless, of course, they had actual evidence that Amane had started a fight…

"Did you get in a fight?"

The girl shook her head so that the fringes of her hair peeking out from her knit cap flew out to the sides. "No-o! I didn't get into a fight. There was just this one boy, he said a mean thing, so I…" She trailed off.

Ryou looked at his sister. Her head was bowed and she watched as her patterned winter boots made their way through the churned slush, not looking up at him. "What did you do, Amane?"

She shrugged, making the backpack bob up and down. She still refused to look up at him. "I yelled at him, and I pushed him. But it was only a little push," she added quickly, looking up at him with big eyes. "He didn't get hurt, so it wasn't a fight, right?"

He shook his head. "No, but it could have turned into one." He remembered all too clearly how quickly, how unexpectedly a fight had broken out in his own classroom. A fight that everyone seemed to think he had started and blamed him for. How had it even started, and how had it escalated so much? No fight should have gotten so bad, especially not one started during class. It should have broken apart as soon as it had started, with no more than Toshi and Ryou involved in it.

Actually, it shouldn't have broken out at all. If Ryou had been more himself, all that should have come out of that would have been himself covered in paper mache. Instead, he had fought back, the strange, temporary insanity that had taken over with Taro taking hold again, and then seeming to possess everyone in the room so they joined in the fray. It still baffled him, he knew it must baffle all of the teachers and faculty, and they loaded the blame on he who was found in the center of it all: Ryou. If they found Amane in the center of a similar situation, they might decide to take proactive measures to make sure that nothing like the incident in Ryou's class happened again.

So in addition to the fight in his own class, Ryou could be held responsible for anything that went wrong for Amane as well. He was the elder sibling, and obviously a bad role model. Ryou did his best to not grind his teeth.

"If that ever happens again," he said tightly, "then just walk away, all right? If someone says something bad, you ignore them or tell a teacher about it."

Amane pouted up at him. "That's what Ms. Shiraishi said. But the boy was saying bad stuff about you, nii-chan."

Ryou twitched a little in surprise. What would a class full of six year olds have to say about him? "It doesn't matter what they say, Amane. Just ignore them."

"Yes it does!" Amane's voice rose, she looked on the verge of angry tears. "He was talking about you, said that you had hurt his older brother in a fight, that you had tried to kill him and you should be in jail and I yelled at him, told him he was dumb and didn't know my brother at all, that you would never try to hurt anyone like that, and he said I was dumb and that you were a murderer and I just got so angry I pushed him over-!"

"It doesn't matter!" Amane's face was red as a beet, which couldn't be healthy. "Whatever anyone says about me, it doesn't matter because it's not true, right? So they can say whatever they want, it doesn't hurt anything and you can just ignore them. They'll stop eventually."

Amane shook her head, not at all pacified. "No, it does matter, Ryou, because you're nice and that boy was a liar! If he says those things then people will believe that you're bad. You're not bad!"

The girl had stopped on the sidewalk, forcing Ryou to stop as well. Her face was flushed and her dark eyes overly bright, shining with frustrated tears. Her whole little body shook, and Ryou didn't think it was from the cold. She stared up at him, one hand balled into a fist, the other squeezing his hand until it hurt. "You're not bad," she said, a smidgeon more quietly but not any less intensely. "They say you are, but you're not, and I won't let them say so!"

Ryou stared, surprised. Amane was so young that it was easy to forget she could hear what was going on around her as well as anyone else could. And even a child could draw conclusions from what she heard. He hadn't thought of her being more than nominally aware of what was taking place in Ryou's school life or what the common opinion of him might be. He certainly hadn't thought of what her feelings on the situation might be. He was seeing it now, and was taken aback to realize that he had someone in his life who was on his side.

But she was still a child, and could get into trouble if she wasn't careful, all because of him. He sighed. "What they're saying might be truer than you think, Amane. It's not worth it to pick fights at school over this. Don't bother. Let them say what they want. I don't care."

The look she gave him was as betrayed an expression as he had ever seen on her face, and he felt a little sick to realize that he had hurt his sister.

Amane threw Ryou's hand away and stormed off towards home without him, stomping muffled, angry stomps through the dirty snow. Ryou watched her for a minute, wondering what he should do before trailing after her, deciding the best thing for now would be to give her space. He would make it up to her later, after she had some time to cool down and he had some time to think of something really good. Maybe a trip to that candy shop with his allowance added to hers as a present. Their mother would hate it, but Ryou was more concerned about his sister than his mother.

Ryou followed after Amane, feeling like a heel, resentment and frustration still bubbling quietly beneath everything else, while Amane continued her angry progress along the sidewalk, arms scything through the air with each step. She would either still be mad when they got home, or too tired to be anything, she was expending so much energy.

Amane came to the final crosswalk before their block well before Ryou did. She was so far ahead that she was able to look both ways before crossing and step out into the road before Ryou could catch up. The red 'Don't Walk' symbol was still glowing.

Ryou started to run. "Amane, stop! The light's still red!"

Amane looked back over her shoulder, still scowling at him, still angry-

-loud, ear splitting sound-

-flash blur blue and black truck flash in the light-

-shriek, was it brakes, was it-?-

-thud, so small and soft but Ryou could still hear it, hear it, hear it-

. . .

Ryou stood, as immobile as though his feet were frozen to the pavement. His feet really were very cold. And his nose. They might be frozen. Rock hard. He might never be able to move his toes again, or wriggle his nose. That would be sad.

Amane was gone.

Where had she gone? She was right there, looking at him, then…

He didn't want to look, but his head moved of its own volition. Maybe he really was possessed; his body kept acting on its own, with no input from him whatsoever.

He turned his head and noticed that in the snow on the street, as well as the regular sets of tire tracks left by the flow of traffic, there was a set that swept through them all at an odd angle, obliterating the neat lines of organized traffic. A black swath of chaos through the white order. His eyes followed the wild tracks until he came to the tires that had left them. Ten tires, two and two sets of four, they belonged to a cross-country truck. The truck was blue, white logo on the side, and knifed across both sides of traffic, an effective blockade. Ryou stared at it.

Ryou stared at the truck, his chest hurting. He stared at it, and stared as the driver threw open his door and staggered out, almost falling headfirst into the snow. He was yelling something, his mouth stretched wide, but Ryou couldn't tell what it was.

Why did his chest hurt?

The driver stumbled in the road and Ryou watched him, fascinated. What had the driver stumbled on? Snow? Ryou looked. It wasn't snow, it was too colorful. Pink and yellow.

A backpack.

Amane's backpack.

Where was Amane?

His legs worked. He didn't tell them to go, but they went. He ran on frozen feet, following the truck driver because there was no one else and he didn't know where he should be running to. He followed him around the front of his blue truck, and noticed another color in the white and gray of street snow.

Red.

He stopped. He looked down.

There was Amane.

He started to grin, and didn't know why. He shouldn't grin, but he couldn't stop.

There was Amane.

His chest hurt.

For the first time since he yelled for Amane to stop, Ryou took a breath.

And began to scream.

A/N2: After a look through all the chapters that have come before, this is the longest by far.

Higashi-ku: This is a specific section of a city in Japan I picked as where the Bakura family currently resides. It's not really important where it is, since it's a placeholder and nothing of the city in question shows up in the fic, but for anyone who's curious, it's Sapporo in Hokkaido. (Which would make the school Naebo Elementary… but don't expect this to be a perfect match. I don't even know if this school was around in 1990.)

Kagome Kagome: The name used for the 'virus' sweeping through comes from a children's game and song. In the game, one child is chosen as the oni (ogre) and sits with eyes closed while the rest of the children circle around them singing the song. When the song stops, the oni tries to guess who it is that stand behind them. It's an interesting game and (creepy) song, and the various interpretations of the lyrics makes interesting reading. I find some of them particularly fitting for the relationship between Ryou and Bakura.

Pocket money: ¥500 in 1990 would come out to just under $4.

Amane's Death: This is, actually, canonically correct. In Duel 50 (of volume 6 of the original run) Ryou is shown to be writing a letter to his sister, Amane. In another book, Yu-Gi-Oh! Character Guidebook: The Gospel of Truth, it's revealed that Amane Bakura died in a traffic accident and that Ryou continues to write to her in heaven. Unfortunately this book has only ever been released in Japanese and French, so the rest of us have to search out this info. As for the exact specifics of Amane's death (hit by a truck while crossing a street) I will admit to being heavily inspired by Goendama's doujinshi Boku to Maou. I recommend it to anyone who can find it. Ryou's letter to Amane, for anyone who is curious, runs like this:

"Dear Amane,
How is school? How are you and mother? Your brother started his new school today. I've only been there a little while and on the very first day I made a lot of new friends. They asked if they could come over to my apartment to play some games. I'm really looking forward"

At which point Ryou was interrupted in his writing by the voice of Bakura.

Yu-Gi-Oh! Character Guidebook: The Gospel of Truth: This doesn't have anything to do with the fic directly, but for anyone who is intrigued by this book and would like to read it - but is hampered by being a strictly English speaker - there is hope. Two fans are working on scanning, translating and posting the entirety of the book online for others to read. They can be found on tumblr at yugiohbibleproject dot tumblr dot com. They are accepting donations and general encouragement to fuel the project. :)

Thanks for reading, everyone, and for your patience. Until next time!