Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Change of Heart ❯ Various Tensions ( Chapter 2 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Disclaimer: Yu-gi-oh non mea, viditis? Non mea! Minime capitis pecunia mea! [grin]

A/N: Mwuhahahaha! I scared ya, didn't I? Bet I did! Bet you never expected to see anything new on this fic... Sorry it took so long to update; I have no excuse besides laziness! Well, that and a few new mangas to read... eh heh... [sigh] Oi, my poor head... Okay, I just thought I should warn you, for most of this chapter I was writing entirely on impulse. Apparently I just sat there and stared at the computer screen until an idea popped in to my feeble brain, at which I wrote it down then seriously considered erasing it because it was pointless... Which resulted in seven pages composed entirely of mindless fluff [nervous grin] But mindless fluff is good, right? Right? [sweatdrop] But don't worry; it will develop some kind of substance sooner or later! [multiple sweatdrops] Enjoy...

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Chapter Two: Various Tensions

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"Hmm..." Ryou muttered sleepily, his eyes fluttering open. He met a mirror reflection of his own face, perhaps a foot away.

His immediate reaction was to scream and jump in the air. Not a very good idea.

"S-sorry," he said sheepishly, clutching his head. "Um... Are you okay?"

"... Ow..." Bakura groaned, now lying in the opposite direction of Ryou. "My nose... What in the world *did* I hit? Your head, or a brick wall?"

"S-sorry..." he repeated weakly. "Um... It feels like it was my head..."

Bakura laughed a little, and sat up. "You're a klutz; do you realize that?" he asked seriously.

"... Yeah..." he admitted.

"Anyway," his yami continued, "I just thought I'd wake you up; you threw the alarm at the wall... Again..." He gestured to the bits of electronic parts scattered across the floor at the other end of the room.

Ryou stared at them dismally. "Again?" he repeated, sighing.

"Yes," Bakura said, shaking his head and getting off the bed. He went over to the Sennen ring that was lying on the nightstand, but paused just before going back in. "And, hey..." He paused. "I meant that klutz thing... As a friend. It's... cute." He seemed to re-enter it rather hurriedly.

Ryou sat up and stared at the ring in amazement for a few minutes before getting out of bed. He really didn't have a clue what happened last night, but his yami was so... different. Usually when he threw the alarm clock at the wall and there was no one else there to wake him up (like now; his dad was gone on a dig), Bakura would let him sleep in then laugh in his face when he realized the he was late for school. And he had certainly never called anything Ryou did kawaii... *And*, under normal circumstances, Bakura probably would have kicked him in the face for bumping him like that...

Ryou felt rather bemused as he went about getting ready to go to school, but he was smiling.

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When he got to school, he greeted everyone cheerfully, as usual. Honda and Jou got into a serious debate before class about which was less healthy, the so-called `Mystery Meat' dish that was offered daily at the school's cafeteria, or the Friday special, and Yugi and Anzu were talking about who knows what. Yami, however, came up to talk to Ryou.

"So," he said quietly, "I know your dad's been gone over the weekend... Has everything been alright with your yami?"

Ryou looked thoughtfully at him for a moment. Everyone knew that he and his yami didn't get along well, but no one knew that he was abusive. But... Ryou got the impression sometimes that Yami suspected it. "Yeah, it's fine," he said, smiling reassuringly. "We got into a little... argument... But he apologized."

Yami raised an eyebrow. "Well, that's a first," he said, shaking his head. He had to go over to his seat when the teacher came in, but he still looked curious (A/N: Everyone outside the group thinks he and Yugi are brothers). Ryou heaved a sigh of relief; he might have managed to tell Bakura about his feelings, but there was no way he was telling anyone else for as long as he could put it off...

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When Ryou got home, no sooner had he gotten up to his room then he felt his yami trying to get out. His first instinct was to resist, but he hurriedly stopped and let him come. Bakura appeared, sitting in the middle of the bed.

"Um, hey," Ryou said, just a little uncomfortable. "Oh, thanks for waking me up this morning; I never got a chance to thank you then." He fell silent, not really knowing what else to say.

"It was nothing," Bakura said, studying his light's face. Suddenly he got up and went over to him, standing so close that Ryou could almost feel the heat coming off him. "You're still afraid of me, aren't you?" Bakura asked quietly.

It was true, Ryou had to admit. Despite the fact that they - somehow - seemed to be on good terms now, it took all his effort not to shrink away. "Yes," he confessed.

Bakura half turned away. "Look, Ryou..." he started, and ran a hand through his hair in aggravation. "I... really am sorry about everything. I didn't... Well, what I mean is... Ra; I sound like you..." He chuckled a little, then sighed. "Alright, let me try to put this a different way. I swear... And I might have been a tomb robber but my word still means something... I swear, I will never, ever hurt you again. I swear." When he looked back at his light, he had an expression that Ryou almost couldn't place, because he had never looked like that before. It was hope, and... just maybe... caring.

They stood there for a minute, not saying anything, when suddenly Ryou realized that Bakura was leaning towards him. `Is he going to kiss me?' he wondered, dazed. `Oh my...' That was the last thing he thought before their lips touched... and all his thoughts disappeared as Bakura's tongue probed his mouth.

Finally, they broke apart. Ryou gasped for breath. "Was that fun?" Bakura asked, chuckling again as Ryou turned a very bright red. He nodded, however; just a little. "I'm glad you think so," he commented, burying his face in the other boy's hair. Ryou gasped again when he felt Bakura lightly kissing his neck... Then the yami pulled away.

"I... Guess I should go," Bakura said, suddenly sounding uncomfortable.

"No; you can stay," Ryou urged.

"No, really..." He abruptly turned toward the ring, saying right as he left, "I'll see you tomorrow."

Ryou sighed, but he wasn't really that irritated. It was impossible to be when he felt like he was walking on air. It was obviously going to take his yami some time to adjust to this; heck, it would take anyone some time when it was all happening so suddenly... But it was everything he had dreamed of.

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Inside his soul room in the ring, Bakura sighed too. And he wasn't irritated either; actually, he was depressed. Even though he had only realized it last night, he knew without a doubt that he truly did love his hikari. And he wanted to be with him so badly... But he was frightened. Frightened of what he might do if they got too close, if something happened that angered him. The last thing he wanted to do was hurt Ryou. He was almost scared to go near him.

`But just keeping away won't help,' he thought unhappily. That would just hurt both of them. Perhaps, if he was just around Ryou enough, he would learn to control himself. Perhaps Ryou could teach him to be a new person.

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The next day was Saturday, and when Ryou woke up around ten he lay in bed for a few minutes morning the fact that he had never really tried to call his yami out like Yugi could do, and didn't know how to go about it. He had a strong urge to see Bakura, to talk to him... But finally he decided against it, because even if a miracle occurred and he got it to work he wasn't quite sure how it would look.

It wasn't until noon that Bakura came out by himself. He would never admit it, of course, but it had taken him that long to get up the courage. He still wasn't quite sure that he trusted himself, but finally he decided to give it a try.

It was worth it. The moment he saw him, Ryou smiled. "Hello!" he said, trying not to sound as cheerful as he felt for fear of seeming weird.

"Hi," Bakura muttered, hugging him. "Did I miss anything good?"

"No, yami," Ryou assured him, looking up at him with chocolate-brown eyes.

Bakura kissed him deeply, vaguely noting that he had never realized Ryou had such beautiful eyes. He had no idea how long the kiss went on as he explored all the crevices of the other's mouth, enjoying the taste of it.

Eventually they broke away from each other, needing air. "Hey, is there anything to eat?" Bakura asked suddenly.

Ryou snickered. "Well, there's some fermented zucchini..." he said, mock-seriously.

"Zucchini?" Bakura said suspiciously. "Is it some sort of cheese?"

Ryou burst out laughing. "No," he said, shuddering. "It's dreadful, and it's not supposed to be fermented either. I believe dad bought it sometime well before he left, and I'm not quite sure what he meant to do with it. There are hot dogs, though."

They stood in the kitchen, Bakura with his arm wrapped around Ryou's waist while they waited for the hot dogs to cook. "How did this happen?" Ryou asked, half to himself.

Bakura laughed. "I don't know."

"But are you happy?" he asked, looking up at him again.

"Yes..." For a moment he almost came out and told Ryou about his fears, but he just couldn't bring himself to do so. The other boy looked so content, and somehow he just couldn't get up the energy to be worried about it. Instead he kissed him lightly on the forehead, then they both jumped as the microwave beeped.

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Another week passed pleasantly. For Ryou it was bliss. Bakura sometimes found himself wishing they could do something more than kissing and so on, but he decided it would be best to wait. Because it wasn't as if he wasn't perfectly happy as it was. As the time passed, he began to become less afraid of himself as well.

The next Saturday they watched a movie, then went up to Ryou's room for a little while. Ryou lay curled up in his yami's arms on the bed, drifting in and out of sleep.

Suddenly Bakura frowned. He could have sworn he heard something out there... But if there was something it was being awfully quiet.

He was just about to put it off as his imagination, when the door was flung open by Ryou's father. "Hi, Ryou! I'm ho..." The man's voice trailed off, and he stared wide-eye at the two of them.

"R-ryou!" Bakura managed to get out, he voice rather high-pitched (for him at least). "I think... you should wake up."

"Hmm...?" Ryou's eyes opened slightly, then flew open the rest of the way when he say his father. "Dad!" he said cheerfully, and started to sit up... Then he noticed Bakura's arm. "Oh... my..."

"Yeah," Bakura agreed.

"What...?" Ryou's father started, dazed.

"Um... heh..." Ryou got out of bed rather hurriedly, and grabbed Bakura's wrist. "Um, hi dad! Listen, um, we need to have a little talk, but I'll be right back. You... stay right there." He hastily dragged Bakura out of bed and out of the room after him, past his very confused dad.

"Bakura," Ryou said worriedly, once they got down to the living room, "what should we tell him?"

Bakura shrugged. "I don't know, really," he replied. "I'm no expert on your dad, you know. I have no idea how hard it would be to get him to believe the truth, but I can't really come up with anything else we could say. I mean, he found us in bed together. And besides all that, we do look almost exactly alike. It seems to me that that part would be even harder to explain."

"I know," Ryou said distractedly. "Maybe if we show him how you can go into the Sennen ring he'll believe us... But I really don't know what he's going to do..."

"Shhh; shhh," he said soothingly, hugging Ryou. "Don't go panicking; I can't handle this by myself you know." Ryou snickered.

"The Sennen ring?" Ryou's dad asked from the doorway. "You mean that necklace? What's that got to do with all this?"

Ryou gasped, pulling away from Bakura. "Dad!" he yelped. "Um... I thought I asked you to stay upstairs for a minute!"

His dad shrugged. "I know; sorry. But I really wanted to know what all this is about. Now, I really think you two ought to explain yourselves. For starters, exactly how long have you been a couple?"

Ryou blushed. "Uh... Only a little over a week..." He looked up from his feet, at which he had been staring guiltily. "You don't think it's... Well... Disgusting... Do you?"

His dad snorted. "Don't worry," he said reassuringly. "I must say, it'll take some getting used to. But really the thing that strikes me as the most odd is that you seem to be in love... With a near-perfect image of yourself. I don't suppose he's some distant cousin, is he?"

"Near-perfect image?" Bakura put in, pretending to be shocked. "I'm not that short, am I?" He smirked; it seemed to break the tension quite well.

After that they spent a while talking, Ryou and Bakura explaining things at intervals. When they got to the part about Bakura actually being the spirit of a tomb robber from ancient Egypt whose soul was tied to the Sennen ring Ryou's dad looked at them like they were crazy... Until Bakura went back into the ring, returning a few moments late. Ryou's dad had him do it several more times, then got up and wandered off to the kitchen, muttering something about aspirin.

Ryou looked after him, slightly concerned. "Do you think he'll be alright?" Bakura inquired. "He seemed... Disturbed."

Ryou grinned a little at the way he phrased it. "Yeah, he should be fine; just give him a little bit."

"Boys!" his dad suddenly called.

"Yes?" Ryou replied.

"Nothing too mature, you understand?" he said, and they could both hear him laughing.

"Dad!" Ryou groaned, turning slightly pink.

"Oh, is that disappointment I hear?" Bakura inquired mischievously.

Ryou just groaned again, turning even redder.

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A/N: [re-reading original author's note] Ah, apparently this was about where I first began discovering the evils of writing yaoi... For instance, you have to call the characters by their names, because if you use `he' then people won't know which one you're talking about, and it get dreadfully repetitive. [sweatdrop] Hey, it's true! Also, an official announcement: chapter four is where this piece of crap develops a plot! [throws confetti] Yes, I actually finally bothered to read ahead in my stuff; it was sooooo hard... But more importantly, next chapter contains a lemon -.- It was the first lemon I ever wrote, so it's crap. You people reading this on ff.net are *lucky* that I'll be editing it out for your version. But don't worry; if you find yourself possessed by a sudden bout of insanity and think you actually want to read the horrid thing, I'll stick a link to the unedited version on MediaMiner in the author's note [nervous grin] But I wouldn't read it if I were you. Honest. Urm, R&R onegai??? [puppy eyes]