Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Heccubus ❯ Chapter 4

I hadn't expected Atemu to turn up the next day with the starter and booster packs he'd promised Bakura, but I was pretending to help Bakura study when we heard a knock on the door.

 

“I'll get it.” He put his two copies of `The Tale of Genji' aside (well, one of them was technically mine - the one in modern Japanese, not classical Japanese, but he was working from both of them) and left me working on a new carving. My father was probably too busy working on an article he needed to submit or something to bother with answering the door or anything like that, it wasn't as if it was anything I wasn't used to. I'd been frankly astonished that he'd been willing to spend even his first full day back with us, helping to get Bakura everything he needed, and I was sure I'd been missing something in the way my yami was behaving. I could half hear him greeting Atemu and Yugi, and he thanked Atemu for the cards loudly enough for my father to overhear before explaining.

 

“I'm studying so that I can keep up with Ryou in school,” And if that wasn't ridiculous nothing was...he was one hell of a lot smarter than I was, and I'd lost track of how many times some concept I'd had problems grasping was suddenly clear in my head - I knew now that meant he'd understood it and passed that understanding along to me. “so I don't have time to duel with you. But Ryou's a collector, he knows about all of the cards. You could duel with him.”

 

Bakura settled back on the floor, leaning up against the bed to open the cards Atemu'd given him while I put my carving away and got out my card collection.

 

“Give me a few minutes to put a deck together then, and I'll duel one of you.”

 

“You don't have a deck ready?” Yugi sounded really surprised, but Bakura'd just told him I'm a collector more than a duellist. I shrugged mentally and concluded that Yugi wasn't really that much brighter than Atemu was.

 

“The cards would get damaged if I kept them in a deck. Kaiba might be happy to damage his cards, even his precious Blue Eyes White Dragons, but I'm not.” I heard a slight indrawn breath from Bakura as I spoke, and let him feel my curiosity.

 

“I got The Left Leg of Exodia. It doesn't fit my style, but do you want it?”

 

“Please.“ I didn't have all the rest, but it was a rare card, and I liked collecting the cards more than duelling, Besides, there was something special about the pieces of Exodia that I had. “Find anything else interesting?”

 

“Yes. This.” He showed me another card as he handed me the Exodia piece. The Book of Secret Arts? My doubts must have shown on my face. “It...brings back memories, good ones.” He stroked the card gently, smiling. “You mentioned Kaiba, I should call him and set up an appointment so we can get back into a routine. Pass me the Ring for a moment, I stored the cell phone he gave me there.”

 

“Kaiba gave you a cell phone Tomb Robber?” Atemu sounded surprised.

 

“Yes, and I guess he pays the bill too, I haven't gotten one anyway.”

 

“Think he's in love?” Yugi sounded almost teasing, but I could just imagine the problems it'd make for my yami if he started teasing Kaiba as well.

 

“Hardly. I don't think he's capable of loving anyone but his brother.” I could sense a wistful sorrow across our link and something warmer that had to be love. “It's more a matter of control.”

 

:But you love him, don't you?: That had to be the other thing I was sensing from Bakura, why else would he feel sad.

 

-What! You're joking!- Bakura actually laughed out loud at that. -No, I pity him, because he's so damaged, and it's damage I don't know how to heal.- If I'd misinterpreted that emotion what else had I misunderstood? It didn't matter, Atemu was staring at my yami suspiciously, and I needed to deal with that.

 

“I had the stupid idea that Bakura might love Kaiba, and I mentioned it to him.”

 

“The Tomb Robber doesn't know how to love.” Contempt filled Atemu's voice, and I wanted to hit him for a second. “Have you put your deck together yet?”

 

“No, I got distracted. I'm only duelling one of you remember?” I let a hint of warning seep into my voice, I didn't know why, and Bakura came to lean against me, watching me make my deck.

 

-Might I give you some advice Yadonushi-sama?-

 

:Please. I don't play much, but I'm sick of the way they assume I won't put up any sort of challenge.:

 

-Think of the game as a type of ritualised battle or war. One that is usually settled by a series of individual duels, and choose your deck based on what you know of their decks...they don't change that much. Then base your strategies on that way of thinking, treating this as a type of battle.- It didn't make much sense on the surface, but when I tried following Yami's advice it became obvious what cards I should use. Meanwhile Yugi and Atemu were looking around my bedroom.

 

“You can read classical Japanese Ryou?” Yugi assumed the book was mine, despite the notes in Yami's handwriting surrounding it. My father'd told us we could each buy some books when we were getting stuff for Bakura, and he'd mostly chosen books in classical Japanese I had a translation of.

 

“No.”

 

“Then it's yours Tomb Robber?” Atemu sounded so surprised by that.

 

“Yes.” Bakura snatched it back, settling down on the floor again, and pulling his notes back into order. “Ryou's father is generous with his money if not his time.”

 

“I'm ready to duel now. Who am I going to play with.” I beat Yami first, and then Yugi using the technique Bakura'd suggested. Not quickly, but I did beat them. We'd have played again, but by then it was getting late and they had to leave.

 

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I'd spent all day doing the tests I needed to pass to get into Domino High School, and into the same classes as Ryou. It had originally been scheduled to go over two days, and Atemu would take the entire two days, but we'd been told that once we'd finished the tests on one subject we could ask for the tests on the next, and I'd gone through them pretty fast. I doubted I'd have any problem getting in, the tests had all been simple enough that even Atemu wouldn't have any real problem with them, but I wasn't entirely certain I'd be in Ryou's class without intervention from someone, either the Priest, or Ryou's father.

 

It was Atemu's turn to have me anyway, so I waited outside the school for him to finish the tests. I'd warned Ryou's father that I'd be spending some time with Atemu after the tests, but he didn't have too much of a problem with it, even if he had been confused last week when Seto Kaiba came to `pick Bakura up for our date' as he put it. By the time I got back he'd concluded that I was whoring myself out to him, the way he thought I'd lived in Alexandria, and he'd warned me that `such behaviour is not acceptable while you live under my roof.' I'd laughed, and fed him the cover story I'd cooked up with the Priest for that: he'd visited Egypt a few months ago - a matter of record - and I'd managed to snag the job of native guide (I think he assumed I got it on my back, but so what). We'd talked about the older games, chess and sennet - or backgammon as it is today - and he'd been impressed by my playing, as well as by my knowledge of science considering my background. I'd had him blushing and apologising for his assumptions by the end of the story.

 

“Tomb Robber. How did you finish everything so quickly?” Atemu looked furious at the speed I'd gotten through the tests, as if it was some sort of personal affront to him.

 

“I had to pay some attention to Yadonushi-sama's lessons if I was going to provide him with the understanding he needed, and I couldn't tell which subjects he'd need that in until he needed it. It was easier to just pay attention to all his lessons, and do some additional study.” I shrugged, casually, it really wasn't that important to me, and if he'd bothered to pay attention to anything besides his precious games the tests wouldn't have frustrated him so much. My response seemed to frustrate him even further, because he grabbed hold of my wrists and pulled off his collar, fastening it around them tight enough to hurt.

 

He dragged me along by my wrists, and I did my best to make it look as natural as I could until we got to a dark alley - not that much of a surprise I guessed. In his mood he wasn't likely to want to bother with the love-hotels we'd used before, and considering his tastes we certainly couldn't fuck at the Game Store. I don't think he ever realised that I let him manhandle me during our appointments, he was only human strength after all. He bent me over and let me lean against the wall of the alley, then he pulled my trousers down and took his belt off, so he could use it on my ass. I responded the way he wanted, letting him see pain, and just a hint of arousal, both genuine, even knowing I'd heal instantly when he came and until he stopped fucking me it still hurt, and my arousal came from his.

 

“Where've you got a knife hidden today?” Since I couldn't carry them openly and since I found it easier to use a knife offensively than my magic I always hid a knife or knives about my body and unfortunately their presence at least was common knowledge in our circle.

 

“Jacket pocket. Right.” That was the most obvious place for me to put a knife, and the one there was an old fashioned cut-throat razor and the sharpest of the knives I was carrying, so it would hurt the least. He dug into my pocket to retrieve the blade, then cut my left hip, gathering the blood he'd drawn to use as a sort of lube - not a very good one, and it meant once he'd gotten inside me it would likely be worse than if he hadn't bothered using lube at all, but it was enough with the precum covering his dick to let him get inside me. It still hurt though, and I cried out the way I knew he liked me to, Atemu enjoys thinking that he's `punishing' me for whatever crimes his imagination comes up with - this time it was probably for how easily I'd got through all the tests, since I'd occasionally seen him frantically trying to write more as he ran out of time.

 

He came quickly enough, filling me with energy and healing my injuries, all of them, but he didn't pull out, and stayed leaning against my back, playing idly with a nipple. I put up with it for a while, but when I felt him becoming hard again that was enough. I shifted to the form of a child, my clothes falling loose around my body and the collar binding my wrists now far too slack to be of any use. The shapeshift had the side effect of removing Atemu from my body, and killing all his desire easily. I used his shock to get away from him and shifted back to my usual form, pulling up my trousers as I did.

 

“You've taken your pleasure, and I have other things to do. We only need to pretend to be friends for Ryou's father.” With those words I turned and walked away. He grabbed hold of my elbow to stop me.

 

“But you told Ryou's father you'd be spending time with me. Doesn't that mean we have to be seen together?” I could feel the cruel satisfaction he felt at the thought of keeping me from Ryou, or whatever I intended, but he was right.

 

“Then take me to an arcade, we can be seen playing on those games.” He seemed to accept that, and insisted on guiding me by the arm as if I needed the help, but I let him have that little victory.

 

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I was surprised to find Yami still at home, in the kitchen stirring a pan of miso when I got up.

 

“Didn't you have more tests to get into Domino High today?” I was still half asleep as he ladled a bowl of miso out for me and handed me a cup of coffee too.

 

“I...got through all of them yesterday actually.” He got himself a bowl of miso and a cup of coffee and joined me, pushing his hair out of his face in a way that made him look delicate, fragile...and it was only then that it hit home to me that he was delicate, even compared to me, at least in appearance. His bone structure was finer, and he was perhaps two inches shorter than me, and whipcord thin, he had muscles, but they weren't bulky or anything, he looked like an acrobat more than anything else.

 

“I always knew you were a genius. Yugi invited me to visit him at the Game Shop today.” He'd come over yesterday, with his friends, it was plausible too, his explanation that he'd known I'd be lonely with Bakura gone to sit the same tests as Atemu. Still, I couldn't seem to get up the enthusiasm to actually go to visit Yugi, even if I was sure Bakura would want me to.

 

“Do you think he'll mind if I come along too?” Bakura tilted his head to one side, showing his throat as he asked. “I should make arrangements with Yugi for tomorrow, and besides I can help you back if you need it.” Something about the casual way Bakura exposed his throat to me was almost intoxicating, so I didn't pay as much attention as I should have to the rest of his words. I knew I should have been insulted by his assumption that I'd need help getting back home, except...I might well need the help, if not yet then soon.

 

“Sure.” And that meant that I'd have to go. “Do you want to give me advice on which deck to use?”

 

“I have no advice for you beyond what I suggested before, think of it as a war or a battle.” He smiled at me and licked his lower lip, almost nervously.

 

“You don't do it that way.” He always had strategies planned for various contingencies...but his plans were always pretty flexible, and he knew how to take advantage of whatever luck he got.

 

“No, I don't...but it's different for me, I'm a lot older, and my intuitive abilities run different to yours, I work with my strengths, and I'm trying to tell you how to work to yours.” He shrugged again. “But my strengths are those of a fuck toy, yours aren't.” He really believed that? That he was just a `fuck toy'? And how did that work with how lethal he could be?

 

“You can make a deck up from my collection.” I didn't know what else to offer him...the cards he'd ordered still hadn't arrived yet.

 

“And the few useful cards in those booster packs. I have a couple of strategies in mind. If the appropriate cards are left after you've made up your deck.”

 

“Why not make your deck up first then?”

 

“No, it's your collection, you get the first choice.” There was something else behind that, but I couldn't bring myself to care about it, and I selected my deck while Bakura watched once I was dressed. I lingered over my three Exodia pieces, but they were only useful if you drew all five of them in a single hand....not very likely - especially if you didn't have all five to draw. People were still raving about the one time Atemu had managed it, against Kaiba, and he'd probably used his Shadow Magic without realising it, all of the best duellists did, including Kaiba and Jounouchi, even if Kaiba refused to believe in it. Still, there was something about those cards...

 

“I wish you'd let me teach you the offensive and power drawing aspects of Shadow Magic while we were sharing your body, Yadonushi-sama.” There was sorrow in Bakura's voice as he spoke, interrupting my train of thought, and I realised that I was still fondling my Exodia pieces, even though I'd finished making up my deck. “You'd have been a natural for the first aspect, and the second would help keep you from weakening so rapidly now.”

 

“Why...” I was about to ask why I'd be a natural in the offensive aspects when they'd been so hard for him to use, I didn't like hurting people after all, but then I decided I probably didn't want to know and changed the question. “can't you teach me the power drawing aspects now then?”

 

“Because I'm being selfish and I'd prefer it if you stayed as strong as you can for as long as you can, and until you've got it down drawing power from the Shadows costs you more energy than you get out of it, it took me three months to master it.” And if it took Bakura that long it would take me even longer. I saw his point as I pushed my collection over for him to choose from, but I had to wonder why he didn't draw his power from the Shadows.

 

“I'm sorry.” There was a look of surprise of his face at that, slight, I almost missed it, but still there. “I should have listened to you when you wanted me to learn from you. No chance you can just teach me it the way you taught me Arabic and other languages?”

 

“No, it needs full-body learning, not like the languages or the theoretical stuff you did in school. It's like I couldn't help you with sports, or in fights,” Although there was something about that last term that sounded like a lie, or at best a half truth. “except by taking over and doing them for you.”

 

“Oh, just pick your deck and we'll go then.”

 

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Mutou-san, Sugoroku, was manning the Game Shop when we got there, so I handed Ryou over to Yugi and his friends so I could talk to him about my order. I was fully aware of the irony inherent in a heccubus handing responsibility for one of the most powerful Battle Bred demons over to a group of humans, but if he kept on refusing to admit what he was...

 

“What do you want Kurerunano-san?” He was treating me like a stranger, it wasn't actively hostile, but it wasn't how he'd treat Ryou. “We've got the more common cards you ordered, but it will take a while to get the rarer ones. They aren't always available.”

 

“If you've managed to get my Dark Necrophia then I'll take what you've got so far, please.” Ryou had allowed me to use his, because apparently he didn't think she'd fit into his battle plans, but I'd rather have one of my own, so I could start building an affinity with my own cards.

 

“No, we haven't found that card yet.”

 

“Then I'll wait. But there's something else, I want you to get two pieces of Exodia for me, the head and the right arm. How much should I transfer for those?”

 

“I...I don't know. There's always a bidding war whenever a piece of Exodia comes on the market, especially since Yugi managed to use Exodia in a duel.” Pride in his grandson filled his voice.

 

“Then I'll do what I should have done with that list to start off with. I'll set up an account that you have access to, and you can use the money in it to buy any cards I add to the list of what I want, starting with the Exodia pieces. I'll pay you a small retainer from when you've gotten everything on the list currently, and say a five percent finder's fee on top of that for any cards you buy for me.”

 

“You paid twenty percent commission for the original list.”

 

“And I wasn't offering a retainer then either. Seven and a half percent then.” I smiled as he suddenly realised he'd started to haggle with me. It might be fun to take my time over it, but I was willing to give him ten percent, but no more.

 

“Fifteen if you're asking me to take time from my work to look for these cards for you.”

 

“You run a game shop, it won't be that hard for you, or even take time from your job. I can find the cards without you, but it will please Yadonushi-sama if I have you do this. Ten percent. That's my final offer. We can discuss the retainer when you've finished my first list, or get the first of these additional cards.”

 

“Very well. Where are you getting all this money?” He sounded suspicious and I couldn't really blame him.

 

“Shadow Magic can be used to heal scarlessly, including removing old scars. It's quite profitable.” I gave him the most innocuous and vague explanation, I wasn't going to mention the paedophile who'd been pursuing Ryou when he first got the Ring, and how I'd opened my first accounts with money transferred from his after I killed him. “Can I go to join Yadonushi-sama and his friends now?” I let just a hint of impatience fill my voice, and when he nodded I went up to find Ryou duelling with Jounouchi.

 

It was obvious that he was winning easily, despite Yugi's offered advice, but Anzu and Honda were still supporting him, and I could understand that, they owed more loyalty to him than to Ryou. I bit my lip, even though he didn't need my support I was sure he'd enjoy it, but I needed to talk to Yugi as well, and for one subject it would help if Ryou was distracted by the game.

 

“You said you wanted to talk to Yugi didn't you Bakura? Perhaps you can get him to stop backseat duelling for Jounouchi.” Both of them blushed at that. I just loved it when he showed his demon nature, even in such a small way as that...it made me just a little weak in the knees. Jounouchi and Yugi both seemed embarrassed to hear that, although Yugi did defend himself.

 

“Well, you beat me and mou hitori no boku when we came to visit you and give Bakura those cards.”

 

“I wanted to arrange things for tomorrow with you, Yugi, Ryou's father was very suspicious about my date with the Priest, and even if I managed to cover the rest up better we still need to make arrangements.”

 

“Oh, will you be teaching me another spell? I'd like to learn one of your healing spells.”

 

“That would be a problem, you don't have the reserves for major healing spells, and we don't exactly have any suitable practice subjects, so it would be awkward, I'll think about it, if that's okay?” I was exaggerating slightly, but I'd given him more than a few hints about how to link to the Puzzle and find out what he wanted to know from the information stored inside it, if he couldn't figure it out that was his problem. And he was too much of a martyr for me to risk teaching him any spell that had the potential to take so much power from him that it would kill him.

 

“Okay then. What do you want to do tomorrow then?”

 

“I'm not sure.” I bit my lip, glancing over at Ryou and his friends. I'd actually snuck out of the house for Anzu and Jounouchi, but that wasn't something I wanted to do too often. “You and Atemu could come to visit, and we could be together while Atemu duelled Ryou again.”

 

“He's been wanting a rematch. We can do that.”

 

“Thank you. Something else, Check with your grandfather, I'm paying him to find the Exodia pieces Ryou doesn't have for me, as a surprise for him. If you have them then you can name your price. I think that Exodia's his ka-beast.”

 

“Exodia?” He sounded shocked and I couldn't blame him but it made a strange sort of sense when I thought about it. “Right. The pieces I've got are no good on their own anyway, and I can't afford to bid for the other pieces. Do you want to duel me?”

 

“Sure.” I pulled out my deck, ready to face the younger King of Games.

 

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