Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Rain ❯ Rain 2/4 ( Chapter 2 )

Title: Rain (2/4)

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Bakura scowled at the television. The blank screen stared back at him in a blank manner. The panel of shiny black glass was empty of those annoying people Ryou liked to watch - no cries of "It's a Gundam!" or "Activate Eva Unit 01!" today. Stupid cartoons made by stupid mortals with stupid, narrow minds. Bakura decided he hated television.

Not as much as he hated Ryou, however.

That weakling had lied to him. He'd pretended emotions he didn't have. That night in the desert, when Bakura had chosen to stay with him, his light side had been projecting feelings that matched his own - thoughts of - he despised admitting it - romantic interest for his other half. But when they'd returned to Japan and Bakura had acted on those feelings, Ryou had run away, denying he'd ever felt anything like that.

You told me you wanted me. Liar.

For the first few days after Bakura had kissed him, the two had said perhaps a dozen words to each other, and those were mostly notifications that a meal was ready. Bakura had stopped eating dinner so he wouldn't have to sit at the same table with Ryou. They didn't look at each other if they could help it.

However, such animosity couldn't last forever, and once the school term had started again and Ryou was out of the house for most of the day the unbearable stuffiness had begun to dissipate. They weren't exactly friendly, and Bakura was sure things could never go back to the way they were before, but they were civil.

He still hated Ryou.

Idly Bakura watched a five-foot-long insect crawl over the armchair to his left. It paused, turning in a circle on the soft cushions, then spread beetle-like wings and launched itself into the air. In a rather amusing and pathetic display, it crashed straight into the light and fell onto the coffee table on its back, where it became stuck. Despite its struggles, it couldn't turn itself over onto its stomach. Smirking at its misfortune, Bakura poked it with his foot and sent it sprawling to the carpet.

Ryou had been late this morning and forgot to take the Millennium Ring to school with him, which meant that Bakura got to conjure Duel Monsters to alleviate his boredom. It passed the time.

There was the sound of a key in the lock at the front door, and Bakura made the Minar monster vanish. While it had been fun toying with the stupid insect, he found himself cursing the fact that there wasn't a Dark Magician in Ryou's deck. He could have had fun ordering him around.

As he heard the door shut, Bakura began to get to his feet, but then changed his mind. If Ryou wanted to see him, he'd have to make the effort. Not that there was much effort in going to the lounge room, but it was the principle of the thing. He began cutting and shuffling Ryou's deck, pretending to be busy.

A moment later Ryou was standing in the doorway. "Hello," he said. "I'm sorry I'm late, I went to the game shop with the others."

Bakura grunted, and continued playing with Ryou's cards.

"What happened to the light?" Ryou asked.

Bakura looked up, and saw that the shade had been dented where the Minar had bumped into it. He smirked. //Stupid insect// he thought irritably.

"Insect?"

Damn that mind-link … "Yes, a Minar. It remembered how to fly, and forgot how to steer." Smirking because he knew what he was talking about and Ryou didn't, Bakura cut the deck in three and put it together again before flipping the top card onto the coffee table. Change of Heart. How sentimental and appropriate.

He felt rather than saw Ryou frown. "Talking to you is like trying to get blood from a rock," said Ryou, in his childish, pouty version of grumpiness. "Why was there a Minar in the lounge room?"

"Because you left the Ring here when you went to school," Bakura said, as if it were obvious.

"…Oh." There was a moment of silence, then Ryou apparently decided to leave well enough alone. He shifted from foot to foot. "Yugi's back from Egypt," he said.

Bakura could tell from the tone of his voice that this was Big News, and that there was something he was supposed to ask, but refused to rise to the bait. He shuffled Change of Heart back into the deck, then re-cut it into thirds. He was highly aggravated when, after he recombined the three piles, Change of Heart was on the top again. //Stupid deck//

Ryou hesitated a moment, then blurted, "Yugi and Yami are back from Egypt."

The meaning of his emphasis wasn't lost on Bakura. Ryou's recent holiday in Egypt had enabled he and Bakura to attain their separate bodies, and the tomb robber had then (in a sarcastic, superior tone of voice) suggested that Yugi make the same trip in order to provide the pharaoh with a vessel of his own. Apparently they'd taken his counsel. Why Ryou thought Bakura would care what that idiot `King of Games' did, he didn't know. He shuffled the deck again.

Ryou sighed. "Of course, you're not interested," he muttered, and left the room.

As soon as he was gone, Bakura gave into fate, and sneezed - as quietly as he could. Which, unfortunately, wasn't quiet enough.

Within seconds, Ryou had poked his head around the doorway. "That cold hasn't gone away yet?"

Bakura rolled his eyes. Stupid teenager, always stating the obvious.

"I thought you'd been getting better," said Ryou. He hesitated, then said to the wall above Bakura's head, "I'll make some soup," and retreated to the kitchen.

Something occurred to Bakura after his light had left, and he unfolded his limbs and stalked into the kitchen. Ryou was filling a pot with water and glanced around as Bakura leaned against the doorway, arms crossed, but didn't say anything. There was a moment of silence, until impatience got to Bakura and he snapped, "Well?"

"Well what?" said Ryou, just a shade too quickly.

"Well, what was it between that pharaoh and his light that's got you thinking?" Bakura said impatiently. Ryou focused his gaze more firmly on the stove.

"Nothing," he said.

Bakura rolled his eyes again. "You realise," he said peevishly, "that when you say `nothing' in that tone of voice you're actually saying exactly the opposite? Not to mention," he added, "that I can still hear your thoughts even when I'm not trying to."

"When would you try to hear my thoughts?" Ryou asked, genuine discomfort in his voice.

"Don't try and change the subject!"

There was a pause that expressed the distrust Ryou still held for Bakura, then he said, "They're together."

"Together? Of course they're together, they're dark and light-" Bakura stopped when Ryou finally met his eyes. With the look came the mental image of the pharaoh and his light sitting side by side, the one's arms around the other's waist in a blatant display of intimacy that no platonic affection, however strong, could explain. "-Oh."

"Yeah." Ryou returned to the stove, lighting the gas and placing the lid on the pot. He began drawing circles on the countertop with a finger in a spill of water.

Bakura narrowed his eyes at the boy's profile and took a step into the kitchen. "And why would that bother you?" he asked. There was no response from Ryou, but tension began trailing lines across his back as Bakura approached him.

The bubbling of the pot erased the silence, but couldn't ease the awkwardness as neither Ryou nor Bakura spoke. Neither acknowledged it, Ryou continuing to create abstract artworks and Bakura merely scowling. Eventually the lack of action got to the tomb robber, and he took two swift steps and seized Ryou's wrist.

"What is it?" he snapped, although he thought he had a pretty good idea. "Just spit it out already!"

Ryou recoiled, fear showing in his green eyes as he tried to wrest his arm free from Bakura's grasp but was frozen by the tone of his voice. He swallowed. "I - I don't know," he said. "I thought I … didn't … you know … but now I'm not - not sure … and it's … confusing…" The last word was in an apologetic tone, but Bakura didn't feel inclined to feel too sympathetic in light of what Ryou had just admitted about his feelings. Let him feel rejection and see if he wanted apologies.

"Hn." He released Ryou's wrist abruptly, noting with mild interest that there were white and red lines on the boy's skin. "Is that all?" he said, putting a sneer into his voice.

An expression of disbelief crossed Ryou's face, followed by hurt. "Bakura…" he whispered.

"Why do you insist on calling me by your own surname when you're thinking that about me?" Bakura said. "Feeling a bit narcissistic, my light?"

Ryou flinched from the sarcastic attack. He fixed an imploring look on Bakura, but the spirit turned away. Serves you right, he thought bitterly as he left the kitchen and threw himself down on the couch again. It's not nice being lied to, is it, Ryou? Not so pleasant to find that someone you trusted rejects you? Learn from that.

Ryou's deck sat on the coffee table still. Bakura huffed at it angrily, trying to send the cards in every direction, but only the top one flipped over.

Change of Heart.

Bakura kicked the cards and watched them scatter.

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