Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Shades Of Gray ❯ Bakura's Plan ( Chapter 6 )

Ryou was growing more and more worried about Bakura with every day that passed. He was becoming more secretive and withdrawn, so much so that he and Ryou barely had any real conversations anymore.

He knew Necrophadisu was still hurting him-though Bakura wouldn't say as much, it was obvious, and besides Ryou could sense it happening at least twice daily.

They had (of course) passed the singing auditions with flying music, but Bakura couldn't be as happy about it as he acted. It isn't easy to trick a guy who shares a body with you.

Bakura still sang during the singing group, but he himself didn't come out. It was still Ryou, just with Bakura singing through him. Bakura said it made him feel better, and Ryou didn't doubt it, but that didn't explain why he spent hours searching the internet for Evanescence lyrics.

Ryou blamed himself for his pain, saying that it would have never happened if he hadn't told Yugi and his friends about Bakura's existence.

Bakura said it wasn't his fault, that it had been worth all of it to see the Pharaoh. Ryou wondered about that-could you love someone so much that you let Necrophadisu torture you at least twice daily just so you can speak with him for maybe ten minutes?

If it was, Bakura was a much better person than he was. After getting just a dose of Bakura's pain, Ryou had wanted to kill himself-he refrained only because Bakura told him about some of the crueler hosts he had had.

"It's Necrophadisu's fault, of course," he said. "He controls the evil within man and woman, why wouldn't he make sure the Millennium Item ends up in the hands of someone with a lot of it. Of course, it usually burned them up after Necrophadisu was done with them-they weren't the destined owner, and all."

He smiled at Ryou at this part. "You are the destined owner," he told him. "You were marked as the destined owner from birth."

Ryou and Yugi had both been marked by the same thing-their hair. Ryou liked being the destined owner-he hated Necrophadisu, but he loved Bakura as an older brother and knew that if he died Bakura would probably end up in the hands of somebody unspeakably cruel.

One day, he and Jou were sitting in the park eating ice cream. Anzu, Honda, and Yugi had been with them, but then Honda had to go home and Yu-Gi-Oh dragged Anzu off somewhere-how could Ryou fall in love with someone he didn't spend any time alone with?

Anyway, he admitted all of this to Jou, and Jou asked if that meant Kaiba would get it. Ryou tried to say that this was mean, but he was too busy chuckling.

"Say, Ryou…"

Ryou blinked and looked up from his ice cream cone. His boisterous friend sounded nervous suddenly, something which was very unusual for him.

"Is Bakura in love with someone?"

Ryou stiffened. Why would he ask that? Then again…He looked at Jou. Could he trust him with Bakura's secret? Or would that only cause more trouble?

"Yes." The word came out before he could help himself, but his shock lasted only for a moment. He could trust Jou, and Bakura wouldn't be mad. Necrophadisu probably wouldn't give a damn, anyway he was still punishing Bakura for the meeting with Yu-Gi-Oh.

"A guy?"

"Yes."

"It's you, isn't it?" His fist clenched, crushing the cone. Ryou wondered why he seemed so angry about this. Could it be…? Could he, just possibly…?

"No. We do love each other and all that, but like brothers. Anyway, he's been taken for over three thousand five hundred years."

Jou was first surprised, then ecstatic, then curious. "Then who does he love?"

"Mou Hitori no Yugi."

"No!"…"You're kidding!"…"Get out of here!"…"Really?"

"Yes, really. They were lovers in Ancient Egypt, but Necrophadisu screwed it up…Made the Pharaoh think Bakura had turned against him…Tricked him into sealing him into the Ring…You know the rest."

"That's…horrible…" said Jou, mind racing. "Do you think he likes him back?"

"God, I hope so," Ryou sighed, running a hand through his hair. Jou wished those were his fingers running through those soft white locks…

"I'm sure he does," said Jou, giving him the most reassuring smile he could manage.

Ryou smiled back, though tentatively. "I wish I could help it along in some way," he sighed again. "But even if I did know the first thing about matchmaking, Necrophadisu is still punishing Bakura for one meeting with Mou Hitori no Yugi-I don't even want to think about what He'll do if they meet again."

"Yu-Gi-Oh's right…it isn't fair what He does to him," said Jou with a little frown.

"Believe me, no one knows that better than I do except Bakura himself." He sighed and glanced at his watch. "I have to go now," he said apologetically. "I have homework."

***

Bakura was standing in front of a dark rusted door that he recognized-though he knew for a fact that he hadn't been their before. It was glowing insanely bright, the beams breaking up around his body in a quite interesting way he had seen it do in films and on a few music videos.

He reached out a hand to touch it and it dissolved under his fingertips. Where am I? he wondered, stepping inside an immeasurable cavern filled with light and something else.

The pristine glow which filled this place seemed to be dulling slowly, so slowly it would have taken anyone else a few minutes just to notice the patches of darkness puncturing the white.

Bakura knew enough about magic to pick up on its quirks, among which were the creation of images that mirrored solid reality-but he wished he had a blueprint. And then, right before his eyes, a mass of light and a mass of darkness started to take human shape.

Not seeming to notice Bakura, they started arguing without words-at least not words Bakura could hear. It wasn't a question of hurting each other-it was about dominance. They were trying to overpower each other without exchanging blows.

The one formed of light was exactly identical to Yu-Gi-Oh, while the other simply resembled him. And that other was something Bakura would personally want to avoid pissing off.

Over his sleeveless leather shirt he seemed to be wearing a strange version of Yugi's school jacket, flared more even than Yu-Gi-Oh's and with tiny golden ankhs for buttons-as well as a larger ankh on each lapel and each wrist. He was wearing the usual collar, except that there was another gold ankh instead of a buckle. Same with the shoes.

And, of course, there was the Millennium Puzzle.

His dark halo of hair was more flared, lean flame more muscular but no longer giving off the illusion of height. His eyes were the color of blood, swimming with malevolence. His face was slightly rounder, but it certainly didn't make him look innocent like Yugi. It looked demonic, like an imp or a gremlin.

In spite of these changes, Bakura recognized the being immediately.

Yami.

As Bakura watched, Yami pointed and one of the dark patches took shape. It formed what seemed to be Necrophadisu, but mutilated and dead, one blood-red eye ripped out and the other dull and empty.

Yu-Gi-Oh shook his head and pointed as well. A ripple seemed to shudder through the image. The eye turned blue. The hair softened. The expression changed, losing the rage but keeping the pain and horror.

Now Bakura was the one mutilated and dead.

Then, again, it changed. The eye turned green, the hair became even softer.

Now it was Ryou.

***

Bakura gasped for air, glancing around. It took him a moment to figure out where he was, the answer being in Ryou's bedroom.

Still gasping for air, he tried to gather his thoughts and suddenly remembered when Necrophadisu implanted a bit Himself into the Puzzle (though why He bothered when his essence was already in all the Items was beyond him) He had been there, he had actually effected it quite a lot. Could it be that he was able to come to

Bakura understood what he had seen, even if he had his doubts about how he had seen it: It seemed that, sensing Yu-Gi-Oh's rage, his darker personality Yami wanted to destroy Necrophadisu. But Yu-Gi-Oh-the real him-knew that he would destroy him and Ryou in the process.

Bakura wasn't entirely certain how it was that Yu-Gi-Oh had a darker half. His most likely theory was this:

When Atemu was sealed into the Puzzle, his soul was shattered-the reason was that, no matter what anybody said, it was the spirits of Kuru Eruna who had first killed him then bound him to the Puzzle: the reason being revenge, both for themselves and for him.

As I was saying, his soul was shattered. Because of that, his personality was fragmented as well as his memories. That or it was like Mariku-schizophrenia which ancient dark magic just happened to take to the next level, giving both sides of the personality actual life.

Either way, it meant he and Ryou were in danger.

Getting out of bed, he checked on Ryou in his soul room. Asleep. And he didn't sense Necrophadisu-which was a very good thing, because Necrophadisu was apparently very angry about him meeting Yu-Gi-Oh: usually His little torture sessions were about twice a week, not twice a day.

Which was simply more proof that Necrophadisu was planning something: He could feed on the misery of everybody else in the world, usually that added to the regular schedule was enough-what was He planning that needed so much strength?

Opening one of Ryou's drawers, he began tossing the neatly folded shirts aside until he came upon what he was looking for-the Millennium Eye that Necrophadisu had stolen from Pegasus. Recalling the vision of him, Necrophadisu, and Ryou with their eye ripped out, Bakura shuddered and decided he ought to get rid of the Eye.

He had had the thought before, but he knew the price would be huge-but at this point, things couldn't get much worse, and he had to risk everything to protect Yu-Gi-Oh and Ryou.

But who to give it to?

***

Seto Kaiba blinked as his intercom buzzed on. "What is it?" he asked, irritated, wondering who in the world could be calling at this time of night.

"Sir, it seems there's a boy standing outside. We tried to get him to leave-we used everything from asking politely to using guns, but nothing worked. I have never seen such reflexes! And he beat up the only two guards who were awake as if they were nothing."

Kaiba's eyes narrowed in a mixture of bewilderment and…yeah, that was pretty much it. "Send him in, then, if he's determined enough to stand outside in the middle of a storm."

***

Kaiba blinked at the boy in front of him, dripping wet but still standing tall and stunningly beautiful. He recognized him as the schizophrenic boy from school, Ryou Bakura, but he didn't look like either sides of him. And weren't his eyes supposed to brown?

"What are you doing here?" he demanded. "Couldn't this have waited until morning? And why in the world are you barefoot? You could have at least put some socks on!"

"I was in a bit of a rush," he replied, as if he had simply forgotten a favorite pen instead of shoes and decent clothing. His voice didn't sound like either of the Bakura's either, but it was still familiar for some reason. "I'm here to give you this."

Kaiba's eyes widened at the sight of the shining golden orb in the middle of his palm. "Why in the world would you give me this?" he demanded. "And wasn't it buried with Pegasus?"

"No, it wasn't. Now take it-hurry!"

The urgency in his voice made Kaiba pause. "I hate that object," he informed him. "It's vile, it's foul, it carries some of my worst memories-"

"I know, I know. For Yugi's sake, please take it."

At the word Yugi, a spark of emotion seemed to appear in his cold sapphire eyes. "Fine," he muttered, snatching it. "Why?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

He was probably right.