Yugi

Bakura was getting worse. Two days after we had detention together, he got another one for falling asleep in class. He looked even worse now than he did the day I brought him his homework. His bruises seemed to be multiplying, and he continued to cover one side of his face with his hair. I wondered if the injury under there could possibly be worse than the rest of them.

More than anything, Bakura looked lonely. I decided to eat lunch with him, maybe make some conversation, be a friend to him. He seemed to need one. But following Yami’s advice, I would not mention the new injuries. No sense in getting Bakura into more trouble.

It was the Tuesday of the following week. I watched him leave class and walk to the lunchroom, his bookbag slung over his right shoulder. He walked slow, and with a slight limp, poor guy… He and I both got in line for the hot lunch. He was a few people ahead of me, so I had to watch for where he would sit. He went to an empty table in the corner of the room and sat down. I caught up to him.

“Mind if I sit with you?” I asked, holding my lunch tray in one hand and tapping him on the left shoulder with the other. His reaction was immediate. He cringed and jerked away from my touch, knocking over his juice in the process. I almost spilled my lunch as well.

“Is that a yes?” I asked. I had at first taken this reaction the wrong way. Then I saw the way he was gingerly rubbing his shoulder.

“N-no. It’s not that,” he said as he began cleaning up the mess. “My shoulder…it’s just a little sore is all. You can sit here…if you want to.” He didn’t seem to care either way. He was so passive. He was so indifferent. He was so…hopeless…

Bakura barely ate at all. I was half expecting him to fall asleep right then and there. He looked as if he hadn’t sleep in days. It was really a sorry site. But he never complained. He never said one word of negativity towards his current situation. It was really strange. Bakura had never been much of a complainer, but really…he had taken passiveness to a new level. He no longer seemed to be deep in thought, or worried, or struggling with himself. He showed no emotion. He was just…blank. That is the only word that I could think of to describe it. Blank.

I tried to involve him in some conversation. I told him about the new cards my grampa got in, and about the Duel Monsters tournament finals going on in America. I told him about Anzu worrying about her math test and Jounouchi goofing around with Honda. Nothing affected him. He answered me simply, but showed no enthusiasm. He stared down at his lunch, poking at his food a bit. What was with him? Why was he acting like this? Has things really been that bad for him? As if the injuries weren’t enough, had Yami Bakura crushed his very soul? Had he broken his spirit, his will to resist?

Bakura decided that he had had enough of lunch. He stood, slung his bag over his right shoulder (I knew why now), and muttered a simple goodbye as he turned and walked (or limped) away.

I had a serious talk with Yami Yugi later on. Were we too late to help Bakura? Could anything be done to bring him back to reality? Yami said he couldn’t answer these questions yet, but he was working on a plan. I sure hoped that it was a good plan. If we could still help Bakura, we didn’t have that much time to waste. He didn’t seem as though he could get much worse, but I had thought the same thing the first time I had seen him hurt…
 

Yami Yugi

We would have to act soon, or it would be too late for Bakura. His spirit was broken, his will crushed. Having spent so much time with millennium items, I had seen such a thing before (I am not proud to admit it, but I may have caused a few of them myself). The end result was not pretty. If we did not get Bakura away from his Yami’s abuse soon, then there would be no saving him. Even if we did eventually free him, the REAL Bakura would be long lost.

The plan I was working on was risky. I was trying to spare Bakura and Yugi the danger of the impending confrontation between myself and Yami Bakura, but in order to get Yami Bakura to agree to my terms, I would have to give up something in return. The something I was considering I knew Yami Bakura would not be able to pass up, but I also knew that I was giving him a great advantage. If he careful in his choices, I would stand at a very difficult challenge. A challenge I could very well lose…
 
 

Yami Bakura

I was still unable to use the damned eye. I had worked on it for more than a week, and still nothing. No one could believe how frustrated I was. But Ryou was always there for me to relieve my frustrations on. He had become obedient, I’ll give him that. He didn’t fight anymore. He didn’t argue. He had become an ideal slave. If I had known that he could become so passive and obedient, I would have enforced it a long time ago. It was almost scary the way Ryou had accepted his fate. There were no thoughts of resistance in his head at all. It was as if he had no will at all. Heh. I had always said that he was a weakling…