Yugi

Class was so dull. I played with my pencil in a lame attempt to keep myself entertained. I sighed, louder than I meant to, and the teacher gave me a dirty look. “Sorry,” I muttered, and pretended to return to the assignment. I was usually a good student. I just couldn’t concentrate today. I looked around the classroom and my eyes focused on an empty desk. Bakura. He’d been gone all this week. It wasn’t like him to miss so much school. But he hadn’t been like himself in a while. At least not like I knew him on Duelist Kingdom. I thought that he was avoiding me. I had my suspicions why, too, but I felt it would only lead to trouble if I mentioned it to Bakura. I knew he had his reasons…

You see, Bakura and I have something in common. We both play hosts to the spirits (dark sides, yamis, whatever you want to call them) that haunt our millennium items. I must admit that I have a much better deal than he did. His yami was vicious, harsh, and abusive, while mine is simply over- competitive and protective. I say was in the case of his yami because we (we being Yami Yugi and myself) had thought that he had been destroyed. Unfortunately, recent occurrences seemed to prove otherwise. Besides Bakura avoiding me, there were the injuries. Every once in a while, Bakura would have a cut, or a nasty bruise, or a limp. Most people didn’t notice this; people our age were always getting hurt. But I knew he wasn’t the active type. Bakura was quiet and reserved. It’s not like he got into roller blading accidents and the like.

There was something else that bothered me. Bakura still wore the millennium ring. He kept it under his shirt, but I had seen it. He had been at his locker, and didn’t know I was watching. Not that I was spying or anything. I was just concerned for my friend. He had taken the ring out, only for a moment, but that was long enough. Yami Yugi and I reached the same conclusion. There was no other explanation.

Yami Bakura was back…

“Motou!” the teacher’s sharp voice brought me out of my thoughts. Confused, I looked up at her.

“Ma’am?”

“Perhaps if you could stop daydreaming long enough, you could answer question six?” she said sternly.

“Uh…err…” I had no clue what we were doing.

“Page 92,” Anzu whispered, helpfully. I turned to the correct page and answered the question. Luckily, I had studied the night before. After the teacher stopped staring at me like a vulture, I turned to Anzu and mouthed the word “Thanks.” She smiled.

Later, after school, I spoke with my yami. We were in the privacy of my room, so he separated from me so that we could talk face to face. I expressed my concern for Bakura. He agreed that something was up.

“Approaching him will only anger Yami Bakura, which is dangerous to the real Bakura,” my dark side said. “But leaving it alone will give the grave robber the time he needs to recuperate.”

“Recuperate?” I asked.

“The battle between us in the Shadow Realm must have left him weak. That must be the reason he hadn’t shown himself. He’s waiting.”

“For…?” I said, not getting his meaning.

“Us. He tried for the puzzle once, there is no reason that he won’t again.” Yami Yugi stated.

“And here I thought he was scared of you,” I said, smiling. I was trying to break the all-to-serious atmosphere with a joke.

He gave me a strange look. “What do you mean?” he said. I sighed.

“Humor is wasted on you, you know that don’t you?”
 
 

Yami Yugi

The plan was simple. Yugi would find an excuse to go to visit Bakura. This would at least let us know how serious the situation was. Unfortunately, even if our fears were correct, I could do nothing while the soul stealer controlled his host. At least, not without killing Bakura in the process.

I felt confident that there was no danger to Yugi yet. Yami Bakura would not dare attack. Not yet. I felt sure that he was still too weak to take me on. Heh, at his full strength I still beat him last time. I couldn’t see how he could possibly have an advantage over me now…
 
 

Yami Bakura

So the millennium eye was a little harder to manage than I anticipated. Pegasus had had the thing for years, so of course he made it look easy. It was nothing I couldn’t overcome.

I lay on Ryou’s bed, trying to clear my head after yet another failed attempt. That took a lot out of you. There was no trouble activating the eye, but it was hard control, and hell to turn off. The problem was that I couldn’t figure out how to make it read just one mind. Or even a few at a time. It seemed as if it honed in on every thought within a fifteen mile radius. The thoughts also ran together, so not one of them could be understood. And then you couldn’t stop it. It just shut itself off after a while. It was quite a headache, literally. I understood now why Ryou had reacted the way he did. I didn’t take it so badly, but I had to take his weakness into consideration.

The afternoon sunlight shown through the window. I stood and was about to allow Ryou his body back when there was a knock at the door. An all too familiar voice called out.

“Bakura! I’ve brought your schoolwork.”

“It’s Yugi!” I said out loud. Oh! I quickly covered my mouth. He could have heard me. Not that I was afraid. I just wasn’t in a state to risk confrontation. Maybe he would leave if he thought no one was home. I backed away, right into Ryou’s table. A loud crash followed as a lamp fell to the ground and broke.

“Are you ok in there?”

Damn! He heard me.

“Bakura! You’ve been gone three days now. The teacher asked me to bring you your assignments.” He wasn’t leaving. I retreated from the body and allowed Ryou to gain control.

<Get rid of him!> I ordered my other.

I could feel Ryou’s confusion. <Yugi, you idiot! He’s at the door.>

<But I can’t let him see me like this!> he said, referring to the millennium eye. This was true enough.

<Your hair is long enough. Cover it. Take a leaf out of Pegasus’s book.>

<What about the bruises?>

<Make up an excuse. Now hurry, before he gets suspicious.>