Ryou

The pain was intense. Just holding on to consciousness was hard enough. The room appeared to be spinning around me. I was about to lose it. I had to hold on.

{I can’t wait for the weekend; it’s still too early; I wonder what she was up to last night}

When would it stop? I couldn’t take it!

“Just calm down, Ryou,” I told myself. “Just calm down. This is nothing. Just clear your head and don’t think about the pain.” I tried to take my own advice, but it was so hard. I took a few deep breaths and tried again to ignore the pain. It seemed to be working. The pain was lessening. In fact, the voices were quieting, too! Oh, thank you, God! It was stopping!

I lowered my hands and relaxed against the wall. Whew! Glad that was over. After a few minutes, I stood. I hoped beyond hope that Yami Bakura hadn’t noticed my distress. He’d yell at me for risking discovery. He might beat me, too, if the mood struck him. How would I explain being found beaten to a bloody pulp in the bathroom when the door was locked from the INSIDE. But, like clockwork, Yami Bakura made himself known.

<Ryou, what’s going on out there?>

I continued to pray that he wouldn’t find out, though I knew he probably already did, and ignoring him was dangerous.

<I haven’t heard from you in a while. Did you pass out again? Probably did, the weakling…>

What? He couldn’t tape into my thoughts? What was going on? I paced across the room, hoping my luck would hold through. I decided to risk answering him. I needed to know what was happening.

<Nothing’s going on.> I told him mentally. <It’s just such a boring class. Guess I spaced out.> This was a bold-faced lie. If he really couldn’t search my mind, then he wouldn’t know the difference. But if I was wrong…

<I don’t understand why you wanted to come to school so bad.> he said. <I thought it was for mental stimulation, but your mind has been blank for at least twenty minutes.>

I was blocking him out! But how? I felt him go back to his dormant state (he didn’t like school, so he usually stayed quiet while I was there). How was I blocking him out? I knew he could block me out, but I had never been able to do the same. What was different now? Then a thought crossed my mind. The eye? Could that be it? If it could read minds, could it block them out too? If so, then how was I able to use it? I had been hoping and praying that he couldn’t read my thoughts. Maybe I was answered by the eye… If I had truly figured out how to use it, then it would be a great asset. I couldn’t keep him in the dark all the time, though. He would figure it out. I would have to let a few thoughts slip by.

I washed my face in the sink and checked myself in the mirror to make sure the eye was covered. The hairspray held true. Then I realized something…

“Did he say twenty minutes?!!!” Oh, I was late for class! Quickly, I unlocked the door and sped down the hall. Oh, what a way to start the day…
 
 

Yugi

Bakura walked back into class five or six minutes late. The teacher showed absolutely no mercy on him. Really, the guy had been gone for days. He obviously wasn’t healthy. She could have given him a break.

“Bakura, where have you been? Class starts promptly at seven-thirty.”

“S-sorry, Ma’am,” he stammered. “I had a migraine.”

She noticed the bruises on his face as he looked up, but decided to ask no questions, heartless old toad… She gave him a detention and motioned him to his seat.

<Yugi.> came my yami’s voice so suddenly it made me jump. The teacher saw my sudden motion.

“And what is your problem, Motou?”

“Nothing, Ma’am,” I answered. The old bat missed nothing.

<Sorry.> Yami said.

<It’s no problem. She’s got it in for me.>

<You want me to mind crush her?>

<NO!> I said sharply. Yami Yugi took things far too seriously. <What is it you needed?>

<That was no migraine.> he said. <Just before he left, I sensed a power from Bakura.>

<Was it Yami Bakura taking over?> I asked.

<It didn’t come from the ring.>

<Then what was it? What else could it be?

<I’m not sure. It’s another power. A strong one. It seems kind of familiar, but I can’t place it.>

<Is it a threat to us? Or Bakura?>

<Anything can be a threat. But I don’t think we need to worry about it just yet.> he said. <The “old bat” is talking to you. Maybe you should answer?>

“MOTOU!!!”

I nearly jumped out of my skin. She was about an inch from me. I had been so absorbed in my talk with Yami that I hadn’t been paying attention at all. “Ma’am?” I said weakly.

“Your attention span is growing worse by the day. You will join Bakura for detention.”

“Yes Ma’am” I said. Everyone was staring at me. Even Bakura looked at me with pity. How sad was that? The teacher turned around and walked back to the front.

<You see?> I told my yami. <That is why we shouldn’t talk in class.>

<The offer to mind crush her is still open>

<Don’t temp me…>