Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Afraid of the Dark ❯ Proposals ( Chapter 2 )

*~ Afraid of the Dark~*

'Thought'

"Spoken"

\ Bakura's voice in his head \

\\ Yami Bakura's voice in Bakura's head \\

~*~*~ Scene Change ~*~*~

/Yugi's voice in his head/

//Yami's voice in Yugi's head//

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh. I do not kidnap cute duel monsters with green hair, pointy ears and amber eyes either… *Coughs* don't look at me like that… ^_^;

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Part 2 - Proposals

Having woken early for a shower, Bakura wanted to cry, despising the throbbing soreness of his fragile, petit body. Each malevolent beating upon him left its mark clear upon his skin. Yet, this was heaven compared to the hell of it's cause; the rampaging actions of the monster inside the Millennium Ring.

As he stared into the mirror at his own pale, fatigued reflection he caught sight of new bruising upon the left side of his neck. 'He was pretty careless last night…' he thought as he quickly brushed through his snowy locks and returned to his room.

Whilst rummaging through his wardrobe for a particular item of clothing, Bakura began to consider alibis for his grazed, swollen bottom lip. His friends were sure to question him about it, and he hated having to lie to them… but he was sure they'd understand if they knew the whole situation. Sometimes they were too compassionate for their own safety.

The thought of telling them everything had come across his mind may times before, but knowing that if he ever did, not only would he pay dearly, more importantly his friends would, at the hands of Yami Bakura.

Having found the long polo-neck jumper he was searching for, Bakura broke out of his thoughts as he pulled it as gently as possible over his head. He was going to say he had fallen over to the gang. His swollen left wrist somehow made it much more plausible.

The rest of his injuries were well hidden by his clothing and hair, safely concealed from prying eyes.

God knows what he was to say if they noticed his newly acquired quiver.

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It was obvious that there was something wrong with Bakura. No matter how he acted or what he said, his deep eyes shone with truth, if you stared into them. Acquaintances such as Téa and Tristan were oblivious to this; but concerned friends such as Yugi weren't. When they approached, the melancholy was etched upon their faces.

"Your lip… what happened? Are you okay?" Yugi frantically questioned, his violet eyes widening.

Bakura nodded, "I fell yesterday night and cut it," he said, raising his left arm up to push his hair from his face.

Joey reached out and gently pulled his arm down, scrutinizing it carefully. "Quite a swollen wrist you got yourself." He glanced straight into his eyes, "I'm guessin' you put some ice on it. Relax your arm, will ya?"

Bakura did just that, and both he and Yugi watched as Joey began ripping the bottom of his baggy white t-shirt, until he pulled off a long strip. He then took Bakura's wrist and carefully massaged it before tightly wrapping it up with the strip of hid t-shirt, finishing it with a secure knot.

When Bakura looked up at his questioningly, Joey replied, "You wouldn't believe how many times I busted my wrist punching walls."

Bakura forced out a weak smile. At least he wasn't the only one with problems; but, then again, the others' ones couldn't be as bad as his… "Thanks…" he said with a small voice.

Joey put on a small sympathetic grin before stepping back.

"C'mon guys, we had better get to class," Téa commented as she walked over, and past them.

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Bakura was relieved that they didn't give him any further questioning, despite the fact it was uneasily noticeable that both Yugi and Joey weren't swallowing any of his stories; luckily Yami Bakura was so void of anything but anger, he would dismiss their expressions had he seen them.

Still, their concerns for his safety had him worried about theirs…

He began to try and remember back, to a time when he was free of this all, free from pain, sadness and concern for those he cared about… the depressing truth was he couldn't. Even his mind was tainted by Yami Bakura's presence.

"What are we gonna do about this?" Yugi quietly questioned Joey.

"I dunno, Yug… I don't think there's anymore we can do,"

"We can't just let this carry on though…!"

"I know, the feelin' is mutual, but we can't just interfere with his private business,"

"…Still… we can't just sit back like this…"

"I know Yug, but if he wanted us to get involved he would've said sommit, it's not that simple,"

"You mean… you think he's been threatened not to-"

"Exactly. So whatever we do we can't be direct about it,"

Yugi smiled, "Okay, I get what you mean,"

"Now, what can we do…?"

"Well we can quietly think about it for a couple of days… I've got an idea on how to get us some time…"

"Yeah?"

"I'll explain later tonight, okay?"

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Yugi excitedly jumped upon the couch, with the cordless phone clutched in his left hand. As he began to dial a number, Yami couldn't help but notice his energy.

// What's with you then? //

/ Nothing, I'm just excited. /

// …As I can see. //

/ It's for a good reason. /

// …And that is…? //

/ Oh, you'll see… oh, he's picking up! I'll explain later! /

"Yeah, whadda ya want?" Joey grumbled, having been interrupted from his dinner.

"Nice greeting, very sociable," Yugi commented, very energetically.

"Oh, hey Yug. What's all the hype about?"

"My plan! You up for staying round mine tomorrow night and watching movies and stuff?"

"Sure. That's your plan, huh?"

"Yep. I'll call back in a minute, I'll speak to Bakura."

"'Kay, later."

Yugi hung up the phone, and once again began dialing.

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Yami Bakura raised an eyebrow as the shrill ringing of the telephone filled the air. He threw Bakura harshly to the floor and gave him a kick to hasten him. "Stop sniveling like a dog and answer," he growled, angered by the sudden interruption.

Bakura quickly crawled to the phone and hastily rose, grabbing it and picking up the line, trying his hardest not to whimper and cry from the agonizingly sharp pains running through him. "H-hello?"

He spoke quietly, hoping that Yami Bakura wouldn't hear the conversation, just incase he'd hurt him even more.

"Bakura, are you okay?"

"Y-yeah…I'm f-fine…"

He couldn't stop his stuttering, and he could see Yami Bakura growing impatient and livid. He was sure to get hell over it…

"…If you're sure… so, I was calling to see if you were up for staying round mine tomorrow night to watch some movies and stuff?"

This was too good to be true; and yet it was.

'Who cares if Yami Bakura kills me for going… I'll do anything to get away… to escape for a night… he wouldn't dare come out in front of people…' Bakura wanted to scream with happiness, "S-sure, that would be g-great."

"Okay, I'll see ay then, will you be dropping back to get your stuff after school tomorrow or coming straight to mine from there?"

Bakura hesitated, as Yami Bakura hung over him. Yugi could hear the sound of another present person, and wasn't going to take any chances. "So I'll show you how the Sine and Cosine rules are applied for calculating angles tomorrow at lunch. Settled?"

"Y-yeah, t-thanks,"

"Bye!"

Yami Bakura snatched the phone out of his hand and slammed it onto the receiver. Even though it was only about some silly math formulae, he was angry at the stuttering; he was going to make sure Bakura knew that he was going to have to control it.

Bakura was thankful that Yugi had made the deception… but when Yami Bakura was to find out about tomorrow's plans… he was going to catch on quickly.

Everything seemed to have its downside.

Even temporary salvation.

To Be Continued…