Baku, Ra, to Ringu: UnCut
Dead Quiet
She crawled through, and stood before them.
Fluffy shrieked, "What the fucking hell?!"
Bakura pulled the Millennium Ring from under his shirt, and clutched it. "I'll contain the bitch, you find and protect the hikaris! Go!"
Fluffy spun on his heel and bounded out of the room. Bakura focused, and black and purple clouds seeped from his ring to engulf them both.
Sadako said nothing, but the clouds flickered and died.
She... she bested my shadow magic!
She was closing in on him now-- suddenly, she was right in his face. He was so startled that he fell backwards, landing hard.
He squeezed his eyes shut and screamed, "But it hasn't been a week yet!"
Laughter filled his ears. He opened his eyes, recognizing the voices coming from behind the bar.
He looked up at Sadako, who was now frozen, like a video game on pause.
Blushing, he stood and stomped over to the bar. Looking behind it, he confirmed his suspicions-- crouched together, laughing their asses off, were Honda, Duke, Mai, and Malik.
Standing and wiping tears from his eyes, Malik said, "Sorry... We couldn't resist!"
Without a word, Bakura grabbed the nearest item-- a wine glass-- and smashed it into the side of Malik's head.
o o o
He found RaChan on the picnic blanket with Yugi, Jou, Anzu, Yugi's grandpa, Seto and Mokuba. Jouno and Kaiba were in the middle of another heated argument, unaware of how the others grinned at them.
RaChan smiled, "Where have you been--?" He became concerned when he saw how angry Bakura was, then more so when he saw that his yami's hand was bleeding. "What happened?"
"Get up. We're leaving."
Anzu said, "Have you seen Malik, Bakura? Fluffy was just here looking--"
"FUCK MALIK!"
Everyone stopped what they were doing. Ryou quickly got to his feet. "Yes, it's getting late. We'd better be going..."
o o o
"Okay, done."
Honda and Mai scrutinized the bandage Duke had wrapped around Malik's head.
"Yeah, I know. I'm a game store owner, not a nurse."
"Maybe we should take you to a doctor, just to be sure..."
"This is nothing. I'm fine."
"Man," said Honda, "That Bakura was really out of line. It was just a stupid prank."
"I'm surprised anything could scare that evil spirit. What did you put on that tape?" Mai started rewinding it. They sat on the couch together, and pressed play.
After a few seconds, Malik frowned. "This isn't what I recorded..."
o o o
"Please, BakuChan, let me see it..."
"Leave me the fuck alone." Bakura yanked his hand out of Ryou's grasp and turned away, glaring at the streets. They were standing at a bus stop-- although it wasn't even noon yet, the overcast sky gave the feel of midnight. The streetlights were on, and the plows had gone through, leaving troughs of gray, sludgy snow remnants at the gutters. The world outside was dead quiet, but Bakura's mind wouldn't shut the fuck up.
Coward... coward, coward, COWARD!
warmth... Bakura realized that RaChan had taken a hold of his hand, and was examining it. He sucked in a breath. "There are bits of glass embedded in your palm."
BakuChan pulled away again. He didn't like the way RaChan was looking at him.
"What happened at Kaiba's house?"
Bakura snorted and looked away.
"There's a payphone. Why don't I call Father to get us?"
"Fuck that. We'll take the bus."
"Okay, if that's what you want, but we're at the wrong stop."
"We're not going home."
"Hm?"
"We're going to the game shop."