Reincarnation Xerox (Rei no Kaado)

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Souji lay Bakura down in Adachi's bed and stepped back. Bakura was still out cold, but his breathing seemed to have gotten better since when they found him. It didn't change the fact that Bakura had a rather deep wound in his face. Three knife cuts, all meant to make Bakura look like Anpu apparently had back in Egypt. Whoever did this was a sick, sick individual.

"Thank you for helping get him down here, Mutou-kun, Seta," Adachi said. He couldn't believe that he was thanking the Seta kid, but he had helped Bakura out quite a bit today. Though they'd all been too late to catch who did this.

"Make sure you call a doctor for him, okay?" Souji said. That was the problem with this stupid city. No hospital, just private clinics. And none of them, except maybe Adachi, knew where any of those private clinics were. Otherwise they would have taken him straight there instead of back to the apartments.

Probably the only good thing that had come out of this encounter was that whoever had attacked Bakura had managed to cut the rope holding the Ring around Bakura's neck. They'd managed to get Anpu away from Bakura, however temporarily. From what Yuugi had said, Adachi had figured out that the Ring didn't like being away from its host too long.

But it was an opprotunity. Granted, one that probably would be hard to pull off. Both Yuugi and Souji were naturally against the idea. But Adachi knew this would probably be the only chance he'd get to get rid of Anpu. Get rid of all his problems in one fell swoop. Of course, that would involve getting the Ring away from Yuugi. And that would likely be an adventure in its own. Adachi didn't need to be taking anymore risks right now.

"...Adachi? You there?"

Souji waved a hand in front of Adachi's face. Adachi blinked.

"Oh, sorry. You two can go now," Adachi said.

[mugenginga]

Yuugi had taken another look at Bakura. He was still so out of it. What had happened? He glanced at Adachi as he thanked them. He gave a slight grin. It was pained but there was a genuine feeling of understanding and thanks there as well. Which emotion came through more would be a matter of perception. Yuugi felt grateful, but he also worried. Not so much about Adachi as the situation itself. Souji told Adachi to call a doctor and Yuugi nodded to show hiss upport for the idea.

Yuugi turned to leave, feeling a slight headache coming on. However, he noticed Souji wasn't with him and stopped. Adachi had blanked out, probably just as stressed. Souji waved his hand in front of Adachi's face and Adachi blinked back into awareness.

"Alright... Seta-kun, could I talk to you once we get out?"

He wanted to get the situation with Atem off his chest now. He hoped Souji would be willing to talk to him about it. It was weird, after all. The fact that both he and one of his friends were in the same kind of relationship was unheard of. Still, Souji was the only option Yuugi could come up with. Atsuro had fallen through and Yuugi didn't want to bring up the issue of the Ring with Atem until he had an idea where he stood on the other thing. The former Pharaoh was known for getting serious and pushing things away for the major problem at hand, after all.

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Souji turned toward Yuugi as he asked if he could talk to him one they were out. Souji could imagine a few things it could be about. Bakura was the one at the top of the list, but that was only because what had happened with Bakura was most urgent. And Adachi had been talking about possibly putting the Ring in the other side. There were other possibilities, but Bakura seemed most urgent at the moment.

"Yeah, sure. Hey, take care, Adachi," Souji said, once again not sure why he was saying that, since he hated Adachi. He'd even nearly killed him in anger the previous night, though he'd calmed down since then.

Souji headed out of the apartment and waited for Yuugi to come out too. Adachi remained standing where he'd been since Souji had dropped Bakura into the bed.

[mugenginga]

Yuugi looked a little relieved as Souji said alright. He was sure the other teenager was thinking he wanted to talk about something else. He gave a final glance towards Adachi. He couldn't tell if he was watching them or spacing out again, so he turned back towards Souji and headed out the door. He closed the door behind himself and took a few steps foward. He looked at Adachi's apartment and hoped they were far enough away. He didn't feel like being eavesdropped on, and felt stupid for being so paranoid.

"Seta-kun, what I wanted to talk about was... well..." Yuugi looked away. He was worried Souji would react the same way as Atsuro had. Or harass him about it. Yuugi didn't have a problem with a bit of friendly teasing. Really, he wasn't great at telling the difference between malice and joking, always erring on the side of the latter. Still, this subject felt more sensitive than most. He took in a deep breath and tried again,

"Um... W-well..." Yuugi swallowed hard, "R-Relationships, I guess..."

He sighed and closed his eyes. That felt like such a copout. That stupid worry. He found himself surprised that his cheeks weren't heating up. He looked towards Souji, and if the teen had any skill in reading people he'd realize Yuugi was worried about his response. He was going to have to explain more, he knew that, but it was still difficult...

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Oh. Oh. So that was what Yuugi wanted to talk about. Relationships. Somehow, Souji managed to keep a flat expression on his face. He really wasn't sure how to react to that. People didn't usually come to him for relationship advice.

"...Relationship advice? What kind of relationship advice?" Souji finally said after a moment. He decided it would be a better idea not to tease Yuugi about this. It seemed it was a sensitive subject. Most likely, something had happened with Atem and Yuugi was confused about what to do.

Actually, Souji was confused about why Yuugi was coming to him of all people about this. Minato would have seemed the better choice. Maybe it just depended on what kind of relationship advice it was.

-----------------

Once the door closed behind Yuugi, Adachi sat down at the end of Bakura's bed. What the hell had happened to him? This wasn't a normal sickness. Adachi doubted Bakura had fainted from the pain of those cuts. So what had happened to him? Was he attacked by one of those weird superpowered freaks running around the island? It was a possibility.

"...Ryou-kun..." Adachi said to himself. He cared for Bakura like he might a son, which in itself was a bit of an odd thought to him, considering how young Adachi was, but it was the truth. It was why he did all these things for Anpu that he didn't want to do. Sure, Takahashi was a pain, but he wouldn't have decided to push him in again if it hadn't been for Anpu threating to take Bakura away if Takahashi didn't get off his back for good. Adachi had been sabotaging whatever evidence the station had gotten that pointed to Bakura, too. He'd done the same thing once before back in Inaba, but this time, it was for someone besides his own safety.

It was kind of funny. Once, he didn't care about anyone in the world. He wouldn't have cared if he woke up one day and everyone in the world was dead. But now, he had someone he actually cared about. He didn't feel so... empty now.

...Which was why he had to get rid of the Ring now, before anything else could happen.

[mugenginga]

If Souji was paying attention to Yuugi's body langauge, which he probably was now if not before, he'd realize Yuugi relaxed a few notches. Souji not only wasn't teasing him, he wasn't running away either. The short teenager was going out on a limb and assuming Souji knew what he was talking about. Souji didn't know his homeworld, so he didn't know about Anzu. Which was the only girl that had ever shown the least bit of interest in him. After all, a lot of people thought he was a gradeschooler. And Yuugi was convinced Anzu had liked Atem and was just a friend to him.

"Well... Atem kind of..." He took in a deep breath. He didn't need to chicken out now, although he was worried about Atem's privacy. Still, it involved him and he needed advice, "Seta-kun, he kissed me last night..."

Yuugi trailed off. It hadn't been just the kiss, although he was more than willing to admit even that had taken him by complete surprise. It was back to the way Atem had been leaning against him. It had taken a full night and restless sleep to decide on this, but he was positive Atem hadn't intended on stopping with a kiss. He began flicking the large chain the Puzzle hung on with a finger.

If he hadn't pushed Atem away, he didn't think he'd... the blush was quite a bit lighter than might be expected from the teenager considering his thoughts. Yuugi knew, rationally, that Atem had probably... done that before. Yuugi was a good student, he knew history well enough to know the "responsibilities" rulers had. Atem had been around the same age as he was when they'd met, which for the time more than put him at mature. He'd been a king, and he would have been expected to produce an heir. The fact that they were both male didn't change the fact that Atem...

Yuugi shook his head and looked at Souji. What he'd said already was enough, he didn't need to get into what would have happened had he not pushed the former Pharaoh away. Even the kiss had been without permission, let alone the rest. Some things really hit home the difference in the times. Atem had been considered an adult in Ancient Egypt, and the ruler of his people. Yuugi? He was just a seventeen year old boy not even out of high school. A solid three years away from being considered an adult by the laws of his country.

In any case, Yuugi looked damn awkward at the moment. Both teenagers had said they felt the same way about each other. Souji likely wouldn't miss there was a bit more awkwardness than a sudden kiss might cause. Izanagi had the benefit of age behind him, so he'd be picking up on something even better than Souji.

----------

Bakura's breathing had regulated before Yuugi and Souji had left. His face still carried signs of stress, though. Besides the emotional, the blood on the wound was still damp. It was damn deep, at least one of the cuts had reached bone. Fron his right eye down, the right side of his face was smeared in blood. The wounds looked nasty. They at least needed to be cleaned up, or the chance of infection was high.

At best, they did need stitches. It was unlikely Adachi knew much about wounds, but the slices would take far longer to heal unless the sides of the wound were held together. It wasn't that they wouldn't heal, and either way he'd have a solid scar, but the best thing to do for the teenager would be to get him to a hospital... at least a clinic.

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Souji's expression didn't change as Yuugi finally said what was bothering him. Atem had kissed him. And based on Yuugi's reaction, it hadn't been something Yuugi had wanted or expected. And there was a fair bit of nervousness there. In fact, it was more than just a normal kiss should have caused. Okay, so maybe Yuugi hadn't been expecting it. But something about Yuugi's nervousness told him there was so much more going on.

And now Souji knew why Yuugi hadn't gone to Minato instead. This sounded exactly like something Minato might pull.

"...Alright, this might be going out on a limb, but tell me if I'm right," Souji said. "So Atem kissed you unexpectedly, and most likely would have gone way further than a kiss had you not pushed him away, or something like that, and now you don't know what to do, right?"

You're good at this, Izanagi noted.

I've had the guys at school come to me for these kind of things way too often, Souji said back. This is unrelated, but I'm really starting to wonder if I'm the only straight male in this building.

It's a possibility. Izanagi replied.

[mugenginga]

Yuugi saw Souji working through the details in his head. He hoped he wasn't causing the other teenager to be uncomfortable. He didn't want to turn away again, though, so he kept looking at Souji. They were near the stairs due to Yuugi trying to put distance between Adachi's apartment and them, but they weren't moving. Of course, then Souji answered.

If he was fidgeting before, he was thrashing now. It really wasn't that bad, but Yuugi felt like it was. He shifted his weight and the breaking of eye contact happened again. Had he said that much? He was still maintaining only a very slight blush, but he was uncomfortable. Of course, it was Souji. The teenager was observant enough to rival Atem at times, so it made sense he'd read between the lines. Yuugi pushed a bang out of his face and took a breath before looking up and nodding.

"Y-yeah... It's... well, he was frustrated about something. With everything that had been going on, with the Fall and everything, I thought it was something like that. Atem doesn't really like to open up about what's bothering him, I've always had to drag it out of him even when we were sharing a body, so I thought it had to do with that. I was talking to Atsuro-kun via the COMP's e-mail system but Atem was bothered and so I told him he needed to tell me. I didn't think he was going to and he got up and so I tried again and... well, I think he answered me, but... I wasn't really... really expecting that... And now he's really upset. He told me I needed to go out by myself today and I think I really hurt him and I... well... yeah, I don't know what to do..."

(OOC: Grammar and run on sentences abused on purpose to give a feel for how Yuugi is talking. XD)

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Souji still didn't move as Yuugi moved from fidgeting from pretty much twitching. Looked like he'd hit the issue. His suspicion was confirmed as Yuugi finally answered him. Souji closed his eyes while he thought of a proper response for Yuugi. When he opened them again, he put a hand on Yuugi's shoulder and smiled.

"Just talk to him. Nothing's going to get done if you two don't talk to each other. You both know how you feel about each other, so that's obviously not an issue," Souji said. "If there's something you feel uncomfortable with him doing, then tell him that. But if you don't talk to him about this, there's just going to be this big awkwardness in between the two of you forever."

He took his hand off of Yuugi's shoulder and waited for his reaction.

-------------------

Adachi sighed, and stood up off of Bakura's bed after a moment. The doctor, right. He'd need stitches, that Adachi could tell. He probably needed to clean it so it didn't get infected, too. He couldn't tell too much else about the wound. But first he needed to call the doctor.

He walked into the other room, and pulled a phone book out from under the table the phone sat on. After opening it up to a saddeningly small list of physicians, Adachi dialed a number.

"Hello, Dr. Phobia's office."

"Um, yes, y-you see, a friend of mine's hurt, and he needs major medical attention-- Wait, I thought this was Dr. Johnson's number?" Adachi asked.

"It is. He's on vacation in Aruba."

Somehow Adachi had a hard time believing this doctor.

"Er... that's okay, I can call someone else..." Adachi said. "Though Ryou-kun is in a really serious condition."

"No, no! I'm fully trained. Really. Now, how serious is your friend's condition? Is he dying?" the voice on the other end of the phone spoke, more seriously this time. "I'm thinking no since you called me up instead of calling a hospital."

"Actually, Void City Municipal's still being rebuilt..."

"Right, right, keep forgetting. Stupid heroes thinking it's a good idea to blow up the damn hospital to kill a bunch of bugs... this is why you hire an exterminator. Can you describe exactly what's wrong with this friend of yours?"

"Er... well, we found him passed out, and there were a bunch of cuts in his face. Really deep ones. Probably need stitches," Adachi said into the phone. He really wished this bitch on the other end of the phone would stop flapping her chops and get to the point already. Dammit, bitch, can you help me out or not?

"Do you think you can get him down here? Or is he in critical condition?"

"...Um... well, I don't think he's dying. Not now, anyways. But I don't have a car..."

"That would be a no, then. Alright, alright. I'll make a home visit. Bonsai's too far away for your friend anyways, if he's really passed out like you said. By the way, this will cost extra."

"Fine already! Dammit, just get down here and help Ryou already!" Adachi yelled into the reciever.

"No need to yell, sir. Alright, I just need your name, address, and phone number, and I'll be down there in a jiff."

Adachi sighed. This "doctor" was pissing him off. And what kind of doctor still made house calls in this day and age? Adachi left his information with the woman and hung up. That had been more trouble than it was worth.

[mugenginga]

Yuugi returned the smile, but it was clear he was confused. Souji told him to just talk to Atem, and Yuugi looked away. The issue was that Atem was really good at avoiding topics he didn't want to talk about. It wasn't like there was nothing to be distracted by, either. You didn't get much more distracting than the end of the world, after all. He let out a sigh and looked away. It wasn't like Atem would be the only one wanting to avoid the subject, either. The biggest issue was time right now. He looked back towards Souji and gave a pained smile.

"Y-yeah," Yuugi said. He didn't sound convinced. He reached into his pocket again and made sure the Ring was there, "I should head home then..."

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Souji's expression fell as he saw that his little encouragement session had failed just based on how . Well, he'd said that people came to him for advice all the time. He never said it was good advice. He finally forced a smile and nodded.

"Yeah, you go ahead and do that, Yuugi," Souji said. "And don't worry about Bakura; I'll stick around and make sure he gets proper treatment."

He sighed.

Souji, I know this is probably a bad time to mention this, but something's still bothering me about the person who attacked Bakura. Yuugi said he was talking to Atsuro using the COMPs earlier. He can use that connection to find out if it really was any of Abel's group that attacked Bakura, Izanagi said.

"Oh, hey, Yuugi. If you talk to Atsuro tonight, could you ask him if he knows anything about the situation with Bakura?" Souji finally asked. It was better they find out something than be left in the dark. If it was someone from Abel's group... Even more proof that Abel really had taken that fatal step into the darkness.

[mugenginga]

There was quite the sign for how torn up Yuugi was. When Souji's expression fell, his didn't fall further. He didn't try to cheer Souji up. He hadn't even noticed it. He looked back up and nodded again as Souji told him to do that. He was in the middle of a turn when Souji told him to not worry about Bakura. Yuugi paused, but shook his head. He wasn't worried about Bakura. For all that Adachi had done in the past, and for all he may want to do or do in the future, Yuugi was sure he'd watch out for Bakura.

He had taken a step when Souji asked his question. He turned back towards Souji, "I don't know if that's a good idea... Seta-kun, Atsuro-kun is really torn up about the situation with K1-kun. I don't want to hurt him anymore than he has been..."

[Firebreath Fishslap]

I doubt he could be hurt any worse than what Abel's already done to him, Izanagi stated. He was a god; he knew more about demons than anyone else here at the moment did. And he was well aware that whatever humanity was still left in that demon's mind wouldn't be enough to stop him from attacking his human friends. In fact, that bit of humanity was probably all preventing the demon king from killing them were they stood. It probably wouldn't have prevented Abel from "putting them in their places". Or maybe just taking out whatever anger he had out on them. Or just going straight to draining their spirits.

"I'm still worried, though..." Souji said. "I don't think he really has anyone to talk to about what's going on with K1, though. This was exactly what Naoya wanted, you saw how Keiji reacted earlier, and I don't know what that Kaido person's thinking, but he's probably thinking something along the same lines as Naoya."

Souji had to wonder if it wasn't better that Atsuro just left Abel's group now. He didn't know everything that had gone on with Abel's group, but he'd seen enough of the situation that he could tell that Atsuro didn't want to do this. It had been written all over the teen's face. And Atsuro had implied that things weren't going too well in their world now. Atsuro probably felt trapped.

[mugenginga]

Yuugi looked away as Souji said he was worried. Well, of course he was. Yuugi was too, and he was sure Atem was as well. Maybe not about K1 and the choice he had made, but about Atsuro and Seth. Naoya was just... Yuugi didn't like hating people. He knew how strong of a word hate was, and "Cain" seemed to be operating on the same basic principles Malik had been. To get out from under a perceived fate. He didn't realize he was holding a bitter grin. Maybe he really was gullible.

"...maybe, but I think if Atsuro-kun left K1-kun might... Abel might really lose it," Yuugi bit his lip, "You know, K1-kun had all his friends but Atsuro-kun leave him when he chose to go along with Naoya. I think K1-kun is really fighting to keep his humanity. Atsuro-kun knows we can't just abandon him to that, or we really will lose him... That's why I want to stay friends with K1."

"I think it was probably Abel that attacked Bakura-kun. Atsuro wouldn't have done something like that... Naoya doesn't seem like someone who would get someone to do something like that for him. I just can't abandon him like that."

"You know, Atem once fell into darkness over potentially losing a fight. Its a long story, and I'm convinced he is still torn up about it, but he basically let this ancient... well, demonic force corrupt him. He was supposed to lose his soul to it because he ended up losing, but I sacrificed myself to save him. And before I accepted his presence, he basically killed people through these messed up games. I'm not saying its right, and I'm not trying to justify it. I'm just saying that we shouldn't abandon K1-kun just because he's fighting this darkness. If anything, its the last thing we could do."

Yuugi took in a deep breath, "K1-kun is a good person, Seta-kun. Abel isn't, but K1-kun is. I... well, think of it like Bakura-kun and Anpu. Or... well, how Atem used to be," he was looking Souji in the eyes, "We have to be there. Even if it turns bad, I don't want to look back and wonder if we lost K1-kun because his friends weren't there for him."

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Souji listened silently to Yuugi's speech. No, he hadn't known that Atsuro had been the only person who hadn't left K1 after he announced his decision to follow Naoya. No wonder K1 hadn't trusted anyone too much when he had come to the Island. His friends had all abandoned him shortly beforehand.

Yuugi thought that Abel had been the one who attacked Bakura. Considering the circumstances, it was a possibility. Especially if Abel wasn't in his human mind. Those mood swings during that tense meeting the day before hadn't been just normal mood swings. They were his human personality and demonic personality fighting for dominance. Izanagi had chosen to inform Souji of this wonderful very likely fact.

He didn't have much of a visible reaction to Yuugi's explanation of Atem's past. He'd never known about that. So Atem had used to be like that.

"You're really good at these kind of speeches, aren't you?" Souji asked. "...Alright. I understand. We'll be there for Abel. We'll have to be." Well, he was saying "we" but he meant Yuugi. Yuugi was probably the only person Abel considered a friend at this point. Yuugi had that kind of effect on people.