|
|
Post by mugenginga on Feb 14, 2010 1:26:47 GMT -5
My face hurts...
Bakura lifted his hand to his face. He wasn't asleep, but he in no way qualified as awake either. It was the kind of awareness people only remembered having when they were told they'd had it. He would have kept that level of awareness had his hands rubbed against his face the way his subconscious expected. However, rather than skin, he felt his hand come across both a few stiff pokes and a large area of cloth.
If man had possessed the ability to fly by sheer force of upward motion, Bakura would have gone through the roof. He remembered yesterday in loose pieces, but he still wasn't fully aware. He wasn't aware Adachi had pulled up a chair and spent the night in the room to keep an eye on him.
The white haired teenager had quite a few stitches. Most of the right side of his face was covered with gauze, held on with medical tape.. Just below the top and bottom of the gauze some stitches stuck out. More form the top, and he'd realize quickly he could see the stitches sticking out even if he looked up thanks to peripheal vision. The injury from before had split his lower eyelid in two, after all.
----------
Ryoji had watched the moon from the window for the entire Dark Hour. The time of year was such that the moon was visible at midnight. After it had ended he had felt the familiar weight lift from his shoulders. He'd grabbed a chair and just sat down, falling asleep quickly. Minato would find him like that. His scarf was pulled up a bit and he looked rather puppy-cute.
----------
Teddie was asleep still. The blanket was bundled up like a stuffed animal. He didn't have any of it over it, but both his arms were wrapped around it.
----------
Atem had woken up before Yuugi. Finding Kaiba wasn't going to be easy. The man had always seemed to find them, afterall. However, it wasn't really a problem to try. The first thing he did in the morning was check his pocket. The Ring was there. He didn't want to think that maybe it really had seperated from Bakura this time. That seemed far too hopeful...
----------
"Alright, Kisa, you're just being stupid."
Kisa Shiroi stood outside the apartments. She'd wandered here several times over the past couple of days. She'd met a silver haired teenager with another presence. She didn't know the name of the other presence, but the teenager was Souji. She'd gotten a feeling of dread from this place a few times. She kept feeling like she was missing something here.
"Really. I mean, how many days now? If there is really something here you would have found it by now," she let out a sigh.
Her father would kill her if he knew she kept wandering here. Since when was she unable to ignore things like this? Maybe there was something there, but if it was really calling her it would find her either way. She turned around and walked off. Really, how much longer was she going to do this?
----------
Kaiba was in a building two down from where Yuugi and his newest band of friends hung out. He'd finally tried the credit cards, and they had worked just fine. There were nicer buildings in the city, but there was no point in wasting money. In the few days since he'd seen Atem last, he'd gotten settled in pretty well.
He was wearing a casual white suit with blue accents. His shirt was actually pale blue, his jacket being swung over the back of the couch. His shoes were the same dark blue he preferred to sport, but lacked the studs of much of his standard attire. He was only wearing a suit because he was used to them, and it made enough of a statement if someone dropped by unannounced. His more flamboyant outfit was folded and freshly cleaned.
He was concerned about Mokuba. From what he'd been able to tell, the Island was odd. Less than a second could have passed in his home "world" (he still scowled at such an outlandish thought, but he wasn't the type to deny something when it became this obvious) or one hundred years. He'd also had to deal with the upset of his rival being someone other than he'd thought. Yuugi really had nothing going for him now. Without the skills Atem had used against him, he was just an annoying midget with over reliance of friendships.
He grabbed the pendant from his neck and pressed it open. The image of Mokuba from many years ago stared back at him. Dammit.
|
|
|
|
Post by Firebreath Fishslap on Feb 14, 2010 8:21:29 GMT -5
Adachi had been asleep in his chair. He'd decided he was going to take today off, Takahashi or not. Bakura was injured and he needed someone to take care of him. If someone asked why Adachi wasn't coming in that day, he could actually tell them the truth in this case. Besides... he doubted anyone would believe Takahashi when he said that Adachi had tried to kill him. A lot of people thought Takahashi was a bit delusional. He'd been at the station forever, and had helped with a bunch of cases, but he was also a bit obsessive about certain things and tended not to take stressful situations too well.
He was shaken awake as Bakura shot up in bed. Adachi's eyes fluttered for a moment before he realized that Bakura was awake. He grinned.
"You're awake! I was getting worried," Adachi said, still grinning. Bakura had been out for so long that he'd been starting to get worried. The nurse had said that it was exhaustion, but Adachi highly doubted that. Especially considering the nurse that had finally shown up had looked like a devil. This island was so weird.
----------------
Minato yawned and sat up from his position on the couch. He'd slept well, at least. He caught sight of Ryoji sitting in a nearby chair and smiled. Ryoji looked almost adorable sleeping like that. Minato decided to let Ryoji sleep a bit longer. Ryoji probably needed it.
----------------
Should Teddie wake up at this time, he would have spotted "Souji" getting up off the couch and wandering into the kitchen at this time. In truth, it was Izanagi wandering around. He was looking for an item he considered essential, which seemed to be nowhere to be found. Oh, right. Souji had been on his way to go get some when they had found Bakura. Izanagi groaned. He didn't particularly feel like going back to sleep, but he had a feeling that Souji would be asleep for a bit longer. He wasn't going to waste this time he'd have in control of Souji's body.
After thinking about it for a moment, Izanagi sat back down on the couch and decided to watch TV.
---------------------
Naoto yawned and sat up in bed. She rubbed her eyes, and then looked over at the other person sleeping next to her, and her face turned rather red before shrieking and kicking him off the bed. Kanji landed rather roughly on the floor and let out a yelp. He sat up and glared at Naoto.
"Hey! What the hell was that for?" Kanji asked.
"Oh... I'm sorry, Kanji-kun, I didn't realize that was you..." Naoto said. Kanji grumbled and stood up.
"Well, I'm awake now," Kanji grumbled to himself. He walked out of the room to go make breakfast. Naoto was still a rather deep shade of pink. She'd honestly forgotten that Kanji was now sharing a bed with her, really! She finally sighed and climbed out of bed herself to get dressed.
|
|
|
|
Post by mugenginga on Feb 14, 2010 9:36:35 GMT -5
Bakura jumped a bit as he heard Adachi's voice and turned his head. More memories reorganized themselves, and he realized it was odd he was here. He looked down at where he hand was and realized he was in Adachi's apartment. His breath caught in his throat as he recalled the exacts of why his face hurt. He'd been attacked in an alley. Anpu had to have taken him there, and pushed him out. Had Anpu been afraid? Well, it wasn't like that... demon hadn't been scary, but it had been Anpu.
More thoughts passed in those few seconds and he reached up with his left hand and patted his chest. His eyes grew wide. Wait, the Ring wasn't there? He wasn't sure to be relieved it was gone, frightened as to why it was gone, or worried about when it was going to come back. It always did, after all. He turned towards Adachi.
"A-Adachi-san...? What... how...?"
----------
The problem was that they couldn't keep a constant eye on the Ring. Atem didn't feel comfortable wearing it. While he was for obvious reasons considered worthy by the Millenium Items, he couldn't be sure as to what extent spirits sealed inside of them could act. The only three cases he knew of had involved two Items. Two had involved past and present lives, and one had involved a demon who one "spirit's" past life had once belonged to. It was possible given the evidence that Anpu would only be able to surface on Bakura, but it wasn't a risk worth taking.
Atem glanced towards the bedroom. Yuugi seemed to still be asleep. If he did find Kaiba, he wanted a few words with the man about his attitude. Not that Kaiba ever really listened, but there was no doubt in the former Pharaoh's mind that Kaiba looked on Yuugi with a similar disdain to Jounouchi. Neither of which deserved that kind of disrespect. He wrote a note before heading out of the apartment.
----------
Kaiba closed the pendant and let out a sigh. What was he, Yuugi? No need to brood over something he didn't know how to change yet. Not that he couldn't change, this was Kaiba after all. He got to his feet and gathered a few things before heading out of the apartment. It was the tamest outfit most people had seen him in. He wasn't wearing the trenchcoat today. Most people would say the white suit was bad enough, really.
|
|
|
|
Post by Firebreath Fishslap on Feb 14, 2010 10:44:34 GMT -5
Adachi was silent while Bakura realized where he was and that the Ring was gone. Adachi was sure Bakura might be worrying more than a small bit about the Ring. After all, it might have done that whole melt-into-one's-body thing like it had when Adachi first met Bakura. But Adachi was sure that the Ring was still safe up in Yuugi's apartment... probably in the hands of Mr. Former Pharaoh.
"Yuugi found you passed out in an alley, Ryou-kun," Adachi explained. "He's got the Ring now. Whoever attacked you cut the rope it was on."
He crossed his hands in his lap and his expression became serious. "Ryou-kun, do you remember what whoever attacked you looked like?"
Adachi wanted to find out who this person was. He wanted to do something about this psycho who had attacked Bakura. At the very least, he could try to get the force on the case... even if Takahashi tried to get them to distrust him. And maybe already did.
-------------------
Naoto stepped out of the bedroom as she was buttoning up her jacket. Kanji, who had been looking through their mostly bare pantry to find something to make breakfast with, turned as he saw her step out of the bedroom.
"You goin' out?" Kanji asked. Naoto nodded.
"There's been a rather depressive mood around here lately, and doing nothing but sitting around our apartment isn't helping things," Naoto stated. "Do you want to come with me?"
"Uh... sure! Er, wait, what're you doing today, anyways?" Kanji asked. He gave up on his search for viable breakfast foods and stepped out of the kitchen.
"I wasn't planning on doing much... maybe go to the book store and get something there," Naoto said.
Kanji's expression fell a bit, but he still nodded. "Sure, okay. Give me a sec, I'll grab my shoes."
"They're by the door like usual," Naoto stated.
"Uh... right! I knew that," Kanji said. He seemed a bit more flustered than normal this morning. Possibly because Naoto had kicked him out of bed, literally, only a few minutes previously. After another minute or so, the two of them headed out of their apartment.
|
|
|
|
Post by mugenginga on Feb 14, 2010 10:57:58 GMT -5
"Yuugi-kun saved me...?"
Bakura's expression seemed pained. The short teenager was always getting involved, always having to bail him out. Would the Ring stay with him and Atem? Bakura wished he could count on that. He looked up again as Adachi asked his question and he paled a bit. How could he forget? The blue hair like Minato's, the slitted blue eyes, that grin. But if Adachi went after him, he could get killed. It hadn't been human, Abel wasn't human.
He swallowed and shook his head to the negative. No need to get Adachi involved in something he couldn't handle. He did have that thing, Persona Adachi had called it, but it had to be an isolated thing. The Ring was gone, at least for now, he didn't need to involve Adachi further at all. If Adachi knew the reactions of someone who wouldn't reveal something they knew for fear, he'd be picking up from it on Bakura. Bakura lifted his hand to his face again. He remembered three cuts and the words the monster had used... his eyes wideneed.
"Adachi-san... do you have a mirror?"
----------
Atem had reached the exit to the stairs on the second floor as Naoto and Kanji headed out of their apartment. He stopped when he saw them. He was looking for Kaiba as a favor to his Partner, and Naoto was observant enough she might know something. Then again, Kanji wasn't very fond of him. Atem was wi lling to admit his manner of speaking was a bit on the arrogant side. It probably carried over from his previous life. He had no intention of avoiding things just from a little friction, however.
"Hello Naoto, Kanji. Are you heading anywhere in particular?"
|
|
|
|
Post by Firebreath Fishslap on Feb 14, 2010 11:41:02 GMT -5
Adachi sighed as Bakura shook his head. Adachi was sure that was a lie. Bakura was hiding what this person looked like out of fear. He was trying to protect Adachi from the same person that had attacked him. Adachi looked up as Bakura asked for a mirror. "Yeah, sure, let me grab it."
Adachi stood up and walked into the bathroom. He came out a few moments later holding a small handheld mirror. He handed it to Bakura. "Here."
--------------
Naoto turned toward the stairs as she saw Atem step off of them. She shook her head when Atem asked if they were heading anywhere in particular.
"Not at the moment, no," she said. Kanji was scowling at Atem, but it wasn't like it was different from his usual expression. He scowled at everyone.
|
|
|
|
Post by mugenginga on Feb 14, 2010 11:56:35 GMT -5
"Thank you very much," Bakura said, as overly polite as usual.
Bakura wasn't sure if Adachi had bought his lie. He wasn't pushing it, so that was something. He reached up and found where the gauze was taped on. He picked at the edge of the tape until a corner large enough to grab came up and carefully pulled it up. When Adachi came back he'd gotten one of the two pieces of tape up. He winced as he pulled up one side of the other and took the mirror. He pulled the gauze so he could see the face. He looked depressed as he saw the stitched wound and dropped the mirror.
He didn't know why he was able to see Anpu's spirit presence when the Ring was on him. He wondered if Yuugi had been able to see Atem's when Atem was still in the Puzzle. Bakura found himself wondering about the name, had Atem not known it before? He let out a sigh. Whatever the reason, he had. Anpu was noticably taller than him. He sported the same kind of Egyptian(?) tan Atem had. He also had a scar... exactly like the way the stitches on his face were positioned. That had to be what Abel had been talking about.
"...He wasn't human," he said after a long pause.
----------
Which was why Atem didn't react to it. Being part of the normal, he hardly even noticed it.
"Partner asked me to check on Kaiba for him. The man can take care of himself, but I've got some things I want to say to him. I can't imagine he's taking the Island all that well. He's rather the closeminded skeptic at times. You wouldn't have seen him, by chance?"
|
|
|
|
Post by Firebreath Fishslap on Feb 14, 2010 12:50:13 GMT -5
Adachi sat back down in his chair and let Bakura look at the wound underneath the gauze. Adachi's own expression fell as Bakura dropped the mirror. Adachi didn't know the significance of the wound, but he didn't need to know that to be able to tell that it was a rather nasty wound. It would likely scar badly.
He looked up as Bakura spoke again. His attacker hadn't been human. Adachi blinked a bit at that.
"He wasn't human?" Adachi repeated. "What, was he some kind of demon?"
-----------------
Naoto shook her head, but Kanji nodded. "I saw the guy going into that one apartment building down the road from here."
Naoto nodded. "That would explain why you wouldn't have seen him lately, then, Atem-san."
|
|
|
|
Post by mugenginga on Feb 14, 2010 13:52:39 GMT -5
Bakura looked concerned. He'd supposed assuming Adachi would accept things like that because of his "Persona" and being Japanese may have been a bit naive. He looked down at his hands. It was a solid minute before he replied again. He didn't lift his head as he did so.
"I can't be sure, but he wasn't human. His eyes were slitted, kind of like a cat's," Bakura knew this contradicted with what he'd said earlier, but he was sure Adachi hadn't believed him before, anyhow. He shuddered and closed his eyes as if in pain, "He licked the blood off the knife he was using to cut me with."
----------
"I wouldn't have expected to see him, anyways. His only interest in Partner was how consistently I defeated him. Thanks for the information."
Atem turned to leave.
|
|
|
|
Post by Firebreath Fishslap on Feb 14, 2010 14:13:04 GMT -5
Adachi shuddered as Bakura described who had attacked him. The guy had catlike pupils and had licked the blood he'd taken from Bakura off of the knife he'd attacked Bakura with. That was just disgusting. Adachi grimaced at the thought.
"Demon or not, that guy's a psychopath," Adachi said. "I'm just glad you're alright."
He waited a moment before asking his next question. "Do you remember anything else about what he looked like?"
Something about this person who had attacked Bakura was bothering him. He didn't know what, but he could tell something was off about this. Especially since Adachi was getting the feeling based on some bits of the Seta kid and Yuugi's conversations that Bakura may have been specifically targeted for some reason.
------------------
"Any time," Naoto said.
"Hey, uh, you do know what building I was talkin' about was, right?" Kanji asked. He hadn't specified which building, only that it was one down the street from theirs.
|
|
|
|
Post by mugenginga on Feb 14, 2010 14:25:34 GMT -5
He looked up as Adachi tried asking about his appearance again. Bakura found himself conflicted once more. Adachi was a police officer, so it would be his job to handle Abel. But Adachi didn't need to get caugh up in something paranormal. But he also had his own abilities. Then again, there was no guarantee his co workers knew about it. It wasn't the kind of thing you ran around telling people any more than having a spirit that took you over.
"You can't go after him by yourself!" Bakura said. He regretted the way he worded it almost instantly. It all but stated he knew what his attacker had looked like. Now Adachi would be positive of that and might press him for the appearance.
----------
Atem stopped mid turn. No, actually, he didn't. Was he off his game today? That was rare for him. He turned back his focus to the two teenagers. There was no merit in being stubborn here.
"I could find it, but it would be better to head straight there. Did you want to show it to me..?"
|
|
|
|
Post by Firebreath Fishslap on Feb 14, 2010 14:43:44 GMT -5
That statement all but confirmed that Bakura knew what his attacker looked like. It also confirmed that the only reason Bakura was holding the info back was to protect Adachi. Adachi's eyes narrowed. He had to know now. He put his hands on Bakura's shoulders.
"Please, Ryou-kun! If I don't do something about this... thing, it might decide to come after you again. I don't know what all it did to you, but I don't want to take the chance of it going after you again," Adachi said forcefully. Maybe it would be dangerous. But Adachi didn't want to take any chances with this psychopath.
--------------
"Well, it ain't like we've got anything else to do around here," Kanji said. "Might as well."
This surprised Naoto a bit. She wouldn't have thought Kanji would offer to help Atem out. Kanji still didn't really care for Atem, after all.
|
|
|
|
Post by mugenginga on Feb 14, 2010 15:03:24 GMT -5
Bakura looked trapped as Adachi put his hands on his shoulders. He opened his mouth to try and object when Adachi basically begged him to describe his attacker. Why did people always do this? He could never get people to just leave a situation alone, and they always ended up getting into trouble because of it. Then again, no one had ever died over it. In fact, aside from the Ring always getting back to him, things tended to end pretty well. He gave a small nod and began to try and get the gauze back over his scar as something to focus on other than Adachi.
"He looks human other than the eyes. I thought he was the first time I saw him. He looks a lot like Arisato-san, actually. Same shade of blue hair and blue eyes. He looks like a high schooler... both times I saw him he was wearing a long sleeved black sweatshirt and dark pink pants. First time I saw him he had on a black cloak. I think he goes by Abel... Adachi-san, he... he was playing with me. I can't figure out why he didn't kill me other than maybe Anpu said something to him. If you have to go after him, don't go by yourself!"
----------
"I wasn't asking you to take me, I was just seeing if you were offering," Atem paused, "Thank you."
Atem was finding something here. Even after the split, all his interactions had been about the recent chaos the group were in. This was the first "normal" thing he'd done in a while. Looking back, it was the first normal thing he'd done... pretty much ever. Even though he had been more relaxed in Ancient Egypt, he had been the heir and then Pharoah himself. Mana had always treated him fairly normally, but she was one of the few that did. Even Mahaad had done a pretty drastic switch after he'd been coronated.
Maybe Yuugi had a point. He didn't know much about the modern world when it really came down to it. He could survive in it just fine, he knew how to use electronics and such, but he didn't know a lot of "normal" things. As it was now, with his past abandoned for his present, he really was something like a foreign teenager. It was odd, if nothing else.
|
|
|
|
Post by Firebreath Fishslap on Feb 14, 2010 15:32:12 GMT -5
Adachi's eyes widened as Bakura described the kid who had attacked him. He took his hands off of Bakura's shoulders as it hit him who that person was. The description fit completely, especially since that kid had never changed his outfit once in the few times Adachi saw him.
"That's that kid who was hanging around with Yuugi when I first met him," Adachi said. His voice was slightly panicked. The kid (Kimura, his name had been then) hadn't seemed like the psychotic type. Hell, he had seemed almost nice. He almost couldn't believe that was who Bakura had been attacked by. 'Almost' because he himself had appeared very normal before showing his true self to the Investigation Team.
Not only that, but the description fit. Blue hair, blue eyes, grey sweatshirt and stupid pink pants. The cloak was new to Adachi, but it was possible Kimura had picked it up after whatever had happened to him to make him like this had happened. As far as Adachi could remember, Kimura had been very human. What the hell was going on...?
------------------
"Hey, no big deal. Now come on, we should go see if we can find this guy," Kanji said. He led the way out of the building. The building he'd seen Kaiba in was two down from the one they were in, so it wasn't like it was a long walk.
Naoto noticed that Atem seemed to be a bit lost in his own thoughts. She didn't say anything, but continued to observe.
Kanji led the way toward Kaiba's apartment, but stopped when he saw someone in a white suit walking out of the building. He turned toward Atem. "Hey, ain't that your guy?"
|
|
|
|
Post by mugenginga on Feb 14, 2010 15:46:04 GMT -5
"Yuugi-kun knows him. Seta-san-tachi, too. At least they talked like they did, but I think something happened with them. That doesn't explain how he'd know about... oh, you don't..." Bakura bit his lip and pointed at the recovered stithces, "This is the exact kind of wound I think Anpu had before being trapped in the Ring. Abel said something like he wanted Atem to see it... But how would he know about Anpu's original appearance?"
----------
Atem looked towards where Kanji was pointing. Sure enough, it was Kaiba. Atem had to admit surprise at the possibility Kaiba had taken an apartment in the complex. Kaiba wasn't used to "second-rate" accomodations. Then again, it wasn't as if he had access to the funds of his corporation on the Island. Kaiba hadn't seemed to notice him. Atem narrowed his gaze and took a few steps foward. Kaiba stopped as he caught Atem's hair out of the corner of his eye and looked.
"What do you want?" His voice was flat.
"Pa-Yuugi is worried about you."
"Hmph. Tell him to take his friendship speeches elsewhere. I'm not in the mood to hear from someone whose experiences in Dueling are limited to "friendly" games and his grandfather's shop."
"Kaiba, I put up with a lot from you. However, I will not let you insult my Partner that way!" Atem growled.
All of this was, of course, happening in front of Naoto and Kanji. Kaiba looked more than a bit irritated and was giving a rather rude glare to Atem. Atem was pointing a finger at him and pretty much literally growling. His gaze was narrow and bordered on hatred. There was a clear history between these two. Perhaps even more interesting was the way they spoke. They had the exact same method of speaking. Informal bordering rude and the same self pronoun.
Another interesting fact was the way 6'1" Kaiba looked like a giant next to 5'3" Atem... except somehow their presences almost made them seem to compete with each other. He was taller, but Kaiba really didn't seem to tower over Atem. He seemed to almost be trying to, for that matter.
|
|
