Out of the Blue     by: Alena S. Anigor (Sanela)

Chapter I - The Beginning 

The night was chilly, signaling the arrival of the cold and cloudy autumn. The streets were wet and slippery due to the autumn rain that had been falling almost the whole afternoon, but had stopped now. The air was thick, carrying that certain smell of wet grass and fallen leafs. A sudden and cold breeze blew by; causing leafs to fly around, and making one certain tomb robber shiver slightly in the middle of an empty street.

He cursed the moody weather, raising the collar of his jacket a bit higher to protect himself from the wind and coldness. It didn’t matter how long he had already been living here in Domino City, he just couldn’t get used to the blasted weather. It was different in Egypt – surely, it was cold by night, temperatures falling drastically, making the heated sand cool down, but at least it wasn’t so...moist, and wet. And there were no leaves to stumble upon.

He cursed again, sticking his hands in his pockets to keep them warm. He sniffed the cool air, and wrinkled his nose in disgust – that smell of grass was definitely not appealing.

When Ryou had asked him where he was going so late in the evening, he had snapped at him, telling him it was none of his business. That had made his other half back away a bit, and he had only managed to mutter a ‘sorry’ before disappearing back into the living room. He had grabbed that funny looking thing...what was it called? Oh yeah, umbrella, just in case the rain started falling again, and headed outside, slamming the doors behind him.

And now he was walking through the empty park, holding the umbrella in his hand, which turned out to be useless, since there was no rain, and the sky was clear. Tiny stars shined through barely visible clouds. The moon was almost full, casting silvery beams across the sky, and making his hair shine like silver. Personally, it irritated him, because it reminded him of everything light and shiny, and he hated everything that was light and shiny. He was used to staying in the dark, in the shadows, watching with predatory eyes his prey, dark and shadows being his steady companion...Now, he even considered opening that blasted thing, just to block those shiny rays of light. The umbrella’s material was black, and it could be useful. But then he stopped with those thoughts, thinking how he’d probably look stupid with open umbrella over his head on such a clear night.

He mumbled something incoherent, wishing he was somewhere else, instead of living in this moronic town with a softy named Ryou Bakura, and on top of it all – a town where the spirit of that damn Pharaoh was also living.

And as much as he tried, because, at the moment, he had nowhere else to go, he just couldn’t get used to it all. Although he hated to admit it, he felt confused, and...lost sometimes, walking down the streets made of concrete, instead of walking across the soft sand. That thought made him realize something:

Bakura, the dangerous and notorious tomb robber, was homesick.

He stopped, staring at his feet, hidden in shoes they called sneakers, not comprehending how he had gotten to that conclusion. He shook his head quickly, reminding himself that he got out of the house to be alone for a little bit, to take a walk through the park to get some fresh air...which, once again, didn’t smell so fresh to him at all.

He spotted a little wooden bench on his left and decided to sit there for a while. The bench was cold and still a bit wet, but he didn’t care. He placed the umbrella aside and leaned back, stretching his arms on each side, letting them rest on the bench. Soon he felt stupid like that, so he put them in their usual position – he crossed them over his chest. He lowered his head, thoughts from earlier ramblings coming to haunt him again.

What was he doing here, anyway? If it hadn’t been for that damn Pharaoh and his Millennium Puzzle, he’d have been out of this hellhole a long time ago.

Wondering about things he could do, such as possessing all the Millennium items, he failed to notice a girl approaching him from a short distance, carrying her school bag in one hand, and humming quietly to herself. Her cerulean eyes widened slightly, when she noticed a person sitting on the bench. And not just any person, it was Bakura!

She swallowed a heavy lump in her throat. It seemed as if he hadn’t noticed her yet, and she was considering whether to keep walking or to turn back and find another way home. After all, Bakura was someone you didn’t ever want to cross your paths with, and that was just the case right now.

Something deep inside of him told him that he was being watched; that same impulse had saved his life thousands of years before. He turned his head quickly to find a source for his distraction, and noticed a familiar looking girl, staring intently at him. Actually, she looked even scared of him. That was good.  He smirked.

Tea flinched slightly when he suddenly turned his head and looked her straight in the eyes. A strange smirk spread across his features a second after, and she thought that she definitely should have turned back and fled for her life. But, it was too late now, he had already spotted her, and even if she started running away, there was no doubt he would catch her. So, the only thing she could come up with now was to play dumb, and she smiled politely, as much as her fear allowed.

“H-hey, Bakura...nice to see you...” she stuttered, and flinched again when he frowned suddenly. ‘Uh oh...I’m in trouble...’ was the only thing that crossed her mind at the look on his face.

Bakura frowned as soon as he heard the girl’s voice. He had heard it before, and he recognized it immediately. It was that girl, that same girl who was a close friend of Pharaoh’s. He suppressed the sudden urge to growl, seeing that his frown had an effect on her. She flinched; she was scared of him.

He got up slowly, taking the umbrella with him, still glaring at her, and he noticed her taking a shaky step back, holding her school bag tightly.

“What do you want, mortal?” he asked her in his usual manner, cold and raspy voice breaking the dead silence between them.

Tea opened her mouth to speak, unsure of what to say.

“What do I want? Uh...nothing, I was just, I was just passing by, that’s all.” She managed to stutter, hoping she didn’t offend him by any chance.

He snorted, and sat back on the bench, his arms crossed like before.

“Then stop wasting my breath and leave already!” He growled his reply, and she flinched again, blinking a couple of times, before she collected her courage again, and started walking, slowly and cautiously, as far away from the bench as possible.

His eyes were closed now, expecting her to move on already and leave him alone in peace. He heard her slow footsteps, wanting nothing more than to just stand up and leave himself. The peace he had in this park was ruined, and by a pathetic mortal girl like her.

Tea was eyeing him warily; taking each step with caution, suspicious of his intentions to just let her pass by him; not taking a chance to use her for a manipulation to get back to Yugi and his Yami. Just when she was about to pass him by, one of the straps on her school bag let loose, and a pack full of books and pencils dropped out. She yelped, trying to prevent everything from falling out, but didn’t succeed - everything fell out, and came to lie on the street in a perfect mess.

“Great, just great!” she snapped, forgetting for a moment that he was still sitting there.

Bakura opened his eyes and growled again in irritation. That stupid, clumsy, mortal let her bag fall, and now her books were lying everywhere. She managed to pick up almost all of them in a hurry, stuffing them back inside her bag, but, unfortunately, one of her pencils rolled away from her reach and stopped by the foot of the famous tomb robber. He lowered his head to look at it, brows rising.

Tea froze, cursing her bad luck mentally. She wanted to pick it up, but she didn’t want to risk her life just for a little pencil.  Still that was one of her favorite ones, and she didn’t want to just leave it lying there. She looked at Bakura, who stared at it, and she wondered if he would be so kind to pick it up and give it back to her. That thought, however, sounded impossible, even to her.

‘Yeah, right,’ she thought, ‘Bakura being kind and picking up my pencil...he’d rather die than pick up a pencil for anyone.’

Neither made a move for a whole minute; Bakura was still looking at the little blue pencil beneath him, and Tea was still wondering if she should just grab it and run, or ask him very politely to give it back to her.

After some thinking, she decided to do the second thing. She got up slowly, and, smiling politely with all the courtesy she had, she opened her mouth to ask a question.

“Uh, Bakura? Could you, uhm...” she pointed to a pencil still lying on the concrete, “could you give me that pencil?” she finished, a hopeful look in her eyes. Bakura raised his head and looked at her with sheer disgust.

“You want me to pick your pencil?” he asked her and then snorted, “Why don’t you pick it yourself?” he added, looking at the confused and slightly terrified expression on the girl’s face. Her eyes were slightly widened, and he chuckled mentally. This should be very amusing; maybe he should play with this mortal for a little while. It was getting boring, anyway.

Tea sighed inwardly after hearing his reply. ‘What did you expect, anyway?’ she said to herself, and sighed loudly this time, letting her frustration out. Why couldn’t he just pick up the darn pencil and give it to her? He would get rid of her sooner that way. ‘That’s it!’ she smiled triumphantly.

“Look Bakura,” she said, a sudden boldness in her voice, “just give me the pencil, and I’ll leave. That way you’ll get rid of me sooner, and I’ll leave you alone.” She ended, satisfied with her reply. The tomb robber smirked again, which confused her a bit.

“What?” she asked him, eyeing him suspiciously again.

The white-haired tomb robber chuckled slightly, smirking again. “What if I don’t want you to leave?”

The look on the girl’s face was priceless. She was gaping at him in some kind of wonder, confusion written all over her face, shock evident in her bright, cerulean eyes.

“W-wha-why?” she managed to get a grip on herself, daring to ask him something again.

His smirk never left his face, and he leaned in further, his back resting completely against the bench.

“Because I said so.” Was his simple reply.

Tea couldn’t believe what was happening in front of her; first, he scared the living daylight out of her, then he looked like he was going to kill her, and now he was flirting with her? Well, not exactly flirting normally, but in some twisted Bakura way.

She looked at her watch and, seeing what time it was, she almost yelped again. He was still looking at her, that amused expression still on his face, waiting for her next retort. The girl was certainly intriguing, now showing signs of anger and frustration when she had been scared to the point of terrified of him just a minute ago.

Tea had had enough. She stomped her foot forward, having enough of playing his little, twisted game.

“Listen, you!” her voice rose slightly, her cheeks flushed in anger, and her eyes blazing, “I don’t have time for this! I have a very important test to write tomorrow, and I don’t have time to play games with you! Now, give me back my pencil!”

The tomb robber was now staring at her, slightly astonished that she dared to speak to him in that tone. He had to admit she was definitely an interesting mortal, although she was a friend of that damn Pharaoh.

But he kept his smirking expression, looking at her from below, white bangs slightly covering his dark eyes.

“And I told you already,” he started, eyes glistening with mockery, “why don’t you pick it yourself?”

It took her a while to realize that her previous ‘threat’ had no effect on him, and that this conversation was going nowhere.

She clenched her fists, shaking with anger, her eyes piercing through his, looking like a stormy ocean, threatening to swallow him and drown him deep inside.

“UGH!” she finally screamed in frustration and, grabbing her bag violently, she glared at him one last time, before storming down the street, looking like a steam engine in full speed.

He heard her remarks about him until she disappeared behind the corner, and her mumbling voice died leaving him alone in the park again. He sat on the bench for a while before deciding to get up and go home. Taking his umbrella and dusting himself off a bit, his expression changed again into a thoughtful one.

Home...

But, the conversation with that girl, definitely managed to make his night interesting. The girl was amusing, and her eyes somehow left a deep imprint on him. Why? He didn’t know. He stopped abruptly, remembering the crucial reason for their fight in the first place.

The little blue pencil was still lying on the concrete, looking lost and abandoned, just like he was feeling at the moment. Never the less, he picked it up, observing it for a while, until he placed it in his pocket, together with his hands, and continued down the street.

He was hungry, and that weakling of a mortal had better have something ready for dinner, or else he’d get angry...