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

Chapter V – Faking

Closing the book she had been reading the past two hours, Tea sighed in relief, happy that she managed to read it. The letters were becoming less and less appealing every minute, and now she was glad that she had finally managed to read the last chapter in the History book. There was no doubt she would flunk on that test, and she didn’t want to leave it that way.

Leaning back in her chair, she looked through her window, watching the branches and the sun casting shiny beams through them. The window was open, and she could hear birds chirping from the nearby tree.

She was chewing on her pencil, the one she had managed to find in her drawer since her favorite one ended up who knew where. That pencil brought her back to a certain tomb robber, and Tea’s cheeks turned slightly pink. She only realized that when her cheeks started burning suddenly, and she caught herself blushing. And because of whom?

Yami Bakura.

Tea smacked her forehead, putting the pencil on the desk and sighing. Surprisingly enough, she had had a good night sleep, and she didn’t have any kinds of dreams about Bakura. She was wondering why...could it be that her own realizations had made the nightmares stop?

She shook her head, the blush still evident on her face. She put the hands behind her head, supporting her neck, and letting her hair fall on them.

Who was she kidding? She could have developed a crush on Bakura, but what did that mean to him?

She let her eyes fall downward, and now she was staring blankly at the edge of her desk, lost in her thoughts.

Bakura was...Bakura, there was no other way to describe him. He was an ancient tomb robber, and he had probably killed many people in his past, and robbed who knew how many tombs, stealing everything that had a decent value.

In that moment she asked herself if he ever even had a girlfriend...or a mate, or whatever the ancient Egyptians had in that time...

‘No’, she said silently to herself, ‘I don’t believe he’s ever even experienced real love.’

Tea’s eyes closed for a second, and she opened them a moment later, revealing sadness in them. She actually pitied him in the end...

She shook her head again. What was she thinking? Pitying a person, a spirit of the Millennium ring, who wanted to hurt her and her friends? She was really becoming a hopeless case. Averting her eyes from the desk, she looked through the window again. It was still rather chilly, but the sun was shining, and Tea decided to spend the afternoon doing something relaxing instead of thinking about Yami Bakura, who probably didn’t feel anything towards her, except maybe hate and disgust due to the fact that she was a mere mortal, and a friend of his archenemy.

She got up, deciding to call someone and ask them if they wanted to go out for a walk or something. It was a Sunday afternoon, and she had had enough of book reading and Yami Bakura ramblings.

After a few telephone calls she sighed and put the phone down. Yugi and Yami were out somewhere, probably playing Duel Monsters, according to the words of Yugi’s grandfather. Joey went out with Serenity and Mai somewhere, and Tristan didn’t even answer the phone at all.

“Great,” she muttered, “when you need them, you can’t find them anywhere.” She eyed the phone angrily, already prepared to spend the Sunday in utter boredom. But then again, one person’s name came to her mind, and she was already on the way to dial the numbers, but then she stopped suddenly, letting the phone down like it was about to bite her.

“But, what if...” She whispered silently, staring at the phone, and thinking about whether to call Ryou or not. She wanted to spend the afternoon with someone, but what if Bakura answered the phone? Or even worse – what if he decided to come with them?

The options were running through her head, each one of them dealing with the thought of Bakura interfering.

She looked at the clock on the wall; it was already past 2 pm, and she didn’t have much time to think about the possibilities. She decided to call Ryou, and if Bakura answered the phone, she’d keep her cool, and ask politely to talk to Ryou. Yeah, that was a good plan.

She dialed the number and, taking a deep breath, she waited for someone to pick up the phone. Secretly, she hoped Bakura would answer it...although, she didn’t quite know how she would react in that case...

 

Bakura was just about to start his usual routine of cleaning out the fridge when he heard the annoying ring of the telephone, interrupting him from making a sandwich. He growled silently; that spineless wimp definitely managed to pick a good moment to get out of the house and leave him all alone to deal with unwanted phone calls and unwanted visitors. Ryou had left the house five minutes ago, saying something about going to the store to buy some food, and that he’d be back in a minute.

‘Yeah, right,’ Bakura thought, ‘smart guy. Maybe I should scare him off a bit when he returns home’. That thought made him smirk evilly, and, with an exasperated sigh and a low growl, he put the sandwich down and went to answer the phone. He already knew how to shake those nasty pests off his hook; all he needed to do was to tell them that they got the hell’s residence, and that they should prepare to get fried, screaming in agony. Of course, the line would go flat after that, and Ryou was left wondering why nobody ever called him again.

He snatched the phone roughly, and glared at it, already prepared to say his usual greeting, in case they become too nagging.

“Speak.”

Tea was about to say something, when the voice across the line froze her ability to speak. The voice sounded like Bakura’s, but she didn’t know for sure. She decided to ask first.

“Hey, Ryou, is that you?”

Brief silence followed.

Bakura’s eyes widened, his mouth opening slightly. He, too, couldn’t utter a single syllable out of his mouth. Why was she calling again? Did she want to talk to that wimp? And why?

The last question in his mind was asked in a rough tone, his eyes narrowing slightly. Why did she call him again? What did she want from him?

“Ryou, you there?”

Bakura snapped out of his thoughts, still frozen himself. And the next thing he knew, he had said something that he hadn’t wanted to say at all, but his mouth seemed to react before his brain.

“Yes.”

He stared in disbelief at the phone. What had he done?! Why the hell did he say that he was Ryou?

Tea sighed in relief. She had really thought Bakura had answered the phone.

“Oh, good, I thought it was Bakura. You sounded a bit weird...is everything okay?” She asked, and he frowned, her reply stuck in his ears. What was he? Some kind of monster that she didn’t want to talk to him? However, he forced himself to stay composed, trying to imitate Ryou’s voice.

“No, I’m fine...thank you.” The last two words really seemed forced out, even to Tea. She blinked, wondering if Ryou maybe caught a cold or if Bakura was spying on him again. She shook her head, asking him if he’d like to meet her somewhere to hang out a bit. A brief silence followed again, and Tea had to call his name once more.

‘Does he have hearing problems?’ She thought, but then she heard him asking her where and when.

Bakura flinched when he heard her question. She wanted to meet him, and hang out with him? Something in him started to turn again, and he cursed inwardly, reminding himself that she was asking Ryou, not him. So, he simply asked where and when, since nothing else came to his mind at the moment.

He heard her smiling voice across the line, and that feeling as if his stomach was turning, appeared again. He almost cursed out loud, but managed to cover his mouth on time.

Tea arranged the time, saying that she’d be waiting for him in front of Domino Park in twenty minutes. Bakura’s eyes widened when her words sunk in.

“You want to meet me, now, today?” He almost sounded frantic, and Tea wondered briefly if that was really Ryou she was talking to.

“Yes, of course. That’s why I’m calling you, silly.” She replied, waiting for an answer.

Bakura wanted to yell back at her for calling him silly, but again he managed to stop himself from ruining his cover. But he was still in trouble. How was he supposed to know she wanted to meet him now?

“Ryou, are you okay? I mean, you don’t have to go if you don’t want to. I’ll find someone else and-“

“No!”

The sudden outburst from the boy across the line was everything but natural. Tea’s eyes widened slightly. That wasn’t really Bakura she was talking to the whole time, was it?! But, why would he want to pretend that he was Ryou then?

Questions popped up in her mind this time, and the line was silent for a couple of moments, until Bakura coughed, breaking an almost dead silence.

“I mean, I’d l-like to meet you at the park.” He replied and sighed. The word ‘like’ was certainly not in his vocabulary, and it wasn’t used very often.

The girl sighed across the line and agreed. She said one final ‘bye, see you there’, and hung up. The line broke, leaving a very confused, scared, and astonished tomb robber, staring at the phone. After a while, he dared to put the phone back, still staring at it.

What did he just do? Why for Ra’s sake had he taken the role of Ryou, played it to the end, and on top of all that – agreed to meet that girl at the park? Bakura could only growl in anger. He clenched his fists, gritting his teeth, glaring at the phone. What had he gotten himself into? Now he’d have to go to the park and spend the whole afternoon, hanging out with a filthy mortal, who was a close friend of Pharaoh’s! And he couldn’t, didn’t want to say that to Ryou, because Ra knew what that wimp would say and think of him.

He shook his head and started pacing through the kitchen. He wanted to slam his head against the wall.

Why? Why did he do that? What did that girl make him do?

He looked at the clock on the kitchen wall. He had ten minutes to get ready, meet her at the park, and then spend the whole afternoon with her, acting as if he was Ryou. He smacked his forehead.

“Idiot!” He spat out, leaning over the kitchen table, holding the edges of it tightly. He was still considering the thought of just staying at home, and, when Ryou came in, simply tell him that she called and told him to meet her at the park. He started pacing again, but then stopped. Somehow, that thought seemed disturbing; to leave Ryou to go and meet her, instead of him. After all, it was him who answered the phone and agreed to meet her.

He sighed in irritation, slamming his fist against the wall.

“Damn it.” He muttered.

That girl definitely did something to him.

 

Fifteen minutes later Tea was looking at her watch, counting minutes, then seconds, until Ryou would finally appear. She was sitting on the bench, and it was that certain bench, fidgeting with her fingers nervously.

Why did she have a strange impression she had been talking to Bakura? But why would Bakura act like Ryou, and then agree to meet her, and hang out with her? No, that couldn’t be. It had to have been Ryou; he had probably just been being glared at by Bakura and couldn’t talk to her normally.

She looked at her watch again, seeing that Ryou was late already. She decided to wait a little longer, hoping that he’d show up.

Bakura was hidden behind a tree, not so far away. He was watching the girl intently, noticing the way she was dressed. The shorts were short enough to show the way her legs were shaped perfectly, and her tank top was making her waist look slim, tightly accentuating every curve of her body. She was looking at her watch constantly, fidgeting nervously every now and then. She was looking in all directions, hoping to see him – no, hoping to see Ryou coming out of one of them.

But Bakura was glued to the spot. He was feeling strange, just by looking at her like that, feeling his stomach turn again, like there was a giant sand-storm in it, and his heart started to beat more quickly. He tried to suppress those impulses; those indications he knew had everything to do with the girl sitting a couple of feet away from him.

She turned her head in the other direction suddenly, and he peeked around the corner a bit to see who she was looking at. A tall guy was coming her way, and he noticed the way he was staring at her. That burning feeling inside his chest started to rise again, and, almost unconsciously, he stepped away from his hideout and started walking towards them. She was talking to him, and he narrowed his eyes dangerously at him, realizing he was trying to hit on her. She was smiling politely at him, which made him feel extremely angry, blood boiling inside him.

Tea didn’t even notice him until he appeared, suddenly stepping between her and the guy across from her. He was turned with his back to her, and she couldn’t quite see his face. She did, however notice the way his hair was looking spikier than usual. She stiffened a gasp, realizing that it was Yami Bakura she was talking to, and that it was him who was currently glaring daggers at the guy in front of him.

The guy was slightly taller than him, but he got the picture, and, smiling politely at both of them, stepped aside, leaving them alone, he disappeared behind the corner.

Tea gulped silently once, wondering briefly why Bakura was here in the first place.

“Uhm, B-Ryou! What took you so long?” She asked suddenly, breaking the tense atmosphere between them. He turned to look at her, and she almost let out a surprised sound when she saw his face. He was looking almost like Ryou, if there wasn’t for his hair, and the darker shade of his eyes.

Bakura’s breath got caught in his throat when he finally turned around and looked at her. She was looking at him, seeming somewhat surprised, but the way her eyes glistened in the sunshine almost took his breath away.

“Had some problems with...” there he stopped, looking aside a bit, wondering what Ryou would say in this situation. The he forced a cracked smile, and put his hands behind his back. “I had some problems with Bakura, you know...” He added, hoping she’d believe him. It sounded so damn weird when he was talking about himself and imitating a different person at the same time.

The girl just looked at him for a couple of seconds, and it seemed to him as if she was investigating him. He cringed inwardly, not letting his mask fall down.

“Okay, let’s go then!” She exclaimed happily. Normally, she would have taken his hand and pulled him after her, but this was Bakura, and heaven knew what would happen if she took his hand. Maybe he’d feel offended for being touched by a mortal, and she’d end up in another dimension for that.

So she simply started walking beside him, casting casual glances at him, still wondering why he was doing this.

‘Well,’ she thought, ‘if anything else, I should be spending a very interesting afternoon.’

 

Coming home from the store, he had spent almost half an hour trying to get in line, Ryou closed the door behind him, finally breathing normally. He had run the entire way home, hoping to see Bakura in his better moods, which would mean – he’d yell at him, threaten him a bit, then grab what he had to offer from his hands, and disappear back into the living room.

He let out a long sigh, putting the bags with groceries onto the table, searching for any signal of Bakura or the sound of the TV.

After searching the whole house, and not finding his current housemate, he was left to stand in the middle of the kitchen, wondering where he had gone.