AN: Hey, I'm back! This new story will be taking place in the present, and it will have all yamis in a different (separate) body from their hikaris. Just a heads up. 

Okay! So, let's get started.

.:Intransigence:.

Prologue

Heaving a sigh, a teen no older than sixteen closed the oak door behind him as he stepped into the cool, dark threshold. He hung up his side-slung backpack on a hook in the hallway and took an immediate right to go upstairs. Halfway up, he impassively called, "I'm home" to notify his father that he was back from school. Most of the time, he had the house to himself, but occasionally his dad would be in the living room, watching TV.

So when Bakura heard his mother reply from the kitchen, he was a little surprised. She was usually having tea at some person's house at this time in the afternoon. He paused at the top of the set of steps, debating whether he ought to go down and greet her properly. In the end, he chose his room over a meaningless conversation.

It was stuffy in his room. Slighltly annoyed, Bakura jerked his window open and almost had his mane of white hair in a ponytail when his mom called for him.

Bakura clenched his teeth, growling softly in irritation. "Bakura!?" his mother shouted again. "Bakura honey, come down!"

Muttering curses under his breath, Bakura let his hair down and didn't exactly 'make haste' to see his mom. By the time he had entered the kitchen downstairs, he had his frustration under control.

As soon as he entered the kitchen, Bakura saw his mother leaning on the tiled kitchen counter, her tacky summer blue dress wrinkled from her carelessness. She was staring so intently at the pale form in the dining room that she didn't notice the teen's entrance.

Bakura glanced over to the next room, a little curious as to what his mom was gazing at. Sitting on an wooden chair with his arms crossed on the dinner table, legs suspended in the air, was a little boy with a baseball cap.

"Who the hell is he?" Bakura murmured, not really taking care to look over the child.

His mother smiled wide as she turned to face him, her coffee-stained teeth practically glowing. Bakura kept himself from looking away in disgust when she proudly announced, "Bakura, meet your new brother."

Those words sent a current of ice to crash throughout his entire body. "W-what?"

His mom repeated her statement, but Bakura didn't hear it. Because at that moment, the child glanced over his shoulder and caught his eyes.

Brown eyes that hinted at chocolate looked at him with inquisitiveness as Bakura's lavender ones took in the image before him. Bakura could tell the kid had white hair, perhaps even silver, that barely had the length to crawl out from the hat he wore. Judging from the child's new clothes that didn't match in color, he could also deduce that his mother had probably taken him shopping.

Almost instantly he grew angry. "Why did you bring home a mutt like him?" Bakura demanded to know, glaring at the boy.

Obviously not expecting her son's reaction, Bakura's mom stuttered for a moment before she could get a sentence across. "B-Bakura, that's no w-way to greet the newest a-addition to our family."

"Are you trying to ruin his life?" Bakura shouted, now glaring at his mom. "How can you be so stupid? Does dad know about this?"

"Do I know about what?" a low voice thundered.

Silence fell in the kitchen right away as the front door closed. Footsteps announced the arrival of a sleek-looking, handsome businessman. It didn't take Bakura's father very long to sum up the situation from his son and wife's looks, as well as the unfamiliar face in the dining room.

"Jesse, you brought another one home?" the man quietly asked.

Bakura's mom fidgeted a bit, keeping her eyes glued to the ground. "W-well, I was so lonely, and so I thought that maybe-"

"The last orphan you brought was taken back by the foster homes because you forgot her at the subway," the man hissed. "We can't afford another run in with the government! Do you have any idea how stressed I was from the money loss? We had to dip into our savings to pay off the fines and charges! And besides, we don't have the funds to accommodate another-"

"But Utaka, I'll watch him carefully this time," Jesse said confidently. "I'll make sure to-"

"Nonsense," was the curt response. Jesse whimpered and whined as Bakura's father loosened his tie and slowly said, "Since we can't take him back, I'll have to watch him…"

The words left his mouth before he could even think them over. "I can take care of him, father," Bakura offered. Utaka raised his eyebrows, his hands frozen in midair.

"Excuse me?"

Bakura bit his lip, inwardly groaning. I can't believe this…Was this what people called divine punishment? He really couldn't handle anymore right now, but this kid…What rotten luck, to be thrown into this mess that I call family.

The little scrap of humanity that he had left kept focusing on the child, and more than anything, it was really bugging him.

He steadily looked at his father. "I…I will take full responsibility for him."

His father's smirk told him that he had heard the quivering in his voice. However, when his dad nodded and turned away, Bakura knew he had gotten the message across.

"But you were just complaining and yelling at me," Jesse said, confused. She didn't want to give up her new play thing so easily. "About him, about the boy..."

Exhaling slowly, Bakura stalked right past his trembling mom and grabbed the boy's wrist. "I never said I wouldn't be a brother," he muttered. Though who says I'll be a good one?

The child, who had been staring at the table the whole time, was obviously startled by the teen's cool touch. He glanced up at Bakura, and quickly looked down as he fervently wiped his wet eyes with the back of his hand.

Bakura ignored the boy's attempts and pulled him out of the seat. Leading him upstairs by keeping a firm grip on the child's wrist, he remembered something.

"What am I supposed to call you?"

"Ryou…"

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AN: Well, that's just the beginning. It might be a little confusing, but it'll be all better in the next chapter. Please review, and tell me what you think! Um, expect the next update either Sunday night or Monday! Thanks for reading.