Chapter Seven: Interlude.

Ryou awoke with a start, his head reeling as he tried to figure out why it felt like he had double the appendages as usual. He curled in on himself, fighting down a wave of nausea. It felt as though he had moved four arms and four legs, as though he were cradling two heads in four hands—but all the extra limbs where occupying the exact same space he was. Another wave of nausea hit him and he doubled over, bending two spines as he gulped down air with two mouths. He felt overstretched again, as if all the extra bits where hiding just below his skin, barely contained.

I told you, you would find it overwhelming, Bakura commented, but there was a darkness in his voice—concern or anger? You were spared the brunt of it last night because I stayed out of your body for as long as possible.

"What's happening?" Ryou asked, shivering when he didn't quite recognize his own voice.

Thanks to the power of the Ring, I could control your body before without having to be in it, the spirit replied. But now there are two souls in one body and, though we are technically the same soul and quite similar, your flesh is desperately trying to accommodate both of us. He sighed. It wouldn't have been quite so pronounced if you hadn't nearly killed yourself.

Ryou gasped and shook—he suddenly felt like he was breathing fire. "What do you mean?" he managed to ask between gulps of blazing air.

You were damaged, Bakura explained, almost dead. I had to force your body to repair itself, but since there were two souls housed in its flesh instead of just one, it didn't go quite the way it would have… normally gone.

"I'm in a small amount of agony here," the pale boy snapped. "Could you stop being so cryptic?"

The spirit sighed again. You're changing, he replied plainly. Your body is shifting itself into a form that would be more acceptable for the both of us to inhabit.

Ryou unrolled himself, trying to stretch out before his protesting muscles cramped. "Will it always feel like this?"

Once your body is finished shifting, the only thing you'll be left with is the sense of extra, the sense of double, Bakura answered, his tone unchanging. It was anger that burned in their quiet depths—or perhaps discomfort at having to see his treasure suffer. And Ryou could sympathize with that all too well; after all, he'd been in Bakura's shoes only a few hours ago.

It took what felt like forever for the nausea to subside—along with the aches and the burning—and, just as the ancient had said, eventually Ryou was left with nothing other than the disconcerting feeling that he had more limbs than any human should. Carefully, exhaustedly, he made his way into the bathroom. It was difficult to walk at first; his balance was thrown off wildly by having an extra set of leg he couldn't see, and his center of balance had shifted.

He made it to the bathroom with little incident, however the vision that greeted him in the mirror was astounding for its duality. In some respects, he still looked very much like himself, but small details had been altered. His hair seemed shorter somehow—he distinctly remembered it trailing halfway down his back, because he'd never had the time to get it cut, but now it only seemed to brush past his shoulders; his skin was still pale, but no longer the bleached white of an albino; his face had lost some of its boyish roundness; he was taller by at least half a head, and he was more whippish, more muscled; and, most disturbing of all, he could faintly, ever so faintly, make out a pale series of scars trailing under his right eye. All in all, it looked as though someone had thrown together his appearance with Bakura's, and had tried to find an average between the two of them.

With a sigh, Ryou began to undo the bandages that circled his torso—they were tight now that he'd gone through an unexpected growth spurt. The white gauze unrolled to reveal the damage that the Ring had done. Amid the caked trails and wide swells of dried blood were five punctures, all arranged in a semi-circle around his sternum. Or rather, they had been punctures. Bakura's forced healing had obviously closed the wounds, but the flesh there was different now. The skin was slightly puckered and glistened like proper scars, but they hadn't turned pale—instead, they had grown dark, as though the flesh had been mended by adding swatches of Bakura's tanned skin.

Perhaps, that's how it happened, Bakura commented on the thought.

Ryou stared at himself in the mirror. Truth be told, he'd always imagined that this was what he would look like in a few years—barring the scars—but to make that transition overnight? "People are going to notice," he murmured, biting his lip.

Bakura laughed. No, they won't. Well, he corrected, Yugi might, because the Sennen Puzzle unclouds his eyes, but you don't have to hide from him.

"What do you mean?" the boy asked.

The Sennen Items bend reality, the spirit explained. No one notices when I possess you or the spirit of the Puzzle possesses Yugi, because the Items won't allow them to. Even though you look different in that state, they can't see it—unless they too have a Sennen Item.

Ryou sat heavily on the tile floor. "And why don't I need to hide from Yugi? Right now, he's the last person I want to see."

He's too sympathetic to shun you, Bakura soothed. Besides, he'll be experiencing strange things because of his own Item. You're his only form of moral support in that respect, the only person that can know from experience what he's going through.

"I just wish I could say the same about him to me," Ryou whispered.

You put too much value on your friends, Bakura shrugged inwardly, the motion echoing through Ryou's body. You have me, what more do you need?

"Sanity, for one," the boy muttered. "Personal space, for another."

The spirit chuckled darkly. You instigated this, he reminded. No one forced you to steal the Ring back, or to seal my soul into your body. You made those choices on your own. Whatever happens from this moment forward is your doing just as much as mine.

Ryou sighed, laying his head in his hands and trying to ignore to the persistent feeling that he had double everything he should. "How long will it take for you to fix the Ring?" he asked after a few moments.

I'll look into it, the spirit replied. But, in the mean time, we have something else to turn our attention to.

"What's that?" the boy asked, but suddenly froze. Thoughts had slithered out of the darkness, half-formed notions that twisted around his brain in a shadowy dance. They weren't his thoughts, and he couldn't fully understand them—they belonged to the ancient.

Just a little research for now, Bakura soothed. I'm curious to see where the other Sennen Items ended up after all these years.

But Ryou knew it was more than that. For everything he could not understand, he did know that the black ideas swimming around his soul where not nearly so innocent. He was about to press the spirit for more information when his doorbell rang. "Do you think they'll go away if I just stay here?"

Probably not, Bakura shook his head, especially since it's Yugi.

"You can't know that," Ryou snorted.

You just broke into his house last night, the spirit replied. Who else could it be?

"I don't know," the boy replied as he quickly found a shirt to throw over his head. "My family, maybe?"

I'll bet you two earrings it's Yugi, Bakura baited.

Ryou didn't stop to think about it. "You're on," he agreed, then opened the front door.

Yugi stood timidly on the other side.

Bakura's smugness was nearly tangible. I'm partial to gold, he laughed quietly, but I wouldn't say no to silver earrings.

Ryou groaned.

"I'm sorry," Yugi apologized immediately. "Is this a bad time?"

"No," the paler boy hastened to assure—after all, he might not want to see Yugi, but he didn't want to hurt the boy's feelings. "I was just thinking of something unpleasant. What can I do for you?"

"You can tell me—" Yugi paused, eyeing Ryou with a frown. "What happened to your hair?"

Ryou shrugged and laughed nervously. "I may have tried to cut it during a bout of temporary blindness."

"Oh. I—" the Yugi stopped again, looking suspicious once more. "Look, I know I'm short, but you seem taller today than you did yesterday. In fact, you look different all around. What happened?"

He's integrated with the spirit of the Ring, a dark voice answered. From the nothingness beside Yugi, a figure emerged. It bled out of the air, the flashing, erratic memory of another ancient Egyptian. He looked much like Yugi, only tanned, much taller, and infinitely more dangerous. Where Yugi was unfailingly sweet and naïve, this new ghost was edgy, wild, and his eyes were haunted by the same insanity that lurked in Bakura's gaze.

So this was the true face of the Other Yugi, Ryou thought, absently noting that the air around him had shifted imperceptibly. Bakura had appeared at this new challenge.

Yugi took a step back when the ancient Tomb Robber's gaze landed on him. "This is the spirit of the Ring?" he asked. "This is who you broke into my house for?"

Oh, you'd be surprised what this one could do, little Yugi, Bakura smirked widely, wrapping his arms around Ryou's shoulders. Especially for me.

Ryou ignored his spirit. "And you wouldn't have done the same if our roles had been reversed?" he asked the violet eyed teen. "You can't expect me to believe that you're any less dependant than I am, or that he," he indicated the Other Yugi, "is a paragon of morality."

Yugi deflated a little, and his spirit's hackles instantly rose. We're trying to protect you! he snapped. The Ring and that monster inside it will poison your mind, twist you into a beast.

You'd like to think that, Bakura purred. You want me to be the villain, because it makes you seem like the hero by contrast. He laughed, a manic sound that pressed through Ryou's soul. But the simple truth is that you're no better for Yugi than I am for Ryou.

Yugi fidgeted, clutching his Puzzle. "I didn't come here to fight."

"Then what did you come for?" Ryou asked as the spirits glared at each other.

"I have a bad feeling," the short boy answered. "Something's not right about all this, but I can see now that you'll stay willfully blind to that fact until it's too late. I'm sorry to have bothered you." He turned around, his spirit trailing after him as he slowly retreated.

"Yugi," Ryou began, hating to see his friend go. Bakura's ethereal grip tightened on his shoulders—why did he always have to choose between what was safe and normal, and what belonged to the Ring, to Bakura? He wanted both, but it seemed as though he could only ever have one at a time.

He'll come around before long, Bakura said quietly as the short boy disappeared into the distance.

"What makes you think so?" Ryou asked, turning back into his apartment.

The spirit smiled and shook his head. Just a few days ago, Yugi and the spirit of the Puzzle were barely even aware of each other. Now look at them. He shook his head again. It's only a matter of time before the Other Yugi reveals his true colors.

The pale boy slumped onto his sofa. "His true colors?"

Bakura followed him into the living room, seating himself atop the low coffee table. He's scheming, and ruthless, he shrugged. Not unlike myself, really, but he tries to hide it under a mask of nobility.

Ryou began to massage his aching chest—there was still some lingering pain from the night before. "So you two knew each other in life, then?"

In a peripheral sort of way, the spirit nodded. Our paths crossed once or twice, but we never truly knew one another. However, you could say that he's a big part of the reason I'm here to have this conversation with you.

"This all has to do with the Sennen Items, doesn't it?" Ryou asked tiredly.

Indeed, it does, Bakura chuckled. But that's neither here nor there—for the time being, you and I have more important things to do. Like research.

Ryou sighed. He knew precious little about the Sennen Items, but he could tell already that nothing good would come of locating the others. Bakura undoubtedly had plans for them—plans that he would not see fit to tell Ryou until the last moment possible. It was a dicey situation to be in, but having fought so hard to reclaim his dark incarnation, Ryou knew he couldn't say no—not yet, anyway.

A/N: As suggested by the title, this track of the album was only a short instrumental piece—hence, no lyrics. Because of that, this chapter gave me more problems than any chapter before it, as I had no real jumping off point (which accounts for its shortness as well).

Also, we have reached the halfway point of this particular journey! Chapter seven marks the very middle of this story.

Many, many thanks to all the wonderful people who have reviewed so far!

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