Ryou: *sighs* Here we go again... -_-;

WSJ: ^-^ Poor Ry-chan... Don't worry, nothin' really bad happens until next chapter. *winces* But then it gets really bad...

Bakura: *coughs politely and holds up the rough draft for chapter 14* She's right Ryou. Next chapter is gurenteed to make fangirls cry... Or swoon... Or both... *keeps reading* Hey! I kick butt!

WSJ: ^__^ Dang striat! But that's not for a chapter or two, so lets get our minds back to the present, shall we? You can really tell that Bakura's beginning to become a little more sympathetic to Ryou, but I repeat, *pulls out a bull-horn* THIS WILL NOT BE A YAOI!!!!!!!!!!!! *drops bullhorn* Hey Malik! Do the disclaimer!

Malik: *sighs* If WSJ owned YGO, Ryou and I would have girlfriends, Bandit Keith would get kicked out, Weevil would be decapitated and Bakura'd get more screen time. -.-;;

Ryou: *blinks* Hey Malik-Onii-san, you never actually said that onee-chan didn't own-mmph! *gets cut off by WSJ slapping a hand over his mouth*

WSJ: ^.^; Ignore him! Roll fic!

()()()()()

Visions of the Heart

Chapter 13: A Weekend of Puzzlement and a Monday Morning of "Fun"

~3rd Person POV~

Everyone regrouped back at the Wheelers and sat around staring in puzzlement at the TV, which was broadcasting the news. Apparently, everyone now thought that Seto Kaiba had died in a car accident. No security camera tapes, no broken window, no kidnapping, no nothing. It was like everything had been erased from everyone's minds, and then drawn back as something completely different. Yugi and crew seemed to be the only ones who actually remembered the true events of Seto's demise.

Seto himself had departed back to wherever his brother was, by way of simply entering his new soulroom.

"What in the name of Kuriboh happened?" Tristan demanded the moment that Joey, Bakura and Ryou (now awake) walked through the Wheelers front door.

"How the hell should I know?!?" Joey demanded. "If anything, ask them," he jerked his thumb back at Ryou and Bakura. "Somethin' really wacky happened, but I couldn't see what! And they won't tell me!!!"

They turned to the silent pair in confusion. "Is that true?" Yugi asked. "Do you know what happened, Ryou? Bakura?"

Bakura pressed his lips together for a moment. "It was a spell, of sorts. That is all you need to know. Come on Ryou, we should get home."

The two turned to leave, Bakura's hand on his hikari's shoulder to guide him, but Yami stood in their way, his face stern. "Bakura, you'd better tell us! I could Mind Crush you so fast it would make your head spin."

Bakura just glared back at the ex-pharoah. "And I could erase your minds long before you had the chance."

Yami let out a short, barking laugh. "Erase our minds? It seems that your little stay in jail has caused you to forget Tomb Robber! Or have you so easily dismissed the fact that you are now mortal, through and through?"

Tea, Isis, Tristan, Joey, and Serenity let out gasps of surprise. "Mortal?" Joey asked in disbelief. "As in, human?"

Bakura growled, his lip curling upward into a sneer. "I outta..." Unconciously he clenched his fists, tighting his grip on Ryou's shoulder until the boy whimpered.

Bakura blinked and it seemed his quarrel with Yami was suddenly forgotten. He turned all of his attention to his hikari, and noticed how weak he still looked. 'It must have been all the energy he spent on... that whatever-it-was earlier.' Bakura realised. 'In fact-'

He didn't get a chance to think any farther because at that moment his prediction came true and Ryou's eyes fluttered breifly before closing in a dead-faint. Reacting from pure instict and some new-found feelings (that he wasn't about to let Yami and the others see, whether they wanted to or not), Bakura took a step forward and caught Ryou before he hit the ground. He then lifted him easily into his arms and turned once again to face Yami.

"Let me by Pharoah. Ryou needs to be home, in bed, and his room needs cleaning before that can happen."

Yami, as well as the rest of them, were momentarily stunned to silence. After a small bit of mental prodding from his other, Yami stepped out of the way and let them pass. Yugi stepped up beside him and the two stood frowning slightly as they watched his back becoming smaller in the distance.

"Are you sure it was wise to just let him go?" Yami asked in a low voice as the others went back to talking amongst themselves.

Yugi shook his head, still frowning. "He's mortal now, and somehow I doubt he would hurt Ryou anyway. Not after what has happened."

"If I were you I wouldn't underestimate his heartlessness that way."

"He can't be totally heartless." Yugi protested. "After all, you aren't. And not even Yami-Malik is. He's gotta have a heart in there somewhere."

"I hope so aibou..." Yami said quietly. "For Ryou's sake..."

The weekend passed in the way that weekends do. Saturday was spent hanging out at the Game Shop. Even Ryou stopped by for a bit with Bakura playing guide-dog.

Things were pretty much back to normal at the Kaiba Corp labs as well. Mokuba had assumed control of the company, and with Seto whispering advice, quite literally, into his ear the whole time he did fine.

Sunday everyone pretty much hung out with their respective families, although Yami and Yugi dropped in on the Bakuras late that afternoon and were rather plesently surprised (and very amused) to find Bakura trying to cook dinner for himself and his hikari, while Ryou sat at the kitchen table giving him directions and trying not to laugh.

But, to the sadness of all, (harhar, except the readers!) Monday morning came. Bakura, who for the moment was sleeping in the guest bedroom, was awakened to an alarm coming from Ryou's room (which he'd cleaned up Friday night). Blearily he stumbled down the hall and saw his hikari sitting up in bed, waiting for him.

"Wha'?" Bakura asked. "Ryou, it's six AM!"

"I know." Ryou said. "Yugi's going to come by at seven to walk me to school. I just need help getting dressed, is all."

"You're going back to school already?" Bakura asked, yawning hugely. He still wasn't quite used to the whole 'sleepy-ness' thing yet.

Ryou looked surprised. "Yes, of course! I've never missed more then three days of school in my entire life!"

Now that surprised Bakura. "Never? I mean, sometimes I left you... in..."

"Pretty bad shape?" Ryou finished. Bakura nodded, and he smiled. "Oh, I always stuck it out somehow."

"Hmph..." Bakura muttered as he headed for Ryou's closet to find his school uniform, but his eyes were shining. "Maybe you aren't such a weakling, Runt."

Ryou grinned widely, rejoicing in this new sort-of friendship with his darker half. "Why, thank you!"

Bakura just rolled his eyes.

Forty-five minutes later the doorbell rang, and Bakura opened it to see a cheerful Yugi and (surprisingly) Yami, both in their school uniforms and ready to go. "Yami?"

"Yes, aibou and Grandpa both think I should go to school and learn about modern things." Yami rolled his eyes to show his opinion of that. "I'm supposedly Yugi's older brother, and I'm one grade above him. You should consider it too Bakura, seeing as you're now a mortal and all."

Bakura remembered just in time that he was supposed to be an evil kisima. His time spent with Ryou was beginning to make him go soft, he thought disapprovingly to himself. "Stop reminding me Pharoah! And I do not need to learn about what these pathetic humans know."

Ryou walked up behind them, one hand against the wall for balance and the other holding his backpack. "I'm ready to go." he said in his usual quiet, dejected manner. He and Bakura had agreed that especially after the two Motos had walked in on them cooking dinner Sunday night, they should try and act as 'normal' as possible. Ie, Ryou being meek and subjective, and Bakura being harsh. At least on the outside.

Bakura glared at their backs as they walked away, and then shut the the door, turning to lean against it. He then sighed and allowed a small smile to appear on his face. "Ack Ryou, look what you're makin' me do..."

However, if he had known what the day would bring, he would have never let Ryou go...

(WSJ: Hentais! Get your minds out of the gutter! Protective friendship, not yaoi!!!!!!!!!!)

"Ryou," Yugi asked as he guided his friend down the street, a little concerned for his silence. "Are you ok?"

"Yes Yugi, what makes you ask?" Ryou asked, blinking in surprise.

He shrugged, although Ryou couldn't possibly know he was. "Oh, you just seemed really quiet, that's all."

Ryou shook his head and offered Yugi and his yami a small smile. "I'm ok. Really,"

Yugi shrugged again. "If you say so..."

Needless to say, everyone at school was surprised to find Ryou Bakura blind. Even students who had never previously noticed the shy, white-haired boy gave him words of sympathy in the halls.

The story that Yugi, Yami and the others were circulating was that Ryou had been sick for a long time with a similar disease as what Serenity Wheeler had had, and that was why his dad was always away from home, trying to earn enough money for his son's operation. However, he hadn't made it in time, and now Ryou was completly blind. Ryou had approved the story before hand, and in fact, he and Bakura had come up with it. Usually he didn't like lying, but in this case he really couldn't tell the truth either.

The students and a majority of the teachers accepted this answer, a fact for which Ryou was extremely glad.

Ryou had either Yugi, Joey, Tristan or Tea in most of his classes, so he was able to get around pretty well. At lunch, four girls who would sometimes hang out with him and the others shared their lunches with him, even though he'd brought his own.

They began to play a sort of game, where one of them would hand him something to eat, and whisper a clue as to what it was in his ear. Not only did he have to figure out what the food was before one of them got him to eat rocks, he had to guess which girl had said it by just their voice.

He grinned as one of them dropped something into his hand and then said "It's dark brown, and sweet, but sour."

Mentally he tried to place the voice to a face. In several moments he got it, and grinned. Long blond hair in a French braid, sparkling blue-grey eyes, almost undoubtably dressed all in black with a silver cross and a large silver ring (that almost looked like the Millenium Ring) around her neck.

"Jade," he said confidently, and he heard her laugh.

"Got it! Now what did I hand you?"

"Oh, that's easy," he said popping it into his mouth, "Teriaki chicken."

"My turn!" One of the others said.

"No mine!"

"Mine!"

Ryou chuckled and easily identified the other three girls as Jade's best friends and sometimes co-conspirators. He couldn't remember their names right off, but the faces came to him plain as the chicken in his mouth. The first had long black hair with blue streaks and a gold armband that Ryou suspected was more then it seemed. The second had an almost star/flower-shaped crystal broach on the bow of her uniform and extemely short black hair with bleached-blond bangs, almost in a Yugi-esque style, except they weren't alive.

(WSJ: *shudders* I think Yugi's bangs are alive. Does anyone else think Yugi's bangs are alive? Yugi's bangs are alive!!! Iiieee!!! *runs around in small, frantic circles*)

The third, other then Jade herself, had long honey-blond hair pulled back in a headband and was short, only a little taller then the boy she had a major crush on, aka Yugi Moto.

"Ladies, please! If you feed me any more I'll pop!"

The three girls stopped bickering and Ryou could almost sence Jade grinning. "Yeah, you tell 'em Ryou!"

The bell rang for lunch to end and Joey showed up to walk Ryou to his next class. That was also a class Ryou happened to have with Jade, so the three of them headed off together.

(WSJ: -_-; Ok, ok, sorry... I'll stop now...)

Amazingly, the day went by fast. The bell rang for the end of school a lot sooner then Ryou expected. He made his way to his locker by feel, and found Yugi and Yami waiting there for him.

"Hi Ryou," the shorter of the two said. "Do you need us to walk you home? We'll have to hurry, because Grandpa wants Yami and I to help unload some new merchendice when we get back to the shop."

"That's ok," Ryou said. "I don't have any homework because, well, how'm I supposed to do it? So I don't have anything to carry. If you guys need to go, I'll be fine. I can find my way home by myself."

"Are you sure?" Yami asked. "Tristan and Joey have soccar practice, and Tea had to leave already to go to dance. Will you be ok?"

Ryou gave both of them slightly annoyed looks. "Of course! I'll be fine. Better hurry, or Grandpa will take away your decks for being late."

"He wouldn't dare!" Yami said, but nevertheless, both of them soon departed.

The school was mostly deserted now as Ryou made his way outside, except for the soccar practice going on in the feild off to the left of the school. Ryou gulped slightly as he began to make his way across the couryard. He hoped he hadn't made a big mistake...

()()()()()

WSJ: *oogles* I wrote the whole chapter in one POV... I haven't done that since, what, chapter one!?! I'll probably still switch POVs a little, but not as much as before.

Ryou: *wimpers* I dun wanna do the next chapter...

WSJ: *grins sadisticly* Too bad Ry-chan! *she snaps her fingers and a huge, menacing shadow appears and grabs Ryou, dragging him back into the far corners of the fic.

Bakura: *sweatdrops* WSJ...

WSJ: *innocently* What?

Chapter 14: Poor Ryou... I guess getting home on your own wasn't as easy as you thought... And what's this? Bakura? Crying? Singing?!? Good grief, what is this world coming too... As the action gets better and the chapters get longer, the end of the fic draws ever nearer....

(Bakura: That's it! No more watching Lord of the Rings alone at three AM!

WSJ: Awww... 'Kura-kun....

Bakura: *snaps* And don't call me 'Kura-kun!)

God bless minna-san!