[Open]

[morecowbell]

Characters: Yami Bakura and Nanami & and whoever would like to visit them.
Location: Hospital
Rating: PG-13
Time: May 21st – May 26th
Description: Yami Bakura and Nanami share a hospital room after their disastrous mission in Venezuela. Yami Bakura will be unconscious until May 25th, but Nanami will be here all week folks awake for the most part.


The room was silent with the exception of the machines beeping to remind visitors that the two bodies in the room were still warm. Nanami spent her time awake staring at the ceiling or out the window and periodically glancing over at her dormant partner in the other hospital bed that occupied the room.

He was covered in various bandages with bruises peeking out from behind them. His hair was sticking out in a more ridiculous manner than usual due to the bandage wrapped around his head like some sweatband from the 80’s. She had been updated on his condition shortly after she regained consciousness and besides the things you could see he had also twisted an ankle and had been poisoned by one of the monsters they had tried to fight off. The antidote had been administered shortly after they had arrived at the hospital but he was still unconscious.

Nanami hadn’t managed to get off scot-free either. Aside from the usual cuts, scrapes and bruises she had some deep lacerations on the left side of her back that had been stitched up and she was still anemic.

Comments

[shiromadoushi]

"...Because you made me angry... saying that you treated me better than you did... You always make me angry, and I'm not good with dealing with anger. I just try and lash out back at you...."

Which was sort of the root of the whole problem, wasn't it? He gave a deep sigh. "..Defeats the entire point of apologizing, doesn't it...? Just to turn around and have the same reaction...."

[feelsgoodinyou]

"Pretty much, yeah." He agreed. "I wasn't lying, from my point of view. I treated you far better than I could have done." He had neither killed anybody that wasn't relevant to Bakura's plans nor taken over his body completely and just erased his mind for good. He also hadn't laid a hand on Ryou's family and hidden himself instead. Not to mention that he had kept true to his word even when it meant helping that goddamn Pharaoh and his friends.

[shiromadoushi]

"But it wouldn't be a lie for me to say the same... doesn't mean it's any better as far as the other is concerned. We've each hurt each other...not even intending to, for a lot of it..."

[feelsgoodinyou]

Bakura tsk'ed at that. He considered the idea that the person in front of him ever truly hurt him by himself a severe case of megalomania.

"You're kind of an empty egoist, you know that? You fight for others cases, but you have no own that you could ever fight for. You mourn the lack of trust that others put into you, but you don't trust anybody else either." He shook his head, smirking faintly to himself. "That's probably why you can't find a partner."

[shiromadoushi]

"Eh?" Bakura blinked, a little confused and a touch hurt by the comment. "I trust others...!"

...even if the nagging doubt always lurked in the back of his mind. The memory of Jounouchi chewing him out for not trusting in Yuugi always haunted him.

"...and I had a partner... He was taken away by BREW before you even arrived... Barely a week before I realized you were here..." There was a quiet softness that slipped into his voice as he looked down. Losing Vash so soon after partnering with him... it had been a huge blow to an already fragile ego. Too much loss in such a short period of time to a boy who already been so damaged from repeated loss....

... Maybe he was just still too afraid. Afraid of being abandoned yet again....

[feelsgoodinyou]

Bakura merely looked at him.

Maybe that one was really too broken to still be of any use. Rubbing his nape, the thief finally sighed.

"Well.. This is getting useless. You don't trust me and I have no intention of working with somebody who is going to blame me again the first moment things are going wrong." With those words his body started to become transparent as he slowly started to dissolve their resonance.

[shiromadoushi]

"That isn't--- Wait!" Bakura exclaimed, reaching out to grab hold of his double, trying to keep the resonance from breaking. "That isn't what it is at all! Listen to me before you decide something like that!"

[feelsgoodinyou]

Bakura visibly jolted when the contact was made. Against his will the thief could feel a shiver run over his spine and for a moment his face revealed a plethora of usually hidden emotions as he whirled around and their resonance turned from fleeting into incredibly good.

There was no denying that their souls connected incredible well.

"What? What is it now again?" Unconsciously he flexed his hand. "Let go." He didn't like this, this reminder of how cold his own hands were. Not when they were this close.

[shiromadoushi]

"If you leave now, this will be it and I don't want that!" Bakura's grip tightened in stubbornness with a touch of near desperation. "I want to find a way to make it work! Even if I stumble on the way to it, I'll find a way!"

Because there was that connection. Even as they were now... even with that bond severed...

No. No it couldn't be severed. It was still there, Bakura could feel it. The person who never left, who was always there, even when Bakura wished he wasn't...

There was a trust there. An understanding. The spirit would always be there, for better or for worse. And Bakura wasn't going to let go of that, even if he knew Yuugi would want nothing more than for him to.

[feelsgoodinyou]

Fuck their connection and how somehow part of that conviction just now had flooded over from Ryou. Against his will Bakura found himself just staring at Ryou, eyes wider than usual and with an expression that mixed confusion, surprise, sadness and disbelief.

"Yadou...," he trailed of and shook his head as if he were trying to fight off a spell of tiredness. When he looked up Bakura's expression bore a half-smirk again, albeit one that was lacking any real confidence. "Heh. Keep dreaming, idiot."

[shiromadoushi]

But Bakura had seen that look, and his fingers only tightened. "Being an idiot isn't anything I can help... but I'm not going to give up so easily... Maybe even because I am an idiot. I never know when to give up."

[feelsgoodinyou]

"Oh, really now." Bakura couldn't help but mock. Raising his held hand a bit, he gave him a slightly mocking look. "What are you going to do about it, then? You don't have the puzzle and last time I checked the force of friendship isn't enough to force miracles here in this world." Thank the gods for that, that thing was an abomination like no second.

[shiromadoushi]

"You're wrong about that... this world even more than ours depends on the power between two people. The strength of bonds between them does perform miracles..."

That they were speaking like this, that he had been able to heal the other him...

[feelsgoodinyou]

Bakura snorts at that. "Bullshit, it's just about the most basic compatibility. Half the people who've had 'successful' resonances barely knew each other at first or literally can't stand each other." Like them.

"No," he continued, "the thing between Meisters and Weapons has as little to do with stuff like that as you being able to wear the Ring or having a sword with good balance does. You really need to get your head checked if you think that somebody needs to be best friends or more just to fight successfully together."

[shiromadoushi]

"I don't. There are other bonds just as powerful that work just as well. But that doesn't mean that things like friendship don't work like they do back home."

[feelsgoodinyou]

Bakura's scowl deepened. "Show me anybody whose 'friendship' has changed the roll of a die or brought the dead back and I'll kill them myself."

He shook his head. "No, people die here no matter what they mean to someone else or who's hoping or trusting in you. There's no cheap cop-out for facing the cruel reality. Everybody is playing with the same odds." His expression split into a cruel smile. "And you know what? I'm damn happy about that!"

[shiromadoushi]

Bakura shrank back just a touch. "Why would you be happy about something like that?!"

[feelsgoodinyou]

"Because this is justice." He gestured with his free hand. "You might not understand it but it means that there are no privileges anymore. No special treatment just because you are 'good', or popular or rich. Everybody is the same, they have to fight for their survival and face the consequences of failing to win the same way. No magically drawn right cards anymore."

[shiromadoushi]

"But it wasn't ever about those things...! Having the strength of will and people behind you was what made the difference... and that's something that anyone can have..."

[feelsgoodinyou]

"Wrong!" A small bristle ran over Bakura's form and turned the tone of his voice colder than it was intended to. "What about those who have nobody who could stand behind them left? What about those who are alone, or bullied or outcasts? What about those whose wills are shaken for good reasons and those who decide to deviate from the ideals of the majority?! Are you going to say that that is just and that they don't deserve any better than to be inevitably crushed by those more lucky than them? That the sheep shall rule over the wolves and trample them into the ground just because they all look alike and there are more?!

That's no justice, Ryou! That's oppression and the rule of convenience!!"

[shiromadoushi]

The teen stared, eyes wide and stunned. That way of looking at it simply had just never occurred to him. The notion that if you believed enough-- even if he felt he never did-- that it would create a miracle... it was something he clung to. With enough will and the support of those around you, you could change things so that everything would be better... if he could ever be good enough, he could change things...

It was an addictive promise that gave him something to reach for, and something to blame himself for when things crumbled around him like they always did. Just a little more... just a little...

[feelsgoodinyou]

Bakura took that as a sign to cock his head to the side. "Don't tell me you never even thought of that." His smirk widened. "Did you really think that Pharaoh and his posse were the only ones who had people believing in them or who were fighting for something important to them with all their heart? That they kept winning without grinding the dreams and efforts of countless others into dust? How naive!"

He laughed cruelly. "That's the way how religions and sects work, Ryou. But you know what? None of them will ever tell you to question their methods or that of their so-called gods. That's why I prefer the cruel reality because there's no automatic promises or faults."

[shiromadoushi]

Bakura looked down, shoulders curling in just a touch, protests half formed, but wordless. He wanted to defend his friends, wanted to believe that they had been in the right, that they had done the right thing..! Yuugi had to rescue his grandfather's soul, and Pegasus was hurting everyone with his dream of defying death for someone long since gone from that world...

"...but there's nothing you can do either, to not have your dreams be crushed..." he finally pointed out, keeping his eyes low.

[feelsgoodinyou]

"All you can do is to fight for them with all you've got." He said it with grim confidence. There was no doubt in Bakura that this would have been a juster world. Cruel and merciless? Yes. But less so to some who would otherwise have no chances to begin with and without doubt beautiful as well with its lack of bias and lies. "Just like everybody else can do."

[shiromadoushi]

But what he had was never good enough. That's why he always reached so desperately for the dream that Yuugi and the others provided. Something outside of himself that would be the magic that would transform his world...

It was why he clung so hard to the Ring. To his friends. To any promise....

He didn't want to face the harsh truth of the world. He wanted to believe in something more... even in this world, where things were so much harsher...it felt even more as if the power of believing in others, the power of trusting in others... it was all the more important.

"...All I have is my life..." he said softly.