I can see when you stay low nothing
happens. Does it feel right? Late at night, things I thought I put behind
me haunt my mind. I just know there's no escape now once it sets its eyes
on you, but I won't run; have to stare it in the eye.Stand my ground, I won't give in. No more denying; I got to face it. Won't close my eyes and hide the truth inside. If I don't make it, someone else will stand my ground
Chapters
Friday, October 28, 2005f o u r By the time they got to Ryou's apartment, she was starting to wonder if this was such a good idea after all. True, she needed tutoring in order to pass English for the year, but this was mou hitori no Bakura she was going to face on the other side of the door. No amount of daily weirdness or false bravado could compensate for the fact that this particular dark side made her want to run to her father like she had as a little girl.
"Jyonouchi-kun? Are you okay?" Ryou asked, turning to her with a puzzled frown. "You look a little pale."
Katsuya shook her head and flashed a smile that she hoped was reassuring. "Yeah, I'm fine, Bakura. Just... well...."
"Yami makes you nervous," the boy concluded for her. Katsuya simply nodded in response. "I think the only people she's not pleased with right now are Atem-san and Yuugi-kun, and that's because they were, to put it mildly, rude. I know I appreciated you calling to warn us, Jyonouchi-kun."
"Thanks, Bakura," she said, taking a deep breath and shifting her bag slightly. "Sorry for, uh, hanging up like I did, by the way. I was asleep on my feet."
"That's okay. You didn't really sound like yourself," Ryou said, not noticing when the blonde tensed for a fraction of a second as he turned to unlock the door. "I think we all needed more rest than what we got, though. You missed school yesterday. Are you sure you're okay, Jyonouchi-kun?"
"Yeah, never better." She certainly hoped that Ryou didn't notice how false her smile was; she must have fooled him because he smiled back, looking a bit relieved at her answer. She drew in another calming breath as he opened the door, bracing herself for whatever was going to come.
They had been in the apartment for a grand total of ten seconds--long enough to take off their shoes--when a familiar-yet-not voice spoke up from the vicinity of the couch: "I thought that tutoring thing was on Thursday, yadonushi. This is Tuesday."
Katsuya glanced up and was somewhat surprised. For some reason (likely everything that she'd seen in the Memory World) she had been expecting mou hitori no Bakura to be very tall and very tan. And while the faint scar, darker hair and paler eyes were present, the woman wasn't much taller or darker-skinned than Ryou; if Katsuya had to guess, she'd say that she and the other Bakura were the same height. It was a little difficult to tell, though, since the silver-haired woman was wearing what appeared to be steel-toed boots.
Ryou was speaking before Katsuya had time to fully gather her thoughts. "It usually is, yami. But Jyonouchi-kun had..." he paused for a moment, probably to silently ask Bakura to not press the issue too much "something come up later in the week, so we're studying tonight."
"And I suppose this is going to be a repeat of the midget and the Pharaoh's visit?" the older woman sneered, shooting Katsuya a hateful look. The blonde bristled slightly, but decided not to rise to the bait. While in the past she'd looked at both men and women with equal amounts of appreciation, since the end of Battle City she hadn't really looked; at most, she merely asked herself is she prettier than me? and if he sees me looking, will he hurt me?
Just a glance at Bakura was enough to answer the first question in her mind: yes, she is.
"If you mean the threat about cutting off his balls, then no," Katsuya finally replied, crossing to the couch and jumping over the back to land soundly on the cushions. "I am here for one reason only: I'm failing English, and I want to graduate before I'm twenty. So, Bakura, what page did we leave off on last time?"
Both the Bakuras looked surprised by her lack of staring. They exchanged a look, and Katsuya thought they might be talking to one another but couldn't be certain. She flipped her book open and settled back, unconsciously curling one leg under her as she tended to do when attempting to relax. If Honda had been there, he would have smacked her on said leg to remind her that she wasn't at home and couldn't let her guard down; as it was, she was fortunate enough that at least one of the Bakuras wasn't paying that much attention to her actions.
"Um... page five-twenty-seven, I think," Ryou finally said as Bakura retreated into the kitchen (but not before giving Katsuya an appraising look). "That's the section on travel phrases."
Katsuya snorted inelegantly. "Like I'm leaving Japan anymore than I already have. The whole Grand Prix thing was a waste of time, and if Rebecca is an example of a typical American, then I'm keeping my feet firmly on native soil, thank you very much." She wasn't even going to mention Egypt; that was yet another thing she would have to work through, but she wasn't sure if any amount of therapy would help her get past that feeling of helpless fear she experienced the minute she heard anyone speaking with a non-native accent.
Ryou was frowning at her again. "Jyonouchi-kun, you never know," he replied. "You could get a job that requires you to travel outside the country. And America isn't the only English-speaking nation in the world. There's Britain."
"Yeah, a company's gonna hire someone who's fifteen minutes of fame consists of being the number two duelist in the world and placing fourth in Battle City." She nearly choked on her words at the last part, but managed to get them out without too much difficulty. She felt her heartbeat speeding up and took several deep breaths to calm down again. Mentioning Battle City wasn't her best idea, considering the circumstances of the final few duels. Especially everything that had happened right before the finals....
"I'm kinda hungry," she said abruptly, dropping her book on the table and moving to stand. "Mind if I raid your fridge?"
"Preemptive strike, Blondie. Sit your ass back down," Bakura announced as she came back out of the kitchen, marching over to the coffee table and setting down a couple plates. "You're both too fucking skinny. Eat. I need to go wrestle the spoon out of the coffee."
Katsuya blinked. Surely she'd heard that last little bit wrong. "Uh, you do realize that coffee's a liquid,"she said. It wasn't quite a question, but it was close. Bakura gave the blonde a look before heading back into the kitchen. She returned a few seconds later with a mug that had a spoon sticking straight up out of it; actually, she was carrying it by said spoon.
"This," she asked incredulously, "is something you're supposed to drink?!"
Katsuya was, quite literally, speechless. Yes, she'd been aware that Ryou lived on his own (save for his yami, that is). She knew that her father still had the occasional kitchen disaster, which was why as soon as she was old enough to learn their neighbour had started teaching her how to cook on a budget. However, she had never seen someone manage to mess up coffee... until now.
Not even trying to speak, she took the cup from Bakura and marched into the kitchen as if it were the one in her own apartment. Once there, she set the cup down carefully and checked the coffee maker. Katsuya simply shook her head as she realized that the thick liquid in the resevoir was some sort of creamer.
"Bakura," she said evenly, "how long have you been making coffee?"
Ryou leaned over her shoulder, attempting to see what Katsuya was looking at. "For a while now. But the coffee maker's sluggish lately."
"That's because you're supposed to use water to brew it," she said, resisting the urge to beat her head on the cupboards. "You add the creamer afterward." She shook her head and set about taking the coffee maker apart; it was going to have to be completely cleaned before it would work properly again. Glancing to her left, she saw Bakura watching her avidly. "What?"
"Just learning," the former spirit said, flashing a smile that most would recognize as Ryou's most innocent. Katsuya wasn't sure she should believe that look and went back to what she was doing. Once she'd dumped all the washable components into the sink (she had the feeling Ryou was going to have to buy a new carafe, though) she turned her attention to the cupboards.
"The hell?" she grumbled as she pulled out a can of peaches with a faded, peeling label. "These are from 1945! Were they here when you moved in or something?!"
"I heard that canned foods can keep for decades," the boy said in his defense; he really didn't want to tell her that a lot of the stuff up there had been in the cupboards when he moved in, and he'd never really gotten around to cleaning them out.
"Do you wanna eat them?" Katsuya smirked as her friend shook his head and tossed the can into the garbage bin. She rummaged around for another few minutes, tossing out anything that was well past the expiration date and setting aside what was still good before realizing that the female Bakura was staring at her again.
"Help you with something, Bakura?" the blonde asked, quirking one eyebrow.
"Yeah," Bakura said. "Where do you hide your tits under the jacket?"
Ryou dropped the carafe in the sink, ensuring that he would have no alternative but to buy a new one as it shattered. Katsuya was staring wide-eyed at the older woman, who was smirking back as if daring her to deny it... and obviously waiting for an answer.
"Yami, Jyonouchi-kun--"
"Sports bra." Both Bakuras were staring at her now, the female curiously as she had no idea what Katsuya was talking about and the male because he thought his friend was making some sort of a joke.
"A what?" Bakura asked, tilting her head to one side questioningly.
Katsuya didn't even pause to think about what she was doing; the moment the words were out of Bakura's mouth she slipped off her jacket and pulled her t-shirt over her head, tossing both on the counter behind her. "This," she said. Ryou stared for a moment before his face reddened and he clamped one hand over his eyes.
"Jyonouchi-kun?!"
Bakura seemed impressed by the garment. "Damn, why the hell couldn't we have had those back in my day?" she pouted.
"Because it makes life easier for some of us," Katsuya replied. "By the by, you should probably buy a few bras anyway. That's probably why Yuugi and mou hitori no Yuugi were staring at you. Breasts are fascinating to teenage boys, after all."
"And not a few teenage girls, hm?" Bakura asked with a smirk. The blonde simply shrugged and turned back to the cupboard.
"Jyonouchi-kun, please put your shirt back on!" Ryou whined. His yami snickered quietly and Katsuya rolled her eyes. Somehow she knew this wasn't going to be good.
"What's the matter, yadonushi-dear? Bra blocking your view?"
"Yami!"
Updated 3:23 PM
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Stand My Ground is a story set in Eternal SailorM's Jillian universe; for better clarity it's advised to read both works in conjunction. Yuugiou and all characters appearing herein are © Takahashi Kazuki.Affiliates
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