FicWad

The Dragon Tale
chapter 3: Blood Bonds and Deep Magic
by Tsutsuji

Rating: PG13 - some dark themes, implied shonen-ai
Pairings: Bakura/Ryou
Warnings: MAJOR SPOILERS for the Ancient Egypt storyline and the end of Yu-gi-oh. With a few changes of my own.
Disclaimer: I do not own the copyright to these characters and I'm making no profit from this fic and intend no copyright infringement.
Spell-checked and self-beta'd. Please inform me of any errors you find.

Summary: 2nd of 3 flashback chapters. Shocked to discover that Bakura has reappeared in his life, Ryou is even more amazed to find out why and how this is possible. And maybe even a little more surprised to find that this isn't such a bad thing, after all.


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Chapter 3
Flashback, continued.
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Without even thinking about it, Bakura caught Ryou before he could hit the floor.

He landed on his knees with the limp body cradled in his arms. It was a very strange sensation, holding the body he'd so recently occupied himself. But then, it still felt strange to have a body of his own again.

"Are you always going to faint now at the mere sight of me, Yadonushi?" he muttered unhappily. He looked down at Ryou's face nestled in the crook of his arm. The face looked young in a way Bakura could never remember being, so gentle and innocent, but Bakura knew that face hid much more than it revealed.

For a brief moment, Bakura considered trying to touch Ryou's thoughts. He wasn't sure if it was still possible, but he longed to know what had leapt into Ryou's mind at the sight of him standing there. If the memories Bakura had given him made sense to him, he should know he was in no danger. If he didn't, things were likely to become rather complicated for him.

Bakura stood and lifted Ryou, watching for signs that he was coming around, but the boy was out cold. He was a little heavier than he looked, but Bakura wasn't really surprised. He knew that Ryou was much stronger than he appeared, both physically and mentally - not to mention magically.

He carried Ryou through to his bedroom and laid him on the bed, carefully cradling his head onto the pillow. He let his hand trail through Ryou's hair, which felt even softer than he remembered it against his own fingers.

"Strange," he said musingly. His hand brushed Ryou's cheek, partly to feel its softness, and partly to marvel at how his own skin looked against Ryou's pale, slightly flushed face.

"Yadonushi, my host..." he said softly. "No, not anymore. 'Adjo..." He tilted his head and sifted through his mind for the word in Ryou's language. "Takara," he added after a moment. "My treasure."

There was a little flutter under the closed eyelids. Bakura pulled his hand away and waited. He wanted those deep, soulful brown eyes to open and really look at him for the first time, but he wondered what he would see in them when they did.

"Will you still fear me, Ryou Bakura? Or hate me?"

Bakura heard the door to the apartment open and close. He sat back and listened as Senshiro came in and nearly tripped over Ryou's bag in the hallway.

"Oh! Ryou? You're back!" he heard the father's excited voice. "Ryou?"

Bakura quickly stood and stepped away from the bed. Reluctantly, he went out into the hallway to meet Senshiro.

"Ah, Bakura," he said happily, doing his best to pronounce it with the Egyptian inflection and shortened vowel sounds Bakura used, rather than as he pronounced his own name. "Where's Ryou?"

"In his room. Passed out, I'm afraid," Bakura said lightly. When Senshiro's smile shifted to a frown of worry, he continued quickly. "Exhausted from the trip, I think."

"Oh, of course," Senshiro said, dropping back into relief as quickly as he'd risen to alarm. He smiled at Bakura. "Well, that explanation you promised me when he got here can wait a little longer, I suppose. Ah... I'll just take a look at him, then."

Bakura stood back and watched him go over to the door of the bedroom. He was even more anxious for that explanation that Senshiro was, even considering the man's intense concern for his son's safety. But Bakura was not as interested in what Senshiro thought of the explanation as he was to hear what Ryou would say of him.

A smile of much deeper relief spread over Senshiro's face when he looked in, and Bakura saw his shoulders droop as his remaining doubt and worry finally left him. Bakura smiled as well, but he hung back in the hallway just outside the door when Senshiro went in and sat down gently on the edge of the bed.

---

Ryou had an odd thought: I wonder where I'll be when I wake up this time? But as he did start to wake up, he couldn't remember why he should wonder that. There was a comforting, familiar feeling in the space he was in. Before he opened his eyes, he noticed a comforting scent as well. Cloves, wasn't it? Like those cigarettes his father used to smoke sometimes...

He opened his eyes to see his father's face smiling down at him.

"Father!" He started to sit up, but found he didn't feel like moving very quickly; he was a little wobbly, for some reason. He was also confused. He thought he'd seen - but it must have been his father he'd seen sitting there in his game room. He must have only imagined it was someone else.

It was almost as much of a surprise to see his father here, though. They hadn't spoken face to face in over a year, but his father looked the same as ever. He was tanned from living and working on the edge of the desert, and his hair and beard were shaggy and needed a trim, as always. Something was different, though, Ryou thought. The dark eyes sparkled with happiness. He hadn't seen his father look anything but sad or worried since he could remember.

"When did you get here?" he asked, pushing himself to sit up a little more.

"I arrived the day before yesterday. You certainly had me worried, Ryou, when I found you weren't here! I wish I'd known you were going to Egypt. I could have met you there, and then we could have traveled back to Japan together."

"I'm sorry I worried you, father! I did try to reach you while I was there, but no one could find you, as usual. But, wait," Ryou said. His head still felt foggy, but he knew something wasn't quite right. "How did you know I've been to Egypt, anyway?"

"Your friend told me, of course," Senshiro said lightly, "although he refused to explain what you were doing there, and just said I would have to wait and hear about it from you when you got back."

Ryou blinked a couple of times, confused. What friend had said that? Yugi and the others had just returned as well, so who could his father have talked to? No one else knew he had gone to Egypt.

Senshiro leaned forward. "I must say, Ryou, I'm dying to know how you met him! How did you happen to run into a wizard who has my name, but your and your mother's looks, and who also happens to speak ancient Egyptian like a native?

Ryou's mouth fell open and he slumped back against the pillow. "W-wizard? My...? Your...?" he sputtered. There was only one person his father could be talking about - except of course that Bakura wasn't a wizard. "I didn't imagine it? He's really here? You talked to him?"

Senshiro drew back, frowning at his reaction. Ryou didn't blame him. How could he explain when he didn't understand it himself?

"Of course, he's here," his father said cautiously, "he's been waiting for you to return. Didn't you know he was here?

"Well, no, not - not really. I mean," Ryou trailed off. How could he have known? He never expected to see Bakura again anywhere, to say nothing of finding him right there in his own apartment, where he'd apparently been making small talk with Ryou's father for the last two days.

"I don't understand," he said, thinking out loud. "How is this possible? How can he be here?"

Movement by the doorway caught his eye. He looked up and gasped. Out of habit, he clutched at his chest, but there was no Ring there. Instead, Bakura himself stood there in the doorway.

"It is you!" he said. This time he knew what he was seeing was real. Very real, and very much alive. "How can it be?"

Bakura stared down at him for a moment. Ryou felt caught in the gaze of his shadowy-blue eyes, but he suddenly realized that he didn't feel afraid. Not in the way he used to feel afraid of the spirit, at least. Senshiro turned and looked up at Bakura as well, then back at Ryou questioningly. Ryou could tell his concern was growing by the second. He knew what his father feared, but he wasn't sure the truth would be any more reassuring.

"The answer to both of your questions is the same, I believe," Bakura said, in a voice that was hauntingly familiar to Ryou and yet different than he'd ever heard it before. For a moment, all he could do was stare in wonder at the sight and sound of the former spirit standing there. More than anything else, he suddenly felt overcome with curiosity.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

Bakura gazed at him a second longer, then smiled a little and seemed to relax.

"It's quite simple," he began. He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned casually against the doorframe. "If you couldn't guess already, I'll explain. We are related, you and I, Bakura Ryou. Through the long ages and across continents, finally the scattered blood of my family has been rejoined within you. That is why your magic is so powerful, although you've hidden it so well! Everyone in my village had some magic power, but my family's magic was among the greatest."

"Your village," Ryou echoed. He shuddered as he remembered the fate of Bakura's people.

"Yes," Bakura said, nodding slowly. "You do understand, I see. Then perhaps you also understand how the blood of my people protected me and allowed me to remain behind, although I was trapped and silent until you put on the Ring."

"The Ring!" Senshiro exclaimed. "Do you mean that artifact I gave you? What's that got to do with you, Bakura?"

"It has everything to do with me," Bakura said with a grim smile. "The blood of my people is also mingled with the gold of that artifact, as you call it. That's what protected my spirit for the last 3000 years!"

Bakura turned his gaze back to Ryou. "When you touched the Ring, I was able to live again through you. That's how I knew that you had magic in your blood - the ancient magic of my own family! I speak the ancient language you so admire, Senshiro, Father, because I lived in the time when it was spoken."

"Your soul was bound to the Ring?" Senshiro echoed. He frowned at Bakura. Ryou saw that his hands were clenched and his knuckles had gone white. "Since the time of the Pharaohs? That is the darkest kind of Dark Magic - it is forbidden even to speak of such a thing! In fact," he added a little more doubtfully, "I wasn't sure it was even really possible."

He looked up at Bakura with a dark scowl. Ryou realized what he was thinking, that only a Dark Wizard like The One Who Could Not Be Named would do such a horrible thing. He leaned forward so suddenly his father jumped in surprise.

"No, Father, you don't understand! Bakura didn't seal his own soul in the Ring. The Pharaoh's priests made the Millennium Items to seal other people's souls in objects; that was their whole purpose! And they were made by darker magic than you can even imagine!"

His father turned to him, now clearly worried.

"Ryou? You knew the Ring was cursed like this?" he asked. "I gave you that as protection!" he added with a shudder. "I had no idea..."

"I didn't either, until recently," Ryou said immediately. "The Ring has protected me, Father."

In ways I can't even explain, he added to himself. He glanced up at Bakura, who only smiled down at him in silence.

"I know what you're thinking, Father, but you don't understand," Ryou said. "The Priests made the Ring and six other objects like it, but they didn't do it to preserve someone's soul in order to prolong life unnaturally, like the cursed spell you're thinking of. What they did was even worse! They took the dark part of a person's spirit and turned it into a kind of monster that they could control. They...."

He glanced up at Bakura, almost afraid to say what his father needed to hear. Bakura gave no sign. Ryou had the impression that the former spirit wanted to hear how he would tell the tale, perhaps to see if he really understood. He wasn't sure he did understand all of it, in fact, but since Bakura wasn't saying anything, he tried to explain it to his father anyway.

"The Priests - one of them, anyway - sacrificed a whole village to make the Items. Bakura escaped, though, and survived, alone. He meant it literally when he said his family's blood was in the Ring! And something else happened when they did the ritual, too," he went on, a little more uncertainly. He looked up at Bakura. "Something else was created, or released, a demon or something... I'm not sure... "

What Ryou didn't understand was whether Bakura had controlled the demon, or if - as he suspected and rather hoped was true - the demon had controlled him.

Senshiro frowned even harder, then turned to Bakura.

"Yes, I survived the slaughter of my village," Bakura said. "But Zorc the Dark One was formed as well by the ritual, a demon born to feed off the grief and rage of my people. The Pharaoh at the time only had enough wit to use the seven Items to lock the demon within the items - along with himself as a sort of guardian, I suppose. I was sealed along with them, bound to the blood of my people. My spirit lived on in order to enact my family's desire for vengeance. In the end, though, we were all touched by the demon's evil will, so that even revenge on the Pharaoh and his priests would not have been enough to satisfy me. Until other factors came into play, that is."

He glanced at Ryou quickly, and then scowled at nothing they could see.

"Fortunately, the witless Pharaoh has now managed to complete the task he couldn't finish the first time! The Dark One is gone, the seven cursed items are gone, and I alone, of all my people, survive."

Ryou heard the familiar edge of derision in Bakura's voice when he spoke of the Pharaoh. He understood it now; in fact, the more he knew about Bakura, the less respect he had for the "other Yugi." But he also realized how the Voice had seemed different when he spoke to Ryou that last time, before the spirit disappeared. He still had no love for the Pharaoh and his priests, and he still had his anger, but he was no longer tainted with the darker evil of the demon.

Ryou remembered his last sight of the Items, and his wish that Bakura's spirit was at peace. Somehow, he hadn't gone to eternal rest as Ryou expected, but obviously he had changed, and it sounded as if some part of him had found peace after all.

A sense of relief came over him that made him smile up at Bakura. /I'm glad you're free, at least, /he thought.

The spirit quirked an eyebrow at him. Ryou quickly clapped his hand over his mouth, even though he hadn't spoken out loud. But then he remembered that Bakura was no longer a spirit living inside of him, so he couldn't hear his thoughts - could he? From the odd little smile that was growing on Bakura's face, Ryou wasn't sure.

It sank in then, though, that Bakura really was a wizard as his father had said. That was the reason he was magic! It was hard to believe. Then Ryou remembered the other unanswered question: why was Bakura here, now, alive, and standing in his apartment?

"If the game is over and the Dark One is gone, why are you still here?" he asked. "Why - and how - did you come back?"

Bakura grinned openly now.

"It was as unexpected to me as it is to you, I assure you! It seems that now that the Ring and the other Items are gone, my blood-bond with you has brought me back here. You see, I never really died in my own time. My body simply disappeared when my soul was dragged into the Ring. When the demon was defeated, I thought I would pass on and follow the souls of my kin to the realm of the gods, but instead I found myself here, and quite confused at first, I assure you!"

"I see," Senshiro said, but he sounded doubtful. "Then you haven't been resurrected from the dead - that would be the most forbidden magic of all! You've only been released from a curse that bound you for centuries - millennia, even. If you really are related to us, I suppose you appeared here in Ryou's apartment because of the blood-bond with our family, because this is the closest place to a family home any of us have now."

Bakura looked at him strangely for a moment, as if this was something he hadn't quite considered.

"Perhaps that's true," he mused. He turned his shadowy gaze to Ryou again. "Through you I have both life and family again."

Ryou blinked up at him in surprise. It had never occurred to him that the evil spirit possessing him might want those things. Bakura wasn't smiling, but seemed to be studying Ryou thoughtfully. There was a tentative, questioning look in his gaze as well.

His father nodded thoughtfully. To Ryou's surprise, he accepted all that he'd heard. In fact, his father seemed to be in awe of Bakura now.

"Yes, this is very deep magic," Senshiro said. He turned to Ryou again. "So, this is why you were in Egypt, without my knowing about it! You went to break this terrible curse where it began, I suppose? That was a very dangerous thing to do! You should have consulted me first, at least."

Ryou glanced quickly at Bakura, who still seemed to be waiting to see what he would say. It wasn't exactly the truth, but for the sake of sparing his father the confusing details, Ryou decided it was close enough, at least for now. He nodded, then bowed his head in apology.

"I'm sorry that I caused you worry, Father," he said.

"I'm afraid Ryou only went to Egypt due to my insistence," Bakura said. "There was no other way for me to return the Ring to the place where it was made and help the useless Pharoah bring an end to its cursed history. I can assure you, its evil influence was never able to touch him."

Ryou blinked at him, surprised by the dark tone of his voice. He suddenly believed that Bakura had indeed protected him from Zorc - and that keeping his magic a secret was part of that protection. If the demon had known of his hidden magical ability, it might have tried to get him to use his powers for evil. And, Ryou realized, looking up at Bakura's grim expression, if he'd known the truth of what had happened to Bakura's village, he might very well have been tempted to use his magic against the ones he thought were responsible.

"Nevertheless, I'm sorry that I didn't know the evil history of the Ring when I gave it to you, Ryou" Senshiro said. "I'm ashamed that I gave you something that could have caused you harm! But I knew the moment I first saw it that it was meant for you, somehow. So, perhaps this is the way things had to be."

"It's all right now, anyway, Father," Ryou said. "Although it certainly has turned out differently than I ever imagined it would!"

They both turned at the same time and looked at Bakura. He still stood with his arms crossed and his shoulder against the doorframe, watching each of them with an unreadable expression.

Ryou watched curiously as Senshiro stood up and faced Bakura. With his hands at his sides, he offered the startled-looking former spirit a respectful bow.

"If this is all true as you say, then please accept my welcome into this family, Bakura," he said.

Bakura stared at him for a moment with an odd look on his face. He recovered enough to leave his place leaning on the doorjamb and stood to face Senshiro uncertainly, until finally he nodded his head awkwardly in acknowledgement.

Ryou was nearly as surprised at his father's trust and generosity as Bakura was, but he had to smile. The Voice that had haunted him for so long seemed to be at a loss for words.

"However," Senshiro continued, gazing up at the taller man with the twinkle back in his dark eyes, "I'm not certain now if I should call you 'son' or 'father'!"

"Just call me Bakura," the former spirit said gruffly, "and try to say it properly!"

Ryou smiled, surprised a little by the happiness he felt. It was wonderful to see his father smile again for any reason, but to see Bakura standing there, almost as awkward as any teenager...

Bakura's gaze turned to him, and suddenly Ryou felt like they were looking at each other for the first time. That glimmer of uncertainty appeared again in Bakura's eyes, almost a look of longing, Ryou thought. It was quickly hidden behind the white shadow of Bakura's hair as he dipped his head.

Ryou lowered his eyes as well. He felt like his face was flushed, and he didn't know why. He noticed for the first time that Bakura was barefoot, and a second later it flashed into his mind that those must be his own old faded jeans that Bakura was wearing, except that they fit him a little tighter in the hip and thigh - and then he somehow noticed that the rest of him was very tanned and trim and well muscled.... Ryou was used to the way girls acted around him, but he never understood it. If I was a girl, I'd be a lot more interested in me if I looked more like that, he thought.

His face grew several degrees warmer as he realized what he was thinking.

He looked up at Bakura's face again, peering up from under his own bangs with a shy smile. He hoped his face wasn't as red as if felt like it was, and he hoped very, very hard that Bakura really couldn't hear his thoughts anymore.

---

Being alive again was becoming stranger by the minute. Bakura was surprised to be welcomed into Ryou's home and family by Senshiro, but he was even more surprised with his own reaction. It had been a very long time since he'd been openly welcomed anywhere.

However, Ryou's acceptance of his presence here mattered a great deal more. This was Ryou's home, and it was in Ryou that the true lineage of his family had come to full power again. The magic that brought him to this place depended on Ryou's welcome, not his father's. But that wasn't the only reason Bakura hoped that Ryou would accept him.

He'd always felt protective toward his host, even if he hadn't always managed to show it in a way that pleased Ryou. Somehow along the way he'd grown fond of him as well. Ryou's loneliness had resonated with his own buried grief and loss, reminding him of the reason for his desire for vengeance, quite apart from the demon's hunger for power and destruction. The Pharaoh might have been the one to finally destroy Zorc, but without realizing it, Ryou was the one who had broken the demon's hold on Bakura's heart.

Ryou sat there on the bed, smiling but saying nothing. Bakura wondered again what he was thinking. It was strange not to be able to hear Ryou's thoughts. He couldn't even be certain of reading them on his face. He knew there was a barrier in Ryou's mind that hid his knowledge of magic even from himself, but he also knew that gentle smile could be an even more impenetrable barrier that kept his true feelings hidden from the world.

Bakura knew better than anyone how lonely Ryou had always been. He knew now that Ryou had kept himself apart from others to hide his magic, but he still didn't understand why that was necessary.

Senshiro was still pondering all that they'd told him, while Ryou watched him now with a shy, unfathomable smile. Before he could ask Ryou to accept his presence here, Bakura realized he needed to know the reason he had chosen to hide his magic and keep himself separate and alone in the world.

"Now, it's my turn!" he said. "There's something I would like explained as well."

They both looked at him expectantly, ready to answer any question - except, probably, the one he was about to ask. He turned to Ryou and frowned.

"Why do you hide your magic and never use the power that is in your blood? What are you hiding from, Bakura Ryou?"

Ryou's mouth fell open a little, and he quickly glanced at his father. The smile dropped from Senshiro's face and wariness returned instead.

"I know there are others in this modern world who have magic powers," Bakura continued, "but they rarely use it or reveal it. I've even seen a few who aren't aware of their own powers and apparently prefer it that way! I thought this was because so many people who don't have magic are suspicious of those who do, just as they always have been. But I sense some deeper fear in your reluctance to use your powers."

He looked from Ryou to Senshiro questioningly. "Am I correct in guessing that you intended the Ring to act as a sort of false front for Ryou, so that if anyone sensed magic in him, they would only think it came from the ancient artifact he happened to be wearing?"

"Well, yes," Senshiro said, shifting uncomfortably from one foot to the other. "As you say, most people can't do magic and they know little or nothing of those of us who can. There are many in this world, especially in the wizarding world, who feel very strongly that it's safer this way, for both sides. But there's more to it than that in our case, as you seem to have guessed."

Senshiro sighed heavily as he sat down on Ryou's bed again. Ryou watched him unhappily, then turned his deep brown eyes to Bakura.

"If you're going to be living in this world now as a wizard, I suppose you should know the worst of it," he said softly.

---
to be continued... when the flashback concludes with more surprising revelations in chapter 4!