What "Lies" Within?

Author's Note: Hi all! I had a lot of fun experimenting with writing styles, here. As you may have noticed, this story is writen to look like a script, but also has novel-like narration in parentheses. Sorry if it confuses you at all, I just felt like trying something new. ^_~ Hope you enjoy what I have so far. Happy Reading!

Chapter One: A New Face

Yugi: What the--?!
(Yugi stared blankly at the television screen that suddenly went dead after a flash of
white.) What a cheap set. . . . (He stood and started banging the sides in a “man’s
attempt” to fix it.)

Solomon: Yugi, what do you think you’re doing?! That’s no way to fix a TV.
(Yugi’s grandpa walked in the living room and set to work on showing his grandson how to get the job done. Yugi was in no mood to be corrected and crept out of the room while his grandpa was still talking to him from behind the TV. He went downstairs, then exited the front door to sit on the front porch.)

Yugi: Man, what a day. The TV’s dead. My friends are gone for different stuff. My
Saturday so far? Booooooring. (Yugi slumped over so that his elbows were on his knees, and he let his head hang. His hair swished in the breeze and swooped in front of his eyes. He brushed it away, and looking down, he saw his Millennium Puzzle. He gave a pleased smile and fingered the golden pyramid.)

Yami: Hey. Why so glum?
(Yami sat translucently beside Yugi on the step.)

Yugi: *sigh* I have no idea! Today everything seems to be going wrong. I feel bored,
useless, aggravated, depressed, annoyed...all at the same time.
(He looked up into the sky, thinking.) Confused, I guess.

Yami: Everyone has days like that. Even me, or at least I did when I was--

Yugi: Alive?
(Yami nodded and turned a glance at his counter-part.)

Yami: It is strange, though.

Yugi: What’s strange?
(Yugi turned his head to look at Yami)

Yami: Ever since you solved the Millennium Puzzle, and our spirits conjoined, I haven’t felt as if I ever died. Almost as if you brought back to me what it felt like to live again.

Yugi: Huh. Never thought of that.
(He paused when a question came into his mind.)

Yugi: Yami?

Yami: Yes?

Yugi: Can you-- That is to say, do you remember...how you died?
(Yami turned his head and looked into Yugi’s eyes with a look of speculation.)

Yami: Yugi, I--
(A tall figure suddenly blocked the sun that had once been glinting high in the sky.)

Girl’s Voice: Uh. Excuse me, could I get by?
(Yugi and Yami looked up at the young girl standing in front of them with an confused
look on her face. She must have heard them talking, but unable to see Yami, it would appear that Yugi was talking to air. Yugi stood.)

Yugi: Yeah! I’m sorry. I was just talking to-- myself.
(He motioned to where Yami had been, but recalled he was only a vision and placed his hand on his chest suggesting himself.)

Girl: That’s -- nice. Um. I’ll just go inside now.
(Yugi stepped aside blushing slightly, but was able to quickly inspect the young lady
before the door closed behind her. She was slim and seemingly attractive. Her hair was light pink with two streaks of magenta cupped around her face. He hadn’t been able to see her face because the sun was behind her at first and darkened her features. She wore a pink skirt with a white tank-top and had on black flip-flops. Her hair bobbed as she walked in through the door and swished when it closed behind her. Not wanting her to think him crazy, --though he had no idea why, he had just seen her for the first time-- he followed her inside and watched her lean studiously over a glass display case filled with Duel Monster cards.)

Solomon: Hello! Can I help you find anything?

Girl: Yeah! I’ve been fixing my deck recently and decided that my magic cards aren’t
up to snuff. What do you have that could improve a Spellcaster type monster’s attack?
(Solomon leaned over the case with her and pointed to various cards, explaining what
each one did. Yugi edged around the room to get a better view of the girl’s face. He
found a spot behind a case of card carriers. She had a lovely face that glowed with a
charming smile. Her eyes where the color of a blushing rose and sparkled every time
that she laughed. Yugi had to know her name.)

Solomon: And this one, here! This one is very rare.

Girl: What a beautiful illustration!
(She looked up to see that one of the old man’s eyebrows was slightly raised in question. She giggled as she explained.) I’m sorry, it’s just that I love to draw and will often use the illustrations on the cards to inspire my works.
(Solomon smiled and nodded. He understood and continued to point out cards. Yugi got behind the counter and slipped behind the shop door so that he could act like he was entering from the back room.)

Yugi: Grandpa did you-- Oh, hello!
(Yugi faked his entry well because the girl was neither shocked, nor surprised.)

Girl: Hi!
(She evidently didn’t recognize him right away. Yugi walked over next to his grandpa
and looked into the case.)

Yugi: So what is it you’re looking for? Can I help you find it?

Solomon: This young lady is hoping to find a magic card that could boost her Spellcaster type cards’ attack points durring battle.
(Yugi glanced his experienced eye over the case in a flash. He bent down behind it and retrieved the perfect card.)

Yugi: What about this one? It’s not necessarily for Spellcasters but it’s a pretty good card over all.

Girl: Wow!
(She looked over the picture then read the caption.)

Girl: “A monster equipped with this card increases it’s Attack by 500 points. When this card is sent from the field to the Graveyard, inflict 500 points of Direct Damage to your opponent’s Life Points.” Cool! This is just what I was looking for! Only now, thanks to you, I’m not limited to just helping my Spellcasters. Thanks! What’s this called anyway?

Yugi: “Black Pendant.”

Girl: “Black Pendant,” huh? Awesome! Thanks-- uh...
(She swhirled her wrist in a circle as she seached for his name.)

Yugi: Yugi. Yugi Moto.
(The girl nodded with a smile.)

Girl: Thanks Yugi! So how much will this be?
(Solomon totaled up the cost and she placed the card in a box, which she taken from her bag she had, that was filled with other cards. She said goodbye and walked out the door. Yugi realized he hadn’t got her name and jumped over the counter, despite his grandfather’s displeased shouts. He raced out the door and found her just about to turn the corner.)

Yugi: Wait!
(The girl turned around.)

Girl: What’s the matter? Did I not pay you enough?

Yugi: No, no, no. I just wondered what--
(He was being to forward. He had to get her name a different way than what he was
doing.) --wondered what...you were doing this Wednesday at say, three’ish?

Girl: Well, I don’t get out of D.H.S. until three-thirty.

Yugi: Wait! Did you say, “D.H.S.?”

Girl: Yeah. That’s the abbreviated name of the High school I got to.

Yugi: That’s weird, I go there, too! Domino High School, right? I wonder why I haven’t seen you around before.

Girl: I don’t really know. Say, do you know a guy named Bakura?

Yugi: Bakura Ryou?!

Girl: Yup, that’s him!
(She spoke almost sounding proud of knowing the name.)

Yugi: Yeah, he’s one of my best friends!

Girl: Then you’re Yugi Moto! Duh! I knew I had heard that name somewhere before.
Bakura talks about you all the time. He and I have been great friends for a really long
time.

Yugi: So... What’s your name?
(He couldn’t stand trying to be gradual about it anymore.)

Girl: Oh I’m sorry! How rude of me. My name is Sirri. Sirri Maku.
(She smiled and extended a slender and delicate hand of greeting. Yugi took it and
smiled right back. There was a brief pause in conversation that was quickly filled by
Sirri.)

Sirri: Now, what was it you said about Wednesday...

Yugi: Oh yeah! Me and my friends were planning to go to the arcade and I’m sure
they’d like to meet you. What do you think?
(Sirri’s eyes brightened at the offer, but quickly dimmed. She let her pretty smile fall for the first time since Yugi first saw her. She bit her lip as if to keep from saying something she wanted to say.)

Sirri: Yugi, thank you for the offer, but I’ll have to take a rain check. I--
(She seemed to struggle with herself) I have to go. (With that she turned and was out of Yugi’s site before he knew what happened.)

Yugi: Wonder what that was about...


Chapter Two: A Mysterious Event


Tea: Hi Yugi!

(Tea walked up to her friend’s locker at the start of the school day, and was followed closely by Joey and Tristan)

Joey: Hi-a Yug!

Tristan: Hey!

(Yugi leaned out from behind his locker door and smiled. He was in a much better mood today.)

Yugi: Hi Tea! What’s up, guys?

Tea: Yugi, have you seen Bakura yet? He was supposed to bring me my shoes.

(Tea had previously given Bakura her ballet shoes so that his uncle could fix them for her. Yugi shook his head.)

Yugi: Nope, but I need to see him, too. I ran in to a friend of his yesterday and I wanted to tell him. You guys would like her, she’s really nice!

(Joey walked over to the opposite side of him and leaned on the empty lockers.)

Joey: So when do we get to meet this “really nice” friend, huh? (He snapped his fingers at the instant he thought of an idea.) I know! Wednesday! Why don’t you--

Yugi: Already tried.

Tristan: What do you mean “already tried?”

(Yugi sighed and shut his locker.)

Yugi: I already asked her to come to the arcade with us, but she bolted.

Tea: “Bolted?”

Yugi: Yeah, she seemed excited about it for a second then said she had plans and bolted.

Tristan: Sounds to me like this chick is kinda’ loopy.

Bakura: You’ll have to excuse her.

(Bakura seemed to appear out of nowhere behind them. Everyone jumped and swiveled around.)

Bakura: Sirri just gets a little edgy around new people. She’ll warm up to you all very soon, I’m sure.

Tea: Geez, Bakura! You scared me half to death! How long have you been standing there?

(Bakura smiled gently and laughed.)

Bakura: Not long, I heard you all talking when I was across the hall. Oh, I almost forgot. Here are your shoes, good as new! (He reached into his bag and protruded a pair of sleek ballet toe shoes and handed them to Tea. She smiled and took them after thanking him multiple times and ordering him to thank his uncle for her.)

Yugi: Bakura, where is Sirri? How come I never see her all day while we’re at school?

(Bakura looked into Yugi’s eyes as if he was trying to explain the answer to him without having to say anything out loud. He sighed and finally spoke.)

Bakura: Sirri . . . avoids too much social contact for her own reasons. I really am not supposed to say anything about it- right now in front of all these people -but I might be permitted to tell you some other time. (The way he said “right now in front of all these people” suggested to Yugi that he meant “I’ll tell you later in private,” so he nodded and let it be for now.)

Joey: Dang it! Have you guys checked the time?! We’re gonna’ be late for class!

(Everyone’s eyes bugged. They said quick good-byes, then raced to class. Later, after school, Yugi, Joey, Tea, and Tristan met outside by the Gymnasium doors and talked for a while. It wasn’t long, before Yugi noticed in the distance a flash of pink. It was Sirri, sitting under a purple-blossomed tree, reading a blue-covered book in the shade. He was about to race over to her before she escaped his view, when he saw Bakura walk up next to her. She looked up with her glimmering eyes and the gentle smile he had seen a couple days before. Bakura sat next to her and smiled back.

They talked and smiled and laughed happily together until suddenly Sirri’s face grew panic-stricken. Her once heavenly eyes widened to their extent; staring into space, and her mouth lay set with horror. She began to shiver violently and she clamped her eyes shut as if to keep a terrible sight from being seen. He could tell all the way from where he stood that her breath was uneven and taken in staggered gasps. There seemed to be something inside her that was thrashing violently to be set loose. She dropped her book from her tensed hands and clutched her head as one does when suffering from an awful headache. Bakura noticed her symptoms right away and spoke rapidly, what had to have been, words of encouragement and support. Her behavior seemed in no way unusual or strange to him, but instead he reached his right arm around her back and grasped her shoulder, bracingly. With the other, he forcibly removed a hand digging from her head away and into his own. Yugi watched as Bakura pulled Sirri in closer to him, as if to shield her from whatever was happening to her. She felt his embrace and used her free hand to hold his waist. They rocked back and forth for a couple minutes as if waiting, or hoping, for the fear to pass. Yugi only then realized that Sirri had been saying something the entire time. What she had been saying was a mystery to him, but he longed to know.

He was just about to find out what was happening when instantly, Sirri’s face relaxed and her eyes looked outwardly again, only filled with tears. Her body uncurled slowly from Bakura and she looked at his face. He let go of her reddened hand and held both of her shoulders. He spoke to her and asked questions, to all of which Sirri feebly nodded her head. Bakura smiled and brought her toward him and hugged her for a moment. Peices of what Bakura said next were the only things Yugi could read from his lips the entire time.)

Bakura: I’m very proud...What you...was hard; I should know.

(They smiled then hugged once more. After that, Sirri picked up her book and they went on as if the whole thing didn’t happen. They talked and smiled and laughed happily together, Sirri’s eyes glittering once again. Yugi continued staring in utter confusion and evidently had been being talked to the entire time. Joey finally poked him on his nose.)

Joey: Yoo-hoo! Yugi? Ya’ in there?

(Yugi snapped back and looked around his group of friends.)

Yugi: Huh? What? Oh, sorry guys. I was just-- (He looked over to where the whole big scene had happened and felt his eyes widen.) I can’t believe it! They’re gone already!

Tristan: “They” who?

Tea: Yeah, Yugi. What’s up with you?

(Yugi explained everything that he had just seen minutes before.)

Joey: Whoa. Talk about weird. I mean, I jus’ heard about this girl today, and already I think she’s a total nut-case!

Tea: Don’t say that, Joey! For all we know it could be some terrible condition she has. Maybe Bakura is the only one that she had the courage to tell about it and he feels it’s his duty to take care of her. That’s so sweet of him.

Tristan: That’s an awful big assumption, Tea. She might just have remembered something that really scared her and Bakura just happened to be there so he helped her through it.

Yugi: I dunno. There was something about how she acted. Something about what I saw that reminded me of someone else I’ve seen before. I just can’t think of who it might be.

Joey: Well, right now we can only assume that Bakura’s got it all under control and--

(Yugi’s mind clicked.)

Yugi: Bakura! Of course!

(He ran off toward home where he could call Bakura. He heard his friends shouting to him but this was to intriguing to him to loose focus on right then.)


Chapter Three: Answers to Questions


Yugi: Come on, come on... Pick up the phone...

(Yugi waited anxiously for Bakura to answer his phone.)

Phone line: ....Ring....ring....ri-- Hello, this is the Ryou residence.

Yugi: Hello! Hello, may I--

(He was interrupted.)

Phone line: We are not available to take your call at this time. If you would please leave a message for us we will return your call as soon as possible. Thank you!

(It was an answering machine. Bakura either wasn’t home, or wasn’t answering the phone. He heard the beep that signaled him to leave a message, but not knowing what to say, he hung up.)

Yugi: Dang it!

(He decided to run over to the boy’s house. He just had to know if his assumptions about Sirri were true. He was sure that Bakura wouldn’t mind telling him because of what he had said earlier. “I really am not supposed to say anything about it- right now in front of all these people -but I might be permitted to tell you some other time.” Yugi burst through the game shop’s door and ran all the way to Bakura’s place. He got there and rang the doorbell, nearly gasping for air. Bakura answered the door.)

Bakura: Oh hello, Yugi! What brings you he--

Yugi: Bakura, I have to know! Is someone taking control of Sirri’s mind?!

(Bakura’s eyes opened wide. In one movement, he leaned out of his door, hastily looked left then right, and grabbed Yugi by the shoulder, dragging him inside. The door slammed shut.)

Bakura: Who told you that?

(His eyes were wide with either fear or anger; Yugi could not tell.)

Yugi: No one told me, but I saw that happened to Sirri after school today while you two were under that tree.

Bakura: You saw that?!

(His voice was definitely filled with fear now.)

Yugi: Yes, but I seemed to be the only one who noticed.

Bakura: Well that’s good.

(There was a pause.)

Yugi: So is there?

Bakura: Is there what?

Yugi: Someone trying to take over Sirri’s mind? (Bakura paused and looked across the room, back and forth. He seemed unwilling to say.) Bakura, you can trust me. You and I, of all people, would understand what she’s going through. Well, especially you, seeing how she acted like she didn’t want to loose control.

(Bakura said nothing.)

Yugi: Either that, or Sirri’s got some problems.

(Bakura’s eye’s filled instantly with rage.)

Bakura: How dare you say that! Sirri has no control over the spirit! What? Do you think she wanted to make a fool of herself today at school?! Saruvi cares nothing for--

(He stopped suddenly.)

Yugi: Spirit? Saruvi?

(Bakura looked horror struck knowing he had just given away Sirri’s secret.)

Yugi: So she’s inhabited by a spirit like you an me? I wonder if her ancient spirit is in any way linked to Yami. I should ask her if--

Bakura: NO! You can’t tell her that you know, Yugi. You just can’t!

(He sat down on the stairs directly behind him.)

Bakura: I couldn’t stand to see her get hurt like that.

Yugi: Why would she be hurt?

(Bakura sighed and Yugi could tell that his will to keep everything about his friend secret was broken. He knew very well that Yugi would never tell a sole about what he said and hoped maybe to find some consolation. He sighed heavily and motion for Yugi to sit next to him.)

Bakura: I’ve known Sirri for about two years now. She and I bonded the instant we met, but I never told her about the spirit of my Millennium Ring until much later. I first learned about Saruvi one day when we were taking a walk at night around the school grounds. We were strolling along and suddenly Sirri stopped in her tracks. She shook her head and started saying things like, ‘No. Not now, not to him!’ She struggled against herself, like she did today, but lost the battle quickly. Saruvi came out and advanced on me using terrible magic that flew me against the wall. She demanded that I give up my Millennium Ring willingly, or she would take it by force. I was helpless and terribly confused until the spirit of my Ring came out and forced her back into submission, which allowed Sirri to regain control. I had to fight to keep my Spirit from nearly killing them both. Ever since that day, we’ve been inseparable, knowing that we both have to struggle against the same torment; a second mind.

(Yugi gave Bakura a moment to recover after having to retell a very unpleasant memory, and having to break a very important vow of silence to Sirri.)

Yugi: So what all do you know about Saruvi?

(Bakura shrugged his shoulders and shook his head.)

Bakura: Not much more than you do. All that I know is based on inferences. I know she is quite simply evil, but that’s about it.

Yugi: Have you ever asked Sirri about it?

Bakura: Of course I have! Both times, however, I was denied a straight answer. She seems to fear that Saruvi can hear everything she says to me.

Yugi: How often do you and Sirri get together? A lot, I suppose?

Bakura: Not as much as you think. Just recently she seemed to need a little more attention than usual. Normally she refuses to hang around with me after school and on weekends.

Yugi: Why?

Bakura: Isn’t it obvious?

(He looked into Yugi’s eyes, but didn’t wait for a reply.)

Bakura: Ever since that night after school when she lost control, Sirri feels that she is a danger to everyone she meets. She isn’t strong enough to control her body when Saruvi comes out, although she has gotten a little better at suppressing her until she can get alone.

Yugi: I had no idea.

Bakura: Yes, well now you do. And I would be most aggrieved for your well-being if you let this word out to anyone.

(Yugi looked over at Bakura expecting to see that usual cool, darkness about his eyes that he got whenever his ancient spirit emerged, but was surprised to see a lack there of. He was quite himself but seemed to have a dangerous edge to his voice.)

Yugi: I-I’ll remember that.

(Bakura’s edge slowly melted away and he gave a sigh.)

Bakura: You should go now, Yugi. My father will be home soon and he doesn’t like me to entertain company without his permission.

Yugi: Yeah. Yeah, okay. I’ll see you tomorrow at school.

(Yugi knew that what Bakura said had been a lie to make him leave the house , but he didn’t object. Not now. He stood up and moved for the door, but his friend remained sitting on the steps with his head hanging.)

Bakura: Yeah. Tomorrow.

(Yugi gave one last look at him before he opened the door. He began walking toward home not knowing whether to feel happy about his enlightenment, or ashamed that he even brought up the subject.)


Check back later...chapter four will come soon to a website near you!