Several minutes later Ryou and Lareina were seated at the kitchen table with a cup of tea. "I had hoped this would be as simple as listing Sam as the one Lily would be taken care of upon my death, My lawyer however says I should include her father. I think he meant my husband but anyone can see that she's very clearly not his." She took a sip of her tea.

"Well... That, would make things complicated," Ryou murmured, watching his own, mostly untouched cup of tea thoughtfully. "But, I... I have to ask, how.. did you know that /Bakura/ was her father? Or how to find him..."

"Because," She smiled slightly setting down her cup. "He's the first and only man I've ever been taken to bed by, and even if that were not the case, there's no other way to explain her. As to, how I knew were to find him, That, would be were Sam comes in. She's a remarkable woman. I'm fairly certain she uses magic on a regular basis to help me with, everything…" She looked away from her almost empty cup and at Ryou.

Ryou, after a moment, looked up, returning her gaze. "I'm kind of amazed she could find him, even," he said quietly. "Must have been... while he wasn't paying attention, and.. was, out, somewhere."

The idea, though, of... Bakura meaning something like that to someone. Someone Ryou had never heard of, someone... Bakura probably didn't even /remember/, it... made Ryou mad. It truly did, on a deep level, bother and upset him.

As if on cue, Bakura's voice was heard from just barely the end of the hallway, a doorway that was only a few feet short of the entrance into the kitchen. What his voice /said/, however, was the very opposite of what Ryou had been expecting whenever Bakura did show up and speak.

"Lahri?" Bakura said, his voice it's usual lifeless, blank, flat sound. Though, Ryou couldn't help but notice, there... there was definitely at least /something/ in it. "What... the fucking hell are you doing here?" Despite the word choice, it didn't sound the least bit accusing. More just surprise, and... an emptiness, that was very different from the void Ryou was used to hearing.

... That. That was it. To Ryou, from what he was used to hearing... This, sounded more /empty/, than void, which.. Strangely enough, sounded /so/ much better. And Bakura still looked tired, worn, but... Not dead, like he usually did. Ryou at least found that comforting, especially considering what Lareina, what "Lahri", had just told him of Bakura.

"I need your help." She said looking over at Bakura. She smiled slightly as if happy to see him again and at the same time startled at his appearance.

"... I can't help anyone right now," Bakura said in a flat way that, despite himself, Ryou appreciated for the fact that it had at least substance to it. He glared at nothing in particular and walked into the kitchen, drifting to claim one of Ryou's three unclaimed pancakes. Ryou frowned and looked very annoyed, as he was so.

"I do wish you'd stop talking like that," the young man said bitterly, sounding like he was scolding Bakura.

"You want me to lie?" the thief offered dully, skeptically.

". . . .," Ryou sighed, and rubbed his temples

"I think you can." Lareina said watching him as he claimed a pancake. "It, may not come to this, but I still, need to be sure, I only need you to agree to be in my will." She fidgeted with her hair again. "As a precaution."

Bakura snorted, grabbing the syrup out of the microwave where he knew Ryou had forgotten he'd put it, and pouring some on his food. "Add Ryou. The legal system's more likely to believe /he/ exists." Ryou scowled some, turning to give Bakura a dark look.

"You have records, Bakura," he said pointedly. The thief shrugged.

"They're faulty. If she's really in trouble, and if she really needs to have someone in her will to claim or protect something, then it's probably in danger," Bakura said matter-of-factly. "If that's the case, the threat is likely to search for any loop hole in order to secure it's goal- what she's trying to protect. And, there's certain to be one- no one is perfect, and that is always an easily exploitable fact."

"She should write you down, not me. There's no way they could claim /you/ as falsified," he said in a dull tone. "Simply logic."

Well... at least Bakura still knew what he was doing.

"It, has to be you." Lareina said looking at her Tea. "My lawyer was very clear I have to have the father."

"Did he say this understanding that I don't actually /exist/?" Bakura said, "that it's some sort of complete /fluke/ of the universe, that I can stand next to Ryou? That I've been-"

"Bakura," Ryou said, and the name held all the threats and suggestions for better tact that Ryou had. Bakura shut his mouth tightly, glaring at Ryou, though without much enthusiasm.

"... I don't exist, Lahri. Use Ryou. He's who I am."

She closed her eyes in an attempt to process this new information. "I can only use Ryou as her father if it holds up in a dna test." If there wasn't enough to worry about from her husband now the man she loved didn't actually exist? If she didn't know Sam and believe in the existence of magic she most likely would have left by now and found some other way to protect her daughter.

Whoa wait…loved?

"... I probably will," Ryou said with a sigh. "Bakura... Is, or.. was, I suppose... A spirit from several millennia ago. For a while, he was possessing me, in order to do anything," the boy explained slowly, with a gentle tone. "Now, he has his own.. body, I suppose."

"But, that, doesn't fix anything, and could easily cause more trouble than good," Ryou continued. "Well.. for instance, /legally/, he doesn't exist." The young man bit his lip, looking over at Bakura, who was pointedly not looking at either of them. "Having his own body, doesn't get him birth records, or family ties... It doesn't give him medical information, a high school transcript... It doesn't get him a social security number, or any form of viable ID. Just being here physically, well... The way the government works, it isn't good enough. He still doesn't exist."

"The best we could hope for, would be if they assumed he was an illegal immigrant, or something along those lines," Ryou turned his chocolate brown eyes to look at Lareina again, his expression apologetic. "A friend of ours, or more, mine, Seto Kaiba... He had some records arranged. Bakura has enough together, to get into places that he'd need an adult ID for, and to get work, because... of, reasons. I can't support both of us alone, while I'm going to school, however..."

Ryou bit his lip. "He has a fair point. I wouldn't want to risk your daughter's safety on that. If I match for DNA, which, since his body is... based on mine, I probably will, then... You would be better to write me down, at least for legal reasons."

Bakura snorted. Of course, she would probably listen to /Ryou/, who could always explain things /calmly/, and /naturally/, but n-

... Whoa, wait... daughter?

Lareina looked between the two a moment. "Is, there a time you could come with me to sign the papers then?" She asked. It figured that the most amazing man she'd ever met had come back from the dead, that really didn't change anything though.

"Uhm...," Ryou paused, pressing his lips together in thought, then biting down lightly on his lower lip. Behind him, Bakura pointedly ate his pancake with negative points in being-interested-in-anything. ".. I, I usually take weekends off. It's Saturday, afternoon, so...," the young man trailed off somewhat, as if faltering. ".. I guess, I could do it, now, or.. later today, if need be."

"... Daughter?" Bakura echoed after a moment, still busy being not-interested in his pancake. Ryou blinked, turning in his seat again so he could look at Bakura. The thief seemed completely expressionless, but... Ryou had not seen him so /alive/ looking, since...

It didn't fix everything. It didn't fix /anything/, but... If this could even /possibly/ wake Bakura up, then... It would be worth whatever it would cost.

Kind of a shame, Ryou didn't know that Risha, being the main character of this story and all, would be coming /back/. If he /did/, he might have been able to calculate that into his plans, and maybe be slightly more /accurate/, in what would be good for Bak- ... Oh, right. Damn, uhm... Fourth Wall. Er... them's gonna be some /real/ harsh property damage fines. 8D;; Eh heh, uhm... We now return you to your regularly scheduled dramatic conversation.

Lareina nodded. "Yes, My, our, daughter, Lily." She looked at him again watching him for, anything. She smiled slightly again.

Well, to the average, ordinary person, there /would/ be nothing, in the void look he gave his pancakes, and the empty, soulless "Oh. Huh." he said.

However, Lareina conveniently isn't an ordinary person, as heaven only knows no ordinary person could ever even /temporarily/ be in anything that could even be BS'ed into pretending to be a relationship with Bakura. Because of this, she /might/ have picked up on some of the things that Ryou noticed, like...

Bakura's body tensed notably, and then relaxed some.

The void look his pancakes were stuck staring their chocolate chips back at, was actually because his sight was turned inward, on something he was thinking or feeling- a look Lareina had seen on many an occasion during the two weeks she and Bakura were having the ever so awkward get-together. A look that meant, for once, in all his musings and memories, he was considering just going back to sleep in the morning, or watching some TV, instead of his always-procrastinated on plan of suicide. (Surprised procrastination could be such a wonderful thing? We're not! But, you could've guessed that from the long dry-spell this fic had, huh? ... Oh, yes. Property damage fines.. crud...)

The 'Oh', was more like 'I can't believe it', and the 'Huh' was more like 'I'm not sure what to do with this, but I know I'll be doing /something/, eventually'. And, the reason he tensed, was the fear of life, and the reason he relaxed, was him accepting that, if nothing else, he could just forget the whole thing, and leave it to Ryou, or whomever 'Sam' is, or something along those lines.

... Of course, he tensed again, when it occurred to him he couldn't, and wouldn't /want/ to, just ignore this... 'daughter'. Ahhh, Bakura... You're so... /unique/.

"If, you'd both like to meet her first, I could, have Sam bring her over now." Lareina said after almost five minutes had passed. "She's, very excited to, meet you." She smiled slightly, "It's all she's talked about for the past three days really."

Ryou was silent- the sort of apprehensive silence when you're afraid to break very bad news to someone, whom you do not know well, and are not 1oo% sure it is bad news.

The idea of a young child, a young /daughter/, with a loving mother, and, obviously, some... problems, that kids should not have. This kid, just waiting around, getting so worked up and happy, over meeting /Bakura/? And more-so, Bakura, like /this/! It was absolutel-

"Yes," Bakura said, in the same empty and soulless tone he'd just used. "Bring her over. I'd like to let her down in person." Ryou could not find an immediate response for this in his mind, and so he was delayed enough that Bakura's last, notably less dead sounding, and much quieter, note. "If.. I have to. If I do, let... her down."

Gasp! Bakura, the reluctant yet still somehow wonderful father who has to try too damn hard to make it good for his kid! ... Never saw that one coming, huh?

Lareina stood and smiled, with a well hidden glee behind it. "I doubt," she started while pushing in her chair. "That there is anything you could do to let her down." Then she went out into the hall to call Sam.

Again, Ryou just dot-dot-dot'd, now in stunned, 'should I be pleased?' quiet. Bakura, on the other hand, resumed eating his pancake.

"... You're food's getting cold," he noted absently, which of course caused Ryou to jump back into action, resuming his food eating. Minus one chocolate-chip pancake, of course.

SO, MUCH, TEXT. ow. .x hope you guys are still with me here~ x3 But for the story to go on Kura needs cheering up! and what better way to that than to give him the unconditional love of a child~ /his/ child of course! ^^

next chapter up first~ here's a sneak peek~

The young man then proceeded to quickly walk off, vanishing down the hallway and toward the public bath, where Bakura was most likely emo'ing, wet and naked. Mmmmm, 'Kura~...