The Spirit of the Ring was scary, actually in Ryou's perspective the word would be terrifying, if it wasn't for one thing, one little thing that made him feel a bit more at ease with the other that possessed his body.

The Spirit of the Ring knew nothing about the world in this day and age.

'What is that infestation going on in that building?' The Spirit had asked innocently enough, as Ryou was taking a sip of tea from his travel cup, causing him to choke on the liquid.

After calming himself, taking deep breaths and being sure to not let the Spirit be aware of his thoughts, he glanced down at his bandaged hand wondering about the mental state of the Spirit, even though he was fully aware that the Spirit was anything but innocent as he sounded right now.

'That's…' Ryou focused, he couldn't let the Spirit know that he thought him foolish for asking such a question: 'That's a school,'

The Spirit became visible, only to him thankfully, as he looked at the building with a frown; 'A what?'

'A school… A place of learning,' He clarified, then gulped when he saw a small - blissfully small - crowd of girls waiting at the school gates, and felt a cold shiver run up his spine as he knew, he just knew they were waiting for him.

'Like the Priests in the Ancient past?' The Spirit asked him, before noticing his host's attention was no longer on his questions and instead those girls who were waiting for him. He saw the look in their eyes, the excitement and lust, and he grinned; 'Ah, let me deal with them my little host. I know how to get rid of clingers,'

'I don't…' Ryou began to protested, but he should have known better, the Spirit would do what he liked when he liked, and the host had no real power to actually stop him, no matter how hard he tried, and he had tried.

The one thing he knew about the Spirit, and was probably the only thing he knew about the spirit was this; he had very little knowledge of the world today, but he was the master of acting, no one would have been aware that he had no idea how certain things worked, he watched other's and learnt through them.

The Spirit growled at the girls as he walked by, none of them noticed the suitable changes in Ryou's demeanour, how he stood with more conviction, the arrogance that practically oozed out of him, nor of the slight physical changes, his eyes were more narrower, distrusting, his hair a bit more unkempt, and the smirk that graced his lips. He made the way towards Ryou's first class, handing over control when he felt it was safe enough to do so.

'Er… thank you?' The teen felt unnerved, he had never expected such a thing from the Spirit, there was nothing to be gained from that venture.

The Spirit was once again by his side; 'It's nice to scare people little Ryou… although I feel like our talents are wasted here,' He scowled as Ryou made his way to his desk and sat down.

He was confused, not understanding what that meant until he realised exactly what the spirit had said; 'Our talents?'

'Of course, you do enjoy those RP games do you not?'

The teen nodded, he did, or had enjoyed them until the Spirit came along ans began to cause problems. Ryou had wanted friends, he had been so lonely, so isolated from his father in recent years that he wanted close friends, but when he was given the Ring… well the Spirit took that desire and twisted it to his own ends, turning those living, breathing people into dolls and turning those Ryou wished to have as real life friends into extra players for his games. But that wasn't what he really desired.

He also was unaware that his thoughts weren't fully blocked off; 'I admit I did go in there a bit… heavy handed, but you should try being trapped in an item for centuries and let's see how your sanity copes,' The Spirit sounded more… Ryou could only think sane in comparison to how he had been before, although he wasn't sure why that would be, the Spirit didn't change between then and now as far as he was aware.

'A bit? Half of the people from my old schools are in coma's!' He exclaimed, feeling the pent-up frustration finally snap; 'Everyone was afraid of me, I had no one, I still have no one,'

The Spirit scoffed, brushing off the outburst like it was nothing; 'Nonsense, little Yugi and his cohorts are around now,' It was meant to sooth him, but Ryou wasn't having it, the dam had been lifted, and he was going to let the Spirit know exactly how he was feeling.

'Just because you want me to get close to him! You want that damn Puzzle of his, you don't care about anything else!' He snapped out, feeling himself become drained, and wishing he could now go home, he didn't have the energy to deal with school, with wearing a fake smile, pretending that he was okay when in reality he was falling apart. He was always falling apart.

The Spirit became silent, and Ryou managed to plod along the rest of the day, worrying prodding his mind with the lack of noise even though he could tell the Spirit was still there, he didn't even try to forcefully take over when he was bored, or just to get Ryou into trouble. Instead the teen had a normal, if dull, morning at school.

'There is a plus side to you being around Yugi,' The Spirit finally spoke at lunch and Ryou bit back a sigh, though the Spirit took no notice of that; 'The pair of you can understand what it's like to have an Ancient Spirit sharing a body and mind,'

It was a plus, but as far as Ryou was concerned Yugi lucked out, his spirit was friendly and willing to help, while his own was selfish and violent, he feared for his own safety and that of everyone around him because of how unpredictable the Spirit was.

He felt it, he didn't need to be able to see Ryou's thoughts to know what he was thinking; 'Tch fine, I know I am keeping you to myself, but there is a reason for that,' He paused for a moment, Ryou was unsure why, it was just the two of them inside his body; 'The dark god is tucked away for the moment. It seems they haven't been able to escape the Shadow Realm just yet,'

'Wait… dark god?' As if he didn't have enough to worry about, until those words actually sunk in and he realised what the Spirit had actually said; 'Do you mean…'

'That I am not the only Spirit in the Item? No, not exactly. I am the soul of an Ancient Egyptian Thief, I am wanting… Not that it matters to you, but the dark god also resides here.' The Spirit was evasive in regards to his wants but Ryou was certain that he knew what he was after any way, it wasn't a secret, but the dark god was.

'So Yami defeated him? Not you? But how can he come back from the Shadow Realm?' He was curious, as he slowly ate his sushi, thinking about everything that had happened, trying to piece together if he could work out the difference between the dark god the Spirit was talking about and the Spirit alone.

The Spirit shook their head; 'They are a god of darkness, the Shadow Realm won't be able to keep them locked up forever, they will remember that they are the master of the realm. However they still has to bow down to the rules they made for it,'

As Ryou considered the differences he realise the most obvious one, the malice that was normally around the Spirit wasn't there any more, it would explain why the Spirit had been willing to aid him this morning and why he was silent up until now. If what the Spirit was saying was true, then he should probably try and get on his good side, perhaps there was a way to butter him up, maybe have him turn a new leaf, because he wasn't liking the way things were going now in regards to his new friends. Even though it was a benefit to the Spirit, and most likely with this dark god; "Then... what is your name?'

The Spirit frowned at the question, no one had asked him that in so long, even when he was alive no one asked him for his name. Now here was a mortal, whose body he had sometimes possessed along with the dark god, although he had tried to reign the dark god, but he wasn't always successful;

'Akefia,'

The white haired teen didn't feel the same amount of fear for the Spirit as he had for that dark god, or perhaps it was actually a fusion of the two of them, but now Akefia was talking to him, asking questions they seemed to be on fairly neutral ground. Now Ryou wondered if perhaps the Spirit could overcome the evil that lurked in the Ring and defeat it with his help, but he needed to learn more about this dark god, and he needed to gain Akefia's trust fully.

'How did this dark god become part of the Ring?' He was curious about that, surely a god, even a dark god shouldn't have been easily locked up in an object, so how did that happen?

'I…' Akefia trailed off, sounding unsure and a bit weary; 'I'm not sure,' This perked Ryou a little bit, even though that was actually a bit worrying.

'You don't remember?' He was curious now, but once the question left his mouth he realised that the Spirit could easily take the question as an insult.

Instead Akefia cackled; 'It's been centuries little Ryou, in the darkness and with no one but the dark god for company, my memories were… taken from me. I only know that I need the Items back,' He was gruff as he spoke and then he sighed, his shoulders falling, almost like he was defeated by the task. They were silent for a while, Ryou putting his tupper-wear back into his bag when Akefia spoke once more; "You should head to your next class, there are two students coming this way, and I don't like how they are looking at you," He glared at the taller boy's, who walked with purpose towards them.

Ryou moved quickly, leaving the lunch area but that wasn't enough to deter the two who kept on following him.

'Why are they after me? Did I do something…' He sighed, he hadn't done anything to incur their wraith, they were just classic bullies and with Ryou being weaker than them, it was all the excuse they needed.

He heard Akefia cackle; 'It has been a while since I had a been part of a decent fight,' Without asking for permission Ryou found himself placed gently in his soul room, he landed neatly on his bed, as if Akefia had asked him and was doing this with his permission.

The teen could wait, he could try and gain the Spirits trust, and he supposed that he had a little bit given that Akefia had given him his name. Now they didn't have the dark god overwhelming them, overcoming Ryou and with Akefia probably playing along, he might have enough time to get Akefia to trust him.

Looking around his soul room he wondered if he would have time for a little nap before his next class only to find himself thrust into control once more and blinking in surprise to find himself already in class, waiting for the majority of the other students to arrive.

'I have dealt with those pathetic mortals,' He growled out, and Ryou felt a pain in his knuckles, his back ached and his forehead was throbbing, he wondered if he looked as bad as he felt, when he noticed a trickle of water trail down his forehead. Akefia scoffed; 'Your body needs a bit more work, thankfully it's useful in a fight, but not to the level that I am used to working with,'

Ryou checked to make sure it was water that was trickling down his face, and a swipe over his forehead and his hair showed that it was; "Well am sorry my body isn't up to your standards," He froze, although he felt no reason to fear Akefia the same way as the dark god, that didn't mean it was a good idea to be sarcastic to him.

There was silence, then to Ryou's surprise the Spirit began to cackle; 'Not to worry, when you are done here, I will be taking control and getting this body into the condition that I am used to,'

'But… But I need to do my homework,' He protested, but it was a lost battle, after all the spirit had been rather pleasent today, he protected Ryou twice, it was fair.

'That can wait,' Akefia became silent as more students, including Yugi arrived to the class room, he withdrew and was now in Ryou's soul room, watching out for the Pharaoh.

'How about I make a time-table then?' Ryou nodded to Yugi as he passed by, though the shorter teen looked at him with worry, seeing the red forehead and the bruised knuckled.

'A what?' The Spirit was weary of those words.

"Are you all right Bakura?" Yugi asked him, interrupting them without realising it.

"Hmm?" Ryou looked down at his knuckles where Yugi's line of sight was and blushed; "Oh yes sorry just some…." Once more he felt himself being pushed back as Akefia took control, with the Ring hidden under his school uniform though Yugi and his own spirit didn't realise or notice the change; "Some bullies just tried to attack me during lunch,"

"What? Do you need to visit the nurse?" Yugi look a step closer, with Ryou feeling the revulsion that came down the soul link from Akefia.

He smiled at the teen; "Oh no, I've been practising self-defense," Akefia rubbed his knuckled and laughed slightly; "Although I think I might need a bit more practice. I don't think I jurt them too badly, but if am lucky they will leave me alone now,"

Those lavender eyes still looked concerned, and now Ryou felt Akefia surprise at that look the other teen was giving them; "Well if you are sure. But you know you can join us up on the roof for lunch, Joey and Tristian are pretty good at dealing with those kinds of bullies,"

Akefia smiled at him; "Thank you Yugi, but I should probably still learn to defend myself, they won't always be around," He assured him and the teen continued his way up the back with his other friends in the knowledge.

'Well, it looks like we have gotten a bit closer to my goal, although surely Yugi must realise that his friends won't always be around to protect him?'

'Well… considering it was Joey who used to bully Yugi…' Ryou informed him and Akefia perked up, shifting the pair of them around so that Ryou was in control once more.

'Oh? And what happened to change that?'

'I don't know, I just heard about it through the school rumours, I never had the heart to ask either of them about it,' Ryou admitted and then realised what he had said; 'And you shouldn't either!'

Akefia nodded, it was something to think about and really he didn't think he would actually need the information but it might come in handy, he just needed to get more of it if it was going to benefit him.

He was silent though and Ryou continued his school day, though the Spirit didn't udnerstand exactly why people went to these places of learning, but he figured he could asked Ryou about that later.

Perhaps.

He really justed wanted this day to be over, because he had things to do, he had to get this body stronger than it was right now, currently he was at a disadvantage, his skills were plentiful, but without the dark god to give him more strength when fighting he was weak. Those fools from earlier were easy enough to knock out, but if someone stronger came around… he didn't have much confidence that he would actually be able to defeat them.

With those thoughts floating around Ryou's head, Akefia letting him know exactly what he thought needed to be done, he gave in at the end of the school day. There was no reason for him to fight the Spirit anyway, Akefia could take over at any point, however he did put a condition into it, he had to have time to do his home work at some points, and he was determined to create a time table for this to work out well for both of them, even though Akefia felt school was a waste of time.

For the while that the dark god wasn't clouding their souls, they found a rhythm and they worked well together, despite the hatred that continued to radiate from Akefia in regard to the Pharaoh, and indeed Yugi, the pair had a smooth ride for a while.