Whispers in the Dark-Chp9

“Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, students and staff of Domino High. Boy, do we have a surprise in store for you!”

Everyone slowly stopped whatever they were doing to listen carefully, save a few nonchalant or apathetic students who don’t really care what was announced during school hours. It was recess for everyone and while students enjoy their meals either in class or at the school cafeteria and the staff in the staff’s lounge, and it was the Social and Liaison department of the student council’s job to put out entertaining music and pressing announcements during that one and a half hour-long time period, and ever since the incident at school early morning, it was definitely something newsworthy.

“I suppose it has been almost one and a half months past since the annual fair and the ancestral ritual happened, and I’m sure those who are classmates of those involved have pretty much had a head-start of knowing the news, but since this is a big event, we, from the Social and Liaison department of the student council, would love to share this news throughout the whole school.

“Ladies and gentlemen, brace yourselves for this: our fellow schoolmates of Domino High, namely Joey Wheeler, Tristan Taylor, Yugi Mutou, Ryou Bakura and Malik Ishtar, along with the rest of the teen herms from our neighbouring schools Gammon High and Maximillion High, are officially PREGNANT!”

Loud cheers, whoops and claps were heard throughout the school from everyone; so loud that it could be heard all the way down to the school infirmary where Joey and his gang were lying down trying to ride out their morning sickness. Joey groaned, his headache.

“Fucking hell!” Tristan cursed as he buried his face onto the pillow, trying to block out the noise. “What’s a guy gotta do to get a little peace and quiet right now?!”

As was mentioned by the announcement, it had been one and a half months since the five had met their mates and undergone the mating ritual. When they woke up this morning, they knew that something was going horribly wrong inside their bodies, but they were afraid to admit the reason why. They managed to stomach their breakfast even though their appetites were less than hearty, and they had to feign normalcy when their parents asked them what was wrong, although they could tell from the look on their parents’ face that they suspect the same thing they were. Once they were at school, their stomachs began to revolt and their food quickly made a direct exit out of their mouths. Joey had expected this to happen after being confirmed by Seto about his state of pregnancy, so he wasn’t too surprise when his stomach started churning uncomfortably and had to excuse himself from art class to go to the bathroom to hurl, and he was the first to arrive in the infirmary and be told the news.

Yugi was next and it happened during P.E. He was running the track along with his fellow classmates and was wondering where Joey disappeared to when suddenly his head was spinning and his gut was doing the loop-da-loop in him. He wanted to break out of the track line and rush to the toilet, but knew he couldn’t make it and hurled onto someone’s back. He earned a loud “Eww!” from his fellow classmates, which spurred him to vomit some more onto the ground. Dr. Karita, both the P.E. teacher and the school physician, after patting his back to ease the vomiting, dismissed the class and carried him to the infirmary to be checked and confirmed his condition. Tristan came next when he was in the middle of a meeting among his fellow football club members during lunch hour. He didn’t feel like eating anything and tried to keep a stern, straight face while he chaired the meeting, but the longer he stared at his club members, who brought their lunch from home or the school cafeteria into the meeting room, eating and drinking like they have no care in the world, the more his stomach disagreed with him. The next thing he knew was him in the toilet next door hurling and coughing everything he ate for breakfast and one of his club members and his vice president supporting him to the school infirmary. It was no doubt they were the ones who blabbed about him and his friends’ condition to the Social and Liaison department.

Malik, on the other hand, was not in the same class as the rest of the four, but his first morning sickness was no different than theirs. His stomach was disagreeable all day, but he, among his friends, was the toughest and can withstand any discomfort thrown at him. Yet he could only hold out so much. According to the duty roster, it was his turn to throw out the class garbage, and the smell of the garbage disposal area soon did him in. He blew out chunks into the nearest trashcan he could find and, like it or not, he staggered into the infirmary where all his friends were and knew of his condition. Ryou, the weakest of the gang, was in science class when his morning sickness happened, and it was the exact definition of being ‘in the wrong place at the wrong time’. They were asked by the teacher to dissect rats today and the sight of the rat’s innards as he made the first incision was his passport to the lab basin. He puked and puked and couldn’t stop, even though his fellow classmates patted his back and asked in concern what was wrong. The teacher frantically sent someone to call for Dr. Karita when Ryou fainted after his vomiting ordeal, and the next thing he knew was that he found himself surrounded by his gang of concerned and worried misfits asking if he was alright.
A torrent of loud, excited chattering voices and footsteps slowly closing in towards the infirmary—most of them girls, of course—ensued after the announcement was made as almost the entire resident of Domino High came rushing down into the infirmary and demanding to see them and confirm from them the news. Malik, who looked like he wanted to kill anyone and everyone in sight right now, glared at the curtain that separated them and the silhouette of people outside, daring them to even think of setting foot inside the bed chambers.

“Oh my God! Is it true that you guys are pregnant?!”

“How does it feel? Is the morning sickness getting on already?”

“How are you guys doing now?”

“Are you excited?”

“What are you…”

“Please, please, please, children. The ‘mothers’-to-be must rest. You’re not making them feel any better being here.”

A stream of protests and ‘Aww…’ came as they were reluctantly shoved out of the infirmary by the school physician and nurse. The sound of the door being locked told the five that they definitely would not be bothered for a long while.

“You’ve definitely caused a lot of commotion around here.”

The five looked gratefully at the hazel-brown-haired, blood red-eyed school nurse towering before their beds with a humorous grin. Illuscia Nester Himawari, known to many people as Illust-chan because of her half-Japanese-half-Turkish decent, was the nurse of Domino High since it was in its beginning stages. It could very well be possible that she was one of the blessed Immortals, but she was not really admitting to any of that sort, claiming that her youthful look was due to good exercise and a healthy diet and whatnot, but nevertheless she was very well-liked by everyone in Domino High and many loved to feign illness or get themselves deliberately hurt just to catch a glimpse of her and be pampered by her. Despite the fact that she was allowed to pursue a higher form of business and she can be elevated to a high status with just one word, she claimed that she was content with being a school nurse and a full-time midwife, which is why she was here tending to the five in the first place.

“Ya a life-saver, Illust-chan,” Joey said weakly as he curled up in a fetal position to see if that would bring down the nausea.

“Yeah, Illust-chan,” Yugi agreed as he allowed Illust-chan to put a cooling pad on his throbbing forehead. “I don’t think I could face another person after that embarrassing puking act I pulled during P.E.”

“At least it’s P.E. instead of in the middle of science class,” Ryou said. “Oh no, I think I’m gonna be sick again.”

Illust-chan quickly picked up the potty that was prepared under the bed with one hand and pushed his head lightly into the potty and held back his hair with the other. Ryou’s vomiting caused a chain reaction as the other soon dove down to get their potty and hurled like there was an epidemic of food poisoning.

“My goodness, I swear I’ve never seen this since the student body discovered what was in the Friday mystery meat last year,” Dr. Karita said with a sweat drop as he watched the goings-on before him.

“Ugh, I really do not want to talk about food right now…” Malik groaned as he hastily took the cloth Dr. Karita offered him to wipe his mouth.

“Ow…My throat’s burning…” Ryou whined, clutching onto his sore throat after his long bout of vomiting.

“That’s because you’ve emptied your gut and have nothing else but stomach acid to vomit out,” Illust-chan replied. “I think it’s time you’d take something to ease it down.”

“Please,” Tristan moaned, his face going bluer than blue. “I can’t even think about drinking water without hurling, let alone eat something.”

“Well, unfortunately, you boys don’t really have the say in this matter,” Illust-chan said, her lips creased into one of those smiles where you know she was up to something no good. “Now, open wide, boys.”

Within seconds, the five realized that she had force-fed them with a small capsule of orange-ish liquid down each of their throats before they could even blink. Everyone knew that Illust-chan was like quicksilver whenever they needed her service in record time, but this was ridiculous. Even Dr. Karita was lost seeing her move. It was so fast that it took almost five seconds straight for the boys to actually swallow and taste their medicine, but the response was just as shocking.

“OH MY GOD, THIS IS FUCKIN’ SOUR!!!”

If they were banshees, windows and glasses would be broken by now by their loud scream. If it weren’t for Dr. Karita’s ‘DO NOT DISTURB’ outside the infirmary door, people would’ve been rushing in to see what the matter was. Dr. Karita sweat-dropped at the way Illust-chan laughed naughtily at the ‘mothers’-to-be as they struggled to keep whatever aftertaste that was left in their mouths down.

“Good God, you could wake the dead from their centuries of slumber with that,” Dr. Karita uncovered his ears. Tristan was the first to recover.

“You bitch! What the heck do you think you’re doing?! Poison us or something?!”

“God, it’s worse than eating unripe oranges…” Ryou groaned.

“It’s a remedy we midwives take pride throughout the ages of midwifery. We brewed it ourselves and it is the best cure for morning sickness,” Illust-chan pointed, seemingly proud of her handiwork.

“What da hell is in it? Freakin’ unripe lemons or somethin’??” Joey exclaimed, trying to spit out the aftertaste in vain.

“A bit of that, and a few more combinations of any unripe fruit imaginable, plus a dash of sugar in between. Seriously, boys, it’s already proven as the best nausea suppressant throughout the centuries. Ask your ‘mothers’ about it and they’ll be glad to testify for it.”

“Monster…” Malik grumbled, although he, as well as his fellow friends, had to admit that their morning sickness had felt much easier to handle.

“A little bit of tough love goes a long, long way, boys,” Illust-chan grinned radiantly.

“I suppose a short nap shouldn’t hurt,” Dr. Karita stole a look at his watch. “You boys rest for now. We will close up the infirmary for the rest of the day and will wake you when your parents have come to pick you up.”

“Thanks, doc,” Yugi muttered, feeling rather lethargic after having vomiting for a good deal.

Illust-chan tucked them in and waved goodbye at them before she and Dr. Karita walked out of the infirmary, shutting the door behind them and locking it. Slowly, dizziness and lethargy took over the five dozed off one by one. None of them spoke a word while waiting for sleep to settle in for fear of hurling, and they were content in sending each other a sort of congratulatory glance for the success of their pregnancy. One by one, snoring of all volumes could be heard, and Ryou was the last to dose off.

He was about to shut his eyes when all of a sudden he heard a small creak on the ceiling. He looked up to see a tile loosening directly above his head and widened his eyes in shock. Was the tile going to fall off? Would it hit his head? As he tried to reach for Malik sleeping next to him to catch his attention, a soft torrent of whispers accompanied a hush, followed by a pair of dark-chocolate glowing orbs peeping from within the ceiling.

“It’s…It’s you…!” Ryou almost couldn’t hold back his yelp as he saw his mate crawling out of the ceiling and lightly landed on Ryou’s bed without alerting anyone. His mate grinned naughtily and went on all fours, crawling towards Ryou with an almost evil gleam in its eyes, purring seductively at him.

“Good God, you look…exactly like me…” Ryou breathed out his words as he saw finally for the first time how his mate looked. With silver hair that shone under the table light, it framed its fair face perfectly and brought the shine of its dark chocolate eyes more. It was wearing a sort of short dark cape that hung loosely against its huge bat-like wings, and was wearing a one-piece outfit that looked like those worn during the Roman and Greek period, with sandals to match, and was adorned with silver wristlets and anklets. Around its neck was a sort of device that looked like a dream-catcher, but hung around its neck like a sort of huge ring, and everything on it screamed perfect in every way. It purred a little louder to bring Ryou back to reality and earned a hush from Ryou.

“Hush, you’ll wake them up.”

“Princess…” his mate whispered as it reached down to lick Ryou’s earlobe, sending shivers down his spine.

“Wh…What are you doing here? I thought you’re night creatures. You’re not supposed to be in broad daylight; it’ll hurt your skin.”

“Miss…you…”

“Well…I’m flattered…I guess.”

His mate picked up a scent and lowered its head towards Ryou’s abdomen and sniffed. Its face flushed pink for a while before smiling happily and nuzzling his slightly protruding belly.

“Babies…”

“B…Babies…?” Ryou was taken aback at first, then remembered Solomon’s lecture about Whisperers siring multiples and asked tentatively, “Uh…how many babies do I have exactly?”

His mate held up 3 fingers, earning a wide saucer-eyed gaze from a very red Ryou.

“T-T-T-Three?!” Ryou hissed, trying very hard not to make a scene. “How am I gonna be able to accommodate all of them in there?!”

“You’ll…manage…” his mate grinned.

After a long moment of silence trying to drink in this fact, Ryou finally asked, “Um…I was wondering…since we’ve been together like this…it’s fair I know your name.”

“Bakura…” his mate replied, much to Ryou’s surprise.

“T-That’s my surname too! So it’s true that we could be related. No wonder we’re so alike. Wouldn’t this be incest?”

Bakura shook its head, then showed him the device that it was wearing around its neck all this time.

“What is that?”

“Millennium…Ring…”

Bakura whispered a few incantations before the middle of the Millennium Ring emitted a huge cloud of mist above them. It showed an image of Ryou’s ‘mother’, then image split into two to reveal another man who looked like his ‘mother’, but much more masculine and built, and with black raven hair. The image continued to split and split until it filled the mist with about more than 50 people, then suddenly combined together into two people standing side by side: one who looked like an older, wiser version of Bakura and the other who looked almost as old as Ryou, but had all the features of an Englishman. Ryou recognized the Englishman immediately.

“Oh my God, that’s my ancestor Shuu Nightwing! The first person in my family to receive the gift of conception and the first person to undergo the mating ritual! This is the first time I actually see him in his younger self! All I’ve ever seen were old pictures of him…Oops!”

Ryou looked from left to right to see if he had accidentally awakened his friends. So far, so good. Ryou continued to reminiscence about the past that was often told as a bedtime story to him when he was a kid by his father.

“He was a child of a Japanese woman from a previous marriage. His father fell in love with her when he went to Japan on a business trip, but could only treat her as a mistress because he was promised to another. After the war and his wife died due to cancer, he married the mistress and took Shuu into the family and gave him his surname, and he became one of the chosen ones to receive Maximillion Pegasus’s gift. I assume that is your father?”

Bakura nodded at the image beside Shuu he was pointed, then replied with a slight sad tone, “Was…”
“Oh…I’m sorry…” Ryou apologized. “What was his name, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“Same…” Bakura grinned.

“So you were named after your father, eh? I guess that’s where I got the surname from. But what does that got to do with us?”

“You…marry…mixed…?”

“You mean, were our families of mixed marriages?” Ryou asked, which received a nod from Bakura before he continued, “Yeah, we do. In fact, we have marriages all the way back to…Oh! Now I get it! Come to think of it, Shuu had no blood ties with the Nightwing family whatsoever. You mean our mixed marriages and affiliates are the cause of us no longer carrying the bloodline of our possible Halfling ancestors?”

Bakura nodded. Ryou sighed in relief.

“Thank goodness. Oh, by the way, my name is…”

“Ryou…” Bakura replied.

“How did you know?”

“Secret…”

Before Ryou could protest, Bakura leaned over to plant a deep kiss on his lips, stopping from any attempts of saying anything. It nuzzled his nose and grinned before hugging him, its head laid on his lap and ear close towards his abdomen, attempting to hear the babies that were growing within him.
“I doubt you can hear anything,” Ryou pouted, feeling rather peeved but decided to overlook Bakura’s so-called ‘secret’.

“Babies…” Bakura whispered to his belly, not really caring whether its still developing pups can hear or not.

Ryou smiled weakly and laid his hand on its head, stroking its smooth, silky hair. He didn’t know why, but somehow he actually felt happy and relieved that Bakura was there with him. It somehow made him feel that his pregnancy wouldn’t be so hard to bear, that he didn’t have to endure it alone. Bakura’s presence alone sent a calm feeling through his heart and he couldn’t help wonder if there could be a possibility of them being together after the babies are born. He knew it was too much to ask, and that it is impossible for age-old Whisperers like Bakura could break tradition, but if it were to come true, he wouldn’t have to feel so sad now.

Suddenly, after almost 5 minutes of blissful, comfortable silence between them, Bakura shot up and perked its head up, as if it had heard something only for its ears. It stuck out a tongue and scratched its chin, like a little child who had done something wrong, before reaching over to Ryou to lay a chaste kiss.

“Have…to go…”

“Aww, do you have to?” Ryou pouted.

“Calling…”

“Will…Will I ever see you again?”

Bakura didn’t reply, but gave him a knowing wink before climbing back up to the ceiling, took one last look at him and purred before replacing the tile back into the ceiling. Within minutes, it looked as if Bakura had never been here before.

“Till next time then, my beloved prince,” Ryou sighed and smiled sadly before finally shutting his eyes to sleep.

As he slowly fluttered into Dreamland, the infirmary door closed silently and locked it back, the eavesdropper quietly leaving the scene.