Yuugiou is the intellectual property of Kazuki Takahashi.

When he had first received the ancient ring from his father, Ryou Bakura couldn't help but think about all the tales he had invented with his sister during their childhood about lovers led to each other by fate. The heavy, gold object was far from the fantastic materials that made up the tiny rings of his young imagination, but he couldn't separate the two. And so, despite the rational side of his mind that told him such things didn't happen, he waited for fate to hook him and his partner and tie them together like an invisible fisherman.

The ring did indeed bind him to another, but everything else was far from his stories. He had met his partner, who insisted he be called Bakura, when the other boy had tried to steal his golden item in one of the city's most populous squares. Bakura was an exact replica of himself physically, but the complete opposite in personality. He was manipulative, brash, secretive, and self-absorbed.

Ryou didn't love him at all. His attempts to get rid of fate's match for him had all failed; Bakura always came back. Each time he returned, his domineering ways got more and more oppressive. He became more possessive of the owner of the ring as their time together grew longer. It had been for this reason that Ryou found himself locked in his own bedroom while Bakura stood on the other side of it.

"Let me out!"

"Not yet," Ryou knew Bakura was smiling even though he couldn't see him. "I told you what would happen if you saw her again."

With a door between them, Ryou's courage built itself up much faster than usual. His pleasant, inviting eyes narrowed uncharacteristically as he spoke: "You don't own me."

A laugh. He couldn't stand the other's haughty, high-pitched crackle. It reminded him of a witch's.

"I love it when you say things like that! Don't own you? A day in that room will teach you the answer to that."

Ryou listened as Bakura walked away, accompanied on his trip down the hall by his laugher. He turned away from the door, searching for another way out. As his eyes drifted across the room, they couldn't help but be drawn down towards the ring, shining dimly on his chest.

He had once thought of it as a sort of engagement ring. Maybe he hadn't been incorrect in that innocent association.

After all, he had been bound to another in an inseparable union because of it.

End