Warning: This will be a Yaoi, Bakurax Ryou. You may read this chapter, but in later chapters, There will BE yaoi! Which means, boyxboy relationships!

You have been warned, so don't complain!

Prologue
Beautiful Letdown

#One month before our complete story begins #

Everything was dark. Black and purple swirled around his body and soul.

And he was trapped.

Trapped inside his own necklace with no way of getting out. Bakura had taken over his body and looked like he won't be giving it back any time soon.

Ryou sighed completely trapped in his own millennium item with no where to go. All he could do was sit back and watch the duel.

This was no ordinary duel though. Of course it had the blood and guts being poured out onto the arena...Ok, so the pain was not as bad as Ryou wanted it to seem. But it was excruciating to sit back and watch his yami play away his life. He was being devoured every time Bakura's life points went down. With each declining point his body was filled with pure hatred towards his darker half.

It kept building and building like stacks of paper upon an office desk. With each point, it was like a piece of paper in which a desk clerk could not keep up with. Depression nearly set in when each and every last drop of his blood boiled with anticipation for the duel to end. He felt utterly useless when the points went down and the piles of papers went up.

His arms and legs itched.

Literally.

But it was no time to think about that.

The stakes were higher this round. Yami had concurred with Bakura's words of: looser gets to die.

That's not really what will happen. All it would be is a slow and painful death through the torturous pins of the shadow realm.

There was no coming back this time either.

It seemed like it would never end. But when it did, Ryou was stunned. He didn't know what to do. He didn't know what to think. Or how to act or even say! It was stuck in his throat as he watched his yami slowly fade to the shadow realm.

It was over.

Bakura was gone.

And Ryou had no regrets.

Ryou had his freedom back. But he was too astonished to comprehend what was happening when he was finally able to have his own body back.

Ryou sat in the chair his yami once had or sat in moments ago. The duel was almost like Duelist Kingdom. The dueling mat was in front of the silver-haired boy on a table at the game shop and Yami was sitting on the other side. While the violet-eyed teen reached out to get his friends deck and rearrange it into a stack, he gently set it down in front of the stunned Ryou and waited for him to say something.

But it wasn't Yami that broke the silence. It was Yugi who was finally able to take care of the situation.

"Ryou . . . You are free."

Chocolate eyes wandered from the mat in front of him to his deck placed nicely on the table. It was hard to believe that Yami won fare and square. And not to mention, Bakura was in the Shadow realm, never to hurt Ryou again; mentally or physically.

Ryou slowly raised his head with wide eyes. It's all over . . .

"Yugi, is it really over?" The pale boy asked with anticipation bordering the lines of salvation. He was hoping that Yugi wouldn't give up hope and say it wasn't and he shouldn't give up because Bakura always had a way to come back, but when he saw the boy nod his head, relief washed over his whole body.

He was free.

Ryou was free from Bakura.

"Are you sure?" The boy's accent carried its way towards the reincarnation of the pharaoh, Yugi nodded again as his pale friend.

But somehow the thought that he wasn't, crept into his stomach and twisted with an awful butterfly feeling.

"You should go home Ryou. Get some sleep." Yugi's voice slowly registered in Ryou's mind before he stood up. For the first time in months, a smile crawled onto Ryou's thin ruby lips as they curved upward.

Yugi had led Ryou to the door before the hikari turned towards Yugi, "So . . . Yatta?"

Ryou's friend finally smiled and reassured him, "Yatta! We really did it." He reassured and hugged the older teen before he pushed him out the door in a friendly manor.

The silver albino finally turned before taking leave of Yugi's house at nine o'clock at night, "Arigato." With that, Ryou finally turned around and left the front door of Yugi's door while he whispered him goodbye.

"You're welcome . . . Sayonara, Ryou."

Ryou turned and walked down the street. His pride finally surfaced as he walked towards his house in pleased behavior. The smile that he gave Yugi never left his face as he trotted towards his street. He shoved his hand into his pockets as he felt his mind rejoice in its obvious reunion with itself. No more can Bakura invade his thoughts.

Its just me, myself and I.

Ryou grinned even wider. But it faded as soon as he rounded on the corner to his house. The sight of it wiped the smile off his face in a matter of seconds.

The feeling he held deep in his gut wanted to resurface.

He bolted down the street and came face to face with the door of his house. No one was home of course; he pulled out his key and shoved it into the lock and twisted.

The door burst open. He ran in and slammed it shut taking refuge into the bathroom. The young teen desperately didn't want to see his dinner again, but the feeling became stronger as it slowly inched up from his stomach.

Ryou squinted and tensed as he looked into the bowl of the toilet.

x x x

A few hours passed after Ryou settled himself on his bed looking out the window. He didn't feel well. Not well at all.

The stars shined in the sky leaving the sky almost empty with a black void, but the moon took ever the rest of the space. It suffused a shine into the bedroom he had and illuminated the closet in the corner. It gave little light for the desk next to the window, small table next to his beside, and TV on the opposite side of the room.

The white room was bare. Not a single photo was on the wall or the rest of the house. No family members lived with him. For his mother was killed along with his sister in a car accident. And his father . . .

His father was always in Egypt, never leaving any more time with his son. Ryou finally gave up his father and chose to ignore him; except for the check that came every week to pay for food and shelter.

Brown eyes trailed his window to his bed. His stare followed to his hand while he lifted it and gazed at it.

Examining his hand he pulled up his sleeve to look farther. Maybe, just maybe . . . If he is gone, then . . .

Black and blue marked his milky satin skin. The bruise was still there, along with other injuries that could be found all around his body. He hid them with his clothes. And being the smart yami, Bakura never punched Ryou. IN the face that is. No one would ever know if his hands, feet, neck, or face weren't marked with an awkward bruise or cut.

His arms, legs, back, and torso were a different story.

A sigh escaped Ryou's lips again. He looked at his beside table while the clock beamed bright green letters into his face.

11:59 P.M.

He didn't know what to do. He couldn't fall asleep or watch TV.

Nothing was on at this hour on the television when you didn't have cable.

He stared at the clock. Time seemed to tick by slower than usual as he watched the clock for what seemed like an hour.

12:00 P.M.

"Erghhh . . ." Ryou turned over onto his back and stared at the ceiling. He slowly closed his eyes and imagined what tomorrow would be like.

I will be free.

Ryou smiled to himself again with his eyes closed, ignoring the same feeling he felt at Yugi's and in the bathroom. He thrust it down and held his grin on his face as he drifted to a dreamless sleep free from Bakura's grasp.

x x x

Ryou woke with a start from the sun's first ray that hit his face. He sat up ready to make breakfast for himself after getting ready and possibly quickly leave the house so Bakura won't-

He's gone. Remember? He's in the shadow realm.

I can get used to this.

The boy got off the bed and scrambled towards the kitchen with a smile that wouldn't leave his face even if you tried to warn him that the world was going under attack my aliens.

Ryou shook that thought away.

Today he was going to Yugi's game shop and thank him, and Yami properly. Not to mention go to the movies, arcade, park, Kaiba Land and –

Eggs . . . Eggs and bacon sound good. Oh . . . and some orange juice will do.

The smile by no means wanted to leave, plus he didn't think it would ever depart his gleaming face.

But oh . . . how wrong he was.

TBC . . .?
A/N: I wanted to try something new. And let me tell you, this is an experiment and ideas would be graciously taken!