"Ryou, please don't do this to me. Don't do this to yourself, please."

Ryou raised the knife up from his side to pointing it at his neck. It looked as if he was about to stab it, rather than slash it, as suicide would normally be done.

Bakura knew what he was really doing. He took in a deep breath. "Playground school bell rings again. Rain clouds come to play again."

Ryou sighed. "It's not going to work."

"Has no one told you she's not breathing? Hello, I'm your mind, giving you someone to talk to. Hello…"

Ryou wasn't giving in. He neared the tip of the knife to his neck.

"If I smile and don't believe, soon I know I'll wake from this dream."

"I'm not listening!", Ryou shouted.

"Don't try to fix me; I'm not broken. Hello, I'm the lie living for you so you can hide. Don't cry."

"NO!"

Ryou took the knife away from his neck, and went straight for Bakura's torso.

"Ryou! Ryou, no! Don't…!"

But it was too late.

Playground school bell rings again…

Where was he? He couldn't see.

Rain clouds come to play again…

It hurt. There was pain surging through his body, and he couldn't even feel the source; his body was so numb.

Has no one told you she's not breathing…

Ryou.

Hello…

It was because of Ryou.

I'm your mind, giving you someone to talk to…

What was going to happen to him? Was he going to be arrested? Tried in court?

Hello.

Given the death penalty?

Bakura raised his head up. He was still in the living room floor in Ryou's house. He was bleeding from his stomach; the knife was still on the floor, under the couch. Bakura felt dead inside. He had lost quite a bit of blood; there was a Bakura-sized puddle underneath him, still growing by the second, considering that he was face-down on the floor. He could taste the metal-like flavor of his own blood, but it was strange. The only blood that had ever gone into his mouth was that of Marik's.

Marik had weird issues that Bakura could never figure out.

Bakura went into his back pocket, and pulled out his cellphone. It had a little bit of blood on the screen, considering the blood was coating his whole body. He simply went with the "painless" way about calling for help.

"Hey, Siri," he said to the phone, weaker than he thought he was.

The phone immediately activated. "108."

The one time where the 'tell Siri 108' prank worked was a time like this. 108 immediately became 911 to an iPhone from English-speaking countries (and 999 or 112 in the United Kingdom).

911, what is your emergency?

"I'm bleeding out of my stomach. I'm dying on the floor."

What is the reason for this injury?

Seriously, 911? "I got stabbed with a knife in the stomach."

Okay, sir, what's your address?

"1025 October St."

We'll send an ambulance your way.

"Thank you. Thank you."

911 hung up rapidly. Unfortunately for Bakura, the nearest hospital was half-an-hour away. Either the ambulance hurried to the house in time to rescue Bakura from an untimely death, or… he would bleed to death without anyone ever being able to find him but the Emergency Services.

Bakura closed his eyes, and passed out.

Yami just watched his feet move as he walked. Left, heel, tow. Right, heel, toe. Left, heel, toe. Right, heel, toe.

Siren?

He looked up from the ground and stopped walking. There was an ambulance headed down to the neighborhood that Ryou lived in.

Yami's hand twitched.

He jumped across the road, running into the emergency lane that the ambulance was taking. He carefully climbed up the ladder onto the roof of the ambulance, and situated himself on the top. As the ambulance blazed past, he heard the shouts and mutters of passersby.

"There's someone on top of the ambulances!"

"What's he doing there?!"

"Who is he?!"

The shouts continued on as he rode down October St. He was terrified when the stop was exactly where he feared it was: 1025 October St: where Ryou lived. He jumped off the top, and approached the nurse exiting the ambulance.

"Excuse me, ma'am, but are you aware of who you're rescuing from this residence?", Yami asked her.

The nurse shook her head. "The poor thing said he was dying, so we rushed here as fast as we could."

"Why is he dying?", Yami asked.

"He said he was stabbed in the stomach with a knife. We're assuming domestic violence, but we can't be sure."

Ryou, Yami thought.

He watched as another nurse and a doctor carried the patient out of the house on a stretcher. Yami leaned over to take a glance. He then discovered that the victim of this attack was actually Bakura.

Bakura?

Yami jumped into the back of the ambulance as the stretcher was placed onto the hospital bed inside of it. The nurse he had spoken to seconds earlier gave him a bizarre look.

"I'm a mutual friend," Yami explained.

The nurse nodded as a different nurse (this one, male) jumped into the back of the ambulance with Yami. He got onto his knees to be next to Bakura as the doors shut and the ambulance started moving. Yami remained standing, however, gripping onto Bakura's wrist to let him know there was still someone there.

The nurse took Bakura's arm, and carefully rubbed his finger over it before jabbing a long IV needle into it. Watching the nurse do such made Yami cringe, but he tried to keep himself together. He needed to stay strong, as long as he was at Bakura's side.

"Do you know his blood type?"

Yami looked up from Bakura, and directed his attention to the nurse. He cleared his throat. "No. I'm afraid not," Yami admitted.

"Well, then, we're going fail-safe. Go through that box, and find me one of those bags labelled 'O-', would you?", the nurse asked.

Yami looked in the direction that the nurse was pointing in, grabbing the bag on top, thankfully labelled 'O-'. Yami handed it to the nurse as he got off his knees, and went back to Bakura's side.

"What did you mean, 'fail-safe'?", Yami asked the nurse.

"O- blood is compatible with every known blood type. If we put a non-compatible blood type in his blood stream, it could've killed him. If you don't know anyone's blood type, always go with O-. Compatible with everything."

"Thank you," Yami said. "That could come in handy, one day."

The nurse nodded, hooking the bag Yami gave him up to the IV machine. He handed Yami the bag again. "Squeeze this in regular intervals. We need to pump blood back into his blood stream. I'll bandage the wound while you do that."

Yami nodded, squeezing the bag at a regular pace. Every time he counted a number, he squeezed the bag. 1, squeeze. 2, squeeze. 3, squeeze. He did this as he watched the nurse wrap bandages around Bakura's torso. Despite the injury being a stab wound, it looked like a huge gaping hole in his stomach. It was as if, after being stabbed the first time, Bakura had been sliced open with a machete, or something. If that was actually the case, Yami just wondered where someone would get a machete. Black market?

Yami heard a groan. It was a familiar voice. It seemed that Bakura was starting to regain consciousness because he was gaining blood, and not losing anymore. He watched as Bakura opened his eyes, and gripped onto Yami's free hand.

"Pharaoh...?", Bakura groaned.

"It's me, Bakura," Yami assured him.

Bakura flopped his head onto Yami's arm, which was laying on the hospital bed. Yami started to run his hands through Bakura's hair as he continued pumping blood into his bloodstream.

"Where am I?", Bakura whispered.

"We've got you in an ambulance. We're taking you to the hospital."

Bakura groaned in acknowledgment. Yami let his hand softly hit the top of the tomb raider's head, trying to let him know he was still there, considering he had closed his eyes.

"Bakura. Who attacked you?"

Bakura lifted his head up, propping up his body with his right arm. "It was..." Bakura groaned again. "Ryou. He did it."

Yami froze, unsure of what to think. "Ryou attacked you and nearly let you bleed to death? Are you sure you weren't high?"

"Absolutely." Bakura began to cough out of weakness.

Yami leaned in, and let his forehead touch the former thief's. Bakura's head suddenly dropped, falling onto Yami's arm. Yami lifted his head up, and looked at the nurse.

"What's wrong?"

"There was this shard of metal in his stomach. Does he have Pica, or something?"

Yami gasped. "You kind of need to give that to me."

"Why?"

"I need it. Give it to me."

"Okay..." the nurse seemed confused as he dropped the metal shard into Yami's hand.

Yami grabbed a bottle of water from his pack (he carried a duffel bag around at this point, filled with necessities for survival such as food and water, along with a first aid kit or two), opening it and dropping the shard of metal into it. He held up Bakura's head. He started pouring little swigs of water into Bakura's mouth.

"Swallow," Yami told him. "Drink it. You need to."

Bakura slowly closed his mouth, drinking the water inside. Yami sighed with relief upon inspecting the bottle and discovering that the metal shard wasn't anywhere inside of it. He looked on the ground and on the hospital bed, but the shard wasn't anywhere to be found, either. Bakura had, indeed, swallowed it and let it into his digestive system.

If he hadn't, his name would've been on a tombstone.

Bakura slowly opened his eyes. The first thing he saw was a mass of shiny black hair with a magenta lining. Yami was still there? He must've cared to some degree, otherwise he wouldn't have still been there. Either that, or he was hoping to get his hands on some free food while he was at the hospital. Then again, he was Yami Yugi. He would never do that. Why was he still there, then? Hoping to provide information? Hoping to gather information? Or was he simply being a good person and staying with Bakura while he was in need?

Bakura really hoped it wasn't the latter.

He tilted his head up to look at the ceiling. He was still concerned about Ryou. Was he going to get arrested? Was he going to be tried in court, or was he going to simply be sent to jail? Would he even be caught?

Bakura felt a hand on his shoulder. "I told them everything. They're looking for Ryou now, and they're going to give him a fair trial. You're the defendant, and I'm your attorney."

"You're licensed?"

"No, but there's no better time to learn."

"Oh, Nameless Pharaoh...!"

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding! Of course, I'm licsensed by the law? I wouldn't be doing this if I wasn't!"

Bakura breathed out a sigh of relief, but he was still tense inside. Ryou had half a chance of getting away scot-free, and he had half a chance of being claimed as guilty by the law. Bakura didn't even want to think about what would happen if Ryou was found guilty. Oh, he'd probably be arrested, sent to jail for life for attempted murder and physical assault. If it had to get worse than that, the death penalty was coming his way. Now, how did they carry that out again? Electric chair, gunshot, lethal injection...?

Oh, right. Lethal injection.

That sounded terrible. Bakura couldn't imagine the thought of having a lethal chemical vaccinated into his body just to let him die a slow painful death on a gurney (and honestly, neither can the author). It made Bakura wonder if they were in one of the states where electrocution or inhalation of deadly gases was a choice for prisoners sentenced to the death penalty.

"Bakura?"

Bakura didn't respond. He didn't want to, and honestly, he probably wouldn't have been able to blurt out anything relevant to the question Yami was asking him.

"Bakura?!"

Bakura felt like answering this time. But he couldn't. He was trying hard as all heck, but the words forming in his brain couldn't come out of his mouth. What was going on?

"BAKURA!"

Bakura twitched, and glanced back over at Yami. Yami's face was red and wet, as if he had been crying for some reason. He felt Yami tightly wrap his arms around him and bring him into a hug.

"Please. Don't ever do that to me again.", Yami whispered to him.

Bakura was flustered. "What happened?", he asked Yami, short of breath.

Yami let go of Bakura, and he began to breathe again. A doctor walked into the room just as Yami sat back down in his seat next to Bakura. "Your vitals went down. Your heartbeat went to a much lower rate, and your breathing lessened. It took a lot to get you back to consciousness."

Bakura felt something grip his hand. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that Yami was still there, gripping onto his hand as the two of them listened to the doctor's words.

"Now, we've discussed your issues, and exactly how you're getting to court. You'll be the Plaintiff in the situation, and your friend here is your attorney, or lawyer. Your attacker is…"

Bakura raised up a hand to interrupt the doctor. "I already know all this junk. What I need to know is what will happen to him if he's convicted."

"He'll either end up in prison for life, or he'll be given the death penalty," the doctor explained. "I'm not a witness, but I will be there to defend you."

Bakura nodded. "Does the defendant have a lawyer?"

The doctor nodded in response. "We're not aware of who they are yet, but we are aware of the fact that they have one. We'll discover their identity in court."

Bakura nodded again. He was pleased to know that Ryou at least had someone to defend him. Heck, maybe Bakura would defend Ryou a little with the occasional little (okay, that was a "little bit" of an understatement) white lie. If he did it just right, Ryou wouldn't end up convicted at all. He would still be safe, possibly under house arrest, however. Not like that would matter. It would only be for a short time, and then it would all be over. Ryou would be safe, and that would be the end of it all.

"When will we be in court?", Bakura asked, rubbing his hands over one another (Yami had brought his hand back to his side when Bakura began to speak).

"Friday," the doctor said. "Be prepared to testify."

"I will be," Bakura said, just a bit too over confidently.