Woo! Finally, I start a multiple chapter story. This had been gathering dust in my computer since last year. OLD OLD OLD story. I'm posting it in the wild hope that a multiple chapter story will bring me more reviews. Ha. Maybe...?

My God. No one reivews one shots. Well, I mean, people do, but you can't expect to get as many as th people who write multiple chapter fics. I actually think that one shots take more time and effort... Becuase you have to squish all those thoughts into one chapter and make it look good. Oh well.

Anyways, here's the disclaimer and story.

Disclaimer: I don't own Yuugiou or really anything...

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Ryou

Bakura stared at me.

Or…not Bakura. Me. A flawless portrait of myself pierced my soul and reminded me of the things I never was. Hate swelled in my heart and I wanted to jerk away and hide forever.

But I could not.

Because where my reflection stood, Bakura's image showed itself to me. This was the closest I was going to get to my yami.

I wondered what he would feel like. What his skin would feel like against mine. Warm? Cold? Comforting? Threatening?

Nothing.

The mirror was nothing but blank glass. It was cold, emotionless. There was nothing to feel. Absolutely nothing.

Nothing but a smooth surface that was cool on my cheek as I leaned against it. Nothing but that to remind me that my only portal to any reminder of my other half was only a smooth pane of glass.

But I didn't want a cold surface that bared all my insecurities. I wanted warm arms to sink into during times of hurt. Arms that wrapped around me and protected me. Arms that belonged to Bakura.

He always came out when Yugi came, hoping to witness some hidden evidence of his yami's weak side. For this reason, I was sure to keep my friendship with Yugi though he had begun to avoid me.

"Yami…" I whispered, then mentally slapping myself for making such a weak uttering. God, I could feel my own presence in the mirror mimicking my every weakness. I could not stand it…

The glass broke surprisingly easily. The huge panel collapsed into small shards that made red spill from my hands and stain the small reflecting triangles. The same glass that mocked be bit my knees as they gave way and hit the floor. Some sank and embedded themselves into my skin and a thousand little me's stared at my face.

Everything was jumbled in a big mess. I had done it. I had messed everything up. Everything was horribly wrong. I had destroyed my only door t seeing something close to my yami and now it was my job to clean it up.

Salty liquid aroused my senses and I could not tell if it were blood or tears. Everything was such a mess…

A sudden, cold sensation gripped my mind and I froze as my yami's presence towered over me. I scrambled at the glass to try to hide the mess from Bakura's eyes, freezing once again as his strong and warm hand gripped my own shaking, bloody ones.

I was to be punished for sure. I was to be punished for making such a mess. For being bad. For making a mistake.

But at least he was here.

He was here not because of Yugi or even because of the presence of a Millennium Item…he was here because of me.

"You've been coming to see this mirror quiet a lot, haven't you?" Bakura spoke of my mirror as if it still existed.

"It's broken." I heard my own voice whisper helplessly. "I broke it." My yami was silent for a second Was he going to hit me?

"No…it's not quite broken." He picked up a piece and wiped some blood from it. "Look…it's just become a thousand pieces."

"It's broken." I said and immediately regretted it. What if he was to leave? What if he was to leave because I had contradicted his words?

Bakura gave me a long, hard look and directed his attention to my physical wounds.

"You're bleeding." He said simply and reached out as if embracing me. I felt myself being hoisted up by his strong arms and blinked in surprise. I realized that he was setting me on my bed when my body hit its firmness and I drew my knees up to my face. Pieces of my mirror had ripped open my jeans and tore at my flesh, a curious fact I discovered. They had the same effect on other parts of my body, I found, as lines of red overflowed on my skin when I slashed it open with a smooth triangle I realized I was still holding.

"Ryou, stop that." Bakura's firm voice startled me and I mentally slapped myself for forgetting his presence.

"Stop it." Bakura said in a softer tone, making me freeze. "Give it to me now." He grasped the triangle in my hand, getting so close to me.

But he did not touch me…

He did not touch me and I did not feel his skin against mine, which all I really wanted, but he was not to know that. If he knew that, he might go away. I should be grateful for him being here at all.

"Come on, Ryou." Bakura's tone had a icy edge of impatience to it now. "Give me the glass." I didn't let go. I didn't want to let go for if I did, he would have what he wanted and he would be satisfied and I would be horribly alone again.

No, I couldn't let go.

"Let go or I'm leaving." Bakura's voice was menacing now, full of ice and no room for warm comfort.

I let go.

The piece of glass had seemed light enough in my hand but now dropped to the floor with what seemed to be incredible weight. The triangle split cleanly into two of its kind and it immersed all of my attention.

I reminded me of my mess that I had yet to clean and suddenly, the sea of triangles that shot lovely blurs of light to the ceiling seemed for more important than anything else.

I had begun to unravel myself from my curled position and stand when Bakura's voice held me down.

"Don't move." All the calmness that had left his voice a minute ago was back. "I'll clean it up later, after I go and get some bandages for you, okay?"

No…not okay. This was my mess to clean. But I did not want to make him mad and make him leave. If I screwed up, I knew that that calmness would leave his voice and he would hit me and he would leave; leave me with only the darkness to warp around my shoulders.

"I'm going to go some bandages, alright?" I knew Bakura was trying to look me in the eye. No, not alright for him to leave. Please stay…

In my panic, my hand shot out and grasped his shirt in a desperate plea for Bakura to stay. I quickly jerked my hand away and hung my head in shame, biting the insides of my cheeks until I tasted metallic blood. If I touched him, he might get angry with me.

Bakura squatted down to my eye level and tried, again, to look me in the eye. I concentrated on a pair of blossoming red flower bud-like drops from my blood soaked fingers. God, now I had made him messy…how many times could I fuck up?

"Don't cry, Ryou…" Bakura's' breath whispered as it hit my neck. I was crying? I must have been…salty fluid hit my tongue and I didn't think blood had gotten on my face.

"I'm not going anywhere…just to get some bandages. You're hurt, see?" Bakura fingered some of my cuts, touching me. I swung my legs to show him that it was okay- they didn't hurt so bad and he didn't have to leave me.

Besides, I had gotten him dirty with my blood and I had yet to clean it up. Bakura frowned and followed my gaze, noticing the stain on his shirt and making me tense. Was it now? Would the punishment begin now?

"Don't worry about that. You're covered in more blood than I am." Bakura paused and a small smirk formed on his lips. "Besides…blood doesn't bother me much."

I wasn't satisfied. I could not understand why Bakura was not angry about the mistake I had made. Please hit me, I pleaded in my head. I deserved it.

"You can come with me if you don't want to be alone." It took me a moment to realize Bakura was talking about going to get the bandages. I stood up at once, relived to go with him and bit back a cry of pain as glass shards bit their poisonous fangs further in my flesh. I couldn't cry…if I did, then Bakura might now want me to come with his anymore. If I did, I might get left alone in the dark again.

"Are you okay?" Oh God…Bakura had seen. He'd seen my pain and would forbid me to follow him. I quickly jerked my head up and down, pleading him. My yami opened and closed his mouth as if he wanted to say something but decided for silence instead. At last, he began walking out the door, beckoning for me to follow.

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Bakura

As I approached Ryou with the bandages and tweezers, I could not help but inwardly cringe at my hikari's appearance.

His clothes hung on him like a billowing silk shirt on a metal hanger, a result of him forgetting to feed himself. His brown eyes danced with something all too close to insanity and they seemed far too large for his face. Ryou's hair had lost all it's fluffiness and a smile no longer graced his lips with it's sweet, soft sigh.

There was a time when Ryou had feared my gaze but now, it seemed that the situation was reversed. His blank gaze filled me with ice and made me avoid his eyes.

The glass came out easily enough, as easy as glass could come out of skin while the victim cried with broken glass sobs. I took the crying as a good sign, a sign of emotion, as Ryou had been spending most of his time locked up in some dark room blank and muttering about spirits and hell.

Bandages failed to show much contrast against Ryou's pale, almost sickly, skin. When I was done, I placed al utensils upon a coffee-colored table and sat next to my hikari.

"Would you like to get some sleep?" I asked. Ryou never slept anymore. All windows were shielded with thick curtains making it quite impossible to tell night from day. Inside the house, all hours were a sleepless night Ryou spent cuddling within himself in some dark corner.

I never received an answer from my hikari. Either Ryou never heard me or he did not want to sleep. I sighed and brushed some hair from his face, making him blink with surprise, as if this were the first time I had touched him.

"Are you going to be okay?" I murmured. Ryou said nothing. "Would you like me to leave?" I tried again to get a response from the boy. It worked.

Ryou turned to me, eyes wide with terror. His gaze chained me to him and I felt as if I would rip something from the inside of me if I were to leave.

"How about…you get some sleep and I'll go clean up the mess in your room?" I suggested. Big mistake. Ryou, reminded of the broken mirror, began to get up again. Remembering his pain the last time he had stood, I pushed him back down on the couch and held him there.

"Ryou…just get some sleep, okay?" There was a long pause before Ryou finally gave in, nodding his head and cuddling against the cushions of the couch.

He didn't let me go until he was asleep.

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The mirror had taken less than a minute to clean but the blood was something else. The sight of Ryou's blood scattered across the floor and little triangle shards had unnerved me in a way blood never had before. In a way, that blood was my blood. Ryou's body was also mine yet I could not force myself to think of it that way.

Ryou was still sleeping when I dumped the shards into the pale dumpster in the kitchen. The curtains that blocked out rays of Ra had the time of the day from my eyes and I felt a sudden urge to explore the world my hikari lived in.

The wind was cool, just enough to cause anyone who didn't don a jacket's ears to grow numb and face to blister red. It was either early spring or autumn, I reasoned.

True, Ryou and I never saw much of each other but I had never considered that too big of a problem. But now…

Now, Ryou's eyes would follow the Pharaoh and his hikari in a yearning sort of jealousy, quickly averting his glance when they noticed his staring. I had never realized just how lonely Ryou was until now…no mother, no sister, no father. He lived a lonely life with only me as company.

No one would notice if he was to disappear. No one would even blink an eye.

A small shop that sat alone in a dark corner of the street caught my eye. An old woman sat on a plastic bench, reading a newspaper in a foreign tongue glanced up as I approached. The shop sold the most random of items. Pink plastic flamingoes, bead covered dream catchers, deformed clocks, origami paper fans…

…and an angel.

The angel was of glass. It was a simple glass structure, of an cherub closing her eyes and holding her hands together in prayer. Thin water-colored hair drifted past her shoulders and I could hear her soft voice silently cry.

It reminded me of Ryou.

A card was taped on the self she sat on, highlighter letters announcing $5 in a bored cashier color. I grabbed the angel and handed a five dollar bill to the elderly woman on my way out the door, privately smiling at my own honest purchase.

Oh the way back, I heard the angel sing sweet, whispering songs in my head.

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I read through that and went, "stupid stupid stupid." Wow, my stuff a year ago was different. I think that shop scene was much too short... too lazy to change it but it's also nice to perserve a piece of old work to make fun of.

LOL, it's mentioned in my profile but anyone who would like to participate in a RPG is welcome. Just send a email with a screenname or real name, whatever, and THREE anime characters you would like to RPG as. I'll send you the link for the website through email since FFnet doesn't let us put links in the stories. Or, you know, you could go to my profile and get the link there...

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE READ AND REVIEW. I've spent whole days on this. Please spend a few minutes of your time in writing a quick review. A quick message is enough! Please hit that little blue/purple button on the bottom left hand corner.