"Ryou Bakura, give us your answer to Question 7," the teacher commanded.

I watched as Ryou stood up, and looked down at his desk, where his homework was sitting. "52," he answered, adjusting his glasses.

"Incorrect. How about... you, Seto Kaiba?", the teacher asked.

Kaiba stood up as Ryou sat down. "Negative 52," he announced, smirking into Ryou's line of vision.

"Correct. Thank you, boys," the teacher said.

I don't know how it all started. We were college roommates, and it was a rivalry. Then...

Tears were falling down Ryou's face. He had to take off his glasses and clean them because of the drops of water falling onto them. I saw a paper ball come flying at his head, and hit. The tears came falling faster, and didn't stop until the end of the day. Thank Ra, Math was the last class either of us had.

He was lying on the bed, crying, still. I put a hand on his back, I felt that feeling. That one where you felt bad for someone, and you really want to cheer them up. What was that called, again? Oh, right:

sym•pa•thy

/'simpəTHē/

noun

1. feelings of pity or sorrow for someone else's misfortune

2. understanding between people; common feeling

Sympathy. I actually had to get the book and look it up, because the word was so distasteful in my mouth, I couldn't remember it, much less, say it. I actually told him that; I didn't have a lot to say to him after all that.

"I have more sympathy for you than you think I do," I said to him."It causes me pain to see you in pain," I told him. "Let me help you," I begged of him.

He just cried and shook his head. I guess that was what made me want to kiss him... even if I didn't.

He was sorrowful the next day. I wasn't sure what to say to him. Of course, I wouldn't see him until Math class, the only class we shared. Our schedules were drastically different. Mine looked like this:

Reading/Writing (Advanced; Creative Writing IV): 10:15-11:30

Writing (Extended Period; Creative Writing IV): 11:30-12:45

Social Studies (Average; Essay Questions available): 12:45-2:00

Lunch: 2:10-2:40

Science (Minimal; Astrophysics): 2:50-4:05

Math (Advanced; Calculus; Additional Explanatory Questions available): 4:05-5:20

Then, his schedule looked a little something like this:

Social Studies (Average): 10:15-11:30

Science (Advanced; Ichthyology): 11:30-12:45

Reading/Writing (Minimal; Work can be skipped until later date): 12:45-2:00

Lunch: 2:10-2:40

Math (Average; Advanced Algebra) 2:50-4:05

Math (Extended; Advanced; Calculus) 4:05-5:20

Note the pattern. He's good at Science and Math. I'm good (really good) at Writing and Math. Ah, the joys of college. That's the point in your life where you realize where your strengths and weaknesses lie. Anyway, we wouldn't see each other until Math, maybe lunch if I decided to go to Lunch that day. I probably wouldn't have; I don't really eat.

Lunch is just the time where I go back to the dorm rooms and write a little, then rush to class, and be the first one to Science. There's another difference between mine and Ryou's schedules: I take a Minimal Astrophysics class after Lunch, but he takes an Advanced Ichthyology before Lunch. How can a person be so fascinated by fish, that that's what they want to study for the rest of their lives? The only reason I'm studying Astrophysics is because it'll come in handy for my books one day.

I'm an avid writer. "Bookworm Bakura", they would all call me.I had a method: read a book, write a book, book a holiday for your book...! Wait, no, not that. It was something like...

1. Read Lois Lowry's "The Giver".

2. Write a Science Fiction short story.

3. Read Caitlyn Connors' "The Right Way".

4. Write a Prison Escape novelette.

5. Read J. K. Rowling's "Harry Potter" series.

6. Write three Fantasy books in a series: a novella, a novelette, and a short story.

That's my weird factor for you. There's plenty more, but that's all you need to know for now.

Anyway, I show up at math class, but Ryou's nowhere to be found. After class, I found him in the bathroom, holding a knife to his wrist. It took talking to the math and reading teachers to discover that Ryou got teased, hard, for the fact that he now wears glasses, and ran away from class, contemplating suicide.

That was the second time I wanted to kiss him, and I nearly did it. But, my common sense kept me from it, and had me give him a nice, good lecture. It was pretty stern, but it helped. I felt good.

Ryou had been a total geek the night before, and he watched that movie, Beauty and the Beast, until he fell asleep. Everyone says that if Ryou and I were that movie, Ryou would be that princess, and I would be the Beast when he became the Prince he once was. They said that the Beast, himself, would be Seto Kaiba, but, little did they know, Kaiba was unpenetrable; there was no getting through that gum wad of cold cash.

This was the point where I felt guilty every time I had to leave Ryou's side. He was getting teased when I wasn't around, or when there wasn't anything I could do to stop it. I asked for a change of classes for the either of us, but he would be in classes too high for him, and I would be in classes to low for me. There was no way to protect him. My poor Ryou.

He saw me coming into the room, and told me to get out. Was I that hateable?

Ryou left for class before I did, but he left his phone. Text messages from Akefia. That little Egyptian jerk? The text messages were affectionate, too. I knew, he was just texting the wrong person.

I gave him his phone at Lunch. As I ran off, I could swear I saw him blushing. Did Akefia really mean to text him? I would never know, because I was running off to my dorm room to write for around fifteen minutes.

As I was returning, I got a call from another friend of mine, Yugi. He was telling me to come to the Social Studies classroom, quickly.

I ran, as fast as my legs would take me.

When I got there, the whole place was in ruins, and Yugi's boyfriend, Yami, was on the floor, lying in a puddle of his own blood. When I asked Yugi who had done it, he said that no one knew, expect the person who did it.

I had no idea who it could've been, but I helped carry Yami to the infirmary.

I came into the dorm room that night. Ryou was sitting on Akefia's lap, hugging him. Akefia was kissing him, on the cheek and the forehead. The second he saw me enter, he threw a balled-up piece of paper at me, and told me to get out.

I moved dorm rooms that night.

I was sure Akefia was dating Ryou now. He was making me upset that I didn't kiss Ryou sooner. Then again, they were getting teased, and not me and Ryou. We were TenderShipping, they were GemShipping. I liked the sound of the latter better than the former.

I still felt sorry for Ryou, though.

I passed Akefia in the hallway, and he pushed me down. Ryou, who was wrapped in his right arm, didn't pay any attention to it, and if he saw anything, he didn't seem to care.

That made me wonder if he like seeing my pain and misery.

Akefia's truly a jerk. He stole my homework from me and tore it into shreds. He spread the pieces out all over the hallway like confetti, and I ended up having to clean up everything. Will he go to no end to make me miserable after trying to come into my own room one day while he was visiting? Apparently, he can't find a stopping point in the Game of Cruelty.

No homework for the morning. Akefia's fault. I wasn't ready to admit that I was giving up, so I didn't. I came to visit them that night, but I found something truly awful.

Ryou was in the corner, Akefia hunched over him. Ryou was crying; he was truly frightened, but Akefia wouldn't stop. He launched on top of him, and I didn't get a chance to see anything else, as I had run away at that point.

I needed to tell someone. I was scared he would keep doing whatever he was doing to poor Ryou if I didn't stop him, but I wasn't sure if he would hurt him worse if I told on him. I didn't care if he hurt me, at this rate. I was terrified for poor Ryou's safety.

I just wasn't sure what to do.

I ran to Yugi and Yami, who was still recovering in the infirmary, for help. They said I should've told, but when I told them about possible consequences, none of us were sure of what to do.

We rested on it, but our nightmares just made it worse.

When I got to class that morning, Ryou was moaning with pain. I put a hand on his back, but he hissed in pain, slapped my hand, and told me not to touch it. After class, we both went into the bathroom, so I could inspect his back. And, when I looked, it was exactly what I thought it was.

There were marks all over his back, ones that looked like little holes, and ran deep. I would notice damage like that anywhere. It was stab wounds.

"Ryou, who did this to you?"

"Promise not to tell, Bakura-chan?"

"Bakura-chan?"

"It's what he told me to call you."

"Who's 'he'?"

"Never mind. Promise not to tell who did this to me?"

"Yes," I said, crossing my fingers behind my back.

"It was Akefia. One for every day we've been away from you, he said."

I ran my hand down his back. "But, you two've only been away from me for around 4 days. If I counted correctly, there are 108 stab wounds here."

"Pay attention in math class! 'Kura," he said, using his affectionate nickname for me, "108 is a multiple of four! 27 multiplied by four equals 108!"

"Was he stabbing you daily?"

"Yes."

"Ryou, he was giving you 27 stab wounds a day. How would you not notice that we was giving you more than one?"

"I don't know. All I know is... I need help, 'Kura. You're all I've got."

He ran over to me, and hugged me tightly. "It'll be okay, my dear, sweet Hikari. We'll get you help, we all will. I'll get Yugi's and Yami's help, and their friends will help us, and you'll be alright. It'll be okay. I promise you."

He cried into me so long, we missed our entire class, and headed straight to lunch.

"Thief King Akefia Bakura, you are to reveal yourself, and fight me to pay for your evil deeds!", Yami shouted upon entry to Ryou's and Akefia's dorm room, the room that was once mine and Ryou's, and would soon be again.

Akefia was laughing like a maniac. "I don't want to fight you. I want to fight him."

He was pointing at me. I was shocked, Yami was still fierce. "No one asked what you wanted! We only said what you would do! Now, fight me!"

"If I beat you and your Hikari, I'm going to fight Ryou's Yami! And, if both of you lose, it won't jest be Ryou with those stab wounds on his back."

"I'll accept that as a challenge."

Both Yami and Akefia took off their shirts, and jumped onto one another. After a few seconds, Yami fell to the ground. He was covered in slashes, laying in a puddle of his own blood. I saw it, and I felt déjà vu.

When I got there, the whole place was in ruins, and Yami was on the floor, lying in a puddle of his own blood.

Akefia was the one who had trashed the Social Studies room. He was the one who had slashed Yami and weakened him terribly. He had done those things as a distraction, so he could stab Ryou the first time 'round. But, Akefia had done the wrong thing:

He messed with me.

I stole the pocketknife from his hand, closed it, and threw it to Yugi, but Ryou caught it and gave it to Yugi. "If you wanted to fight me," I said, taking my shirt off and throwing it on top of Yami, "I'm here."

Akefia smiled, and laughed slightly. "I won't fight you. I've practically already killed a man. Another day, Bakura. Another day."

As he spoke, he was slowly walking backwards toward the windowsill. As he finished his sentence, he purposely fell backwards out of it. As Yugi, Ryou, and I all crowded to the window to look for him, Akefia had vanished from sight.

"Is he...!", Ryou asked, gripping onto my shirt.

"I don't know," I answered, with the only thing I could say.

Yugi filed a Missing Persons report, and he took Yami to the infirmary. Ryou and I looked for any signs of Akefia for the next three days, but we couldn't find anything. It was as if Akefia had vanished, but I think I knew why.

That year, Ryou and I graduated college together. I was a writer, and he was a Mathematician. We never parted ways, even if we did have strongly differed fields of work. We still live in the same house; him on the left side, and me on the right.

I still think I'm pretty sure why Akefia disappeared and didn't come back, but it's complicated. Something not even a scientist like Yugi or Yami, or a Mathematician like Ryou can figure out. That's because it only makes sense in the mind of a writer.

I'll try to explain it to you, but don't shoot me if you don't get it.

You see, Akefia's character was made up of hatred and love. You need three blocks of hatred and three blocks of love on each side of the scale to make it balance. When Ryou told him off to me, and I told him off to Yugi and Yami, the hatred side had gained the three blocks that the love had lost, unbalancing the scale.

If you don't have good balance of a character's emotions and qualities, then that character will either end up revised or thrown out altogether. Instead of deciding to revise himself, Akefia decided to erase himself from the story, instead. That's why he's gone.

As to exactly where he went, I think he's with every other character that was thrown out. He's either in Heaven or Hell, and I'm betting he's in the latter, rather than the former, because of all the bad things he's done to Ryou, and Yami, too.

How exactly he disappeared, I have no idea. That's a mystery for another time.

The only thing that matters to me right now is my Ryou, and that will never change. No one, and I mean no one, has ever gotten in the way of us since Akefia, and nothing ever will.

Sure, we might face new challenges in the future, but as long as the two of us, TenderShipping, Bakura and Ryou, are always together, and always work together, we'll defeat anything that comes our way... and stay with each other- forever- in the process.

FAQ's

Q: Why is Bakura a writer? Why are Yami and Yugi scientists? Why is Ryou a Mathematician?

A: My favorite character is Bakura, so I wanted to choose an occupation for him that looked right. I think having Bakura write books works out perfectly. Ryou's really smart, and has that 'unexpected' quality, so why not make him a Mathematician? As for Yugi and Yami... image those two in lab coats! See why I chose that, now?!

Q: Where would you say Akefia went? Why didn't they find some kind of hint that he was dead?

A: I'd say he went to the Underworld to pay for his crimes in the mortal world. The reason that they didn't find a body is because their school is built on a hill. When Akefia fell, he feel from a large height, so he fell rather rapidly, then died upon contact with the ground. His body then rolled down a hill into a nearby river, where he was carried off by the moving water, and never seen again.

People like to say I have a very wild imagination, but that makes sense, doesn't it?

Q: Explain "Bakura-chan".

A: Ryou was instructed to call Bakura "Bakura-chan" by Akefia for a very insulting reason. "-chan" is used in the Japanese language after a person's name to indicate that they are elder, not by just a few years, but by 20 years or more. Akefia is trying to tap into Bakura's sensitive side with this, considering he is, biologically, 5016 years of age.

Q: How long did it take you to write this story?

A: Just about three hours, give or take.

Q: Where are/What happened to Joey; Tèa; Tristan; Duke; Kaiba; Marik?

A: Marik had already graduated college by the events of the story and went on to become an Archeologist on Ancient Egypt. He would later get married to a young woman named Tauret he met while on an expedition. The two would have four children together- two sons (Marik Jr. and Aymr) and two daughters (Nakia and Lapis).

Once graduating college as an official dancer, Téa went to New York to follow her dream, eventually marrying Joey (who graduated college as a university professor) and having a child (a son, Damien) with him once she found out that Yugi was already married to Yami.

Tristan never went to college, and stayed at home. He would later work for KaibaCorp, as he felt he would have nothing better to do with his life. He still flirts with Serenity whenever he gets the chance, but neither one of them ever married.

Duke was finally able to find peace and settle down with a young woman his age named Meghan. He still yearns for Serenity, much to Meghan's dismay. Duke doesn't go to college or get a job, as he was able to rake in enough money from the sales of Dungeon Dice Monsters. He and Meghan have two children together- both daughters, named Acacia and Helena.

Kaiba stayed at home, as well, to run KaibaCorp. During the year that Bakura and Ryou graduated, he left KaibaCorp to Mokuba to open Duel Academy. He would later return home and run the company again. However, he does indeed get married, to an escaped convict from prison, named Scarlet, using the fake name London to get past authorites. Kaiba's fully aware of these facts, and still loves her. They would later have a daughter together, Rosalind Kaiba, whom they affectionately call Princess.

Q: Do you have any plans for a sequel?

A: I want to show the true aftermath of this from Ryou's point of view, but, because of the fact that this was a song-fic, I'd need a song for that, too. So... no song, no story. That's kinda how this goes down. Sorry.

Q: Do Bakura and Ryou ever have any children?

A: Yes. They adopt a daughter, only around a week or two old, and Ryou names her Isabella. Bakura loves her at times, but despises her all others, and Ryou tries to get Bakura to see the good in her, even if it is hard at some times than it is others.

Q: What about Yugi and Yami?

A: They adopt, too. Two children- one is a son, who's baby, and another a six-year-old daughter. Their daughter's name is Madeleine, and they name their son Jason. Madeleine prefers Yami to Yugi, and it's vice-versa with Jason. Yugi and Yami often joke about a Family Feud occurring, but it never happens.

Q: Where is this college, and what's it's name?

A: The college is located someplace in Kyoto. Kyoto is a good distance from Tokyo, which is where Domino City is said to be located. That's why Bakura, Ryou, Akefia, Yugi and Yami stay in dorm rooms.

It's Cherry Tree College. Kyoto is known for an abundance of cherry blossom trees. I'd also like to say Ryou spends a good amount of time in the cherry blossom orchards on the weekends. He's said to have a deceased sister in the original version (Japanese Manga, early English manga). In Japan, the cherry blossom is a common symbol of the dead.

Did I just make you sad? Well, feel sorry for poor Ryou! Feel it! FEEL IT!

Q: If Akefia's in this story, why isn't Atem?

A: You see, I needed a sensible villain. Otherwise, I can go into complicated mode and put it this way.

Yami needs Yugi- Pharaoh + Yami = existence (NO)

Akefia needs Bakura needs Ryou- Akefia + Bakura = existence

Bakura needs Ryou to live, but in turn, Akefia needs Bakura to live. Yami only needs Yugi to live, but since the Pharaoh has less memory than Akefia, Atem doesn't need Yami to live, but Akefia needs Bakura to live. Therefore, Akefia would have to attend the college to stay alive. Make sense? Good.

I probably just made all of your brains hurt.

Q: Do you know how exactly Ryou was able to ignore the extra 26 stab wounds going through him every time Akefia went on a stabbing rampage?

A: He was most likely lost in thought. Stuff like "When will this end", and "Someone, please, help me". If I start thinking things like that while I'm in pain, somehow, I can just ignore it. Maybe that's something Ryou's able to do.