Note: I don't own Yu-gi-oh, or its characters and I get no money from this

Ryo sat still in his silent house, his head in his hands as his sobs seemed finally to have stopped. So much for his birthday, he thought gloomily raising his head to glance at the thick blanket of blackness surrounding him and the shadows lining the walls. It was so empty, mirroring the loneliness he felt.

He was so lonely it physically hurt, he never realized how much it hurt to be alone. His so-called friends hadn't even remembered it was his birthday, they didn't even call him by his first name. They didn't care about him anyway, the only reason they'd even bothered befriending him before was to keep an eye on his Millennium Ring.

He shivered thinking of the Millennium Item he had once had and the evil spirit it had house, the same spirit which had torn his soul from his body whenever he needed the "vessel," he didn't even care what he was called, Ryo had just been a tool in his evil plans. He was gone now and on one hand that was great but he still found himself missing him, at least he'd never been alone. He was fed up of being alone.

He didn't even have a family anymore, he had lost his precious mother aged five when she died giving birth to his sister. He still missed his mother, she had always loved him, always made him feel safe and loved. He could still see her face smiling at him as she was led away into the delivery room, she had offered him a sweet smile as she tied back her long white hair before saying:

"Don't worry about me Ryo, I'll see you again soon and you can meet your baby sister."

That had been the last time he'd seen her alive, the very last time. Amane had died too, almost seven years later.

He had always tried his best to be a good big brother to her, always tried to be kind to her and keep her safe. She had been his only friend in the world as they were home-schooled by that strict heartless woman Mrs Trentt with two Ts. Ryo sighed thinking of his sister, he used to write letters to her in heaven. How childish, it was his fault she was dead to begin with.

They'd been playing outside, Amane had been chasing a butterfly and he was helping her but the damned thing had flown closer and closer to the road, he hadn't even noticed at the time. He'd tripped on his shoelace and stopped to tie it but Amane had carried on running, he'd looked up to see her run in front of a truck. It had hit her before he could even open his mouth to scream her name.

The driver didn't even stop, Ryo had ran to her but she was already dead. Her fragile body a mere broken heap in a pool of scarlet blood, she was dead too. Mrs Trentt had been furious with him, his father upon returned from Egypt had been livid. He'd been screamed at so much, each word another burden of guilt to bear for the rest of his life.

He'd never been close to his father, he was always away on business which was obviously more important to him than his family. He hadn't been there when his wife had died, nor his daughter and he didn't exactly like Ryo. Ryo was too sensitive, not good enough at sports, not smart enough in school… than there were the more serious things like reminding him too much of his wife and blaming him for Amane's death. The visits had become less frequent, in fact Ryo hadn't seen him since he'd moved to America. Now he'd never see him again.

He reached out for the letter he'd received from Egypt and re-read the awful words again:

Dear Mr Bakura,

We regret to inform you an unfortunate incident occurred on site, some scaffolding broke and fell on some of our workers. Unfortunately your father was one of the ones injured and died within a few minutes. We are very sorry for your loss.

He scrunched up the letter and threw it across the room, the rest was about contact information regarding personal possessions and his father's body. Just because they hadn't been close didn't mean he didn't care about his father because he did, had. In fact it was worse, he'd never be able to make things right with him now.

Ryo sighed solemnly and looked again at the creepy shadows lining the walls, so empty, so alone. He didn't want to be here but he didn't want to burden his supposed friends, he wondered if they'd care his father was dead. Probably not he thought sadly, if he was so unimportant to them they didn't remember his birthday than they wouldn't care about this.

He wasn't used to having friends anyway, obviously he wasn't very good at it. He'd been home-schooled until America and then he'd been bullied mostly, white hair and British accents apparently weren't cool. Being friends with the King of Games had ended that, now he was ignored. Sometimes he honestly wondered if he was invisible, he'd been so miserable lately he found it hard to be himself anyway.

He was terrified, even though the Millennium Items were gone, he was still terrified the spirit would return for its "vessel," being forced from your body was one of the worst experiences of his life and being sent to the horror of the Shadow Realm was another. He was scared of those things and scared that he was secretly evil inside and that the spirit was him.

It sounded so stupid he hadn't told anyone, he didn't intend to. They'd just laugh and mock him but he had got his sister killed so he had to have some darkness in him, or maybe sharing a body with the spirit had tainted him or something or being sent to the Shadow Realm, Mai had been sent to the Shadow Realm and she'd had problems with that evil Seal of Orichelcos. He was scared he'd been cursed and that was why his father had died. He was fed up of thinking these things, feelings this guilt and suffering alone in the silent darkness, he was fed up of this stupid hopeless life he was living.

Ryo stood and went into the kitchen, flicking on the light as he went, he could do with a refreshing glass of water. Eating would probably be better but he hadn't been hungry in a while, he hadn't been eating or sleeping well and even when he did sleep the nightmares ravished him. Sighing sadly his eyes found there way to the kitchen knives, sitting innocently on the counter in their neat little rack.

Hesitantly he reached out and picked one up, the biggest one. It glinted whenever a lightening flash from outside landed on it, it begged him to use it. Ryo stared at it for a long while before holding it to his pale flesh and slicing through it.

A gasp escaped him as he watched the trickle of blood from the wound, some said cutting yourself made you feel better so… he brought the knife across his arm again. And again. And again. And again. And again.

He only stopped when the knife slipped from his grip and his knees buckled beneath him causing him to collapse in the pool of his scarlet blood. He looked shakily at his arm, it was more crimson than flesh colored now. It hurt but the pain was becoming less, he figured he'd gone too far with the whole cutting thing.

He hadn't the strength to raise his head, let alone reach for the phone and calling for help would alert nobody, the nameless neighbours would never hear him, morbidly he wondered how long it would take to find his body.

Dying couldn't be that bad anyway, his whole family were dead and he'd join them soon. He smiled to himself as he realized he wouldn't be alone anymore, or afraid anymore. He hoped so anyway, thinking was becoming hard and so was keeping his eyes open. His eyelids were so, so heavy it was unbelievable. What was the point in fighting it anyway? He needed the sleep and he was tired, so very tired…

Note: Review if you want Ryo to live