Summary: Bakura has changed. But no one sees it. No matter what he does no one believes him. Well, except Ryou. So after a fight between Ryou and Joey, what will he do?

Couples: none so far

Warnings: cursing. It may seem as though theres some bashing, but its not on purpose.

. line .

Bakura looked up at the ceiling, finding shapes in the strange pattern. He was lying on his bed, staring at nothing as Ryou had friends over. They didn't want him there, he knew that. He only left to get a drink, all of them had silenced and glared at him until he was gone. He was tired of that, the hate they always showed for him. Ok he wasn't the nicest guy around, far from it, but he was sorry, truly sorry for the things he did. He wanted forgiveness, or at least something other than hatred, they could shun him and that would be better. The worst though, was the conversations they had about him and Ryou. How he might hurt him. They almost always had one, and Ryou would say how he changed, and that he'd never hurt him. Which was true, Bakura loved Ryou… Like a brother of course. But no one cared about that. Yugi, Yami, Joey, Seto, Tea, Tristan, even Duke! They all hated him, and tried to keep Ryou away from him when they could. why couldn't they just try to-

CRASH!

Bakura jumped up from his bed, and walked quickly down the stairs to see a broken lamp on the ground. He looked up and saw a pissed Joey and Ryou. Joeys glare traveled to Bakura

"Get outta here ya jerk! No one wants ya here, your nothing but a-" Ryou growled and stomped his foot.

"STOP! Stop saying things like that about him, and to him! He's not going to hurt me, or you!" Ryou screamed, stomping again, but this time his socked foot landed in the sharp pieces of the broken lamp. Blood dripped from his foot, and everybody gasped. Instantly bakura picked ryou up and sat him on the couch.

"Ill go get the first aid kit, be right back ok?" Bakura whispered softly, Ryou nodded, teeth clenched in pain. Only seconds later Bakura was cleaning his Hikari's foot, gently and caringly. Ryou hissed a bit as the alcohol was put on it, but soon it ceased and he smiled at his Yami.

"Thank you Bakura." Bakura smiled softly back,-

Only to be punched in the jaw by Joey.

Bakura fell backwards after the sneak attack, onto the sharp glass that was still on the floor.

"How dare ya, you think you can waltz right in, an make us think you've changed? Just by fixin a foot?" He was growling, almost read to pounce. That's the second Ryou snapped, and in a blinding motion, he slapped Joey, straight across the face.

"JOEY WHEELER! How dare he? HOW DARE YOU! You fight about something I try to put to bed, break a lamp, yell at my Yami, and after he helped my fix my foot you punch him and yell again?" Everyone was startled at Ryou, then more glares at Bakura.

"You made him like this!"

"You bastard, how could you change Ryou?"

"GET OUT! NO ONE WANTS YOU HERE!

"Your nothing but a no good thief!" The last was from Yami, whos glare was clearily seen, as were the few tears in Bakuras eyes. Bakura got up slowly as to avoid anymore cuts. And looked up at all of them.

" I can only say I'm sorry so many times. I can only do so many things before theres nothing left. I have nothing else to say to you people, nothing left to do. Ive begged and pleaded. Ive searched for a way to prove myself but no matter what I do, you turn me away. So fine. If no one wants me Ill leave. I hope you all have good lifes. Ryou, thank you for always being there for me. Tea, good luck as a dancer. As for the rest, I'm sorry I never got a chance to learn much about you." Bakura finished, and grabbed his coat. He smiled at ryou before walking out the door… for good… for three seconds everything was frozen. Ryou was close to tears. But the silence broke with loud cheers of celebration. Woops and woohoos were passed along. That's when Ryou snapped, again.

"Get out." He said simply to all of them. They just stared.

"wha?" Joey asked, mid party dance.

"Get out of my house, and don't come back until Bakura does!" Ryou screamed, everyone was frozen again, startled at the usually quiet boys outburst.

"Ryou, why do you care about him so much?" Yugi, the only other person who hadn't insulted Bakura because of his nice nature, asked. Ryou glared at him, not because it was yugi, but because he was pissed.

"Why do you love Yami? Because he's a good friend, always there for you, protects you makes you laugh! That's why I love Bakura! It may come as a surprise but he really has changed. He's still sarcastic, and crazy, but that's who he is! He doesn't want to hurt anyone anymore!" Ryou was crying, but a glare still graced his face, after three seconds the doorbell rang and Ryou went to go answer it. Outside was a crying Mokuba, who ran straight into Seto's arms, sobbing. Seto, though surprised, didn't waste a minute comforting his younger brother. When mokuba removed his face from Setos chest it was obvious he had been beat up. He had a black eye and a cut on his cheek, it looked as if it had been washed a little but poorly, and still needed a bandage. Everyone gasped as Mokuba sat down, revealing that wasn't his only injury, his hand had been twisted in the oddest way, but had a make shift cast to protect it, made from part of a t-shirt.

"Bakura!" Ryou gasped, instantly recognizing the cloth as his Yamis. Mokuba nodded.

"Mokuba, what happened howed you get hurt" Seto petted mokubas hair softly. Mokuba smiled a little bit before frowning at the memory.

"some guys came, they wanted a ransom for the rich brat, brother of Seto Kaiba." He looked down, Seto put an arm over is shoulders in comfort. "they attacked me in an alley way. I tried to fight back but, they were a lot bigger and there was three of them. So I tried to call for help. That's when I saw Bakura, but I thought it was Ryou at first, until I saw his eyes. He looked over at what was happening, and in only five seconds the guys were on the ground, and he was ripping his shirt to fix my hand." Seto's eyes glazed, Bakura had saved his brother, even after they had been so horrible to him. "he really saved my butt. Then he brought me here and left. He said that you were here, and I could probably properly bandage my cut and hand here." Ryou nodded and left to fetch the first aid kit from the couch. After they had Mokuba all fixed up Seto took his leave to take him home. He said if he saw Bakura he would call.

!

It had been a week since Bakura left. No one knew where he might have gone. All of them had been a bit reluctant to look for Bakura, but Ryou Seto and Mokuba changed there minds with a few threats they agreed. Ryou had basically gone insane in the search for his Yami. He never left a phone, whether it was his cell or home phone, and he hadn't slept much since Bakura left. The others kept trying to get him to go to sleep, and in Yamis case 'forget about the no good thief' but Ryou refused, and slapped Yami, every time.

Ryou had been driving himself insane, following any leads about Bakura, even if they were absurd. For that entire week there was no break in the case, until Friday afternoon, when Ryous home phone rang.

RING!

Ryou jumped at the sound and scattered to pick up the phone, the others had surrounded him eager for any news that can end the search they didn't want… like a body.

"Hello!" Ryou finally managed to grab the phone.

"Hello? Mr. Bakura? Your looking for your brother yes?" Ryou smiled, this might actually be a break.

"Yes, yes I am do you know where he is?" Seto put a hand on ryous shoulder to calm him down.

"I'm not sure. But I think I saw him at the crantrell karaoke bar." Ryou quickly wrote down the name, thanked the man and hung up.

"we have another lead!" He yelled, running outside. The other followed and in minutes the were at the bar. Ryou busted through the doors, the second he did a sound filled all there ears, and Tea smiled.

"Hey, someones about to sing Beat It by Michael Jackson!" They walked into the simmly light room as someone began singing. After there eyes adjusted, they all gasped. It was Bakura, Yami Bakura, singing. And he was good. He looked different, his hair shinned, like a knife. Sharp but shiny. The strangest thing was the grin he wore whenever he wasn't singing. He was moving to the beat perfectly, dancing like water. They stared in awe, his eyes never met with them, but they knew that there was content within them. He was happy, accepted by the people here. They were cheering and yelling. He was smiling, and was so… different from what they knew. The song ended and faint music played until the next act.

"We should leave him here. He's safe, and happy. And that way everyone wins." Yami whispered to the group, many people nodded before turning to leave. To there surprise Bakura was leaning by the door, eyes fixed on the group.

"So, what'd you think of the performance?" he said, absent mindedly. Everyone was startled but eventually Yugi spoke up.

"You were great. But we see your happy here, so we were leaving." Bakura looked up and cocked his head slightly to the side. He scanned the group, seeing everyone was there he shrugged.

"I don't care if I'm happy here. Are you happy I'm here and not with you?" a silence fell over the group, no one wanted to admit it. Much. But they were, except Ryou.

"well… yes we are." Yami shrugged a bit. He wasn't afraid of the tomb robbers anger. Not in public anyway.

"alright then. So I guess all is well… By the way Mokuba how is your hand? Any better?" Mokuba blinked before grinning.

"Yeah, its a lot better, just twisted a bit but itll heal. Thanks again for helping me." Seto nodded his appreciation. Bakura smiled slightly. He let his head hang down, his bangs and there shadows covering his eyes, he pushed himself off the wall and walked past them.

"That's good to hear. Well I need to get back to work. Enjoy your lives." The all just stared as he walked by. No one but Ryou saw the single tear slip down his cheek.

THIS IS MYMAGICALLINE!

Me: HI! Ok so this is the end, or is it!

Bakura: you are not going to leave me crying! Atleast let me kill them!

Me:… no. anyways, if I get ten reviews Ill make another chapter.

P.S.: no I'm not stopping question time, but I am a bit tired of it… for now! I just don't wanna hand you guys a load of crap, so I'm working on it and hopefully itll be out soon. But I wanted to give you SOMETHING today and this is it.