A/N: I am not even lying when I say 'I have never watched the dubbed version of YuGiOh, only the Japanese version' but if you've been on this site long enough, you should be able to know who's who. It's not even that hard hahaha. If Ryou seems OOC to you, that's probably because I heard the dubbed version made him a total pussy but if you read the manga and spend more than ten minutes roaming the Japanese YuGiOh fandom, you'll see that Ryou is, in the eyes of the fans across the ocean, less of an angel than he appears. This fic takes place right after Yugi's duel with Bakura during Battle City and before Jounouchi and Rishid's.

Disclaimer: I do not own YuGiOh. It belongs to Takahashi Kazuki and the nice people at Studio Dice. And I suppose the TRPG reference is with Toei.

Constructive criticism welcome. Flame me if you must but really, why won't you take the time you used to flame me and put it toward something more useful to society? Like watching Tiger and Bunny for instance.

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Ryou wasn't entirely sure what time it was when the Duel against Yugi finally ended and someone (most likely either Jounouchi or Honda) had carried him to a bed in the infirmary. Although he was aware of what was going on outside of his soul room, his body didn't have any strength to move and Ryou wasn't sure if he himself was mentally strong enough of going 'outside' anyway. It struck Ryou as funny that whenever he dwelled too long on such thoughts, it was almost as if it was he and not the spirit of the Millenium Ring that was the intruder in his body.

Speaking of the spirit...

Ryou opened the door of his soul room and looked across the hall at the dark, cold door across from his room. He knew that Yugi and the others thought him as an innocent victim in the whole Millenium battles mess; that he didn't know what happened whenever Bakura took over his body. Well, only half of that was true. Although Ryou never really helped Bakura or egged him on or anything, he wasn't completely ignorant of what Bakura did when he was in control.

For instance, he remembered everything that happened during the TRPG game, though he had somehow lead Yugi to believe that he had only gained consciousness near the end, before Bakura impaled his/their hand on a spire on the board.

He remembered Bakura defeating the strange little boy (Kotsuzuka, or something, wasn't it? One of Bandit Keith's former lackies...) in the cemetary and sending him and his companions to their deaths in order to take their Puzzle Cards and enter the tournament.

He remembered vaguely Marik's plan of letting Ryou take control of the body in the duel against Yugi and then Bakura taking over once again in order to protect his/their body and mind from Osiris's attack. Ryou wasn't sure if he wanted to throttle Marik or give the Egyptian a big hug after Battle City was over. On one hand, if they hadnt played their cards right, Ryou would have been reunited with his sister instead of on a bed on a blimp. On another hand, thanks to Marik, Ryou was temporarily free from the oppressing dark spirit residing in the Millenium Ring and was able to leave his soul room again. Though there wasn't anywhere to go except back inside or to the room across the hall.

Ryou frowned when he walked toward Bakura's door and resisted the urge to knock. He was mentally and spiritually drained at the time of the duel from being trapped in the Ring for long periods of time; Yugi and Marik (well, Rishid, really) had both mentioned that there was a high risk that if he was hit by Osiris's direct attack that he would die. Ryou had always believed that the damage induced by Solid Vision would never have longlasting effects on the players but he supposed it was different if a God was involved.

Sure, Bakura was strong, but the attack of Osiris could have apparently killed Ryou at the time. There was no way that Bakura could have been unscathed by the attack.

Tentatively, Ryou knocked on the door, wondering if Bakura was even conscious. There was no answer and Ryou breathed out a small huff of air. Contrary to popular belief, he didn't hate the other personality. Sure Bakura had made his life hell when he first moved to Domino City and had threatened the lives of his friends on more than one occassion but Ryou could see that just pure greed wasn't what was fuelling Bakura. There was something more...something darker that his other half wouldn't tell him. And probably never will.

"Bakura, I'm coming in." Ryou announced softly.

There was still no answer but Ryou opened the door anyway. The soul room was cold and dark, with barely anything inside. Ryou could see tunnels leading outward and knew that unlike his own soul room, Bakura's was much larger, and much more of a maze. He supposed it had to do with Bakura being attached to the Millenium Ring. Shaking himself out of these thoughts, Ryou looked around and found what he was looking for almost immediately.

A slim shape with messy white hair was laying on its side on the cold ground. Even through the darkness, Ryou could see the tattered clothes and hear the ragged breathing of the dark spirit residing in the Ring. Walking over quickly but carefully, he knelt down next to Bakura and was about to touch his shoulder when he noticed the peaceful look on the spirit's face.

Oh, he's asleep

It wasn't a 'I'm tired after the duel, wake me up at 7'. It wasn't even a 'I'm so mad I lost that I'm going to sleep my troubles away' sleep that Bakura tended to do. It was a 'I just got the living shit pummelled out of me and now I'm so tired and hurting all over I'm just going to roll over and sleep like the dead' sleep that Ryou had tended to do back when he was a bully-magnet in Britain and before the Ring came to his possession. Of course, now that Bakura had sent all his former bullies to the Shadow Realm, Ryou had all but stopped sleeping the 'living-shit-dead' sleep. It was almost nostalgic.

It was rare that he could just sit down and stare at Bakura's face without the other one lashing out. Although Ryou didn't want to sound like a narcissist, he couldn't help but notice just how cute Bakura's face was when it wasn't scrunched up in an expression of rage or loathing. Resisting the urge to drag a finger down the pale porcelain skin, Ryou gathered up the spirit in his arms and laid Bakura's head on his lap, threading his fingers through the messy but soft hair.

There was no sense of time in the soul room and so Ryou had no idea how long he sat there just patting his darker half's head. Every once in a while, Bakura would let out a whimper or twitch and Ryou would have to whisper comfortingly into his ear before he settled down again. Not that Ryou minded or anything.

After what seemed like two years, Bakura's eyes opened slowly and looked up at Ryou in mild confusion. It took Bakura another few seconds to realize just what was going on and shoot up, almost breaking Ryou's nose in the process.

"Calm down, Bakura!" Ryou exclaimed, holding down the frantic spirit. Bakura's eyes looked up at him again in slight panic and Ryou wondered briefly what Bakura was thinking about. Although they were in Bakura's soul room, Ryou wasn't sure of Bakura's thoughts or emotions due to the heavy walls Bakura had set up. If Ryou wanted to know anything about the inner workings of his darker half, he would probably have to venture into the maze part. And possibly die there.

"O-Oh...it's you." Bakura took a calming breath while running a shaky hand through his hair. He didn't look at Ryou for a few minutes and when he looked back up, his face was devoid of emotion once more. It pained Ryou slightly that Bakura wouldn't even trust him. They were sharing a body for Christ's sake! Ryou snapped himself back to attention when he realized Bakura had been saying something. "...ry that I lost the match. I would have won if it wasn't for the God Card."

"I don't blame you for that," Ryou answered truthfully. "I was just worried about the damage Osiris might've done to you."

"I'm fine."

"We both know that's not true, Bakura."

Bakura glared at Ryou heatedly, annoyed that the softspoken boy could dare use such a strict tone against him. Ryou met his gaze evenly, knowing that Bakura in his weakened state wouldn't pose much of a threat. Neither of them looked away until finally, Bakura snorted as if wordlessly saying, 'this is below me' and broke eye contact.

"I never got to thank you for helping me back then." Ryou said, knowing that Bakura wanted to be left alone with his own thoughts. It wouldn't do for Bakura to be worked up; it pained Ryou to see Bakura in pain and he was sure if he stayed around any longer, Bakura would not be getting the rest he needed.

Bakura looked at him in vague confusion. "What?"

"The last turn of the duel, remember? You protected me against Osiris's attack."

"It was my fault to begin with, anyway." Bakura waved a hand airily in the air as if swatting away Ryou's appreciation.

"If we want to get into technicalities, it was Marik's fault. I mean, it was his idea and all."

"Yeah, but I chose to listen to his stupid idea." Ryou felt a pang of annoyance at Bakura. Stupid, stubborn... "Anyway," Bakura continued. "I was only trying to protect the body. I mean, if it got damaged, or if you died or something, it would've been pretty bad for me, you know?"

Ryou was used to Bakura's attitude and no longer felt any hurt when hearing such cold words. He merely gave Bakura a brief smile and stood up, brushing dust off his pants as he did so. "Well, anyway, I really appreciate what you did for me. And for yourself, I suppose. Rest up, Bakura. Hope you get better soon." And without another word, Ryou left the room and returned to his own soul room.

After Ryou had gone, Bakura looked up at the closed door. He could still remember when the little brat had been afraid of him and he wondered just when Ryou had started to stick up more for himself. At first Bakura had allowed it because it had been slightly entertaining, but soon Ryou seemed to grow more of a backbone, treating the dark spirit almost like some sort of 'equal'. Bakura was also a bit confused about the warm look in Ryou's eyes whenever they had looked down on him. It wasn't an emotion he was used to, though he could swear he had seen them in someone else's eyes 3000 years ago.

Wincing as a sharp pain lanced through his head when he tried to remember the eyes, Bakura leaned back against the wall of his soul room.

Soon, I'll have my revenge, Pharaoh. Bakura thought to himself. While usually his dreams were that of vengeance against the nameless king and the massacre of Kul Elna, this time he saw not blood and darkness, but light and a warmth enveloping him.

"Rest, Bakura. I'll guard your dreams from across the hall tonight"

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End notes: I have no idea just what I was going for when I wrote this. It must have been the combined efforts of procrastinating for law final and drinking too much raspberry-ginger tea. I'm not a major fan of it and it must have messed up my brain. The love Bakura remembers is from his mommy but if you REALLY want to read it that way, you could always read it as ATM and add former ATMxThief King Bakura into the RyouxBakura here.