Disclaimer: Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's belongs to Kazuki Takahashi.

A Child's Cry

It was the night after Rua and Ruka's duel against Demak. We were getting ready to camp in for the night. I got a fire started to keep us warm during the cold night here in Satellite. Rua was pretty excited about that staring in awe at the fire I created. Ruka would berate him saying it's just a fire. To which the two would then playfully bicker about. Rua and Ruka (though I think it was mostly Rua who) decided they wanted to sleep beside me with me in the middle. All in all it was a rather peaceful night. They seemed to be holding up pretty well. I was worried that because of the duel and the way it ended would traumatize them. I'm glad to see my worries for them weren't becoming reality.

I woke up to the sound of crying. I saw the sky was still awash with stars telling me that it was still evening or early morning. I sat up surveying my surroundings feeling that I wouldn't fall asleep any time soon. The fire from earlier were mere embers now. To my right Rua was sleeping peacefully drooling, mumbling something about food. The sleeping bag mostly unzipped, exposing Rua to the cold. I zipped it back up promptly careful not to wake him up. And to my left Ruka was… Not there! I stood up to look for her but stopped still, seeing that she sat on the other side of the burnt out fire.

She was enfolded into herself. Her arms hugging her legs and her head rested on her knees curtained by her hair. Then I heard her crying. I walked up to her slowly not wanting to startle her. As I sat down beside her she flinched looking up at me with tear strained eyes.

Judging by the red in her eyes she's been crying for sometime now. And I didn't understand exactly how to comfort her. To my surprise she jumped into my arms crying. I held her tightly trying to keep her from collapsing on herself.

I remembered how she cried just like this from earlier.

The minute Demak crumbled to dust was the minute they cried. I held onto them tightly trying to comfort them. I mumbled words to soothe their hurting spirits. "Shush it's ok. He's gone." I blew into their ears. "He's not coming back anymore." I held them tighter feeling them curl further into me. "You're safe."

I kept repeating those words like a song. Each time I began again I would pray that they would feel better, wanting to heal them of their pain. I wish more than anything right now that their tears would be gone. Maybe they should have stayed behind. They should be at home being normal children. Excited, smiling, anything but this. Having to witness all these deaths at such a young age. They didn't need this.

"It's ok. You're both safe now." Those words seem to have calmed Rua down, as his tears and sniffling lessened from wails to sounds of gasping for breath. It was Ruka that I was really worried about as she kept crying and crying. It was only Rua who was able to bring Ruka out of her tears.

I thought they were okay now but I guess I was wrong.

It seems that as Ruka cried she was mumbling words through my shirt. "Ruka it's ok. He's gone." I told her. She held her head up to me, teary amber eyes full of confusion and fear. "It's ok Ruka. He's gone." I told her once again hoping those words would stop her tears.

"Tha-that's just it." Ruka stumbled over her words as she struggled to speak despite her tears. "He's gone. And it's my fault." Ruka continued to her crying, cupping her face in her hands. I didn't understand what she meant by those words. I didn't understand why she would cry even harder. But I held onto her still. Giving her as much of the comfort she needed.

"Ruka, what do you mean your fault?" I voiced my thoughts when she calmed down some.

"Demak… I killed him." Ruka said so quietly it was barely a whisper. But when I heard those words I couldn't help but feel angry. Remembering that Ruka was there I bit at my own tongue trying to keep from screaming out my frustrations. Demak was dead and yet he still haunted this poor girl's thoughts.

I made Ruka face me making sure her eyes were trained on mine. "You didn't kill Demak." I said with all seriousness. "Demak killed himself pursuing his vengeance onto you and your brother." Ruka was unconvinced as her eyes still held guilt within them. "You didn't kill him, Ruka." I held her close to me. "You freed him from his need for vengeance." Ruka held onto me as new tears streamed down. "Don't ever think otherwise."

Author's Notes:

This time I made Ruka cry. ^_^U Though you have to admit this could probably be in Ruka's mind. Somewhere... Yusei... I think I made him a little OOC... I can't tell. -_-

How was it? good? bad? Tell me your thoughts about this in a review please. ^_^

~LMG