The Bakuras were a wealthy family living in Britain.
Were.
Not anymore, and never again will they be.
No one saw it coming.
How could they?
How could anyone suspect that a simple ring could destroy an entire family?
How could anyone suspect that the vessel of their destruction would be none other than their only son?
Ryou Bakura had been the early age of seven when he first received the ring from his father.
It had been his birthday.
And what an interesting gift he got…
"This ring came from Egypt, and it's very valuable." His father had laughed, "I would have kept it for myself… But something told me that it would be better with you."
And Ryou accepted the ring with a smile.
How could he not have?
It had been the most beautiful thing he had ever laid his eyes on…
And now it was his.
It was his.
He could even hear it calling to him…
Wanting to be his.
And Ryou had never felt happier.
His little sister, Amane, had been jealous of the ring.
She never acted on it,
But he could tell.
However, Ryou never even let her touch it…
And so she left him and went to play with their nanny, instead.
Ryou didn't mind.
He enjoyed being on his own.
Amane had always been so much more carefree than he was.
Much happier.
But Ryou was happy, too…
After all, he had the most beautiful ring in the world.
It had been that night, when Ryou put on the ring which had been calling him all day,
And suffered his very first blackout.
It had been the next day when Amane had been looking at him strangely.
As if she was looking at a stranger…
Wondering if it was really her big brother or not.
Ryou then heard it.
A weak voice in the back of his head, saying, "She knows."
Ryou failed as a boy.
Even he knew that.
His parents knew.
Amane enjoyed it.
His father was beyond disappointed.
"I thought I asked God for a son." He often said, when he wasn't working away in his office, or off traveling.
Amane had convinced her brother to wear one of her favorite, black dresses to school that day.
It didn't help that it was a perfect fit.
Ryou had always fallen victim to bullying.
Sometimes he wondered if his dear little sister was really just one of them…
He smiled when he heard laughter in the back of his head.
Ryou was always glad to make the voice laugh.
Even though that laugh was one that sent a shiver down his spine every time he heard it…
It was a laugh that was something you'd hear from a horror film.
But he was happier than he was frightened,
Because Ryou was someone who loved making his friends happy.
Not that he had many friends.
During school, Ryou had been picked on, teased, and even flirted with constantly.
He had earned a detention for violating the school's dress code.
But that wasn't even bad compared to what was waiting for him after school.
Ryou had soon found himself cornered in the back of the school…
Long after Amane had gone home on the school bus.
Ryou would have gone with her, if he hadn't made a promise to a boy who he had become friends with that day.
That boy had been so nice to him…
Ryou would have never guessed that the boy had been paid to befriend him.
A little while before the buses had gone, Ryou made his way to the back of the schoolyard, where his new friend promised to be.
Instead he found two boys from his class waiting.
If Ryou wasn't always so polite…
Maybe he would have actually been able to defend himself.
He was either lucky or unlucky when he had yet another one of his blackouts.
Ryou awoke in his own bed the next day.
He joined Amane at breakfast, listening to her talk away with the nanny about something that had happened at school.
When Amane noticed him, she went right on to telling him the exact same thing that she was telling the nanny.
"School is closed today, you know." She smiled, grimly, "It's because they found two boys there in a coma. So school's out so the PoPo can have a look around."
Amane stole one of her brother's breakfast muffins and ate it herself.
She then gave him a suspicious look; "Yesterday you said you were going to meet someone after school, right?"
Ryou nodded, numbly, though he wasn't really paying attention.
If he were, it would have occurred to him that those had been the same boys who had attacked him.
Amane had gone back to eating, though she never took her eyes off her sweet big brother.