The wind outside was singing a sad lament to itself as the few trees in this deserted area rocked and moaned in the freefall spin of the gales.

No....

That would be sound, and THAT would be comforting.

No chance of such a thing.

Not here.

Not now.

Not when the other sound was your own ragged breathing, your own rapid heartbeat, and the quiet, overwhelmingly sharp and potent feel of heartstopping fear.

Ryou crept down the stairs in the dead of night, eyes huge on his pale little face, the iciness of the wood sinking onto his bare feet.

The cold clink of the millenium ring against bare flesh...

Ryou.

Ryou stopped dead, his mouth in a silent gasp.

No....

No!

It wasn't supposed to be like-

Ryou gasped in pain as the millenium ring glowed and dug its golden spikes into Ryou's delicate flesh.

"Aghhhh!" exclaimed Ryou in surprise as he staggered....

And a pair of pale arms encircled the thin figure.

"As if I'd ever let you into harm's way, hikari..."

The arms roughly turned Ryou around to face him from their position on the floor to stare at him face to face.

Ryou's mouth went dry.

Bakura was glaring at him in the darkness.

"I-I was-y-you see, I-"

"Dearest Ryou, haven't I made it clear to you in the past that I'm the only one who deserves you?"

"You....I-"

Bakura snarled and clasped Ryou's hands in a vice like grip, pinning them to the cold ground.

"Haven't I made it CLEAR to you that YOU'RE mine, and mine alone?"

Ryou just squeaked.

"Perhaps I just need to make it more clear......."

He moved his lips to a trembling Ryou's side, brushing his ear with a whisper...

Have you ever heard the wind go "Yooooo"?
'Tis a pitiful sound to hear!
It seems to chill you through and through
With a strange and speechless fear.
'Tis the voice of the night that broods outside
When folk should be asleep,
And many and many's the time I've cried
To the darkness brooding far and wide Over the land and the deep:
"Whom do you want, O lonely night,
That you wail the long hours through?"
And the night would say in its ghostly way:
"Yoooooooo! Yoooooooo! Yoooooooo!"

My mother told me long ago
(When I was a little tad)
That when the night went wailing so,
Somebody had been bad;
And then, when I was snug in bed,
Whither I had been sent,
With the blankets pulled up round my head,
I'd think of what my mother'd said,
And wonder what boy she meant!
And "Who's been bad to-day?"
I'd ask Of the wind that hoarsely blew;
And the voice would say in its meaningful way:
"Yoooooooo! Yoooooooo! Yoooooooo!"

That this was true I must allow--
You'll not believe it, though!
Yes, though I'm quite a model now,
I was not always so.
And if you doubt what things I say,
Suppose you make the test;
Suppose, when you've been bad some day
And up to bed are sent away
From mother and the rest--
Suppose you ask, "Who has been bad?"
And then you'll hear what's true;
For the wind will moan in its ruefulest tone:
"Yoooooooo! Yoooooooo! Yoooooooo!"

Ryou shuddered as Bakura growled and gave his hikari a bruising kiss.

He with drew for the briefest second to gaze into Ryou's frightened emerald orbs.

His own garnet eyes were ablaze with cold flame.

"Forever, " he whispered, his eyes still ablaze.

"You are mine forever, Ryou. Once the darkness wants you, there is no other way out."

Bakura smiled, and pressed the smaller boy closer to his chest.

"Mine forever, Ryou.

Mine forever, in the land of shadows."