(A/N) I'm putting Peace Never Lasts on hold for a while, sorry to those of you that liked it, but I can guarantee its continuation.

In this fic, an unknown villain separated Ryou and Bakura so that they could no longer balance each other out and be a threat to her evil plans.

Also:

/ hikari to yami

/ yami to hikari

Disclaimer I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh, meaning that any and all Yu-Gi-Oh! Characters and/or ideas used in this fanfiction DO NOT belong to me. The OCs, however, are all mine! Right down to the corny names.

Chapter One Grasshopper Stew
Jonouchi sat up and stretched. He glanced up at the sky. Hmm…around noon, then. That's always a good time to wake up. It wasn't like his companions were going to complain or something weird like that. He didn't have any! And he liked it that way. There was no one telling him what to do, waking him up too early, taking the credit…he really couldn't stand that. No, he was just fine by himself. Companions were only good for cooking, and Honda was an even worse cook than he was.

With these thoughts in mind, Jonouchi packed up his tent and walked away, chewing a breakfast of half-eaten leftover rabbit. It really wasn't bad, cold. At least he wasn't stuck eating Honda's infamous Travel Stew. Only Honda knew what went into that mess…or why it tasted like grasshoppers. Ick!

Jonouchi's train of thought continued in this manner until it was derailed when he tripped over a prone figure lying collapsed in the middle of the path. It had long, wild white hair in bad need of a brushing. It also had indeterminate gender, a fact that was not helped by the loose, figure concealing traveler's outfit and cloak it was wearing.

He bent down and gently shook the figure. "Hey. Hey, it's afternoon already! Ya can't jus' sleep all day!"

The figure opened large, sad brown eyes and started at him. It blinked in confusion, then looked into Jonouchi's eyes. It was like looking into a half-filled hole, or a half-finished meal, or a half-done anything. Like some higher being had been making a person, but had left his mind an soul only half finished. The man found himself pitying the figure.

"My name is Jonouchi."

Ryoh blinked up at the man who identified himself as Jonouchi. It had been three days since his darker half had vanished overnight, but he hadn't been able to get used to the aching incompleteness he felt without his yami yet.

This "Jonouchi" person was in his early twenties—about Ryoh's age then—and had short blonde hair and warm brown eyes. He was well-muscled and wearing strong leather armor. There was a sheathed bastard sword strapped across his back.

"You alright?" asked Jonouchi.

Ryoh blinked up at him, but otherwise didn't feel inclined to answer. He'd lost all contact with his darker side. He could feel the Ring that linked them against his chest, but he couldn't use telepathy to reach his partner. It made him scared, lonely, depressed, and devoid of willpower.

"Need a hand up?" Jonouchi held out his hand to Ryoh. Slowly, the paler man looked to the offered hand. Then, even slower, as if afraid Jonouchi's hand would turn into a snake and bite him, he put his own hand into it.

Jonouchi immediately pulled Ryoh to his feet.

Jonouchi was more than a little surprised at the pale figure's slow trust. Though the question remained, was this a man or a woman?

"Ah…what's your name?" he inquired, in an attempt to find out. The figure blinked, but otherwise did nothing. 'Alright, it obviously don't wanna talk.' "Do you wanna go to the town wit' me?"

Slowly, the pale figure nodded. Then, and with much more effort than normally associated with the simple action we call "speech" it said, "Ryoh."

'Kay, that's a guy's name, so this is a guy. Sure looks like a woman, though…"

Ryoh looked blankly at Jonouchi, and did nothing until Jonouchi began to walk. Then Ryoh followed.

Bakura woke up, shivering, in the cave where he'd fallen asleep. Again, he attempted to contact his hikari.

/Ahou! Where are you? Yadonushi-sama, you are beginning to try my patience, so stop playing dumb! Where are you? Well…? Where are you, hikari? Ryoh…? You…you can't hear me, can you…? Shimatta.

Growling in frustration, the man with wild white hair and feral red eyes began to trek along the pathway, hoping against hope to find someone willing to help him find the other half of his soul before his lost his mind.

Honda whistled merrily as he prepared his famous Travel Stew. A bit of this, a pinch of that, some leftover rabbit, let's not forget the secret ingredient…grasshoppers! Best served boiled up with a bunch of other stuff! With Jonouchi gone, there wasn't anyone around to complain about his cooking! Or…so he thought.

"Did you just put bugs in that?" a voice asked from the shadows between the trees.

"Yes, grasshoppers, but you can't tell. It's my secret ingredient."

"To each their own, I suppose. Personally, I don't care what I eat…just as long as it doesn't make me sick afterward."

"Uh…I'm Honda…"

"Bakura."

"Want food?"

"Want a quest?"

To be continued…

(A/N) So… how was chapter one? I know it's a bit short, but my hands like to cramp on me after a while.

Review, tell me what you thought of it, and submit suggestions! It doesn't take long… just click on the happy purple button that says "go" on it, type what you think (you don't have to be intelligent about it) and click on the even happier button that says "submit review".

So…easy easy!

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THE AUTHOR MUST FEED HER SISTER!