A/N: I know there's still a lot for me to come up with in the way of chapters to my old fics, but when inspiration strikes I have to go with it.

Disclaimer: You know the drill.

I can't think of a good title for this, so the person who gives me the best title will make an appearance in the next chapter.

Thanks a bunch!

Enjoy!

Bakura pushed the door to his apartment open with a grunt and a sigh. The mail sat in a pile on his door matt, but he ignored it for a moment, wandering into the kitchen and flopping down at his table. He sighed again and praised Ra for the fact that it was the weekend and that the damn maintenance people had fixed his air conditioning. Japan hadn't been that bad, but the Los Angeles sun seemed to roast him everywhere he went.

He got up from the coolness of his completely stone kitchen, a place he loved, and walked into his living room. He again performed the action of flopping, but this time it was onto his lovely ancient comfortable couch. Kicking off his shoes he smiled to himself. The weekend had promises of being beautifully uneventful. He didn't have any meetings with the publisher that he could think of. The book wasn't even making a dent, which didn't surprise him, so he should be fairly free to start his next collection of short stories.

He smiled placidly at the placard on his wall for "Outstanding literary achievement." It didn't matter that it had just been in a small circle. No one in Domino had thought he would make a very good writer. They thought he lacked the patience, but he had done it. Granted he still had to have another job, but he had even found one that fit perfectly. He taught a creative writing class at a small high school. It was nice, because he could assign things and have them due every Monday, so he had nothing to grade over the weekends.

He lay for about another 20 minutes on his couch and then, sighing; he picked himself up and walked over to the large pile of mail. Picking up the nice bundle he walked into the kitchen. This would only get worse if he didn't tackle all this crap now.

He flipped through it at his kitchen table. "Bill, junk, junk, Ooo, invite to that conference in 2 weeks, very nice, bill, bill, Note from Mr. Editor, and. . ." he paused as his eyes fell on a Domino address.

Yugi Motou, Kame Game Shop, 1st St. Domino Japan.

He looked curiously at the envelope. He hadn't spoken to anyone from Domino for about a year now. Had it been a year? Maybe it had been 2. He had lost count. No one seemed terribly interested in his affairs, and he had been to busy and oblivious to keep in touch. He had left there 3, that was it!, 3 years ago after graduation to try a new market for his writing. He'd been seen off by a few people with wishes of good luck and keep in touch and that had been the end of it. He smiled to himself, perhaps now was as good a time as any to read up on the life and times of Yugi-tachi, if they all still hung around. He couldn't imagine though, why Yugi would be writing him. He ripped the envelope open and pulled out a sheet of paper.

Dear Bakura,

I'm sorry that it's been so long since I've written, come to think of it, I don't think I've written at all. I'm sorry that it has to be with bad news.

Bakura stopped reading. If the news was bad enough that it would make Yugi write to him in America then he wasn't sure if he wanted to know. He forced himself to keep reading, his heart pounding.

I'm sorry to have to tell you this via paper, but I couldn't bring myself to call you about it. Here it goes. About 2 years ago Ryou was diagnosed with cancer. He was very ill for about 6 months, and then went into remission. We thought he was doing better, but he's out of remission now, and doing very badly. He wouldn't let me write to you before, because he didn't want to bother you, but I really think if you can you need to come out to Japan and see him. I'm, I'm very worried Bakura. He's so sick.

Again, I hate to have to write and tell you this. Inside I've enclosed enough money for a plane ticket. Please come out as soon as possible.

Yours truly,

Yugi Motou

Bakura stared in shock at the letter. Ryou? Cancer? It just didn't make sense. Ryou had never been sick a day in his life, though he had always been thin and pale. He shook his head, it was impossible. Tears stung his eyes when he knew that it was true, since Yugi wouldn't do this as a trick. The shrimp knew that that sort of thing would cost him his life.

Bakura touched the money in the envelope, then called the airport and got a flight for the following morning. Then he hung up and called Yugi.

"Moshi Moshi, Kame game shop, Yugi speaking."

"I got the letter." No time to waste.

"Bakura? Oh yes, the letter. I'm so sorry Bakura."

"I'm flying out of L.A tomorrow morning; I should be arriving tomorrow night, about 7, can someone pick me up?"

"I'll be there."

"Arigato Yugi."

"No. no problem."

"How is he?" there was a long pause at the other end and Bakura could imagine Yugi taking a deep breath.

"He's sick Bakura, that's the only way I can think to put it. He's incredibly sick." Bakura remained silent for a moment.

"Where was the cancer?"

"It started in his knee, but it's moved up his leg and spread to his spine." He felt his stomach drop. He knew very little about the deadly disease, but he knew that his hikari didn't have long if it had reached his spine.

"Oh Kami-sama." He murmured. Yugi was quiet for a few moments.

"I'll see you tomorrow." Was the final choked response.

"Hai." Bakura hung up the phone and sat down heavily in his chair. His hikari was sick enough that they wanted him back in Japan. He didn't see this ending well.

Rising from his chair he numbly walked into his bedroom and started throwing necessities into a large suit case. This done he took a sleeping pill, to ensure he got some sort of rest, and then went to bed.

He awoke the next morning and went to the airport. Catching the flight proved to be no problem, which surprised him. He hated this airport, because they had only 3 times out of hundreds not screwed up his flights.

A/N: I'm skipping the flight, since I'm lacking plot for that part. If anyone desperately wants to know how his peanuts and soda tasted then e-mail me. Back to the fic!

The flight landed a long time later, and as he got off he saw Yugi waving to him over a crowd, which was difficult, since the boy couldn't have grown more then 2 inches.

"Konnichiwa Bakura-kun." Yugi said, walking with him as they went to get his bag.

"Thanks for meeting me." Bakura said, his eyes fixed straight ahead. He felt pressure on his hand.

"I know its bad Bakura, but you know how stubborn Ryou is, he won't give up easily." The pair walked in silence for a long time, not another word was spoken until they were in Yugi's car.

"Where are we going?" Bakura asked, tossing his suitcase in the back seat.

"To the game shop." Yugi said, putting the car into gear. "Ryou's probably sleeping by now. He's on house care, since they've taken him off treatments, so he." Yugi stopped and stared straight ahead, but Bakura understood.

"Is anyone staying with him?"

"Of course, we take it in turns to go over there, Yami is there now, so I could come and get you. We'll go over first thing tomorrow, but you're not going to stay there right now, we can't have you fall apart on him when he needs you." It was a harsh statement, but he knew it was true.

"He's not going to be here long, is he."

"I don't know Bakura. I really don't."

A/N: Not the place I had intended to leave it off, but I'd love to know what you think. Please review! Sorry about the lack of symbols, as I'm sure all of you know there's been some issues with that, and I'm still trying to figure out how to fix that.

Remember to supply a title! If you do please leave me your e-mail if you'd like to be in the story. I need a title!

Review!

TTFN

Katia-chan