...Okay! Well, I guess here's a little bit of Deathshipping for you! I want to first of all tell you that this is my first serious fanfic, so it won't be great. And second, this first chapter is told in third person POV, but the rest will be told by either Ryou or Mariku, because I just coudn't find a way to do this chapter in third person and still get out all of the information. Anyways, besides that, tell me what you think!

Ryou looked down the road. The trees were shedding golden leaves, though the ground was already littered with them. Small patches of green hardly showed themselves on either side of the road. A darker-skinned figure walked towards him, his faint, pointy hair waving slightly in the cool breeze. If he walked in a patch of light shining through the trees, the item in his hand glinted and shimmered in Ryou's eyes, nearly blinding him.

"Mariku!"

Mariku was now clearly recognisable, still walking to Ryou. "Hi." he answered after a short wait. "I'm... Here." As he continued to walk, now about three yards from Ryou, a leaf fell from the tree and onto his face, surprising him.

"No! Get it away!" He yelled, not knowing what it was, and swinging his millenium rod around randomly, on account of his 'stabbing habit'

Ryou stepped backwards "Nah!" He yelled.

Mariku stopped, the leaf fluttering away in the wind. "Sorry." He continued to advance, but Ryou coontinued to evade. "What?" He shrugged, the rod in his hand.

Ryou tripped over a stone on the road, and fell backwards. "No!"

"Why? Didn't you invite me?" Ryou had invited him, even though he lived here, along with Yugi, Atem, Marik and Bakura. He was never home as himself, his Hikari always had control. This was to help Ryou get over his slight fear of Mariku, to show him he can be calm.

"You'll stab me!" Obviously, it wasn't working yet. "I-I change my mind. You can leave."

"But Bakura..."

"No!" He was crawling away on his back, with mud coating his shirt and clumping in his hair. "Put- Put the rod away."

"Wha-"

"PUT IT AWAY!" He shouted.

Mariku was surprised at his tone, he had never really seen Ryou angry. "I'm... I'm sorry!" He put his Item in a belt loop. "Better?"

"Yes." Ryou tried to get up, but the mud on the road from a recent rain was slipping under him. He eventually gave up and sprawled out on the ground. "Guh." He turned his head to a half-raked pile of leaves on the lawn, next to a sapling tree. He pointed to the pile. "How about we make that bigger and jump in it?"

"Okay. We can do that."

Ryou held out his hand. "Help?"

Mariku store at Ryou's hand for a moment. What does he want? Help? Help with what? His hand looked fine. "Mariku, could you help me up, please?" Oh. He helped Ryou up, then looked over his own hand. Ryou had... Touched it. Human contact that wasn't bloody and crying out.

It sure was strange.

As you can see, but I'll warn you anyways, this is going to be a corny fic. I know. I apologise, but like I said, it's my first serious one. Please remember to R&R if you want a better next chapter!