A short, useless drabble that I'll probably get many flames for. Enjoy.

And remember kids, I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh. (When I say kids, I'm referring to trigger happy lawyers who want to sue me for no reason.)

It was a simple question.

"Do you hate me, landlord?"

And, to Ryou, the answer was just as simple.

You hurt my friends. You hurt the people who cared for me and watched over me, who worried about me when you'd constantly take control of a body that was never yours.

But I cannot bring myself to hate you, yami, no matter what you've done in the past, because I... I forgive you, for all that you've done, even if the others haven't.

You've hurt me, yami. I cannot deny this. But you've been hurt far, far more than I have in your lifetime. The reason you thought you had no heart is because it was so beaten and bruised from all of your hardships. You never experienced love ever again after Kul Elna.

I don't blame you for being as hate-filled as you were. God knows all of us, even Yami Yugi himself, would be if we'd gone through the same thing.

Speaking of Yami Yugi, he continues to believe that you're hurting me, that you're forcing me to put a smile on my face when I talk about you. He thinks I'm lying for your sake; that I really wish you'd never escaped the icy jaws of death after the duel with Yami Marik. (1)

But I, for one, believe in the fact that you've changed, yami, no matter how many times Yami Yugi looks at you suspiciously or accuses you of hurting me. You have not laid a finger on me cruelly ever since you reformed; ever since you pledged you would never hurt me again, you've kept that promise, yami, and I'm positive you will never break it.

So, please, yami, don't ask that question ever again, because the answer will always be no.

And Bakura never did ask again.

He'd only get the same response.

(1) Though canonically Bakura supposedly died ("You cannot kill me! For I am the darkness, and darkness cannot die!" - Bakura. I don't know if that's the exact quote word for word, but it's something similiar), in my little world, he's alive. Don't ask me how, I'm far too lazy.